Search results: Search results

1002 results

Products

Beethoven: Symphonies vol. 1 - nos. 1 & 3 (for piano trio & flute) / Grodd, Gould Trio

Naxos

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Nov 15, 2019

Beethoven and Hummel’s relationship was one of fractious beginnings, but ultimately true friendship. Between 1825 and 1835 Hummel arranged his contemporary’s Symphonies Nos. 1-7 and Septet, Op. 20 for his favored combination of pianoforte, flute, violin, and violoncello. Beethoven would surely not have objected- arrangements were, after all, a perfectly normal part of the 19th-century musical landscape. To audiences today his symphonies need little introduction but, thanks to the musical sensitivity and sheer brilliance of Hummel’s arrangements, it is possible to experience the thrill of hearing these extraordinary pieces afresh.

View Full Page

Sale

Beethoven: Symphonies vol. 1 - nos. 1 & 3 (for piano trio & flute) / Grodd, Gould Trio
Naxos Nov 2019
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 1-6; Manfred Symphony; Orchestral Works

Relief

$42.99 Sep 30, 2014

This six-disc set of Tchaikovsky concert performances, recorded 1984-2009, features more than a dozen orchestral works, including the composer’s last three symphonies, the Manfred, The Tempest and other symphonic poems. Three of the recordings are first-time releases. The Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, founded 1930, is internationally recognized as one of Russia's most prestigious and versatile orchestras. Vladimir Fedoseyev has, since 1974, held the position of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the orchestra, now known as the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.

View Full Page

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 1-6; Manfred Symphony; Orchestral Works
Relief Sep 2014
CD
$42.99

Lopes-Graca: Symphony, Rustic Suite, December Poem / Cassuto, Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Naxos

$19.99 May 29, 2012

Fernando Lopes-Graça was one of the most prolific Portuguese composers of the 20th century. His use of Portuguese folk-music to forge a personal style is represented in the Suite Rústica No 1. More sombre moods are expressed in the dark atmosphere of December Poem, which contrasts with the extrovert Festival March. Neo-classical in its extended structures and thematic development, Lopes-Graça’s award-winning Symphony maintains an unmistakable connection with the colours and textures of his nation to create music of great expressive and dramatic depth.

View Full Page

Lopes-Graca: Symphony, Rustic Suite, December Poem / Cassuto, Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Naxos May 2012
CD
$19.99

CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA / VIOLIN CONCERTO

NORTHERN FLOWERS

$16.63 Sep 01, 2017

Yuri Falik (b. 1936) is still active as a composer and was a pupil of Boris Arapov. He was a gifted cellist but gave up that career to focus on composition. He is a professor of composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (formerly Leningrad).

View Full Page

CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA / VIOLIN CONCERTO
NORTHERN FLOWERS Sep 2017
CD
$16.63

Valen: Orchestral Music Vol 3 / Smebye, Eggen, Stavanger SO

BIS

$21.99 Nov 01, 2008

This third and final disc of our survey of the complete orchestral music by Norwegian composer Fartein Valen includes three shorter one-movement works from the 1930s, as well as his last two orchestral compositions, his Fourth Symphony and the Piano Concerto. Kirkegården ved havet ('The Churchyard by the Sea'), which opens the disc, is among the most played of Valen's works and has been the inspiration for ballets as well as for a poetic film. As so often with Valen's shorter pieces, the composer had found inspiration in another work of art, this time the celebrated poem Le cimetière marin by Paul Valéry. The piece was conceived during a journey to Majorca, a journey which also bore fruit in La Isla de las Calmas ('The Silent Island'), based on a view of Palma de Mallorca, as the ship Valen was on departed for the mainland. Ode til ensomheten ('Ode to Solitude') is firmly based in the Norwegian landscape, however, its title referring to the solitude Valen sought at his isolated family homestead on the coast of Norway, where he spent his time composing and tending his beloved roses, but also worrying about the state of the world in the late 1930s and 40s. Christian Eggen and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra continues with Valen's last symphony, which contains something of a greeting to Johannes Brahms: like Brahms Valen ends his Fourth Symphony with a chaconne. For the final work - and Valen's last completed composition - they are joined by Einar Henning Smebye, the soloist in the piano concerto. Valen prepared for it by studying concertos by Mozart, and the three-movement work is classically simple in structure. It is restrained, almost anti-virtuosic with a solo part that is woven into the music.

