David DeBoor Canfield is not only a composer, he is also an author, critic, editor, annotator, publisher, recording producer, researcher, archivist, violinist, scholar, theologian, and professor at a pastors’ college. For the last decade, Canfield has taken on the project of his ‘After’ Series- that is, composing pieces in the style of other composers. Canfield’s first work in this series is featured on this disc- Concerto after Gliere. The piece for alto saxophone and orchestra was completed in 2007, and has been performed over 100 times throughout the world. In addition to Concerto after Gliere, this release also contains Concerto after Tchaikovsky and Rhapsody after Gershwin. On composing after other people, Canfield writes, “although I don’t have the slightest delusion about being another Tchaikovsky, Gershwin or Gliere, since I have the technique to fill these gaps and am willing to do so, why not? […] If my music in whatever style brings enjoyment to performers and audiences, I shall be satisfied, and grateful to God.”

The prolific and internationally admired Jia Daqun is one of China’s leading composers. The Wave of the Surging Thoughts is a large-scale symphonic concerto-suite which achieves a high degree of unity through the use of formal variations. Bashu Capriccio is an ardent symphonic prelude that celebrates the cultural traditions and simple folk customes of Bashu, the ancient name of Sichuan province. Two albums of Daqun's chamber music can be heard on 9.70241 and 8.579011, with an album of percussion works on 8.579028.

From the early days of the twentieth century until the Anschluss forced him into American exile, Richard Stohr (1874-1967) was one of the more prominent personalities in Viennese musical life, as composer, teacher and author. Earlier releases in this series of recordings revealed him to have an individual voice, somewhere between Bruckner, Mahler, Korngold and Strauss. It can be heard in it's full glory in his Chamber Symphony of 1912, a sunlit score modest in it's orchestral demands but expansive in it's ambit and generous in it's ceaseless flow of gorgeous melody.

Includes work(s) by Franz Joseph Haydn, Georg Philipp Telemann. Ensembles: American Horn Quartet, Sinfonia Varsovia.
Includes work(s) for hrn and orch by George Frideric Handel. Ensembles: American Horn Quartet, Sinfonia Varsovia.

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for decades. Astonishingly, he was only in his early twenties when he wrote his monumental ‘Symphonic Poem in Four Movements’ Johanna d’Arc – heard here in its first recording – a vast symphonic fresco depicting the life, death and transfiguration of the heroine of Friedrich Schiller’s 1801 play, Die Jungfrau von Orleans. Moszkowski admitted to the influence of Wagner and Raff on the work – but he also managed to prefigure the musical language of the Hollywood epics of sixty years later. As pianist, Ian Hobson has a long-standing relationship with Toccata Classics, and this is the fourth recording he has made in his alter ego as conductor – at the helm of the Sinfonia Varsovia, as with his previous albums, which uncovered the early orchestral music of Martinu. This is the first of a series of Ian Hobson recordings for Toccata Classics that will focus on Moszkowski’s piano and orchestral music.

The music that Bohuslav Martinu wrote before the height of his career remains largely unknown and unperformed. This release aims to shine a new light on the compositions written during Martinu’s late teens and twenties. This release presents the world premiere recording of Martinu’s one act ballet, Stin (The Shadow). Conductor and pianist Ian Hobson conducts the Sinfonia da Camera for this release. He is joined by soprano Dorota Szczepanska, violinist Anna Maria Staskiewicz, and pianist Agnieszka Kopacka.

This series of recordings of Martinu’s early orchestral works has already brought more than its fair share of surprises. The two shorter works here are colourful and atmospheric tone-poems, pieces of real substance and major discoveries in their own right. But it is the 1922 symphonic triptych Vanishing Midnight (Míjející pulnoc in the original Czech) – here receiving its first recording – which will prove the real revelation. A big-hearted work of breathtaking opulence and striking confidence, Vanishing Midnight is as exquisitely lovely as it is powerful and dramatic – Martinu’s first true masterpiece. Ian Hobson, pianist and conductor, began his international career in 1981 when he won the Leeds International Piano Competition. He is in increasing demand as a conductor, particularly for performances in which he doubles as a pianist. he made his debut in this capacity in 1996 with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and also performs extensively as pianist-conductor with Sinfonia da Camera, a group he formed in 1984 and which quickly gained international recognition through its recordings.

