In 2018 I was delighted to accept the challenge of writing a Christmas song for clarinet and higher voices and decided to set one of my favorite medieval poems, I Sing of a Maiden that is Makeless. The poem tells of the miracle of the divine birth and is a paean to the mother of Christ. I became so fascinated with composing for clarinet and upper voices that I found myself writing three more songs, all celebrating the Christmas story. All four songs are grouped under the title, Songs of Celebration and they can be performed separately or as a suite. Oddly, the lyrics for Precious Gift, came to me whilst waiting in an NHS hospital waiting room. Perhaps influenced by my surroundings, I focus on the pain inherent in baby Jesus’ story! An epilogue from the clarinet expressing grief completes the story and turns the mood around in readiness for the final carol. There is No Rose of Such Virtue is another early 15th century poem equating Mary with a vigorously growing rose, a popular metaphor of the time. It was very gratifying to see the children in Gloucester cathedral choir singing this carol with gusto, relishing its beat boxing and glissandi which felt at once incongruously modern and yet perfectly apposite in the cathedral surroundings. (Emma Johnson)

On her third Pentatone album Brahms Lieder, Anna Lucia Richter returns to the German lied, making her recording debut as a mezzo-soprano with a recital of Brahms songs, together with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz. Brahms is particularly suitable for this recording debut as his songs fit the mezzo-soprano voice like a glove, and the pieces presented here range from love poetry and dark Romanticism to folk songs, including the world-famous Wiegenlied. Richter’s profound engagement and knowledge of the German lied is perceivable in each song she performs, as well as in her insightful liner notes text for the booklet, in which she links the project to the notion of twilight (Dämmerung). Bushakevitz’s poetic playing offers the perfect tone for both the gloomy and the idyllic pieces. Anna Lucia Richter belongs to the most exciting young singers of her generation. Brahms Lieder is the third fruit of her exclusive collaboration with Pentatone, after her Monteverdi portrait Il delirio della passione (2020) and her Schubert album Heimweh (2019). Ammiel Bushakevitz enjoys a flourishing career both as a solo pianist and lied accompanist, and makes his Pentatone debut.

REVIEW:

As a soprano her earlier Schubert album “Heimweh” was one of the most compelling song albums I’ve reviewed and I named it as one of my Critic’s Choice albums of 2020. I confess that I miss her lighter voice, but the change to mezzo allows her to use her middle range, where she is most at home. The choice of Brahms for her debut album as a mezzo confirms her decision.

I can name no album of Brahms songs I’ve enjoyed more than this. That is due partly to the selection of 20 of his best and most performed songs, including some of his folk song settings. Mostly it is because of Richter’s exemplary ability as a lieder singer. Pentatone’s sound quality is superlative.

-- American Record Guide (Robert A. Moore)

Julien Chauvin meets up with one of the great harpsichordists and fortepianists of our time, Andreas Staier, who is a leading interpreter of the Mozart concertos. He presents us with his vision of the Piano Concerto no.23 and its famous Adagio, ‘one of the most heart-rending slow movements ever written by Mozart. Performers often tend to take it too slowly, certainly thinking that this will accentuate the tragic side, but Julien Chauvin and I spontaneously agreed on a slightly faster tempo, which respects the basic pulse of this movement in Siciliana rhythm. When you start with the right tempo, it’s amazing how the whole discourse comes together perfectly, in a very logical and simple manner’, says Staier, who plays a magnificent instrument by Christoph Kern after a 1790 fortepiano by Anton Walter, the great maker of Mozart’s time. Also on the program is the Symphony no.40, in which, says Julien Chauvin, ‘Mozart explores types of writing that he pushes to their most extreme limits. This is the case in the finale, where we find a succession of dissonant disjunct intervals at the opening of the development which, on closer inspection, present us with the full chromatic scale (except for G natural, the symphony’s tonic). And so the twelve-note series was born!’