View Full Page

Valen: Orchestral Music Vol 3 / Smebye, Eggen, Stavanger SO
BIS Nov 2008
CD
$21.99

Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1

CPO

$18.99 Oct 02, 2026

In 1785, Antonin Reicha went to Bonn with his unchle Joseph to play flute in the court orchestra there. There he met Ludwig van Beethoven, ten months his junior. Soon they started a friendship that survived despite the long distance. Whilst Beethoven established himself in Vienna, Reicha achieved the highest acclaim in Paris as a composer and above all as a teacher. Cesar Franck, Hector Berlioz, Louise Farrenc and Friedrich von Flotow are only a few of his illustrious pupils who learned their trade with the help of Reicha's astute technical prowess. It is not easy to sum up what he achieved. He wrote dozens of wind quintets, string quartets, other works of chamber music, highly original piano works as well as four symphonies and several overtures. His experimentation most likely evoked "Homeric laughter" from his famous Viennese friend. And how could it be otherwise, when pieces such as the overture - which can be heard on the first CD of our complete symphonic recording - throw even modern sensibilities off balance with their constant disruptions of metre without one being able to say why one keeps losing count... Only repeated listening helps!

View Full Page

Pre-order

Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1
CPO Oct 2026
CD
$18.99

Respighi: Orchestral Music / Noseda, BBC PO

Chandos

$21.99 Nov 01, 2006

RESPIGHI Burlesca. Preludio, corale e fuga. Rossiniana. RACHMANINOFF (Orch. Respighi) 5 Études-tableaux • Gianandrea Noseda, cond; BBC PO • CHANDOS 10388 (73:04)

When I played an RAI recording of Respighi’s puppet opera La bella dormente nel bosco on a radio program in Dallas about 30 years ago, we received several enthusiastic calls—none more so than that of an individual who liked the work immensely and had been, until then, unaware that the composer had ever written anything other than a few tone poems and the three Ancient Airs and Dances suites. An extreme case, perhaps, but matters have improved since then for Respighi. There will never be any lack of musical fountains or pines about Rome for anyone to appreciate, but a lot more of the composer’s music has visibility now, and an attentive public. The Preludio, corale e fuga appears occasionally on concert programs, and I’m sure we’ll soon hear that the Burlesca is doing the same.

The Preludio, corale e fuga was composed in 1900, when Respighi was taking lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg. The work was written under the older master’s supervision; and certainly his touch can be heard in some of the harmonic progressions, the characteristic use of the strings and winds (especially the flutes), and the transformation of themes. There’s much of Respighi already present, however, notably in the arresting brass chorale (before it is harmonized and enters an Eastern Orthodox church), and the fugue subject and its chromatic treatment. Above all, the scope of the work and its mix of rigor and fancy point to a young, ambitious composer of considerable promise.

More consistently interesting is the Burlesca , a phantasmagoric piece despite its title, rather than something mock-serious like Strauss’s Burleske . The shape and harmonization of the Burlesca ’s main theme and the piece’s use of pedal points seem to point to Sibelius. As the work was composed in 1906, the possibility of influence cannot be set aside. Still, Sibelius wasn’t given to this kind of filigree work, and it is the subtlety, rather than the overt brilliance of the orchestration, as well as its suitability to the task, that impresses the most.

