Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s influence as composer and teacher was profound in Russia and beyond, yet his chamber music has been overshadowed by his operas and orchestral works. The unfinished Piano Trio in C minor was completed by his son-in-law Maximilian Steinberg to reveal a substantial work of considerable depth. César Cui’s charming and lyrical Farniente is an arrangement from a piano original, while Borodin’s Piano Trio in D major is reminiscent of Mendelssohn in its joyous agility and nostalgic beauty. The Brahms Trio is one of the leading Russian chamber ensembles. Since its foundation in 1990, the trio has regularly appeared at prestigious international concert venues. Legendary musicians such as Tatiana Gaidamovich, Alexander Bonduriansky (Moscow Trio), Valentin Berlinsky (Borodin Quartet) and Rudolf Barshai have had a significant influence on the formation of the performing style and career of the trio. The Brahms Trio has made an invaluable contribution to enlarging the chamber repertoire by rediscovering unknown piano trios of Russian composers of the late 19th and early 20th century.

REVIEW:

The latest release in this excellent Naxos series of Russian Piano Trios features Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely performed Piano Trio in C Minor, César Cui’s À Argenteau No. 2. Farniente (version for piano trio), and Alexander Borodin’s Piano Trio in D Major. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s chamber music has been overshadowed by his operas and orchestral works. The unfinished Piano Trio in C minor was completed by his son-in-law Maximilian Steinberg to reveal a substantial work of considerable depth. César Cui’s charming and lyrical Farniente is an arrangement from a piano original, while Borodin’s Piano Trio in D major is reminiscent of Mendelssohn in its joyous agility and nostalgic beauty. The outstanding, award-winning Brahms Trio, founded 1988, has performed and recorded much of Russian piano trio repertoire and has made a significant contribution to enlarging the chamber repertoire by rediscovering unknown music by Russian composers of the late-19th and early-20th century.

– New-Classics.co.uk

Some of the greatest works ever composed were conceived for and inspired by keyboard instruments. Today, however, the splendor of the canonical works for keyboard instruments composed after 1600 — Bach’s Preludes and Fugues, Beethoven’s Sonatas and Chopin’s Nocturnes — tends to overshadow works composed earlier, despite there being a rich history of repertoire and a variety of instruments at that earlier time. Corina Marti here not only explores the earliest keyboard music to be composed in Europe but also provides a fascinating insight into a world of virtuoso players and the music composed for them, playing a selection of instruments that are hardly known today: a metal-stringed clavisimbalum (an early form of harpsichord), an upright gut-stringed claviciterium, two organetti (portative organs) of different sizes, and the church organ in Altenbruch in northern Germany with its array of original pipes that date from the fifteenth century.

On this new release, Frederick Hohman plays music of Bach and 19th and 20th century French organ masterworks on the Reuter organ of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Springfield, Illinois USA. Since his St. Louis concert debut in 1973, where a critic with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch heralded his pedal technique as "the best you'll ever hear," Frederick Hohman has excelled in many facets of the organ trade: as a concert organist, as a composer, as a creator of organ transcriptions, as a classical music audio-video media producer, and most recently as an instrument designer and an on-line music instructor. Frederick founded the Pro Organo recording label in 1985. Frederick produced over 300 organ and choral music titles under the Pro Organo insignia, with 15 of it's titles featuring his own performances. This is his sixteenth album.