Described by the New York Times in 1944 as “One of the most remarkably gifted of the younger generation of American keyboard artists,” Leon Fleisher was born in San Francisco in 1928. In 1944, at age 16, he played the Brahms first Piano Concerto as soloist with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Pierre Monteux. In 1952 he won the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. He played the Brahms and Beethoven Piano Concertos often and recorded them with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1964, he noticed that two fingers of his right hand were beginning to involuntarily curl up. He tried every therapy that existed then, but his solo career was effectively ended. He continued to teach, and conduct and in 1967 began to perform works for the left hand. In 1995 he succeeded to regain the use if his right hand and began performing and recording with two-hands. Leon Fleisher passed away in 2020 at age 92. DOREMI is proud to offer here a hitherto unreleased live recording of 16 years old Leon Fleisher playing Brahms Piano concerto No, 1 with the New York Philharmonic, with Pierre Monteux conducting.

This album is the story of a dialogue between two voices: the singing voice and the voice of the cello, which has always been considered the instrument closest to the human voice. It is also the story of two worlds and the meeting of two cultures, East and West. The East we encounter here is Armenia, its thousand-year-old culture, its music and its songs, which resonate with the compositions of Bach, Kodály and Ligeti.

For the cellist Astrig Siranossian, vocal melody and the sound of the cello are two voices that she has always combined in her concerts, coupling a dance from a solo cello suite by Bach with an Armenian song that she performs with great sensitivity. East and West, Armenia and Europe: it is her roots and her emotions that the young cellist shares with us here. This recording was made on two different cellos, according to the repertory: an instrument by Francesco Ruggieri dating from 1676 and the famous Giovanni Gagliano of 1756 known as the ‘Sir John Barbirolli’.

Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka presents Molieri, a program of opera arias by Mozart and Salieri, together with the Czech Ensemble Baroque under the baton of Roman Válek. Thanks to fictional works such as the film Amadeus, Antonio Salieri is often scapegoated as the man who allegedly caused Mozart’s untimely death out of professional envy. Despite the fact that this is obviously not true, Salieri’s popularity has suffered from this popular myth-making, and most of his operas have sunk into oblivion. Molieri brings the two composers together, focusing on bass-8 baritone arias from their opera buffas. Famous arias from Mozart’s Da Ponte operas are heard in a completely different light when paired to excerpts from Salieri’s Falstaff, Axur, La grotto di Trofonio, and La scuola de’ gelosi. It also makes clear why Salieri enjoyed such success, as well as why great composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt all wanted to study with him. Given the importance of Prague for Mozart’s operatic successes, the music fits the players of Czech Ensemble Baroque like a glove, and Plachetka possesses the optimal combination of vocal authority and agility to sing these buffo roles.

Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka frequents the world’s most prestigious opera houses, and is a MET regular, equally at home in dramatic and comic repertoire. The Czech Ensemble Baroque is one of the most important period instrument ensembles of the Czech Republic, and was founded by Roman Válek in 1998. Plachetka, Válek and the ensemble all make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEW:

Adam Plachetka is a widely experienced singer, especially of the Mozart roles heard here, to all of which he brings a handsome, healthy tone, firm diction and a sense of character. Several arias include apt decorations and, where appropriate, his own cadenzas. The solid quality of the Czech Ensemble Baroque under Roman Válek, meanwhile, is evidenced in a couple of overtures, the familiar Figaro, plus a powerful account of Salieri’s dramatic introduction to La grotta di Trofonio.

-- BBC Music Magazine

The Orpheum Foundation, which has been supporting young musicians for over thirty years, has joined forces with Alpha Classics for a series of recordings devoted to Mozart’s concertos, regardless of instrument. The leading soloists of the young generation have been selected to appear under the artistic direction of Howard Griffiths, a renowned Mozart conductor, who considers that performing his music is like ‘looking in a mirror: you can hear if everything is in place, musicality, intonation, rhythm, phrasing’. These albums will reveal the great virtuosos of tomorrow and immortalize their success in this implacable test. Ludvig Gudim plays the Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218 (with cadenzas by Joachim); Joséphine Olech plays the Flute Concerto No. 1 in G Major, K. 313; and Jeneba Kanneh-Mason plays the Piano Concerto No. 6 in B-Flat Major, K. 238.