Rossiniana is nowhere near as well known as La boutique fantasque , but the source is the same: Rossini’s large collection of incidental piano music, nearly all of it composed late in life. It appeared in 1925 and was a success at its premiere, but has been eclipsed through the years by a suite drawn from the ballet. By contrast, while Rossiniana still gets heard on occasion, that can’t be said of the Five études-tableaux . They began life as Rachmaninoff’s ops. 33 and 39 piano collections from 1911 and 1917, respectively. For whatever reason, the composer had no interest in orchestrating a selection of these, so it was left to Serge Koussevitzky to suggest Respighi as a likely candidate. Rachmaninoff agreed; and the results come surprisingly close, not merely in the romantic, fantastical and warlike passages, but in singling out the mordant thread that runs through both “La Foire” and “Le Chaperon rouge et le loup.”

I find the value of these performances to be mixed. Noseda strives above all for clarity, which yields a harvest of welcome orchestral detail from this orchestrally brilliant composer. At times the conductor is too willing to sacrifice momentum and accent, as in the final “Marche” of the Five études-tableaux that frankly, falls flat; yet the concluding “Tarantella” of Rossiniana has all the brio one could desire. The “Marche funèbre” from the Five études-tableaux is colorful but prosaic—too fast and heavy in its tread; but nothing could be lighter or honed more delicately than the filigree work in the Burlesca . Throughout the program, individual soloists are too reticent, but Noseda coaxes a fat, beautiful Russian sound from his sections.

The “Tarantella” to one side, there are certainly better versions of Rossiniana available, though many now fall into the category of historical. Dorati’s old recording with the Royal Philharmonic on Decca 444106 has been re-released under arrangement with ArkivMusic, and is well worth pursuing for its infectious high spirits. Good, too, is Janigro/Vienna SO (Vanguard 41), another vintage release, despite an orchestra that was never within striking distance of the BBC Philharmonic in matters of virtuosity. Dorati and Janigro knew how to bring this music to life. On the evidence of this album, Noseda is still learning.

But in the Burlesca and Preludio, corale e fuga his only competition comes from a slapdash pair of performances featuring Adriano and the Slovak RSO in coarse sound (Naxos 8.557820). So if you want those works, and in excellent sound, too, this disc becomes self-recommending.

FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

View Full Page

Respighi: Orchestral Music / Noseda, BBC PO
Chandos Nov 2006
CD
$21.99

Scriabin: Poems of Ecstasy & Fire / Sudbin, Shui, Singapore Symphony Orchestra

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Sep 02, 2022

One of the boldest and most radical composers of all time, Alexander Scriabin had a lifelong obsession with occult and mystical ideas. Initially under the influence of Chopin, Wagner, and Liszt, his music later became more complex, taking on an expressive power which provoked extreme reactions from audiences – of adulation as well as repulsion. Not shying away from hyperbole, Scriabin once declared: ‘I am the apotheosis of creation – I am the aim of all aims – I am the end of all ends.’

The three works featured on this release belong to Scriabin’s final compositional period where the music seems to veer between voluptuous languor and striving energy. Composed back-to-back, the Poem of Ecstasy and the Fifth Piano Sonata are drenched in bitter-sweet harmonies and carefully constructed dissonances. The scores of both works make reference to the same poem – by Scriabin himself – which ends with the lines ‘thus the universe resounds with the joyful cry: I AM!’. In his last symphonic poem, Prometheus — The Poem of Fire, Scriabin aims even higher. Here he expresses the evolution of the world from formless chaos, through the appearance of mankind, fertilized by the divine spark, towards spiritual liberation and ultimate transcendence. The unusually large orchestra and a wordless choir produces a kaleidoscope of contrasts, colors and sounds caught up in an ecstatic whirl.

REVIEWS:

In Scriabin’s work, the Prometheus myth is focused less on the creative element of Prometheus and more on the theft of fire, which allows the composer to create ‘light-filled’ images. Lan Shui creates a very great tension from the very first bars, giving expression to the fantasy nature of the composition. We thus hear music with those detaching particles of sound that, like the flock of birds in flight, create effects from ever-changing forms. Shui thus proves to be an imaginative conductor who spurs his orchestra and choir on to an outstanding performance. Evgeny Sudbin blends perfectly into this feverish sound...A great performance!

