Classical Music

Classical Music

SOMM Recordings' historic, enthusiastically reviewed survey of Sir Hubert Parry's 12 Sets of English Lyrics reaches it's end with a third revelatory volume. Volume III features pianist Andrew West and baritone Roderick Williams (both heard on Volumes I and II) and the return of soprano Sarah Fox (who appeared on Volume II). Composed between 1874 and shortly before Parry's death in 1918, the English Lyrics come from a time of immense change as old certainties gave way to new complexity and a global war that would utterly change Britain's standing in the world. Parry's riposte was the English Lyrics: a defiant assertion that English poetry was the equal of Germany's Lied and French m�lodies and arguably created the template for the development of the emerging English art-song. The texts of many of the 25 songs - including some of his finest - on this recording carry deeply personal meanings for Parry, his response to them as varied as mood dictates and all realized with consummate insight and craftsmanship. Settings of AP Graves, Julia Chatterton and Julian Sturgis are to the fore, although lyrics by Herbert Warner and the American poets Ralph Waldo Emerson and Langdon Elwyn Mitchell are also to be heard in a spell- binding conclusion to an acclaimed series. Parry's only setting of Christina Rossetti, 'My heart is like a singing bird,' is delightfully effusive, 'When the Sun's Great Orb,' Wagner-like in it's imagining of the end of days, 'The child and the twilight' vividly full of night-time fears. Reviewing Volume I, BBC Music Magazine praised the "many pleasurable moments in this richly enjoyable album" with Classical Ear summing it up as being "In a word: blissful". Of Volume II, Robert Hugill applauded "this enterprising and illuminating survey", while MusicWeb International said: "Lovers of English songs, and Parry in particular, should be in their element with this satisfying album on Somm".

Somm Recordings closes the 120th anniversary year of George Gershwin's birth with the re-issue of the historic 1998 Centennial Edition recording initiated by the composer's sister, Frances Gershwin, together with first appearances of two orchestrations commissioned from Jos� Serebrier. Originally released on Dinemec Classics, the Gershwin Centennial Edition features the composer's nephew and Frances' son, pianist Leopold Godowsky III, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Jos� Serebrier. The recording followed a concert in London organized by the composer's formidable sister, Frances - 96 at the time - who invited Serebrier to conduct An American in Paris, the Concerto in F, and, in specially commissioned orchestrations by Serebrier, the Three Preludes and Lullaby. The programme shows Gershwin at his inimitable, era-defining best. Composed as an extended ballet sequence for the 1951 MGM musical starring Gene Kelly, An American in Paris is a buoyant, Technicolor-bright tribute to the French capital shot through with jazz-accented vitality. The Concerto in F is a bold, brassy, brilliantly orchestrated work with a grandstanding piano line bridging the worlds of classical music and jazz. It's animated opening movement is followed by a Blues-tinged Adagio and a finale boasting a helter-skelter orgy of rhythm and athletic pianism. Initially reluctant to orchestrate Lullaby, Serebrier says: "Now I am glad Leopold persuaded me. I have tried to keep the scoring as simple and pure as possible, so that the orchestral version of this poignantly lovely piece might take on a life of it's own in a voice that is still recognizably Gershwin's". The never before re-issued is a brilliant reminder of one of the most remarkable talents of the 20th century in performances by one of his greatest interpreters.

SOMM Recordings announces the launch of a major new series surveying Mozart's complete Piano Sonatas featuring the acclaimed "lion of the keyboard" Peter Donohoe in his highly-anticipated first-ever recordings of the composer's solo piano works. The landmark six-volume series launches with two early Sonatas - Nos.2 (K280) and 6 (K284) - and a later masterpiece - No.17 (K570), the first composed when Mozart was 18 in 1774, the last, described by Alfred Einstein as "the ideal" of the composer's sonatas, in 1789 at the age of 33. Mozart's 19 Piano Sonatas, as music critic Christopher Morley comments in his booklet notes, "cover so much of his short life... and a huge range of styles and genres, from quasi-concertos without orchestra to simple study pieces... There are generic dance-movements, there are movements of exquisite contemplation, there are explorations of searching counterpoint, there are the most exquisite melodies, and there is the perfume of opera". The sonatas in this first volume include the early, harpsichord-accented Second in F major (K280), the dignified ceremonial of the Du�rnitz Sonata, No.6 in D major (K284) and the Sonata No.17 in B-flat major (K570), a work whose surface brilliance disguises it's inner complexity. The impressive and sombre Fantasia No.3 in D minor (K397) completes the release. Described by BBC Radio 3 as "one of our greatest home-grown performers", Peter Donohoe's previous recordings for SOMM have attracted substantial critical approval and include the complete sonatas of Scriabin and Prokofiev along with works by Stravinsky. His recent partnering with Valerie Tryon and Mishka Rushdie Momen in Mozart's solo, duo and trio Mozart concertos prompted Gramophone to remark "it's good to be reminded just how much fun Mozart's works involving multiple pianos are".

SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce a major new release by Leon McCawley focusing on the piano music of Franz Schubert. The new recording is the latest offering from a highly acclaimed partnership between SOMM and McCawley that has seen earlier albums devoted to Haydn, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Rachmaninov and Samuel Barber. Leon McCawley has been one Britain's foremost pianists since winning the International Beethoven Piano Competition in 1993, when he also took second prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition. Perhaps "the most enigmatic of all musical geniuses", as Bryce Morrison describes him, Schubert himself famously declared "I came into this world for nothing else but to compose". Two masterpieces are heard here. The Drei Klavierst�cke saw Schubert reaching out in a radical new direction to deliver, says Morrison, something "wild, feverish, disjointed and intimate... visionary music with a vengeance". The Wanderer Fantasy is a luxurious display of virtuoso opulence - music the like of which wouldn't be heard again until Liszt at his most incendiary - that makes fearsome demands on the soloist. Four songs arranged by Liszt remain uncannily faithful to Schubert's originals while adding an extra dimension of drama and sophistication to show both composers at their melodic and dramatic best. Leon McCawley's previous recordings for SOMM have received wide critical praise. Gramophone hailed his complete Rachmaninov Preludes as "a distinguished issue", Fanfare described his playing of Brahms as "music-making of a very high order" with International Record Review adding: "When all is said and done, it is difficult to know whether McCawley's refined piano playing, his natural yet cultivated musicality or his boundless imagination warrants the greater praise. You must hear the recording". His recording of Haydn's Sonatas and Variations received a coveted Diapason d'Or and the "superb collection" of Barber's piano music was a Gramophone Editor's Choice.

SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce a stunning new solo piano recital from label veteran Peter Donohoe following his recent acclaimed coupling of Chopin's Second and Third Sonatas with Rachmaninoff's Chopin Variations, over which BBC Music Magazine's Rebecca Franks enthused "Donohoe's approach has a robust honesty and an appealing straightforward feel, with an instinct for the emotional rises and falls." Now the pianist revisits Chopin in the genre for which the composer is arguably best known and loved: the waltz. Donohoe has fashioned a substantial selection of 14 of Chopin's Waltzes into a set of his own design, juxtaposing the intimate numbers with the grand and virtuosic in fortuitous key relationships that the pianist says "form a more satisfying collection" compared with simply playing them through as numbered. It is hard to imagine any other composer that could have infused a dance-form with Chopin's lyrical pianism and singular dramatic storytelling. But the waltz naturally appealed to a great many other composers, among them Robert Schumann, Chopin's exact contemporary and fervent, if unrequited admirer. His Opus 1 "Abegg" Variations, in triple-time throughout and brimming with elegant fioritura, form one of a pair of waltz bookends to the Chopin set and begin this recital with an exhilarating take-off. On the other side of the Chopin set and leading the waltz suavely into the 20th-century is Maurice Ravel's cycle of eight Valses nobles et sentimentales, again organised to contrast vigorous (noble) numbers with evocative (sentimental) counterparts in an eclectic blend of Impressionism and Modernism, but this time according to the composer's own design. A lovely postlude comes in the form of La plus que lente, in which Ravel's fellow impressionist Claude Debussy crafts a harmonically sumptuous ode to the "slow waltz" (valse lente) steeped in languid nostalgia. Peter Donohoe's acclaimed discography of previous SOMM releases includes the complete cycle of Prokofiev Piano Sonatas and a complete survey of Mozart's Piano Sonatas - Volume 1 of the Mozart series was named a BBC Music Magazine "Recording of the Month", citing "a gloves-off spontaneity that imbues these magical scores with a compelling vitality and freshness". Other discs include Stravinsky's Music for Solo Piano and Piano and Orchestra and Scriabin's Complete Piano Sonatas.

