In recording these, the earliest revelations of Schubert’s boundless lyricism in his early romantic compositional voice as applied to instrumental chamber music, we sought to pay homage to the original intent as well as the authentic sounds.

The Sonatinas, (a posthumous title), were written for music of the chamber, a time of gathering, sharing, and delighting in the discoveries, creations, and talents of others. The Sonatinas are a revealing view into the birth of Schubert’s romantic voice. Whether the sturm und drang of the G Minor and its Haydn-esque representation of drama, the early Beethovenian poise, manner, and delight in the D Major, or the unabashed dramatic and unapologetic severity in the A Minor, (Lord Byron’s Manfred was written the same year!), these works show us young Schubert’s boundless expressive spirit.

The piano is an Érard concert grand, built in Paris circa 1835. It is in immaculate condition, superbly conditioned by Frits Janmaat at Maison Érard in Amsterdam. Parallel-strung, and with dampers beneath the strings, the registers have clear distinction; the action is agile; the rich tonal depth is special. The violin is a rare find, built by Franz Kinberg after the Second World War and set up for late Classical and early Romantic historical instrument performance. The gut-strung violin is paired with an extraordinary bow made by John Dodd, London, circa 1800. This pre-modern, transitional bow is a perfect example of the bows still in favor in Vienna at the time the Sonatinas were composed.

REVIEW:

 These are wonderful works whose considerable depths certainly belie the “sonatina” designation and whose structure and emotional heft Gajić and Carrettin explore with remarkable sensitivity and thoroughness—and with instrumental sound that is, in and of itself, a real joy to hear.

– Infodad.com

Argentinian composer, poet and teacher JOSÉ ANTONIO BOTTIROLI found his ideal means of expression in the Romantic idiom and in shorter forms of music. Exploiting the rich resources of the waltz, his pieces are infused with a remarkable range of moods, intimacies, real-life experiences and scenes from nature, as well as portraits of children and loved ones, such as the iconic Verdadero in honour of the composer’s wife – all played with the unique insights of his student and protégé Fabio Banegas. FABIO BANEGAS has appeared in recitals and as soloist in the United States, Europe and in his native Argentina. A recipient of numerous scholarships and awards in Argentina and in the US, he studied at the National University of Rosario (UNR) under Professor Nelly Gabús and Professor Anna María Cué, and earned a Masters of Music at California State University Fullerton (CSUF) under Dr Susan Svr?ek. Fabio Banegas is a specialist interpreter of the Argentinean composer José Antonio Bottiroli, of whom he was a student, and has given world premières of many of the composer’s works. He is currently based in Los Angeles.

Brian’s Sixth Symphony, subtitled “Sinfonia Tragica,” makes an ideal introduction to his music. It’s full of evocative sounds and unusually (for him) arresting thematic ideas, and its single movement takes less than twenty minutes. The last few minutes are a Mahlerian phantasmagoria of march and dance tunes not unlike the wild outburst in the development section of the first movement of the German composer’s Third Symphony, but the final bars are hauntingly elegiac. Very well recorded once before for Lyrita, this newcomer is also quite well done, and has enough differences in tone and texture to justify duplication.

Symphonies Nos. 28 and 29 both date from 1967, and both have four movements that play without pause, more or less. No. 28 is only fourteen minutes long in total. Late Brian is an acquired taste, largely because of the music’s relentlessly contrapuntal textures, heavy orchestration with lots of low brass and percussion, and lack of simple repetition to permit listeners to get their bearings. Indeed, these pieces, and the brief, single-movement No. 31 for that matter, sound as though Brian simply chopped off hunks of music from some larger overall blob of material. And yet, the opening of No. 28 has an innocent simplicity of tone and texture that the composer never lost, and all of this music sounds like no one else. That is why it retains its peculiar fascination. It may not be “easy” or “friendly,” but it is distinctive, and the work of a strong musical personality with a definite message.