-- Pizzicato

Lan Shui and his Singapore Symphony Orchestra...inflame the subject; they delight in lascivious sensualities, the better to suddenly cause volcanoes to burst. All this is of a dizzying control and a sonic refinement...

The pianist is none other than Yevgeny Sudbin...He touches on genius in Prometheus, but you also have to hear him burn his keyboard, all hammers and iron, for a 5th Sonata that sounds as if it had just come out of the forge. A great album - totally unexpected, and recorded with striking fidelity.

-- Artamag'

View Full Page

Scriabin: Poems of Ecstasy & Fire / Sudbin, Shui, Singapore Symphony Orchestra
BIS Sep 2022
SACD
$21.99

Walton: Symphony No 1 & 2 / Hughes, Orchestra De Lille

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Jun 01, 2010

Rarely appearing together on disc, William Walton's two symphonies are separated by some 25 years. The First Symphony was composed after his dazzling early success, beginning with Façade and culminating in two scores written before Walton reached the age of thirty: the Viola Concerto and the oratorio Belshazzar's Feast. After this, composition became more difficult, and progress on the symphony was tortuous and protracted. Nevertheless, the work has a strikingly positive tone - perhaps in celebration of the victory over the many demons and difficulties that had attended its creation. Twenty-two years later, in 1957, the musical world was a very different place, but Walton's response was not to seek solace in reflective nostalgia. It is rather as if he conceived the Second Symphony as a follow-up to his terse and bubbly Partita for orchestra, building on the confidence that the success of that score had given the always self-doubting composer. Owain Arwel Hughes, who conducts the present recording, first made his name with an electrifying televised performance of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast which received a notable accolade from the composer. During his distinguished career Hughes has recorded a number of discs for BIS, including a complete cycles of the 13 symphonies of Vagn Holmboe. In the French magazine Répertoire his 3-disc series of Rachmaninov's symphonies was described as 'the great modern Rachmaninov cycle', while the reviewer in International Record Review stated that 'Hughes is the first conductor to convince me that the First Symphony is on a par with its two successors.' On this recording he brings Walton across the English Channel and conducts one of the leading French orchestras, Orchestre national de Lille, for their first appearance on the BIS label.

View Full Page

Walton: Symphony No 1 & 2 / Hughes, Orchestra De Lille
BIS Jun 2010
SACD
$21.99

BACEVICIUS: Orchestral Music
Toccata May 2007
CD
$20.99

Puts: Symphony No. 2, Flute Concerto & River's Rush / Walker, Alsop, Peabody Symphony

Naxos

$19.99 Aug 12, 2016

Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, Kevin Puts now stands in the forefront of contemporary American composers. His powerfully conceived Symphony No. 2 is a musical illustration of the events of 9/11 and traces a movement from unsuspecting bliss and rhapsody through violent upheaval to a reflective epilogue that contains both uncertainty and hope. Possibly inspired by thoughts of the Mississippi, River’s Rush employs novel harmonies, while elegant transparency distinguishes the refined beauty of the Flute Concerto.

REVIEWS:

A fine introduction to a rising composer whose music is highly accessible, emotionally satisfying, and memorable.

– All Music Guide

LSO principal Adam Walker plays the solo flute part with exquisite grace and purity of tone, and Marin Alsop elicits an impressively polished performance from Peabody’s student orchestra.

