A delightful set of circumstances combined to produce the beloved masterpiece, Babar. The journey began in 1930 when Laurent and Mathieu, sons of French author and illustrator Jean de Brunhoff were told an enchanting bedtime story by their mother, Cécile. So moved were the young boys by the curious tale of the young elephant’s adventures, that they asked their father to create illustrations. The resulting book initiated a series that was to be the crowning achievement of Jean de Brunhoff’s short professional life, and that of his son Laurent, who added further volumes following his father’s death in 1937. The children have acknowledged that the story originated with Cécile de Brunhoff, who, feeling that her contribution was too small to be credited, requested that her name be removed from the publications. In a heart-warmingly similar situation ten years later, Poulenc was spending time with the granddaughter of one of his cousins. Noting that she became bored with the music he was playing, Poulenc put Brunhoff’s Babar on the piano and began to improvise, to the great delight of the young girl. The musical ideas born that day were to simmer away at the back of Poulenc’s mind until he completed the work in 1945. It was premiered on French radio the following year.

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REVIEW:

With a duration of 27:51 we are into ‘CD Single’ territory, but this is reflected in a lower price for the disc, which is therefore worth every penny. In lockdown or not, parents could do much worse than to buy both this and Jean de Brunhoff’s book ‘The Story of Barbar’, so that everyone can read along and enjoy the wonderful illustrations. Be aware, however, that there are some tragic moments to go along with all of the magical charm and festivities.

– MusicWeb International

Martin Jones has been one of Britain’s most highly regarded solo pianists since first coming to international attention in 1968 when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award. The same year he made his London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and his New York debut at Carnegie Hall, and ever since has been in demand for recitals and concerto performances on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a prolific recording artist and his many major projects include the complete solo piano works of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, Grainger, Stravinsky, Korngold, Szymanowski, Granados, Guastavino, Mompou, Ernesto Halffter, Joaquin Nin, Has Gál, Jean Françaix, Jean Roger-Ducasse, and Alan Richardson. On the present release, Jones explores the works of Spanish pianist and composer Enrique Granado,

Kosmos Ensemble perform their own vibrant compositions alongside original instruments, bridging western classical music with music from other parts of the world. Sophisticated jazz glides seamlessly into wild gypsy fiddling, emotive Jewish music into hot-blooded tango, Arabic and Turkish improvisation into Greek melodies. As described by Richard Morrison, chief music critic of The Times: the musicians have “telepathic rapport, dazzling virtuosity, serious scholarship, intellectual curiosity and impeccable musicianship. I defy you not to be mesmerized. The group writes: “So why is this album called Pomegranate? Many reasons… it’s powerful and symbolic- Persephone ate pomegranate seeds in Hades and that meant she had to stay in Hades and created the four seasons. It is argued that it was a pomegranate, not an apple, that tempted Eve, there are many references to pomegranates in the Old Testament and it is important to Jewish cultural history. Pomegranate grows like a miracle out of dry dusty land, grows in most of the countries where we are taking out inspiration from, and it is important and symbolic to nearly all those places. They are a fruit, their juice is sweet but tart and they are used in both savory dishes and desserts and they have a large appeal and they are full of antioxidants that have a great benefit for all of us (like we hope our music has too!)”

"I’m convinced that Perlemuter’s Ravel is the best of him in [his] Nimbus recordings, more even than the raft of Chopin performances. Miroirs is a delight; Noctuelles is full of evocative precision, and the poetic sensitivity he evinces is propelled with unselfconscious control in these early, 1973 recordings made in the studio. Textual control radiates outwards from these traversals. As for Gaspard there’s a total lack of fuss in Ondine – but the avoidance of artifice is a function of the poetic hauteur that gives such meaning to his playing. His Sonatine is crisp, the Valses animated by an especially witty Vif whilst Le Tombeau de Couperin moves with grace and deft accentuation, a notch slower than the BBC 1970 broadcast that has circulated. Seeking an analogue, this is the kind of pointillist playing George Copeland brought to Debussy, in contradistinction to Gieseking’s Turneresque wash; both wonderful but both very different. Perlemuter’s Ravel is a breath of fresh air."

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Sunday Times (London) Record of the Year - 1989.

