Classical Music

'Brahms & Schumann: Lieder' sees Dame Ann Murray, one of the great vocal artists of the past decades, return to the recording studio to perform a personal selection of Lieder. 'Brahms & Schumann: Lieder', Ann's first solo album in over a decade, will be her final Lieder recording and a fitting way to draw her long and distinguished recording career to a close. Still a regular fixture on the opera circuit, Ann's voice remains impressive. Following a Brahms recital at Wigmore Hall in 2014, the Times stated: 'Her still-penetrating mezzo was the highlight of the evening. Murray really sings through Brahms's cantabile lines while losing nothing in theatrical awareness.' It is difficult to imagine a singer who inspires greater affection and admiration than Ann Murray DBE. With Malcolm Martineau at the piano, this beautifully balanced programme sees Ann perform some of her favourite works by Schumann and Brahms. The recording features Malcolm Martineau (piano) Benjamin Appl (baritone), John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Johnny Langridge (tenor & Ann's son) and Hester Dickson (piano & Malcolm's mother). Ann Murray has been acclaimed for her performances at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. A founding member of Graham Johnson's organization, the Songmaker's Almanac and a Jury member for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2009 and Song Prize, Ann Murray is a lover of song and has been acclaimed worldwide for her own performances. In the 2002 Golden Jubilee Queen's Birthday Honours Murray was appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. She is an Honorary Doctor of Music at the National University of Ireland and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Today’s conception of bel canto is mainly founded on the beautiful and brilliant virtuoso arias of La Sonnambula, L’Elisir d’Amore, and the like; this recording introduces another, much lesser-known facet: bel canto da camera. Ariettas by two Italian 19th c. composers Mauro Giuliani and Girolamo Crescentini, neither counted among ‘bel canto’ greats such as Bellini and Donizetti, reveal the “subtlety of the human soul much more deeply,” argue the artists, “than in the brightest operas arias.”

Anger produces menacing sounds. But the voice of tenderness is softer,' wrote French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and much the same could be said of the diverse music on this second volume of American percussion music. It ranges from Elliott Carter'

Including some of the most beautiful baroque Christmas music on offer, this programme makes for the perfect Christmas collection. 'This is period-instrument performance at its best', wrote American Record Guide on the CD's original release. It is re-issued here for the first time. Three popular favourites, Corelli's gorgeous concerto for Christmas Eve, an idyllic Christmas concerto by Vivaldi, and Manfredini's Concerto grosso are complemented by two little-known cantatas by Telemann and Scarlatti. Each of the Italian composers has his own voice, contrasting tremendously with the more rugged German style of Telemann. Susan Gritton is the soloist in Scarlatti's cantata, described by Classic CD as 'ravishing and ravishingly sung... worth anyone's CD token'. This is a disc of intimate Christmas music, which will make an ideal stocking filler. As Classic CD wrote at the time of the original release, 'This is a delightful addition to the Christmas market, and the careful selection of its items and superb recording ensure that, like the traditional puppy, it's not just for Christmas'.

REVIEW:

These Baroque concertos and cantatas are all associated with Christmas, although some only marginally. The Scarlatti and Telemann cantatas were written for Christmas. The Manfredini and Corelli concertos probably received their associations with Christmas because each contains a pastorale movement, shepherds’ music in 12/8 time that Italian folk tradition associated with Christmas (the “Pifa” from Handel’s Messiah is another example). The Vivaldi concerto, one of his typical string concertos, seems to have received its seasonal connection from Vivaldi’s practice of programming it at Christmas time.

All of this music is delightful to hear. Many of Fanfare’s readers will probably have one or more of these works already, especially the concertos. The two cantatas are less often encountered, especially the Telemann, from the first movement of which we get the English carol Good Christian Men Rejoice. The playing and singing are excellent in all respects. Susan Gritton makes a major contribution in the solos of the Scarlatti cantata. Members of Collegium 90’s choir are equally good as soloists in the Telemann. Presiding over all, Simon Standage directs lively performances that respect the score and never stray into extremes of tempo.

This collection was issued 10 years ago under the title “Per la notte di natale.” In this reissue, Chandos provides full notes along with texts and translations, for which I commend them. Anyone looking for an enjoyable collection of Baroque music associated with Christmas need look no further.

