In the most complete edition possible, this recording features Mozart's horn concertos including the unfinished movements and the first movement of K412 in which Mozart wrote some scandalous text. Herman Jeurissen did all the research and is one of the top horn players in the world. The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra is conducted by an inspired Roy Goodman.

Brahms originally wrote the Piano Quintet, Op. 34, for string quintet before recasting the work as a two-piano sonata. However, the sheet music has not ever been recovered. So, finnish cellist Karttunen set about its reconstruction. The result has all the vigor and power of the music we know but now recast in a different sonority.

REVIEW:

Another triumph for a small independent label. Brilliant thought provoking re-evaluations of ‘standard’ works by Brahms. The double viola version of the clarinet quintet in Brahms’ own arrangement is especially rewarding featuring some of the most beautiful viola playing I have ever heard from Steven Dann. Life-enhancing stuff.

-- MusicWeb International

Providing an overview of almost a century, this album reflects the aspirations of Polish nationalism through the works of three pivotal figures: Karol Kurpinski, whose Fantasy for String Quartet is both serious and ingenious in design, Zygmunt Noskowski, whose witty piece on a theme of Viotti includes the use of a polacca, and Stanislaw Moniuszko, whose quartets balance the hymnal with the rustic.

Introducing the latest recording with Luisa Imorde and the Bremer Philharmoniker, featuring two great romantic Piano Concertos from Clara Schumann and Carl Maria von Weber. Following the success of her previous albums dedicated to Beethoven/Wölfl, Bach/Kapustin, and Couperin/Messiaen, the pianist now presents her latest recording that explores the romantic repertoire with orchestra. This album features two Piano Concertos that beautifully capture the essence of the romantic era, complemented by solo piano pieces by Robert and Clara Schumann and C.M. von Weber. Weber's departure from the classical to the romantic era and Schumann's legacy as a female composer bear witness to the mastery of both in Luisa Imorde's outstanding interpretation.

World Premiere Recording of a sophisticated and elegant collection of gallant String Trios. Leopold Hofmann, pupil of Wagenseil, was a major figure in the late 18th Century Vienna. A new meaningful find by the ever investigating Musica Elegentia and its leader Matteo Cicchitti. Their previous release (CC 72896 – Wagenseil: Six Trios) was widely acclaimed by critic. 5 stars by Classica (FR): “A top-notch performance.” Musicweb (UK): “Well played and recorded, delightful music by a Viennese composer still too often overlooked.” 5 stars by Pizzicato (DE).

The Icelandic composer Hugi Guðmundsson has penned a new oratorio infused with religious themes, featuring an ensemble of orchestra, choir, and soloists. The Gospel of Mary draws inspiration from a long-forgotten gospel written in the early centuries after Christ's birth, which challenges the established narrative surrounding the role of Mary Magdalene in Christianity. This deeply moving oratorio dares to challenge established norms by portraying Mary Magdalene as an apostle on par with her male counterparts.

His second album on Signum Records, countertenor Randall Scotting is joined by celebrated lutenist Stephen Stubbs for a collection of anti-Valentine’s songs focussing on heartbreak and loss from the 17th century. “Perhaps there is no cure for lovesickness; but we are confident that this album will be a comfort for all those who have loved, lost, and hope to love again”. – Wendy Heller, Chair, Dept. of Music, Princeton University.

REVIEW:

The program is skillfully planned and beautifully executed. It begins explosively – no preparatory bars from the lute – with William Lawes’s ‘I’m sick of life’, an early-ish attempt, one would guess, at recitative in English. It’s followed by two strophic songs: the traditional Scottish ‘There’s none to soothe my soul to rest’ and an air de cour, ‘Enfin la beauté que j’adore’ by Étienne Moulinié. There’s Italian opera, too, in the shape of arias from Cesti’s Orontea and Cleopatra by Daniele da Castrovillari, a name new to me.

Given the title of the album, it’s not surprising that there are no laughs to be had here. Monotony is averted by the inclusion of instrumental solos, none more beguiling than a Suite from Purcell’s King Arthur – presumably arranged by Stubbs – that comprises ‘Your hay it is mowed’, ‘Fairest Isle’ and ‘Come if you dare’. Scotting sings throughout with rich, even tone and clear diction.

