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Martinu - Eben- Sluka: Works for Cello and Piano
Supraphon May 2008
CD
$9.99

Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 2 / Giorgio Koukl

Naxos

$19.99 Feb 27, 2007

A fascinating selection of Martinu's early piano works, plus two late trifles

In his classic biography of Martinu (Allen Wingate: 1962), Milos Šafránek states that in “the large and varied assortment of youthful works and experiments, Puppets holds a singular and significant place”. Composed in three sets between 1912 and 1924 (but published in reverse sequence; they are played here in chronological order), Puppets sounds anything but experimental now, though for Martinu’s hometown of Policka just after the Great War, the somewhat Satiesque charms of these 14 pieces must have seemed highly modern.

Heard with the innocent ear, most listeners would be hard put to identify the composer of Puppets and I suspect the same applies for another of the novelties here, the pretty, if flimsy, children’s suite Spring in the Garden (1920). This is no match for what Mark Gresham calls “the bold, jazzy and propulsive” Film en miniature (1925), one of the first products of Martinu’s Paris sojourn. The pearl of Koukl’s programme, though, is Butterflies and Birds of Paradise, written at Christmas of the same year as Spring in the Garden but light years ahead of it in quality. Here Martinu uses impressionism as if born to it.

Still, none of these early pieces, nor even The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon (1948, dedicated to Tcherepnin’s wife and the only work otherwise available) really sound like the mature Martinu. Only in the 29th and final track, The Booksellers of the Quai Malaquais (1948; dedicated to the composer’s wife) do we encounter one of those heart-stopping themes familiar from the symphonies. Koukl’s performances, occasionally a little over-robust, as in Butterflies, are very warmly recorded but this is a splendid disc despite that. Recommended.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone [5/2007]

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Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 2 / Giorgio Koukl
Naxos Feb 2007
CD
$19.99

MARTINU: Songs for mezzo-soprano and piano

Naxos

$19.99 Oct 18, 2005

Although Martinu is known for a number of significant choral works, including his oratorio the Epic of Gilgamesh, relatively little attention is given to his vocal music. Songs with piano, many of them still unpublished or only made available in print.

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MARTINU: Songs for mezzo-soprano and piano
Naxos Oct 2005
CD
$19.99

Martinu, Khachaturian: Violin Concertos / Louis Kaufman
Cambria Jun 1991
CD
$18.99

Lutyens: Piano Works, Vol. 1 / Martin Jones

Resonus Classics

$18.99 Oct 15, 2021

The name Elisabeth Lutyens is synonymous with music that is overtly serial, uncompromisingly modernist, and of daring and fearless individuality. Yet there is much to explore behind the naturally combative and provocative façade of this extraordinary composer, whose music is at various times sensual, thoughtful and delicate, as well as dark, turbulent and even violent. With a program of works all composed in the last decade of her life, and containing world premiere recordings, the first volume of pianist Martin Jones’s survey of Lutyens’s piano works includes five works at times startling in their stark beauty, and bursting with both vivid imagery and lyrical fluidity.

REVIEW:

Was there ever as unrepentant a lifelong modernist - or one so dedicated to the sensuous, poetic, emotive potential of atonal music - as Elisabeth Lutyens, the composer who coined the term "cowpat school", inveighed against "folky-wolky modal melodies" and chided her students for "boring tonal references" if she unearthed an accidental major or minor triad in their compositions? Boulez, maybe, but few others.