Winner of Grand Prix, Academie Charles Cros - 1990

Released to mark the bicentenary of the French Revolution, this is the only set of Méhul's complete symphonies on CD. In his day, Méhul was France’s most famous composer - his many operas placed him alongside Beethoven and Cherubini. Typical of music in Napoleon's times, the symphonies are characterised by brilliance and virtuosity, qualities brought out by the partnership between Michel Swierczewski and the Orchestra of the Gulbenkian Foundation. Although forgotten by the Parisian establishment they are important in the development of the symphony before Berlioz. - Nimbus

The mid-20th century has a tragic and many-faceted story to tell where musicians from Europe, both Jewish and non-Jewish, are concerned. So many were either blacklisted, dismissed from their positions and forced into exile or transported to the camps and simply eliminated. Some, like Martinu, seemed unsettled wherever they were. He was blown hither and yon by events beyond his control but he managed to stay just one step ahead of the invaders, seeking a place where he and his wife could live well despite the war – and where he could work freely. This peripatetic existence was not eased by his difficult, possibly autistic, personality – but that did not prevent him from composing a vast and very successful amount of music in all genres, including an unusually large number of pieces for the cello. Some early sets of short pieces for cello and piano certainly helped him to gain an enormous confidence and facility in that combination so that, when he came to compose his three sonatas, all written for specific cellists, the music could be filled with technical, idiomatic brilliance. Seven Arabesques of 1931 display rhythmic quirkiness and repetition, an attractively dissonant color and an entertaining individuality while generally adopting a straightforward ABA design. Melody, mechanical quasi-minimalist repetition, complicated syncopation, jazz and bravura – they’re all here in generous helpings.

As a pianist, Mozart performed at many concerts and music academies, for which he had to build a repertoire; similarly, he was in need of educational repertoire for his students. Between 1782 and 1786, Mozart composed, in addition to piano sonatas and variations, fourteen new concertos for piano with orchestra. He was certainly no novice in this field, already having no less than ten piano concertos under his belt (not to mention his violin concertos and his first collection of concertos for wind instruments). As such, Mozart’s Vienna period begins with a remarkable trio of piano concertos, K. 413, 414 and 415. Mozart undoubtedly wrote them for himself. His concert activity in Vienna was extraordinary, especially in the first years, where he met with success as both a soloist and as a composer. He therefore decided to publish this trio at his own expense (on a subscription basis), obviously with an eye towards having another source of income.

Four American composers, all pianists, all prizewinners at the height of their powers. It is not surprising that the works collected here are idiomatic to the instrument and gratifying to play. Augusta Read Thomas explores the piano’s natural resonance and beauty. Wayne Peterson’s expressive, sweeping virtuosic lines reflect his past as a jazz pianist. Charles Wuorinen’s bracing rhythms leap across the instrument in a modernist romp that echoes the wit and humor of his opera. Eric Moe’s Afro-bebop encore rounds out the program. Lynn Raley has performed across the United States and in Canada, The Netherlands, Taiwan, and Thailand. He has presented solo concerts of contemporary music in Dallas, Houston, Cincinnati, and New York and given concert-talks on contemporary music at numerous colleges and music schools, including the Juilliard School, Rice University, and the Taipei National University of the Arts.

Ransom Wilson has long been recognized internationally as one of the greatest flutists of his generation. After graduation from the Juilliard School in 1973, he spent a year in Paris as a private student of Jean-Pierre Rampal. As flute soloist, he has appeared in concert with some of the greatest orchestras and artists of our time, including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, Frederica von Stade, Jessye Norman, Thomas Hampson, Susan Graham, Dolora Zajick, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Hilary Hahn, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Sir James Galway, and many others. François Dumont is a prize winner of the most prestigious international competitions: the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Brussels), the Chopin Competition (Warsaw), the Cleveland International Competition in the United States and the Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland. In 2012, he was received the prize of Révélation de la Critique Musicale française. Born in 1985 in Lyon, François Dumont worked with Pascale Imbert, Chrystel Saussac and Hervé Billaut before being admitted at the age of fourteen to the Conservatoire National Superior of Music and Dance of Paris in the class of Bruno Rigutto. With Virginie Constant and Philippe Aïche, he is a member of the Trio Elégiaque.

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REVIEW:

Flutist Ransom Wilson and pianist François Dumont give splendid performances of all this music. The sound is well balanced. Roger Nichols wrote ideal programme notes, with concise but wholly relevant details of each work. There are the usual biographies of the two soloists. The cover painting, La Rue Saint-Lazare, temps lumineux (1893) by Camille Pissarro sums up the ethos of this disc.

