Very little is known about the origin of J. S. Bach’s seven Toccatas (BWV?910–916) or of their use. They are believed to have been written before 1717 or the end of Bach’s Weimar period – but it is quite possible that at least some of them were drafted before he arrived there in 1707, at the age of 22. The Toccatas are usually performed on harpsichord or piano – but even though they are ‘manualiter’ (intended to be played by the hands only) and do not call for pedal parts, they are also occasionally heard on the organ. In terms of style they are examples of the so-called stylus phantasticus – ‘the most free and unfettered method of composition’ – and belong to the North German organ tradition of the late 17th century. Each piece consists of several distinct and contrasting sections, interweaving strict counterpoint and fugal passages with freely rhapsodic material, and as such the toccatas differ from the two-movement prelude-and-fugue format which Bach later would put his own, indelible stamp on. With this disc, Masaaki Suzuki takes on some of the earliest of Bach’s extant harpsichord compositions, after having released acclaimed recordings of a wide range of later works, from the two-part Inventions to the two books of the Well-Tempered Clavier. However, he also brings his experience in performing the music of Bach’s North German predecessors to bear, for instance Buxtehude (BIS-1809) and Nicolaus Bruhns.

REVIEW:

Since completing his Bach cantata cycle, conductor and keyboardist Masaaki Suzuki has turned to Bach's keyboard music. The results have been consistently satisfying, as one would expect from this great contemporary Bach interpreter, but even Suzuki fans might have wondered what he would do with these six rarely played toccatas. There are more purely dramatic readings of these works, mostly played on piano, but Suzuki is attuned to this music, and his performances are not in the least colorless. Bach's intense Adagios, like that of the Toccata in E minor, BWV 914, and the irregular structures of the music have snap and surprise. Suzuki's 1982 harpsichord, based on an enlarged Ruckers instrument, is an excellent choice for the music, and anyone whose Bach collection is missing these remarkable works can do well with this choice.

-- ALlMusic.com (James Manheim)

The three cello concertos on this disc illustrate that fertile period in the second half of the 18th century when features of the Baroque were gradually replaced by the so-called galant style. Foremost amongst the composers inaugurating this change was Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach chose Concerto in A major is a perfect example of the passionate and dramatic range that marked him out as a pivotal figure of his time. Haydn’s Concerto in C major modulates between older and newer styles, whereas his Concerto in D major is a Classical masterpiece, and a worthy companion to his greatest symphonies. For this recording Brantelid plays on an Emil Hjort, Copenhagen 1887 with gut strings.

This new album release by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu presents a new contemporary voice within Finland’s contemporary music scene: Antti Auvinen. This album includes three recent orchestral works by the composer marked by highly pressurised and explosive rhythms and sounds.

The premieres of Antti Auvinen’s (b. 1974) Junker Twist (2015) and Himmel Punk (2016) in the mid-2010s electrified the scene of Finland’s contemporary music: music critics felt that a new major voice in the country’s music scene had been born. Auvinen’s works are often thematically connected to events in the surrounding society. Junker Twist (2015) deals with the topic of rising neo-Nazist ideologies, while Himmel Punk (2016) takes a stand against religious discrimination. The most extensive work of this album, Turbo Aria (2017/2018), is partially based on arias sung by Finnish sopranos a century ago. These ‘arias’ sung by Alma Fohström, Aino Ackté and Järnefelt and the sounds of the accompanying instruments are augmented by the crackles, pops, hisses and other mechanical noises made by the original discs. Yet the work also has a second underlying theme: the refugee crisis. Is this program music? Perhaps – but it does not matter, because the music is equally impressive with the narrative or without it. In 2016, Auvinen was awarded with the Teosto award, one of the biggest music awards in the Nordic countries.

Albéniz’s distinctive musical vocabulary, with its sensual harmonies, rich melodic lines and characteristic rhythmic figures, has ensured lasting popularity, not least in his music for the piano. This album of four-hand piano music reveals the composer’s love of Spain’s regional music traditions, whether in the glittering sweep of the Suite española No. 1or in the Rapsodia Española where a hypnotic dreamscape meets dramatic outbursts. Two movements from Iberia – one of which is a rarely encountered arrangement by the great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha – reveal a daring modernity that aligns Albéniz with Debussy and Ravel.

