On 6 November 2026, Divine Art is thrilled to announce Window to the Stars, it's second release devoted to the highly appealing chamber music of Scottish composer Helen Leach. Window to the Stars follows her hugely successful 2024 debut album Diary of the Bee, and features an acclaimed lineup of artists, including pianist Simon Leach, cellist Adrian Bradbury, clarinettist John Bradbury, and violinist Benedict Holland. A cornucopia of new, imaginative works, Window to the Stars overflows with finely crafted and deeply redolent, sensitive music, with titles set to become classic repertoire. Leach writes: 'Often inspired by the abundance and timeless beauty of the natural world here in Scotland' Window to the Stars combines lush 'romantic lyricism, bursts of harmonic colour with evocative textures. At times majestic and dramatic, elsewhere infused with deep peace and moments of lightheartedness, the music reflects my own inner world'. 'Out of the Depths', the tender and poignant opening work for solo cello, is followed by two pieces transporting us to the wild and beautiful Scottish landscape: 'As the Feet of a Deer', a rich, expressive, earthen combination of clarinet, cello, and piano, conveying the stag's nobility and physicality, and 'Wherever I Wander', which is inspired by Robert Burns' poetry, begins with a simple folk melody, rhapsodic in it's nostalgia for a treasured homeland, and ends softly with a sense of sublime peace. 'When the Seasons Danced' also reflects the natural world, taking the listener through the seasons and landscapes and ending with the dreamy movement that gives the album it's title, 'Winter: Window to the Stars', which leaves a sense of wonder with distant echoes of Christmas bells. 'The Dove of Peace', for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, is a tribute to the beautiful, spiritual musical language of Messiaen's 'Quatuor pour la fin du temps', articulating our need for peace. 'Hommage a Edgar Degas' celebrates an artist beloved among musicians and dancers alike through melodic lines, musical gestures, and vivid colours reflecting the forms and movements of Degas' works. The uplifting and deeply spiritual 'Butterfly Garden draws on the inherent ethereal nature of the clarinet, while the expansive melody and undulating accompaniment of 'Prelude for a Royal Swan' for cello and piano seek to portray the beauty, dignity, and unwavering commitment of England's late Queen. Hallmarked with vivid storytelling and melodic strength, the distinctive compositional voice of Helen Leach is becoming increasingly regarded internationally, with the music of her Divine Art 2024 debut album Diary of the Bee being regularly broadcast on the airwaves around the world. Helen has a background as a clarinettist and church musician and was Principal Clarinet with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, going on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music. She was a Director of Worship in Manchester and there directed the music for live BBC Radio 4 broadcasts. In 2022, she became Composer-in-Residence at Marchmont House, Berwickshire, and the historic Lorimer Music Room. Helen works with the BBC Songs of Praise team, and since 2024 has conducted and arranged the ensemble music for the annual BBC Young Chorister of the Year event with Aled Jones.

On the concept album, "l'Experience Franco-Suedoise", the Sweden-based French harpist, Delphine Constantin-Reznik and Swedish soprano, Sabina Bisholt present music by Swedish composers who went to Paris to study around the last turn of the century, as well as music of their French teachers. Guest musicians are violinist Cecilia Zilliacus, clarinettist Dan Larsson, and bassoonist Roman Reznik. World premiere recordings, not least of women composers, mixed with some evergreens such as Camille Saint-Saens's "The Swan", arranged for harp in different settings.