The lockdown of Spring 2020 allowed Sonya Yoncheva and conductor Leonardo García Alarcón to make the album they had been considering for ten years. Rebirth is a message of hope but also the exploration of an idea: that silence and inactivity are the best prelude to creative renewal. Yoncheva’s fourth solo album for Sony Classical includes music spanning more than five centuries, from folksong to pop, via some of the most powerful moments in seventeenth-century opera. All the music, in Yoncheva’s view, is contemporary. ‘Certain styles of musical composition have remained surprisingly close to us through 500 years of history, combining enormous emotional thrust with great simplicity,’ she says. From the dawn of opera and music by Monteverdi, the album plots a thematic journey from the Italy of Cavalli, his pupil Strozzi and heir Stradella to the England of Dowland, Gibbons and Ferrabosco – whose motet Hear me, O God employs the same four-note theme as ABBA’s Like an Angel Passing Through My Room. After dance-inspired works from Spain and Latin America, and Alarcón’s reconstruction of an aria by Antonio Draghi, Yoncheva offers a traditional folksong from her Bulgarian homeland. Media were full of praise after Sonya Yoncheva performed her album repertoire at the Salzburg Festival after the lockdown in August 2020. ‘Music that moves you to tears’ wrote the APA and the FAZ raved about her Bulgarian folksong ‘Zableinano mi agunce’ being “an unforgettable emotional experience.” Rebirth was recorded in the concert hall of La Chaux-de-Fonds, with Alarcón and his ensemble Cappella Mediterranea, during the first European lockdown. The feeling of the acoustic, Alarcón says, was equivalent to ‘playing inside a vast lute.’

The splendor and cultural heritage of Humanism contain an intricate network of intuitions and revolutions – that are often local or have developed in geographically or politically well-defined areas – of culture and of its representation in society: an unlimited theatricalisation of reality, in which each gesture, symbol and behavior is transformed into an active component of the greatness and beauty of the Court and of its main actuators. In a picturesque fresco of this rich era - musical heir of the Middle Ages - the Anonima Frottolisti ensemble offers a cross-section of the main aspects that characterized it: power, love, celebration, dance, and faith, through an imaginary journey in the wonder of the Italian courts of the fifteenth century.

Handel’s Queens features some of the most exquisite pieces of music written by G.F. Handel and his contemporaries for the two finest singers of the eighteenth century, Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni. Often wrongfully framed as rivals, these dazzling new recordings with Mary Bevan and Lucy Crowe reveal the distinctive yet versatile talent of the Italian vocalists. Led by London Early Opera Director, Bridget Cunningham, Handel’s Queens serves an example of the group’s dedication to imaginative programming and outstanding period performance, placing them at the forefront of baroque research.

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REVIEW:

The choice of singers in Handel’s Queens seems perfect, for the two excellent and appropriate voices are neatly contrasted while displaying the required virtuosity. Cunningham’s contribution is adroit, with pace and style aplenty and she conducts from the harpsichord.

– Opera Now

A longtime member of two of the world’s most renowned orchestras – The New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra, hornist Howard Wall also performs and records with the All-Star Orchestra, and is an avid chamber music proponent. Among the 22 tracks in his solo album “Music for One Horn”, 16 are world-premiere recordings. This is a kaleidoscopic collection of eclectic styles and genres ranging from Charles Koechlin’s refined impressionism and Elliott Carter’s sophisticated modernism, to Phillip Ramey’s Bartokian reflections, Astor Piazzolla’s melancholic tango mood, Elizabeth Raum’s idiomatic virtuosity, Pascal Proust’s exalted dance rhythms, the poetic inspirations of Georges Barboteu, the otherworldly mysticism of Alice Gomez, the profound emotion of Lev Kogan’s Kaddish prayer, the stunning beauty and unique rhythms of Bulgarian folk music and Venezuelan joropo.

Played by specialized Early Music Groups, including L’Arte Dell’arco, Musica Amphion, Violini Capricciosi, Musica ad Rhenum, and many others.

