Georgios Axiotis was a leading and historically significant Greek composer who was opposed to the ‘Germanisation’ of music education in Greece. His training in Naples led him to conceive of national music of a Mediterranean quality related to the naturalism of Italian verismo. The works on this album are his most important and lasting contributions to Greek orchestral music. Axiotis possessed an exceptional instinct for balance and timbre and was a splendid orchestrator. The lyricism in these pieces exudes Greek late Romanticism, while his nature depictions are strongly atmospheric.

This is fun. Amirov and Nazirova’s concerto is based on Arabic themes, and while it has its share of “snake charmer” music, it makes a worthy successor to, say, Saint-Saëns’ “Egyptian” Concerto. Elmira Nazirova, who worked with the composer on the piano part, is the same woman that Shostakovich allegedly encoded in the horn theme in the third movement of his Tenth Symphony. Adigezalov’s Fourth Piano Concerto might be thought of as a sort of Azerbaijani answer to the concertos of Khachaturian. The pace is moderate, the ethnic color heavily underlined, the form is dodgy, but the melodies are often captivating.

The remainder of the disc consists of a brief dance for piano and orchestra (by Guliyev) and two works by pianist Farhad Badalbeyli, one a tone poem (“The Sea”) for piano and orchestra, the other a wordless vocalise for soprano and orchestra. What this latter is doing on a disc of piano concertos is anyone’s guess, but both works are very pretty in a cinematic sort of way. Certainly the performances show the music in a very positive light. Nationalist music such as this may take us back to the late 19th century, and perhaps to a more innocent age, musically speaking—but so what? As I said, this is fun.

—David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

Taking its title from the village in which Leoš Janáček was born, this album of chamber works by the prize-winning Portuguese composer Sérgio Azevedo reveals his deep affinity for the music and personality of the great Czech composer. Using fragments from Janáček’s In the Mists and On an Overgrown Path has allowed Azevedo to create a ‘doppelgänger’ a of the original material. It draws his music in unsuspected directions, either abandoning the fragments as the music develops or generating new aural contexts. The resultant music represents an unclassifiable but profound communication between two composers from two different epochs.

This recording of recent compositions by Bright Sheng, "[a] leader in exploring and bridging musical traditions", demonstrates once again his distinctive lyrical and dramatic fusion of Western and Asian styles and sonorities. Earlier Naxos releases include works such as the Red Silk Dance (8.559610) and Spring Dreams concerto (8.570601).

Lithuanian composer Vytautas Bacevicius spent the latter part of his life in exile in the US. The two piano concertos heard here interweave Lithuanian folk songs into the musical fabric, while Symphony No. 3 strikes a positive and optimistic tone. Includes two world premiere recordings. Volume 1, featuring Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4, can be heard on 8.573282.

Vytautas Bacevicius Remained Virtually Unknown As a Composer During His Lifetime, in Contrast to the Fortunes of His Sister Graz?Yna Bacewicz, Who Retained Her Polish Nationality. Rendered Stateless By the Outbreak of WWII While on Tour As a Concert Pianist in Argentina, He Eventually Settled in New York Until His Death in 1970, Giving Acclaimed Piano Recitals, Teaching, and Writing Astoundingly Original Orchestral Scores. He Never Lost His Deep Allegiance to and Nostalgia for Lithuania. This Recording Gives An Eloquent Introduction to His Pianistic Virtuosity and Mystical, Scriabinesque Orchestral Vision.

Musicologist Adrian Thomas considered Grazyna Bacewicz’s string quartets “unrivalled in 20th-century Polish music and… one of the century’s most significant contributions to the genre”. Her folk-music infused First Quartet dates from student days at the Paris Conservatoire, while exceptional polyphonic skill, intense emotion and playful, high spirits characterize the Third Quartet. Both the Sixth and Seventh Quartets unite tradition with a strikingly effective and highly personal exploration of progressive contemporary techniques. As Lutoslawski observed, in the “rapidly changing artistic currents” of the times, “it was [Bacewicz’s] music which helped create that atmosphere.”

This collection of classical favorites of Bach's work serves as a compilation of his famous works made available by Budapest Failoni Chamber Orchestra; Cologne Chamber Orchestra and Northern Chamber Orchestra accompanied by a host of renowned classical talent.