-- Fanfare

Classical Music

The Faerie Bride is a cantata for two singers and orchestra inspired by the Welsh myth of the Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach. The Welsh 'lady of the lake' myths are just one of many 'watery wife' tales from northern Europe that include the Mermaids of Ireland, the Kelpie of Scotland, and the Selkie of the Shetlands and Scandinavia. However, in each of those the women are portrayed as either malevolent, has something magical stolen from them, or is captured by a man and kept in human form. The Faerie myths of Wales are unique in that the woman sets very clear conditions under which she agrees to marry the man (they shall not strike her three blows or hit her with clay) the breaking of which would result in her returning to the lake forever. The Welsh myths are empowering, with strong female characters who set their own agenda. There is no coercion, theft, or kidnap but rather misunderstandings and cultural differences. The Faerie Bride is about compromise and respect in relationships, suspicion and fear of the outsider, and the societal pressures to conform in insular communities, something this faerie refuses to do. � Gavin Higgins

The Faerie Bride is a cantata for two singers and orchestra inspired by the Welsh myth of the Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach. The Welsh 'lady of the lake' myths are just one of many 'watery wife' tales from northern Europe that include the Mermaids of Ireland, the Kelpie of Scotland, and the Selkie of the Shetlands and Scandinavia. However, in each of those the women are portrayed as either malevolent, has something magical stolen from them, or is captured by a man and kept in human form. The Faerie myths of Wales are unique in that the woman sets very clear conditions under which she agrees to marry the man (they shall not strike her three blows or hit her with clay) the breaking of which would result in her returning to the lake forever. The Welsh myths are empowering, with strong female characters who set their own agenda. There is no coercion, theft, or kidnap but rather misunderstandings and cultural differences. The Faerie Bride is about compromise and respect in relationships, suspicion and fear of the outsider, and the societal pressures to conform in insular communities, something this faerie refuses to do. � Gavin Higgins

Lars Forssell's lyrics are both lyrical and down-to-earth and often deal with love experiences, exposure and vulnerability. They can be provocative, politically pronounced, mix light and dark and can be both shimmeringly beautiful and agonizingly black. Evert Taube had great significance for tango in Sweden during the 20th century. Lars Forssell was a close friend of the family and played an important role in how the view of Evert Taube changed from a slightly odd troubadour to the role of popular national poet. Sven Bertil Taube and Lars Forssell went to Argentina together in 1988 and experienced Argentine tango. When they got home, they recorded a tango LP. I have chosen some of these songs with Lars's ingenious lyrics. Our last cafe depicts how painful it is to be abandoned. In Lost Birds we meet the deceived man and the broken love. In Again, the lost love is portrayed. Belgrano is nostalgic and invites us to "play the piano of the past".

Dan Andersson died at the age of 32 in 1920, more than 100 years ago. His poetry is still relevant and beloved. Many can still recite his poems and sing many of the compositions. He is one of Sweden's most important poets, a romantic working-class poet who gave voice to the poor in the country, depicted areas and conditions in Sweden that had hardly been illuminated before. One of the great strengths of his poetry is that it is universal, human and beautiful. Nature, love and the conditions of life play the biggest role.

Composing for voice is a passion for me, and as a result the largest part of my catalogue is music for voice. The human voice - possibly the most subtle, complex, and fragile yet forceful carrier of musical ideas and meanings - has always been an inspiration for my musical thinking. I strive for craft, clarity, and passion. The carefully sculpted music and poems of Far Past War develop a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the choir and musicians in a virtuosic display of their emotional palette, strength, clarity, and majesty. The opportunity to collaborate with my sister, Cammy Thomas, has been a highlight of my life. Music's eternal quality is it's capacity for transformation and renewal. Together, we have created a work that celebrates the unsurpassed power of nature, and it's potential to move us toward peace.

Hardly any other event during Mozart Week has remained so vividly in visitors' memories as the 1994 production of Ombra felice. Mozart's creative excess in the field of opera is evident not only in fragments of stage works such as Zaide KV 344, L'oca del Cairo KV 422 and Lo sposo deluso KV 430, but also in the more than seventy arias and ensembles he composed as individual works. Some of these are abandoned or unfinished drafts, as Mozart's singers (or sometimes Mozart himself) were not entirely satisfied with them, while others were contributions to foreign opera productions, which were often performed in the form of pasticcios at that time. This broad compilation thus provides a good overview of Mozart's aria compositions.