Until thirty years ago, the Russian performing school largely overlooked the principles of playing historical instruments. However, with the fall of the "Iron Curtain" of traditional approaches, a newfound freedom emerged - not only in daily life but also in the interpretation of early music. Today, as we strive to preserve this cultural openness, we look back to the 18th century - an era when Russia made an extraordinary leap into the world of instrumental art in a remarkably short period of time. Ivan Khandoshkin, a brilliant violinist and composer, became the pivotal figure of this breakthrough. Born in 1747, Khandoshkin was an elder contemporary of W.A. Mozart and a younger contemporary of J. Haydn. Young Ivan's extraordinary talent led him, at the age of thirteen, to join the court orchestra of Emperor Peter III, a passionate music lover and amateur violinist himself. Under the tutelage of the Italian court violinist Titto Porto, Khandoshkin's progress was so remarkable that in 1762 he was appointed to the Court Orchestra. A significant milestone was the 1781 publication of two editions of his work in Amsterdam. After returning to St Petersburg in 1788, he remained a central figure in concert life, performing his own works and serving as a first violinist in various orchestras. In 1804, Khandoshkin died following a stroke and was buried at the Volkovo Cemetery in St Petersburg. Khandoshkin's sonatas for solo violin were published posthumously as Op.3 around 1806 by the St Petersburg publisher Friedrich Dittmar, but stylistic features indicate that they were composed in the 1790s. The use of the solo violin served both a practical purpose-allowing performance in the absence of a continuo player-and an artistic one: it was an opportunity to demonstrate the highest level of virtuosity. Any composer undertaking such works entered into an "intellectual duel" with works of great masters of these genres, such as the sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach, the fantasies of G.P. Telemann, the fugues of J. Stamitz and W. Pichl, the sonatas of J.F. Reichardt and F.W. Rust. Khandoshkin holds a distinguished place in this lineage, his pieces pose exceptional technical demands while reflecting profound artistic intentions, embodying three distinct aesthetic currents: the fury of Sturm und Drang, the expressive nobility of the pathetish-galant style, and the refined hedonism of the Rococo. Anna Dmitrieva (b. 1987) graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where she studied under T. Liberova, P. Popov, and I. Dzektzer. She continued her studies in chamber music and Baroque violin at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Koln with A. Spiri, H. Schoneweg, R. Gwilt, and K. Junghanel. With her ensemble Ludus Instrumentalis, she completed postgraduate studies at the Mozarteum Salzburg under R. Goebel. Highlights of recent seasons include her work as concertmaster of Concerto Koln in Romantic repertoire under Kent Nagano and Jacob Lehmann, as well as appearances as leader and soloist in a wide range of Baroque programmes. She has also served as leader for Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Ensemble Boulevard Baroque, and Ensemble 1700. Her performing and recording collaborations include Cordevento, La Chapelle Harmonique, Compagna di Punto, Altera Pars, Il Pomo d'Oro, B'Rock Orchestra, Musica Gloria, Collegium Musicum '23, and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, among others.

Published in Salzburg in 1715, Artificiosus Concentus pro Camera is the only surviving collection for solo violin by Johann Joseph Vilsmayr, who served as a court violinist in Salzburg from 1689 until his death in 1722. We cannot be certain that he studied with Heinrich Biber, the greatest violinist of his age who became a leading musician at the Salzburg court, but the relationship between the two figures can be inferred from the style and the sophistication of Vilsmayr's writing for his instrument. Four of the partitas notably use scordatura, where the violin is retuned away from the conventional G-D-A-E intonation in order to explore new and striking expressive colours on the instrument. In works such as the cycle of Mystery Sonatas, Biber shows himself the master of this technique, but (as his putative student) Vilsmayr demonstrates a deep understanding of scordatura. For example, in the B flat major Partita, the highest string is lowered to D, creating a natural resonance that emphasizes a fundamental tone for that key. In the D major Partita, the scordatura (A-E-A-D) enriches the harmonic resonance by reinforcing the overtones of the key centre. Despite it's high musical and technical value, Vilsmayr's collection remains little known, especially when compared to contemporary masterpieces for solo violin such as the Mystery Sonatas, the Sonatas and Partitas of Bach or the Fantasias by Telemann. In his booklet essay for this new recording, the violinist Davide Facchini explains how he was initially drawn to the world of Biber, before discovering these fascinating works of Vilsmayr. He discovered for himself that they represent a landmark moment in the Austrian violin school, 'demonstrating a refined balance between technical invention, timbral exploration, stylistic sensitivity, and a profound preference for scordatura.' Born in Rome in 2000, Davide Facchini studied with luminaries of the Baroque-violin tradition such as Enrico Onofri, Lorenzo Ghielmi, and Enrico Casazza. This album marks his international debut on record.

Among the most distinctive voices in contemporary Irish music, Deirdre Gribbin has established an international reputation for chamber works of striking individuality and expressive depth. The works featured on this recording exemplify a sound world shaped by colour, texture, and an extraordinary sense of time, inviting listeners into spaces of reflection and emotional resonance. Central to this programme is Kindersang, a song-cycle based on the historically significant Kindertransport, a work that gives voice to the experiences of displaced children during the Second World War, while also resonating powerfully with the realities faced by children in the present day. It's dialogue between voice and violin creates an intimate and often haunting exchange, underscoring themes of memory, separation, and survival. Alongside this stands Soul Outsider, a chamber work inspired by the portraits of Lucian Freud, in which cello, clarinet, percussion, and electric guitar engage in a striking and dynamic interplay. Here, contrasting timbres and textures mirror the psychological intensity and layered humanity of Freud's imagery. Rooted in an awareness of history, memory, and landscape, Gribbin's music draws subtle connections between heritage and contemporary experience. Lyricism, connected to folk sources and tradition, emerges through a profound sense of place, atmosphere, and human experience, carefully crafted yet immediately engaging.