– Gramophone

View Full Page

Puts: Symphony No. 2, Flute Concerto & River's Rush / Walker, Alsop, Peabody Symphony
Naxos Aug 2016
CD
$19.99

Danish Symphonies of the Late Romantic Period
Danacord Aug 1996
CD
$18.99

Sale

Schubert, Wagner & Beethoven: Orchestral Works
Urania Records Sep 2013
CD
~~$32.99~~ $16.49

Holst: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 / Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

Chandos

SACD

$21.99 Oct 29, 2013

HOLST The Mystic Trumpeter. First Choral Symphony 1 • Andrew Davis, cond; Susan Gritton (s); 1 BBC S Ch; BBC SO • CHANDOS 5127 (SACD: 69:20 Text and Translation)

I complain so often of the modern tendency towards over-reverberant sonics, particularly in Naxos and Chandos releases, that when the sound matches the mood of the music I am pleased to admit that it works. In this disc, titled Holst Orchestral Works Vol. 3, the fine conductor Andrew Davis leads inspired performances by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soprano Susan Gritton in two of Holst’s most interesting and appealing works for that combination.

The Mystic Trumpeter (1904, revised 1912) is described in the booklet as being in Wagnerian musical language, but evolved. Based on a poem by Walt Whitman, “From Noon to Starry Night,” it includes musical premonitions of The Planets , particularly “Neptune the Mystic.” The musical evolution also owes something to Richard Strauss, who Holst played under as a trombonist, but here Holst’s continuing musical growth is clear and fascinating from first note to last. It also has the trait in common with Debussy that every time the music reaches a climax, it pulls back shortly after and recedes. This ability of his to “cap the geyser,” so to speak, was to come to fruition in the next three decades of his life.

The First Choral Symphony, as the notes indicate, has a weakness only in the text setting of the Finale; otherwise this, too, is an outstanding work, and one deserving of greater exposure. Here, too, the mature Holst is able to maintain a spellbinding atmosphere at a consistently soft volume level, only occasionally opening up the sound to create brief climaxes. The orchestral texture is more varied, even in the fast sections of the music where a certain sameness might have been expected. There’s a touch of Britten in the later sections of this work—a possible influence on the younger composer? I make no claim for this, only a suggestion; make of it what you will. In any case, this is an excellent disc of truly excellent music.

Susan Gritton contributes a brief statement in the booklet recalling how she rehearsed these works under the late Richard Hickox, only to have that esteemed conductor die suddenly before the recordings could be completed. Under such circumstances, I’m sure that this project was a bittersweet one for her, but as I say, Andrew Davis has done himself—and Holst—proud.

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

View Full Page

Holst: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 / Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Chandos Oct 2013
SACD
$21.99

Schacht: Symphonies, Vol. 2 / Schmalfuss, Evergreen Symphony

CPO

$18.99 Nov 19, 2021

Andreas Blau and his orchestral colleagues of the Berliner Philharmoniker are to be admired for discovering the treasure that is Anton Hoffmeister’s Flute Quartets, and they play them superbly well, while placing Hoffmeister’s output in close proximity to Mozart and Haydn, and in the vicinity of early Beethoven. The solo parts are evidently tailormade for the flute, and their virtuoso passages seem modeled on cadenzas from Mozart piano concertos. Their musical sensitivity, evident enjoyment and great orchestral experience ensure the recordings do not just document the artistry of socalled minor masters, but are a valuable addition to our view of the brilliant epoch of Viennese classicism.

View Full Page

Schacht: Symphonies, Vol. 2 / Schmalfuss, Evergreen Symphony
CPO Nov 2021
CD
$18.99