The works here on Vol. 1 are all relatively late, the earliest being Plenum I (signifying a silent space filled up with sound, emptied out, and refilled) of 1972. Notated without barlines and with some economically used extended techniques, the piece is representative of Lutyens greater freedom of notation in later years, though strictly organized with note-rows and in her favourite palindromic form. Notated silence is increasingly important in later works, especially the spare, though amply expressive, La Natura dell’Acqua, her last work for piano. Detached phrases and gestures - many delicate and bejewelled, some aggressive and strident - combine in an abstract but expressive way that the composer likened to the late, non-figurative paintings of Turner. An even better example of this is the marvelously descriptive The Great Seas, an 18-minute tone poem hailed by Michael Finnissy (who premiered it) for its "sensuality … delicacy and fluidity" but also "violence, darkness and pain", which predominantly gives the impression of vast, calm expanses illuminated by constantly changing lighting conditions, but intermittently and graphically hints at the extreme violence of deep currents and suddenly flaring storms. The Preludes are a perfect summation of Lutyens' piano writing; bearing evocative titles (three of them from Keats), they are highly expressive and descriptive, the shade of Debussy detectable in the background. Although the composer preferred French clarity, lucidity, and elegance to what she saw as heavyweight German Expressionism, two of these pieces - "Strange Thunders …" and "The Shifting of Mighty Winds …" are notable for their muscular, aggressive energy. The earlier Impromptus are the most unabashedly, dissonantly atonal works here; succinct and compressed, they sound like passionate, extrovert derivatives of Webernian economy.

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Lutyens: Piano Works, Vol. 1 / Martin Jones
Resonus Classics Oct 2021
CD
$18.99

Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 3 / Giorgio Koukl

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% Aug 28, 2007

Interpretative excellence once again from Koukl.

The third volume of Giorgio Koukl’s survey of Martin?’s piano music is as successful as the previous two. In my review of the second disc of the series I described some of the differences between Koukl’s approach and that of Emil Leichner, whose Supraphon set of the piano music (not quite the complete piano music) has been something of a benchmark set for many years now. Koukl tends to etch rhythms with greater incision and Leichner tends to a greater sense of reflectiveness. This is certainly a crudely suggestive way of approaching these two important readings of the piano music but for the purposes of this review it does indicate the divergences of approach that both men bring to bear. It may also help direct you if you wish to follow one or the other – though of course there are a number of other discs by other pianists worthy of note.

The Sonata is the most important work here. Koukl is sensitive to the Poco allegro marking here whilst Leichner prefers to emphasise the Allegro rather at the expense of the poco. I suspect this is to mitigate what Leichner may have detected as structural problems and to vest the opening with a powerful drive so as to balance the concluding Adagio. Leichner certainly makes the most of the contrasts here, despite the relative speed, and though his overall timing is very similar to Koukl’s the distribution amongst the three individual movements is very different. Though Leichner manages to find light and shade in his opening movement Koukl’s greater deliberation pays dividends. And he finds just the right sense of starkness and deliberation in that powerful Adagio finale which he plays with gravity and singular intensity.

The depth of Koukl’s bass is palpable in the Fantasie et Toccata. Its immediacy is arresting and stresses the abrupt dynamism of the writing. Koukl’s playing here locates the imperturbable violence and threat in the writing – it was written in 1940 after all. This is a more intensive and tensile approach than Leichner’s rather more skittish neo-classicism, though one wouldn’t want to underestimate Leichner’s determined commitment to the bellicose writing. Koukl certainly brings the edginess and brittle attacks of the Toccata very much to the fore. This is valiant and perceptive playing indeed, emphasised by the very immediate nature of the studio recording.

After these two powerful and important statements we turn to the Etudes and Polkas – lighter fare written in 1945. These brief and expert pieces – none lasting longer than three minutes - bring out Koukl’s instinct for rhythmic vivacity and alluring tone. As one might expect he’s generally – not always but usually – faster than Leichner and this brings advantages in terms of terpsichorean vitality. Curiously Leichner feels the Pastorale of the First Volume rather faster than Koukl – I thought it would be the other way around. The three Czech Dances round off the programme and Koukl, Prague born, knows all about them. He can do the Obkro?ák with the best of them.

Interpretative excellence once again from Koukl - and so volume four is awaited with anticipation.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

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Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 3 / Giorgio Koukl
Naxos Aug 2007
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99

Schumann: Piano Quintet, Marchenbilder & 5 Stucke im Volkston / Levitz, Moore, Benvenue Fortepiano Trio

Avie Records

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Sep 09, 2016

AllMusic praised The Benvenue Fortepiano Trio’s “intensity, commitment, and unfettered navigation of Schumann’s scores.” This release is the third in the ensemble’s series dedicated to the works of Robert Schumann (1810-1856). This volume features Schumann’s most influential chamber work, the Piano Quintet in E flat Op. 44. The piece, which was premiered in 1843, is remembered for it’s “extroverted, exuberant” character. It is considered one of Schumann’s finest works. The ensemble performs here on period instruments, which enhances the recording by creating the intimate atmosphere for which this chamber music was written. Fanfare Magazine writes that the atmosphere creates “an enlightened view of the music.” The Benvenue Fortepiano Trio is pianist Eric Zivian, performing here on a Franz Rousch 1841 fortepiano, violinist Monica Hugget, performing on a 1770 Dutch, and cellist Tanya Tomkins, playing on an 1811 Joseph Panormo.