This album strives to understand the varying ways composers comprehend grief, loss and death. How did they cope, their hearts broken, their peace gone? And how can we cope? In this combination of works Weiss has tried to follow the paths these great composers walked in their own grief. Their tracks lead us from death back towards life, from horror to hope. Of his Arc album series, Orion Weiss explains: ‘The arc of this recital trilogy is inverted, like a rainbow’s reflection in water. Arc I’s first steps here head downhill, beginning from hope and proceeding down to despair. The bottom of the journey, Arc II, is Earth’s center, grief, loss, the lowest we can reach. The return trip, Arc III, is one of excitement and renewal, filled with the joy of rebirth and the anticipation of a better future.’

For the fourth volume in this collection dedicated to Mozart concertos by the younger generation of performers, the Orpheum Foundation and Alpha Classics present the Concertos nos. 23 and 24 (K488 & 491) performed by the British pianist Julian Trevelyan, who was awarded three prizes at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich in 2021 and, at the age of sixteen, became the youngest-ever prizewinner at the Marguerite Long Competition in Paris in 2015. ‘Mozart’s music is full of life, humor and enjoyment. My life wouldn’t feel fulfilled if I didn’t have his music’, says the young musician, who is accompanied here by one of the most eminent Mozartian maestros, Christian Zacharias, conducting the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Flanked by a spectacular cast featuring the role debuts of Nicky Spence and Simona Šaturová, the conductor Ben Glassberg (Music Director of the Opéra de Rouen Normandie) once again demonstrates his Mozartian temperament. This late masterpiece (written at the same time as Die Zauberflöte) places his musical genius at the service of a plot centered on the complexity of emotions, passionate love and the absurd disaster of betrayal. Scottish tenor Nicky Spence has quickly established himself as one of the leading talents of his generation. Equally at home in the operas of Strauss, Janacek, and Wagner, he was named Young Singer of the Year 2015 by the International Opera Awards and, in 2022, Personality of the Year by BBC Music Magazine. The Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová, an active presence on the international scene, enjoys a high reputation as a Mozartian. The Pope even invited her to sing the Mass in C Minor in the Sistine Chapel. She has several recordings to her credit, and her flexible and luminous voice has won her such prizes as the Thalia Award in 2021.

Mari Kodama presents New Paths, exploring the young Johannes Brahms and his fascinating friendship with Clara and Robert Schumann. The album derives its title from Robert Schumann’s famous essay “Neue Bahnen”, in which he heralded the young Brahms as the most eminent musical voice of the future. The program brings together Brahms’s first piano sonata, his Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 9, as well as his Theme And Variations, Op. 18B, made at Clara Schumann’s request. The final word is given to Clara’s arrangement of Robert’s song Widmung.

New Paths not only explores the unique bond of these three remarkable composers, but also shows the energetic self-confidence of the young Brahms, so different from his later melancholia. Kodama performs these works on a brand new Yamaha piano that almost sounds like a period instrument, coming much closer to Brahms’s sound ideal. Mari Kodama is one of the most extraordinary pianists of our age, and has an impressive Pentatone discography, featuring Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas (2003-2014), piano concertos of Loewe and Chopin (2003), Tchaikovsky Ballet Suites for Piano Duo (2016), De Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain (2017), Martinu’s Concerto for Two Pianos (2018), Kaleidoscope, Beethoven Transcriptions and MON AMI Mon amour (both 2020).

