SOMM Recordings is delighted to release Hail Caledonia – Scotland in Music, a musical salute to their homeland by conductor Iain Sutherland and the City of Glasgow Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall in 1995-96 and newly remastered, these vivacious performances also feature the City of Glasgow Pipe Band, City of Glasgow Chorus, and bagpipers David Wotherspoon and Iain McDonald. Sutherland provides brilliant orchestral arrangements of The Black Bear Salute, reputedly the British army’s fastest regimental march, and the timeless Amazing Grace, together with his own colorful Three Scottish Castles Suite. Roy Williamson’s anthemic Flower of Scotland is heard alongside Robert Docker’s Abbey’s Craig, better known as Scots Wha Hae, and Granville Bantock’s luscious treatment of a traditional Scottish waulking song, Kishmul’s Galley. Also featured is Mendelssohn’s lively Scherzo, fueled by a traditional ‘Scotch snap’, from his Scottish Symphony and Malcolm Arnold’s wonderfully realized Four Scottish Dances. Music by Granville Bantock, Eric Coates, Ernest Tomlinson and Alexander McKenzie is heard alongside the theme tunes to two hugely popular Scottish television dramas, Hamish McCunn’s Land of the Mountain and the Flood, theme to Sutherland’s Law, and Arthur Blake’s Take the High Road. And to end, the infectious Devil’s Finale/Reel o’ Tulloch from Ian Whyte’s ballet score Donald of the Burthens. The result is a glorious musical celebration of the Saltire and the tartan, with informative booklet notes by Robert Matthew-Walker. Iain Sutherland’s previous SOMM releases include two volumes of Great Classic Film Music, the first a Classic FM Album of the Week (Ariadne 5006/5009), Musical Opinion’s “fully recommended” Leonard Bernstein: Broadway to Hollywood (Ariadne 5002), the enthusiastically received Favourite Orchestral Classics (Ariadne 5012) and In London Town (SOMMCD 0117), which MusicWeb International hailed for its “sparkling performances of some of the cream of light music”.

This important new recording revisits George Frideric Handel’s monumental Suites de Pièces pour le Clavecin – subsequently known as the Eight Great Harpsichord Suites as well as his Chaconne in G major and some world première recordings of Handel’s superb arrangements of operatic arias and ouvertures which were specially reworked and ornamented by Handel for the harpsichord. The album celebrates the 300th anniversary of the first publication of these works on 14 November 1720. Bridget Cunningham is an international conductor, prizewinning harpsichordist and musicologist who trained at the Royal College of Music and was awarded a Junior Fellowship to work in the Centre for Performance History and coach singers in the baroque style. Cunningham is also Artistic Director of London Early Opera with a number of critically-acclaimed recordings out on Signum Classics.

REVIEW:

These pieces, inventive and full of vitality, are unashamedly intended to please the senses. In the hands of stylistically informed players they never fail to do so. Bridget Cunningham is just such a player. Her feeling for dance rhythms is infectious and her ability to entertain unassailable.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Ana Topalovic is a visual synaesthete. For her, music has colors and shapes. This phenomenon opens up a new dimension of sound perfection for Ana, and with this ability she is able to search for concealed connections. For this album, Ana has selected five contemporary female composers who she feels provide a complementary synaesthetic connection to the individual movements of Bach's Suite No. 1. A very profound and intimate interpretation of her music has been created, thanks to years of close cooperation between Ana Topalovic, Doina Rotaru, Johanna Doderer and Gabriele Proy, as well as extensive experience with the music of Kaija Saariaho. Ana's breathtaking musical performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Suite No. 1 leads the listener through the fantastic, playful, virtuosic and sensual world of modern music like a common thread or a friendly tour guide. Her interpretation lives in its own unique and extraordinary world, satisfying our need to connect the unknown with the known. The familiar sound of the cello shines in surprising ways, and its hidden depths are revealed, bringing its best qualities to the fore.