Hesse, Lasker-Schüler: Ich habe dich gewählt. Symphonic poems

Musicaphon

$16.99 Jul 23, 2021

Lutz-Werner Hesse studied School Music and Composition with Günter Fork and Jürg Baur at the Cologne Academy of Music as well as Musicology, Latin Philology and Ancient History at the University of Cologne. Since 1984 he has been a full-time lecturer, now Professor and Managing Director at the Wuppertal campus of the HfMT Cologne. From 1997 to 2011 he was chairman of the “Bergische Gesellschaft für Neue Musik“, and since 2004 he has been chairman of the “Konzertgesellschaft Wuppertal“, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra sponsorship association. The main focus of Hesse‘s compositional work is on chamber music and orchestral works. Hesse has received numerous commissions for various orchestras in Germany and has worked for important soloists (including Marie-Luise Neunecker, horn and Ulrike-Anima Mathé, violin). His most successful work to date is the composition “Vita di San Francesco – eleven stations from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi” for organ and thirteen gongs, which has now been performed well over eighty times. Hesse‘s works have been performed in many European countries, but also in the United States of America and Japan. The WDR, SR and SWR radio stations produced his works or recorded them at concerts. Albums with works by the composer have been released on the labels “col legno“, EMG classical, Musicaphon and Ars Produktion.

View Full Page

Hesse, Lasker-Schüler: Ich habe dich gewählt. Symphonic poems
Musicaphon Jul 2021
CD
$16.99

Liszt: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 51 - Poems / Filipec

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% Sep 14, 2018

All of the pieces in this programme have a literary or artistic connection as the background to their creation. Heard here in their first version, the Consolations owe their title to a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine and include a melody that later became the first Hungarian Rhapsody. The meditative Sposalizio was inspired by a painting by Raphael, and the Ballade by Gottfried Burger’s haunting ‘Lenore.’ Victor Hugo’s Apres une lecture de Dante is used powerfully by Liszt to express damnation and hope, and the first Mephisto Waltz derived from Lenau’s ‘Faust’ depicts a dance both sinister and amorous. Born in Rijeka in 1981, Goran Filipec studied at the Ino Mirkovich Academy in Croatia, at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and the Conservatoire national superieur de musique et de danse de Paris. During his early career, he was a top prizewinner of several international piano competitions. He performs across Europe, the US, South America and Japan as a recitalist and as a soloist with leading orchestras.

View Full Page

Sale

Liszt: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 51 - Poems / Filipec
Naxos Sep 2018
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99

Reinecke: Orchestral Works
Dynamic Feb 2016
CD
$18.99

Sibelius: Tone Poems / Petri Sakari, Iceland So

Naxos

$19.99 Jan 01, 2003

Petri Sakari knows this music, obviously loves it, and paces it to perfection. Indeed, his performance of The Bard may just be the finest available, particularly in the work's latter stages and final climax. The dark timbres of the lower winds--bass clarinet and bassoon particularly--not only add immeasurably to the atmosphere that colors the opening of Pohjola's Daughter, but also help to create the deep currents of The Oceanides and overshadow the pine forests of Tapiola. The Iceland Symphony Orchestra plays with complete security, and Sakari ensures that textures and balances retain the necessary transparency without sacrificing power. Indeed, the all-important bass drum part in En Saga seldom has registered with such dynamic accuracy (though as with all of these Naxos productions, make sure to turn the volume up to enjoy the best sound).

That said, there is one big fly in this particular musical ointment. The Iceland orchestra has a comparatively small string section, and while this fact certainly contributes to the clarity noted above, it robs the climaxes of sheer heft. This is particularly true during the headlong rush to the big cymbal crash in En Saga, the huge final wave in The Oceanides, and above all the great storm music in Tapiola. To his credit, Sakari doesn't push his players beyond their natural ability. For example, in Tapiola he cleverly ensures that the storm remains a background to the ferocious eruptions in the brass and timpani, but it's still impossible not to feel the lack in those moments (such as the ensuing dissonant shriek) where a big string sound is absolutely essential.