As with No. 6, the performances under Alexander Walker sound remarkably assured given the unfamiliarity of the material, and they are very well recorded. The Havergal Brian Society and Mr. Godfrey Berry underwrote this production, and they definitely got their money’s worth.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Idil Biret’s chamber music performances are relatively rare. Most importantly, she played Beethoven’s violin Sonatas Nos. 5, 7 and 9 with Yehudi Menuhin at the Istanbul Festival in July 1973. In 1975, she played all the five Beethoven cello sonatas with Maurice Gendron. With the London String Quartet, in 1980, Biret played the Schumann and Brahms Piano Quintets at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London, later at the Istanbul Festival and then recorded the Brahms Quintet as well as the Mahler Piano Quartet with the LSQ. In 2011, she played in concerts and recorded Berlioz’s Harold in Italy in Liszt’s piano transcription and Brahms’ 2nd Viola Sonata with Rusen Gu¨nes. In 2014, she played in concerts and recorded the Schumann Piano Quintet with the Borusan Quartet of Turkey. The same year, she recorded the two cello sonatas of Brahms with Roderic von Bennigsen. Finally, in 2019, Biret played and recorded Mendelssohn’s 1st Piano Trio and the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio with Irina Nikotina and Julya Krepak. These are some of the memorable chamber music performances of her career.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins return with the start of a Beethoven Violin Sonata Cycle – here recording the 1st, 5th and 8th sonatas. Gramophone Magazine said “The heart gives a little leap at the prospect of...a duo as engaging and intelligent as Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins.” This cycle is sure to be one of the highlights of Signum’s year, as well as of Beethoven 250. Beethoven’s twelve violin sonatas add up to a comprehensive exploration of the possibilities and potential of writing for the two instruments on equal terms – possibilities that he was ideally placed to understand. The three sonatas on this recording are waypoints on a journey, crafted by a composer who was both violinist and pianist, and who never ceased exploring the practical possibilities of the instruments for which he wrote.

REVIEW:

Their complementary personalities meet most harmoniously in the Spring Sonata’s Adagio, where Watkins draws an appealing, fortepiano-like resonance from the piano and Waley-Cohen’s phrasing taps the music’s pastoral roots. Each of the three sonatas inhabits its own costume, made to measure.

–Gramophone (Editor's Choice, August 2020)

Described by critics as a 'bona fide angel playing' and an 'electrifying pianist', the young Ukrainian-born, North Carolina-based Valentina Lisitsa has been receiving rave reviews ever since her debut in Avery Fisher Hall for the Mostly Mozart Festival.

To mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Russian born arranger Paul Struck has arranged two of the composer’s great mid-period chamber masterpieces for soloist and string ensemble. Expanding the sonorities of the ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata – Beethoven’s most important chamber work for violin – allows the sonata’s concertante quality to emerge in a new light. The Cello Sonata No. 3 equally succeeds in conceiving the piano part for ensemble, while exploring fullness of sound and maintaining transparency of texture.

Spark plays Baroque music. That sounds simple, but is in fact highly complex. That's because when an ensemble like Spark approaches a past era, that can only come about with a fresh new perspective, bold reorientation and lots of delight in experimentation. It is not for nothing that the ECHO Klassik prizewinning formation enjoys a reputation for blending the old and the new, tradition and innovation, the familiar and the unheard-of in a unique manner. Consequently, on their upcoming release "BE BAROQUE" the five exceptional musicians are not interested in simply arranging Baroque works for their formation. On the contrary: in their new arrangements they aim to highlight new aspects, intensify moods and awaken unforeseen associations. Baroque manners are assimilated, spun and transformed into the musical language of the 21st century. Based on a number of masterworks by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and others, Spark creates its very own Baroque tableau whose color spectrum ranges from almost true-to-the-original reproduction through to a completely new composition.

This album showcases works by Romantic composer Daniel-Francois Auber and classical-era luminary Andre Ernest Modeste Grétry. New Orleans was one of the first cities in the U.S. to embrace opera on a significant level, becoming well-known for its French Opera House in the 19th Century. This album features some key French arias that figured prominently in New Orleans in the early 19th Century, in the overlap between eras.

Dr. Alissa Mercurio Rowe is an active choral conductor, voice teacher, and soloist. She currently serves as Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Southeastern Louisiana University. During the summers of 2003 and 2004 she served as a member of the All-State voice faculty at Interlochen Arts Academy. She conducts the Southeastern Concert Choir, Southeastern Louisiana University's premiere choral ensemble, with which she conducted several world premieres. She is active as an adjudicator, has given choral and vocal workshops in the Midwest and Southeastern states, and has conducted numerous Honor Choirs.

