Folk traditions in dance and music still held a strong position in Bulgaria of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The Bulgarian style of singing conquered the world music and Rock scene in the 70s and 80s. The particular song style and the uneven bars of the dance music fascinated listeners all over the world. The recordings on this classical LP, now made available on CD were made at the time (1965) when tradition was still strong and new means of recording, together with radio broadcasts and television had entered the scene.

While there are many recordings by brass ensembles which reflect modern jazz-influenced ideas, this one is distinctively "classical". More the better, for there is no other context that would do justice to Russian nationalistic music, its folk melodies and emphasis on brass and percussive sounds. This recording by the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble knows exactly what it is setting out to do, and it accomplishes that. These are interesting arrangements, holding to the original character of the pieces, slightly lighter and more buoyant. Yet, Russian is Russian. The 'Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla' starts the disc with familiar melodic fanfare, while the Sextet for Brass by Böhme contains extremely lyrical passages, reminding one of the beautiful, plaintive qualities available from the trumpet.
The boldest work on the disc is a transcription for brass quintet of the piano work, 'Pictures at an Exhibition' by Modest Mussorgsky. The Ensemble catches the mood of each of the shorter pieces with great flair and cleverness. The playing is all virtuosic and deft, never heavy. This is a new light to shed upon traditionally heavy music, yet without loss of color, integrity, or mood.

Given the 'romantic' nature of these two sonatas, Saint-Saëns could have been forgiven for producing two-piano versions that treated the originals as bases for his own imaginings. In fact, as far as a fourth party can judge, he has been scrupulous in respecting the composers' intentions. Wherever either piano is playing on it's own, it plays the original text. Beyond that, of course, are the host of more complex textures where Saint-Saëns has felt free to add notes for extra emphasis. Perhaps the most satisfying admixture of color comes in the Chopin Funeral March, where extra low octaves in the bass boom like the beating of a bass drum. But throughout, the relative, new-found simplicity of each piano part allows performers to phrase more subtly. No doubt Liszt had these points in mind when he considered making such a transcription of his sonata, alas never realized. But he greatly admired Saint-Saëns as both composer and pianist, and one cannot but imagine he would have approved his fine arrangement. (Roger Nichols)

Shostakovich was no child prodigy - he began piano lessons at nine - but success as a composer came early when his First Symphony, written as a graduation piece, was acclaimed in Leningrad at the premiere in May 1926. That said, there is some fine chamber music in Shostakovich's student output. Much of the Two Pieces for String Octet Op. 11 actually predates the First Symphony Op. 10, remarkably assured for an eighteen year-old. The Two Pieces for String Quartet on the other hand did not surface at all until 1984! Dedicated to the J. Vuillaume Quartet they give us the suggestion of a Shostakovich quartet sound circa 1931 - seven years before the real thing. The original stimulus to compose a piano quintet came from musicians of the Beethoven Quartet who had asked him for something they could all play together. But Shostakovich must have relished the technical challenge of a medium which few twentieth century composers had been prepared to tackle because of it's peculiar problems of balance and texture. The composer himself gave the first performance with the Beethoven Quartet in Moscow on 23 November 1940. And, utterly non-ideological as it was and is, the music won him a Stalin Prize. Shostakovich was one of the most important and prolific writer of string quartets in the 20th century. His String Quartet No. 8 comes from an important period in his personal as well as his artistic life. Musically it comes from the same period as his widely acknowledged masterpiece, the Tenth Symphony. Dissident writers have claimed it represents the composer himself - a lost voice in a cruel world.

Greece is the holiday destination of choice for millions of people who find themselves captivated by this beautiful Mediterranean country's landscapes, coastlines, food, culture and music. But Greek music is more than just the soundtrack to fond holiday memories. Traditional Greek music has it's roots in antiquity, and is the result of influences from the crossroads of southern Europe and Asia. Arc Music's Discover Music From Greece is a 25-track curated collection drawn from it's vast, superb catalog of authentic Greek music in all it's traditional and modern stylistic, instrumental and regional variety. Features music by renowned composers Mikis Theodorakis and Michalis Terzis, as well as a diverse line up of top performers including Glykeria and The Athenians.

Oleg takes the music in exciting new directions while still retaining that Russian Gypsy magic... nothing less than incandescent virtuosity for the duration of the show..." - The Scotsman This recording includes the Lautary piece featured in the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Emerging around the beginning of the 19th century, Gypsy brass bands developed from Turkish military bands.; The performing ensemble on this release, Fanfara din Cozmesti, is one of the most well known Romanian Gypsy brass bands performing today.; This release includes an extensive booklet with information about the fifteen band members and each of the songs on the album.