Ewald Straesser's catalogue of works contains over 200 compositions, thirteen numbers for violin and piano alone. Gudrun Höbold and Eri Uchino have unearthed some astonishing pieces from the completely forgotten collection of this Rhinelander composer, who was seen by his contemporaries as a successor to Brahms. A violin sonata, a suite for violin alone and a series of character pieces leave only one question: Why only now? During his lifetime, Straesser was highly regarded as a composer; in the autumn of 1917, an entire Straesser Festival was even held in Cologne, at the opening of which his violin sonata was played. Much honor - the avant-garde, however, resented the adherence to the tonal, even though Sträßer went his own way harmonically. And Ewald Straesser was even ahead of his model Brahms in his great melodic inventiveness, which is particularly evident in his works for violin and piano.

The "Ariosio" already bears the melodic element in its title, and the other character pieces, here entitled "Drei Reigen" (Three Tales), also offer a particularly rewarding task for the violin. And one should not be deceived by the titles "Ländler - Spanish Dance - Mazurka": Straesser cannot and will not deny his optimistic Rhenish origins even on his journey through European styles... In general, it is the tender, sometimes even sentimental mood that is so enchanting about Straesser's music, along with the very broadly sweeping melodic arcs. It leads to fairytale-like episodes in the almost symphonic dimensions of the sonata. Gudrun Höbold and Eri Uchino dive deeply into this special world of sound, of which one would like to experience much more.

REVIEW:

Excellent music, great playing, and MDG’s guarantee of a well-designed sound environment assure us of a satisfying experience. Let’s hear some more of this fine composer with so much to say.

-- Fanfare

Thalberg has a reputation as the only pianist who made Liszt feel nervous, but he also won praise from Mendelssohn for the fidelity of his approach to the letter and the spirit of a score. He gathered four volumes of operatic and song transcriptions under the umbrella of L’art du chant appliqué au piano, with the first two volumes published in 1853 and followed a decade later by Volumes 3 and 4. While it opens with the Quartet from Bellini’s I Puritani, Thalberg’s selection of original material ranges far and wide beyond masterpieces of bel canto. There is a haunting transformation of a duet once attributed to the Neapolitan composer Stradella; a straightforward but affectionate transcription of Adelaide, the song by Beethoven that became his most popular piece of vocal music during the 19th century; as well as a much more elaborate fantasia on a number from the incidental music composed by Carl Maria von Weber for the Spanish drama Preciosa. There are some quintessentially Romantic-era walls of sound in the first two volumes of the collection, such as Thalberg’s version of the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem, but the limpid textures and uncluttered singing lines of L’art du chant mark a salutary contrast with the cascades and thunderbolts of the hyper-virtuoso repertoire. In this regard, the lighter touch of the fortepiano is well suited to the ideals of vocal expression, transferred to the keyboard, enshrined in Thalberg’s collection. Roberto Commellato’s new version therefore brings something new to the work’s selective but distinguished discography.

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.

It would be worth striving towards a style that can combine the highest level of craftsmanship, originality, and high quality with the greatest popularity and folksiness.' – Hanns Eisler. This latest release in Capriccio‘s Hanns Eisler Edition contains songs and chansons from all periods of Eisler’s creative life. It also contains some of the fascinating orchestral suites that he had mostly assembled as adaptations of film scores from the 1930s. Notably, the programme contains the world premiere recording of his incidental music for Die letzte Nacht – the epilogue to Karl Kraus‘ monumental, satirical work The Last Days of Mankind. The mastermind behind this project was the great composer, conductor, and chansonnier HK Gruber, arguably one of the greatest authorities on Eisler.

Sebastian Ochsenkun’s Tabulature Book for Lute, with its Latin motets, German psalms and songs, and Italian and French pieces, was published in 1558 as a collection of contemporary vocal music arranged for solo instrumentalist. Josquin des Préz is the most prominently represented composer, but other renowned composers, such as Nicolas Gombert from the Spanish court of Emperor Charles V and Ioannes Mouton from the court of King Francis I of France, can be heard on this recording as well.

