Classical guitar music has flourished in New Zealand in recent years, and Bruce Paine, among the country’s leading composers for the instrument, is one of the most imaginative and original. This album charts the course of his writing from one of his earliest pieces, the poetic, witty tone poem Sea Suite, to the recent and substantial Waitemata Reverie. Drawing on an impressionistic palette Paine conjures up chime arpeggios as well as the natural world in Oakura Chimes. The four settings of Maori folk songs were arranged expressly for this album.

Elephant House Quartet invites the listener for a stroll through the colourful oeuvre of Telemann — himself a gardening enthusiast — presenting a bouquet of chamber-musical jewels. Telemann’s Garden ranges from excerpts of solo fantasias for violin, flute and harpsichord to a sonata for viola da gamba and basso continuo, a trio sonata for violin, recorder and basso continuo, a suite for violin, flute and basso continuo, as well as one of the quartets Telemann wrote during his Paris sojourns. These pieces together constitute a fascinating portrait of one of the most prolific and successful composers of the Baroque era. Elephant House Quartet is a Baroque ensemble featuring virtuosos on each instrument in wonderful interaction, consisting of recorder player Bolette Roed, violinist Aureliusz Golinski, gambist Reiko Ichise and harpsichordist Allan Rasmussen. Telemann’s Garden marks their PENTATONE debut.

REVIEW:

The Elephant House Quartet use period instruments or modern copies. One cannot fault the quality of the playing. It is exquisite, executed with style and eloquent lyricism. I love the way the passages are shaped with exemplary skill and control. One senses a close connection between the four players, who demonstrate a firm grip on the formal and artistic structure of the works with a sense of total engagement. Calm and meditative in the slow movements, buoyant in the faster movements – these are performances to cherish, with striking unity and intonation of the instruments that make a gorgeous sound. Allan Rasmussen’s harpsichord, a modern copy after Harrass (c. 1710), is one of the finest I have heard.

– MusicWeb International

Esteemed as one of Germany's leading music critics, Ferdinand Pfohl never lost a passion for composition that had been nurtured in Leipzig. He wrote highly individual works for his own instrument, the piano, conceiving cycles that reveal harmonic daring and sophistication, often evocative of developments in impressionism. As Strandbilder ('Beach Pictures') shows, he mastered tonal painting- while in the compositional unity of Suite elegiaque, Bohemian and Russian elements mingle with the influence of one of his great heroes, Grieg. Artistic depth, technical superiority and a remarkable sense of tonal color are the trademarks of the young German pianist Jamina Gerl. She has studied under Roswitha Gediga, Eduard Zilberkant and Nikita Fitenko. A prizewinner at multiple piano competitions, she has performed in such prestigious venues as the Steinway Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Tonhalle Dusseldorf, Nordstrom Recital Hall, and more.

Ofra Harnoy has established herself as one of the greatest cellists on the world’s concert stage. She has won many awards and distinctions for her recordings, including 5 JUNO Awards, including Instrumental Artist of the Year and Best Classical Album of the Year in Canada. After taking a career hiatus to raise her children and then deal with a near career-ending shoulder injury, Ofra Harnoy started performing again in 2018. This album presents a number of tried and true Baroque favourites on the cello, like Bach’s “Air" from Orchestral Suite #3, “Bist Du Bei Mir”, as well as some slightly lesser known gems. An amazing recording and an inspiring comeback.

-----

REVIEW:

The well-chosen selections here include some material previously recorded by Harnoy from her 40-plus albums, as well as favourites such as Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 and Bist du bei mir, with the addition of more obscure, but stirring repertoire from Corelli and Allegri. This recording is a triumph, and a must-have for any serious collector.

– The Whole Note (CAN)

'There's real authority and vision' to Proshayev's Schumann," observed The Guardian on Denys Proshayev's debut album for Piano Classics in 2013: "the cleanness and clarity of his playing are hard to ignore." A second album focused on Alfred Schnittke (PCL0071), drawing the following praise from Fanfare: "A well played and well recorded programme... Proshayev and his duo partner Nadia Mokhtari really get into the spirit of the [Gogol Suite]... Proshayev has a clear tone and lucid technique. He prioritizes clarity over histrionics, yet never skimps on drama." A previous collection of Rameau also won high praise, and his latest album ingeniously unites his particular sympathy for Schnittke with his poise and imaginative tonal coloring of Baroque masters. A booklet interview reveals that it was the 'unbelievable beauty and harmonious refinement' of Rameau's music that drew Proshayev to him, despite the challenges involved in transferring a completely original and highly ornamented idiom from harpsichord to piano: 'On the modern piano, these ornaments offer such a great variety of possibilities, unimaginable nuances and so much freedom that these technical challenges at the end give place to pleasure.' Proshayev's pleasure in performance will be shared by the listener in these new recordings of the E minor Suite by Rameau, imaginatively paired with the Sixth Partita composed in the same key by Bach. For Proshayev the challenges involved in playing Bach are at least as much spiritual as technical: 'Bach's music is the quintessence of the highest concentration of emotions and spirituality.' He concludes with a piano-duet arrangement of the Suite in Olden Style which Schnittke originally composed for violin and piano as a homage to the Baroque masters, uninflected by the irony and distance characterizing some of his other 'polystylistic' experiments in music.