This recording with AZICA Records marks the first modern-day capture of the music of Julia Lazarevna Weissberg Rimsky-Korsakov (1878-1942). During her lifetime, Weissberg ascended the heights of cultural life in Russia's "Silver Age", only to be relegated to obscurity in the subsequent era of socialist realism. A prominent composer, critic, and public figure, she was particularly celebrated for her art songs, symphonic poems, and children's operas. Her works, known for their harmonic ingenuity, were widely published and performed during her lifetime in both Russia and Germany. Born to a prominent Jewish family in Orenburg, Weissberg was a composition student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and continued her studies in Berlin with Max Reger and Englebert Humperdink. While in Germany, she saw the premieres of many of her songs for voice and orchestra, which received reviews across Germany, France, England, and Russia. By the time of her return to St. Petersburg in 1912, she was a widely-published composer, publishing under the name Julie Weissberg. She subsequently married musicologist Andrey Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai's son. The couple founded the first Russian music magazine Muz�kal'n�y sovremennik (Contemporary Music) for which Weissberg served on the editorial board and was one of the main reviewers. In her lifetime, Weissberg published more than 75 works, including art songs, symphonic poems, symphonies, chamber works, folk songs, and operas for children. Contemporary Russian composer Mikhail Gnesin referred to her as "the first professional female composer in the history of Russian musical art of the 20th century," and contemporary critic Leonid Sabanayeff claimed that she was "a master in the full sense of the word" for her extraordinary musical and text setting abilities. Many of her art songs feature texts by prominent contemporary women creatives from across the globe, including Indian activist Sarajini Naidu (1879-1949), Polish author and activist Maria Knopnicka (1842-1910), German children's author Paula Dehmel (1862-1918), and her close collaborator Sophia Parnok (1885-1933), later known as the 'Russian Sappho'. Weissberg was a leader in the contemporary music community, championing the creation of new works. She died in 1942 with her son Vsevolod Rimsky-Korsakov in the Nazi siege of Leningrad. Soprano Sarah Moulton Faux, an Opera America and America Prize winner, first saw mention of Julie Weissberg's work while researching the art songs of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Intrigued, Sarah began a two year research project into Weissberg's catalogue with the assistance of musicologist Dr. Olga Panteleeva. Together, they found a treasure trove of Weissberg's published manuscripts in the Russian State Library in Moscow. Panteleeva also discovered a doctoral dissertation by Mazur Marina Moiseeva from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Composer Julie Weissberg: Personality and Creative Heritage (According to the Materials of the Archives of St. Petersburg), which proved to be an invaluable resource. Fifteen songs for voice and piano handpicked from that treasure trove comprise this album, featuring Sarah Moulton Faux and internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Konstantin Soukhovetski. Seven-time Grammy-winner for Classical Music Producer of the Year Judith Sherman is the lead producer and sound engineer.

One of the foremost vocal chamber ensembles active today, New York Polyphony is renowned for it's innovative programming ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions. On Sky of my Heart, the selection spans over four hundred years of musical history and bears witness to this vocal ensemble's commitment to discovering and developing new works that augment it's core early music repertoire. Some of the works performed here deal with the essential themes of life, death and the afterlife and have been inspired by personal bereavement (Smith) or by the impact of Covid confinement (Moravec). Others are steeped in a spiritual atmosphere, whether religious (Byrd, Moody, Tavener and McGlade) or meditative (Naito). The contemporary works, some of which were written at the behest of New York Polyphony, are firmly rooted in the rich history of plainsong, while at the same time featuring some very contemporary harmonies. The vocal ensemble is joined by LeStrange Viols in three pieces: My Days by Nico Muhly, a ritualized tribute to the early 17th-century English composer Orlando Gibbons, The Silver Swan by Gibbons himself, which brings the programme to an appropriately quiet and poignant close, and Byrd's Agnus Dei. The viol ensemble adds a colour that is both appropriate for Gibbons and original in it's treatment of sound.

Nancy Dalberg's (1881 - 1949) songs were written in the period from 1909 to the beginning of the 1930s, and through her choice of lyrics she tells a lot about herself and her life. She grew up in a prosperous entrepreneurial environment, and early on she developed skills as a pianist. In 1901 she married First Lieutenant Erik Dalberg, who also had a significant artistic vein, and a few songs were thus written together. Due to an arm disease, however, she had to give up becoming a concert pianist, and with Johan Svendsen and especially Carl Nielsen as teachers, she acquired from 1909 on the compositional skills that, in addition to the songs and other smaller works, led to her string quartets and orchestral works, thus three of her songs are also available in an orchestral version. With the very personal choice of 47 mainly Danish poems, her songs take up a considerable amount of space, and she provoked her contemporaries with a sometimes quite rich piano accompaniment, whereby the soloist and pianist became more equal in the performance. The lyrics range widely from the cheerful to several more serious lyrics that revolve around the family and marital dreams that remained unfulfilled due to her lifelong health challenges and her husband's increasing mental illness, of the present selection, 9 songs have not previously been recorded.

