Organist and Pianist Richard Lambert, born in 1951, as a composer has worked with Elizabeth Poston, Malcolm Williamson and more recently Sebastian Forbes and Francis Pott. Lambert is not a British composer, he is equivocally an English one. "If Englishness in music can be encapsulated in words at all, those words would probably be ostensibly familiar and commonplace, yet deep and mystical as well as lyrical, melodic, melancholic, and nostalgic yet timeless" (Peter Ackroyd). "It is a common thread lurking somewhere in our musical psyche, as true of Elgar as it was of Britten, that emotional repression in whatever form is an enormously creative force, and indeed articulating that rather than overcoming it is a key strand in musical "Englishness"' (Nicholas Kenyon). Theodor Leschetizky's perception of the quintessential English performer circa 1900 would not be out of place in such a gallery. "Good musicians... doing by work what the Slav does by instinct, their heads serving them better than their hearts." "My catalogue," Lambert says, "is shamelessly eclectic in it's mixture of styles, and yet, despite cosmopolitan influences, I think of my compositional language as intrinsically English, yielding a kapellmeister repertory serving school, church and the wider community."

The Apollo Saxophone Quartet's vibrant and energetic exploration of portugese music is full of unexpected treasures. Encompassing a kaleidoscopic range of styles, including classical, rock, post-minimalist, jazz and experimental influences, this is one of the most colourful discs to be recently released on Quartz.

A delightful program of Lullabies put together by Polina Osetinskaya with her young family in mind. This is a program that lulls the listener into dreams and daydreams. You can take a trip from the early 20th century, to the 19th, then to the 21st and back to the 19th and experience Batagov and Liszt suddenly becoming contemporaries with Schumann; Tchaikovsky and Desyatnikov seemingly becoming blood-brothers!

Chopin's piano sonatas span a wide creative period, from his time as a student to five years before his death, when he was still in good health and his relationship with George Sand had not yet begun to deteriorate. Two of the three Chopin piano sonatas are cornerstones of the romantic piano repertoire; the first sonata is heard far less frequently in performance or recording. Chopin has been most revered as a miniaturist; much has been written discussing Chopin's larger-scale works: some have criticized his seeming lack of formal skill, while others have come to praise his compositional anomalies as innovation and ingenuity. Regardless, Chopin's characteristically transcendent, fluid melodies, unique pianistic beauty and distinctive poetic voice permeate these three sonatas.

Bach's devotion to the organ, and his desire to excel on it, is without question but whereas much of his output was written with a specific purpose or occasion in mind, the toccatas and fugues are less easily categorized. Almost all of them date from Bach's Weimar years (1708-1717), when he had the most opportunities to play the organ, although he may have revised them in Leipzig (after 1723). Their elaborate nature belies the fact that Bach had to be careful about showing off: in 1705, while temporarily in Leipzig, he had been censured for an over-long organ prelude before Communion and in 1706 he had attracted the ire of the Arnstadt authorities by confusing the congregation with complicated chorale accompaniments. Organist Elena Privalova presents a program of these works, beautifully recorded at the Riga Cathedral.

Review

Elena Privalova concentrates on the Toccata and Fugue works that date from Bach’s Weimar years of 1708-1717. It is a matter of record that such elaborate music was by no means always welcome during church services, so one can imagine these pieces being delivered perhaps at the end of formalities, sending the congregation out into the world in a wash of inspired but complex organ sound. These are all glorious works, and perhaps the only criticism one could have of such a programme is that it is rather relentlessly glorious. There are of course some contrasts of registration, but “the richest possible texture” forms the majority from beginning to end, which is of course in the nature of this particular programme. You may find yourself wanting to pick out a track or two rather than blasting through the whole CD in one go, but the temptation to whack up the volume and stir up the dust in your listening room is powerful indeed.

Elena Privalova’s technical prowess and stylish musicality is very much in evidence throughout. She is rhythmically accurate and doesn’t rush, but nor does she avoid brisk and exciting tempi, for instance in BWV 564, the rasping bottom end of the pedal solo in the opening Toccata of which is also a highlight. The D minor “Dorian” Toccata and Fugue BWV 538 is one of the more famous pieces here, and Privalova delivers that ‘demonstration’ quality that the virtuoso Bach might have employed while testing and giving organs their thorough workout.

The programme ends with that most famous of all organ works, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 but, while that dramatic opening has become something of a classical music cliché this is a work that never fails to fascinate when you listen properly. It is nice to find it at the end of the recital rather than the beginning, forming a suitable climax rather than an impressive opening. Privalova is less reverential than many, swiftly joining each section in a fantasia-like fashion that doesn’t wait around for us to get bored, and reminding us of this composer’s amazing inventiveness (there are of course arguments that this may not be a Bach original) with the sheer quantity of ideas that pass by on this most special of musical conveyor-belts.

This is a very fine Bach organ CD that has been superbly recorded and with playing that is both musically insightful and technically magnificent, and you can also add this to your collection in the knowledge that it is free of gimmicks or annoying mannerisms. I had a look around for a single disc release that covers the same music and came up with Kåre Nordstoga’s recording on Simax Classics PSC1152. This is another fine release, though made on a slightly smaller-scale instrument. Your own taste will dictate which you prefer, though for me that gorgeous adagio of BWV 564 has more expressive weight with Privalova. This kind of detail, along with the sheer impact of the recording as a whole, makes this something of a winner.

--MusicWeb International (Dominy Clements)

"Almost everything that Chopin ever wrote is still played. Chopin influenced the entire last half of the nineteenth century and continues to influence composers even today. From Liszt to Wagner, from Moszkowski to the young Scriabin, or from Ernesto Nazareth to Tom Jobim, Chopin is still alive as a composer without borders in time and space who never left us and will never do so." -Marcelo Bratke

Marcelo Bratke, one of Brazil’s finest pianists, has performed in some of the world’s most renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Salzburg Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He started his piano studies at the age of fourteen and due to a severe visual impairment he was unable to read scores properly, developing his own method of learning music based on his auditive memory capacity. Ten months after his first piano lesson, he made his debut with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eleazar de Carvalho and was awarded the ‘Revelation Prize’ by the São Paulo Critics’ Association.

Bratke believes music is an important contribution to society and in 2008 he founded Camerata Brasil, an orchestra formed of young musicians from impoverished areas of Brazilian society, performing with them more than 300 concerts in Brazil, Argentina, Japan, United Kingdom, Serbia, South Korea, Netherlands and in the US where their concert at Carnegie Hall was highly acclaimed by both the public and the critics of The New York Times, New York Post and Concert Net USA.