Four years after a highly successful Bartok recording with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner here returns to the composer on SACD, with James Ehnes as solo violinist, and his Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The central piece in this recording is the Concerto for Orchestra, the largest work that Bartok completed during the last five years of his life and described by the composer, in the program notes for its 1944 premiere, as ‘a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death-song of the third, to the life-assertion of the last one.’ It is joined by the Dance Suite, the immediate predecessor, among Bartok’s few works for full orchestra without a soloist, of the Concerto for Orchestra, though by more than two decades; and by the violin Rhapsodies, the colorful folk influences of which are revealed by James Ehnes, a specialist in the repertoire, who already has recorded the complete sonatas as well as the concertos for violin and for viola to critical acclaim.

Seven world premiere recordings of works by British composers with a range of styles but all in a modern but approachable and often very lyrical idiom from the deep and heartfelt Violin Concerto ‘Soft Stillness’ by Guto Puw to the stunningly simple yet beautiful new work from Michael Nyman. Many of these works were specially written for, and premiered by, Madeleine Mitchell so this is a very special album for her personally as well as being a fine virtuoso concert. Most works on the album are for violin and piano with Nigel Clayton; Cerys Jones appears in the super violin duet ‘Atlantic Drift’ by Judith Weir, and Puw’s Concerto is a BBC recording with the BBCNOW and American conductor Edwin Outwater. Madeleine Mitchell is an internationally acclaimed soloist with a fine discography and has been an inspiration to composers and painters, including Gerald Marks who created his artworks ‘The Madeleine Series’ between 1989 and 1991.

Who was Mario Pilati? A significant if shortlived (1903-38) figure in Italian instrumental music during the 1920s and 1930s: a gifted conductor, fluent pianist, practical teacher, essayist and perspicacious observer of the musical life of his times. His own music is celebrated here, and anyone who takes pleasure in Romantic chamber music, the neoclassical idiom of Stravinsky, or the vigorous yet always lyric idiom of Respighi and Casella, will find much to enjoy here. In fact Pilati’s music for piano and for orchestra has received some attention on record; much less so his chamber works, making this new 2CD set an important addition to Brilliant Classics’ unrivalled catalogue of Italian music from 1850-1950. The troubled expression of the three- movement, half-hour sonatas for violin and cello (1928) reflects the temper of their times, whereas the Preludio, Aria & Tarantella on Old Neapolitan Folk Tunes for violin and piano apparently turn away from intense battles between tension and reconciliation with the kind of light touch and folk-inspired humour that may be found in the best early works by Casella. There are several miniatures from the 1920s which attest to Pilati’s elegance and sophistication early in his career, as well as to the excellence of his training in his native Naples (though he moved to Milan at 22 and made his career there). Despite its name, Inquietude is a flowing study for piano, reminiscent of Debussy. The set is completed by his two volumes of Bagatelles for solo piano, which frequently draw on Neapolitan themes: 11 relaxed and convivial pieces in all, of an easy charm that would not disgrace Pilati’s friend Nino Rota, and written in an accessible style which may reflect their dedication to the composer’s three daughters. The album is comprehensively documented with valuable notes on both the composer and his work by the pianist Dario Candela: a student of Aldo Ciccolini, who described his pupil as ‘an excellent pianist of great class’. He is joined here by Francesco Manara – a former leader of the orchestra at La Scala, Milan – and the cellist Luca Signorini who, like Pilati, pursues a diverse career as a performing musician, conductor and writer.

Framed by Edward Elgar’s deeply personal Violin Sonata and the bravura fireworks of his Mazurka, this programme is a fascinating look at British music for violin and piano at the turn of the last century. Popular pieces such as Delius’s haunting Serenade can be found alongside premiere recordings such as that of Frank Bridge’s attractive Con moto or Cyril Scott’s contemplative Versperale.

Violinist Kinga Augustyn and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra presents this illustrious program of works by Max Bruch, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and Jules Massenet. Kinga Augustyn is a Polish-born and New York City-based versatile classical concert violinist and recording artist gaining worldwide recognition through her performances as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She has been described as “an adventurous performer valuable to New York’s scene” (NY Concert Review), “stylish and vibrant… playing with verve and superb control” (The Strad Magazine), and “beyond amazing, one hell of a violinist!” (The Fanfare Magazine). Her repertoire ranges from early baroque, which she sometimes performs on a baroque violin, to modern, oftentimes written especially for her.