– MusicWeb International

Niobe is the story of a strong woman brought down by an even stronger woman, the goddess Leto. I have tried to portray in music Niobe's sensuality, feistiness, pride, arrogance, remorse, defiance as the story of her blasphemy against the goddess Leto and her extraordinarily harsh consequent punishment unfolds. The relationship of the violin soloist to the orchestra is inspired by the dramatic unfolding of the myth. I am indebted to Tamsin Waley-Cohen for her encouragement and support as we developed the concept for Niobe and her brilliance as a soloist and interpreter of my music. Kalon is the Greek word for perfect physical and moral beauty, as conceived by the philosophers of Classical Greece. The three movements explore different aspects of kalon, also the context in which beauty can exist in ugliness and darkness. The two string groups (quartet and orchestra) frequently play in different tempi simultaneously, thereby producing complex and rich sonorities and textures. Each movement approaches the combined tempi differently, and each movement explores new antiphonal possibilities, new approaches to counterpoint, new definitions of rhythmic consonance and dissonance. Kalon is the Greek word for perfect physical and moral beauty, as conceived by the philosophers of Classical Greece. The three movements explore different aspects of kalon, also the context in which beauty can exist in ugliness and darkness. The two string groups (quartet and orchestra) frequently play in different tempi simultaneously, thereby producing complex and rich sonorities and textures. Each movement approaches the combined tempi differently, and each movement explores new antiphonal possibilities, new approaches to counterpoint, new definitions of rhythmic consonance and dissonance.

An international solo career spanning almost fifty years on harpsichord and organ, Richard Lester; described by the Daily Telegraph and The Times as ‘one of our leading players’, is universally acclaimed as a prominent interpreter of early music on period and modern keyboard instruments. In 1982, Dame Janet Baker chose his recording of Scarlatti sonatas as her favorite on BBC Desert Island Discs, commenting that ‘it would keep my spirits up so well.’ Richard’s career as an organist is equally celebrated in this country and abroad, where he enjoys performing the Romantic and Modern organ repertoire; especially music by Vierne, Reger, Hindemith and Messiaen. In 1995 he was invited to perform Elgar’s organ sonata at St Paul’s Cathedral for the 50th VJ anniversary celebrations; and in 2013 his recital at St Mark’s in Venice and at Bergamo Cathedral drew capacity audiences. As one of Nimbus Records’ ‘most popular artists,’ his recordings were lauded by Gramophone and twice awarded the ‘outstanding’ accolade from International Record Review. More recently his Frescobaldi opus on period instruments gained an entry into the Penguin Guide to the 1000 Finest Classical Recordings. In 2018, Musicweb International voted Lester’s distinguished survey of Bach’s Harpsichord works, Volume 2 as one of their recordings of the year.

An essential box set of Graingeresque delight.

2011 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Percy Grainger’s death and the event has witnessed the reissue of a number of important recordings. This isn’t one such, because it’s remained in the Nimbus catalogue throughout, but I did want to draw brief attention to this super-abundant, characterful, and wholly marvellous five CD set of the complete piano music, played by the indefatigable, stylistically apt Martin Jones. He’s one of the undersung masters of a variety of repertoire – as good in Iberian music as he is in British, I’d suggest.
 
Here his encyclopaedic survey acts as a modern day cornerstone. You should hear his recordings, if you are excited by Grainger, and compare and contrast them with the composer’s own recordings which fortunately – all the 78s at any rate – have recently been reissued in a five CD set by APR [7501]. The experience is both exciting and diverting. But Grainger only recorded (and re-recorded) a fraction of his own pieces, whereas Jones has collared the lot. And how!
 
The first disc starts with some classic Grainger; the brio, clarity and speed of Jones’s take on Handel in the Strand is a tonic whilst To a Nordic Princess rises to a passionate pitch of assertion. In a Nutshell is a suite the charms of which seldom pall, and in this performance Jones crafts an unusually expressive Pastoral, slow and spare then incrementally building up in sonority, power and speed. The playful and vibrant badinage of The Immovable Do is especially well realised – one of the very best moments in this opening disc - though the reflective and beautiful Colonial Song runs it, very differently, close. Those who have never come across the roistering cakewalk of In Dahomey are in for a treat.
 