Taking its title from the village in which Leoš Janáček was born, this album of chamber works by the prize-winning Portuguese composer Sérgio Azevedo reveals his deep affinity for the music and personality of the great Czech composer. Using fragments from Janáček’s In the Mists and On an Overgrown Path has allowed Azevedo to create a ‘doppelgänger’ a of the original material. It draws his music in unsuspected directions, either abandoning the fragments as the music develops or generating new aural contexts. The resultant music represents an unclassifiable but profound communication between two composers from two different epochs.

Classical Music

A brief glance at the list of contents is enough to reveal who the singer is – only Anne Sofie von Otter could have come up with a programme as varied and wide-ranging. And only von Otter could hold it together seamlessly by finding the resonances between these very different pieces, and bringing them out with a rare ability of embracing different singing styles and expressive registers: to paraphrase Bernstein in his A Simple Song, Anne Sofie von Otter never fails to ‘sing like she likes to sing’. From Liszt to Pärt and from Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony to Richard Rodgers’ Sound of Music, von Otter is supported by her long-time accompanist Bengt Forsberg, here at the organ instead of his usual piano. At various points in the programme they are joined by a number of musical friends, in the organ loft of St James’s Church in central Stockholm – the very church where the young von Otter began her singing career as a chorister and, together with Forsberg, gave one of her very first public concerts.

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REVIEW:

A Simple Song’ is a thoughtful, even challenging recital, given extra colour by the fact that Forsberg, her longtime song partner, here swaps his piano for the organ of the Stockholm church where the young von Otter started singing as a teen. This is a delightful, surprising and thought-provoking programme – difficult to classify, perhaps, but very easy to enjoy.

– Gramophone

The Renaissance Men are back with their latest release on Navona Records: A VERY RENMEN CHRISTMAS: LIVE! The album, which features lush choral arrangements of traditional hymns and holiday classics, captures the festive spirit of the RenMen’s annual Christmas galas for listeners everywhere. Following on the heels of their 2019 release, RENMEN LAMENTS, this newest collection offers timeless seasonal chamber music arranged for tenor, baritone, and bass voices.

The album opens with soloist Corey Dalton Hart intoning the verse of Some Children See Him; the sparkling clarity of each rounded note is soon multiplied by the rest of the choir, elevating the performance to spiritual heights. This is followed by Cantate Domino, an invigorating setting of Psalm 96. With its aggressive rhythmic action and sensitive dynamics, the Latin text is presented as an arresting and captivating musical piece. Riu Chiu is a traditional Spanish song, and the RenMen bring it to life with passionate energy against the chattering rhythm of a tambourine. The RenMen treat listeners to favorite classics, as well, but always with that signature sound and attention to detail they are known for. Their rendition of I’ll Be Home for Christmas is a treatment of the song made popular by Rascal Flatts. Blending the choral group’s influences, this number incorporates jazz, country, and popular stylings seamlessly with traditional choral techniques. Later, songs like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman offer a lighthearted counterpoint to O Magnum Mysterium and Angels We Have Heard on High, making this a joyful and inviting holiday album for the whole family.

Steeped in time-honored western choral music and flavored with yuletide fun, A VERY RENMEN CHRISTMAS: LIVE! brings the merriment of the RenMen’s live performances to your living room. Pour some eggnog, don that favorite Christmas sweater, and enjoy this collection of ancient and modern classics.

Includes work(s) by John Philip Sousa. Ensemble: Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Keith Brion.

"These two symphonies - the fourth premiered in 1942 in Cleveland, the ninth in 1969 in Philadelphia - are full of arresting moments, both emotionally and in terms of orchestral effects. . . These pieces are layered with dark mysteries that make you want to hear them again and again. Also, the recording quality drawn from Seattle's Benaroya Hall is outstanding." - David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, May 29th, 2005

"...Though separated by decades, the two war symphonies are exceptional -- exemplary showcases of "The American Sound" in symphonic music (i.e. athletic, modal, spacious, dramatic, starkly songful). They are soundscapes full of mass sonority, vigor and seriousness. The performances and recordings are brand new and superb." - John Simon, Buffalo News, Sunday, May 22nd, 2005


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