The 17th and 18th centuries marked the era of Enlightenment, overseas exploration, unprecedented European economic expansion and a flourishing of art and culture, not to mention the birth of the greatest composers in history. From concertos to fantasias, suites to sonatas, Brilliant Classics presents a comprehensive and concise overview of this innovative and groundbreaking period in musical history, the Baroque era. The set opens with Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni and his famous Concerti a5, in which he was the first Italian composer to use the oboe as the solo instrument in a concerto. He influenced J.S. Bach, who is fittingly the next composer to feature. Bach pioneered the Concerto Grosso form, with several soloists plus accompaniment, as opposed to just one. There is no better example of this than the famous Brandenburg Concertos, where solos are shared between a group of instruments and the various timbres of the different instruments make for varied and interesting pieces. In the first concerto, Bach employs horns, then mainly used as open-air hunting instruments, a twist on the refined concert piece performed in an elegant chamber setting. Bach also admired the work of Alessandro Marcello. Although Marcello’s work is lesser known, his music is notable for its forward-looking nature. Far from copying the styles and structures of his contemporaries, Marcello’s music is unique in its emotional impact; it’s dark and tempestuous, inflicted with a romantic streak. Passing via selected works by Purcell, Corelli and Telemann, Alessandro Stradella’s string sinfonias are found towards the end of the set. Stradella lived only to the age of 38 and yet he wrote over 300 works. He also found time to conduct a string of love affairs leading to his untimely demise at the hands of an assassin hired by a rival.

The Manzanares flows from the Sierra de Guadarrama and passes through Madrid, on its way to join the Jarama river, which in turn becomes swallowed by the mighty Tagus. On the banks of the Manzanares – ‘‘Los Ecos de Manzanaras’ – the young Madrileños of the 1700s would sunbathe and drive horses into the water. The river was as characteristic of the city’s life as the theatre, the nightlife, the guitar and the folía (Spanish dance). Under the leadership of Philip IV, Spain was a place of dreams and ambitions, with the New World just over the horizon. The king himself was a great lover of music and dance, and he cultivated a court of singers who could accompany themselves on the guitar. They were led for a period by Alvaro de los Rios (1580-1623) who attracted musicians from across the Iberian Peninsula and farther afield to enhance the cosmopolitan vibrancy of Philip’s court. The music included on this recording is representative of the transition from Renaissance polyphony to the new Baroque style: on one hand, there are madrigal-like pieces, with elaborate contrapuntal and melodic imitation, and on the other, completely homophonic compositions based on lively rhythms, dance patterns and poems of a popular nature, such as the seguidillas. The secular songs have been taken from a little-known collection, the Cancionero de la Sablonara composed for the Royal Court of Madrid during the first two decades of the 17th century. The collection features many names little known to us now, making the album full of exciting discoveries for lovers of the early Baroque. The songs are interspersed with contemporary instrumental pieces, played here by guitar, chittarone and Spanish double harp.

Femmes d’Espagne (Spanish Women) is a tribute to eight composers, most of whom are also pianists, who made Andalusia their musical homeland and spread it all over the world. Just as she usually does in her piano recitals, the versatile Paula Coronas has united in this record acclaimed authors with others not yet much known and in need for a revival of their music, thus emphasizing her unwavering personal commitment to Spanish music of the last two centuries. The interpretations of the malagueña (a traditional flamenco variety from Málaga), forged from the extensive knowledge of the foremost works of piano literature, dignify and update these pages. This recording means a contribution for future generations to gain an understanding and to become aware of the historical relevance of those figures that ennobled the meridional folkloric music styles and turned them into a distinctly Spanish pianism: a genuine and extraordinary music art.

The Grammy-winning professional chamber choir The Crossing, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, and Navona Records present WORDS ADORNED. Conducted by Donald Nally, with Takht musical direction by Hanna Khoury, the combined forces interpret lush scores from Kinan Abou-afach and Kareem Roustom; the music is at times driven and passionate, at others mystical and lyrical, responding to ancient Andalusian poetry in the Muwashshah tradition. The takht – masterfully handling the oud, qanun, violin, cello, and percussion – guides the kaleidoscopic sounds and colors in these poems of love, revelry, and war, with additional solo work by the virtuosic singer Dalal Abu Amneh. True to their commitment to honor tradition while constantly blazing new ground, The Crossing’s latest offering is steeped in history, deeply relevant to modern listeners, and bridges cultures seamlessly.