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Schumann: Piano Quintet, Marchenbilder & 5 Stucke im Volkston / Levitz, Moore, Benvenue Fortepiano Trio
Avie Records Sep 2016
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

Marchesi & Schubert: The String Quartets Project, Vol. 3

Haenssler Classic

$15.99 ~~$20.99~~ Save 25% Oct 04, 2024

Schubert Vol. 3 Looking ahead to 2028 and the 200th anniversary of the composer's death, the Alinde Quartet will annually release a disc of Schubert string quartets for the next eight years, alongside a specially commissioned work. Finding the ideal sound world for Schubert's quartets is by no means easy, yet the Alinde strikes a near-ideal balance between internal clarity and textural warmth, shone through by sparkling intonation.

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Marchesi & Schubert: The String Quartets Project, Vol. 3
Haenssler Classic Oct 2024
CD
~~$20.99~~ $15.99

Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 6 / Giorgio Koukl

Naxos

$19.99 Jun 30, 2009

These two volumes [6 & 7] of the complete solo piano music of Bohuslav Martinu announce the completion of an outstanding undertaking. The series was originally intended to run to only four discs but has since trawled further outwards. The catch means it is now, quite clearly, the most extensive and exhaustive collection of the works for solo piano ever recorded.

Volume six starts with the 1931 Esquisses H203. They’re written in pungent neo-classical form, and hints of chinoiserie, Paris-style, haunt the second of the six, as well as Ragtime. Martinu, though, always remained far more allusive stylistically than fellow Czech Schulhoff in this regard. Impressionist hues haunt the Fourth whilst I’m sure I hear a larky Volga Boatmen embedded in the Ragtime melos of No.5 – plenty of sinewy articulation here.

Jeux was also written in 1931 and is a locus classicus of Martinu cross-rhythms. I suggest you start with No.3 of the four of Book I, which is both fluent and fluid but also sports a characteristically saturnine neo-classical drive. The second book is no less fine for all that: in some ways it’s more piquant still, with a warm and malleable quality to the Andante [No.3] and a martial tune laced with Prokofiev-like moments [No.6]. We go right back to 1917 for Tri lyrické skladby (Three Lyric Pieces). These take in a Mussorgsky Pictures feel in the first of the three. The second starts like an etude, diverts to popular chinoiserie, then noodles off in the direction of the nineteenth century drawing room. Weird mélange.

There are pieces you probably have not come across even in literature devoted to the composer. The Black Bottom is one. It dates from 1927 and is a delightful minute’s worth of your time. The sleeve note writers have relied too much on Wikipedia for this one. Jelly Roll Morton’s Black Bottom Stomp came via Perry Bradford’s introduction of it in 1919 in Nashville, Tennessee, not the Black Bottom district of Detroit. Naturally you won’t be interested in this, but I am.

Vecer na pobreží (Evening at the Shore) dates from 1921 and will intrigue admirers of the composer. In three brief movements he creates an intimate impressionistic tableau, somewhat reliant on Griffes possibly, where, in the central panel, the left hand waves lap into the right hand melody line delightfully and where the storm in the finale gently eases away. This may seem atypical but it shows the ease with which he assimilated French models and distilled them potently. The disc ends with the grand bell peals of Písen beze slov, the valedictory Nocturne and the plangent Chanson triste in D minor....