Composer, conductor and pianist Thomas Adès has been described by The New York Times as ‘among the most accomplished all-round musicians of his generation.’ His ‘Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face’ reflects the glamor of the opera’s subject in the grand manner of Liszt or Busoni, while ‘Still Sorrowing’ and ‘Darknesse Visible’ explore John Dowland’s haunting lute works. Heard here in its world premiere recording, competition piece ‘Blanca Variations’ is lyrical and flowing in character, and ‘Traced Overhead’ is a vivid description of ascent and flight. Adès captures and transforms Polish style in his ‘Mazurkas,’ and the spirit of Satie and Ravel in a ‘Souvenir’ from the film ‘Colette.’

REVIEW:

There is Lisztian panache in the 2009 “Concert Paraphrase,” some almost Japanese sounding Dowland-lute-influenced expression with dampened strings on “Still Sorrowing” (1992) and the epically stretched and trilled impact of the companion piece “Darkness Visible.” The world premiere recording of “Blanca Variations” shows us a thoughtful, pensive side, lyrically robust. You can hear a kind of Modernist post-Scriabin on “Traced Overhead” (1996). Then there are haunting, mysterious post-Chopin explorations and playfulness on the “Mazurkas for Piano” (2009). “Souvenir” (2018) closes out the program with a kind of heartbreaking lyricism. It sounds like peak experience filtered in somewhat melancholy memory.

The music has some teeth, some bite. It challenges the player with original ornateness yet never seems to lose the center of its melodic-structural thrust.

It’s a vital set of works played with obvious relish and sympathy. Anyone who lives to hear the ivory-ebony towers of sound possible in our times will no doubt find this one as fascinating as I have.

– Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

Adolphe Adam is best known today for the ballets Giselle and Le Corsaire, but his prolific output included 39 operas and several other ballet scores, including the vivacious tale of La Filleule des fées (‘The Fairies’ God-daughter’). The story takes place in an idealized countryside, revolving around the god-daughter Ysaure’s complex amorous affairs and the magical interventions of good and wicked fairies. With its brilliantly colorful orchestration, memorable themes and rhythmic momentum, this work is very much the equal of Giselle.

Internationally acclaimed for his music for orchestra (17 symphonies and 31 concertos to date), Kalevi Aho has also composed chamber and solo works. The present disc combines six such pieces, ranging across the composer’s career. The earliest work on the disc is the Bach-inspired Sonata for solo violin from 1973, reminding us that during his years at the Sibelius Aacademy (1968 – 71), Aho studied the violin as well as composition. Another early piece, Prelude, Toccata and Postlude, also started out as a solo work – this time for the cello – before developing into a duo. From the other end, chronologically speaking, is the ample Piano Sonata No. 2 from 2016, with a duration of some 25 minutes. This time it is Beethoven who has provided inspiration, and the composer describes the work as ‘a commentary on the Hammerklavier Sonata, in which Beethoven’s motifs are frequently “misquoted” and developed in a different direction.’ The sonata closes the programme but not before giving us an opportunity to hear three further works involving the violin – a second solo piece, In memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren, written in memory of Aho’s fellow composer and friend, Lamento for two violins and Halla (‘frost’) for violin and piano. Performing these works are four highly respected Finnish musicians, the violinists (and brothers) Jaakko and Pekka Kuusisto, Samuli Peltonen (cello) and Sonja Fräki, pianist and Aho specialist.

REVIEW:

The two pieces written to mourn fellow musicians are, in fact, the best. Lamento was created for the funeral of the violinist Sakari Laukola, who died young in 2001. Jaakko Kuusisto’s sincerity obvious and his tone particularly strong and beautiful high up.

