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Songs Of Joy And Peace [Deluxe Edition] / Yo-Yo Ma

Sony Masterworks

$16.98 Oct 14, 2008

For his first holiday album, Yo-Yo Ma brings together renowned musicians from folk, jazz, classical, and world music to celebrate seasonal festivals of the world -- Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid al-Adha, Kwanzaa, Yule, and New Year's Day.

This deluxe edition includes a 60-minute bonus DVD featuring behind-the-scenes recording session footage with Yo-Yo Ma and the guest artists, a photo gallery, and 5 complete music videos:

James Taylor, "Here Comes The Sun"
Diana Krall, "You Couldn’t Be Cuter"
Alison Krauss, "The Wexford Carol"
Chris Botti, "My Favorite Things"
Renée Fleming, "Touch The Hand Of Love"

Imagine a party, a musical party inspired by the holiday season. A party that celebrates the universal hopes, dreams and joy animating seasonal festivals the world over.

That is what brought Yo-Yo Ma together with a remarkable group of friends - some old, some new - to create SONGS OF JOY & PEACE. It is Yo-Yo's hope that everyone who listens to this album will hear a song familiar, comfortable and beloved to them as well as discover and fall in love with music that is brand new.

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Songs Of Joy And Peace [Deluxe Edition] / Yo-Yo Ma
Sony Masterworks Oct 2008
CD
$16.98

IF

INVISIBLE HANDS

$10.49 Oct 29, 2021

Libera are a phenomenon with over 100 million hits on YouTube. One of the leading worldwide exponents of the British choral tradition, the 3-time Classical BRIT nominees have recorded a brand new studio album titled If. The new album will be available on October 15, 2021 on CD plus digital formats through Invisible Hands Music and features 15 songs including 5 brand new compositions. Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys - who knows a bit about vocal harmonies - said, "When I heard them sing - it actually took me to tears." This album provides a welcome respite from over a year of unrelenting bleakness; the boys who make up Libera are very happy to be back making music. This album continues Libera's mission of spreading joy and hope through the beauty and purity of their wonderful voices and arrangements. With shimmering, mystical chords and ecstatic harmonies, they are unlike any other group you have ever heard. The distinctive sound of Libera has garnered fans all over the world, particularly in the USA, the UK, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan. Their CDs top the mainstream and classical charts and they pack concert halls and Cathedrals appearing in their trademark flowing white robes.

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IF
INVISIBLE HANDS Oct 2021
CD
$10.49

Dvorák: Complete Cello Works / Jamnik, Netopil, Prague Radio Symphony

Supraphon

$37.99 Dec 17, 2010

DVORAK Cello Concerto in b 1. Lasst mich allein, op. 82/1 (arr. Lenehan) 2. Rondo in g, op. 94 2. Goin’ Home (arr. Fisher and Lenehan) 2. Songs my mother taught me , op. 55/4 (arr. Grünfeld) 2. Silent Woods, op. 68/5 2. Slavonic Dance in g, op. 46/8 2 • Alisa Weilerstein (vc); 2 Anna Polansky (pn); 1 Jirí Belohlávek, cond; 1 Czech PO • DECCA 0019765-02 (67:10)

DVORAK Cello Concertos: in A; in b. Rondo in g, op. 94. Silent Woods, op. 68/5 • Tomás Jamník (vc); Tomás Netopil, cond; Czech PO • SUPRAPHON 4034-2 (2 CDs: 89:53)

‘Tis apparently the season for me to review recordings of Dvorák’s cello concertos; in the previous issue (37:5) I discussed the recent pairing of those two works by Steven Isserlis, and now in addition to these two sets I also cover a historic live performance with Pablo Casals elsewhere in this issue. This is not a complaint, mind you; far from it. The B-Minor Concerto is both one of my very favorite concertos for any instrument (along with the Brahms D-Minor Piano Concerto and the Bruch G-Minor Violin Concerto), and on my short list (say, my top 25 entries) of favorite orchestral works, so it is always a treat to encounter it again. And, given my deep love for Dvorák’s music in general (only the operas do not register with me), I have a great fondness for the early A-Major Concerto as well, despite its obvious flaws.

In my review of the Isserlis recording, I regretfully opined that “there is no doubt for a moment that one of the world’s great cellists is playing, and that he has a very fine conductor and accomplished orchestra as his partners. Somehow, however, a fully idiomatic feeling for this work eludes their sensibilities.” No such complaint can be made about either of these two recordings; both are very good, if perhaps just shy of the very top tier, albeit for different reasons. Still only 32 years old, Alisa Weilerstein has already been deservedly established for several years as one of the world’s top cellists, and no one should take my previous critical review of her DVD of the Elgar Concerto in 34:4 as indicating a lack of admiration for her on my part. On the contrary: in November 2009 I heard her play the Dvorák B-Minor Concerto with Peter Oundjian and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and “breathtakingly superlative” is a woefully inadequate description of that performance. (At one point in the finale, Weilerstein, Oundjian, and the orchestra wound one section down to total silence and held that for three or four seconds, and there wasn’t so much as a single cough or rustle from the audience.) Whereas that performance was deeply probing of the melancholic undercurrents of the score, this version is very much a young person’s take instead, with a total emphasis on sunny lyricism and the joy of homecoming. While the movement timings (14: 42, 11:23, 12:37) are thoroughly mainstream, the reading has a very brisk, occasionally even almost breathless, feel to it, with the eager enthusiasm of a high-spirited filly just waiting to bolt out of the gate for a frisky gallop. Ji?í B?lohlávek seconds Weilerstein at every step of the way, and of course the Czech Philharmonic has this music in its blood. As the contrast with the live Philadelphia performance I witnessed shows, the interpretive outlook here is one of very conscious choice; and while I favor a more ruminative approach that brings out the work’s more pensive side, this is a refreshingly different take that makes one think about it anew, and I heartily recommend it accordingly.