The second disc is given over to arrangements. To a degree it’s of less pressing interest to the Grainger novice, but it’s essential ground for those who want to understand his enthusiasms and the musical means by which he conveyed them. The opening of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto makes some fearsome demands on the intrepid solo pianist whereas the Brahms Cradle song that cannily follows it is delightfully spun – lissom legato, not lion-hearted virtuosity. His arrangement of Nimrod is probably quite well known but that of Rachmaninoff – the finale of the Second Concerto – probably less so. I must admit that the Dowland transcription, of Now, O now, I needs must part, is absolutely irresistible in Jones’s performance. He really does have the touch for refinement in these works. Of the other works, it’s interesting to contrast Grainger’s own 1929 78 of the Rosenkavalier with Jones’s. Then there’s the convoluted tribute to Stephen Foster, the well-known Bach Blithe Bells and the same composer’s Fugue in A minor – it reminds one of Bach’s importance to Grainger, as performer and composer.
 
The third disc offers 28 examples of Graingeresque delight. Some are very concise folk-songs and traditional songs, others better known examples of his art. Let me just suggest a few which I think especially illuminating or unusual. If you’ve not come across The Merry King, try to do so, and you won’t regret it; it’s hauntingly beautiful. A Jutish Melody was recorded by Grainger in one of his very rarest 78s – a double-sided 1929 Columbia. He takes it a touch faster than Jones. Spoon River is played with vibrancy but Jones is ever alert as to treble colouration. There are also the simple and complex versions of One more day my John.
 
The fourth disc is a curious collection but that only makes it the more valuable for completists. We have Stanford’s Four Irish Dances, the deeply sensitive Fauré songs – what a shame Grainger didn’t record them – and the opening movement transcription of the Schumann Piano Concerto, which, like the Rachmaninoff, is probably best known by close readers of Grainger’s work in this field – a virtuosic single-voiced domestication, as it were, of the concerto literature. Another such is the better remembered Grieg Concerto first movement, also in this disc. His homage to Delius comes via the Air and Dance – but there are plenty of things to occupy the eager ears in this disc. Uppermost amongst them we find Angelus ad Virginem, a lovely carol, and then some of Grainger’s early works. These include the Schumannesque Klavierstücke in E, and the other early pieces which are variously awkward and Brahmsian or, in the case of the one in B flat, incomplete. There’s also the one in D, which Grainger dedicated to his father. The Bigelow March, an insouciant piece, was actually written by Ella Grainger, Percy’s wife.
 
The final disc has bigger works, ending with The Warriors. It also includes those pieces written for four hands on one piano, four on two pianos, six on one piano and six on two pianos. Children's March: "Over the Hills and Far Away" is a sonorous and ebullient example of Martin Jones and Richard McMahon playing on two pianos. But all these pieces are richly exciting and attractive. In the midst of all this don’t overlook the calm solo Grainger fashioned from William Byrd – The Carman’s Whistle or indeed Gershwin’s Embraceable You. The resilience of the performers and the clarity of the six-handed, two-piano, arrangement of The Warriors elevates it to a must-hear experience.
 
I hope this has given some indication of why this is so essential a box for admirers of the composer. I appreciate that Nimbus’s sound in these 1989-91 recordings is not to everyone’s tastes, but it will certainly do, and the booklet notes are classy. What a splendid undertaking this was.
 
-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

David Juritz writes: “The dilemma faced by any arranger of Bach is to stay true to the character of his music while knowing he would have been far bolder and more imaginative. For this version, I have attempted to remain within a sound-world that he would have found familiar. I did, however, have two factors on my side: Bach’s sublime and rigorous counterpoint and, in Craig Ogden, a virtuoso guitarist whose technical accomplishment is matched only by his Aussie ability to remain unruffled in the face of any challenge.”

Emma Johnson is one of the few clarinetists to have established a busy career as a solo performer which has taken her to major European, American and Asian venues as well as to Africa and Australasia. She is one of the UK’s biggest selling classical artists, having sold over half a million albums worldwide. Her recent recording of sonatas by Brahms and Mendelssohn with John Leneham was described as definitive and triumphant. “The great thing about the clarinet is it can take you anywhere- any country, any style, any era- and accordingly Clarinet Goes To Town journeys from Brazil to China encompassing styles from Classical to jazz. It’s basically me letting my hair down with my favorite musicians in party pieces we’ve honed in concert over the past few years.” (Emma Johnson)