A must for Schubert fans and lovers of 19th century opera - Sakontala - an operatic fragment from the pen of Franz Schubert. The composer was deeply involved in 1821/ 1822 with the Indian subject about the hermit's daughter Sakontala. Schubert's drafts and sketches survive in autograph for two acts of the opera. Following the rediscovery of the complete libretto in 2001, and the stylistically sensitive and skilled completion of the music by the Danish composer Karl Aage Rasmussen, Frieder Bernius made the first recording of this previously unknown Schubert opera with top soloists, the Kammerchor Stuttgart, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. This recording was unavailable for long time, but has now been re-issued by Carus.

Violinist Raimund Lissy, member of the Vienna Philharmonic, has long been dedicated to the work of uncovering the works of Austrian composer Joseph Mayseder and make them available to a wider audience. After publishing two recordings with chamber music by the violin virtuoso who was born in 1789 in Vienna, the third volume contains violin concertos by Mayseder. Joined by the newly formed "Joseph Mayseder Orchestra" under the baton of Helmut Zehetner, Lissy presents the concerts for violin and orchestra No. 1 in A minor, Op. 22 (1813) and No. 3 in D major, Op. 28 (1811) as well as the Concertino for violin and orchestra No. 2 in E major, Op. 53 (1835). Raimund Lissy on the typical Mayseder style: Skillfully composed virtuosic passages for the violin alternate with pleasing cantilena, and there is a wealth of successful musical ideas that make rediscovering this music very rewarding.

With stunning accounts of Brahms and Mahler, this recording marks an exciting, new relationship between ICA Classics and the SWR in Stuttgart, and it is the first release of this material outside Japan. 'Klaus Tennstedt's concerts with the LPO at the Festival Hall were among the greatest performances I have ever heard' (Sunday Times review of ICAC 5033, Mahler: Symphony No.3)

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas , op. 10/1–3 • Mari Kodama (pn) • PENTATONE 5186 377 (SACD: 59:20)


This is the latest installment of a cycle-in-progress (though new to me) by Mari Kodama, a Japanese student of Nikolayeva and Brendel. Her playing is impressive in its refinement and control, if occasionally a little predictable. The three op. 10s make for a satisfying program, though they’re curiously presented in reverse order here (Beethoven’s own is more logical, with the biggest, most ambitious work placed last).


No. 1 in C Minor goes well, with few surprises. Kodama generally lets the outer movements speak for themselves—straight, incisive, dramatic, forceful, with effective lyrical contrasts. Tension is well maintained, with a convincing sense of real performance (vs. a recording-studio run-through). The Adagio is straightforward, perhaps to a fault—here I miss the imaginative flexibility and expressive depths others bring to the music (e.g., Schiff/ECM, Lewis/Harmonia Mundi, or the recently reviewed Ohlsson/Bridge and Ehlen/Azica). The recorded sound of her Steinway is rich, resonant, and close, but a little “plummy” for my taste, with a pronounced resonant overhang. Her playing is certainly not over-pedaled, but a real staccato articulation is in short supply.


This is a bigger drawback in the first movement of No. 2 in F where, for all the poise and polish, Beethoven’s numerous injunctions to very short articulations (e.g., at the beginning, bars 38 ff., and 47 ff.) are rarely effectively realized. The development has a slightly stolid feel (the second repeat is observed). The F-Minor Allegretto is taken slowly, to rather dour effect, with (for my taste) an insufficient variety of texture and attack; the Presto finale is kept well under control at a moderate tempo. In the last resort, I find this all a little too uneventful.


The big D Major receives the most consistently satisfying performance of the three. The opening Presto is richly varied, supple and sinuous, with an exciting surging momentum. The Largo e mesto is all dark, glinting marble, and in this instance the finale finds her relishing the music’s wide-ranging phrase and textural discontinuities.


So, a slightly mixed bag. But there’s much playing of real distinction here, and anyone wanting a high-quality version of the three op. 10s in state-of-the-art sound won’t go wrong. For the general collector, perhaps not a first choice (see alternatives mentioned above), but I’ll be keeping this in my collection, and can see returning to the first and third sonatas.