I am less enthusiastic about the rest of the disc, however. In the filler pieces—the G-Minor Rondo and Silent Woods in their piano accompaniment versions before Dvorák orchestrated them (though Silent Woods was first composed for piano four-hands), plus four shorter pieces in various arrangements (though no arranger is credited for the Slavonic Dance in G Minor)—Weilerstein is accompanied by pianist Anna Polonsky. While it is good to have the Lasst mich allein that the composer drew on for thematic references in the second and third movements of the B-Minor Concerto, as well as the Rondo and Silent Woods , the performances are rather generic in outlook, and the other three pieces are unimpressively fluffy makeshift fillers, with Goin’ Home coming off as too saccharine. I wish that all concerned in this enterprise would have thought to offer the Rondo and Silent Woods in their orchestral guises as well; certainly the disc had enough room for that, and it would have been a major selling point to offer both versions of those works together. Decca provides warm sound with a bit of distance and a touch of resonance; the brief booklet notes are perfunctory. A minor irritant is the “classical cheesecake” photo on the booklet cover of Weilerstein in the woods, in what I derisively term “fetching feral female form.” (The photo on the back tray card is infinitely superior and should have been used for the booklet cover instead.) I suppose this is what advertising executives think will sell some additional copies to the general public, but an artist of Weilerstein’s stature deserves much better.

Tomás Jamník is even younger than Weilerstein—by three years, to be exact. While his performance of the B-Minor Concerto is also a youthful one, it is such in the more generic sense of not yet having a strongly individual interpretive profile. Whereas Weilerstein is already a full-fledged major interpreter, Jamník is still a promising talent who has not yet arrived at the same degree of artistic maturity. This is not to imply that he is faceless or callow; he has beautifully burnished tone and secure technique, and he tapers dynamics and phrases with genuine feeling. He just hasn’t quite reached the point yet where all the fine individual moments coalesce into a larger, cohesive, distinctive unity. Much the same can be said for the still relatively youthful but increasingly prominent conductor Tomá? Netopil; he understands what the score needs to say at any given moment, but has not yet quite gotten to the point of integrating those moments together into a more memorable and sweeping overarching framework. Overall it’s a very good and enjoyable performance in a mainstream interpretation; it just faces impossibly stiff competition from the likes of Rostropovich and Fournier, to name just two figures whose recordings rank among the immortals.

However, this set is far more fortunate in its pairings than is the Weilerstein CD. In the Rondo and Silent Woods , Jamník and Netopil have the totally idiomatic feel needed to give these smaller-scale works their full and due measure. And then there is the youthful A-Major Concerto as the other and most welcome anchor to this set. Having covered its somewhat tortuous history in previous reviews, I will not repeat myself on that point here. What I will say is that this is one of the two best versions of the cello and orchestra version available, the other being the performance by Ramon Jaffé, Daniel Raiskin, and the Staatsorchester Rheinische Phiharmonie. (Of the remainder, the performance played and conducted by Alexander Rudin, reviewed by Jerry Dubins in 37:3, ranks an honorable third. Avoid the utterly wooden version on Supraphon with Milo? Sádlo, Václav Neumann, and the Czech Philharmonic on Supraphon; the pedestrian and long out of print performance on Koch with Werner Thomas-Mifune, Rudolf Krecmer, and the Bamberg Symphony; and the Isserlis recording of the misbegotten Günther Raphael version recently dissected by me in my aforementioned review. The unabridged original piano and cello version with Ji?í Bárta and Jan ?ech on Supraphon is a must for fans of the work, though I’m much less impressed with the pianist than with the cellist there.) To repeat briefly what I said at the end of the Isserlis review, Jaffé and Raiskin are the superior interpretive team, but if you place a heavy premium on beauty of instrumental tone then you will prefer Jamník’s greater warmth and depth to the somewhat more wiry sound of Jaffé. In all four works the Prague Radio Symphony, like its bigger brother the Czech Philharmonic on the Decca release, has imbibed the composer’s music as mother’s milk and gives its interpretive all. While Supraphon’s basic recorded sound is quite good, there are occasional odd moments (such as the very beginning of the first CD) where there is some slight incipient background noise, almost like the surface noise of an LP. Detailed booklet notes are provided in English, German, French, and Czech. Jamník is an artist to watch, and it will be interesting to hear him revisit these works in another decade or so; warmly recommended.

FANFARE: James A. Altena

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Dvorák: Complete Cello Works / Jamnik, Netopil, Prague Radio Symphony
Supraphon Dec 2010
CD
$37.99

Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 & Variations on a Rococo Theme

Fuga Libera

$20.99 Feb 28, 2025

Music is not a hoax, it is a revelation... It reveals elements of beauty that cannot exist in any other sphere, the contemplation of which reconciles us to life not temporarily, but forever. It enlightens and brings joy." These words of Tchaikovsky can refer to both of the works presented here. Tchaikovsky called his Suite No. 3 the most successful of all his works performed abroad and successfully conducted many performances of it on tours. For Dmitry Liss, the chief conductor of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, "this is one of the most unexpected works by Tchaikovsky and my near-favorite. If you look at the final movement from a modern perspective, it's hectic stylistic diversity looks almost postmodernist and has been created with subtle and stylish use of irony. The theme of the Suite's finale is consonant with that of the Rococo Variations, hence our decision to include both works on this album." The world-renowned cellist Boris Andrianov performs the Variations on this recording. He considered it "a sacred duty for a Russian cellist who is also a winner of the Tchaikovsky competition not only to record this work, but also to look at it anew.

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Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 & Variations on a Rococo Theme
Fuga Libera Feb 2025
CD
$20.99

Klughardt: Symphony No. 3; Violin Concerto / Berg, Tschopp, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau

CPO

$18.99 Feb 22, 2011

KLUGHARDT Violin Concerto. Symphony No. 3 • Golo Berg, cond; Mirjam Tschopp (vn); Anhalt P • CPO 777 465-2 (77:51)

Tired of listening to the Schumann symphonies? Not interested in still another newfangled maestro’s take on the Brahms symphonies? Find Spohr’s boring? Weber’s too bland? Bruckner’s too long? August Klughardt’s Third may be just your cup of tea. Likewise the Violin Concerto, custom-made for listeners who need a break from the Mendelssohn, Bruch, and Wieniawski examples.