Ochsenkun was the lutenist of Prince Elector Ottheinrich of the Palatinate. Rising to a technically challenging task, he always produced the complete texture for his instrument by transcribing all the voices into lute tablature where contemporaries settled for two or three. Nevertheless, Ochsenkun’s intabulations are excellently suited for having a voice sing to them, as demonstrated on this recording. Renowned singers Dorothee Mields and Jan Kobow join for several tracks. Viewed historically, Ochsenkun’s work is regarded as testimony to the high level of lute playing during the middle years of the sixteenth century in Southern Germany. With his aspiration to high quality, he reaches beyond his times and his instrument to touch us today.

Before Jean-Pierre Rampal appeared on the music scene in the 1950s, wind players were rarely hired as soloists with orchestras. This legendary French flute virtuoso broke through that barrier with his astonishing talent, flair, and commanding stage presence, attaining the kind of visibility previously enjoyed only by pianists and violinists. He regularly filled the world’s largest concert halls for his recitals and chamber performances. Rampal was the father figure of the flute renaissance in the 20th century which restored the instrument to the exalted position it held during the 18th century.

He also became one the world’s most recorded artists, commanding all the essential repertoire of his instrument but equally embracing previously unknown works, his own discoveries, jazz, pop, folk and contemporary works. Virtually anything written for the flute or plausibly adapted for it was grist for his mill. In his autobiography Rampal referred to the discography that brought him numerous prizes and awards as being so enormous that not even he could keep track of it. In 1969, he began recording for CBS, and in 1979 he signed an exclusive contract with the label.

To mark his 100th birthday, Sony Classical released in a 56-CD box set the first complete edition of Jean-Pierre Rampal’s recordings for CBS, RCA, and Sony Classical.

SET CONTENTS:

DISC 1: Mozart: Flute Quartets
DISC 2: Bach Family
DISC 3: Bolling: Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano
DISC 4/5: Rampal and Lagoya in Concert
DISC 6: Vivaldi/Telemann
DISC 7: Bolling: "Picnic Suite"
DISC 8: Mozart: Flute Quartets K. 285 & K. 298/Divertimento K. 334
DISC 9: Carnaval de Rampal (Showpieces)
DISC 10: Schubert: Sonata In A Minor/Moscheles: Sonata concertante
DISC 11: Pastorales De Noel
DISC 12: Dvořák, Feld, Martinů: From Prague With Love
DISC 13: Japanese Melodies, Vol. III
DISC 14: Haydn: Divertimentos
DISC 15: Sonatas of J.S. Bach and sons
DISC 16: Jean-Pierre Rampal plays Scott Joplin
DISC 17: Weber: Sonatas for Violin and Piano
DISC 18: Bach: Concerto for Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo
DISC 19: Vivaldi: Six Concertos for Flute
DISC 20: Fascinatin' Rampal: Jean-Pierre Rampal plays Gershwin
DISC 21/22: Bach: Sonatas and Partita for Flute
DISC 23/24: Haydn: Concertos
DISC 25: The Flute at The Court of Frederick The Great
DISC 26: Night at The Opera: The Magic Flute
DISC 27: Chants de Noel / Children’s Songs
DISC 28: Mozart: Sonatas
DISC 29: Bolling: Suite No. 2 For Flute and Jazz Piano Trio
DISC 30: Mozart: The Flute Quartets
DISC 31: Telemann: Overture/Concertos
DISC 32: Telemann, Kuhlau, Bach, Mozart, Doppler
DISC 33: Kuhlau: Flute Quintets
DISC 34: Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp/Sinfonia concertante
DISC 35: Carulli: Flute Concerto and more
DISC 36: Concertos for Two Flutes
DISC 37/38: C.P.E. Bach: The Complete Flute Concertos
DISC 39: Mozart: Flute Concertos
DISC 40: Music for Flute and Harp
DISC 41: Mozart,Telemann, J.C. Bach, Reicha
DISC 42: Vivaldi: 6 Double Concertos
DISC 43: Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en Concerts
DISC 44: Italian Flute Concertos
DISC 45: Mozart: Divertimento, K.334/Adagio And Rondo, K.617/Andante, K.616/Quintet, K.557
DISC 46: Haydn: London Trios
DISC 47: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
DISC 48: Kathleen Battle and Jean-Pierre Rampal in Concert
DISC 49: Pla: Catalan Flute Music of the 18th Century
DISC 50: Boccherini: Flute Quintets
DISC 51: Collaborations
DISC 52: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 36 & 38 – Jean Pierre Rampal, conductor
DISC 53: Carulli/Haydn: Guitar Concertos – Jean Pierre Rampal, conductor
DISC 54: Bolling: Suite for Chamber Orchestra and Jazz Piano Trio – J.P. Rampal, conductor
DISC 55: Romantic Harp Concertos – J.P. Rampal, conductor
DISC 56: Mozart: March/Serenade K. 250 “Haffner” – J.P. Rampal, conductor