The Hamburg-born Ferdinand Thieriot (1838-1919) not only shared a teacher - Eduard Marxsen - with Brahms; both composers, who remained friends in later years, use a very similar musical language. The musicologist Wilhelm Altmann wrote that 'Thieriot's chamber music is without exception noble and pure. He writes with perfect command of form and expression' - as the works on this fifth Toccata Classics volume prove, in their exquisite balance of depth and beauty, of Brahmsian richness and Schubertian spontaneity. Thieriot's Op. 62 Octet for winds and strings brings one gorgeous tune after another, but it's the Op. 78 Octet for strings - here in it's first recording - that will astonish: in it's blend of melodic profusion and effortless counterpoint it is hardly less impressive than Mendelssohn's exemplar.

Reference Recordings proudly presents American Triad, with works of Felix Borowski, Ernest Bloch and Beryl Rubinstein. Each composer in the 'triad' has a distinctive credo and style, and each wrote major works for piano and orchestra which are presented on this new album of rarely heard masterpieces - four of which receive their first commercial recordings. Piano soloist Daniel Glover has performed in 42 states and in 25 countries throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America and the Caribbean. He holds a master's degree from the Julliard School, and trained with luminaries including Thomas LaRatta, Nancy Bachus, Jerome Lowenthal, Abbey Simon and Eugene List. He has numerous competition awards including first prize in the prestigious Liederkranz Competition in 1990. Mr. Glover has served on the faculties of New York University, University of the Virgin Islands, University of San Francisco, Notre Dame de Namur University and the Summer Piano Workshop of Kent State University. He has recorded eleven previous albums. He resides in San Francisco and frequently performs locally. The San Francisco Classical Voice remarked, 'The elegance and civility of Glover's approach were musically unimpeachable.' 'Dazzling... a flawless sense of Lisztian style incorporating it's emotional depth.' American Triad was recorded March 31-April 4, 2025 with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, in beautiful and historic Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was conducted by the GRAMMY award-winning American orchestral conductor and multi-GRAMMY-nominated violinist, John McLaughlin Williams. This release was recorded and mastered by the superb engineering team of Baltic Mobile Recordings: Vilius Keras and Aleksandra Keriene. It was produced by the GRAMMY-winning producing team Encore Consultants LLC (Victor and Marina Ledin).

Our life is like jazz improvisation; it should always be spontaneous, always in the moment, and always free.' (Nikolai Kapustin) Mission accomplished! After six years of rehearsals, concerts, and productions, all six piano concertos by the Russian jazz wizard Nikolai Kapustin are now available as recordings. Concertos Nos. 1 and 3, along with the no less virtuosic 8 Concert Etudes Op. 40, are released here for the first time, thereby completing this successful cycle. Drawing a parallel to one of the most prominent figures of symphonic jazz, Kapustin is often described as a 'Russian following in Gershwin's footsteps.' Frank Dupree has tirelessly followed that path, finally presenting us this significant gap in musical history.

Eugene Ysaye remains best remembered for his 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin: six diverse and contrasted pieces that have kept his name alive across the century since they were written. For the present album, each one of the sonatas was dedicated to a violinist whose style and manner of playing is accordingly reflected through the piece in question. Each work has been situated in the context of music by the performer or artist who inspired it. Written for violin and piano/piano 4-hands, these works are rarely performed. Programmed between each of the sonatas, these works create an intriguing way of listening to the Ysaye's 6 Sonatas for Solo violin. The Ysaye Sonatas, Op. 27, were played on violins made by Philipp Bonhoeffer. All other works were played on the 'Caspar Hauser' violin, made by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', c. 1724.

This box set represents the culmination of Viktoria Mullova's celebrated series of Beethoven Violin Sonata recordings - a distinguished body of work produced in collaboration with pianists Kristian Bezuidenhout and Alasdair Beatson that has earned consistent critical acclaim since it's inception in 2009.

Irish violinist Darragh Morgan, a tireless advocate for new music, here presents four concertos written for him over the past two decades by Frank Lyons, Brian Irvine, Bill Campbell and Ryan Molloy. Recorded with the Ulster Orchestra under David Brophy, this compelling programme reflects the richness of Northern Ireland's contemporary voice. Electronic transformation, folk-inflected rhythms and lyrical introspection coexist with passages of dazzling virtuosity, each work revealing a distinctive sound world. Together they form a vivid, cohesive portrait in which solo brilliance and symphonic imagination are fused with striking assurance and colour.