Klughardt (1847–1902) retains a toehold in the classical record catalog almost solely on the basis of a woodwind quintet, and even that is not often heard. Now comes a significant addition to his tiny discography, two major orchestral works splendidly played, recorded in a vivid acoustic environment, and conducted with great verve and panache. In fact, these performances are so good they might well be even better than the music itself.

The opening seconds of the first track (the Violin Concerto) grab your attention equally for the attractiveness of the theme, the assertiveness of the playing, and the bright, natural acoustic environment. The 40-minute concerto, composed in 1895, is packed to the hilt with sumptuous melodies (the first movement’s second subject will melt your heart, and there’s one in the finale that brings to mind swaying palm trees and island breezes). It is hard to imagine any listener resisting this fine work, while soloists in search of a new concerto to add to their repertoire will find Klughardt’s eminently rewarding.

Swiss-born violinist Mirjam Tschopp certainly plays it as if she does, in a performance imbued with commitment, technical flair, and earnest musicianship. Here is still another extremely talented violinist with much to say to the world, yet I’ve never encountered her before. Curious to know what else this outstanding musician has recorded, I checked what there might be on ArkivMusic. My search turned up just two items from the past 11 years, both by composers even more obscure than Klughardt (Barry Brenesal warmly praised her account of Saygun’s Violin Concerto in Fanfare 29:2).

The Third Symphony, too, will bring much joy to listeners in search of traditional, four-movement Romantic symphonies, this one composed in 1879. Its key of D Major (like the Violin Concerto) almost guarantees that it is going to be an affirmative, joyful work, and that it certainly is. Its opening may bring to mind the opening of the finale of Brahms’s Second Symphony. The historian Hermann Kretzschmar described the third movement as being “like a merry ballad telling of olden times, of the mighty deeds of knights and heroes, of tournaments and courtly quests, of escapades and adventures.” If this begins to sound like Bruckner’s Fourth, you’re not far off, at least in spirit.

The Anhalt Philharmonic of Dessau is a first-class ensemble with a long history (the extensive bio traces its origins back to the mid 18th century). Conductor Golo Berg ensures clean, crisp rhythms, forward drive without force, and fine balance, resulting in performances of almost irresistible attractiveness. Ronald Müller’s fine program notes tell you everything you always wanted to know about Klughardt’s Violin Concerto and Third Symphony. This disc is definitely headed for my year-end Want List.

FANFARE: Robert Markow

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Klughardt: Symphony No. 3; Violin Concerto / Berg, Tschopp, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau
CPO Feb 2011
CD
$18.99

John A. Carollo: Music from the Ethereal Side of Paradise

Navona

$8.49 ~~$16.99~~ Save 50% Oct 12, 2018

John A. Carollo's fourth Navona Records release, and follow up to 2017's The Transfiguration of GIovanni Baudino, is a wondrous musical journey through the world of desire. With Music From the Ethereal Side of Paradise, Carollo makes an impassioned plea for the power of romance. From the opening tensions and mystery of "Awakenings for String Orchestra" through the surprising, amorous joy of "Romanzo!" "Splendido Affare," and "La Tortura dell' Amore," Carollo's compositions communicate what mere words cannot: the inner rapture, utter fulfillment, and yes, the torture, of being in love. Shifting slightly, and perhaps more into the ethereal, "Metamorphosis No. 3 for Solo Violin" introduces a newer, more contemplative element. With short notes and runs, the violin first cries out with unanswered questions followed by furrowed introspection. Two Guitar Etudes follow, demonstrating both intimacy and technique, while maintaining an inquisitive tone throughout. As the album continues, we arrive at a vocal suite with "Little Gems" to be discovered throughout. T.S. Eliot wrote "... The end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time." Musid From the Ethereal Side of Paradise does just that. Concluding as we began with a sumptuous string orchestra, we arrive where we started - enlightened and wise from our journey.

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John A. Carollo: Music from the Ethereal Side of Paradise
Navona Oct 2018
CD
~~$16.99~~ $8.49

Unbounded - Music by American Women / Wohn, Phelps

Delos

$18.99 Aug 18, 2023

As a second generation Korean-American woman, violinist Dawn Wohn notes that it has not always been easy to relate to the world of classical music, which is still largely Euro- and male-centric. Since delving into the diverse world of female composers, I have felt much joy, connection, and ownership to the music that I perform. To be able to champion this repertoire feels unbounded— joyful and limitless. I am particularly excited to share this album, which celebrates the music of American women, as performed by two American women.

There is no denying that historically, female composers have faced challenges. Amy Beach was unable to take composition lessons or have a performing career for most of her life, as it was deemed improper for a married woman. The two Black composers on this album, Dorothy Rudd Moore and Irene Britton Smith, faced further struggles for widespread recognition during their lifetimes, due to the classical world’s long reluctance to admit works by minority composers into the performing canon.

In an ideal world, there would be no need to call attention to the race or gender of these composers. In doing so, my concern is that the composers or their works will be overshadowed or grouped together by those labels. Just as Moore cautioned against typecasting, stating that “there are many Black artists in all disciplines and each is an individual with his or her unique experiences,” it is important to listen to and recognize each composer as an individual.

However, an all-male composer program would not raise questions on how to present it without diminishing the music or pigeon- holing the music or the composers. So, with this album, I choose to amplify and celebrate music by these four composers and all they have created through adversity. I relate deeply to the optimism, humor and beauty in these works, and hope that it inspires the listener.

REVIEW:

The two artists play with passion and elegantly the music of four composers defined not by gender or ethnicity but by the kind of tenacity that helped them achieve the often seemingly unreachable acceptance of the music establishment. Highly recommended!