Hailed by the music press as one of the most gifted pianists of her generation and recipient of many international awards, established German-Italian pianist and ECHO winner Sophie Pacini invites us on a very personal journey across the pianistic cosmos. In her own words: “On this album, I have combined pieces which have accompanied and reassured me in seemingly small, but ultimately crucial moments of my life.”

Since her concert debut at the age of eight and her training in the highly gifted institute of the Mozarteum Salzburg, Sophie Pacini has played in many important concert halls worldwide, including the Philharmonie Berlin, Philharmonie and Prinzregententheater Munich, Suntory & Orchard Hall Tokyo, KKL Luzern, and Kurhaus Wiesbaden. Sophie's special focus is on communicating classical music to the next generation, in the context of her own concert activities and in numerous publications.

The splendour of Mozart’s motet Exsultate, jubilate stands out in a repertoire that has for too long remained in the shadows: the magnificent output of church music composed in 18th-century Milan, the city in which Mozart, then not even 17 years old, wrote his first masterpiece of sacred music precisely 250 years ago. The virtuosity and melodic beauty of that score, conceived for the celebrated castrato Venanzio Rauzzini, can finally be heard alongside the brilliant works – for soloists and choir, in both the stile antico and the new modern manner – composed for the exacting noble patrons of the capital of Austrian Lombardy by musicians of great refinement and talent: names that include the universally renowned Johann Christian Bach, Giovanni Andrea Fioroni, the then maestro di cappella of the cathedral, and the hitherto obscure Melchiorre Chiesa.

In recent decades, Johann Sebastian Bach's works have undergone numerous transcriptions and adaptations. Since the 1960s, the guitar repertoire has seen the addition of several Bach pieces originally intended for the lute, an instrument that is undoubtedly among the most akin to the modern six-string guitar. Following the increasingly in-depth study of Bach's work and the spread of the classical guitar, several harpsichord pieces have also been transcribed and performed. This album magnificently displays these pieces by exploiting the rich dynamics and full polyphonic capacity of the guitar.

The Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and the Clavier-Büchlein vor Anna Magdalena Bach hold an important place, as these collections offer a glimpse into Bach’s familial and didactic spheres of action. Within the Friedemann Bach collection, we find the two Praeambula (BWV 924 & 926), characterised by arpeggiated writing, probably a model for students to create a first simple improvisation. Further on, the Fantasias that appear in the final part of the collection show a wonderful degree of contrapuntal complexity. Although there were 2 versions of the Anna Magdalena collection, the one which has survived almost in its entirety seems to have been intended as a family album, with contributions not only from Anna Magdalena (J.S. Bach’s wife), but also from her son Carl Philipp Emanuel and other composers. The pieces in this collection, including vocal pieces written for Anna (an accomplished singer), are most commonly small dance forms characterised by an essential and refined homophonic-style writing. The Anglaise and Minuet from the French Suite No. 3, as well as the more solemn Allemande from the French Suite No. 4, are clear examples of the gracefulness of these compositions, which show a subtler sound texture than those of other series of Bach suites, as well as a more limited use of counterpoint. Also of exquisite elegance is the Minuet from Partita BWV 825, taken from the first volume of the Clavier-Übung.

This album also includes some famous works, among them the preludes from the French Suite No. 3 and Johann Peter Kellner’s collection. These are rather varied pieces, written for teaching purposes and passed down through written transcriptions from Bach’s pupils. Some are extremely short but show some degree of harmonic density and sometimes a rather chromatic style, while others have a slightly broader structure and a writing more similar to the Inventions, with a systematic use of counterpoint. The album also features works from other prominent composers – George Philipp Telemann and C.P.E. Bach – as well as two lesser-known composers, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel and Christian Petzold.

Holland Baroque presents Bachs Königin, an album full of masterful organ works by J.S. Bach, transcribed for the orchestra by Judith and Tineke Steenbrink.

