KAGEL: Rrrrrrr... / Anagrama / Mitternachtsstuk

This program completes the Comédie et Tragédie project with Tempesta di Mare, and consists of suites made up of orchestral excerpts from three dramatic works of the French stage, spanning seventy-three years, all highlighting the importance of dance as a part of drama.

The comédie-ballet was the brainchild of the French comedic actor, singer, dancer, and playwright Molière. After ten years of collaborating with Lully, a Suite from whose Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme features in Volume 1, he turned to Charpentier. The outcome was Le Malade imaginaire whose fourth performance would prove Molière’s last, as he died on stage.

Scylla et Glaucus is the only stage work by Jean-Marie Leclair, the foremost violinist of his generation and a composer whose late opera shows the clarity of his orchestration and places its focal point on the strings, as one would expect.

Les Fêtes de Polymnie is contemporary with Leclair’s opera but more forward looking in its approach, and famous for the ingenuity of Rameau’s colorful orchestration, particularly obvious in the overture.- Chandos

Review:

I particularly liked Tempesta di Mare's vigorous, spiky strings in Leclair's 'Air des silvains' and the 'Premier air de demons'…delightful music, delightfully played.

– Gramophone

Volti’s professional singers, under the direction of founder and Artistic Director Robert Geary, are national leaders in the discovery, creation, and performance of new vocal music. They are the first ensemble to have won the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music six times. In this recording they introduce 21st-century works they commissioned from American composers of dazzling range and diversity. Volti’s resident composer Mark Winges contributes “Canticles of Rumi,” settings of five poems by the 13th-century poet and founder of Sufism. Seattle-based composer John Muehleisen contributes “…is knowing…”- a musical analogy to Gertrude Stein’s linguistic Cubism. Album closer “Paradise” by Shawn Crouch was originally commissioned by Chanticleer in 2009 and then substantially revised for Volti in 2013. The work is based on the poems of American poet Brian Turner, an Iraq War veteran, whose moving accounts of war are set alongside the poetry of the 12th century Persian poet Hafez. “…undoubtedly the finest collection of new music singers we have.” – San Francisco Classical Voice.

Mendelssohn wrote his Second Symphony or Lobgesang ('Hymn of Praise') in 1840, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of movable type. This symphony-cantata, as the composer termed it, is duly permeated with a rich and often jubilant spirit, and patterned after Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in it's solo vocal and large choral forces. The rich orchestral palette is supplemented by thrilling and expressive vocal writing, which includes solos and duets of great beauty, and culminates in a blazing fugal ending.

This re-release by Naxos brings together music from two of Prokofiev’s best known film scores on one disk. The cantata came from the original film score for Eisenstein’s film, Alexander Nevsky, and the suite from the Alexander Feinzimmer film Lieutenant Kijé.

The first thing to note is that this CD was in fact recorded live, although it’s not clear until the applause at the end that this is the case. There is no audience noise and the recording is very sharp, clear and close to the orchestra.

Alexander Nevsky opens with “Russia under the Mongolian Yoke”, with harsh open octaves setting the scene perfectly. This is followed by a song about Alexander Nevsky recalling an earlier battle. The chorus in this recording are the Latvian State Choir and, although I am not a Russian speaker myself, the words seem to be very clear and the choral singing excellent. The song about Nevsky is beautifully interpreted with a clear contrast being drawn between the more reflective parts of the song at the start and finish and the recollection of battle in the central section. The third section suggesting the appearance of Teutonic knights in the city of Pskov, with brass and percussion blaring out a bleak warning, is performed in this recording with enough gusto to bring a chill to one’s spine!

I had a chance to hear the recording of this work by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and it is interesting to note that Reiner adopts a much slower tempo than Casadesus for the second and third parts, which seems to me to work better, even if there is the slightly off-putting factor of Reiner’s recording including the text in English.

The fourth section (Arise, ye Russian People), allows a distinct contrast to be drawn between the different emotions; the call to arms which opens this song, along with the more reflective middle section. Again these contrasts are handled excellently in this recording.

