Outlet CDs
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Giuliani: Music for Two Guitars, Vol. 1 / McFadden, Kolk
Mauro Giuliani was regarded in his day as "perhaps the greatest guitarist who has ever lived", making his name in Vienna and mixing with the likes of Beethoven. On his return to Italy in 1820, he consorted with Paganini and Rossini which resulted in his arranging four of the latter's overtures for two guitars. These versions abound in lyrical melodic lines, fast arpeggios, subtle colors and technical virtuosity also to be heard in the Gran variazioni concertanti. The Tre Polonesi concertanti are also full of joie de vivre, lively dance rhythms and elegant melodies.
Messiaen: Meditations sur le Mystere de la Sainte Trinite / Winpenny
Olivier Messiaen’s Meditations sur le Mystere de la Sainte Trinite grew out of improvisations that he performed at the inauguration of the rebuilt organ of La Trinite in 1967. It became his largest cycle to date and marks Messiaen’s first use of ‘communicable language,’ in which each letter of the alphabet is assigned a unique pitch and note value, thereby translating text into music. Haunting harmonies, awe-inspiring monumental grandeur and the deepest profundity of expression are contrasted by the innocence of birdsong with the recurrent call of the yellowhammer, a tranquil voice from nature amid kaleidoscopic Biblical themes.
Bach: Music For Lute-Harpsichord / Elizabeth Farr
R E V I E W S:
"The harpsichord and its repertoire can make for a sensual, intimate avenue of aural escape. That takes not only a sensitive player, but an alluring instrument and the right acoustics. Even those who think they are allergic to the harpsichord may find themselves beguiled by the tone of the lute-harpsichord. This mysterious Baroque hybrid, strung mostly in gut like a lute rather than in metal like a harpsichord, combined the compass of a keyboard with the warmth of a plucked instrument. A fan of their ravishing sound, Bach owned a couple of lute-harpsichords. Robert Hill's sublime 1999 release in Hänssler's complete Bach edition has been the go-to disc for the lute-harpsichord works. But American keyboardist Elizabeth Farr—whose William Byrd collection was one of last year's best recordings [Naxos 8.570139-41]—measures up with this bargain-priced double-CD set...the clarity of Farr's playing has its own poetry, matched by transparent sound. As on her Byrd set, Farr plays a beautiful instrument by top American builder Keith Hill." -- Bradley Bambarger, The Star-Ledger (New Jersey USA), August 26, 2008
"Very expressive and colorful playing in a simply delightful listen."
Xiaogang Ye: Mount E'mei / Various
Xiaogang Ye is regarded as one of today’s leading Chinese composers, having won prestigious awards for his concert music and for numerous highly successful film scores. The works on this recording share a deep affection for the beauty and power of nature and landscape in China. Mount E’mei eulogises the great spectacle and cultural significance of the mountain, creating a multi-dimensional picture through the use of traditional instruments. Lamura Cuo and The Silence of Mount Minshan describe mystic atmosphere and melancholy silence, while Scent of Green Mango uses vibrant colors and shading to express gratitude for the fruit’s refreshing fragrance.
Images from the South / Amadeus Guitar Duo
Drawing on a wealth of original compositions for guitar duo, the Amadeus Guitar Duo here presents a superb selection of works which conjure up the heat of South America and the sultry passion of Southern Europe. From the Baroque influences in the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco to the innovative techniques used by Bolivian-born Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon, this recording is sure to evoke Images of the South in the mind of any listener.
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REVIEWS
An extremely well executed, and thoroughly entertaining and unhackneyed hour-long recital, where established masters like Rodrigo and Tárrega rub shoulders with contemporary composers like Alfonso Montes.…thoroughly recommended.
© 2016 Classic FM
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Drawing on a wealth of original compositions for guitar duo, the Amadeus Guitar Duo presents a selection of works which conjure up the heat of South America and the passion of Southern Europe. From the Baroque influences in the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco to the innovative techniques used by Bolivian-born Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon, this recording is sure to evoke Images of the South in the mind of any listener.