The soloist Elena Denisova and the string orchestra Collegium Musicum Carinthia as well as the RTV Orchestra Moscow conducted by Alexei Kornienko proudly present two new violin concertos of the 21st century. The works of Nikolaus Fheodoroff and Mikhail Kollontay are characterized by a constantly evolving, lively musical choreography of the performers and are, in a musical and technical sense, very masterful and expressive. As an ambassador of tonal sensuality Elena Denisova ranks as one of the finest and most charismatic violinists of her generation. Known for her great musical maturity, individual style of interpretation and supreme virtuosity, her performances have won critical acclaim from press and public alike. Denisova was born in Moscow and, as a young child, was fascinated by Jascha Heifetz’s expressive playing and versatility of tone; she loved listening to his records over and over in her childhood home. Her parents supported this highly sensitive talent, and she recorded her first LP while still a pupil at the music school of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She has won many violin competitions and initially was active as a soloist and chamber musician in the former USSR- for example as soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic and first violinist of the Moscow National Quartet. Elena lives for her convictions about how music can reach audiences today. She is a knowledgeable advocate of the music of our time, and international composers have dedicated highly complex pieces to her. She covers the complete violin concert repertoire from the Baroque to the Modern, whereby composers and colleagues affirm that “she plays even the most complex and challenging modern works with the same self-assurance and inner logic as if she were playing Brahms or Beethoven.” (Franz Hummel)

It would be wrong to classify Nikos Skallkottas as a National Romantic composer. However, only certain works such as the Greek Dances for orchestra or the Two Little Suites for violin and piano have kept his name from falling into oblivion. The Two Little Suites reflect a shift in his last creative years: while maintaining typically strict structural control, Skallkottas was nevertheless evolving toward a less complex style. George Enescu was Romania's true musical ambassador. He belonged to the first generation of composers born in the relatively young Kingdom of Romania, but left his native land as a seven-year-old prodigy to study in Vienna, then i Paris: from then on, he led a cosmopolitan life. He would soon become a world-famed celebrity: first as a violinist, soon aslso as a composer, pianist and conductor. Yehudi Menuhin, his most renowned pupil, referred to Enescu as the most extraordinary human being he ever encountered. Several recordings of Enescu playing the violin have been preserved, including his own Third Violin Sonata with Dunu Lipatti, his godchild, as a sensitive accompanist on th epiano. begun before the Tzigane but only completed thereafter, the Violin Sonata in G Major was dedicated by Ravel to the above-mentioned Helene Jourdan-Morhange, a violinist who was both his friend and advisor. In the meantime she had contracted rheumatism in her fingers and could no longer play the sonata in public. None other than George Enescu stepped in to ensure the work's resounding success in its world premiere with Ravel at the piano.

Krzysztof Lason is a violinist, teacher, and improviser who studied in Katowice, Warsaw, and Graz. He is a prize-winner of the competiitons in Cracow and Val Tidone, a scholar of the Ministry of Culture and the Dutch foundation Iris. He has performed in over 25 European countries, the USA, Canada, Japan, China, India, and Nepal, and he has recorded for Decca, BBC3, WDR3, the Polish Radio, DUX, and CD Accord. He has been nominated for the International Classical Music Awards and the Polish music award “Fryderyki.” He is fascinated with sound possibilities of the violin and he willingly performs contemporary music, which is often written specially for him. He has performed Dharma at Big Sur by John Adams on a six-string violin as the first Pole in the history together with the Orchestra of New Music. He has premiered a number of new compositions. He is passionate about balancing on the verge of music styles; he feels at ease in chamber ensembles. However, above all, he appreciates the freedom of expression, which he achieves by improvised music.

In today’s world there are few stereotypes concerning string instruments. Contrabasses, due to their size, are associated with small range of motion and peculiarly understood coarseness. In the music community there are thousands of jokes concerning violas and viola players. Traditionally, the most noble roles are attributed to cello and violin. The first of the abovementioned instruments is perceived as a romantic and passionate instrument; the violin is seen as mesmerizing and calls to mind brilliant virtuosos with technical skills. This release disproves some of those stereotypes. Anna Wandtke, an outstanding violinist, proves that violin can beautifully sing and talk about passions, feelings, and emotions without resigning from showing a perfect technique with a pinch of spectacularity. All of these elements produce a perfectly composed whole. Anna Wandtke graduated with honors from the Academy of Music St. Moniuszko in Gdansk, where she studied under Professor Krystyna Jurecka. Later, she also graduated with distinction from the Hochschule fur Musik in Germany.

Augusta read thomas : Rhea enchanted (2016)For solo violinDuration: c. 5 minutesFormat: A4 loose sheetsAlso available for solo viola (NMP1036) and solo cello (NMP1037)Available on CD, NI6355“Although highly notated, precise, carefully structured, soundly proportioned, and while the musician is elegantly working from a nuanced, specific text, I like my music to have the feeling that it is organically being self-propelled – on the spot - as if we listeners are overhearing (capturing) an un-notated, deeply musical improvisation.” Augusta Read Thomas

In his autobiography, Igor Stravinsky wrote of his not having had an ''great liking'' for the combination of strings and piano. That there nevertheless are a number of chamber works by him featuring the violin is to a large extent due to the violinist Samuel Dushkin. The two were introduced to each other by Stravinsky's german music publisher who wanted to persuade him to compose a violin concerto. They obviously hit it off: their collaboration continued after the concerto had come into being in 1931, and they devised a recital programme to perform together on tours. The centrepiece was Duo concertant which Stravinsky completed in 1932 as his only original composition for violin and piano. Rather than looking for common ground between the two instruments, Stravinsky aimed to emphasize their individuality in a work that he himself claimed was ''determined by my love of the pastoral poets of antiquity and their scholarly art and technique''. The other pieces on this album are, with one exception, arrangements of Stravinsky's own works including The Firebird, Petrushka and Le rossignol. The majority were made for and in collaboration with Dushkin, but a few come from the 1920's and were intended for the violinist Paul Kochanski. One of these is the Suite for Violin and Piano, arranged from the ballet Pulcinella - material that Stravinsky revisited in the 1930's in order to make a new version for Dushkin. With this programme, and in the company of the eminent Russian pianist Peter Laul, the highly virtuosic and temperamental violinist Ilya Gringolts makes his return to BIS.