East meets West: Japanese-American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers pairs the world of French music with contemporary Japanese works on her AVIE Records debut. Sonatas by the fathers of French impression - Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel - foreshadow Olivier Messiaen's Theme et variations, whose chordal structure evokes Toru Takemitsu's Distance de Fee. Anne gives the world premiere recording of Birds in Warped Time II by Japan's most prominent living composer, Somei Satoh, whose work she is closely associated with, having also performed and recorded his Violin Concerto. Newly reissued: repackaged artwork and remastered audio in HD stereo and Immersive Audio, we're excited to be releasing this stunning programme on 180g Vinyl LP for the very first time.

East meets West: Japanese-American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers pairs the world of French music with contemporary Japanese works on her AVIE Records debut. Sonatas by the fathers of French impression - Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel - foreshadow Olivier Messiaen's Theme et variations, whose chordal structure evokes Toru Takemitsu's Distance de Fee. Anne gives the world premiere recording of Birds in Warped Time II by Japan's most prominent living composer, Somei Satoh, whose work she is closely associated with, having also performed and recorded his Violin Concerto. Newly reissued: repackaged artwork and remastered audio in HD stereo and Immersive Audio, we're excited to be releasing this stunning programme on 180g Vinyl LP for the very first time.

Debut album of the outstanding Czech violinist Jan Mracek The debut album of Jan Mracek, concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic, introduces one of the leading Czech violinists of his generation in repertoire that combines virtuosity, lyricism, and youthful energy. The album's centrepiece is Josef Suk's Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 24, one of the crowning achievements of the Czech violin repertoire, reflecting the composer on the threshold of his mature creative period. The work combines a solo part of exceptional technical difficulty with rich orchestral colours and characteristic melodic invention. Accompanying Jan Mracek are the Czech Philharmonic under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, a world-famous conductor with a deep affinity for Czech music. Suk's Fantasy is paired with two early Romantic works with the soloist accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. Franz Schubert's enchanting Rondo in A major for Violin and Strings blends melodic grace, elegance, and immediacy of expression. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy wrote his Concerto in D minor for Violin and Chamber Orchestra at the beginning of his career at just 13 years of age. The work nonetheless exhibits noteworthy compositional assurance, a keen sense of form, and confident handling of the solo part. In all three compositions, Jan Mracek shows himself to be a performer combining technical brilliance with musical intelligence, stylistic sensitivity, and natural musicianship, and he is able to capture the individual character of each work.

The most comprehensive set ever dedicated to the music of a neglected Italian Romantic, reissuing modern performances which have been recognised for their sensitivity and dynamism. As a one-time pupil of Franz Liszt, winning admiration from Richard Wagner at an early stage in his career, Giovanni Sgambati pursued a vocation outside the mainstream of 19th-century Italian music. Rather than opera, he was drawn above all to Germanic instrumental models of the concerto, quartet and symphony, prefiguring in this way the music of Martucci and Respighi as they sought to reclaim those models within an Italian tradition. Another of his successors, Alfredo Casella, paid warm tribute to him as a pioneer: 'The work of Sgambati, is of real importance in musical history it was he, at all events, who pointed the way which Italian composers are now treading in ever greater numbers, with growing confidence, and with increasing success.' Particularly notable in this set is the inclusion of the third and last of Sgambati's symphonies. The First and Second have attracted recordings elsewhere, but under the direction of Francesco Attardi, who has made modern editions of several Sgambati works, the Third is revealed as a powerful symphonic statement in five movements and three parts - in this regard, if in few others, resembling Mahler's Fifth, and taking marriage for it's programmatic theme. There is a nobility of utterance to the Third which makes a striking contrast with the blood and thunder of the G minor Piano Concerto, as well as with the intricately worked counterpoint of the Nonet for strings and the two Piano Quintets. Sgambati was agile in both mind and technique, adapting his idiom to his genres. Any listener hungry for out-of-the-way Romantic rarities will find rich rewards in this new, super-budget collection. In previous Fanfare magazine reviews, it was noted that 'Gaia Federica Caporiccio plays with a winsome freshness.' 'Caramiello's performance is more ruminative, less frenetic... this is highly recommended.' In reviewing the chamber music: 'I find Brilliant's newer recording much more to my liking.'