John Wilson’s first album in a series of recordings of the orchestral works of Eric Coates, using his own definitive editions of the scores. includes the suites The Jester at the Wedding and London, and the miniature overture The Merrymakers. Infectiously idiomatic playing from the BBC Philharmonic! Eric Coates was born on August 27th, 1886, at Hucknall. Coates showed an interest in music at an early age, studying first the violin and then the viola with George Ellenberger, a pupil of Joachim, and harmony with Dr Ralph Horner in Nottingham. At the age of twenty he arrived in London determined to make a career in music despite some family misgivings. He won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where he studied viola with Lionel Tertis and composition with Frederick Corder. Eventually, in 1919, when neuritis in his left hand made playing the viola more and more difficult, Eric Coates turned exclusively to composition. Eric Coates' work is in the tradition of polished melodic light music started by Sir Arthur Sullivan and continued by Edward German.

-----

REVIEWS:

Wilson is relishing every second of the music. The BBC Phil is in great nick, and Stephen Rinker’s engineering brings sound of clarity and fidelity, every detail, dynamic, and subtlety captured perfectly.

– ClassicalSource.com

Volume 1 implies we are to get more like this and they can’t come soon enough. Eric Coates is surprisingly undervalued, even with the resurgence of interest in light music. There are some very familiar pieces here – The Merrymakers, By a Sleepy Lagoon, London Suite – alongside the ballet The Jester at the Wedding and two symphonic rhapsodies. All engaging and here splendidly played by the BBC Phil under one of the real champions of light music, John Wilson.

– Lark Reviews

Matthew Barnson’s music does more than scrape the surface; it digs deep to reveal the skull beneath the skin. His new innova album brings together a range of his signature works that somehow manage to shimmer with harmony and concord even in their noisiest moments. The impetus for The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying (Memento Mori after Gerhard Richter) arose after he was asked to compose a work to accompany Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings shortly after his grandfather’s passing. It is marked by a gradual introduction of different techniques, often resolving to an uneasy calm. Pulsing rhythms push this high drama work toward extremes of fragility and brutality. By contrast, in Vanitas (Dance Forms), Barnson made his own rules for a new suite of dances inspired by the opulence, elegance, and audacity of the French courtly dances that were all the rage at Versailles and soon all of Europe for a century. With a nod to the viola da gamba and continuo repertoire translated to cello and marimba, Barnson created a new work refracted through myriad influences: the street art in Bushwick where he lived, the virtuosity of the not-so-recent avant gardes, and his recent foray into opera. He composed a work with surprising new tunefulness that emerges from his usual attention to dense textures. It is a work that questions, reinvents, is inspired by, and reacts to those ancient forms. The album also includes a short work, I Crossed the Samuel Beckett Bridge at Dusk. It was composed for two performers, a harpist and a single flute player playing piccolo, alto flute, and bass flute.

For her eighth album on Orfeo, Baiba Skride presents a programme of works by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. In addition to his own instrument, the piano, the violin remained the most important instrument for Bartók throughout his life. This is probably due to the fact that, with its subtle versatility and traditional associations, the violin was eminently suited to his folk music transcriptions and adaptations. This new recording demonstrates Baiba Skride’s facility in conveying this special Hungarian atmosphere. She’s supported by the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Norwegian conductor Elvind Aadland. Baiba Skride (born 1981) is a Latvian classical violinist. She was the winner of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Contest in 2001, and has performed around the world, including alongside the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Pianist Sarah Bob is a passionate and trailblazing advocate of the music of our time who has introduced the music of dozens of living composers to the world. ‘…nobody move…’ is a collection of works by six award-winning composers whom Sarah commissioned for the Boston-based New Gallery Concert Series which she founded 20 years ago. Her exuberance and exactitude are common threads tying together the album’s diverse musical dialects, from Jonathan Bailey Holland’s evocative chord clusters in The Intimacy of Harmony to Curtis K. Hughes’ electro-acoustic Avoidance Tactics #1 and his varied suite of miniatures, vestibulations; from the late Lee Hyla’s energetic Solo Cadenzas from his large-scale orchestral work My Life on the Plains, lovingly arranged by Sarah Bob, to David Rakowski’s cheeky ‘Mind the Gap #18,’ tender ‘Wayo’ and edgy ‘Ghepardo;’ from Shaw Pong Liu’s powerful ‘Never Has Been Yet,’ which sets Langston Hughes’ poem ‘Let America Be America Again;’ to Randall Woolf’s fearlessly virtuosic title track. ‘…nobody move…’ is a striking album that ranges from in your face to contemplative moods, entertaining the ears of contemporary music lovers and novices alike.
-----