This spectacular collection comprises The Sixteen’s five acclaimed Polish recordings with the group’s Associate Conductor, Eamonn Dougan. Masters of the Polish Baroque such as Bartlomiej Pekiel, Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki and Marcin Mielczewski are celebrated alongside Italian maestri Giovanni Francesco Anerio, Vincenzo Bertolusi, Luca Marenzio and Asprilio Pacelli. These composers flourished at the court of King Sigismund III marking a new dawn for sacred music in Poland. “The Sixteen luxuriate in textures and sonorities, offsetting serene, arching lines with more urgent declamatory passages...basses plummet while sopranos soar into the stratosphere in a swirl of all-embracing sound.” (BBC Music Magazine)

Lola Bobesco: an admirable and great musician whose name is nowadays not as well-known as that of other important violinists of the 20th century. This might be attributed to the fact that you had to experience her live, on stage, where she was especially convincing. Her compelling and lively playing as well as the way she efficiently dealt with the kinetic energy of music made her audience listen with rapt attention. This is an extensive release which features Lola Bobesco. It contains three albums featuring violin concertos from the Baroque to the 20th century. Some of the recordings featured here are being released for the first time.

In German-speaking countries, carolers go from door to door every year between Christmas and Epiphany. They collect donations for children in need and, with their songs, carry the blessing of God into every house. Children and young people from choirs belonging to the German Pueri Cantores Choir Association have sung a total of 25 carols for this album, including established classics such as “Stern über Bethlehem”, but also surprises such as the “Sternsinger-Rap”. This release heightens the joyful anticipation of carol singing, making it easier to learn the new songs as well as motivating people to sing.

Spark plays Baroque music. That sounds simple, but is in fact highly complex. That's because when an ensemble like Spark approaches a past era, that can only come about with a fresh new perspective, bold reorientation and lots of delight in experimentation. It is not for nothing that the ECHO Klassik prizewinning formation enjoys a reputation for blending the old and the new, tradition and innovation, the familiar and the unheard-of in a unique manner. Consequently, on their upcoming release "BE BAROQUE" the five exceptional musicians are not interested in simply arranging Baroque works for their formation. On the contrary: in their new arrangements they aim to highlight new aspects, intensify moods and awaken unforeseen associations. Baroque manners are assimilated, spun and transformed into the musical language of the 21st century. Based on a number of masterworks by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and others, Spark creates its very own Baroque tableau whose color spectrum ranges from almost true-to-the-original reproduction through to a completely new composition.

“A Riveting Piano Recital” (The New York Times, 2017) David Greilsammer’s new album venture, Labyrinth, is a project that he has been developing since 2017 in a number of concerts given in New York, at the Ravinia Festival, Illinois, in Lancaster and Sheffield, and at the Flagey in Brussels. The fascinated listener can follow this trail here, while keeping hold of the thread and following the light, encountering composers both well and less well known, from every period and style, with whole works and ephemeral fragments cunningly interwoven. While reconnoitering music by Beethoven, Janácek, Satie and Bach, we also have the surprise of a first world performance of Repetition Blindness by Ofer Pelz – specially commissioned for the program – and of a piano arrangement by Jonathan Keren of Chaos by Jean-Féry Rebel (also a first performance) as well as George Crumb’s mesmeric Magic Circle of Infinity.

The present album is an attempt to answer the question whether one musician can perform multi-part pieces. In this case, wind instruments are in a particularly unfavorable situation, because, unlike, for example, the violin or piano, one cannot effectively perform chords on them, not to mention the implementation of several melodic lines. The modern recording technique combined with a suitable computer software allows us to register subsequent voices and then combine them into a whole – it is widely used in popular music. However, in the case of classical chamber music, the requirements for this type of recording are much higher... This album by Aleksander Szebesczyk makes the listeners aware that even on the basis of purely instrumental works, this kind of complicated procedures can result in a number of unique and at the same time convincing sonorist and aesthetic impressions.