From the reserved charm of the three Nocturnes to the heroic struggle of the 'Sonata Epica': the major violin-and-piano works by Nikolai Medtner, in a new recording by musicians with an impressive pedigree in the music of this overlooked master of late Romanticism. While Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) is best known for the cycle of piano sonatas which assure his stature as one of the great pianist-composers of the 20th century, his musical inspiration was hardly confined to expression through his own instrument. Brilliant Classics have already issued a magnificent cycle of Medtner's complete songs, which cover the course of the composer's long career from his Russian childhood to his exile and retirement in London from 1936. Medtner's wife Anna was a violinist, and he seems to have had her in mind when writing his music for violin and piano. Premiered in 1911, the First Sonata was inspired by the figure of Dionysus, Greek god of revelry. Thus the sonata concludes with a wild 'Dithyramb' which works a tango rhythm into the texture. From 1925, the Second Sonata bears the subtitle 'Spring' less in homage to Beethoven's example than to a poem by Fyodor Tyutchev. This is one of Medtner's most overtly 'Russian' works with it's folky spirit and evocations of balalaikas. The third, last and longest of the sonatas was composed in 1938, once Medtner had settled in London. We may hear in it the mingled relief and sadness at the turbulent state of his homeland, and his distance from it. Born in Naples in 1988, Fabrizio Falasca is Assistant Leader of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, regularly playing with the world's great conductors of our day, but he also pursues a busy solo career of his own, as both a recitalist and a recording artist. This survey of Medtner marks his third album for Brilliant Classics, following well-received collections of Viotti and Busoni: 'Fluent, musical and well-recorded performances' (MusicWeb International). His partner on this occasion is the pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, who is renowned in his own right as a specialist in super-virtuoso piano music and neglected composers of the late-Romantic era. He is a regular guest at the Rarities of Piano Music Festival in Husum, Germany and a professor of piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His own extensive catalogue of recordings includes collections of solo music by Grieg and Hummel as well as concertos and chamber-music collaborations such as this one with his fellow Italian, Fabrizio Falasca. Together, violinist and pianist tap into the elusive but deep feelings flowing beneath the complex surface of Medtner's ambitious forms and grand narratives. Once Medtner has a listener in his spell, in works such as the violin sonatas, he does not let go.

The double bass, the largest and lowest-pitched instrument of the string family, has a rich and evolving history. It's origins date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, when early bass instruments like the violone were used in European music. Unlike the violin family, the double bass developed with influences from both the viol and violin families, which explains it's varied shapes and tuning systems. By the 18th century, it became a standard member of the orchestra, providing depth and harmonic foundation. Over time, makers refined it's design, increasing it's size and improving it's sound projection. This enterprising program presents works for double bass from 20th century Italy, ranging from double bass solo, duos with violin and duos with piano. Composers include Giuseppe Marangoni, Giovanni de Capua, Virgilio Mortari, Lucia Berio and Vito Mercurio. The guide through this fascinating journey is Antonio Mercurio, with his musical partners Mihaela Costea and Alice Baccalini. Antonio Mercurio held principal double bass positions at the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, the L. Cherubini Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, he is regularly invited as principal by orchestras like the Orchestra Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Balthasar Neumann Orchestra, Teatro San Carlo, and Royal Northern Sinfonia and Filarmonica della Scala.

Platti, Giovanni Benedetto (1697-1763). Up until a few years ago, any judgement concerning the creative personality of Platti was based exclusively upon an analysis of his sonatas for harpsichord, together with a handful of his other works. This fact contributed to the inclusion of this composer from the Veneto in the company of so- called 'minor' composers of the eighteenth century, such names as G.B. Pescetti, D. Alberti, M. Vento, F. Pellegrini, G.M. Rutini, etc. In recent times, however, nearly all of Platti's production has been studied, and the results are overwhelmingly convincing that it in fact contains unquestionable masterpieces such as the Requiem Mass, the Stabat Mater, the Concerto for violin, some of the most beautiful concertos ever written for the violoncello, and many other works of notable interest. Thus Platti music may now be considered worthy of being included in the most serious the concert repertoires and recording catalogues. The Ensemble "J.M. Anciuti", featuring soloists of the calibre of Stefano Montanari on violin, Claudio Rufa on transverse flute, and Paolo Pollastri on oboe, offers us a superb period-instrument performance of the composer's chamber repertoire.