– Gramophone

The UNLV Wind Orchestra has received international acclaim for its fresh and creative approach to music making. Performing contemporary repertoire in addition to classical masterworks, the Wind Orchestra at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has been responsible for commissioning and premiering numerous significant new works by America’s finest young contemporary composers. The ensemble is comprised of music majors, non-majors, and includes select graduate students enrolled in the masters and doctoral performance degree programs at UNLV. Under the baton of Professor Thomas G. Leslie, the Wind Orchestra has received acclaim for outstanding performances at conventions across the globe. They have also received outstanding reviews for twenty professional recordings of international repute. The cornerstone of this album- and the piece from where the album’s title comes- is Morton Gould’s Festive Music, penned in 1964 by the Tri-City Symphony Orchestra of Illinois. In 1991 Mark Jirousek transcribed the work for wind band- the arrangement heard on this release. This work is paired with other remarkable wind band pieces by composers Malcolm Arnold, Howard Hanson, Julian Tanaka, and Jean Francaix.

Dale Kavanagh is one of the most prominent classical guitarists of her generation. As a soloist and a member of the acclaimed Amadeus Guitar Duo she has performed all over the world and is the dedicatee of numerous compositions. Domeniconi’s ‘Variations’ are based on a famous Anatolian folk song, while the highly original language of Britten’s evocative ‘Nocturnal’ has its starting point in a song by John Dowland. Cooperman’s Walking on Water was inspired by Peter Sellers’ last film ‘Being There,’ and Ponce’s ‘Folia de Espana’ is often considered one of the most magnificent guitar pieces ever written. Between 1986 and 1988 Canadian-born Dale Kavanagh was a top prizewinner in Spain’s Segovia Competition, Italy’s Gargnano Competition, Switzerland’s Neuchatel Competition, and first and special prizewinner in Finland’s Scandinavian International Guitar Competition. She performs internationally as a soloist and in the Amadeus Guitar Duo with German guitarist Thomas Kirchhoff and has given recitals in more than 70 countries.

This is an album that portrays an imaginary weird audition that took place in Leipzig in 1723. After Johann Kuhnau's death the Thomaskirche was in search of a new Kantor. For different reasons Telemann, Fasch and Graupner declined and the fourth choice happened to be Johann Sebastian Bach. Thomas Triesschijn and his ensemble imagine a dialogue among the four giants through their own compositions for recorder and orchestra. This recording is not only a showcase for a great virtuoso, but a fully enjoyable album with plenty of wonderful music. Triesschijn and Counterpoint previous (and first) release was awarded the Gramophone Editor's Choice: "This debut album is, hands down, some of the best recorded Telemann out there, and I am ready to go fist to fist with anyone who disagrees."

This third volume of orchestral music by the Anglo-French composer Steve Elcock (b. 1957) features two symphonies and a quasi-concerto. Over the course of its two movements, the Sixth Symphony, subtitled Tyrants Destroyed, moves from grief to outrage, rising to a grimly triumphant conclusion. The one-movement Seventh – with some of its material derived from the words of a song Elcock heard in a dream – runs a gamut of emotion, from anger to heartbreak, in its impassioned narrative. Manic Dancing, a piano concerto in all but name, inhabits a complex world of driving rhythms, nostalgic flashbacks and hectic dance music – buoyant and good-natured, like Martinu on speed.

Ernest Moeran’s love for Ireland and absorption of its music and musicians led to the composer living on the island of Valentia for two years. He later made Kenmare his second home from around 1934 until his death there in 1950. Moeran’s experiences in Ireland appear to have influenced him melodically in the traditional folk dance-like textures he embraces, particularly throughout his early Piano Trio and Violin Sonata featured on this album alongside his Prelude for Cello and Piano and Sonata for Two Violins. With their own strong links to Ireland, the album is performed by the Fidelio Trio with violinist Nicky Sweeney. In the four chamber works on this album Moeran’s use of melodic and harmonic turns, his approach to instrumentation and command of the strings and piano writing, has gifted us a treasure trove of focus in repertoire, utterly connected, through him, with music of places and peoples.

REVIEW:

Especially valuable here is the superbly articulate and memorably affectionate advocacy lent to the disarming Piano Trio...this enterprising anthology yields copious rewards and can be welcomed without reservation.

-- Gramophone (Editor's Choice, March 2022)

American-Australian harpist Emily Granger makes her solo debut recording, In Transit, with a collection of contemporary works that reveal the breadth and beauty of harp music from her two countries.