-- All About the Arts (Rafael de Acha)

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Unbounded - Music by American Women / Wohn, Phelps
Delos Aug 2023
CD
$18.99

Magnificat

Blu-Ray

$44.99 Nov 18, 2014

The Magnificat is the Virgin Mary's song of praise to God after one of the Bible's greatest wonders: the angel Gabriel visiting her with the message that she is to be the mother of God's son. + In his setting composer Kim André Arnesen expresses the feelings Mary must have felt: wonder, devotion, gratitude, joy, humility, hope and compassion. + God's selection of an unknown woman living in poverty to be the mother of His son is a bottom-up view of the world if ever there was one - and Arnesen sees the Magnificat as offering support and hope for all people struggling against adversity or in need of strength. + Musica Celestis portrays the ceaseless praising of God by angels in heaven. + Aaron Jay Kernis builds his work around a fairly simple melody that he remolds in a series of variations. + The intensely beautiful and mostly barren Hardangervidda mountain plateau inspired Ola Gjeilo to write Tundra, while his Song of the Universal expresses unabashed optimism, exuberance and poet Walt Whitman's unwavering confidence in our deeper humanity - all through the prism of a big, warm, beating heart.

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Magnificat
2L Nov 2014
Blu-Ray
$44.99

IF

INVISIBLE HANDS

$10.49 Oct 29, 2021

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IF
INVISIBLE HANDS Oct 2021
CD
$10.49

Kommet ihr Hirten / Dresden Philharmonic Brass Ensemble

Berlin Classics

$21.99 Jan 05, 2024

KultBlech is the brass ensemble of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. KultBlech presents an album with subtly arranged and masterfully played Christmas music for brass! Under the baton of Steven Verhaert the one of a kind arrangements written especially for KultBlech Dresden by Markus Höller & Hans Reiner Schmidt make the christmas time humorous, lively and emotional! KultBlech Dresden takes you on an extraordinary Christmas musical journey around the world - and this every year! An album for the whole family!

CONTENTS:

Joy to the world
Engel auf den Feldern
Hirten auf Reisen [Teil 1]
Little drummer boy
Weihnachten in Deutschland
Amazing grace
Euch ist ein Kindlein heut geborn
Hirten auf Reisen [Teil 2]
Weihnachten in Europa
Stille Nacht
Frohes Fest und gute Nacht
You raise me up

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Kommet ihr Hirten / Dresden Philharmonic Brass Ensemble
Berlin Classics Jan 2024
CD
$21.99

Christmas Around The World / West Edge String Quartet

Centaur Records

$18.99 Nov 01, 2010

Carol of the Bells; Wexford Carol; A Holly and Ivy Calypso; Today in Bethlehem; Sleep Baby Jesus; The First Nowell; A la Nanita Nana (Lullaby); Riu, Riu, Chiu; Coventry Carol; In the Bleak Midwinter; A la Media Noche/De Tierra Lajana Venimos; The Bells of Christmas: A Medley of Two Modern Carols; Silent Night; Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming; Christmas Cornucopia; the West Edge String Quartet

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Christmas Around The World / West Edge String Quartet
Centaur Records Nov 2010
CD
$18.99

Puccini: Making the world cry (Die Welt zum Weinen bringen)

BR Klassik

$39.99 Feb 20, 2026

Puccini's music touches the hearts of millions. But how well do we really know the man, his work, and his era? What was his life like? What shaped his genius? This new audio biography from BR-KLASSIK - vividly and captivatingly narrated by Udo Wachtveitl and accompanied by lush music - offers the answers. When Mimì utters her last words, Tosca throws herself on her dead lover, or Cio Cio San takes her child in her arms once more, opera audiences worldwide reach for tissues. This was Puccini's goal: far piangere - "to make people cry." His success in this brought him immense fame and fortune, but how did he craft such enduring art? This audio biography reveals the perfectionist behind the works, a man who spent years refining his operas to make them feel as if they were part of real life. Puccini's personal life is often reduced to his notorious passions for women, cars, and hunting, along with the tragedy surrounding the suicide of his maid, Doria Manfredi. He was undoubtedly a "macho" through and through, but as he confided to his soulmate Sybil Seligman, "not even my friends know who I really am." In this audio biography, with it's many quotations, Puccini shares numerous aspects of his story himself, often surprising listeners with his humour, self-deprecation, and critical reflection (though his behaviour remained unchanged). We hear of his affairs, miseries, joys, and struggles. We accompany him on his bicycle, aboard an ocean liner, duck hunting, in family disputes, and in moments of triumph in New York. And we witness his country - Italy, tragically torn by crisis and eventually sliding into war and fascism. The main focus, however, is his music, and not just his famous arias and operas. From the church music of his student days to experimental stage works like La Fanciulla del West and Il Trittico, this audio biography charts the remarkable development of his career and uncovers many musical gems.

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Puccini: Making the world cry (Die Welt zum Weinen bringen)
BR Klassik Feb 2026
CD
$39.99