Much has been said and written about the origins and first appearances of the Gypsies. Their first documented existence in Europe dates back to the early fifteenth century and most scholars agree that they originally came from Northern India. This is based on the resemblance of their Romany language to certain languages in Northern India. Apparently, the Gypsies migrated into Persia in the 11th century and further into South East Europe around the beginning of the 14th century and from there into Western Europe. Today, Gypsies live all over the world, including North and South America and even Australia. As many Gypsies worked as musicians or entertainers, they had a considerable impact on the music of the countries in which they lived- their own particular musical style often combined with the folk music of a particular country, thus preserving the traditions over centuries. The so-called Gypsy repertoire can be described as a blend of Russian, Hungarian and Romanian influences but on the other hand the Roma have contributed their own style to many areas of music and influenced other artists in their music, such as Bizet, Brahms and Dvorak, to name but a few. In this compilation, a variety of Gypsy music has been included, from purely traditional to modern, including soloists who excel with their instruments, small Gypsy ensembles, large Gypsy brass bands, some of the greatest Gypsy singers and composers as well as travelling Egyptian Gypsies, recorded on location.

The duduk is a wind instrument peculiar to Armenia and is presented on this recording by Djivan Gasparian, one of the greatest masters of this instrument and who has played it in films such as the Last Temptation of Christ and Gladiator. The music has a haunting, meditative quality, on some pieces accompanied by a dool (drum).

Valentina Ponomareva's renderings of Gypsy music from Russia sparkle with all the forgotten romance of that culture. Ponomareva, accompanied by traditional guitars and violins, performs with sweetness and romance. She draws on her own Gypsy heritage and long experience as a Gypsy musician to this impressive recording, where Wanderlust notes that "the passion in her voice shines through."

Serbia is a land-locked country in the southeastern European Balkans region, bordering on Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania. The Branko Krsmanovic National Folk Ballet was founded in 1945 as one of the departments of the Artistic Association of the University of Belgrade. The Folk Ballet acquired its first recognition at the Yugoslav Youth Festival in 1948. In 1949, with the arrival of Mr. Branko Markovic, leading dancer and choreographer of the Belgrade Opera House, the ensemble started to work on the artistic elaboration of the rich national folk heritage. The Branko Krsmanovic Folk Music Orchestra was founded two years later in 1951. This album is a superb, lively and vivacious album of traditional music from the different regions of Serbia.

Lively and vibrant traditional music and dances from all regions of Romania, this recording features accordion, taragot (variant of an eastern oboe), clarinet, violin, double bass, braci (5-string guitar) and kobza (lute). Extensive information about the group as well as the various dances and music is available in English and German.

An intoxicating album with a riveting collection of Gypsy music. 16 pieces from Hungary, Russia, Central Asia, Romania and the Balkans, over an hour of music, from the very traditional to today's modern renditions, presented by some of the finest exponents in the genre.

MY FAVORITE THINGS • Stephen Hough (pn) • NIMBUS 2540 (63:07)


MACDOWELL Hexentanz. CHOPIN (arr. Liszt) The Maiden’s Wish. QUILTER (arr. Hough) Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal. The Fuchsia Tree. DOHNÁNYI Capriccio in f. PADEREWSKI Minuet in G. Nocturne. SCHLOZER Etude in A?. GABRILOVICH Melodie in E. Caprice-Burlesque. RODGERS (arr. Hough) The Sound of Music: My Favorite Things. WOODFORDE-FINDEN (arr. Hough) Kashmiri Love Song. FRIEDMAN Music Box. SAINT-SAËNS (arr. Godowsky) Carnival of the Animals: The Swan. ROSENTHAL Papillons. GODOWSKY Java Suite: The Gardens of Buitenzorg. LEVITZKI Waltz. PALMGREN En route. MOSKOWSKI Morceaux: Siciliano. Caprice espagnole


The superb British pianist Stephen Hough is no stranger to contemporary music. He is a composer himself. And yet this collection of bon-bons is unapologetically old-fashioned, or to put somewhat less pejoratively, quaint. These pieces are of the sort that appeared as encores on solo programs generations ago. Of course, this is not intended as a challenging recital; they don’t all have to be. Many of the works are transcriptions made by concert pianists, such as Liszt, Godowsky, and Hough himself, or original compositions from such giants of the fin de siècle golden age of pianism as Paderewski, Gabrilovich, Rosenthal, Friedman, and Godowsky again, and so there is no little razzle dazzle here. Lots of notes! And yet Hough’s playing is lovely rather than showy, with great finesse, delectably shaped phrases, and a celebration of pretty melodies. Nimbus gives us warm and colorful sound. If this material appeals to you, you are not going to get a better presentation than we have here. A bit of candy now and again won’t kill you.