Giuseppe Cambini, born in Italy in 1746 and based for most of his life in Paris, left so much fine music - over 600 compositions - that it is surprising that the year and place of his death remain uncertain. Among that huge output are over 100 string quintets using a second cello rather than another viola, giving them an unusually rich sonority. Cambini's elegant melodic manner and his spontaneous counterpoint help explain why his chamber music was so popular during his lifetime - but not why it has been forgotten since then: it's refreshingly natural style has something of Mozart's tunefulness and Haydn's bright craftsmanship, and it's more thoughtful moments occasionally look ahead to Beethoven.

Caspar Diethelm (1926-97) was one of the leading Swiss composers of the twentieth century. His free-tonal style - angular yet accessible - drew on the inheritance of several of his predecessors, above all Hindemith, Honegger (both of whom were his teachers), Martin and Schoeck, with Bartok adding rhythmic spice. These influences he combined with an awareness of modernism to form an individual and expressive musical language of his own. The three concertos recorded here are remarkable for the striking clarity of their orchestral textures; they also exhibit Diethelm's fondness for enlivening his narratives with surges of energy and touches of gleeful humour.

Playing on Fritz Kreisler’s own ‘Bergonzi’ violin (c. 1740), Henning Kraggerud presents a program of Kreisler’s compositions for violin. + Filmed in the intimate surroundings of Oslo’s historic ‘Old Lodge’, this is a world premiere recording of many of these arrangements for violin and orchestra. + Mr. Kraggerud introduces the works himself, and leads the Oslo Camerata in a sparkling, thrilling concert. + Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), one of the greatest violinists of his, or any other, generation, also performed many lovely, little works in the style of past, obscure composers to whom he gave attribution that he slyly kept the public from learning that the pieces had, in fact, been composed by him. + Violinist, violist, composer, and director Henning Kraggerud is a naturally gifted artist who combines an unusually sweet and colorful tone with intelligent expression and impressive virtuosity. + He is Professor at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo.

One of America' finest and most widely recognized composers, John Corigliano has won several Grammy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize and dozens of other honors. His hauntingly beautiful Chaconne and virtuosic the Red Violin Caprices, both based on his AC.

REVIEWS:

Leshnoff might compose his music for anyone who wants to listen, but it seems to me that the inattentive listener will be cheated out of most of its pleasures. Indeed, it wasn’t until I sat down and really listened to this CD on my home stereo that I realized how fine this music is. It asks the listener to devote time and attention to it; there’s no pandering here, but I think it still is accessible to anyone who is sufficiently open-minded enough to enjoy Hindemith, Bartók, or late Stravinsky, for example. (Surely that’s not too much to ask!)

The Violin Concerto could well be a significant addition to the instrument’s repertoire. Five movements are indicated, but because there is no pause between the first and second movements, and none between the fourth and fifth, and also because there is a tempo change in the fourth, the work’s structure is more complicated than the CD’s track listing indicates. The concerto opens with a figure not unlike Westminster chimes, and because it reappears several times throughout the concerto, it serves as a kind of guidepost. The opening Allegro drives forward with purpose, and is serious but not grim. There is much to interest the ears, not least in the orchestration, which is consistently imaginative. The solo writing is idiomatic, as if Leshnoff composed it for himself. At 7:57, the second movement (Slow) is the concerto’s longest, and it is here that we are introduced to Leshnoff’s more lyrical side. Again, orchestral colors are deployed with an artist’s sensitivity, and the musical argument is well considered and involving, with an emotional intensity suggesting that the composer, in spite of his age, is something of an old soul. If Samuel Barber had lived longer, he might have written music not unlike this. The central Scherzo lightens the mood—for a time—without disturbing the concerto’s emotional trajectory. Prokofiev comes to mind. Leshnoff uses the orchestra masterfully, avoiding both cliché and novelty for novelty’s sake. The fourth movement (Slow–Fast) returns to the mood of the second, but it is more unsettled, and soon becomes agitated. A crisis is reached, and then resolved—but only partly—in the closing Elegy, which again is reminiscent of Barber. The music stops before one expects it to, giving the concerto an open-ended feeling. Although he didn’t write a programmatic work, one of Leshnoff’s inspirations was a story told by a Holocaust survivor. During forced labor, SS guards would make prisoners sing Nazi propaganda songs, but the prisoners would insert their prayers into these songs. In light of this story, one can better understand why the concerto ends as it does.

Distant Reflections is scored for solo violin, piano, and strings, with an offstage string quartet. This might be thought of as Leshnoff’s response to Vaughan Williams’s Tallis Fantasia , except here Leshnoff uses fragments from a Mass by Ockeghem. As in the concerto (but without sounding like it), a very refined ear is at work (in terms of both color and form), and Distant Reflections is at once sensual and serious. Without talking down to listeners or gimmickry, Leshnoff indeed has succeeded in writing new music that could appeal to many.