-- Gramophone

Arturs Maskats (b. 1957) is an award-winning Latvian composer who has been at the center of Latvian cultural life for decades, especially in the field of theater and opera. Besides operas, incidental music and film music, his catalogue of works includes several orchestral works and concertos, songs and choral works. Maskats’ compositions are tonal, often romantic and cinematic, and marked by deep atmosphere. One of Maskats’ latest creations in the field orchestral music is his Accordion Concerto (2021) here performed by his fellow Latvian, star-accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, one of the brightest names in classical music today. His Tango (2002) for symphony orchestra is Maskats’ internationally most well-known and one of the most often performed orchestral pieces of Latvian music.

REVIEW:

A wonderfully diverse collection of music from this contemporary Latvian composer whose work spans a number of different musical fields. The spirited Tango (2002) pairs well with the very recent Accordion Concerto “What the wind told the sea” and is followed by a further two pieces, Cantus Diatonicus (1982) and the extended My river runs to thee from 2019. All of this music was new to me and very enjoyable.

-- Lark Reviews (Stephen Page)

Treading a tightrope between death, life and intense romance in the opulent world of 19th-century Habsburg royalty, Elisabeth tells the story of the beautiful Empress of Austria, from her wedding, to her tragic assassination by the hand of the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni. Ongoing dark obsessions and inner turmoil are undercurrents as family schisms flare up amidst a crumbling empire. These powerful themes and a potent score brimming with fabulous music have combined to establish Elisabeth as the most successful German-language musical of all time. This spectacular open-air event presents Elisabeth at the fabled empress’s real-life home – Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

Armenian pianist and composer Stephan Elmas was a child prodigy who met Franz Liszt and became closely acquainted with Rubinstein and Massenet. Elmas’s life was darkened by illness and the tragedy of his homeland, but his music reflects the ease and facility of his technique, harking back to the Romanticism of Chopin, Liszt and Schumann, rather than the challenging times in which he lived, and with a quality of craftsmanship that gives his music a magnetic attractiveness. Mikael Ayrapetyan continues his acclaimed exploration of rediscovered Armenian piano repertoire with the first in this series of Elmas’s complete works for piano.

REVIEWS:

All in all, this was a highly enjoyable recital…What Elmas, and in turn Ayrapetyan, prove throughout this recital is that there is still quite a bit to say in these styles and musical language.

-- Fanfare

this first volume in a complete series is to be welcomed. Mikael Ayrapetan’s performances bring this music to life and make for a very enjoyable collection. This volume places the Seven Nocturnes together with a number of Ballades, Barcarolles and Romance in Eb Major.

-- Lark Reviews

Tvær hliðar/Two Sides presents two contrasting sides of our music-making. On the first album we perform our core repertoire of Italian and Swedish Baroque music, but Barokkbandið Brák also seeks to expand the repertoire for historical instruments by commissioning new works by up and coming Icelandic composers, and the second album showcases new Icelandic music written specially for the ensemble. All of these works share the same sound world as all the music is performed on historical instruments from the baroque era.

REVIEW:

This is a gripping if curiously conceived album, divided unequally between an entertaining music from the High Baroque, and four new works by young Icelandic composers all commissioned by Barokkbandi Brák.

There are no doubts about Barokkbandi Brák’s virtuosity or musicality: the lively opening Allegro of Vivaldi’s Sinfonia bounds along with flawless intonation and ensemble. In Agrell’s vibrant Sinfonia in A and Sammartini’s energetic Concerto grosso, musical flow is always beautifully maintained, moving consistently at pace without seeming hurried. Barokkbandi Brák’s partnership with Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir in the Agrell Concerto is immaculate, with a real sense of joy – but then Kristinsdóttir is not only one of theirs but was one of the founders of the group in 2015. The same applies to the crisp performance of Vivaldi’s triple concerto for two violins and cello, featuring the group’s co-founder Laufey Jensdóttir and cellist Steinunn Arnbjörg Stefánsdóttir.

The group’s chamber credentials are highlighted in the trio sonatas by Corelli and Stradella, and – in a very different vein – Thrainn Hjalmarsson’s string quartet Recitar cantando/Speaking in Song, a study in ethereal textures. Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir composed her septet Quorum Sensing to evoke the biological mechanism that can ‘regulate gene expression’ and ‘co-ordinate group behavior’. Starting in not dissimilar expressive territory to Recitar cantando, it develops, slowly, in a more focused manner. Finnur Karlsson describes Fold as ‘a kind of contemplation about different aspects of Baroque music’. Kristinn Kristinsson’s diptych BRK also explicitly references the Baroque at its opening, though the music immediately circles away from (and back to, several times) the idiom in the first span’s sedate progress. Sono Luminus’s sound is crystal clear throughout.