These creative interpretations add unique colours and a fresh spirit to baroque monuments. Here is yet another chance to enjoy Bach’s genius. Holland Baroque is an original and innovative baroque orchestra that approaches baroque repertoire through a fresh and contemporary approach, with a focus on improvisation and collaborations with outstanding artists from different traditions. Minne is their fifth Pentatone album, after having released Minne (2022) Brabant 1653, Polonoise (both 2021) and Silk Baroque (2019) with the label.

Arabella Steinbacher presents works for violin and orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach and Arvo Pärt, together with violinist Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Bach’s violin concertos have had a very special significance for Steinbacher ever since hearing the A Minor Concerto at the age of four, an experience that made her decide to become a musician. This seminal work is performed here alongside the E Major Violin Concerto and the Double Concerto in D Minor, on which she is joined by violinist Christoph Koncz. The Bach concertos are framed by two of Arvo Pärt’s most profound and enigmatic pieces: Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel; the former in the version for violin, string orchestra and percussion, the latter rendered in a version for violin and piano, together with Peter von Wienhardt. Bach and Pärt may be centuries apart, but for Steinbacher, they have a spiritual and sacred origin in common, and their music resonates deeply with her. Arabella Steinbacher is a multiple award-winner with an extensive Pentatone discography, including Mozart’s complete violin concertos (2014 and 2021), Four Seasons (Vivaldi & Piazzolla, 2020), Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos (2015) and many others. Christoph Koncz and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester make their Pentatone debut.

REVIEWS:

I’ve long been a fan of Steinbacher’s; I’ve raved about her playing in a wide variety of repertoire: Bartok, Brahms, and Hindemith and Britten. Here she plays two Bach Violin Concertos: in E major and A minor, and a Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, with another fine violinist, Christian Kontz. Once again Pentatone provides fine accompaniment: the agile and stylish Stuttgarter Kammerorchester.

Two Arvo Pärt pieces bookend the three Bach concertos. His Fratres comes in many versions; this one, for violin, string orchestra and percussion, is from 1992. This is a suitable prelude to the meat of the program: hushed and reverential, but in the end as dramatic a curtain raiser as a Rossini overture. The final piece, Spiegel im Spiegel, in its original 1978 version for violin and piano, acts as a kind of valedictory encore. Once again, Arabella Steinbacher has a fine partner, in pianist Peter von Wienhard.

-- Music for Several Instruments (Dean Frey)

From the evidence of this new Pentatone album of Bach concertos, Steinbacher's artistry of the violin reveals an ever-increasing maturity. The lovely slender tone, flawless cantabile and sheer love of melody she has displayed in her earlier recordings is still there, along with an increased awareness of the harmonic basis of the great works of music she performs. And her sure hand in shaping the graceful contour of a given melody is more skilled and knowing than ever.

-- Audio Visual Club of Atlanta (Phil Muse)

This is the third and final installment of the Well-Tempered Consort series (5 Diapasons, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice). In this program devised by its director Laurence Dreyfus, the viol consort Phantasm continues to shine new light on the fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier interspersed with some of the composer’s most harmonically adventurous experiments from the Clavierübung III. This polyphonic feast also includes two works from the Inventions and Sinfonias as well as the Fantasia in G major BWV 572, or Pièce d’orgue as it is sometimes called, which boasts an extraordinary closing pedal point. A fitting end to a remarkable journey!

1723 marked the beginning of a new era: Johann Sebastian Bach was appointed Thomaskantor in Leipzig and was about to leave his mark on German music history like hardly any other composer. But first, Georg Philipp Telemann, the actual preferred candidate, needed to withdraw from his appointment in favor of Hamburg. Christoph Graupner, the jury's next choice, was unable to take up the post because he didn't receive approval from his employer in Darmstadt. It's hard to believe that Bach was only the third choice!

Immerse yourself in the fascinating application process and slip into the role of the jury!
The OPUS-KLASSIK award-winning ensemble Ælbgut presents an exciting compilation of the three composers' specially prepared trial cantatas. For this, they are working together for the first time with the young baroque specialists from Capella Jenensis.