Soprano Ruby Hughes, celebrated for the profound "understanding and stylishness" (Gramophone) she brings to her artistry, has a distinguished discography of recitals showcasing the exquisite beauty of her voice. She is particularly known for her carefully curated programs that weave together works from diverse eras. In Amidst the Shades, Hughes reunites with gambist Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann and lutenist Jonas Nordberg. The same inspiring sonic constellation contributed to the success of Heroines of Love and Loss (BIS-2248). This new recital explores their shared passion for Elizabethan music, which served as the catalyst for the program's creation. The contemplative and melancholic songs of John Dowland form the foundation, leading to works by Robert Johnson and John Danyel, interwoven with Purcell's intimate vocal pieces. Seeking to further enrich the repertoire for lute and voice, Hughes commissioned new works from Errollyn Wallen and Deborah Pritchard, setting texts by William Shakespeare. She also obtained permission from Cheryl Frances-Hoad to arrange one of her existing compositions for this unique ensemble. Amidst the Shades promises a recital brimming with nuanced expression and delicate sonic colors.

Dmitri Shostakovich is known for his symphonies, his chamber music, maybe the popular Suites, and to some extent even his film. Largely unknown, however, is his vocal symphonic music, of which only the cycle on Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79, has gained some wider popularity. Here these hidden gems are brought together in authoritative interpretations under Michail Jurowski and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne with it's rich Shostakovich tradition under Semyon Bychkov and Rudolf Barshai, among others, from the Six Romances on words by Japanese poets to the Suite on Verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Korean Tapestry

Nadia Anjuman (1980-2005) was an Afghan poet writing during a period of turmoil. In 1995, when the Taliban captured Herat, her birthplace, women's liberties were drastically reduced. A gifted student, Nadia faced a future with no hope of education. With other women she attended an underground educational circle called the Golden Needle Sewing School. Meeting under the guise of learning how to sew, the meetings were in fact discussions on literature with Herat professors. The project was dangerous: if caught, the punishment could be imprisonment, torture or hanging. Nadia was 21 when the Taliban was ousted. While earning her degree in literature she published her first book of poetry. She married into a family who believed that, since she was a woman, writing brought disgrace on their reputation. Yet she continued to write. At the age of 25 she was beaten to death by her husband. The five poems I chose are wide-ranging and cover extremes of emotion: from love; to delight in being a poet; to despair at her lack of freedom; and even contemplation of suicide. � Richard Blackford

Nadia Anjuman (1980-2005) was an Afghan poet writing during a period of turmoil. In 1995, when the Taliban captured Herat, her birthplace, women's liberties were drastically reduced. A gifted student, Nadia faced a future with no hope of education. With other women she attended an underground educational circle called the Golden Needle Sewing School. Meeting under the guise of learning how to sew, the meetings were in fact discussions on literature with Herat professors. The project was dangerous: if caught, the punishment could be imprisonment, torture or hanging. Nadia was 21 when the Taliban was ousted. While earning her degree in literature she published her first book of poetry. She married into a family who believed that, since she was a woman, writing brought disgrace on their reputation. Yet she continued to write. At the age of 25 she was beaten to death by her husband. The five poems I chose are wide-ranging and cover extremes of emotion: from love; to delight in being a poet; to despair at her lack of freedom; and even contemplation of suicide. � Richard Blackford

Antoni Gaud�'s monumental temple La Sagrada Familia is a universe within a building. It's mass of stone and metal is bathed in coloured light diffused from dazzling stained-glass windows. The colossal structure is supported by great pillars inspired by the shapes of tree trunks that reinforce the impression of a spiritual forest. Around the main access points to the basilica are three great facades: Nativity, Passion and Glory. Each is a visual world unto itself, stylistically apart yet united by Gaud�'s grandiose vision. These three facades are the inspiration of my three-movement A Gaud� Symphony, a sequence of narratives. The visual journey, from the representational to the abstract, is something I also tried to mirror in the music. When I visited La Sagrada Familia in October 2019 there was still scaffolding to support the work on the remaining towers. Whereas A Gaud� Symphony is inspired by that unique building, I hope that my musical structure can stand alone as an homage to Gaud� in it's own right. - Richard Blackford