SYMPHONY NO. 7

VIOLIN CONCERTOS

The 12th Musica Sacromontana Festival (2017) saw the contemporary premiere of another work by J�zef Zeidler, the spiritual patron of this event. The Mass in D major (just like the monumental Mass ex D) has been preserved in the collections of Die Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. The Mass in D major seems to be a more personal and natural work, where simplicity gains the features of conscious artistry. The music is maximally organized, both in the construction of individual phrases and larger formal entities. The MUSICA SACROMONTANA Festival is meant to continue the intentions of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, who wanted to evangelize through the broadly understood propagation of culture. It is thanks to their efforts that in the 17th century a great ensemble was created there, and the greatest composers, including Palestrina, came to Gostyn. Many of them wrote pieces on commission of the Congregation; fathers also filled the library with copies of works of the greatest masters.

Classical Music

Krzysztof Penderecki is one of the world’s great contemporary composers and a Polish classical music icon. His 80th birthday in November 2013 occasioned an extraordinary gathering of the world's most significant musicians and his most important interpreters. Companions and long-time friends of the composer presented their homage to Penderecki with some of his most famous works being performed: Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, the Duo Concertante, the Concerto Grosso No. 1 and the unique Credo.

“This cycle of Jewish Songs is born of my research on traditional Hebrew music, a deeply rooted ancient music which has accompanied the Jewish people throughout centuries of wandering. I listened to the liturgical melodies from different sources and was mostly inspired by the art of singing of the Jewish cantors or Hazzans, in particular by their very expressive, but contained, interior way of singing. It is music in which the sacred and popular intermingle. Whether lighthearted or sad, slow or fast, prayer, popular song or dance, it is always shared, always intimate. It felt also as though I had always known this music, even before I was born. It was a very strange sensation." Sonia Wieder-Atherton

This new, outstanding live release featuring esteemed pianist Martha Argerich was recorded in Warsaw in 2006 at the Chopin and His Europe International Music Festival. For this programme, she performs one of her favorite Concertos: Shostakovich’s First. She is joined from the podium by her long-time musical partner Alexander Rabinovich. Also featured on this recording is the light-spirited Symphony No. 9, also by Shostakovich. The International Music Festival ‘Chopin and his Europe’ – an international music festival organized in Warsaw since 2005 by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, presenting European music within the context of its links with the life and work of the Polish pianist, composer and teacher Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849). The project is realized as part of the government programme ‘Fryderyk Chopin Heritage 2010’. One important strand to the festival programme is historical performance – presenting works as they were originally heard, on period pianos in the possession of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute: an Erard from 1849, a Pleyel from 1846 and a Graf (a copy of an instrument from c. 1819). The festival is organized in collaboration with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera and Polish Radio II.

Praised by the New York Times for her 'clear articulation... unequivocal phrasing... [and] expressivity', Ingrid Jacoby has established herself as one of the most poetic and admired pianists of her generation. She began her piano studies with Larisa Gorodecka, herself a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus. Graduating at sixteen with highest honours from the St Louis Conservatory of Music, Ingrid Jacoby went on to win the National Baldwin Piano Competition, the Concert Artists Guild International Piano Competition and the Steinway Hall Artists Prize. In America, the National Society of Arts and Letters awarded to her (in 1994) one of it's highest distinctions, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Her discography includes the world premiere recording of Korngold's solo piano pieces, works by Gershwin and Bernstein, and a recording of the Shostakovich and Ustvolskaya piano concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, which earned the highest commendation from the American Record Guide. This is the third release from Ingrid Jacoby's critically acclaimed Beethoven cycle, featuring Concertos Nos. 1 & 3. The booklet contains notes by Richard Wigmore in addition to personal insights by Ingrid Jacoby on Beethoven interpretation. Her first disc in the series, featuring Beethoven's Concertos Nos. 2 & 4, received the following review: 'Utterly compelling... here is a performance of Beethoven that is well-nigh flawless in every regard' (International Record Review). Her recording of Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto was equally praised: 'It's one hell of a performance! Jacoby brings a vitality and drive to the first movement that is compelling and fresh, vividly accompanied' (Colin Anderson in Classical Source).

On Remembering, the Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg continues his collaborations with two of the foremost Nordic composers: Per Nørgård and Kaija Saariaho. Praised internationally for his performances of the modern cello concerto, Kullberg regards the concerto form as the encounter of an individual soloist with the sound world of a composer. With living composers this approach often results in an unusual degree of collaboration, as the works gathered here bear witness to. Since 1999, Kullberg has enjoyed a close and unique partnership with Nørgård which has resulted in a large number of works. Between, the opening work on the album, hails from a time before this, but Nørgård’s viola concerto Remembering Child in its version for the cello is very much an example of Kullberg’s process. He has not only transferred the concerto to his own instruments, but has also – in consultation with the composer – written his own cadenza as well as added details to the score. Likewise, at a climactic point exactly halfway through Saariaho’s concerto Notes on Light, Kullberg creates an expressive space of his own, with a two-minute cadenza he has composed himself. In this work, as well as in Nørgård’s Between, Kullberg is supported by the BBC Philharmonic, with Sinfonia Varsovia appearing in the closing concerto.