It is the fifth section (The Battle on the Ice), which is the longest. In fact this section took up a large part of the film. The performance is clean and precise. Perhaps it is this precision that takes away a little from the tension that one would expect in a battle scene; for me there is still enough there to get the adrenaline going. Special mention should go to the percussion section, who are able to drive the music on without overpowering it, no mean feat with such music. On balance, I would have to say that the Reiner/Chicago SO recording narrowly wins in terms of building tension, but there’s not a lot in it.

The sixth section (The Field of Death) is where we hear the mezzo-soprano, Ewa Podles, lamenting the lives lost in battle. Her wonderful deep voice carries these sentiments perfectly, assisted by some sensitive playing.

The final section (Alexander’s Entry into Pskov) ends the work on a triumphant note, aided by another excellent piece of chorus singing; they are able to hold their own to the very end and are not overpowered by the orchestra.

Overall, this is an excellent performance of Prokofiev’s colourful and exciting score, which I would recommend highly.

-- Euan Bayliss, MusicWeb International

Mozart's 40th symphony, perhaps his most beautiful and well known, has an intensity that allows us to sense the depth of tragic sentiment then occupying Mozart’s mind. His 41st, and last, symphony – the “Jupiter” – a titanic work in many regards – is an expertly assembled mix of tradition and innovation. Founded in 1987 by Jos van Immerseel, the multi-award winning Anima Eterna Brugge, now a full-bred, period instrument ensemble, boasts an impressive repertoire ranging from Bach to Gershwin.

BEST OF OPERA, VOL. 5

Acclaimed as �one of the best opera composers of the moment�, American composer-librettist Mark Adamo has also ventured into symphonic composition and other fields in each of which his theatrical sensitivity, political commitment and musical mastery are equally evident. The vivacity of his Overture to Lysistrata accentuates the play�s anti-war theme, while Alcott Music rethinks the music from his hit opera Little Women. Regina Coeli pays tribute to the Queen of Heaven and Late Victorians is dedicated both to the memory of those who have died and to those who have survived AIDS.

[Villa Lobos] 'incorporates nationalistic musical elements of Brazil along with melodic, lullaby-like themes, to make a truly contrasting and interesting three-movement work.' (Classic FM) 'Brazilian sonorities and rhythms are a perfect match for the saxophone' (WFMT) [Glazunov] 'persistence paid off for Raschèr, who badgered Glazunov to write him a concerto. The Russian relented and the result - three short, pleasingly lyrical movements - was premiered by Raschèr' (BBC Music Magazine) 'Glaznov's Quartet is a foundational piece for the instrument' (WFMT)

Still in her 20s, the French pianist Lise de la Salle has established a reputation of being among the best of the next generation of gifted classical performers with an impressively inquisitive catalog and a reputation for mastery of tonal nuances. This collection taken from de la Salle’s 2013-15 Artist in Residence with the Opernhaus Zürich presents live performances of Rachmaninov’s late Romantic piano concerto masterworks along with his transcription of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini together with the Philharmonia Zürich led by General Music Director Fabio Luisi.

14.99

Encount3rs is an unprecedented project, event and recording which has resulted in remarkable new one-act ballets and original orchestral scores. This new album consists of the music from this landmark NAC commission which pairs three of Canada’s outstanding choreographic talents with three of the country’s most exciting composers. Alberta Ballet’s eminent and prolific Jean Grand-Maître joined forces with multiple award-winning new music visionary Andrew Staniland; Ballet BC’s trail-blazing Emily Molnar met her musical match with innovative composer Nicole Lizee; and Guillaume Côte, gifted dancer and choreographic associate with the National Ballet of Canada, was perfectly paired with noted emerging composer Kevin Lau.