FANFARE: Boyd Pomeroy


This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Georges Bizet
CARMEN

Moralès – Hans Voschezang
Micaëla – Lisa Milne
Don José – Marcus Haddock
Zuniga – Jonathan Best
Carmen – Anne Sofie von Otter
Frasquita – Marty Hegarty
Mercédès – Christine Rice
Lillas Pastia – Anthony Wise
Escamillo – Laurent Naouri
Le Dancaïre – Quentin Hayes
Le Remendado – Colin Judson
Le Guide – Franck Lopez

Stoke Brunswick School Children’s Chorus
(chorus master: East Grinstead)
Glyndebourne Chorus
(chorus master: Tecwyn Evans)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Philippe Jordan, conductor

David McVicar, stage director
Michael Vale, set designer
Sue Blane, costume designer
Paule Constable, lighting designer
Andrew George, choreographer
Nicholas Hall, fight director

Recorded live at the Glyndebourne Opera House, Lewes, Sussex, 17 August 2002

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Cast gallery
- Costume design
- How to fight on stage
- Choreographing Carmen
- The music of Carmen
- The Gardens of Glyndebourne

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 220 mins
No. of DVDs: 2

R E V I E W:

Carmen can justifiably lay claim to be the world’s most popular opera. As director David McVicar points out in one of the revealing documentary extras on this excellent BBC release, it ‘is probably the first musical, with hit tune after hit tune’. He’s right, but as his own thought-provoking production makes amply clear, it is so much more than that, having deep psychological layers that he teases out very effectively. He has (rightly in my opinion) opted for a colourful, naturalistic production, with costumes and sets all conveying the correct period and general feel; no stylised or ‘concept’ nonsense to distract the viewer. This leaves him clear to get the cast to really act and get under the skin of the complex characters that inhabit the work. This makes for a riveting dramatic experience, with the many famous melodies and set pieces all in proper context. There is an erotic charge running through many of the exchanges of the principals, and McVicar sees sexual frustration as the key to many of these characters’ problems. This may have led to raised eyebrows at Glyndebourne, but it does make a lot of sense, given the ultimate events of the tragedy. He also opts to include the original spoken dialogue rather than the spurious recitatives, another aspect that works remarkably well. It fleshes the story out properly instead of holding up the action until the next big tune, as one might suspect it would.

So full marks for not messing with Bizet’s general instructions too much. Praise must also be heaped on the London Philharmonic, who respond magnificently to the flamboyant young maestro, Philippe Jordan (any relation to Armin, I wonder?). His energy and physical intensity, which is visibly there for all to see in the hectic, brilliant prelude (where he resembles Escamillo!), communicates through to the orchestra at every turn, and Bizet’s wonderful scoring is heard in all its glory. One could cite numerous examples, but hear particularly the characterful wind solos of the Act 2 Entr’acte, or the beautifully weighted brass chords that punctuate the famous ‘Toreador Song’, helping one to appreciate the harmony afresh. It really is a superb aural-only experience, the Gallic lightness making one understand why Richard Strauss once advised young composers learning orchestration to study Bizet’s scores, not Wagner’s.

So the reported controversy surrounding this production appears to be wholly related to the central casting. Here we have one of the world’s finest mezzos seemingly cast against type. Anne Sofie von Otter herself admits that she may not be everyone’s idea of the ideal Carmen – "too tall, Nordic and cool", as she puts it, and remembering great Carmens of the past (Berganza, de los Angeles, Price, Migenes etc.) she does have a point. All I can say is that she seemed to me wholly convincing, sporting a blazing auburn wig to help with the gypsy look (plus Sue Blane’s magnificent costumes) and acting and singing with such conviction that criticism was all but silenced. McVicar and von Otter have obviously worked on other aspects of the character, and rather than the smouldering wildcat, we get a more mature portrayal of a woman who can, as the director has it "eat men whole – and laugh while she’s doing it". She is a woman desperately seeking love, a free spirit that simply needs the right partner. This really does make the final tragedy all the more poignant, because we really believe that she has at last found the right person in Escamillo, but, as the cards tell her, fate has something else in store for her. The famous routines are all superbly choreographed, and she raises a laugh from the audience as she manages the second verse of her ‘Seguidilla’ while lighting a cigar, quite a feat!