Pearl German is the wife of Jeremiah German, “a college professor with an abiding love of music,” according to Naxos’s booklet notes. The String Quartet No. 1 was a commission in honor of German’s wife, on the occasion of her 80th birthday. The four movements, beginning with “Winter,” are named after the four seasons. Again, this is not a programmatic work—there are no Vivaldian stamping feet or barking dogs. Instead, Leshnoff seems to be aiming at a more metaphysical reflection on the cycles of life. Ending the work with “Autumn” allows Leshnoff yet another downbeat ending, which he seems to like and does well. In terms of both timbre and emotions, this quartet is refined, eschewing that which is obvious or easy. As in the other two works, his writing is concise; Leshnoff is not a composer who goes on talking after he has nothing more to say.

These performances, all supervised by the composer, make an excellent case for the music. Wetherbee is a first-class violinist, whether he is a soloist or within the very able Carpe Diem String Quartet, whose other members are Wendy Morton, Korine Fujiwara, and Robert Firdman. The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, founded in the 1980s, plays with polish under the direction of Markand Thakar, and with evident appreciation for Leshnoff’s ideas. There are some weird and annoying sonic artifacts, only noticeable during pauses and very quiet sections in the recording of the String Quartet; it sounds as if another ensemble were playing in a studio two doors down. Otherwise, Naxos’s recording is excellent.

Labels like to push their hot new composers, and after a while, one gets skeptical over this or that so-called discovery. Leshnoff, however, is excitingly “the real thing,” and I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more from and about him in years to come.

-- Fanfare

There's certainly a niche for a budget series devoted to Dvorák's oeuvre for violin and piano. The violinist here, Qian Zhou, at first might not seem a familiar name, but many will remember her participation in the TV documentary featuring the late Isaac Stern's visit to China, "From Mao to Mozart", which has been broadcast by networks throughout the world. The American pianist Edmund Battersby accompanies Zhou with praiseworthy skill and sensitivity. Their program begins with a honeyed and alluring account of the lovely F minor Romance. It's good for a change to hear it played with keyboard accompaniment rather than in the orchestral edition as a makeweight filler on discs with the A minor concerto.


The Sonata in F has been surprisingly neglected on CD, making this impressive reading doubly welcome. But the two Supraphon recordings by Josef Suk are in a class apart in many ways, for Suk has one of the most personal, distinctive, and instantly recognizable tones around, and he plays this music with forceful insight and complete lack of self-aggrandizing rhetoric. Zhou and Battersby play with tremendous fire and energy (try them in the sizzling finale of Op. 57 for example), and also get plenty of punch and drama where it's needed, as in the big development section of the first movement of the F major sonata. But I wonder if anyone ever played the Four Romantic Pieces more bewitchingly than Itzhak Perlman and Samuel Sanders on their EMI recording, which also includes the Sonatina in G Op. 100. In both works, Perlman's masterful technique and matchless skill in vocalizing and inflecting his sound lends something special to his performances. Zhou hasn't the same skills--at least not yet--but plays with fine technical command and considerable feel for the music. Hopefully, these artists can retain such a consistently high level of musicianship in the next volume of this continuing cycle.
--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com

This recording, the first devoted entirely to the music of Paul Fetler, features Ann Arbor poet and attorney Thomas H. Blaske as narrator in the evocative Three Poems by Walt Whitman, written to commemorate the American Bicentennial in 1976.

John Corigliano is a man of many talents – composer, teacher, record producer. This enterprising disc showcases both his earlier work (the violin sonata) and a set of variations based on his score for François Girard’s 1997 film The Red Violin. Sensibly, Naxos have paired them with violin vignettes by Virgil Thomson, perhaps best known for his film scores The Plow That Broke the Plains and The River.

The Russian-born violinist Philippe Quint may not be a household name on this side of the Atlantic but he has made quite an impact in his adopted homeland. Apart from winning a slew of prestigious awards he is dedicated to performing American music. He is partnered here by the charismatic pianist William Wolfram, who made an impact of his own with a fine disc of Donizetti opera transcriptions [see review].

Briefly, The Red Violin traces the travels of the eponymous instrument from Italy in the late 1600s to 19th-century England, China during the Cultural Revolution and finally to Canada in the 1990s. The conceit will be familiar to anyone who has read Accordion Crimes by Brokeback author Annie Proulx.