REVIEW:

Randall Woolf’s high-powered toccata is redolent of the encores with which Yvar Mikhashoff closed his recitals, while Jonathan Bailey Holland favours a more introspective and latterly hieratic expression. David Rakowski’s insinuating trio of preludes recalls Gershwin in its rhythmic verve if not melodic fecundity, whereas a suite of études drawn from Curtis K Hughes’s compendium Vestibulations focuses on miniatures at once pithy and tangible. As arranged by the pianist, Lee Hyla’s piece deftly elides between keening virtuosity and an affecting emotional poise. For the most part, though, this proves a stimulating overview of an enterprising project, with Sarah Bob a dextrous and charismatic exponent.

– Gramophone

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce the first commercial release of Composers at the Savile Club, pianist Alexander Karpeyev’s vivid and varied recital celebrating the 150th anniversary of the venerable London club. Devised by Karpeyev and Jeremy Barlow (who will celebrate his 60th year as a Savile member in 2020 and also provides informative booklet notes) the recital includes music for solo piano by 11 leading Savile members to chart the development of British music from late romanticism to modernism – and back again. Sam Pierce and Bradley Jones perform the two celebratory trumpet fanfares, by former Savilian Malcolm Arnold – his Savile Centenary Fanfare – and current Savile member, Julian Anderson – Fanfare: SC–GH composed for the sesquicentennial anniversary – that frame Karpeyev’s recital. Among British luminaries featured are the composer-knights Edward Elgar (the lyrically atmospheric In Smyrna), William Walton (Façade’s delightful, dancing ‘Popular Song’), Malcolm Arnold (Variations on a Ukrainian Folk Song his most substantial work for solo piano) and Hubert Parry (the delicately antique Hands Across the Centuries Prelude). Other notable names include Roger Quilter, Herbert Howells, Arthur Benjamin, William Alwyn and Henry Balfour Gardiner. Two Irish dances by Dubliner Charles Villiers Stanford, the Romanian-born Francis Chagrin’s Suite Roumaine and three Musical Portraits by American Virgil Thomson complete a fascinating portrait of the Savile Club’s rich musical heritage. Located in London’s Mayfair, the Savile Club was founded in 1868, its motto – “Sodalitas Convivium” – translating as “good fellowship and conviviality”. The Savile’s informality has attracted a host of distinguished names from the arts and sciences, including composers not featured on this recording Sir Arthur Bliss, William Lloyd Webber and Bernard Hermann and 17 Nobel Prize winners, among them poets Rudyard Kipling and WB Yeats, and physicists Ernest Rutherford and John Cockcroft.

The conductor Neeme Jarvi and the pianist Kalle Randalu, together with the composer Arvo Part and the conducting sons of Neeme Jarvi, Paavo and Kristjan, are among Estonia's most famous musical figures. Although they have worked abroad frequently and for a long time, they have always remained loyal to their Estonian homeland. The two ESTONIAN-RECORD productions with live recordings from 2015 to 2018 document two joint appearances of the exceptional musicians in their home country. In addition to the well-known and no less popular piano concertos KV 482 & 488 by Mozart, there are also delightful symphonic rarities by Richard Strauss (Le-Bourgeois-Gentilhomme-Suite Op.60) and Arnold Schonberg (orchestral arrangement of Brahms' Piano Quartet No.1) to be discovered, in which the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra can distinguish itself as an outstanding ensemble of world renown.