Her Don José, American tenor Marcus Haddock, also gives a multi-layered portrayal, and his character probably develops more than any other. He constantly reminds us that this is a man hiding many demons, not least the fact that he killed a man in a duel, so we begin to realise early on what he is capable of. There is also the shadow of his mother, who we learn wanted him to become a priest (all this is in the invaluable spoken dialogue), so he is an unstable individual. His beautifully sung ‘Flower Song’ is not just a showstopper, but tinged with all the psychological baggage of a haunted man. The final confrontation with Carmen is riveting, with the fatal stabbing ghastly but not in the least melodramatic. This is believable verismo.

As Escamillo, Laurent Naouri is also encouraged to act with some subtlety, to enjoy his big moments but give us some character insight. Thus his oft-heard ‘Toreador Song’ is punctuated by glances towards Carmen, who responds with knowing eye contact (obviously the camera close-up helps here), and an immediate chemistry is established. His is less a testosterone-fuelled macho man than a virile counterpart to Carmen herself; one can actually believe they would have made a satisfied couple.

The Micaëlla, Lisa Milne, is a touch matronly for me, but I suppose we have to believe in her as the saintly sister figure, and while I miss some of the fragility of others in this part, she sings beautifully and makes a good contrast to Carmen. All the smaller parts are taken with real relish, and I particularly liked Jonathan Best’s Zuniga. Costumes, as mentioned, are stunning, with the stage for the final act dominated by black and a symbolic blood red. The dancing is a delight, sexy and energetic, and stage designs (by Michael Vale) atmospheric yet practical.

The extras on the double DVD set are worth having. There are revealing interviews with director and principals, as well as substantial individual features on music, costume, choreography and stage fighting. There is an illustrated synopsis, cast gallery and a ten-minute feature on the famous Glyndebourne garden. Having loaded the discs with the extras, the booklet is devoted to a specially commissioned reworking of the Carmen libretto by Jeanette Winterson, entitled ‘The World Beyond’, a moving and worthwhile updating of the basic story.

Whether you want to fork out for two full price discs may depend totally on your idea of the casting of the eponymous heroine. When this was broadcast last year, some of my colleagues thought von Otter so wrong they couldn’t watch it through to the end. While I accept she may not be what is expected visually, I think it is short-sighted to not see the whole package. Carmen does dominate, but there is an awful lot going on around her, and David McVicar has managed quite the most intelligent, believable opera production I’ve seen for some time. This is ensemble directing at its best. With von Otter (and everyone else, for that matter) in absolutely superb voice, accompanied by gloriously inspired orchestral playing, this is a musical and visual feast. Sue Judd’s subtle camera work helps the television experience. The BBC packaging is first rate, making an altogether outstanding record of a thrilling event.

-- Tony Haywood, MusicWeb International
, Reviewing original release, Opus Arte 868

Beethoven’s permanent move to Vienna in 1782 allowed him direct contact with the operatic and Italianate culture of the city. He took lessons in Italian word setting from Salieri and almost immediately began the composition of a series of arias in that language, including Primo amore, piacer del ciel and later the dramatic recitative and aria Ah! perfido. Beethoven also set strophic songs in German that form part of the popular Singspiel tradition which are genial and rare examples of his art. Here, the songs are performed by soprano Reetta Haavisto, tenor Dan Karlstrom, and baritone Kevin Greenlaw.

These exuberant works were all composed between 1821 and 1824, by a composer who had not yet turned 15. They were performed in the Mendelssohn family residence in Berlin, at Sunday concerts during which musicians from the court orchestra performed and the young Felix and his sister Fanny would appear as soloists when called upon. The opportunity to trace the development of an extremely talented prodigy into a confident composer makes this collection highly interesting. But first and foremost it is a source of tremendous pleasure, with delightful music incorporating influences from Mozart and Haydn, as well as from the Baroque up to and including C.P.E. Bach in expert performances by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta (formerly known as Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam) and Lev Markiz. As described at the time of the original release by the reviewer in Gramophone it consists of 'life-enhancing music from the adolescent fast on his way to such miracles as the Octet and Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. And performances to match from a group with brilliance of execution and beautiful even tone as a starting-point for the classical athletic grace, joie de vivre, and often striking ideas.'