Memories and moods infuse Tristan Coehlo’s evocative title track as well as the composer’s The Old School, recalling an artists’ residence in Australia’s Blue Mountains where he first met Emily. Laura Zaerr’s rhythmical River Right Rhumba is inspired by West African drumming, whilst Sally Greenaway’s Liena, named after Melbourne-born harpist Liena Lacey, draws upon jazz and Latin dance music. Ross Edwards evokes a fantasia in his hypnotic The Harp and the Moon, whilst Libby Larsen’s bold Theme and Deviations is a tease on the traditional musical form. Sally Whitwell’s Undiminished is just that both harmonically and in spirit. Emily’s virtuosity is on full display in Kate Moore soaring Spin Bird, inspired by Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and in Nancy Gustavson’s Great Day, steeped in colorful glissandi showing off the harp in all its glory. Turning her hand to arranging, Emily has adapted Elena Kats-Chernin’s Blue Silence, originally for cello and piano, underscoring the works calming, healing and meditative properties; and Augusta Read Thomas’ Eurythmy Etude “Still Life”, originally for solo piano, stemming from the Greek meaning for beautiful and harmonious rhythm. Emily closes the album with Deborah Henson-Conant’s The Nightingale, one of her earliest musical memories as a young harpist.

Born in Vienna in 1765, Anton Eberl lived a quieter life than Mozart, and his music does not court the scandal or venture to the expressive extremes of his contemporary, friend and mentor. After Mozart’s death in 1756, Eberl toured with his widow Constanze Mozart and her equally accomplished sister, Aloysia Lange, before Eberl married a third talented soprano, Maria Anna Scheffler, and the pair moved to Saint Petersburg, which at the time was establishing an artistic court to rival any of the capitals of Europe. Eberl worked there as Kapellmeister to the Russian royal family for a decade (1796-1805) before moving back to Vienna. Only two years later, at the height of his reputation, Eberl caught scarlet fever and died at the age of 41. By then Eberl had also become well acquainted with Beethoven. Sayuri Nagoya’s personal selection from Eberl’s keyboard output encompasses the earlier and later stages of his career, beginning with a set of variations on ‘Bei Männern’ from Die Zauberflöte which was composed within months of the Singspiel’s premiere at the Theater an der Wien. Dating from a year or two after Mozart’s death, the Sonata Op.1 was originally published under his name, and Eberl’s Sonatina Op.5 (1796) likewise inhabits a Mozartian grammar. By the time of the G minor Sonata Op.27, however, Eberl had developed a bolder and more dramatic idiom of keyboard writing, doubtless also under the influence of the intervening decade of technological innovation which brought about instruments with a wider compass and broader dynamic range. The C major Sonata Op.43 opens with a grand introduction before launching into an Allegro of high contrasts. The album leaves the listener with a full appreciation of Eberl’s gifts as well as a tantalizing sense of where his talents might have taken him next.

The acclaimed pianist and composer Francesco Tristano, returns to his first love – early music for his new studio album  ‘On Early Music’. The album presents Renaissance and early-Baroque works with five of his own Baroque-inspired piano pieces. Interspersed with these are works by some of early music’s greatest English composers and organists – Orlando Gibbons, John Bull, and Peter Philips – and one of Tristano’s greatest inspirations, Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi. Yet On Early Music is not merely a fitting homage to this repertoire; the works are given a fresh, contemporary twist thanks to Tristano’s production skills, studio mastery, and keen eye for detail.

All the works featured are tonally and melodically complimentary, and while some have been faithfully reproduced, others have been re-worked and reinterpreted. “I wanted to bring something new to them,” he says. “Something original.” That led him to works that reflected another of the album’s main themes, and something he wanted to focus on and bring to the fore – the gentle majesty of sunrise.

“Early music has a reparative power, just like an early sunrise,” he says, “and these works give me an uplifting feeling. There’s something really primitive about them, but something rejuvenating too.” For Tristano, this repertoire remains as joyful and inspiring as when it was composed over 500 years ago, and is thoroughly deserving of a contemporary audience.