Beethoven Symphonies, Vol. 6

SOMM Recordings

$18.99 Feb 21, 2025

SOMM Recordings brings it's major six-volume series of Franz Xaver Scharwenka's transcriptions of Beethoven Symphonies to a close with his 9th Symphony, the monumental Choral Symphony. Since the first volume, listeners have eagerly awaited each new release in the series from duo pianists, Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman. As Ates Orga has noted in International Piano Magazine, "What in July 2021 began as something of a curio outing has blossomed into a major recording landmark." Beethoven first conceived the idea of setting Schiller's Ode to Joy to music when he was in his twenties; an early iteration of the theme in the song, Returned Love, comes from before 1795. His Choral Fantasy for piano, vocal soloists, mixed chorus, and orchestra followed in 1808, when he was thirty-eight. By the time he conducted his Choral Symphony No. 9 in D minor in Vienna on May 7, 1824, aged fifty-four, Beethoven was completely deaf. One of the iconic images in music history is that of the soprano gently turning him around, so he could see the rapturous response from the audience that he was unable to hear. The work had broken all barriers in terms of conception, duration, compositional power, and the incorporation of voices in the finale. The impact of the Choral Symphony was instantaneous and lasting. It was printed by Schott and Company within 18 months, and there were immediate demands for keyboard transcriptions. Given the forces that Beethoven employed in his 9th Symphony, transcribing the work for piano is challenging to say the least. The German pianist and composer, Xaver Scharwenka, was a student of Theodor Kullak, who had studied with Beethoven's pupil, Carl Czerny, thus providing Scharwenka with a singular musical line leading back to Beethoven. His duet transcriptions of all nine Beethoven Symphonies, published in 1905, still remain a touchstone for musical understanding of the cycle. The Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman Piano Duo began their in-concert exploration of Scharwenka's four-hand Beethoven transcriptions in 2015. Their recording of these transcriptions for SOMM began in 2023 with volumes 1 to 5 receiving ecstatic reviews. Vol I (SOMMCD 0637) "Utterly beguiling, " BBC Music magazine. Vol 2 (SOMMCD 0650) "The performances are state-of-the-art, " BBC Music magazine. Vol 3 (SOMMCD 0666) "Clarity, conviction and impressive unanimity, " Gramophone; "CD of the Week, " Sunday Times. Vol 4 (SOMMCD 0677) "so musical... so Beethovenian as to defy criticism, " Musical Opinion. Vol 5 (SOMMCD 0687) "remarkable ensemble synchronicity, " Jed Distler, Gramophone. Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman have long-established careers. Uys has been awarded the MacFarren Medal by the Royal Academy of Music, where she is an Associate, and she has an impressive reputation as a concert and broadcasting performer at major venues throughout the world. Schoeman is a Steinway artist who has performed in prestigious concert halls on several continents. Both pianists are past winners of the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition.

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Beethoven Symphonies, Vol. 6
SOMM Recordings Feb 2025
CD
$18.99

Lamenting Earth

Avie Records

$19.99 May 15, 2026

Lamenting Earth, the latest release from GRAMMY® Award-winning tenor Nicholas Phan, in collaboration with The Jasper Quartet and his long-time performing partner pianist Myra Huang, explores humanity's interaction with nature as expressed through composers of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Franz Schubert's songs evoke images of water, stillness, and solitude as mirrors of human emotion. Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge, drawing on A. E. Housman's poetry, places the individual within vast cycles of time and landscape - hills, wind, and earth - which persist beyond human joy and grief alike. Ives's Housatonic at Stockbridge memories, hymns, and the river blend together into a shimmering meditation on transcendence, where nature becomes a spiritual threshold rather than a backdrop. 21st century responses include Patrick Castillo's Skyline Palimpsest, an homage to New York City, once his hometown, that reflects on how nature's effects may shape the future of the metropolis. The title track by Canadian-born composer Vivian Fung, pairs American writer Claire Wahmanholm's poem "O" - which has been described as a lament, an elegy, and a clarion call to action - with Gen Z-ers urgent written responses to climate change. Nicholas Phan's burnished tone and passion for vocal chamber music bring vivid beauty to the range of repertoire that shares a central theme. Lamenting Earth is released to coincide with World Earth Day (22 April 2026).

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Lamenting Earth
Avie Records May 2026
CD
$19.99

Mix & Match

Letters to Bach / Noa

Naïve

$8.99 ~~$17.99~~ Save 50% Apr 19, 2019

Noa’s new musical project is entitled “Letters to Bach,” executively produced by Quincy Jones. It is comprised of 12 pieces of instrumental music written by Johann Sebastian Bach for which Noa has written English and Hebrew lyrics, inspired by subjects as diverse as technology and religion, global warming and feminism, euthanasia, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and relationships in the age of social media. The arrangements for guitar were done by Noa’s long-standing musical collaborator Gil Dor, guitarist, composer, arranger and educator. The duo’s performances are surprising and brilliant, with Noa’s voice both soaring majestically and skipping playfully between the notes, intertwining perfectly with Gil’s guitar, illuminating Bach’s brilliant polyphony. In this project, Noa and Gil strive to break the binding walls of language, religion, genre, generation, and stigma to build a bridge of musical excellence, respect and joy, a place of curiosity, courage and hope… all under the auspices of the great super-connector, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Noa, Israeli Born, NY raised singer/songwriter of Yemenite origins, is an internationally renowned artist, who has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages, including numerous performances in the Vatican for three Popes, the White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the most important theaters of Europe. She has been produced and endorsed by Pat Metheny and Quincy Jones and shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Sting, Andrea Bocelli and many others. She is Commander of the order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Good Will Ambassador to the UN, Global Leader of Tomorrow and has received endless awards for her artistry and commitment to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

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Letters to Bach / Noa
Naïve Apr 2019
CD
~~$17.99~~ $8.99

Fallen to Dust / Newby, Middleton

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Apr 07, 2023

James Newby wished to dedicate his second disc on BIS - a recital of English song - to his sister Laura who passed away in 2015, her daughter, and his mother.

After singing Gerald Finzi’s ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’ at her funeral, he felt it fitting that the cycle from which it is taken, Let us Garlands Bring, would form the centerpiece of the program. Alongside this cycle, pianist Joseph Middleton and Newby have designed a program of English songs that reflect on themes of loss, grief and death – but also joy, love and healing with varying styles, sound worlds and atmospheres. George Butterworth, Rebecca Clarke, Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Liza Lehmann and Errollyn Wallen are just some of the composers who complete the program, including Arthur Somervell with his cycle ‘A Shropshire Lad’. Like Heinrich Heine’s poems that Schumann used for his famous cycle Dichterliebe, these poems by Alfred Edward Housman deal with unrequited love in first person lyrics. This disc ends on a lighter note with the whimsical song, ‘The Green-eyed Dragon’ by Wolseley Charles, which often concludes live performances as an encore.