In today's world, one often perceives a division between art and academia, and composers and musicologists generally don't have much to say to one another. But that division has not always existed. Brahms himself was surrounded by a circle of academics who for him were also a source of animated comradeship. With some of them, Brahms would go on long walks outside Vienna and even on summer holidays.+ The men enjoyed long and sometimes loud, discussions about their shared obsessions, discoveries and findings. Brahms had these very discussions to thank for his lifelong interest in "early music". He even collaborated intensively on the critical editions of Couperin, Handel and Bach's sons and received interesting and useful advice form his friends. Since adopting a new artistic profile, The Hague Philharmonic is demonstrating more than ever that symphonic music can still be meaningful to large and diverse audiences in the 21st century. The ensemble performs regularly at various major concert halls around the world. Their ambitions are spreaheaded by a proactive education policy and are the driving force behind music education in the region.

In the history of recording, there have been literally dozens and dozens of recordings of Hector Berlioz's monstrous masterpiece "Symphonie Fantastique", a work that is arguably the first musical masterpiece of terror. Judging by the performance given here on Naxos by Yoav Talmi and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, plenty! With the recording quality as high as it is, and the recording itself very well priced, this version of Berlioz's nightmarish masterpiece has much to show, including the piece de resistance, the "Witches Sabbath" in the fifth movement, with the use of the ancient chant "Dies Irae" ringing out in the trombones (a chant that would find it's way into the music of such chilling movies as A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Poltergeist).

A Grammy�-nominated recording artist, a concert violinist since the age of four, and an award-winning performer (GOLD MEDAL at the 2017 Global Music Awards), Elmira Darvarova caused a sensation, becoming the first ever (and only so far) woman-concertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. With the MET Orchestra she toured Europe, Japan and the United States, and was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, CDs and laser discs on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and EMI labels. As concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera she has performed with the greatest conductors of our time, including the legendary Carlos Kleiber. She studied with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London (on a British Council scholarship), with Josef Gingold at Indiana Universtiy in Bloomington (as one of his assistants), and, privately, with Henryk Szeryng.

If you have a weakness for Grainger the orchestral wizard, then this is one disc you simply cannot afford to be without... I hope Simon will soon follow it up (I long for new recordings of priceless miniatures like Children's March and Colonial Song); in the meantime, see if you agree with Delius who thought The Warriors by far Grainger's greatest thing". I know I do." (critic's Choice, Dec.1990, Gramophone)

OehmsClassics is delighted to announce the future cooperation with Andres Orozco-Estrada and his Tonkunstler-Orchestra Niederosterreich. This recording of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 with the Tonkunstler Orchestra is the first CD being issued.

Classical Music

SYMPHONY NO. 40: SYMPHONY NO.

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Mikhail Pletnev is an artist whose genius as pianist, conductor and composer enchants and amazes audiences around the globe. His musicianship encompasses a dazzling technical power and provocative emotional range, and a searching interpretation that fuses instinct with intellect. Under his leadership, in a few short years the Russian National Orchestra achieved towering stature among the world's orchestras. They now present Tchaikovsky's stunning Symphony No. 1 and his Slavonic March, Op. 31.

"Pletnev is a most caring and thoughtful shaper of moods as the First Symphony shows. The playing is finely nuanced to match the strong balletic character. Indeed it made me think of Nutcracker more than once." - MusicWeb International, (Referring to original DG release now reissued on Pentatone.)

These albums left their mark on the Schumann discography: performing the works on period instruments, the artists suddenly revealed unexpected textures and sonorities. This boxed set assembles the three discs for the first time, with a bonus Blu-ray of the three concertos and the Overture, Scherzo and Finale in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Andrew Armstrong's debut album for Rubicon is a fascinating recital of American piano music. The great George Gershwin is represented by his 3 Preludes, plus I Got Rhythm, and his most popular work, the sparkling Rhapsody in Blue, which unbelievably is 100 years old in 2024. Two African American composers, Julia Perry and William Grant Still feature - Still's impressive 3 Visions, and Perry's exquisite Prelude. Aaron Jay Kernis's Before Sleep and Dreams is a 5-movement suite from 1990, which depicts in music the process of putting a small child to bed. It's precedents are Schumann's Kinderszenen and Children's Corner by Debussy. It is a delightful and touching work. Finally, Andrew Armstrong's own composition, She Fell for a Flyfisher, is a beguiling, sparkling miniature.

Classical Music