Rarely has a relationship between two people been as happy and artificially fruitful as that between Clara and Robert Schumann: a long, contested love, torn apart tragically early on, yet in little more than a decade of working together they have created what one would like to call the heart of German Romanticism - conjured up by a brilliant composer, promoted by his congenial interpreter, who ultimately grew up to become a great composer herself. Judith Jáuregui's first album for Ars Produktion, a live recording with works by Debussy and others, was received very positively by the critics. Her interpretations were praised for their pianistic sovereignty and her playing was convincing with its extroverted nature and freshness. On her second album she plays together with the symphony orchestra Camera Musicae (OCM) under the direction of Tomàs Grau.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

This album is the third in a series of recordings of the solo piano works of Brahms by pianist Jonathan Plowright. His two previous discs in this series gained critical acclaim, including Instrumental Choice of the Month in BBC Music Magazine. This recording includes the deeply emotional Piano Pieces Op. 76 and Op. 118, 16 Waltzes Op. 39, and the extravagant Variations on a Hungarian Melody. Variations on a Hungarian Melody is one of Brahms’ most intriguing and famous works. The piece is inspired by the composer’s captivation with Hungarian gypsy music, as well as his friendship with Eduard Remenyi, a popular violinist of Brahms’ day.

Review:

Plowright’s complete Brahms piano music for BIS has now reached Vol 3, with all its intelligence, subtlety and power in full blossom. These sound totally fresh, as though a fully formed, cultured musician, unencumbered by conventional approaches or received wisdom, took up these scores for the first time in maturity. The results are often unexpected, yet always apt and never less than convincing. I have a feeling this is going to be the benchmark Brahms survey for some time to come.

– Gramophone

The young players of the Swiss string ensemble Camerata du Léman make their recording debut with energetic performances of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, in a new arrangement by concertmaster Simon Bouveret. The Camerata realize an ensemble sound that is both homogenic and soloistic, and are driven by a shared desire for adventure and a common passion for chamber music. Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence is a tribute to the Italian city where the composer spent a winter, and simultaneously a declaration of love to Italian lyricism. The ensemble’s new rendition of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition revives the nineteenth-century transcription practice, while also demonstrating the inexhaustible musical richness of this timeless masterpiece.

REVIEW:

There is plenty of fine playing and recorded sound here to give this release a firm recommendation if you’re interested in this repertory in versions for string orchestra. Camerata Léman proves to be a most impressive ensemble.

-- Fanfare

Under the directorship of Jonathan Morton, Scottish Ensemble adds the Tchaikovsky Serenade, regarded by the composer as one of his finest works, to it's impressive Linn discography. Imbued with the classical spirit of Mozart, but with Tchaikovsky's style to the fore, the Serenade contains some strikingly effective scoring and an exhilarating Finale the ensemble relishes. SE brings the same level of precision and finish you would expect from a string quartet; this is particularly evident in the elegiac third movement, one of Tchaikovsky's most inspired musical moments. This recording also marks the premiere of Jonathan Morton's 2013 transcription of Shostakovich's Quartet No. 2. Drawn to the work's large, epic scale and the richness of it's sound-world, Morton was keen for the ensemble to tackle this masterpiece from the chamber repertoire. With his arrangement Morton adds to SE's enviable reputation for Shostakovich transcriptions established by the late Rudolph Barshai. Re-defining the string orchestra, Scottish Ensemble inspires audiences with vibrant and powerful performances. Scottish Ensemble is the UK's only professional string orchestra, built around a core of twelve outstanding string players. The ensemble is known both in the UK and internationally for it's versatility and ambitious programming. Performing standing up, the individual layers bring an energetic and passionate dynamic to every performance.

The international success of Faust after it's premiere in 1859 completely overshadowed all of Gounod's subsequent operas. He had known Goethe's masterpiece for two decades and brought to the text his gifts for memorable melody and rich orchestration. Added to this, the plot of Faust's ageing and the heroine Marguerite's redemption, offered the opportunity for the most spectacular stage effects. Heard here in it's 1864 London version with an additional air and without spoken dialogue or ballet, Faust represents 19th-century French opera at it's peak.