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Fallen to Dust / Newby, Middleton
BIS Apr 2023
SACD
$21.99

All Will Be Well

Signum Classics

$20.99 Apr 25, 2025

This new collection of my choral music features recent commissions from choirs near and far. The overall theme of the album is one of hope but also concern for our relationship with living things and the planet we inhabit. Thus, in Earthificat I have based a new secular, environmental text on the words and structure of The Magnificat and in Renew Me In The Sunlight the words ask for strength to move forward in balance with nature. There is a movement, Reverence from my secular mass M=pV, a work about our stewardship of nature and our place within the universe and a setting of some beautiful words by the great 'nature poet' William Wordsworth. Alongside this are Christmas settings and other choral songs. The timbres weave between my more classical 'a cappella and strings' texture, towards a more jazz inflected sound world in tracks such as On This Night and Let All The People Praise You. I have worked many times with the inspirational Newcastle-based choir Voices of Hope who won BBC Choir of The Year in 2016 and who have continued to grow in vocal magic and audience since that time. It's been a joy to work with them and their choir director Mark Edwards alongside my own ensemble and string players from The Alina Orchestra.

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All Will Be Well
Signum Classics Apr 2025
CD
$20.99

Legends - Rebellion

Sono Luminus

$16.99 Aug 14, 2026

LEGENDS: Rebellion is the next installment in a series of recordings celebrating women as storytellers and bearers of cultural memory. Featuring world-premiere recordings, Grammy-nominated, long-time collaborative duo soprano Laura Strickling and pianist Joy Schreier return to add to the evolving legend of modern art song in an album exploring rebellion in many forms: political, emotional, erotic, maternal, and spiritual. From Afghan women's landay poetry composed in defiance of oppression, to mythic heroines reclaiming their own narratives, to an unflinching portrayal of new motherhood and a powerful meditation on love as resistance. Pushing against conventional expectations of what art song 'should' be, this album offers a kaleidoscopic array of harmonic and rhythmic languages alongside compelling, deeply human texts; a program that fascinates, challenges, informs, and delights - inviting both devoted listeners of art song and those less familiar with the genre into a richly expressive sonic world celebrating contemporary song as a space for courage, vulnerability, witness, and transformation.

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Legends - Rebellion
Sono Luminus Aug 2026
CD
$16.99

Mix & Match

ANDRAS SCHIFF & DINU LIPATTI PLAY J.S BACH
ALTO Feb 2025
CD
$11.01

Weinberg: Symphony No. 19, Banners Of Peace / Lande, St. Petersburg Symphony

Naxos

$19.99 Nov 13, 2012

The subtitle of this symphony Bright May would normally lead one to think that, being written by a Soviet composer, it alluded to 1 May and the workers’ holiday. In this case you would be wrong since it refers to the month the ‘Great Patriotic War’, (the Second World War to most of us) ended. In the first of three linked movements Weinberg describes the devastation left by the war with an overwhelmingly sad introduction. This finally gives way to a calm pastoral episode that continues until disturbed by an insistent and ominous theme heavy with foreboding. This mood finally returns to the pastoral calm. Merging almost seamlessly the second movement opens with a gentle theme that once again is disturbed by a threatening passage leading to a central climax during which percussion and brass dominate before peace returns once more. This leads us into the symphony’s final movement that, like the other two, is a sequence of calm interludes interrupted by ominous passages. The symphony finally ends on a positive note.

It has often been the case that composers horrified either by the looming threat of war or its unleashing, felt compelled to express this horror in music. However, it is unusual for a composer to take a war as a theme for, in Weinberg’s case, a set of three symphonies, so many years after its end. I wondered if the passage of time leads to a better historical view of it musically or whether memory is dulled over the decades. I can’t answer that as I’m not yet acquainted with symphonies 17 and 18 but I can say that this one certainly does express the joy that must have been felt when that terrible war, whose cost was so appalling, was finally over. The continuing disturbance of that joy expressed by the gentle pastoral sections, by the dark clouds of martial sounding passages and thunderous brass and percussion can surely mean only one thing; to emphasise that winning the peace would be as challenging as winning the war. After all, Stalin was still ruling Russia with all that implied.

Weinberg could never have been described as a ‘Party’ hack, though like many other Soviet composers, including Shostakovich, he did write some works that could be described as “socialist realist”. These were linked to aspects of Soviet policy. An example is Weinberg’s 1985 Symphonic Poem The Banners of Peace. This followed shortly after the 19 ^th Symphony and was dedicated to the 27 ^th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party. Apart from some references to revolutionary songs such as the Varshavianka the music is not overtly propagandist nor is it bombastic in any way; rather it could be construed as a critique. After all, the words of the Varshavianka, which is quoted throughout, include “We will drown our enemies in their own blood, Death to the ruthless, To all pests of the workers, Death to tsars and plutocrats!”. In 1985, over 80 years after the song’s first appearance, these words seem at odds with the concept of peace. I regard this work more as another example of Weinberg’s ability to make powerful statements and this in music that is expressive and exciting. Viewed as such this work forms another worthy addition to the increasing amount of his music available in recorded form. We should be grateful.

Both works are given committed performances full of colour from an orchestra that will surely have this music in their blood. It is conducted with verve and enthusiasm by Vladimir Lande.

-- Steve Arloff , MusicWeb International

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Weinberg: Symphony No. 19, Banners Of Peace / Lande, St. Petersburg Symphony
Naxos Nov 2012
CD
$19.99

Calmus Christmas Carols / Calmus Ensemble Leipzig

Carus

$20.99 Dec 08, 2009

To give familiar melodies a fresh, rich and colorful new look and thus to present them in an attractive new light is the essential direction which the Calmus Ensemble Leipzig followed for this Christmas CD. The arrangements of well-known Christmas songs in this collection make use of structures from both classical as well as popular music from a variety of eras, always taking only the best of both worlds. It is hoped that the listener will not only be delighted, but will also be pleasantly surprised. That listening to this international Christmas album brings continually good feelings and that one listens with much joy and pleasure is due not only to the fine arrangements, but also to the lively interpretation and the perfect sound of the Calmus Ensemble Leipzig, which knows how to create an entirely genuine, uninhibited Christmas feeling.