REVIEW:

Flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal brought the instrument to new prominence, proving its enormous potential in a wide range of repertoire. Sony’s new collection, ‘The Complete CBS Masterworks Recordings’, opens to a benchmark 1969 recording of the Mozart flute quartets where Rampal joins forces with Isaac Stern, Alexander Schneider, and Leonard Rose, and ends with more Mozart – and more Stern – for a keenly played 1994 version of Mozart’s Haffner Serenade. Especially noteworthy are three Kuhlau flute quintets where Rampal joins forces with the Juilliard Quartet: this is superior music, beautifully performed and recorded.

Contemporary repertoire is represented in the first instance by a colorfully inventive and well-performed Penderecki Concerto under the composer’s own direction, surely the best ‘modern’ piece in the set. Rampal enjoyed a fruitful musical relationship with the French jazz pianist, composer and arranger Claude Bolling. Of those pieces included in the set, I’d gravitate first to the Suite for chamber orchestra and jazz piano trio, with its classical resonances; on the other hand, programs devoted to Scott Joplin rags and Gershwin (including a musically pointless abbreviation of An American in Paris) are best left in the box. I’m all for creative crossover but the Gershwin in particular misfires, musically. Still, to be landed with just two ‘duffs’ in a collection of 56 CDs is pretty good going.

As you can imagine, some of the featured repertoire appears more than once but there are sufficient differences in approach between alternative recordings to justify spending time comparing. What’s most interesting is the typically wide range of music on offer, some of it of exceptional quality.

Overall, this is a most enjoyable set, sturdily boxed, with original jacket sleeves that include readable spines, and a hardcover 220-page accompanying book that will give you informative annotations and all the discographical information you need. As diverting collections go, this is certainly one to consider.

-- Gramophone (Rob Cowan)

The soprano voice occupies the highest-sounding line of music (in Italian ‘sopra’ means ‘over’ or ‘above’) and it is subdivided into various types. The coloratura is the virtuoso, suited for rapid ornamentation such as in Mozart’s Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte). Puccini’s Mimì (La Bohème) is an example of the lyric soprano, full of drama and well-rounded sound. More powerful than the lyric but retaining her softer qualities is the spinto, exemplified by Madama Butterfly, while the dramatic soprano, with her huge reserves of stamina, can be heard in works by Wagner. This quintessential collection of best-loved arias confirms that the soprano, in all her variety, sits at the very heart of the operatic experience.

José Serebrier (b.1938) established himself as a significant composer as far back as the 1950s, with over 100 published works. Serebrier composed music and conducted orchestras since early childhood, conceiving his Opus 1 - Sonata for solo violin at the age of 9, and making his conducting debut at age 11. Serebrier’s Symphony No.1 (written in just 2 weeks at age 17), was world-premiered by Stokowski, who later also conducted two other works by Serebrier. For 2 consecutive years, George Szell named José Serebrier Composer-in-Residence of the Cleveland Orchestra, where Serebrier composed important experimental works (such as his avant-garde concerto Nueve, written for double bassist Gary Karr). Starting with his first-ever work, his Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 1, José Serebrier has been a major composer of historical importance, whose oeuvre is complex, multi-layered, sophisticated and endlessly inspiring. This album presents seven chamber works by José Serebrier, five of which as world premiere recordings. Serebrier’s luminous lyricism, resplendent melodic language and fascinating harmonies are already evident even in his Op.1 violin sonata, a veritable masterpiece. In addition to Serebrier’s Violin Sonata and the Fantasy for Solo Flute at dusk, in shadows... this album also presents the world premiere recording of Serebrier’s Sonata for Solo Viola, as well as the world premiere recording of his Suite for Solo Cello in 5 movements. Three other world premiere recordings of works by Serebrier are also included: If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking for Horn, Violin and Narrator (after Emily Dickinson’s poem), M.M.P. for Flute and Cello (a delightful short duet) and Nostalgia (transcribed for Solo Violin by Elmira Darvarova).