It is often said that Beethoven's three String Trios Op.9, together with Mozart's Divertimento, form the pinnacle of their genre - one which by the beginning of the 19th century would be almost supplanted by the string quartet. Be that as it may; it would be hugely misleading to dismiss the composer's first attempts, the Trio Op.3 and the Serenade Op.8, as mere preparations. Both works are in fact exceptionally fertile examples of the suite form, in Mozart's and Beethoven's day surviving in the guise of divertimentos and serenades. While the Op. 9 trios are all cast in the four-movement mould that we are used to from the symphonies, sonatas and string quartets of the classical period, these works consist of sequences of six and eight movements respectively, with minuets, marches and instructions such as 'alla polacca' reminding us of courtly light music from an earlier period. In spite of such touches, however, they are far from 'old-fashioned': the adventurous spirit of the young Beethoven is plain to hear, in the exceptional creative imagination in terms of textures, thematic development and formal innovation, and in the masterful writing, which gives each instrument an equal importance and a highly individual treatment. This is music which needs a first-class chamber ensemble made up of three soloists in order to be fully realized, and with the Trio Zimmermann that is exactly what is on offer here.

This collection contains the most important recordings by Alfredo Perl with piano works by Franz Liszt. A special highlight is the recording of the piano concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Alfredo Perl studied with Carlos Botto at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Günter Ludwig at the Musikhochschule in Cologne and Maria Curcio in London. He gave his first concert at the age of nine and then performed throughout South America and Europe as recitalist and with the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra and the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra. Perl has since been a prizewinner in major competitions, including the Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano and the Beethoven Competition in Vienna, and he won first prize at the International Piano Competition in Montevideo. Alfredo Perl is professor for piano at the Detmold University of Music and has been artistic director of the Detmold Chamber Orchestra since 2009.

Carl Goldmark was not a symphonist – and that is no secret. His few attempts in this field – an early work, in part lost, and his second symphony, his op. 35, did not add up to much, and the Ländliche Hochzeit, to which the generic label »symphony« was assigned, does nothing more than confirm that this master of orchestral colors was above all good at atmospheric and character pictures. Goldmark very evidently needed a programmatic or dramatic “pretext” in order to rise up to his creative best, which is why he was able to gain the greatest fame and to score his most important successes with his stage works (tops here: Die Königin von Saba) as well as with his concert overtures. As he himself said, a change of milieu was good for his powers of inspiration, and so he repeatedly sought out extremes while selecting his materials and subjects. Accordingly, this new album with the Bamberg Symphony and the conductor Fabrice Bollon is also a “composite”: it complements Vol. 1 (555 160-2) with a program including the three mirthful overtures Im Frühling (In the Spring), In Italien (In Italy), and Aus Jugendtagen (From the Days of Youth), the preludes to his last two operas, Götz von Berlichingen and Ein Wintermärchen (A Winter’s Tale), and a special rarity in the form of the symphonic tone picture Zrinyi – a musical monument to this Hungarian-Croatian national hero and a work with which Goldmark wanted to express his gratitude to his home Magyar territory.

You can have too much of a good thing, but Mendelssohn wrote a lot of music that deserves to be better known, and if you’re a hard core Mendelssohnian or are just curious to learn what you’ve been missing, this attractively priced 11-disc set deserves your consideration. The performances of the five standard symphonies with Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic are uniformly fine: very well played, and intelligently paced. Once example that all fans of the composer will appreciate is the ideal tempo that Litton chooses for the coda of the Scottish Symphony (sound clip)–grand but fluid, so that the music never sounds as though it should have stopped a few minutes before it actually does.

The twelve string symphonies, early though they are, contain a great deal of masterful music, and the later ones are in fact quite substantial. This set is both the most complete, as well as on balance the most desirable yet recorded. You get both versions of No. 8 (with and without winds), plus the single movement No. 13, and also the scherzo from the Octet in its string orchestra arrangement (later on in the box). Lev Markiz leads the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in performances that respect the music’s classical roots without sacrificing warmth or beauty of tone. Rhythms are sharp, tempos lively, and the string ensemble consistently well balanced.