Corigliano won an Academy Award for the original score, which he has reworked as a set of five variations. From the outset it’s clear we are in the presence of a very fine fiddler. Quint produces a lovely warm tone in the elegiac opening to Variation 1, not to mention some scintillating passagework in the ensuing Con bravura. But it’s in the third variation that he really surprises, with an almost throaty sound. He seems perfectly in control at all times, especially in the quick, rhythmically precise writing towards the end of this variation. In Variation 4 he is wonderfully eloquent, too, and the instrument’s upper registers really sing. He also imbues the music with a meditative quality that is most attractive, notably in the final variation. Even in the more agitated passages he bows with great precision and bite, the engineers capturing the weight and character of sound very well indeed.

For anyone looking to sample Corigliano’s work this is an excellent place to start. His music is described as ‘neo-tonal’ but as so often the label doesn’t tell you a great deal about what to expect. Lightweight it may be but this is skilful music adroitly played. Ditto the violin sonata, where Quint is joined by Wolfram, whose first imperious entry is a sign of what’s to follow. Both soloists are warmly recorded, the violin tone nicely balanced by a weighty piano.

Wolfram proves he can play quietly and with feeling in the Andantino, in marked contrast to his jaunty Allegro. They both respond well to this meanderingly beautiful movement. But even here the music has a habit of modulating into something a little wilder before returning to its gentle wanderings. Indeed, there are times when one is reminded of Korngold’s violin concerto. But whatever the echoes it’s delectable stuff and superbly played.

The third movement – Lento – is more austere than anything we’ve heard thus far; Wolfram restrains the violin’s attempts to break free with darker more declamatory music. The tension is never fully resolved – shades of Shostakovich’s piano trios, perhaps – the movement ending in an enigmatic violin fade.

The final Allegro has a rollicking, silent-film quality that conceals writing of some subtlety and skill. Wolfram springs the rhythms with real affection, Quint shooting the musical rapids with ease. It’s a witty and engaging conclusion to a delightful work, helped by playing of rare commitment. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine this performance being easily trumped.

Virgil Thomson, like his contemporary Aaron Copland, belongs to that small group of composers whose work captures the spirit of America, whether in rousing tributes to the Wild West or evocations of its landscapes and rivers. But the works recorded here are altogether more urban – sophisticated, even – dating as they do from Thomson’s years in Paris.

The Three Portraits, arranged for violin and piano by Samuel Dushkin, are charming vignettes. It’s not essential to identify the subjects, who are rendered here with obvious insight. The first is a tipsy barcarolle, the second a haughty tango, both essayed with rhythmic subtlety and an artist’s eye for defining detail. The bird-like third portrait, complete with trills, is for violin alone. Fresh, open, never sly or knowing, these pieces are little gems.

Five Ladies, written in the 1930s but only published in 1983, offers more of the same but this time without the intervention of an arranger. If anything these pieces are more focused, the writing more distinctive than before. They really are the simplest of sketches, a series of telling musical pencil strokes. The soloists echo this disarmingly simple style with playing of lightness and grace.

The Eight Portraits, written between 1928 and 1940, give Quint another chance to demonstrate his skills. At first they can seem a little dry, almost like a set of practice pieces, but Quint individualises each of them with a range of mood and colour that is most impressive. That said, the material is overstretched at times. Minor caveats aside this really is playing of a high order, self-possessed yet never self-regarding.

Such fine performances of rarely heard works are what make the American Classics series indispensable. Indeed, this is one of the most consistently satisfying projects in the entire Naxos catalogue. And while this disc doesn’t qualify as mould-breaking or profound, it’s well worth hearing.

-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

This second Naxos Dvorák violin and piano disc presents--in arrangements both by Dvorák and others--works that for the most part were originally composed for alternate media. Among the more interesting are Fritz Kreisler's Slavonic Dances transcriptions (Nos. 2, 10, and 16), played with energy and imagination by Qian Zhou and Edmund Battersby. The duo especially excels in the final Op. 72 dance, wonderfully projecting the music's winsome mood. Dvorák's Humoresque, Mazurek, and Songs my mother taught me are all instantly recognizable favorites, while the Ballad in D minor and Capriccio are the only two works in this collection originally composed for violin/piano duo. The Nocturne in B major is a high point of the disc, although this engrossing arrangement cannot compete with the radiant beauty of the string orchestra original. Naxos' recording sets the performers at a comfortable distance, creating an ideal balance between violin and piano. --Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com