© 2016 WFMT
Sainton: Moby Dick / Stromberg, Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Cavazzoni: Complete Works
Bingham: Heaven and Earth / Johan Hammarström, Tom Winpenny
Judith Bingham is established as one of the foremost British composers writing for the organ. The powerfully atmospheric and evocative music in this recording richly demonstrates her gift for creating compelling works which draw inspiration from a broad range of historical, literary and artistic sources. The Åkerman & Lund organ of Västerås Cathedral is the perfect vehicle for this colorful program, and both Heaven and Earth and Eternal Procession for two organs also feature the cathedral’s Fredriksborg choir organ. Tom Winpenny’s acclaimed recording of Bingham’s Jacob’s Ladder and other works for organ can be heard on Naxos 8.572687.
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 24 / Goldstein, Fine Arts Quartet
Mozart himself saw the advantages of creating more accessible versions of his concertos in reduced instrumentation. Ignaz Lachner followed common 19th-century practice by leaving the piano parts of these concertos intact and making splendid transcriptions of the orchestra parts using only a string quartet with added bass. K. 488 and K. 491 are two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular piano concertos. These chamber versions throw an intense and intimate new light on familiar music. Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive pianists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence and dynamic personality. His career as a soloist has taken him all over the world, working with leading orchestras and conductors. The Fine Arts Quartet ranks among the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, with an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive legacy of over 200 recorded works.
Freedom from Fear / Popiel, University of Kansas Wind Ensemble
Contemporary American music for wind band continues to offer a rich combination of color and variety. David Maslanka was one of the most prolific and admired of all wind band composers, and in Liberation he utilizes plainchant in a moving exploration of death, the afterlife and the continuance of hope. Inspired by Walt Whitman, Aaron Perrine’s In the Open Air, In the Silent Lines creates a rich sense of space, while Kevin Walczyk’s moving Symphony No. 5: Freedom from Fear – Images from the Shoreline is unified by its themes of adoption, segregation and immigration. The University of Kansas Wind Ensemble enjoys a long history of excellence and musical leadership in the state of Kansas, across the nation and around the world. The ensemble is at the forefront of the Naxos Wind Band Classics series, having recorded five previous albums on the label. The ensemble is committed to contemporary music and regularly commissions, premieres and records new works.
Carmina Predulcia / Almara
Almara is an early music ensemble which was founded by Elisabeth Pawelke during her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The ensemble's musical focus is on the secular repertoire of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Around 1500 Hartmann Schedel (1440 - 1514) was one of the most important polymath of his time. Grown up in Nuremberg as son of a wealthy Nuremberg merchant, Schedel studied liberal arts and medicine in Leipzig and Padua from 1456 to 1566. Being a polymath and a conscientious archivist of his time Schedel collected the contemporary knowledge by compiling a vast collection of books with more than 600 volumes. One of these surviving books is the Song Book bearing Schedel's name. According to sources, Schedel showed no great interest in music. It seems that he wrote down the songs of his compendium primarily out of documentary interest and that with a lasting success as two thirds of the lyrics have been surviving for posterity until today.
Percival's Lament / Ferrero, Capilla Antigua De Chinchilla
M. Haydn: Missa Sancti Nicolai Tolentini / Winpenny, Lawes Baroque Players
Michael Haydn’s colorful and inventive music is uplifting and expressive in equal measure, but his music has been eclipsed by that of his elder brother Joseph, and by Mozart. Sacred music is central to Michael Haydn’s oeuvre and was considered by some contemporary critics as superior to Joseph’s. Encompassing a broad range of textures and styles, parts of the Missa Sancti Nicolai Tolentini demonstrate Haydn’s music at its most exhilarating and energetic, and his supreme gift for empfindsames (‘sensitive’) lyrical writing is also to be heard in the Vespers.
Romantic Music for Harp / Haas
John Thomas was official harpist to Queen Victoria and was known as the Chief of the Welsh Minstrels. His doleful The Minstrel’s Adieu to His Native Land illustrates the traditional folk heritage associations with the instrument.