There are four discs of concertos here, including Isabelle van Keulen’s excellent original version of the famous E minor Violin Concerto (second sample). Everyone will have favorite performances of this music, or at least the more famous works, but with Markiz once again in charge of the accompaniments, these versions with chamber orchestra are all of a piece. There’s a welcome intimacy between solo(s) and orchestra that makes these recordings quite distinctive and appealing. The solo piano concertos have plenty of sparkle in Brautigam’s hands, while Roland Pöntinen and Love Derwinger play the two double piano concertos with unaffected brilliance.

Some of this music (the lesser known concertos) is not always easy to find in top-knotch performances, so even if you wind up duplicating the standard pieces, this may well be worth considering. With fabulous sonics, you really can’t go wrong at mid to budget price.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This is the final volume in the acclaimed series with Malcolm Martineau, charting the complete songs of French composer Gabriel Fauré and performed by a selection of the world’s finest singers. This series follows Martineau’s heralded 5-album series of The Complete Songs of Francis Poulenc. Malcolm Martineau was born in Edinburgh, read Music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and studied at the Royal College of Music. Recognised as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bar, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kozena, Solveig Kringelborn, Jonathan Lemalu, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Karita Mattila, Lisa Milne, Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Michael Schade, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Walker and Bryn Terfel. He was a given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. Malcolm was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder+ Festival. Includes full lyrics with English translations.

Classical Music

In life and music, Grammy Award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman is a master storyteller. Where Only Stars Can Hear Us is a journey through the songs of Franz Schubert, a composer who was able to capture joy and sorrow in a single moment like no other. Karim’s voyage traverses themes of darkness and yearning, guided throughout by moonbeams and shining stars. His partner is historical keyboardist Yi-heng Yang who plays on a fortepiano built by Joseph Simon in Vienna in 1830, adding an air of authenticity from Schubert’s time. “lucid, velvety tenor and pop-star charisma” (BBC Music Magazine) “a pianist of “astonishing skill and vividness” (The New York Times)



REVIEWS:

Sulayman is always engaging, with an appealing honesty to his approach and a vividness to his storytelling. His light, silvery tenor is in many ways suited to much of the programme’s theme, but the flipside is a paleness and shortness of sap and sweetness; nor does the tenor’s German always feel entirely natural. Adjust to the tone, though, and there’s still a great deal to enjoy in these performances.

– Gramophone

This Schubert has its priorities straight. Text comes first in Sulayman's interpretations. The small inflections in his timbre convey textual themes equally well to audiences of all German-speaking levels. From the seemingly bratty child in Erlkönig (RIP), to the poignantly longing fisherman of Des fischers Liebesglück, he is an actor first.

His voice is clear and transparent. He barely covers his sound, allowing every ounce of that underlying emotion to shine through.

Both performers treat these lieder as chamber music. It's unclear who leads the stretches that come so often throughout the album, but whenever one part pushes, the other follows. Yang's slightly delayed cadences gain weight with a quick breath from Sulayman. Sulayman stretches a phrase climax, Yang rolls a chord to help accent. The two work symbiotically, melding the intense drama from each of their parts into a composite, deeply affecting pathos.

– Classical Music Geek

Bernstein Conducts Berlioz

This Brahms album with the internationally acclaimed duo Tasmin Little and Piers Lane will stand as a landmark in their already highly praised discography of romantic chamber music repertoire. Standing amongst the summits of the genre, the three violin sonatas by Brahms, his only ever published ones, are a pure demonstration of radiant effusiveness and romanticism in that they call for great virtuosity as well as empathy from both instruments equally. Although written twenty-five years later, they have their origin in 1853 when Brahms made the acquaintance of the Schumanns and, above all, of the great violinist Joseph Joachim, who would remain one of his closest and most musically influential friends. From the profoundly lyrical Op. 78 and Op. 100 to the more pianistic Op. 108, this recording reveals Brahms at his most intense, poetic, and melodic. Faultless support is delivered by a duo that has now established itself as a major force in romantic repertoire.

Classical Music

This release combines well known Sousa marches with Sousa’s less performed but equally enjoyable dances. Erich Kunzel’s direction is spirited and commanding, interpreting these works with the lilt and vigour of a band while maintaining the orchestral sound. Erich Kunzel was known as the “Prince of Pops.” In his long career he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestra, particularly the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, heard here, which he led for 32 years. He first took over the ensemble at their founding in 1977. With the ensemble, he made nearly 90 recordings, most of which would go on to become bestsellers.

