Poetic Tone Pictures

Trio Works

Meyerbeer completed L’Africaine on the day he died and after he had changed its title to Vasco da Gama. A performing version was prepared for the premiere under its original title after the composer’s death but the new critical edition of the score recorded here reflects Meyerbeer’s original intentions. This Oper Frankfurt production features tenor Michael Spyres in the principal role, conducted by Antonello Manacorda.

Recording Brahms’ violin sonatas can be a formidable task for young violinists. Søren Elbæk (pronounced “Sorn Elbeck”...almost) from the Copenhagen Trio took the challenge in his stride with his sidekick Morten Mogensen also a member of the Copenhagen Trio. The two musicians have been playing together since their early teens (they are now in their mid-20s) and it shows in their empathic performance. Just recently a DJ from the Danish National Radio broadcasted this CD to declare that he considered Søren’s rendition superior to any releases from the major labels.

Trio Soleil consists of Denmark’s foremost pianist Elisabeth Westenholz, the principal clarinetist of the Danish National Radio Symphony orchestra Niels Thomsen and Tim Frederiksen who is the newly appointed professor (in viola) at the Royal Danish Academy Of Music in Copenhagen.

The third volume of Schubert 4-hand piano works by Lønskov/Ilambias team. On the earlier releases of the series, Gérard Honoré of the French Repertoire wrote, “Le duo Dano-argentin..., capable de la plus belle réussite...”, “Le jeu des deux interprètesest homogène et internse. La respiration, pleine de sensibilité, est soubent subtie, et très attentive au texte...”

Nikolai Madojan who is turning 21 this year is no new comer to the world’s major concert scenes since his sensational debut with the Kirov Orchestra at the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival in 1989, when he was only 16. Nikolai, in spite of his youth, is a dazzling virtuoso on the stage and the critics do not shy away from giving him superlative praises like “the driving force of the concert...”, “masterly interpretation..”, “a performance of genius!”, etc. This is Nikolai’s debut CD for which he chose the works by Prokofiev not only to showcase his performance skills and profound interpretation but also to express his personal background as an Armenian born youth who had to witness his home land falling apart in turmoil. Nikolai Madojan lives now in Lübeck, Germany with his family.

Complete Trio Works

Lerchenmusik

Complete Songs, vol. 1

Symphony 5, Hearing Andersen,

Winner of numerous international cello competitions Michaela Fukacova has established herself in the forefront of world’s elite cellists. Here on her fifth CD on Kontrapunkt, Michaela together with Czech’s leading pianist Ivan Klansky interprets Russian masterpieces for cello. On her London concert, The Times wrote, “...she displayed her full impassioned tone and eloquent musicianship.

The second volume of Schubert’s Four Hand series by the popular piano duo Lønskov & Llambias includes rarely recorded Lebensstürme, a very original work published after Schubert’s death. Danish Tove Lønskov and her Argentinean husband Rodolfo Llambias, both students of Wilhelm Kempff and Guido Agosti, are presently working on a Tchaikovsky project.

Though they are still in their late 20s, The Copenhagen Trio is celebrating its 10th anniversary next year. Started playing together as teen-agers while still at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, their extraordinary talent was soon recognized by the critics and the public alike. The Copenhagen Trio has been active in giving concerts in major cities of Europe and later this month they are performing at the Wigmore Hall in London. in recording. This their sixth CD on Kontrapunkt includes very rarely recorded Trio Élégiaque G Minor.

Impressions Of Nordic Nature

Wind Chamber Music 3

Poème

Harder: Songs

This second album of Mozart’s complete Masses (Volume 1 is on 8.574370) pairs one work of exceptional dimensions and ambition with a miniature example. The ‘Great’ Mass in C minor is one of Mozart’s most spectacular and cast on such a scale that it embraces every human and spiritual emotion, reconciling the Salzburg tradition with that of Italian opera. The Mass was left incomplete by Mozart– it is heard here in a performing version made by the German musicologist and Mozart specialist Franz Beyer. By comparison the Missa brevis in C major exudes a spirit of festive concision.

Russian organist Konstantin Volostnov performs Brahms’ complete organ works on the Röver organ of the Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. The instrument was built in 1898 and had suffered years of neglect but, remarkably, was one of the only Röver organs to remain completely original and intact, with a subsequent overhaul undertaken over several years.

Learn more about this recording on the Naxos Classical Spotlight podcast!

Louis Wayne Ballard was the first indigenous North American composer of art music and a highly respected authority on his culture’s musical heritage. Conductor John Jeter and the Forth Smith Symphony continue their Naxos journey of rediscovering neglected American composers in a program of world premiere recordings.

REVIEW:

The conductor John Jeter could be categorized as an angelic force for overlooked American music. Here, he and his Fort Smith Symphony are back for an invaluable hour in the company of the Native American composer Louis Wayne Ballard, whose music has yet to receive substantial interest from record labels.

The first three movements from “Scenes From Indian Life,” written in 1963, have an unassuming playfulness. (The fourth movement, appended in 1994, takes on a graver cast.) But the longer pieces are even more impressive. Selections from Ballard’s ballet “The Four Moons” could pair well with Bernstein’s “Fancy Free” suite. The tone-poem writing of Ballard’s Fantasy Aborigine No. 3, “Kokopelli” could lend an American air to an orchestral program featuring music by Strauss.

The singing wind, brass, and string lines threaded throughout his “Devil’s Promenande” are captivating, too. While the playing here is persuasive as per usual, I also came away from this album hoping to hear Ballard’s music taken up by orchestras far and wide.

-- New York Times (Seth Colter Walls)

This is the first ever complete recording of German composer Nicolaus Bruhns’ organ works. Bruhns, Scheidemann and Flor were the prominent figures of the 17th century German music. During this period Schleswig-Holstein in the northern part of Germany was the center of musical life. The recording took place in Eckernförde and Husum, Germany where Bruhns lived and worked. Organist Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen graduated from the conservatory in Esberg and further studied in Paris and Vienna. His teachers include Marie-Claire Alain, André Isoir and Michael Radulescu.

This is the fourth release (two more to come) of N.W. Gade’s Cantata Series. Earlier releases (KPT 32070 “Elverskud”, KPT 32072 “Kalanus”, KPT 32148“Zion, Die Heilige Nacht, Gefion”) have been received with enormous interest throughout the world and generated quite an excitement around this composer who has unjustly been placed more or less in the shadow of Carl Nielsen. “Comala” is Gade’s first attempt in his orchestra/chorus works which he called “Concert Pieces” composed in 1846 in Leipzig where he was taken under the wing of Mendelssohn whose post at the Gewandhaus Gade succeeded eventually.

The fact that all of their concerts are sold out as soon as they are announced is a proof of Collegium Musicum’s enormous popularity in Denmark. It is an orchestra consists of principal instrumentalists of major symphony orchestras throughout the country including flutist Toke Lund Christiansen and his colleagues in the wind section here. This complete collection of flute chamber music by Ibert is the first and only release available presently.

The increasingly popular Nielsen symphony series reached its fifth volume here including two pieces for string orchestra: Andante Tranquillo and Scherzo which are premier recordings. Earlier releases received a number of favourable reviews: KPT 321771 “...one of the most interesting interpretations available in the market now...the orchestra presentation is absolutely impeccable...” (The Jutland Post) KPT 32178 “...The Odense orchestra play with sensitivity and a total commitment throughout...” (The Gramophone)