This exciting disc makes a very welcome return to the catalog on Naxos. The Respighi transcriptions reveal his typical mastery of orchestration, particularly in the larger pieces: the Prelude and Fugue BWV 532 and the great Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582. The chorale transcriptions are also very lovely, and include the famous “Wachet auf” (“Sleepers Awake!”) BWV 645. In the Sonata BWV 1023, Ilkka Talvi proves a sensitive and musicianly soloist as well. However, the real treat is Elgar’s arrangement of the Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537. It’s insane. In the fugue, next to Elgar’s tambourine, glockenspiel, harp glissandos, and looney trumpet licks, Stokowski’s Bach might as well be the work of a period-instrument specialist. It’s wonderful, and Gerard Schwarz gets his players to blast their way through the piece with total conviction. The sonics also constitute one of the better efforts from this source and era (1990). Buy it and love it.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Johann Sebastian Bach.

J.S. Bach: The Art of Fugue, Vol. 2

The Leipzig Autograph opens with a Fantasia on Komm, Heiliger Geist (Come, Holy Ghost), in organo pleno, il canto fermo nel pedale (for full organ, the chorale melody in the pedal part). The chorale itself is a German version of the antiphon Veni, Sancte Spiritus, devised by Martin Luther for congregational use. An imitative contrapuntal introduction, in which three upper voices enter in turn over a sustained pedal-note, leads to the chorale melody itself, in the lowest register, chorale phrases separated with passages of varying length for the manuals. A second treatment of the same chorale, for two manuals and pedals, is in triple metre, with a fugal subject derived from the chorale, the manuals preceding the pedal entry in each section. This extended composition ends with a particularly splendid coda. An Wasserfl�ssen Babylon (By the waters of Babylon), for two manuals and pedals, uses a fifteenth century chorale melody from Strasburg. .Here the chorale melody is first heard in the top part, imitated in the tenor, which itself introduces the continuation of the chorale theme. This is followed by Schm�cke, dich, o liebe Seele (Deck thyself, beloved soul), much admired by Schumann and based on a mid-seventeenth century chorale, first suggested in the alto part in a contrapuntal introduction, before appearing in the soprano in augmentation, its notes prolonged. The Trio on Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (Lord Jesus Christ, turn to us) is again based on a mid-seventeenth century chorale. Here the three contrapuntal parts interweave, the left hand entering in canonic imitation of the right over a pedal-part derived from the opening notes of the chorale. This opening figure brings, in conclusion, a pedal statement of the melody, accompanied by the continuing counterpoint of the two upper parts. O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig (O Lamb of God, guiltless, slaughtered on the Cross) is based on a Lutheran version of the Agnus Dei, O Lam Gades unsch�ldig, by Nikolaus Decius, an early follower of Luther. This, one of the earliest chorales, is itself derived from plainchant. The three sections of the Agnus Dei allow three different treatments of the cantus firmus, which appears first in the top part, then in the middle part and finally in the pedals. Nun danket alle Gott (Now thank we all our God) is based on a seventeenth century chorale. Counterpoint based on the melody precedes the entry of the chorale itself in the upper part, a procedure that is followed throughout, in the manner associated particularly with Bach's elder brother's teacher, Pachelbel. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (From God I will not part) treats a sixteenth century chorale dating from 1572 in Erfurt. Here again each section of the melody, played on the pedals, is introduced by a preceding contrapuntal section derived from the hymn itself. The C major Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, striking not least in the distinctive nature of the three sections into which it falls, in form the counterpart of the three movement Italian concerto of the period. The work opens with a brilliant improvisatory prelude, display on the manuals followed by a passage for pedal solo, before more elaborate counterpoint involving manuals and pedals. There follows an Adagio aria, slowing in a concluding recitative, before a capricious fugue subject, interrupted by abrupt rests, a characteristic that naturally recurs, as the four parts enter, in descending order.

Nunkomm, der Heiden Heiland (Now come, Saviour of the Heathen) appears in three versions. The chorale on which it is based is Martin Luther's adaptation of the original Ambrosian hymn Veni Redemptor gentium. The first of these, for two manuals and pedals, opens with the first measures of the chorale theme in the tenor, imitated at once in the alto register, over a constantly moving pedal bass. The melody is then elaborated in the upper part to form an ornamented line. The second treatment of the chorale is in the form of a Trio, three melodic lines, one for each hand and one for the pedals. Here a contrapuntal imitative opening by the two lower parts is followed by the appearance of the ornamented chorale theme, to which the two lower parts provide a postlude in conclusion. The third version of Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland is described as in organo pleno, il canto fermo nel pedale (for full organ, with the chorale melody in the pedal part). An introductory contrapuntal passage derived from the chorale leads to the solemn appearance of the chorale itself in the lowest register, successive pedal entries preceded by similar prefatory passages. The canonic variations on Vom Himmel hoch (From Heaven on high) were apparently written in 1747 and offered by Bach when he was admitted to the polymath Lorenz Christoph Mizler von Kolof's Correspondierenden Societ�t der Musicalischen Wissenschaften (Corresponding Society of the Musical Sciences). Bach was the fourteenth of a membership limited to twenty scholars and musicians, including, among those now better remembered, Telemann and Handel. The Christmas chorale by Martin Luther first appears in the pedal part of a Canon at the Octave that involves the two upper parts in such canonic imitation. The cantus firmus is again heard in the pedals, in the second Canon at the Fifth, followed by the chorale melody itself in canon at the sixth and in inversion in the lower voice, accompanied by a moving pedal part. Once the chorale has been heard in this form, Bachadds a canon at the third, with the upper part entering first with an inversion of the melody. A canon at the second follows, between the pedal bass and tenor in inversion, and then, at the ninth, between a pedal inversion and the top voice. This varied treatment of the cantus firmus itself leads to a Canon at the Seventh between the pedals and tenor. A Canon in Augmentation sets an augmented tenor part in canon with a more rapid upper part, with the steadier chorale melody introduced by the pedals. The Canonic Variations constitute a remarkable technical and musical tour de force.