FANFARE: Peter Burwasser

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco settled in California in the 1940s. Like many another musician cast adrift by the fascism that held sway in Europe from the 1930s to the mid-1940s he found a niche in the artistic life of the States. Hollywood embraced his music for films although none of the great films featured his work – he did however score several of the Lassie films. He moved in the same stratosphere as Heifetz and Piatigorsky; indeed the former commissioned his The Prophets Violin Concerto (No. 2 of 3) and then went on to record it (RCA); as did Perlman.

Among the operas, concertos, oratorios and solo piano music (Naxos, Somm SOMMCD 032) there are two guitar concertos, a serenade for guitar and orchestra, a concerto for two guitars and orchestra and many pieces of chamber music involving the instrument. The first concerto was written partly in Mussolini's Italy and partly in America. If the middle of the three movements of the op. 99 First Concerto sometimes drifts close to Tatiana's Letter Song it is delectable sentimental stuff. The flanking movements are sanguine and proud. They will certainly appeal to anyone who likes Rodrigo's Aranjuez. It's a lovely concerto and well worth tracking down in this very generously timed disc. I hope there is a volume 2 with the Second Concerto, the Serenade and the Concerto for two guitars.

Golondrinas (Swallows) suggests a relaxed saunter along the corniche - a summer evening with the swallows of the title diving and soaring. It's a virtuoso piece as is the eager and bustling La Primavera. The Platero suggests a delicate spray of lilies. The Rondo has some of the aristocratic elegance of the finale of the op. 99 concerto. The three movement op. 133 Suite is a work of beguiling emotional suggestion. This enchanting disc ends with the three movement op. 143 Guitar Quintet. The writing is full of interest with some incidental echoes of Ravel and of Russian nationalism. Again it is cheerful, subtly allusive, dynamic, poetic, playful and at times sweetly eerie. Unlike the much younger Brouwer this music has no truck with dissonance. Its milieu is impressionistic poetry. The string quartet writing is most inventive and by no means a dull stooge to the guitar.

After you have rifled Rodrigo's guitar treasury you must try this. This composer is no Rodrigo epigone but his music shares the Spanish composer’s mood and gift for beguiling invention. You can add this composer's name to that of Manuel Ponce as someone whose guitar music needs to be explored. By the way, do not overlook Ponce's Concerto del Sur for guitar and orchestra. Like so much else from that era including these works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco - it was written for Segovia – recorded by him and also by Alfredo Moreno with Enrique Batiz.

These recordings were originally issued in 2004 on MusicMasters. I hope that there is more to come and if not that Nimbus might find funding for a collection of this composer's concertante works for guitar. It's that good.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

Enjoy rembekitos and syrtakis by the Athenians, songs from Crete by Romiosini, pieces by Mikis Theodorakis, and melodies from the Aegean islands and original compositions by Michalis Terzis, one of the most prominent Greek composers today. Michalis Terzis is one of the most important contemporary Greek composers. He started his musical career in 1973, playing songs by Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hatzidakis and New Wave as well as his own compositions at music theatres in the historical part of Athens beneath the Acropolis. In following years Michalis wrote and recorded many pieces including instrumental music, lyrical songs and traditional elegies, as well as music for theatre, TV and film productions, for which he won numerous awards at many Greek and international film festivals. His songs have been performed and recorded by the most famous Greek singers including: George Dalaris, Dimitra Galani, Lavrendis Machairitsas, Glykeria, Maria Dimitriadi, and more. The group The Athenians renders masterly interpretations o fGreek composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, Stavros Xarcharkos, Manos Hadzidakis, Manos Loisos, etc, as well as their own compositions. Their repertoire, which encompasses contemporary songs and Greek popular music that originated as folk music, has been enriched by modern elements and thus developed into a new genre.

The operatic overture is the composers “hook” to enthrall the audience immediately as the house lights dim and the first notes sound from the orchestra pit. Some of the most popular overtures are featured here, and come from powerhouse composers like Strauss, Smetana, and Verdi. William Boughton conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra for this recording. He has been with the ESO since he founded the ensemble in 1980. Since its inception, the ensemble has built an extensive discography with Nimbus Records.