So Koukl’s pilgrimage has come to its end. He has been a most worthy guide, and now takes his place at the top table of Martinu performers on record. At budget price he has no peers. As a complete cycle this set has no rivals. Individual performances from the likes of Firkušný, Leichner and others may be more arresting in isolation but the overarching reach of Koukl proves dominant and permanent.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

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Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 6 / Giorgio Koukl
Naxos Jun 2009
CD
$19.99

Mozart Arien / Fritsch, De Marchi, Munich Radio Orchestra

Orfeo

$20.99 Jan 06, 2017

It is not often that a young vocal artist releases a debut album that is so "complete" or so convincingly conceived and finished to such a high polish as is the ase with Anett Fritsch. What makes it all the more astounding is that she achieves this by singing arias from the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy of Figaro / Don Giovanni / Cosi, masterworks by a composer regarded and feared in equal measure for the complexity of his writing. Yet the repertoire focus she has chosen is entirely in keeping with the soprano's career to date. She began in her teens and has progressed in recent years through a series of acclaimed performances on international opera stages.

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REVIEW:

Anne Fritsch's Mozart is a sheer delight. This is no bland essay of the usual suspects painted in anonymous colors but a vivid portrait gallery of characters that Fritsch has portrayed on stage. From the very first bars of the Overture to Marriage of Figaro the playing of the Munich Radio Orchestra instantly makes yous it up and listen. A jewel of a disc.

– Gramophone

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Mozart Arien / Fritsch, De Marchi, Munich Radio Orchestra
Orfeo Jan 2017
CD
$20.99

Guastavino: Complete Piano Music / Martin Jones

Nimbus

$32.99 Mar 01, 2008

Simple delight in well-crafted, unpretentious music-making.

These three CDs present, in almost chronological order, the complete piano music of a composer who will, I imagine, be unfamiliar to most readers. Carlos Guastavino was born in Santa Fé, the capital of the northern Argentine province of the same name. After studies at home and in Buenos Aires he achieved international recognition as a pianist, touring South America, the USSR and China, and giving broadcasts on the BBC in London. His musical language is firmly rooted in tradition, believing that music should be firmly based on singable melodies and tonal harmony and written for us now, not for the discovery of future generations.

The first three pieces are delightful. A fast dance, a slow atmospheric piece and a dedication to beautiful earth, beautiful country (Tierra Linda), a phrase often used to refer to Argentina itself, get this set off to a fine start. Easily approachable, delightful to listen to, difficult to play, Guastavino has the vernacular of his country’s music at his fingertips.

The Sonatina in G minor is a light hearted piece. Already Guastavino has started to simplify his style and the sheer exuberance of the finale is a joy. The Sonata of two years later is more serious in substance but equally easy going in language, and is only let down by a rather banal fugue in the middle of the finale, but a return to the colloquial material redeems this. And so it goes for this first CD.

The second CD contains two sets of ten pieces each. The Diez Preludios are well characterized pieces, being free, and simple, settings of children’s songs and very attractive they are too. Very short, they leave you wanting more. The Diez Cantilenas Argentinas which follow are much bigger pieces, more nationalistic in feel. The tempi are, in general, leisurely and the composer takes his time to make his point. These are lovely pieces, abstract in feel with a thicker texture than the Preludios, and much more filigree writing.

The final CD starts with a shock. Here is some strong, individual music, obviously from the same hand as the earlier pieces but with more character. Until now I was beginning to wonder if Guastavino’s style developed and was most pleasingly surprised with these Tres Romances Nuevos (Three New Romances), although there are only two! Pueblito, mu pueblo, Cancion Argentina is a step backwards, being a later arrangement of a very early song, but with Las Presencias (Appearances) and Mis Amigos (My Friends) we reach Guastavino’s mature style, and most attractive it is. These fifteen short pieces are portraits of friends (some imaginary!) and they are light and delicate, full of colour and a real feel for the south. It really was worth waiting for these prizes. The final set of Popular Songs presents the most effective treatment of simple material with a childlike effortlessness.

If you’re expecting highly rhythmic, heavily accented Argentinian music of the Ginastera type, or the slinky, sexy tangos of the great Astor Piazzolla then this is not for you. What Guastavino gives us is South America through a late 19th – early 20th century European compositional style, but with the voice of the Americas always to the fore. This is not a set for playing from start to finish in one sitting, but there’s enough music of interest, and variety within the small style, here for many enjoyable visits.