Bach, J.S.: Violin Concertos, Bwv 1041-1043

There are plenty of studies that show the benefits of classical music. Listening while studying can improve focus, help beat stress and anxiety, improve mood, and even aid in memorization. Let the calming music of J.S. Bach set the tone for a productive work day. They may say that work and play don't mix, but tracking a genius such as Bach proves that they do, both as a prelude to your labors and for a sustaining accompaniment throughout the day.

BACH TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR PIANO

BACH, J.S. / HOFFMANN / TELEMANN: Alto and Tenor Cantatas, B

The group of six orchestral works known as the Brandenburg Concertos, commissioned by and dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg, are among the greatest works of Johann Sebastian Bach. These are consummate examples of the art of Baroque composition, frequently using groups of solo instruments in a more complex and virtuoso fashion than ever before. The Concerto No. 5, with it's prominent and dazzling harpsichord part, is almost a Harpsichord Concerto in it's own right.

BACH, J.S.: Cantatas, BWV 80 and 147

Bach's Christmas Oratorio consists of six cantatas, the first of which was first performed at Christmas in 1734 at the town church of Leipzig, the Nikolaikirche, in the morning, with an afternoon performance at the Tomaskirche. The second part was performed on 26th December, in the morning at the Tomaskirche and in the afternoon at the Nikolaikirche, while the third was performed only at the Nikolaikirche on 27th December. The fourth part was performed first on 1st January 1735, the Feast of the Circumcision, at the Tomaskirche and in the afternoon at the Nikolaikirche, while the fifth for the first Sunday of the New Year, 2nd January, was only performed in the morning at the Nikolaikirche. The sixth part was given two performances on 6th January, the Feast of the Epiphany, first at the Tomaskirche and then at the larger Nikolaikirche. Although the work makes considerable use of music originally composed for other purposes, the cycle was clearly conceived as a unified work, to which the elaboration of the first chorale at the end of the sixth part bears witness. The impression is enforced by choice of keys and formal structure, in spite of the original intention of performance of each part on a different day during the twelve days of Christmas. The first three parts deal with Christmas itself, the birth of Christ and the message to the shepherds at Bethlehem. The Evangelist intervenes only once in the fourth part to mention the circumcision and naming of Jesus. In the fifth are the reactions of the Wise Men to Bethlehem, their departure ending the Evangelist's account. The instruments used in the Christmas Oratorio include the ubiquitous four part string orchestra, with a keyboard continuo part for organ, the bass line doubled by cello and bassoon. Transverse flutes, rather than recorders, are used in some movements while the oboes used include pairs of ordinary oboes as well as pairs of the alto and tenor of the family, the oboe d'amore and the oboe da caccia. Brass instruments include three natural trumpets, their melodic parts restricted by their nature to the brilliant upper clarino register. Timpani make their due appearance with the trumpets. Two natural horns, corni da caccia, make a brief appearance in two numbers in the fourth part. There are four vocal soloists, soprano, alto, tenor and bass.

BACH, J.S.: Concertos for Two, Three and Four Harpsichords

BACH, J.S.: Kirnberger Chorales and other Organ Works, Vol.

BACH, J.S.: Kirnberger Chorales and other Organ Works, Vol.

BACH, J.S.: Organ Transcriptions

Among J.S. Bach' 200 or so surviving church cantatas, these four for solo soprano include the popular Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, in which singer and solo trumpet engage in thrilling displays of virtuosity.

BACH, J.S.: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1

BACH, J.S.: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, Vol. 2

BACH, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier (The) (Selection)

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier (The), Book 2

This album was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for "Best Small Ensemble Performance."