Listen to the premiere recording of Graupner's "Lobet den Herrn" as well as Telemann's previously unpublished cantata "Ich muß auf den Bergen weinen und heulen" – a true rediscovery. Which candidate would you have chosen?

Young Steinway Artist Han Xiang David Xu is an active Chinese-Canadian concert pianist, who maintains deep interest and extra-musical possibilities in other art forms, including ballet, painting, and Taichi. As a martial art practitioner, Xu is heavily influenced, his MMus dissertation was on Taichi Principals and Piano Performance Techniques. For the past few years, Xu has studied many other styles of martial arts and even received his certificate as a professional instructor for Functional Range Conditioning. To go further with his research on the subject, Xu took another Master of Science degree from Royal College of Music. His thesis is on Experience of Fundamental Martial Arts Training for Young Concert Pianists.

After moving to Vancouver, David began studies with Ian Parker, before eventually graduating and studying at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Professor Rebecca Penneys. He continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, under the tutelage of Pascal Nemirovski, and graduated with high honors. Xu has given several recital tours across China over the past few years, with stops in Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Xiamen, and Guangzhou.

His album Sonatas on Canvas received prizes in three categories in the Global Music Award: Classical Solo Piano, Album, and Emerging Artist. He is a prize winner in many competitions including the Rome International Piano Competition, International Music Competition Paris Grand Prize Virtuoso, and Canadian Music Competition. In 2019, he was invited to feature in a new Jaguar commercial for their new XFL sedan. Aside of being a concert pianist he is also an educator. In the past few years Xu has adjudicated in many major international piano competitions.

Rudolf Kempe (1910–1976) was born near Dresden and in 1930 joined the celebrated Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra as first oboe. After his debut as a conductor in 1935, he joined the German army in 1942 but was ‘retired’ the same year and went back to conducting. A large number of engagements followed after the War, at the Saxon State Opera, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and as music director of the Bavarian State Opera (1952–1954). Kempe opened the 1951 season at the Vienna State Opera, and appeared at Covent Garden in 1953 (conducting Strauss with enormous success), and later at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1955.

He declined to become Covent Garden’s director twice but remained a regular and much-admired conductor at Covent Garden and on the concert platform both in London and on the Continent. He became chief conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1961–1975) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1975 until his untimely death in 1976. In Europe, he became chief conductor of the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra in 1965 and in 1966, general music director of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

Violinist Ning Feng is recognised internationally as an artist of great lyricism, innate musicality and stunning virtuosity. Together with pianist Zee Zee he presents the Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Johannes Brahms: Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78, Sonata No. 2 in A, Op. 100, and Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108. Ning Feng believes these sonatas for piano and violin to be the crown jewels of the repertoire, stating: "Ever since I first heard them on a recording, I fell in love with them. And after performing them myself many, many times over the past 20 years, I have learned to appreciate the beauty of the lyrical melodies even more and more deeply understand the musical philosophy of this great composer.”

This album of works by Debussy, Prokofiev and Barber aims to show not only the fascination of the increasing complexity of musical language in the 20th century but also the desire to preserve the ideas and achievements of previous musical epochs. The expansion of tonality and the search for new rhythmic and acoustic solutions in the first book of Debussy’s Préludes are followed by Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives, perhaps his only work that was clearly influenced by Impressionism.