Martin Jones is a fine, and always reliable, pianist so I have no doubt that his performances are of the first order, they certainly sound most authoritative - I have never seen the music so am relying entirely on my ears! - and I suspect the thoroughly enjoyed himself when recording these most enjoyable works.

The booklet is excellent, Calum MacDonald’s twelve pages of biography and discussion of the music are all one could want in helping you through music which is new to you.

Well worth having for the simple delight in solid, well crafted and unpretentious compositions and music making.

-- Bob Briggs, MusicWeb International

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Guastavino: Complete Piano Music / Martin Jones
Nimbus Mar 2008
CD
$32.99

Martinu: Complete Piano Works Vol 5 / Giorgio Koukl

Naxos

$19.99 Feb 24, 2009

Giorgio Koukl' survey of Martinu' complete piano music has been praised as "a delight" and "estimable and important". Since the release of Volume 4, which was originally intended to be the final disc of this series, several manuscripts of previously unreleased material.

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Martinu: Complete Piano Works Vol 5 / Giorgio Koukl
Naxos Feb 2009
CD
$19.99

Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 7 / Giorgio Koukl
Naxos Aug 2009
CD
$19.99

Come Una Volta / Martineau, Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano

Naïve

$18.99 Oct 12, 2018

A luminous, easily recognizable instrument, and a symbol of Italy's learned and popular musical tradition, the mandolin has been the subject of several major compositions throughout the history of music. First of all, the famous concertos by Vivaldi: two of them appear here on this intensely romantic album (‘Come une volta’) that Julien Martineau - one of today’s greatest figureheads of the instrument - has recorded for Naïve. We also finally get to hear, thanks to the world premiere recording by Julien Martineau, the legendary, virtuosic and poetic second concerto (of which the manuscript was lost) by Raffaele Calace (1863-1934), who was often described as "the Paganini of the mandolin". The instrument is in fact so close, in many ways, to the violin. The Caudioso concerto completes an album which, steeped in authenticity and musical excellence, honors and lends prestige not only to the art of mandolin, but also to Italian and musical culture as a whole.

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Come Una Volta / Martineau, Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
Naïve Oct 2018
CD
$18.99

Mozart: Lodron Night Music - Divertimenti / Mardirossian, CCPO Pardubice

Brilliant Classics

$9.99 ~~$12.99~~ Save 25% Jul 19, 2024

Mozart wrote the Divertimento K247 in June 1776 for the name-day of Countess Maria Antonia Lodron, a family friend whose two daughters were pupils of the composer. He went on to write the Concerto for Three Pianos with the countess and her daughters as the intended soloists. Meanwhile K247 displays the 19-year-old composer's lyrical gifts but also his structural sophistication and his unerring feel for instrumental sonorities. K287 followed in 1777 as a direct sequel, composed for the same occasion and the same forces, and cast in comparably expansive terms across six movements. The intervening year seems to bring a refinement of both craft and humour, for K287 is one of the miracles of Mozart's lighter music, touched with high contrasts, memorable themes and sturdy developments. The second movement is a genial Andante and Variations which instantly transcends it's 'occasional' context. The heart of the work is the Adagio, placed fourth, where the solo violin outlines a melody cast from the same mould as the slow movement of the G major Violin Concerto K216 from two years earlier. But then Mozart comes up with a genuinely funny musical joke at the start of the finale, where the strings paint a recitative without words, like a virtual soprano on an empty stage. Testifying to their adaptability, these divertimenti have attracted performances and recordings by forces ranging from the one-per-part Vienna Octet to Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic. This new recording presents an attractive middle way, infused with vigour and charm by the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of Pardubice under the baton of the Armenian conductor Vahan Mardirossian. Mardirossian and his Czech colleagues have made several successful albums together, including the serenades by Dvorák on Brilliant Classics (97030). Their recording of these perennially appealing early-Mozart works is accompanied by a new essay from Mark Viner.