PATTERNS, a multi-composer compilation of contemporary chamber music, accentuates the richness, intricacy, and minimal sound that can be found in works written for small ensembles. Included on the album are works by seven composers, each offering a distinct interpretation of what defines the genre. Asymmetry, composed by James William Stamm, features lush and soaring harmonies and melodies guided by a swift tempo. Guitarist David William Ross’s performance on George Raillard’s Disintegration opens with a distinct melody that quickly does exactly what its title suggests, disintegrating into dissonance. Two Lords, written and performed by Santiago Kodela, is a guitar suite based on the works of two contemporary non-classical guitarists, Allan Holdsworth (1946 - 2017) and Fredrik Thordendal (b. 1970). The piece’s three movements progress from the darkly toned “Of Textures” through the relaxing “Of Colours” to the rhythmically rich, upbeat “Of Mechanics.” David Arbury’s aptly titled Four Snares, performed by the McCormick Percussion Group, is an exploration of the often-overlooked timbral possibilities of the snare drum and a celebration of the wealth of sound available to it. Daniel Adams’s Road Traversed and Reversed also features the Percussion Group’s leader, Robert McCormick. Following an introduction of overlapping roll textures, thematic ideas emerge in an interplay between McCormick’s and Lee Hinkle’s marimbas. On Bunny Beck’s emotional two-movement Suite for Sarro, a string trio evocatively captures sorrow in the face of loss. PATTERNS concludes with Jan Jarvlepp’s Bassoon Quartet, comprised of three movements that range in spirit from adventurous to haunting to lively. Together, each of the pieces on PATTERNS vibrantly illustrate the unlimited possibilities available within the ever-evolving world of chamber music.

After his studies at the Conservatorio C. Pollini in Padua, Francesco Galligioni specialized in playing the baroque cello and the viola da gamba. He is one of the founding members of the Venice Baroque Orchestra, with which he has toured and recorded numerous times. He has worked with conductors and soloists such as John Eliot Gardiner, Andrea Marcon, Gustav Leonhardt, Sara Mingardo, Christopher Hogwood and Magdalena Kozena. With the ensemble gambe di legno, Galligioni dedicates himself to previously undiscovered works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. More recently, Francesco Galligioni has devoted himself increasingly to the baroque solo repertoire for violoncello. His great passion is the suites of Johann Sebastian Bach. After studying these mythical gems for a long time, Francesco will perform these works for the first time in concert over the next three years and he also record them for this album.

When the Catalan cellist Pablo Casals revived the solo suites of Bach in the first decades of the last century, he reminded both audiences and composers of the huge potential of his instrument to hold the stage in its own right, no less than a violin or a piano. Inspired by his charisma, and that of his successors such as Tortelier and Rostropovich, many modern composers have followed Bach’s example. The Italian cellist presents music by ten of them on this exciting debut album for Brilliant Classics. Tortelier and Rostropovich are represented by their own, little-known but highly imaginative works – a Circus Suite and an innocently titled but fearsomely challenging study respectively. Carter Brey, the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, has also written for the instrument with inside knowledge, in a tango of big, seductive gestures preceded on Tarantino’s album by Latin-themed showpieces from Albeniz, Piazzolla and Rogerio y Taguell. Each half of the album is brought to a reflective close with a soliloquy by the modern Italian composer Giovanni Sollima. The cello’s melancholy moods are further explored by Ilse de Ziah and Sebastian Diezig, but Tarantino has chosen and ordered his repertoire to display the cello’s expressive range to its fullest. Mixing familiar and little-known composers, it’s a perfect introduction to the ever-expanding universe of solo cello music beyond Bach. Born in 1977, Luciano Tarantino is a performer and teacher with his origins in Puglia, in the far south of Italy. He has played with many of today’s greatest conductors and founded a music festival in the region of his birth. On this recording he plays a fine 1736 cello by Antonio Testore.

Get ready for revelation! Mirror Butterfly: The Migrant Liberation Movement Suite is an epic jazz opera spanning four continents and five centuries. The opera is a tribute to the resistance of migrants to the destruction of ecologies, economies, and cultures unleashed by slavery, conquest, and colonization- in short, a history of capitalism from the point of view of women warriors from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. A trinity of revolutionary women converge to tell stories of migration, singing a Sermon on the Mount to bring down Babylon. The plot of Mirror Butterfly is inspired by The Story of the Sword, a Mayan parable shared with us by the Zapatista autonomous schools. The story symbolizes the centuries-long Mayan resistance to the conquest and Indigenous genocide through avatars of a tree, a stone, and water. In their story, a sword (representing the conquest) cuts down a tree (Mayan society). The tree transforms into a rock, which is underground and still; but the sword hacks at it and shatters it, though not without damage. Finally, the stone transforms into water, which the sword is unable to resist. The sword rusts and withers away in this eternal elemental. The water symbolizes the flourishing grassroots-organizing of indigenous communities and their allies in contemporary Mexico. The lesson of the tale is that we shall live to see an indigenous-centric Mexico and, indeed, an entire world.