Claire Huangci proves herself to be a vividly expressive interpreter of Chopin, the first since Artur Rubinstein to offer a complete cycle of the Nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin. During her background research work into Chopin’s oeuvre she repeatedly came across poems by French authors such as Charles Baudelaire, Victor Hugo and Tristan Corbière. She began to form associations and found a poem contemporary to each of Chopin’s nocturnes. You will find the links between poetry and music in the booklet. Claire Huangci herself explains: “They may add a further dimension to your listening pleasure, so that everyone can conjure up an image of what I see as I play. I do hope that these lovely verses will act as an impetus to allow listeners’ fantasy to take flight and to create their very own Chopin diary.” This approach is proof of Claire Huangci’s artistic maturity – an approach that will open up new avenues in our appreciation of Chopin. Frédéric Chopin was a special pioneer in Claire Huangci’s eyes. The child prodigy became acquainted with his works at a very young age and grew up with them. They were decisive to her personal development and artistic career, which took off at an early stage on an international level thanks to concert performances, arts grants and a host of awards. This resulted in a virtuoso life of short-distance and long-haul flights, juggling appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Osaka’s Symphony Hall or the Gewandhaus in Leipzig with life at home in Philadelphia. She has played with a host of orchestras including the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony and the Moscow Radio Symphony. Accompanying her on her journey, so to speak, were not just her teachers, such as Eleanur Sokoloff, Gary Graffman and Arie Vardi, but the composer Frédéric Chopin: she owes her artistic breakthrough to his music. Time and again she has analysed, documented and profiled Chopin. Claire Huangci has brought together all of this experience and these insights on her new album, forming them into a “Chopin Diary”. The Nocturnes are the epitome of Chopin’s artistic work. They attest to the composer’s emotions on the cusp of the Romantic era and are simultaneously evidence of a restless life that hung between his artistic popularity, his dire state of health and an uncertain future. Composed in an atmosphere of domestic security, as night fell, they reflect his stimulating artistic day-to-day life. They are deemed to be perfect in form, combining all stylistically defining moods in a virtuosic form that to this day is unsurpassed. Some of the total of 21 Nocturnes form part of the standard repertoire for young pianists, yet Claire Huangci’s approach to them is a highly personal, unique one: “With her differentiated agogic approach and superior technique, Claire Huangci proved that she is now the most expressive Chopin performer of her generation", according to Gerd Kurat of the Südkurier newspaper. She rounds off the program with the Nocturne Oubliée and the Etude in C sharp minor, recorded together with cellist Tristan Cornut.

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It’s the Roaring Twenties. That musical jack-of-all-trades, Sergei Koussevitsky, Director of Music with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for twenty-five years, commissions the orchestration of two world-famous works: Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky and the Études-Tableaux by Sergey Rachmaninoff. And who does Koussevitsky choose for this task? Why, none other than the two great composers Maurice Ravel and Ottorino Respighi. Their orchestrations lay the foundations for numerous other arrangements of those works. More than 80 years later, Dirk Mommertz, a member of and pianist with the Fauré Quartett, has arranged both of these works anew – this time for piano quartet. “A chamber-music ensemble, with piano and strings, is ideally suited to present the entire tonal spectrum,” explains Dirk Mommertz. Violinist Erika Geldsetzer, violist Sascha Frömbling, cellist Konstantin Heidrich and Mommertz at the piano have been an entity for over 25 years now and are justifiably acknowledged as one of the most influential piano quartets in the world. They are renowned for branching out into new territory; they are not afraid of leaving the well-trodden path, so it comes as no surprise that the Fauré Quartett have recorded for the first time their own arrange-ments of these works on one album. The mesh of relationships which binds Mussorgsky’s composition of 1874 and Rachmaninoff’s of 1911-1918 with Koussevitsky’s commissions to Ravel and Respighi, now ends 150 years later with the Fauré Quartett in the 21st century.

Here we present a new installment in the complete recording cycle of Dvor�k's Symphonic Works with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, containing not only the symphonies but also rarely recorded opera ouvertures of the Czech composer. The new chief conductor of the orchestra, Finnish maestro Pietari Inkinen, continues the Dvor�k Cycle begun under the baton of Karel Mark Chichon. In September 2017 Pietari Inkinen became Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbruecken. Inkinen is also Chief Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he has held since the beginning of the 16-17 season. He has also been Chief Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra since 2015. Also an accomplished violin soloist, Inkinen studied at the Cologne Music Academy with Zakhar Bron, winning various awards and prizes for his solo work, before taking further studies in conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He continues to enjoy play-directing and performing chamber music with his regular musical partners.

Fernando Sor was not only one of the great guitarists of his era but a major composer for the instrument, described by a contemporary critic as "the Beethoven of the guitar". His desire for the guitar to represent a miniature orchestra in timbre is a distinctive feature of his many compositions. The 24 Progressive Lessons, Op. 31 offer a panoramic lexicon for the student, moving from a simple waltz to perpetual motion, whilst the charming Six Little Pieces, Op. 32 further explore technical efficiency and musical expressiveness.

Following the 5-album box set of Claudio Arrau's solo recitals, this new installment focuses on his SWR recordings of piano concertos. The recorded works belong to Arrau’s most favorites and are now being released for the first time. These are stirring interpretations full of controlled virtuosity. Claudio Arrau León was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. A child prodigy, he could read music before he could read words. “His sound is amazing, and it is entirely his own… no one else has it exactly that way. His devotion… is extraordinary. He ennobles that music in a way no one else in the world can.” (Sir Colin Davis)

The Bringham Young University Wind Symphony presents the album Timeless, a collection of wind band dances and other concert favorites. Containing works by Ryan Nowlin, Dmitri Kabalevsky, and Henry Fillmore, the program for this album covers a wide variety of musical styles for wind band. The Bringham Young University Wind Symphony is currently under the direction of Donald Peterson.