The second half of the 18th c. and beyond witnessed the widespread popularity in Germanic and Hapsburg regions of a particular type of wind ensemble of varying forces known as Harmonie. The repertoire consisted of divertissements, cassations, serenades and nocturnes, performed for the most part outdoors, as well as “dining music” played at important banquets, and Harmoniemusik heard at parties and ceremonies. Original pieces were performed together with transcriptions of celebrated works, such as this adaptation by Wenzel Sedlak of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Classical Music

The last volume of our series of Gade recordings based on the new critical edition of his complete oeuvre, once again includes chamber works with a long and complicated history of composition inasmuch as Gade often submitted his earlier works to later revisions – as was the case with his String Quartet No. 1 and String Quintet op. 8. He composed the latter work between his second and third symphonies and around the same time as the cantata Comala. The results clearly show that he wrote the quintet at a time when he had not yet abandoned the national Romantic ideas of his young years, even though he was already in Leipzig. On the one hand, the quintet is not based on any sort of programmatic or textual background. On the other hand, Gade had not yet assimilated the Classical-Romantic style including the independence from the Classical sonata form that would so clearly be reflected in his last chamber works. His Fantasy Pieces op. 43 and elegant character pieces are all more or less designed in a complex song form – however, with a texture that in almost all cases consists of a leading melody part in the clarinet and an accompaniment in the piano.

At first glance Tchaikovsky does not seem easily to fit the "Chill" bill. He is known for pieces such as the 1812 Overture, music which is impassioned and animated in distinctly Russian style, often fiery, even ballistic, and infused with darker moments inspired by the composer's personal turmoil. However he also wrote some of the most beautiful, fragile and ethereal ballet music that has ever been choreographed, as well as lyrical slow symphonic movements and haunting songs. His unique talent lay in his inspired and inventive use of melody, seen at it's best in works such as the Nutcracker with it's myriad infectious tunes. Many of Tchaikovsky's melodies are based on folksongs he collected, predominantly Russian and Ukrainian but also Polish, Italian, Spanish and French (this last seen in the Piano Concerto No. 1, in this collection).

Robin Tritschler explores the origins of the Song Cycle. The creation of the Song Cycle as a new art form in the early 19th Century was paved with musical experiments and innovations. This album charts the progress made by the great Lied composers of the day toward the cyclical perfection finally achieved by Beethoven and Schubert, and since emulated by Schumann, Loewe, Wolf, Fauré, Britten, Shostakovich and so many others. Irish tenor Robin Tritschler graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and was a BBC New Generation Artist. He performed with the Welsh National Opera (Almaviva, Nemorino, Narraboth, Ferrando, Don Ottavio and Belmonte), Nantes Opera, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, La Monnaie Brussels and Teatro Colon Buenos Aires; in concert with the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Scottish Chamber orchestras, London Philharmonic Orchestra (Jurowski, Nézet-Séguin and Stutzmann), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Karabits), Hong Kong Philharmonic (de Waart) and at the BBC Proms (Sir Mark Elder). He performs regularly in recital at the Wigmore Hall, also appearing in Cologne, Amsterdam, Washington and for the Aldeburgh and Aix-en-Provence festivals. His recording of World War One songs on Signum with Malcolm Martineau is critically acclaimed.

-----

REVIEW:

Tritschler sings his programme as eloquently as he writes about it. Pride of place inevitably goes to the Beethoven, where he combines something of Fritz Wunderlich’s warmth with Christian Gerhaher’s altogether darker introspection, and is beautifully alert to the cycle’s constant shifts of emotion and mood. He and Martineau, meanwhile, very much form an equal partnership, and you get a real sense of almost instinctive give and take between them.

–Gramophone

Violinist Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel are both soloists with accomplished international concert careers. They have also been equally successful since they began searching for new paths in chamber music together in 2006 and devoted themselves to the cultivation of an unusual repertoire. This undertaking also includes their project “Co cert-Centenaire.” It is dedicated to composers, whose lives were influenced by or lost during the First World War. This new box set combines the previously realeased Volumes 1 - 3 in a single release.