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Mozart: Lodron Night Music - Divertimenti / Mardirossian, CCPO Pardubice
Brilliant Classics Jul 2024
CD
~~$12.99~~ $9.99

Turina: Piano Works / Martin Jones

Nimbus

$32.99 Jul 03, 2020

Turina’s principal works are conceived for large forces and on a broad canvas, but he turned to the piano for the creation of suites of evocative miniatures throughout his life. Martin Jones has been one of Britain’s most highly regarded solo pianists since first coming to international attention in 1968 when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award. The same year he made his London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and his New York debut at Carnegie Hall, and ever since has been in demand for recitals and concerto performances on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a prolific recording artist and his many major projects include the complete solo piano works of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, Grainger, Stravinsky, Korngold, Szymanowski, Granados, Guastavino, Mompou, Ernesto Halffter, Joaquin Nin, Has Gál, Jean Françaix, Jean Roger-Ducasse, and Alan Richardson. “Martin Jones as a recording artist has been part of my listening experience for almost as long as I’ve been collecting albums. Seeing his distinguished and still active career celebrated by Nimbus Records in this way is a true delight.” (Dominy Clements, musicweb-international.com)

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REVIEW:

Martin Jones, one of Britain’s most highly-regarded pianists since first coming to international attention in 1968 when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award, offers a beautiful rendering of Spanish composer Joaquin Turina’s piano works, compiling an earlier recording from 1999 with some newer ones. These are miniatures that evoke dance rhythms of Spain. Cinco Danzas is especially well done, but there could be some small disagreements with interpretation. IV has a wonderful rhythmic feel, with evenness of playing. 'Fiesta’ has a sense of dynamic growth, with a constant ostinato-like rhythm. 'Danza Ritmica’ could have a quieter opening (it is marked pianissimo and lighter). To nitpick a little, the work could be a hair faster. Jones could aim for longer phrasing, especially in the running 16th notes that occur often. His range of sound is impressive. 'Seguriya’, marked allegro vivo, could be approached with a quicker pace. His use of the left hand articulation, slightly non legato, brings out the melodic line perfectly, and the work comes to a wonderful finish. The start of El Castillo de Almodovar is extremely beautiful, but I do wish for a more ominous and softer turn, as that movement is marked ppp. Still, besides these quibbles, this recording is a delight.

– American Record Guide (Sang Woo Kang)

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Turina: Piano Works / Martin Jones
Nimbus Jul 2020
CD
$32.99

Piano Music of Radamés Gnattali / Martin Jones

Nimbus

$20.99 Oct 06, 2023

Radamés Gnattali (b. Porto Alegre, 27 January 1906; d. Rio de Janeiro, 3 February 1988). Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor. Although classically trained his working life was dominated by popular music. His influence on the arrangements and orchestrations of Brazilian popular music was powerfully felt through his weekly broadcasts on Rádio Nacional which began in 1938, and continued into the mid 1950s. His own compositions are a conscious fusion of classical and popular idioms. Even though Gnattali’s association with popular music undoubtedly prejudiced his reception as a classical composer he was never critical or dissatisfied with Brazilian music. Even towards the end of his life he could say ‘I have never been frustrated with making popular music. I do it gladly and enjoy it very much … If I had gone to Europe, I might have been a great pianist – because I had the qualities for it – but I would never be a Brazilian composer’. This programme is primarily drawn from Gnattali’s earliest works. In this period he is either writing melodies in a popular style, or using folk melodies directly, and the characteristic shape of Brazilian song is never absent for long. [Adrian Farmer]

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Piano Music of Radamés Gnattali / Martin Jones
Nimbus Oct 2023
CD
$20.99

Mozart: La finta giardiniera / Martin du Theil, Fasolis, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala [Blu-ray]

Naxos AudioVisual

Blu-Ray

$28.99 ~~$40.99~~ Save 30% Jul 09, 2021

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Mozart wrote La finta giardiniera in 1775 when he was 18 years old. It was his first staged buffo opera and centres on the lovers at the heart of the action, Sandrina – the pretend garden-girl of the title – and Belfiore. With few ensembles, Mozart channels his most intense and expressive music into arias which demonstrate a masterful ability to convey the full range of tenderness and passion. Originally staged at Glyndebourne in 2014 by Frederic Wake-Walker, this 2018 revival from La Scala is performed on period instruments with a strong cast and expertly conducted with exuberance and charm by Diego Fasolis.