Franz Anton Hoffmeister was active in Vienna both as a composer and a publisher, becoming closely associated with Mozart and including works by Beethoven amongst his editions. The combination of violin and cello had its appeal for the amateur market, though Hoffmeister’s Duos Op. 6 include plenty of technical challenges. Conjectured as being from Beethoven’s final years as a young man in Bonn, the three refreshing and inventive Duos for Clarinet and Bassoon are so pleasing that they have appeared in numerous arrangements

The Kodály Quartet completes its Schubert cycle with this imposing performance of his final work in the genre. Quartet No. 15 often has been likened to the music of Bruckner, and many ensembles have followed this notion with symphonic-styled performances. The Kodály takes an opposite tack, presenting the work as an outgrowth of late Beethoven informed by Schubert's lyrical sensibility. The result is a classically oriented performance with relatively quick pacing married to deft, vibrant phrasing.


The first movement especially gains from this approach, here sounding more incisive than the slower, meditative readings by the Italiano and Juilliard quartets. In fact, in terms of tempo the Kodály is closest to the Alban Berg Quartet--though that ensemble's EMI performance, with its reverberant recording, offers an expansive sonic environment that is outside the realm of chamber music. With the Kodály you are definitely aware of four people playing four instruments, thanks to Naxos' intimate (though somewhat bass-heavy) recording perspective.


The first movement's energetic pulse informs the scherzo and (to a lesser degree) the finale, while the Andante flows at a perfectly judged walking pace. But tempo is only part of the story, as the Kodály's rhythmic precision gives the music a sense of sizzling immediacy, while the careful exposition of Schubert's beautiful themes exudes Old World romanticism. In all, it's a masterful performance, certainly different from the grand statements of the Alban Berg or Verdi Quartet, but attractive and insightful enough to intrigue newcomers to this work as surely as it delights veterans. This, plus the ensemble's lively reading of Schubert's Five German Dances, makes this a disc a worthy choice.
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

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BEETHOVEN: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2, Op. 5 / 7 Variations,

With the advent of stereo recordings in the late 1950s, many important soloists, including Jascha Heifetz, began remaking many of their favorite compositions in stereo that they'd previously recorded only in mono. Between 1961-62, as heard on this Idis CD, Heifetz came back to the studio to re-make three of his most famous pieces he'd previously recorded in mono during the '40s and '50s: Bruch's Concerto no. 1 and the Scottish Fantasy, and Vieuxtemps's Concerto No 5. The CD concludes with Tchaikovsky's Serenade M�lancolique op. 26, in a mono recording from 1954.

SPOHR: Music for Violin and Harp, Vol. 2

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This selection is accompanied by a bonus CD, containing an elaborate discussion on the works presented here, titled "Beyond the Notes."

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•This 2013 Royal Opera House staging of Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale stars the great Italian baritone Alessandro Corbelli in title role, with Danielle de Niese as his reluctant wife. The London Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra is led by bel canto specialist Enrique Mazzola. Mariame Clément’s sensitive and perceptive production was hailed by theFinancial Times as ‘classic’. Bonus features include Behind The Curtain, Ms. de Niese introduction, Staging the Opera and cast gallery.

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As a pianist and cellist Georges Onslow had a particular affinity with chamber music, and his String Quartets are given an almost orchestral quality with their addition of the rich sonorities of a double bass. String Quintet No. 28, with an especially beautiful Adagio with more than a trace of the influence of Mendelssohn, combines Baroque poise with expressive Romantic writing, while String Quartet No. 29 is light-hearted and good-natured, with hints of Schubert in its melancholy lyricism and unexpected key changes. In praising the Elan Quintet’s first volume, a MusicWeb International reviewer declared, “I cannot fault their playing: their tonal quality is ravishing, their ensemble perfect.” The combination of string quartet with double bass has opened up a richness of tone and distinct soundscape that the Elan Quintet has dedicated itself to exploring, celebrating works by renowned composers such as Schubert, Dvorak, and Cambini, working with contemporary artists in creating new works for quintet, and rediscovering neglected masterpieces by composers including Onslow and Bridge.

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REVIEW:

The present two Quintets came from the latter part of Onslow's life, and, placing them in a time-frame, also after the death of Beethoven, yet were still in the style of Mozart. Forget that aspect and simply enjoy the geniality of uncomplicated music making. In both works Onslow calls for a degree of technical expertise, and we thankfully have the young Spanish quintet, Elan, as the hugely talented performers. Add to this a quite superb sound, the instruments perfectly balanced, and I do urge you to discover these ‘World Premiere Recordings’.

– David’s Review Corner (David Denton)

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Ferdinand Ries grew up in the same musical environment that nurtured Beethoven, both counting Ferdinand’s father Franz as one of their teachers and the two of them becoming the closest of friends. Ries was a gifted and prolific composer in every instrumental genre. His Violin Sonatas are based on the Viennese Classical style established by Mozart but with a freshness and originality that includes movements such as the Adagio of the Sonata, Op. 38, No. 3, one of Ries’s loveliest creations. The Sonatas Op. 38, Nos. 1 & 2 can be heard on the 2nd volume of this edition, which was “unreservedly recommended” by Fanfare magazine. Violinist Eric Grossman is a versatile performer hailed for his flawless technique, superb musicianship, and commitment to a wide range of repertoire. Grossman has performed across the US, Europe, Korea, Japan, and Cuba in recital and as soloist under such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and Michael Gielen.

Wagner: Siegfried, WWV 86C

Verdi: Aida

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Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, TH 5 (Recorded 1954)

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, TH 5 (Sung in Italian) [