Classical Music

The acclaimed Italian guitarist Gianluigi Giglio makes his debut on SOMM Recordings with The 19th Century Guitar, a scintillating recital of music by Fernando Sor, a pioneering champion of the guitar in the vanguard of raising it's profile out of the tavern and into the concert hall. Giglio's wide-ranging recital explores Sor's innate feeling for the guitar and charts the increasing demands he placed on the instrument in a body of work that transformed it's standing with public and pundits alike. From the early Op. 9 masterpiece that charted a new and expressive landscape for the guitar - Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart - to the late Elegiac Fantasy (Op. 59) with it's leanings towards newly-emerging Romanticism, this is a textbook display of the instrument's many abilities given eloquent voice by a master guitarist. Other notable pieces include the Introduction and Variations on 'Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre' (Op. 28), a deliciously knowing exercise in re-creating 18th-century style, the possibly unique programmatic caprice Le calme (Op. 50) and the no less singular �tude The movement of a religious prayer from the Op. 31 24 Progressive Lessons for Beginners which is distinguished by it's beautiful sense of polyphony. Gianluigi Giglio plays a guitar made by the noted Parisian luthier Ren� Lac�te in Paris in 1834. SOMM's previous recordings of Fernando Sor include Eros Roselli's recital Studies for Guitar (SOMMCD 021) and 12 Seguidillas performed by Craig Ogden on a disc of Spanish Songs featuring soprano Patricia Rozario (SOMMCD 078).

SOMM Recordings announces the second instalment in Bruckner from the Archives, “a major commemorative series” (ConcertoNet.com) in six double-CD volumes celebrating the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner’s birth in 1824.
Conceived and designed by SOMM Executive Producer and acclaimed Audio Restoration Engineer Lani Spahr with support from the Bruckner Society of America, the series features rare archival recordings of Bruckner’s 11 symphonies and selected other important works, many appearing for the first time in any form. Recordings have been sourced from the more than 11,000 Bruckner performances in the Archive of John F. Berky, Executive Secretary of the Bruckner Society of America, who also acts as Consultant for this important series.
Volume 2 offers live radio broadcasts of Bruckner’s Symphony No.2 by the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (today’s WDR S.O. Cologne) under Georg Ludwig Jochum (1955) and his unnumbered Symphony in D minor “Die Nullte” by the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam under Eduard van Beinum (1962). Joining these is the first recording in the long-play era of the Mass No.2 in E minor, made by the Berlin Philharmonic under Karl Forster with the Choir of St Hedwig’s Cathedral (1956).

This is the first commercial release of the compelling performance of the Second Symphony, but all three of these works are presented here for the very first time in Lani Spahr’s expert new restoration and remastering.

The recordings are accompanied, as ever, by authoritative notes on the works’ genesis in the context of Bruckner’s life and compositional development, written by Professor Benjamin Korstvedt, President of the Bruckner Society of America and member of the Editorial Board of the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition.

In his notes, Prof. Korstvedt enthusiastically assesses the live broadcasts, noting the first release from Cologne is “undoubtedly a very good performance … which responds vividly to the contrasting moods of the music and presents the Second as a symphony of emotional depth, brilliant imagination, and sonic grandeur.” The “Nullte” from Amsterdam “conveys Van Beinum’s typical style. The tempos are generally brisk and his approach refreshingly direct, at times unabashed in its ardour, keenly alive to the vigour of the music.” The late Bruckner discographer Dr Hans Roelofs said of the Forster Mass: “The interpretation exudes power and solidity … a radiant choir, good balance with the orchestra and rather brisk tempos make the recording a real experience.”
Lani Spahr’s previous SOMM releases include the lauded four-volume sets Vaughan Williams Live (ARIADNE 5016, 5018-20) and Elgar Remastered (SOMMCD 261-4), as well as Elgar from America, Volume 3 (Ariadne 5015-2), which garnered a Gramophone Editor’s Choice for “superb audio restorations [bringing] performances fully to life”