Antoni Gaudi's monumental temple La Sagrada Familia is a universe within a building. It's mass of stone and metal is bathed in coloured light diffused from dazzling stained-glass windows. The colossal structure is supported by great pillars inspired by the shapes of tree trunks that reinforce the impression of a spiritual forest. Around the main access points to the basilica are three great facades: Nativity, Passion and Glory. Each is a visual world unto itself, stylistically apart yet united by Gaudi's grandiose vision. These three facades are the inspiration of my three-movement A Gaudi Symphony, a sequence of narratives. The visual journey, from the representational to the abstract, is something I also tried to mirror in the music. When I visited La Sagrada Familia in October 2019 there was still scaffolding to support the work on the remaining towers. Whereas A Gaudi Symphony is inspired by that unique building, I hope that my musical structure can stand alone as an homage to Gaudi in it's own right. � Richard Blackford

Falk and Schleiermacher once again prove to be the ideal interpreters of this multi-faceted music: from the smoky nightclub of the "Rue Chagrin" to the synagogue; past the children's playground to the cotton fields of America with hints of the blues - great art in a small form!

Samuel Andreyev’s music is incredibly varied, from the sparse resonance of the Sonata da Camera, the ‘cartoon music’ (as the composer puts it) of Vérifications, characterised by primary colours and strong instrumental timbres; the Sextet in Two Parts which in contrast focuses on minute timbral shadings; and of course the cantata for solo voice and ensemble which is the title track of the album. Performed by ensemble proton bern, conducted by Luigi Gaggero with the magical soprano voice of Peyee Chen on In Glow of Like Seclusion (set to verse by J. H. Prynne) this album was beautifully captured in Zurich in 2022. The CD and digital album is to be followed with a double-LP vinyl version in the New Year.

Samuel Andreyev’s music has been featured in portrait concerts in Bern, Geneva, Toronto, Paris, Kyiv, Strasbourg, Montréal, Tours, and many other cities. Andreyev is a laureat of the Henri Dutilleux Prize (2012, for ‘Night Division’), and the Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs (2020, for ‘Vérifications’). He is also Vice President of the music council of the Fondation Prince Pierre (Monaco). With his YouTube channel and Podcast, Samuel Andreyev presents lectures on musical topics, as well as long-form interviews with prominent musicians as varied as Brian Ferneyhough, every member of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, Linda Catlin Smith, Hugues Dufourt, Adam Neely and countless others.

SOMM Recordings is proud to mark the centenary of the legendary German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (28 May 1925-18 May 2012) by adding to his canonical discography with live recital and concert recordings from the Music Preserved archive. Fischer-Dieskau was at the very height of his powers from 1960-75, and the performances on this album date from that period. A bonus CD contains two interviews conducted by Jon Tolansky-appearing here in their entirety for the first time-the 75th Birthday Interview (2000) and 80th Birthday Interview (2005). The extraordinarily vast repertoire of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau over his 45-year career comprised�lieder, operas,�cantatas,�and�oratorios.�He sang these in German, Italian, French, Russian, English, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Latin, from eras that spanned the Baroque to the latter part of the 20th century. Particularly, it was the controlled power and beauty of his voice, and the dramatic intensity and poetry of his interpretations, that led him to excel in the genre of German�lieder.�In this form he exerted a virtually unprecedented stylistic and interpretative influence-not only on the musical world of his day, but also on generations of performers to come. SOMM's centenary tribute opens with four songs by Ferruccio Busoni, all being works that were written late in the composer's career. They come from a programme that Fischer-Dieskau gave with Gerald Moore in 1962.� At the 1971 Helsinki Festival, Fischer-Dieskau presented a recital with Irwin Gage, which was devoted entirely to songs with texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The recital, described by a contemporary critic as "a landmark event," featured compositions by contemporaries of Goethe, who lived from 1749 to 1832, such as the Countess Anna Amalia, Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and Goethe's friend Carl Friedrich Zelter. The more familiar composers represented on this Goethe-inspired recital were active during the first part of the 20th century. They include Richard Strauss, Max Reger, and Ferruccio Busoni. This tribute to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau also includes six songs from a programme of works by Gustav Mahler, which was presented with his long-time collaborator, Karl Engel. Three of the songs are from Des Knaben Wunderhorn,�based on texts of German folk poems, and three are from the collection of five Ruckert-Lieder,�after poems written by�Friedrich Ruckert. The musical component of this collection closes with a concert performance of three songs by Zoltan Kodaly, sung in Hungarian by Fischer-Dieskau. The composer proves himself an outstanding interpreter of his own music in conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. In the two interviews included on the bonus CD, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau discusses his early years, his teachers, the development of his career, and a small but revealing cross-section of his enormous repertoire.