Some pieces from Visions fugitives could seem to be part of Debussy’s cycle, although Prokofiev’s famous Feroce offers electrifying rhythms and sharp dissonances. I have chosen Barber’s Piano Sonata as my final work. This unique masterpiece literally sprouted from the soil of 20th century musical discoveries but still retained Baroque and Classical structures. The stunning fugue that concludes the sonata sounds like a manifesto: no matter how far the creative process takes us, there is always something constant to which we will always return. (Konstantin Emelyanov)

From powerful and impressive but also minimalist contours to soulful and native harmonies further on towards fiery and flying rhythms - on this very personal album entitled "Autograph" Martynas Levickis, as soloist, arranger and composer, presents all the colors and sounds of the instrument he adores and of which he is the master: the accordion. In 2010, at the age of 20, he made the jump to the big stages of the music world when he won both the World Accordion Championship and a major Lithuanian talent show. Since then, Martynas Levickis has seen himself as an ambassador for his instrument, whose versatility and beauty he brings into focus with sophisticated arrangements and programs that span eras and genres. “Autograph” spans an arc from the music of Johann Sebastian Bach to the present with works by Philip Glass and Franck Angelis. It impressively proves that the accordion has also found its place in classical music.

The 'Dissonance' Quartet is probably the best-known of the set of six Mozart wrote between 1782 and 1785 as a tribute to Haydn. It owes its nickname to the strange clashes of the slow introduction in C minor. Almost a century later, the thirty-year-old Tchaikovsky wrote his Quartet no.1, op.11, whose second movement, which moved Tolstoy to tears, was inspired by a folk tune that the composer heard a housepainter whistling. The musicians of the Esmé Quartet chose these two pieces because they love their respective Andante cantabile movements. The four young women also decided to put the spotlight on one of their compatriots, the South Korean composer Soo Yeon Lyuh, who in 2016 wrote Yessori, 'sound of the past', for the Kronos Quartet. She explains: 'I first got used to playing the piano and the violin. So, later, when I encountered Korean traditional music, its relative pitch relationships and fluid rhythmic cycles felt completely new.'

SOMM Recordings announces a double-disc set of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord brilliantly performed by two virtuosos of their instruments, Adrian Butterfield (violin) and Silas Wollston (harpsichord).

The selection of eight sonatas includes six works for violin and obbligato harpsichord (BWV 1014-1019), likely composed between 1720 and 1723 during Bach’s final years in Cöthen, and the later Violin Sonatas in G major (BWV 1021) from 1732, and early (though belatedly catalogued) E minor (BWV 1023) from around 1709. Bonus tracks include three alternative movements composed for the BWV 1019 Sonata in G major that illustrate the development of Bach’s thinking in relation to sonata form and intimate musical expression. These intricately designed sonatas also serve to reveal Bach’s innovative way of employing the harpsichord’s singing voice as an equal to the violin and are surely precursors to the rich sonata tradition that emerged in the 19th century.

Butterfield and Wollston’s erudite booklet notes place the sonatas within the context of Bach’s own musical inheritance and influences while arguing for their abiding appeal: “More than 300 years after their composition, they still sound excellent, give much joy and continue to tug at the listener’s heartstrings”.

Making his SOMM debut, Silas Wollston is partnered by Adrian Butterfield, whose previous releases for the label feature him alongside London Handel Players colleagues in Handel’s Complete Sonatas & Works for Violin and Continuo with Katherine Sharman (cello) and Laurence Cummings (harpsichord), described by Early Music Review as “required listening” (SOMMCD 068); the Seven Trio Sonatas, Op.5, judged “assured and surprisingly lyrical” by Gramophone (SOMMCD 044); and Geminiani’s Complete Sonatas, Op.1 (SOMMCD 248-2), featuring performances that International Record Review declared “want for nothing in terms of technical brilliance and musical integrity”.

Giorgi Gigashvili is only twenty-two, but he is already hitting the headlines: now a pupil of Nelson Goerner, he is a protégé of Martha Argerich, who gave him the urge to play the piano alongside his first love, pop singing: at the age of thirteen, he was a contestant in The Voice in his homeland, Georgia, and won the prize! A few years later, Argerich discovered him at a piano competition, and he went on to win prizes at several more, including the Hortense Anda-Bührle Prize at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich in 2021. Another high-flying mentor, the violinist Lisa Batiashvili, asked him to play him the piano on her recording of the Franck Violin Sonata. His free and spectacular playing impresses, his creativity and personality astonish. Here he presents his first recital, revealing his palette of colours: Scarlatti, Beethoven, Scriabin and Messiaen. But never far away is his shadow, the singer of the electro band Tsduneba (‘temptation’ in Georgian) which he founded with his friends.