Yury Kunets is a Russian composer, musician, and producer. Kunets began composing while studying in a public school. From the late 80's on, he wrote lots of songs for different bands and solo artists. From 2004 Yury was involved in several musical TV projects as a producer. Along with author and director Maxim Kapitanovsky, he created two music films: Blame it all on the Beatles. By 2011 Yury Kunets had accumulated a considerable repertoire of instrumental pieces. In collaboration with award-winning American conductor Lee Holdridge and British recording producer Christopher Alder, Yury began recording a series of symphonic music works. In 2011, the first pieces were recorded in Krakow with the Wroclaw Score Orchestra. After receiving positive reactions, Yury decided to continue recording with Holdridge and Alder. By the end of 2014 he had recorded several new compositions in Warsaw. Yury Kunets' music combines elements of classical music, jazz and pop music. In his symphonic compositions melody and romance work to reflect the author's inner energies. ''The music itself exhibits a very lyrical character, through which I was trying to convey my own understanding of life and my state of mind. It's the result, so to speak, of my philosophical reflections, littles tories about our being surrounded by nature, which is intimately connected in turn with our own emotional lives...'' (Yury Kunets)

Like so many important Austrian musicians forced into American exile by the Nazis, Richard Stohr (1874-1967) suddenly found himself cast from celebrity into obscurity, The optimism and energy, even defiance, of these three works from 1942 suggest that he took it on the chin, with his musical language retaining it's Viennese accent in an individual amalgam of Bruckner, Mahler, Schmidt and Korngold. Indeed, the echoes of Mahler in Stohr's Second Symphony may be a deliberate homage if, as seems possible, this 1942 version is a revision of a now-lost work first composed shortly after Mahler's death.

Requiem is a personal piece in Lukaszewski's oeuvre, the individual movements of which are dedicated to his friends and loved ones. At the same time, everyone can relate it to the sphere of their own experiences thanks to the accessibility of the musical language used by the composer, emphasising the intimate, contemplative nature of the piece. It is the harmony suspended between the tonality of the major-minor system and the simplicity of the melody, whose task is to follow the text, which plays a leading role, that are particularly noteworthy. The Mass fits into the tradition of a consoling, comforting requiem, devoid of the threat of the Last Judgment. The colour of the work is perfectly matched by the voices of both soloists, who are able to express every emotion - regret, hope, peace - while leaving the listener space for their own emotional reactions. Despite the definitely religious nature of the composition, you can also interact with it on the level of sincere admiration for the beauty of Lukaszewski's musical language, for an elusive aura between mystery and certainty.

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it underperformed for a century or more. This third volume presents his very first orchestral work, a strikingly assured Overture in D major, written when he was seventeen, and his last, a sombre, dignified and deeply felt Prelude and Fugue for string, composed on the death of his mother in 1910. Between them comes Mszkowski's First Orchestral Suite, from 1885, a joy from start to finish, with one delightful inspiration following another in a daisy-chain of dance-rhythms, memorable tunes and instrumental colour.

This second volume of the orchestral music of the Austro-American composer Richard Stöhr (1874–1967) reveals further marvels: the first of his two suites for string orchestra encases a moving slow movement between a charming prelude and an elegant fugue; and the four imposing spans of the expansive First Symphony offer grandeur and heartfelt profundity – as well as irresistibly catchy tunes that will set the foot tapping. Stöhr writes in a musical language somewhere between Bruckner, Mahler and his exact Viennese contemporary Franz Schmidt – but it is a voice increasingly readily recognised as his own.

These two works for string orchestra were composed on either side of the flight of the Viennese composer Richard Stöhr (1874–1967) from occupied Austria to the USA, and from prominence and danger to liberty and obscurity, and they reflect the change in his circumstances: the Concerto in the Old Style is expansive, witty, energetic and endlessly good-natured, whereas the Second Suite is introspective, understated and deeply felt. These first recordings allow the discovery of two major additions to the repertoire for strings; the Second Suite is also one of the last grand statements of late Romanticism.