Cellist Bozidar Vukotic and pianist Alissa Firsova make their debuts on SOMM Recordings with Russian Visions, a revealing survey of chamber duets by three 20th-century giants: Stravinsky, Schnittke and Dmitri Smirnov. Five contrasting works reveal the diversity of stylistic approaches in modern Russian music while also paying tribute to the country’s revered school of cello playing in pieces dedicated to legendary Russian cellists of the last century – Gregor Piatigorsky, Natalia Gutman and Mstislav Rostropovich. The modernism of Schnittke’s Second Cello Sonata is heard alongside the romantic lyricism of his First Sonata and Smirnov’s Tiriel, and against the neo-classical leanings of Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne and Schnittke’s Musica nostalgica. Heard here in its first recording, Dmitri Smirnov’s Tiriel – one of many pieces inspired by the artist William Blake – was drawn from his similarly titled 1985 opera and takes the form of a lilting, lyrical lullaby welcoming the release from sorrow afforded by sleep. Bozidar Vukotic is a founder-member of the Tippett String Quartet and has been guest principal cellist with leading orchestras in the UK and Europe. He studied with Rostropovich protégé Stefan Popov at the Guildhall School of Music, where he was awarded the prestigious Premier Prix, completing his studies with William Pleeth in London and Alexander Kniazev in Moscow. He teaches at the Purcell School and is Cello Professor at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. A much in demand pianist who made her Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms debuts in 2009, Alissa Firsova is also a former BBC Proms Young Composer whose music has enjoyed widespread international exposure in the concert hall and on disc. Her solo performing is complemented by chamber collaborations with distinguished artists such as Stephen Kovacevich, Steven Isserlis, Tim Hugh and Andrew Marriner. She also has a burgeoning career as a conductor. Dmitri Smirnov is her father.

SOMM RECORDINGS is proud to announce the release of Kathleen Ferrier: In Celebration of Bach, a collection of historic performances with Britain’s favorite classical singer of the 20th century very much the star attraction. It includes the first recorded appearance of Ferrier singing Magnificat, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Volkmar Andreae in the Grosser Musikvereinssaal, from the legendary 1950 International Bach Festival. A rarity in Ferrier’s repertoire – she had sung it only once before and was never to again – the Magnificat was a work the much-loved singer felt a close affinity with, joyfully declaring: “Oh! The Magnificat – I am in my element in this sort of music!” The occasion was a significant one for the singer, as Ferrier authority Paul Campion notes in his extensive, detailed and informative booklet notes: “It was a considerable honor for Ferrier to be invited... what was quite astonishing was that of all the 15 soloists taking part [she] was the only non-native German speaker.... Her international success was indeed at its zenith.” London’s fabled Kingsway Hall provides the venue for two memorable Cantata performances – No. 11, Praise our God, and No. 67, Hold in affection Jesus Christ – recorded by Ferrier in 1949 with tenor William Herbert, bass William Parsons and Dr Reginald Jacques’ Cantata Singers and Jacques Orchestra. From the same venue and period, Jacques and the Cantata Singers offer a bewitching encore in the sublime Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. Paul Campion, author of the authoritative Ferrier: A Career Recorded provides specially commissioned booklet notes.

SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the release of star-in-the-making mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge’s celebration of the songs of ‘light music’ master Eric Coates, accompanied by pianist Christopher Glynn. Fresh from rave reviews for The Hills of Dreamland, a ravishing collection of Elgar’s orchestral songs, Kathryn Rudge returns with a delectable recital of era-defining songs by the composer of the stirring The Dam Busters March, exuberant Knightsbridge march and the timeless By the Sleepy Lagoon, familiar to radio audiences around the world as the theme to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs since 1942. The dreamy reverie of that signature song, so evocative of a more innocent age, is matched here by the carefree rustic knowingness of Reuben Ranzo, the Four Old English Songs, the affecting melancholia of The Green Hills of Somerset and the exquisite four-part song cycle The Mill o’ Dreams. Coates belongs to an era of gentler music-making but a no less passionate and emotional one, as Rudge’s ardent singing of Sea Rapture, her beseeching approach to I Pitch My Lonely Caravan and honeyed take on The Fairy Tales of Ireland eloquently testifies to. Kathryn Rudge has been described as “one of Britain’s brightest young mezzos” (What’s on Stage) with her voice lauded for its “tremendous reserves of power, impeccable intonation, the capacity for a gloriously sustained legato and, most interesting of all, a distinctive vocal quality” (The Times). Christopher Glynn is fast emerging as one of the most exciting young accompanists of the day. Opera News has described him as “an exemplary partner, by turns impossibly delicate, colourfully nimble and thunderously firm”, while the Birmingham Post praised his partnering in concert of fellow SOMM artist Roderick Williams for its “reassuring authority and empathy”. Authoritative booklet notes are provided by English music specialist Jeremy Dibble.

SOMM Recordings’ historic complete survey of Charles Villiers Stanford’s String Quartets by the Dante Quartet reaches its end with a third volume focusing on Nos. 1 and 2, and the first recording of No. 6. Already acclaimed as a composer of choral music, Stanford came relatively late to the string quartet form, composing his first two at the age of 39 in 1891. Six more followed over the next three decades, including the Op. 122 String Quartet, No. 6 in 1910. This final volume features the early String Quartets, Opp. 44 (No. 1) and 45 (No. 2) which share a concern for meticulous use of individual instrument voices and a leaning towards lyricism. Allusions to Beethoven and Mozart are contained within Stanford’s own beautifully crafted music. Heard here in its premiere recording, the Sixth String Quartet is a work of rich contrasts, restless energy and some of Stanford’s most expressive writing for the medium. Volume I (SOMMCD 0160) was admired as “an excellent disc in every respect” (MusicWeb International), applauded as “most enterprising and thoroughly likeable” (Classical Ear) and acclaimed “a really worthwhile release” (Gramophone). Volume II (SOMMCD 0185) was described as “essential listening... SOMM and the Dantes have broken important new ground with impressive commitment” by Gramophone and by Limelight as being “played with great élan and sensitivity by the excellent Dante Quartet”.

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REVIEW:

The Dante Quartet play splendidly throughout the album, with noticeably clean articulation and gratifying intonation. Unerringly accomplished, these Dante performances, combined with spirited interpretations that breathe vitality and enthusiasm, would pass the most rigorous examination. The engineering team, recording in St Nicholas Parish Church, Thames Ditton, has provided first class sound quality. Stanford biographer Jeremy Dibble has written the booklet notes. Lovers of British music, and Stanford in particular, need not hesitate in acquiring this superb album.

– MusicWeb International

The second volume in Somm Recordings’ complete survey of Charles Villiers Stanford’s eight String Quartets sees the Dante Quartet return with first recordings of the Third, Fourth and Seventh Quartets. Stanford came late to the string quartet form, composing his first two in 1891. His Third Quartet followed five years later. Dedicated to “my friends the Joachim Quartet,” it moves from stern agitation and lyrical poise to introspective intensity before ending with a ferocious, dance-like finale. As Stanford authority Jeremy Dibble notes: “The idiom of the string quartet was always a serious intellectual challenge for Stanford and this example is no exception in its demonstration of structural subtlety, thematic imagination and brilliant ensemble writing.” Completed a decade later, the Fourth Quartet is a work of fierce technical challenges – “brimfull with invention” as Dibble pithily observes – its playful Scherzo a dazzling example of Stanford’s love of continuing variation, the melancholic slow movement and virtuoso finale drawing deep from the Dublin-born composer’s richly emotional Irish heritage. The Seventh Quartet is one of Stanford’s most varied and vital exercises in the form. Viola and cello are pitched against each other in the stern, contrapuntal dialogue of its first movement with a tour de force Scherzo at its heart and a finale that dances delightfully in irregular phrase lengths to end in an energetic flourish. Issued in late 2016, Volume One in the series was admired as “an excellent album in every respect” (MusicWeb International), applauded as “most enterprising and thoroughly likeable” (Classical Ear) and acclaimed “a really worthwhile release” (Gramophone).