Complete Track List:
1 Ludwig Böhme Maria durch ein Dornwald ging 04:23
2 Bob Chilcott Nova! nova! 02:39
3 Ludwig Böhme O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf 02:37
4 Ludwig Böhme Gaudete! 03:06
5 Philip Lawson Hark! The herald angels sing 03:16
6 Morten Schuldt-Jensen Away in a manger 01:56
7 Gregor Meyer Noel nouvelet 02:35
8 Gregor Meyer La Peregrinacion 03:19
9 Joe Roesler Tu scendi dalle stelle 03:52
10 Hannu Lepola Sylvian joululaulu 05:29
11 Sebastian Krause Es ist ein Ros entsprungen 03:10
12 Fredo Jung Weihnachten / Im Balladenton 02:21
13 Max Reger Schlaf, mein Kindelein 03:18
14 Claus Bantzer Was soll das bedeuten 03:02
15 Wolfram Buchenberg Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht 03:02
16 Ludwig Böhme O Tannenbaum, du trägst ein grünes Kleid 02:49
17 Ludwig Böhme Jingle bells 02:40
18 Ludwig Böhme Thank God it's Christmas 03:16
19 Harald Banter Leise rieselt der Schnee 01:58

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Calmus Christmas Carols / Calmus Ensemble Leipzig
Carus Dec 2009
CD
$20.99

Joachim Raff: Overture To Prometheus Unbound; Incidental Music To The Drama Bernhard Von Weimar; Orchestral Intermezzi From The Oratorio World's End -
Sterling Records Aug 2013
CD
$20.99

Klughardt: Lenore - Symphonic Poem, Op. 27; Gernsheim: At A Drama / Mayrhofer, Anhaltische Philharmonic

Sterling Records

$20.99 Aug 01, 2013

KLUGHARDT Symphony No. 2, “Lenore” 1. GERNSHEIM Zu einem Drama 2 • 1 Manfred Mayrhofer, 2 Klaus Arp, cond; 1 Anhaltische PO; 2 SWR Kaiserlautern SO • STERLING 10962 (51:07)

This disc is a bit of an oddity with respect to the contents. While released only in 2012 and coming to me this year, the recordings on it were made respectively on October 14, 2002 (a live concert performance of the Klughardt) and July 6, 1995 (a studio recording of the Gernsheim). No explanation is provided as to why the issuance of either item was so long delayed. At any rate, these are world premiere recordings of two works by two significant but hitherto neglected German composers of the Romantic era, whose music has only in the last decade or so become somewhat better known. As I have approvingly reviewed previously issued discs of other works by both composers in these pages, I happily return to both of them again.

In 34:5 and 36:4 I favorably reviewed CDs of chamber music by August Klughardt (1847–1902): two different recordings of his Piano Quintet, coupled respectively to ones of his String Quartet and Piano Quintet. While noting that he became an avowed disciple of the Liszt/Wagner “New German School” after meeting Liszt (an event variously dated to either 1871 or 1873 in different sources; 1871 appears to be correct), the major influences on his chamber music were Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms, with some Liszt thrown in at points for good measure. By contrast, in this Symphony, Klughardt’s allegiance to Liszt and Wagner—albeit the earlier Wagner of Rienzi and the scenes of pageantry in Tannhäuser and Lohengrin —is complete and self-evident.

The “Lenore” Symphony has a decidedly complicated background story. Klughardt worked on the score between 1871 and 1873, immediately upon first meeting Liszt. At this time he also met Joachim Raff, who was likewise identified with the New German School to the extent that he approved of and wrote program music. Unaware that Raff also was working on a symphony (his No. 5) based on the poetic ballad Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger (1747–1794), Klughardt discussed the poem with Raff and played portions of his draft score for him. Raff apparently said nothing to Klughardt and proceeded to finish and premiere his own work first. When Klughardt later became aware of Raff’s Symphony, he wrote Raff a letter in which he apologized to him for poaching on the latter’s turf. Moreover, he then published his own work as a symphonic poem rather than a symphony, though he continued to number it as a symphony in his personal catalog. This in turn has led to confusion among writers as to whether Klughardt wrote six or seven symphonies. To complicate the numbering of Klughardt’s symphonies further, there are: a) an unpublished early Symphony in F Minor, performed in 1871 but then withdrawn by the composer; and b) another Symphony in F Minor, dating from 1876, that was numbered and published as his Symphony No. 2. Thus, depending on who has counted what, this “Lenore” Symphony has been variously referred to as an unnumbered symphonic poem, Symphony No. 1, or Symphony No. 2.

The “Lenore” Symphony is cast in four movements, although the second and third ones are joined together such that they form one continuous movement and effectively reduce the total to three. The music follows the plot of the poem quite closely (Klughardt prefaces each movement with a quotation from the ballad). The young maiden Lenore anxiously awaits the return of her sweetheart Wilhelm, who has been fighting as a soldier in the army of King Frederick II of Prussia in the Seven Years’ War. The war has ended and soldiers are returning, jubilant, from the battlefield. When Wilhelm fails to appear, the distraught Lenore utters a blasphemous attack upon God, which causes all to withdraw from her in horror. Deserted, she suddenly hears a knock at the house door; she opens it and to her joy Wilhelm is there, clad in armor. He tells her that he has come to take her to their wedding bed; they mount his steed and gallop off. As they ride, the increasingly agitated Lenore asks her lover a series of questions, to which she receives increasingly cryptic and ominous replies. At their destination they dismount; Wilhelm now reveals his true form as a skeleton, and escorts Lenore to their wedding bed—the grave. Her wish is fulfilled, albeit not as she had hoped.

