Slavic, Balkan & Russian Voices
The fierce harmonies and dances of the Slavic and Balkan world — Hungarian and Roma fire, Polish mazurkas, Bulgarian choir, Greek bouzouki — together with the great Russian symphonic tradition and Caucasian voices from Armenia and Georgia.
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Music from Bulgaria
Mussorgsky, Glinka, Bohme, Alabiev /Fine Arts Brass Ensemble
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.
MACEDONIA Music from Macedonia, Vol. 2
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 10 - Weinberg: Piano Quinte
Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 4 & 8
Music from Romania
Chopin & Liszt: Sonatas - arrangements for 2 pianos
Shostakovich: Octet Pieces - Quartet No. 8 - Piano Quintet
Gypsies from Hungary
Discover Music From Greece With Arc Music / Var
Oleg Ponomarev: Master of the Russian Gypsy Violin
Gypsy Brass
Traditional Music from Macedonia
Slovakia: Songs & Dances
Brahms, J.: 21 Hungarian Dances (arr. J. Joachim)
World of Gypsies
The Art of the Armenian Duduk
Kodaly: Orchestral Works / Fischer, Et Al
Gypsy Romances from Russia
Macedonian Bellydance
Sibelius & Khachaturian: Violin Concertos
Branko Krsmanovic Group: Music of Serbia
Romanian Tradition
Discover Gypsy Music with ARC Music
My Favorite Things - Virtuoso Encores / Stephen Hough
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 Castelnuevo-tedesco: Guitar Works / Eliot Fisk
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
Greece / Various
Macedonian Bellydance
Popular Operatic Overtures