The Smetana Die Moldau transcription is much more impressive and one of the most successful pieces in this collection. The harp brilliantly evokes the fresh tinkling, sparkling thrills of running water through the gushing springs of the upper Moldau, its progress through rapids, and forests and plains and onto Prague. The music growing from light-hearted youth in character through to proud mature grandeur as it approaches the Capital.
The lyrical beauty of Tchaikovsky’s two pieces from The Seasons are beguilingly caught by the harp, especially so of the June Barcarolle.
Virtuoso harpist Albert Zabel, was solo harpist for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. His Fantasy on themes from Faust by Charles Gounod is the most substantial piece in the programme and it allows the instrument to show off its virtuoso and dramatic/melodramatic capabilities. The Faust themes he chose seem less familiar and it would have been helpful if Pauline Haas could have elaborated her otherwise splendid, if rather colourfully effusive album notes. Ms Haas suggests that this Fantasy ‘follows the tradition of pieces written for virtuoso performance and is inspired by fashionable tunes of the period’? Whatever, here the harp sings romantically and dramatically enough and the virtuoso challenges are eagerly surmounted.
Mendelssohn’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor is a formidable work half in the Romantic tradition but also definitely in homage to the influence of Bach. The Prelude, beautifully evocatively played, ‘is often compared to a river of tears’ and the Fugue transcends tension and anger to a beatific acceptance of death. An extraordinary piece nicely, sensitively transcribed by Pauline Haas.
Finally, there is a formidable challenge for Haas; her arrangement for harp from Liszt’s piano transcription of Wagner’s Liebestodt. She successfully creates an atmosphere of calm at the beginning and serenity at the close. The emotionally intense climb to the peak of passion, is fine to start with, with plenty of sound perspective and power but, to me, it loses momentum on the way up when there is a mood-breaking sag and pause. Nevertheless this is a brave and worthy attempt.
A small moan, occasionally there is some distracting and disconcerting background noise –the soloist breathing I understand. Nevertheless this is a most interesting and enterprising collection demonstrating the undervalued capabilities of the most romantic of instruments.
– MusicWeb International (Ian Lace)
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 & Rondo, WoO 6 / Giltburg, Petrenko, RLPO
Beethoven’s first two piano concertos share an abundance of lyric and virtuosic qualities. Concerto No. 1 in C major is expansive and richly orchestrated with a sublime slow movement that is tender and ardent, and a finale full of inventive humor. Concerto No. 2 in B flat major marries energy with elegance, reserving poetic breadth for its slow movement and quirky wit for the finale. Also included is the jovial Rondo, WoO 6, which Beethoven originally intended to be the finale of Concerto No. 2.
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REVIEWS:
Here’s a very promising start to what I assume will be a new Beethoven piano concerto cycle, featuring performances not otherwise included in Naxos’ “complete” Beethoven box. Boris Giltburg plays both works with the youthful panache that they require–the kind that makes you forget about any formal issues and just revel in the virtuoso passagework and good tunes. The standard for comparison in this coupling is Argerich/Sinopoli on DG–you might think an unmatchable team, at least pianistically, but Giltburg more than holds his own. Indeed, in Concerto No. 2 he matches Argerich’s fleet timing in the finale (and other movements) almost exactly, and in the First Concerto he’s even a bit quicker, all without sacrificing subtleties of touch, dynamics and phrasing for mere velocity.
Of course there are difference–welcome ones too. In the first concerto, Giltburg adds a couple of minutes to the central Largo, producing a genuine specimen of that particular tempo designation. His legato playing is beautifully sustained, making this early example of Beethovenian lyricism a real gem. Petrenko accompanies with real flair, proving himself a true partner in both concerto first movements. It’s so much more satisfying to have a real conductor working with a gifted soloist, rather than the single-person-at-the-keyboard approach so frequently offered these days. There’s just no substitute for full-time orchestral guidance. Giltburg also includes the original “Concerto No. 2 finale version” of the Rondo WoO 6, a considerable bonus, as are his intelligent and detailed booklet notes. Fine playing, fine conducting, fine engineering–in short, a really fine release generally.
– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)
Giltburg is a subtle artist who, despite his all-encompassing technique, rarely, if ever, engages in virtuosic grandstanding, preferring instead to interpret the music for maximum artistic yield. Nor does he employ radical or eccentric interpretive approaches. Yet, his performances are never bland but rather quite individual, typically rich in nuance and meaningful detail, and containing insights missing in other versions. His accounts of the two concertos feature well-chosen dynamics, main lines and inner voices perfectly balanced, and judicious tempos. In addition, he realizes these are the works of a youthful Beethoven, not of the mature, profound and serious-minded master of the three concertos that followed. Thus, he points up their lighter, more vivacious characteristics, his dynamics appropriately less weighty and his pacing never too relaxed.
Not only do you get performances to rank with the best, but also a bonus of the splendidly played Rondo.
– MusicWeb International
Heavy Weather: Wind Concertos / Adsit, Hartt Wind Ensemble
The Hartt School Wind Ensemble presents recent concertante works by three contemporary American composers- demonstrating once more the versatility of the ensemble, heard here in conjunction with soloists. Susan Botti’s sull’ala is inspired by flight, expressed in rhythm, harmony and texture, while Jess Langston Turner describes powerful meteorological phenomena in Heavy Weather. In Guignol, Stephen Michael Grye conjures witty banter and frenetic action from his puppet hero.
Widor: Organ Symphonies, Vol. 4 / Christian Von Blohn
Catalan Wind Music, Vol. 2
Manen: Violin Concerto No. 3, 'Iberico'- Symphony No. 2, 'Iberica' / Valderrama, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Ang
Joan Manen was an admired and prolific Catalan composer who wrote in all genres, from opera to transcriptions. He was also one of the leading violinists of his day and made the first recording of Beethovens Violin Concerto. Manens Violin Concerto No. 3 Iberico is a brilliantly written and unashamedly Romantic work that exudes Iberian vitality without recourse to Hispanic effects. Cast on a huge scale, the Symphony No. 2 Iberica calls for an exceptionally large orchestra, with music that is pastoral, Spanish-flavored and, at times, solemn.
Gavrilin: The Russian Notebook - Anyuta (excerpts)
Cimarosa: Overtures, Vol. 7
Clarke: Mysteries of the Horizon / Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Nigel Clarke has always been fascinated by virtuosity and timbre- it is the brass band genre that has lent itself most to his passion for musical athleticism. ‘Dial ‘H’ for Hitchcock’ is an imaginary film score in the film noir vein, complete with classic and chilling sound effects, while the heroic, brooding and violent ‘Swift Severn’s Flood’ was inspired by a line from Shakespeare. Cornet concerto ‘Mysteries of the Horizon’ examines the atmosphere of paintings by Rene Magritte, and ‘Earthrise’ celebrates one of the most iconic photographs in history and the drama of the Apollo 8 mission.
Music for Brass Septet, Vol. 5 / Septura
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REVIEW:
The Fifth in this series from the quite remarkable London-based Septura is a disc full of innovative ideas of re-scoring familiar music made by members of the septet. The most extended section of the disc comes with six of the Preludes Debussy wrote for solo piano arranged by Simon Cox; here Septura embellish the music with the sonorities Debussy would no doubt have used. Indeed the arrangement of La Cathedral engloutie, which ends the disc, emerges as one of the finest pieces the composer never actually wrote. The virtuosity that the group display is quite remarkable, technical challenges never existing in their elevated musical world. The recording quality is equally superb.
– David's Review Corner (David Denton)
The Neoclassical Skalkottas / Tsialis, Athens State Orchestra
Despite his tragically short life, Nikos Skalkottas has now become recognized as one of the most important Greek composers of the 20th century. The modernist style of his earlier period is balanced by the four important mature neoclassical works presented here. Both the Sinfonietta and the Classical Symphony are expressions of the deep regard Skalkottas had for traditional forms blended with his unique musical language. Skalkottas was a violinist with the Athens State Orchestra, who are honoring his memory with this and future recordings of his works.
