"• Giacomo Facco (1676–1753) was active in southern Italy as violinist, choirmaster and teacher.. • Once highly esteemed, Facco disappeared from musical history entirely until a set of his twelve Pensieri Adriarmonici were discovered in 1962, a story told in the accompanying booklet. • The Pensieri Adriarmonici have much in common with the music of his Venetian contemporaries. • This first volume of the first-ever complete Pensieri Adriarmonici performances are by the Mexican Baroque Orchestra."

Classical Music

The composer Arnold Griller (b. 1937), son of the violinist Sidney Griller, grew up in London, surrounded by some of the world’s best-known musicians. In spite of this propitious beginning to his career, his considerable output remains largely unknown. This first volume of orchestral pieces presents three of his major works – music that turns out to be highly individual, often moving unexpectedly between moods of excitement and drive, wry humour and deep emotion. His influences and interests range widely, from Domenico Scarlatti to such twentieth-century masters as Milhaud (his main teacher) and Stravinsky, and on to composers of today. Melodic lyricism, rhythmic intensity, textural clarity and contrapuntal complexity combine with a generosity of musical ideas to produce a unique style and voice.

Includes work(s) for piano by Sergei Taneyev. Ensemble: Russian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Sanderling. Soloists: Joseph Banowetz, Adam Wodnicki, Vladimir Ashkenazy.

In 2014, Toccata Classics released a first CD of piano music by Edinburgh composer Charles O'Brien (1882-1968). The O'Brien rediscovery continues with his most important work, his only symphony. Powerful and lyrical by turn, O'Brien's Symphony in f (1922), a full-scale Romantic score in the Mendelssohn and Brahms tradition with an Elgarian awareness, is coupled with his Walter Scott-inspired overture Ellangowan, a resplendent work with a big, memorable Scottish tune. Paul Mann is a regular guest-conductor with many orchestras throughout Europe, the USA, Australia, and the Far East.

Orlande de Lassus was one of the most prolific composers in history: he wrote more than 70 Masses and 700 motets, around 300 madrigals and 100 Magnificats, as well as hymns, German Lieder, French chansons and Italian villanesche. Around 1580 Lassus composed a four-voice setting of the eighteen Responsories for the second and third Nocturns of Holy Week, probably intended for the services in the private chapel of his employer, Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria. In these miniature dramas Lassus skillfully supports the text, as was then required by the Council of Trent, illustrating the human tragedy of the Easter story with exquisite music that is all the more moving for its restraint. This is the first recording of the critical edition of the Responsories prepared by the late Peter Bergqvist, the internationally recognized authority on Lassus’ music.

The Finnish composer Erkki Melartin (1875–1937) wrote around 250 art-songs, often grouping settings of different languages and different dates into unrelated and sometimes untitled opus numbers. But what might be a nightmare for the musicologist is a treasure trove for the enthusiast for Nordic song, as this recital of some of the best of Melartin’s Swedish settings will prove, with music that often sounds rather like Sibelius tinged with French Impressionism. The Finnish lyric soprano Hedvig Paulig graduated with a DipRAM from the Royal Academy of Music in London and later completed her MMus at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. She won the first prize at the international Sibelius Song Competition in 2011. Ilmo Ranta studied at the Sibelius Academy with Liisa Pohjola and received his diploma in 1984. Currently he holds the position of lecturer in piano and chamber music in the Sibelius Academy. Jan Soderblom has been the first concert-master of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015; he is also active as a conductor.

The music of William Wordsworth (1908-88) - a great-great-grandson of the poet's brother Christopher - lies downstream from that of Vaughan Williams and Sibelius; like that of his contemporary Edmund Rubbra, Wordsworth's music unfolds spontaneously, as a natural process. This second volume brings two concertos, both major works - though long forgotten, and strongly contrasted in their approach: the gritty and muscular Piano Concerto is cast in a single, tightly argued span, whereas the lyrical Violin Concerto is expansive and unhurried - and deeply touching. They are complemented by the Three Pastoral Sketches, which grow gently from understated autumnal hues to a dignified and moving climax. All three scores show an extraordinary command of orchestral color.

These three quintets by the London-born Stephen Dodgson continue the exploration of his chamber music on Toccata Classics. Dodgson's musical language inherited something of Shostakovich's irony. Janacek's spiky energy and Britten's polished clarity, occasionally reaching further into the past in passages of Purcellian dignity. All these characteristics animated with a gentle, harmonic warmth of Dodgson's own. The result, in a typically English paradox, manages to be both elusive and direct. The Tippett Quartet has performed at the BBC Proms, and numerous other festivals. Emma Abbate has performed in duo recitals for international festivals and concert societies all throughout the world. Susan Monks is Principal Cello of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

The exploration of Sir Donald Tovey’s music on Toccata Classics continues with two highly contrasted chamber works. The bright, classically oriented Variations on a Theme by Gluck, Op. 28 for flute and string quartet written in 1913 receives only its second-ever recording here, and it is the only one currently available. The Piano Quintet from thirteen years earlier is an expansive, Brahmsian work of symphonic scale: it is almost an hour in length. It is receiving here its first ever recording. The Ormesby Ensemble- here Susan Brooks, flute; Olga Dudnik, piano; Robert Atchison and Jacqueline Hartley, violins; Bill Hawkes, viola; David Jones, cello- was founded by Robert Atchison in 2008 as an extension of the work of the London Piano Trio. The group specializes in works for all sizes of chamber ensemble, with a preference for highlighting works by less well-known composers. The group has performed at a number of festivals, making frequent appearances at the London International Festival. An earlier recording of chamber music by Donald Tovey was released on the Guild label in 2010.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This, the third volume in the Toccata Classics cycle of complete string quartets of David Matthews (b. 1943), contains Matthews’ first three numbered quartets, written between 1969 and 1978, along with an early contrapuntal study and an arrangement of Scriabin. + The Second Quartet, as the composer says, ‘shows the influence of the kind of minimalism in songs by The Velvet Underground, and aims for the energy and dynamism of The Who’. + The Kreutzer Quartet have worked with David Matthews for many years now; many of his quartets were written with them in mind.