Gottlieb Muffat was the most important Viennese harpsichord composer of the 18th century. He inherited and developed a compound style that fused high Italian Baroque with the lightness of the French school. From his father, Georg – one of the greatest organ and orchestral composers of his own generation – Gottlieb absorbed a gift for ballet movements. This is the third and final volume in Naoko Akutagawa’s critically acclaimed series of Muffat’s Harpsichord Suites.

Portuguese orchestral music was scarce until the 20th century, when composers were able to build on the great legacy of Luís de Freitas Branco (see digital single Two Melodies, 9.70326). António Fragoso died young, and the Concerto românticois a new adaptation of his Suite romantique, orchestrated to reflect influences from Fauré and early Debussy. Joly Braga Santos’s Concerto in D minor is one of his best-loved early works, blending Alentejo folk songs with the sophistication of Vaughan Williams and Walton. Sérgio Azevedo is renowned for his neo-Classical style, shaping a narrative of darkness to light in the Sinfonietta, and reviving the concerto grosso in his homage to Bartók, the Music for Strings.

With his tango nuevo, Astor Piazzolla has been welcomed into the world of classical music in a way that no other ‘non-classical’ composer has experienced. His music is played in concert halls around the world, and has been arranged for the most varied forces: symphony orchestra, string quartet, brass ensemble, mandolin orchestra, harpsichord… Taking their name from Piazzolla’s Escualo (‘Shark’), written in 1979 for his Quinteto Tango Nuevo, the five musicians that make up ESCUALO5 have a different approach, replicating the formation that Piazzolla performed with for much of his career: bandoneon, violin, piano, guitar and double bass.

The aim isn’t to recreate Piazzolla’s own performances, however – based in Munich but hailing from respectively Brazil, Germany, Greece and Belarus, the members are soloists in their own right, bringing their individual talents as improvisers and arrangers to the recordings. The program that ESCUALO5 have devised for their first album includes some much-loved as well as less familiar pieces for the quintet setup – Primavera Porteña, Soledad, Adiós Nonino, Fracanapa – as well as arrangements of Tango Suite and Histoire du Tango, originally for two guitars and flute and guitar, respectively.

REVIEWS:

Several of the pieces are arranged for new combinations, the Tango Suite for guitar and piano, and the Histoire du Tango, the masterful tracing of tango styles since 1900, for accordion, guitar, and double bass. The biggest thing is that without violating Piazzolla's musical texts, the group brings to his music a new and intense spirit. It is as if, having been established as part of the classical canon, Piazzolla's music is now subject to what has been called the chain of interpretation. It's a tremendously exciting release, consisting of Piazzolla standards like the Primavera Porteña from the Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas and lesser-known pieces like Fracanapa; Escualo5 adds something new to every single one, and the album will appeal to heavy Piazzolla collectors and newbies alike.

-- AllMusic.com

The release of a new recording of music by Piazzolla is, in my opinion, always a very welcome occurrence. Here we have passionate performances from the ensemble Esucalo5 which consists of violin, accorion, guitar, piano and double bass. Alongside the more familiar and extensive Tango Suite and Histoire du Tango is another longer piece Contrabajisimo (unknown to me) and a number of shorter pieces. A lovely production.

-- Lark Reviews

Recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Pulitzer Prize, and a GRAMMY Award, William Bolcom is one of America’s most senior and internationally acclaimed composers. Commissioned to expand upon the under-represented horn trio repertoire, Bolcom has written a modern counterpart to Brahms’ Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, Op. 40, in which he incorporates multiple styles into a substantial composition. The Suite No. 2 for Solo Violin is by turns frenzied, melancholic and light-hearted. Bolcom states, “Both works are performed beautifully and well recorded. Bravi tutti!”