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Mozart: La finta giardiniera / Martin du Theil, Fasolis, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala [Blu-ray]
Naxos AudioVisual Jul 2021
Blu-Ray
~~$40.99~~ $28.99

Martinů: Piano Trio No. 1 - Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 / AOI Trio

Haenssler Classic

$20.99 Jan 06, 2023

Two Czech composers, one piano trio from each – that is the program of this recording. Not that they are contemporaries: the first composer, Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), was born about half a century before his compatriot Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959). Both composers came from Bohemia, Dvorák from the little town of Nelahozeves on the west bank of the Vltava, Martinů from Policka in east Bohemia. And in the history of “classical” music, both of them are representatives of the National Czech School. This was a movement that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century to match similar developments in other European countries. This national dimension continued to grow up to the middle of the 20th century. The core commitment of the National Schools is to be seen in the way numerous European composers alluded in their works to the folk music of their land, bringing out national color in the sound of their music. Both Dvorák, an early representative of the Czech School, and Martinů, a late champion of Czech nationhood, pay tribute in their compositions to the popular music of their Czech homeland.

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Martinů: Piano Trio No. 1 - Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 / AOI Trio
Haenssler Classic Jan 2023
CD
$20.99

Gilardino: Sicilian Guitar Music / Marchese

Brilliant Classics

$13.99 Aug 26, 2016

Angelo Gilardino’s unique blend of folk and contemporary earned him a spot among the most important guitar composers of the last fifty years. His works are marked by a Mediterranean glow and a feeling of a love for life. This new release shows the composer’s affinity for Sicily. Especially notable are the first three tracks, which are receiving here their world premiere recording. Gilardino wrote his own illuminating liner notes for this album. His previous recordings have been heralded as “…surreal in nature and open in texture…This is a treat for adventurous pursuers of the guitar concerto on the look-out for refreshing and distinctive contemporary additions to the repertoire.” (MusicWeb)

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Gilardino: Sicilian Guitar Music / Marchese
Brilliant Classics Aug 2016
CD
$13.99

Symphonies No. 2, “Litanies of Love and Rain” & No. 3, “Ave Maris Stella” / Piano Concerto / Partita / Sonata for Violin and Organ / Vision / Songlines, Sun Dreaming
Naxos Apr 2007
CD
$19.99

Tavener: SWR2 New Talent Introduces Lionel Martin / Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra

SWR

$20.99 Apr 14, 2023

SWR2 New Talent is a promotion and support programme of the broadcasting station SWR aiming to help exceptional young talents to launch their career.

Tavener’s cello concerto “The Protecting Veil” is a deeply spiritual instrumental piece that puts the life and work of the Virgin Mary to music. It was premiered at the BBC Proms in 1989 with cellist Steven Isserlis, for whom Tavener had written the concerto. At the time Tavener wrote the composition he was 45 years old and had already converted to Orthodox Christian faith whose mysticism appealed to him. In “The Protecting Veil” he refers to a special type of Orthodox icon: to Maria Pokrov, the Mother of God with the protecting veil.

In John Tavener’s numerous vocal works mythical and spiritual topics play a major role. Since the 1980s the British composer has been mainly focussing on sacred choral music. One of the most important works of this creative period is “Svyati”, a composition for 12 voices and cello from 1995. The choir sings in ecclesiastical Slavonic*, a traditional liturgical language that is partly still used in the Orthodox Church.

Since 2021 the cellist Lionel Martin has been the “SWR2 New Talent”. For three years the broadcasting corporation Sudwestrundfunk is promoting him through concerts, studio productions and media presence. In 2017 Anne-Sophie Mutter accepted Lionel Martin for her foundation of young, exceptional musicians. Since then he has repeatedly performed with her on stage and has been on tour together with her and her scholarship holders throughout Europe, North and South America – there he played in big concert halls, but also for social projects in churches and old people’s homes.