A longtime member of two of the world’s most renowned orchestras - The New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra, hornist Howard Wall also performs and records with the All-Star Orchestra, and is an avid chamber music proponent. Among the 19 tracks in his solo album “Horn Monologues”, 10 are world-premiere recordings. This is a kaleidoscopic collection of eclectic styles and genres ranging from Charles Koechlin’s refined impressionism and Elliott Carter’s sophisticated modernism, to Phillip Ramey’s Bartokian reflections, Erika Raum’s virtuosic tone poem, Astor Piazzolla’s melancholic tango mood, David Amram’s blues dedicated to Thelonious Monk, the unabashedly jazzy tunes of Zsolt Nagy, the poetic inspirations of Georges Barboteu, the otherworldly mysticism of Alice Gomez, the profound emotion of Lev Kogan’s Kaddish prayer, the stunning beauty and unique rhythms of Bulgarian folk music and Venezuelan joropo.

“The aim of this recording is not just to be a musicological curiosity, but to arouse the audience’s awareness of pieces and composers who have not yet been recorded, or are played less frequently; to inspire my colleagues to practice and master the special techniques in these works, and to show the way for interpretations of the works of Hungarian and Transylvanian composers, an interpretation which as well as the traditions of the Hungarian string school, draws “only from clear mountain springs” through personal relationships.” (Ildikó Szabó) Acclaimed for her musical intellect and imagination coupled with technical virtuosity, Ildiko? Szabo? is a laureate of the Pablo Casals International Cello Competition where she was the winner of the 2nd Prize, the Audience Award, and 7 Special Prizes. She is also a top prize winner of the German Music Competition, TONALi, Popper International Competition, Janigro International Competition and Liezen International Competition.

In this album, his third for na�ve, Julien Martineau once again spotlights the mandolin: it's remarkable repertoire, nobility of character, and natural ability as a partner. Together with pianist Vanessa Benelli Mosell, he has devised a programme truly Beethovenian in it's inventiveness, honeycombed with influences and associations. Beethoven wears the crown, with four youthful pieces he wrote for this unusual duo combination, and the Allegretto of his Symphony No. 7 in a transcription by Hans Sitt. Gathered round his throne are those inspired by him - his contemporary Hummel, Romantic virtuoso Fritz Kreisler, and two composers of today: Walter Murphy, whose pop music arrangement realized by Bruno Fontaine brings in contrabassist Yann Dubost and percussionist Jos� Fillatreau; while Corentin Apparailly responds to Beethoven's Letter to the Immortal Beloved in a work specially commissioned for this album. Revisiting Beethoven in the light of later works composed under his influence enables the perfectly matched team of Julien Martineau and Vanessa Benelli Mosell to create a truly audacious, exciting homage, full of dynamic revelations of the unpublished, the un-expected, and the unknown. 'This programme brings together a lot of repertoire that is extremely virtuosic, but not at all showy,' says Martineau. 'Here there's no way to hide be-hind mere technical brilliance: this recording is above all a chamber music disc, a dialogue of equal voices.'

From the artists: "An album of instrumental Christmas music with a piano trio, is that a worthwhile idea? We asked that same question 17 years ago when we recorded In dulci jubilo in 2003. We decided it was and the result has followed us and lived with us since then. It has almost become our trademark. We have performed these songs in innumerable joyful Christmas concerts every December for our audiences. At the same time, we have tried to renew and expand the repertoire till we finally felt it was time for a sequel. So here it is. A Christmas present to ourselves and to you dear listeners. Like the last time all the music is from Sweden and the European continent."