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REVIEW:

On this fine new BIS release, young Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts turns to music of Igor Stravinsky, featuring his two major works for violin and piano, the Duo Concertante and the Suite for Violin and Piano, among other works. All is played to perfection. Excellent, natural sonic picture. Recommended!

– Classical CD Review

This is a fabulous recital showcasing a stunning array of musical invention by the great shape-shifting composer of the 20th century. The engineers at BIS have deft hands when it comes to arranging microphones, and the presentation of the CD is especially fine with photogravure fern images on front and back. For fiddle or Stravinsky fans, this production is not to be missed.

– Audiophile Audition

This reissue brings together for the first time, in newly remastered hi-resolution transfers from the source tapes, the Edizioni Curci stereo recordings of Italian composer Alberto Curci's four works for violin an dorchestra. These four superb performances by one of the great Italian violinists, Franco Gulli, appear here for the first time on disc. The anonymous orchestra, conducted by Franco Capuana, is almost certainly made up in the main of members of the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala. Curci's concertos are delightful melodic works, some with folkloristic elements. Although rarely heard, these are beautiful and alway slyrical passionate compositions for solo violin and orchestra. For half a century Franco Gulli was one of the world's top violinists, a noble ambassador for the Italian string style and a superb musician. One of the most engaging aspects of Gulli's artistry is a profound feeling of intellectual rigour and understanding. He had a brilliant career, was an influential teacher and his discography is large covering many genres.

With his Violin Concerto Brahms was often accused of having embedded the solo violin too deeply within the orchestra. When looking at his two piano concertos, his intention seems to have been rather to write symphonic concerts as virtuoso solo pieces with orchestral accompaniment. “Because of the dialogues in the orchestra between violins and wind instruments and the accompanying figures of the solo violins, the concert seems to me rather like a piece of chamber music”, tells us Emilio Percan and decided to record the Violin Concerto without a conductor. The matter of instrumentation is crucial in this context. Example for Percan is the Meininger Hofkapelle, which premiered many of Brahms’ pieces and played with almost half of the violins than other orchestras of the time (and of today!). Brahms, however, had an exact idea of how the orchestral arrangement should look like for his pieces. For the performance of one of his symphonies in Boston, he was to sketch the desired setup and made a drawing which was the model for the present recording. The result is a completely new listening experience which brings both the Violin Concerto and the Third Symphony closer to chamber music, thereby allowing hitherto unknown aspects of the music to arise.

The Apollo Ensemble is like a chameleon. Sometimes a baroque orchestra, other times a duo, trio, or septet. But whatever form it takes, the ensemble’s musicians are always driven by a common passion. They are gripped by the wonder that period music can sound, once again, brand new. The Apollo Ensemble explores and plays repertoire from a period spanning more than two centuries, from about 1600 to 1850. They are well-versed in Baroque, Classical, and Romantic performance practice. Because the size of the ensemble can vary greatly, this repertoire is extremely broad and diverse. Moreover, the variation in occupancy can variation and additional color to concert programs. Where else can you find a symphony and a trio sonata side by side? On this album, three members perform- David Rabinovich, violin, Marion Boshuizen, harpsichord, and Cassiandra Luckhardt, viola da gamba.

The first phrase of Reger’s Op.141 Serenade plunges the listener into the world of joyful music-making among friends circa 1780. The immediate modulation to a higher key in the second phrase brings us back to the more knowing world of late-Romanticism, and Reger thereafter moves between the two with great charm and no little skill. Light and effervescent the temper of these serenades may be but they also make considerable demands on their performers to keep up with the composer’s breathless turn of phrase and invention; these Italian musicians are fully up to speed. The Larghetto slow movement of Op.141 is an expressive high-point on the disc and, like much of Reger’s music, it is far too little known given its tender appeal to the general listener. With these two works, Reger was evidently paying homage to a Classical spirit whichfound its fulfilment – at least in this unusual instrumentation – in Beethoven’s Serenade. The six movements find the young Beethoven at his most carefree and effervescent: even the Andante and variations (which would become a conduit for profound thoughts later in his career) is as light as air and bubbling with melody and witty repartee. Anyone who only knows Beethoven from the symphonies, sonatas and concertos has a very pleasant surprise in store with this disc. Andrea Oliva is principal flautist of the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and has made many notable recordings with them and their music director, Sir Antonio Pappano, but he has also enjoyed a successful career as a soloist: according to Sir James Galway, he is ‘one of the best flutists of his generation, a shining star in the world of the flute.’ He has recorded Bach sonatas with Angela Hewitt and the chamber music of Saint-Saëns (BC95165) and Dutilleux (BC94738) with his Santa Cecilia colleagues, both released by Brilliant Classics.