Great Performances, Great Sound and World-Renowned Artists! Reference Recordings is proud to present The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos played by Grammy-winning Garrick Ohlsson, performing with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson is especially noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. He is the only American to win first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition.

This new recording represents a pinnacle in his career. The Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra consists of top talent from across the country, including more than 220 musicians from 90 orchestras and 65 institutions of higher learning, many performing together each summer for over 25 years. The Festival, founded in 1962, also welcomes yearly some of the most sought-after soloists and visiting artists in classical music today. Under the baton of world-renowned conductor Sir Donald Runnicles, these musicians come together to gather inspiration from the mountain setting and to provide spectacular music for Festival audiences. This album was recorded during live performances in July 2022, produced by Victor Muenzer, and engineered by Kevin Harbison.

REVIEWS:

Garrick Ohlsson and Donald Runnicles accomplished the ambitious feat of recording all five Beethoven piano concertos over five consecutive days in July 2022. You wouldn’t know that from these unpressured and poised performances, at least for the most part. The Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra may be a pick-up aggregation, yet Runnicles obtains world-class results by way of clear-cut balances between orchestral strands, and virtually immaculate unanimity of ensemble attacks and releases.

Ohlsson’s 74-year-old fingers operate at unambiguous full capacity. Runs and trills are as accurate, assured, and directional as ever; themes are thoughtfully characterized and articulated with variety. Unlike many pianists who rattle off the “Emperor” concerto’s introductory cadenza like a day at the races, Ohlsson’s shapely phrasing draws attention to the composer rather than to himself. I’m especially taken with Ohlsson’s vocally informed legato and rapt sustaining power in all five slow movements, where he strikes a happy medium between his one-time mentor Claudio Arrau’s rhetorical inflections and Wilhelm Kempff’s luminous intimacy (the pianist’s hauntingly calibrated left-hand tremolos in No. 3’s Largo seem to emerge from afar). The assiduously dovetailed rapid exchanges between soloist and orchestra in No. 4’s Rondo either result from painstaking rehearsal or profound mental telepathy.

To be sure, all is not perfect: Tempos bog down in No. 1’s Allegro con brio from the development section on, while No. 2’s underplayed Rondo Finale lacks the bracing angularity that Schnabel, Kapell, Gould, and Fleisher brought to this music. The Creatures of Prometheus Overture that follows the “Emperor” on Disc 3 begins with a crisp, hard-hitting introduction, then settles into auto-pilot for the main section. If the Ohlsson/Runnicles Beethoven cycle falls short of the freshness and individuality distinguishing recent contenders like Zhang/Stutzmann, Barnatan/Gilbert, and Hough/Lintu, these superbly engineered recordings still offer much to savor.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Of all pianists before the public today, Ohlsson’s technique is among the most honest. Every note is present and accounted for, nothing ever fudged, all within an exquisitely calculated proportionality. His approach is, above all, lyrical. This is a bouquet of Beethoven concertos like no other.

-- Gramophone

I have several Reference Recordings in my collection and I’m always bowled over by their impeccability, where everything is recorded and mastered to perfection. For me, they’re the crème de la crème when it comes to recorded sound. This new release is no exception. The engineers have done a sterling job in placing the solo piano ideally in the sound picture. The three discs (Hybrid SACDS with Stereo SACD, 5.0 Surround SACD and Stereo CD layers) come nicely presented in the traditional fatbox format, and are well-annotated. There’s no doubting that this will be one of my Recordings of the Year.

-- MusicWeb International