Described by critics as beyond category, to use Duke Ellingtons signature compliment (All About Jazz), Japanese marimba extraordinaire Mika Stoltzman brings her wealth of experience to her latest Mikarimba album, Big Round Records Taperebá. Vibrant and bursting with flavor (just like the Brazilian fruit which the album derives its title from), the jazzy Taperebá features performances by Stoltzman and a circle of legendary fellow artists. With over 25 Grammy Awards shared between the members on this record, a memorable listening experience is practically guaranteed. Taperebá brings notable names from around the globe and a spectrum of musical experiences into one collection. Featuring the likes of Stoltzman, her husband and Grammy Award-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and a lineup including the legendary bassist Eddie Gomez, iconic percussionist Steve Gadd and his son Duke, and Brazilian mandolin great Hamilton de Holanda, the album leads audiences through a lighthearted yet technically spellbinding listening experience with just the right amount of flare. Each piece on the album was either written or arranged for Stoltzman, such as the Paul Simon classic 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, arranged by Steve Gadd (who, not to mention, played drums on the original Simon version). From this, to Return to Bahia written specifically for Stoltzman by Bill Douglas, an arrangement of Chick Coreas Spain, and more, Taperebá altogether moves listeners through a kaleidoscope of 20th and 21st-century jazz, popular music, and more. Taperebá is many things: a collection of works by legends past and present, a celebration of rich and diverse styles, and a group of friends making beautiful music together. However one connects with the music most, Taperebá is an experience not to be missed.

This release presents music played at Charles University in Prague according to mid-15th-century sources, following the Hussite wars and the institution’s renovation. The album provides a wide array of liturgical music, sacred pieces by young clerics, as well as music the university students played for entertainment. It features Gregorian chant, anonymous creations and compositions by Bernard de Cluny, Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz and Antonio da Cividale. Contemporary university students would be hard pressed to imagine life without social networking on their smartphones. In the 15th century, the role of social networking was pursued by communal singing, bringing the students together and being part of their everyday life on a variety of occasions. The foundation charter of the Recek College of Charles University in Prague (1438) stipulated for the students the duty to perform music every day within the liturgical services. On the other hand, secular music, including instrumental and dance, was prohibited (especially playing resonant instruments, singing in the vernacular languages and ribald songs), but the students constantly bent the rules. The liturgy prescribed for each day of the week served as the basis for the repertoire of the present recording, which, however, also affords scope to the secular music that in all likelihood the students used to play during their leisure time beyond the walls of the college. The unique album of Schola Gregoriana Pragensis and their very special guest, the clavisimbalist Corina Marti (La Morra), is being released along with an extensive study providing a comprehensive depiction of the 15th-century university music life. The fruit of the collaboration between musicians and musicologists from across Europe is a book with an album, an artefact that will become a natural part of the library of every connoisseur and lover of medieval music.

New York Philharmonic principal flutist Robert Langevin is heard in a charming and sumptuous feast of Parisian music of the golden age. Prior to the Philharmonic, Mr. Langevin held the Jackman Pfouts Principal Flute Chair of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was an adjunct professor at Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh. Mr. Langevin served as associate principal of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for 13 years, playing on more than 30 recordings. As a member of Musica Camerata Montreal and l’Ensemble de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec, he premiered many works, including the Canadian premiere of Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau sans maître. In addition, Mr. Langevin has performed as soloist with Quebec’s most distinguished ensembles and has recorded many recitals and chamber music programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He also served on the faculty of the University of Montreal for nine years. Simply put, this is flute playing of the highest order!

Johann Sebastian Bach is commonly understood as the starting point of the violin repertoire. But there was unaccompanied violin music before him, too—and it is truly exciting! The renowned baroque violinist Nadja Zwiener presents this music with her solo debut album on GENUIN. Her inspired recording shows that Bach was able to build his repertoire on a great foundation: Composers such as Johann Georg Pisendel, Johann Westhoff, and even Arcangelo Corelli and Giuseppe Tartini wrote highly challenging works for the incredibly versatile instrument. The concertmistress of the English Concert and the Gaechinger Cantorey takes us on a fascinating journey.