The first movement ( Heftig bewegt —Violently turbulent) represents the anxious vigil of Lenore. It opens with a dramatic, declamatory theme on the lower strings—one which recurs throughout the entire work—that sounds startlingly like the motif that Modest Mussorgsky later created to signify the brutal boyar Ivan Khovansky in his Khovanshchina . A contrasting lyrical second theme appears occasionally; I presume that this signifies Lenore’s love. The succeeding Scherzo is dominated by a brashly vulgar and raucous march tune, accompanied by loud percussion, depicting the triumphal parade of the returning soldiers. This segues without pause into the third movement ( Langsam, aber durchaus leidenschaftlich —Slow, but passionate throughout), which depicts Lenore’s despair and her blasphemous outburst with music of a gentle, sweet melodiousness that belies the putative subject matter. The Finale ( Mässig —Moderately) opens with a dotted eighth-note theme representing Lenore’s and Wilhelm’s ride, and then at various points recalls material from the previous movements, ending with the opening theme of the first movement transformed into a peaceful close in the major key.

The first time I listened to this piece, without having read the booklet notes in order to avoid creating any a priori prejudices, I was thrown for a loop and heartily disliked it, thinking it was a piece of ramshackle incompetence because the movements did not follow standard symphonic structures such as sonata or rondo forms. The second time I listened to it, after reading the booklet notes and re-approaching it instead as an extended symphonic poem (or as a symphony after the manner of the Dante and Faust symphonies of Liszt), it began to grow on me, and after several more hearings I have come to like it a great deal, admiring its unconventional boldness. Klughardt reported to friends that Wagner, the work’s dedicatee, said to him: “After reading through your symphony I must confess that I regard you as a notably gifted person: it is no small achievement to bring such a score to this world.” However, the booklet notes for one of the Klughardt chamber music CDs I previously reviewed state that Wagner rejected the dedication with the dismissive comment that he “perceived the whole merely as a study very much in need of correction in terms of style.” Whether only one or both of these is true, I cannot ascertain; I can only say I enjoy it thoroughly.

I have sung the praises of Friedrich Gernsheim (1839–1916) on several occasions, including a review in this issue of a disc of his symphonies Nos. 1 and 3. Zu einem Drama , his one other major orchestral work apart from his four symphonies, was composed in 1902 and published in 1910. Here, Gernsheim’s oft-noted close similarity to Brahms is quite evident; indeed, this work is a step-brother of Brahms’s Tragic Overture, not only musically but also thematically in that their titles do not point to any more specific programmatic content. Gernsheim’s work has its own distinctive traits, however; it is far more ambitious in scope, lasting almost 18 minutes as opposed to about 12 for the Tragic Overture, and the orchestration is more brilliant in a way that shows Gernsheim was not impervious to the music of Wagner and Richard Strauss. Laid out in a modified sonata form with contrasting interludes, it is a work of great substance and integrity that grows upon me with each new hearing.

The Anhaltische Philharmonie is based in Dessau, the city where Klughardt spent the last two decades of his life; the Kaiserlautern Symphony is located in the city of that name in the southern Rhineland, very close to Worms where Gernsheim was born and raised. Both orchestras play very well for their respective conductors, who are able interpreters. The recorded sound for both items is excellent; the hall in Dessau obviously has first-rate acoustics. A bit oddly, in the “Lenore” Symphony the audience noise between movements is neither edited down to a seamless transition nor left intact; instead, a few seconds of noise is left after each movement, followed by the sudden break of a silent interval between CD tracks. The very informative program notes for the “Lenore” Symphony are written by Klughardt scholar Alan Krueck; those for Gernsheim’s Zu einem Drama by the noted British music critic Malcolm MacDonald. If you are someone who is interested in exploring lesser-known 19th-century orchestral repertoire, this disc provides a most inviting portal into that realm; heartily recommended.

FANFARE: James A. Altena

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Klughardt: Lenore - Symphonic Poem, Op. 27; Gernsheim: At A Drama / Mayrhofer, Anhaltische Philharmonic
Sterling Records Aug 2013
CD
$20.99

Das Land Des Lachelns

Accentus Music

DVD

$41.99 Jul 13, 2018

Always smile and always be cheerful, always satisfied, no matter what happens, smile in spite of your sorrows and a thousand aches and pains, sings Prince Sou-Chong, thus introducing the fundamentally melancholic tone of Das Land des Lachelns (The Land of Smiles), which has a tragic ending in store. For the new production of this operetta, world-class tenor Piotr Beczala returned to the Opernhaus Zurich as Sou-Chong. He has an equal partner in Julia Kleiter, who plays the role of Lisa. Fabio Luisi and Andreas Homoki also know that the genre of operetta requires particular care- which is why they have assumed personal responsibility for this production. Homoki let's the plot take place in a Paris Variete theater from the 1920s, complete with show staircase and heavy curtains. To emphasize the operatic elements, he condensed the piece, cutting several secondary roles and shortening dialogues. This production was recorded at the Opernhaus Zurich in June 2017.

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Das Land Des Lachelns
Accentus Music Jul 2018
DVD
$41.99

Reich, Harrison, Whitacre, Tywoniuk, Ravel / Smoke And Mirrors Percussion Ensemble

Yarlung Records

$21.99 Nov 13, 2012

In Music for Pieces of Wood, Joe Beribak, sitting in the center of a semicircle, begins to strike the first pattern. Joe will maintain this pattern, unflinchingly, for the entire duration of the piece. Katy, Jessica, Derek and Eddie contribute all of the sinuous and minimalist variation which they weave into filaments of sound and rhythm as if all five musicians were one person. Smoke & Mirrors takes us on many journeys in this album. These are refreshingly fully-developed works, each very different from the others, each with its own story. As a whole, these pieces illustrate the breadth of contemporary classical music written for percussionists, as well as the flexibility and virtuosity of Smoke & Mirrors. World class and sophisticated as this ensemble is, these musicians retain and communicate the sheer joy we experienced when banging pots and pans as two-, and three-year olds. Do you remember your own pleasure making a racket as a kid? Smoke & Mirrors: Katalin La Favre, Jessica Cameron, Joe Beribak, Edward Hong and Derek Tywoniuk have never forgotten it.

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Reich, Harrison, Whitacre, Tywoniuk, Ravel / Smoke And Mirrors Percussion Ensemble
Yarlung Records Nov 2012
CD
$21.99