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Tavener: SWR2 New Talent Introduces Lionel Martin / Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
SWR Apr 2023
CD
$20.99

Martino, D.: Solo Piano Music
Centaur Records Feb 1993
CD
$18.99

Dvorak & Martinu: Piano Concertos / Kahanek, Hrusa, Bamberg Symphony

Supraphon

$42.99 Oct 04, 2019

An extraordinary constellation of artists is one the major attributes of the new recording – a Czech conductor and a Czech soloist, and a German orchestra, who have a Czech sound in their DNA. All three of them enjoy great renown in both the European and global contexts. Symbolical is the selection of the album’s repertoire – the same world war that deprived the players of the German Philharmonic in Prague of their home and that in 1946 gave rise to the Bamberger Symphoniker in Germany, made Bohuslav Martinu leave his country and Europe itself. The composer wrote his Piano Concerto No. 4, “Incantation”, in New York in the twilight of his life, when it was evident that he would never return to his homeland. The connection between Ivo Kahánek and Martinu is profound indeed, with the pianist having played the Incantation at concert halls all over the world. The performance of the Incantation in Bamberg, captured on the present album, was lauded by the critics as revelatory. The studio recording of Antonín Dvorák’s Piano Concerto (based on Sviatoslav Richter’s account) ranks among the most remarkable returns to the composer’s original version of the work, forbearing the “effective and virtuoso improvements” carried out by its later arrangers. It showcases the tender and melodious music of Dvorák, who always strove to emphasise cordial expression, giving it preference to instrumental impression.

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Dvorak & Martinu: Piano Concertos / Kahanek, Hrusa, Bamberg Symphony
Supraphon Oct 2019
CD
$42.99

Bartók, Martinů, G. Klein: Orchestral Works / Eschenbach, Philadelphia Orchestra

Ondine

SACD

$9.49 ~~$18.99~~ Save 50% Oct 30, 2001

REVIEW:

This release...offers an excellent musical programming concept, with all three works captured live in performances that are absolutely stunning and fully competitive with the best available. Both the Bartók and Martinů pieces were composed during their respective composers’ exile in America, while Gideon Klein’s Partita (an arrangement for string orchestra of his String Trio), is the result of “internal exile” in the Terezín concentration camp. All three men found ways to continue making music despite displacement, personal misfortune, and against the background of the rise of Nazism and the onset of war. More to the point, the program works because it offers plenty of purely musical contrast and variety.

Martinů’s Memorial to Lidice, a town wiped out by the Nazis as an act of retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, is a harrowing but ultimately hopeful orchestral elegy that receives the most gut-wrenching performance yet recorded. Eschenbach is about 50 percent slower than Ancerl (or anyone else), but he uses the extra time to excellent effect, revealing every luminous detail of Martinů’s orchestration and building the music to a shattering climax, with Beethoven’s Fifth balefully intoned by the horns. Klein’s Partita has much in common with Bartók’s Divertimento, with its folk-inflected thematic material. Its central movement is a very attractive set of variations on a Moravian theme, and it’s clear from this performance that the Philadelphia tradition of great string playing is very much alive and well. Eschenbach leads a performance both warm and incisive, revealing a major work in the process.

The Philadelphia Orchestra already has at least two recordings of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra to its credit, both with Eugene Ormandy--a fine early stereo version on Sony, and a mediocre early digital remake on RCA. This newcomer clearly is finer than either of those, as exciting a rendition as any available. Eschenbach thankfully eschews the excessive slowness that has marred his recent Mahler performances and lets the various sections of the orchestra display their considerable prowess in what remains one of the repertoire’s great showpieces. Listen to the rush of excitement in the transition to the first-movement allegro, or to the beautiful balance between woodwinds and harps in the second subject; notice the brilliant brass fugato that initiates the recapitulation, and the driving coda. It’s the real deal, from the very first note.

The sonics are markedly superior to what Sony, RCA, and EMI used to get in any of the various venues that they used, at least in stereo. The microphones are close to the players, the better to reduce the occasional noise from the audience (the occasional light cough isn’t at all bothersome), but the orchestra can take the exposure, and the sonic impact is pretty thrilling. I’m pleased (and honestly relieved) to be able to recommend it to you in the strongest possible terms.

-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

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Bartók, Martinů, G. Klein: Orchestral Works / Eschenbach, Philadelphia Orchestra
Ondine Oct 2001
SACD
~~$18.99~~ $9.49