-- Gramophone

This new release is the penultimate volume in this acclaimed series of Medtner’s Complete Piano Sonatas performed by series pianist Paul Stewart. Medtner’s 14 piano sonatas, the most significant achievement in this genre by any major composer since Beethoven, span his career. The Sonata-Ballade explores a tempestuous musical allegory – the triumph of Light over Darkness, of Faith over Doubt; while the Sonata in A minor is cast in a single, terse movement, with folkloric elements and frequent use of bell-like features that exude Russianness. By contrast, the ‘Night Wind’ Sonata is a monumental epic of exceptional complexity that stunned Rachmaninov and led composer and critic Sorabji to call it ‘the greatest piano sonata of modern times.’

Twice GRAMMY-nominated composer and performer Derek Bermel studied with Henri Dutilleux, Dutch avant-gardist Louis Andriessen, and ragtime revivalist William Bolcom. In his music, seemingly antithetical qualities – classical and vernacular, comic and serious – merge and transform each other unpredictably, their inspiration ranging from theatre (Ritornello), to gestalt psychology (Figure and Ground), to meditations on cosmology (A Short History of the Universe). Thracian Sketches explores and reimagines Bulgarian folk music, while the Violin Etudes distill Bermel’s intellectual creativity into its purest form. The widely celebrated JACK Quartet has maintained an unwavering commitment to its mission of performing and commissioning new works, giving voice to underheard composers, and cultivating an ever-greater sense of openness toward contemporary classical music.

REVIEWS:

The JACK Quartet plays with great clarity and athleticism; and the group is wholly comfortable in any context, from hushed moments to driving climaxes and raucous special effects. Hijmans executes his concerto grosso with flair and virtuosity; and Otto renders the etudes with marvelous skill and artistry. As expected, Bermel contributes his superb fingers, wide dynamic range, and mind-blowing sonic manipulations that should not be possible on the clarinet.

-- American Record Guide

Part of Naxos’s esteemed ‘American Classics’ series, Intonations is a composer-based collection with a difference: Derek Bermel not only wrote its five works, he plays on two also. His clarinet isn’t the only distinctive sound on the nearly seventy-minute release, either. Dutch electric guitarist Wiek Hijmans plays on one piece, and the renowned JACK Quartet appears too, generally as a group but with violinist Christopher Otto playing solo on Violin Etudes. Intonations is marked by many things, including variety, and in featuring five world-premiere recordings, the release is an invaluable addition to the award-winning composer’s discography.

Intonations speaks flatteringly of Bermel’s gifts as a writer but also instrumentalist. To call his clarinet playing impressive hardly does it justice. He’s appeared as a soloist alongside Wynton Marsalis, has performed his clarinet concerto Voices around the world with dozens of orchestras, and is the founding clarinetist of Music from Copland House. His playing is so credible, Bermel could easily fill a personnel spot in an ensemble such as Oregon or The Silk Road Ensemble were the opportunity to present itself...That Bermel’s classical creations often exhibit a pronounced jazz, blues, and/or world flavour shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given such diversity of experience.

Intonations is an arresting portrait, not only for its kaleidoscopic range but for the sheer breadth of Bermel’s imagination and interests. That no other recording sounds quite like it is one of the better compliments one could pay to its creator. There’s nothing, it seems, he can’t do and no musical subject matter he’s incapable of tackling.

-- Textura

This showcase of music for different forms and instrument combinations is united by Bermel’s musical curiosity and creative showmanship. Elements of folk and blues permeate traditional classical forms in masterful ways, resulting in a joyous listen. Characterful.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Features Philippe Entremont (piano), L'orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Berj Zamkochian (organ), Bernard Zighera (piano), Leo Litwin (piano), The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Samuel Lipman (piano), Martin Hoherman (cello)

Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson, Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, Arthur Fiedler.

Recorded in: Orchestra Hall, Chicago 27, 28 November 1989 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Mitchell Heller (assistant)