So is this disc recommendable? Certainly it is. But if you are one of those people whose preferences in this music demand Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic strings, you might be happier elsewhere. Still, there's far too much worth hearing to dismiss this issue for that reason alone. Sakari and his players capture the music's dark colors and primal qualities as do few others, and when all is said and done they offer a quintessentially Sibelian listening experience.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

View Full Page

Sibelius: Tone Poems / Petri Sakari, Iceland So
Naxos Jan 2003
CD
$19.99

Distant Voices, New Worlds - Songs, Landscapes & Histories

Metier

$18.99 Nov 15, 2024

This exciting album features world premiere recordings of nine chamber and solo works, profiling the distinctive and diverse voices of five celebrated British composers. The album explores the rich theme of the English landscape and it's cultural history through innovative and evocative music. "Distant Voices, New Worlds" is inspired by the interplay of contemporary and historical perspectives on landscape. At it's heart are four specially commissioned songs from 2022 for soprano and ensemble, forming the South Downs Songbook. This project meditates upon and celebrates the human experience of the South Downs, the chalk hills stretching from Winchester to Eastbourne. The project included extensive educational initiatives and the creation of a resource pack on composing, available through the Orchestra of Sound and Light, the Brighton-based ensemble known for blending traditional and contemporary instruments and incorporating visual art and moving images. The commissioned composers-Shirley J Thompson, Rowland Sutherland, Evelyn Ficarra, and Ed Hughes-each bring a unique perspective to the project. Their works are inspired by walking the South Downs and are set to texts that offer varied views on landscape and history: Shirley Thompson set Phillis Wheatley's "An Hymn to the Evening" (1753-1784), reflecting Wheatley's experiences in England. Rowland Sutherland chose a poem by Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806). Ed Hughes adapted words by Marion Robinson (1937), an early contributor to the Mass Observation Archive, influenced by William Blake's visions of the South Downs skies. Evelyn Ficarra set a poem by contemporary Brighton-based poet Valerie Whittington. Complementing these works are five additional compositions recorded by the New Music Players, creating a kaleidoscope of new British music and historical voices. Highlights include: An instrumental elaboration on Thomas Tallis's motet "In ieiunio et fletu" by Ed Hughes. Shirley J Thompson's tribute to Nelson Mandela, "Mighty Mandela," performed by solo flautist Rowland Sutherland. Evelyn Ficarra's solo piano meditation on a haiku, "The Arbitrariness of Language." A trio by Rowland Sutherland for cello, flute, and piano, blending jazz influences and a remix of Tallis's "Lamentations." Matthew Sheeran's "Languet Anima," inspired by fourteenth-century Ars Subtilior music. This project, developed with support from ACE and the South Downs National Park Authority, also received contributions from the Hinrichsen Foundation and Vaughan Williams Trust. It highlights the intersection of contemporary music, landscape, culture, and memory, emphasizing the significance of diverse artistic expression in fostering public awareness and well-being.

View Full Page

Distant Voices, New Worlds - Songs, Landscapes & Histories
Metier Nov 2024
CD
$18.99

Chamber Music with Flute - Mountain Song / Romeo and Juliet / Trio / Book of Hours / Prayers
Naxos Aug 2011
CD
$19.99

Elgar: Symphony No. 1 / Soddy, Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim

Oehms Classics

$19.99 Apr 19, 2024

Edward Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture portrays London at the turn of the 20th century as a pulsating world metropolis. Cheerful and colorful, it takes the listener on a stroll through the hustle and bustle of the city. Premiered in Manchester in 1908, Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 quickly found its way into the concert repertoire. His second and final symphony followed three years later. This is the second album from Alexander Soddy and the Mannheim National Theatre Orchestra, produced in cooperation with the Musikalische Akademie Mannheim.

View Full Page

Elgar: Symphony No. 1 / Soddy, Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim
Oehms Classics Apr 2024
CD
$19.99

WORKS FOR FLUTE 20TH-C SILESIA

DUX

$21.99 Nov 11, 2016

Grzegorz M. Olkiewicz’s album consists of nine pieces by seven representatives of the “Upper Silesian School,” which undoubtedly affected the Polish music (and not just the Polish one) of the second half of the twentieth century. Naturally, being a native of Katowice and a graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, he became interested in the repertoire composed by the university’s pupils. Sometimes it was he that served an inspiration for them and edited scores for printing and premieres. The presented recordings were made in studio, at the National Philharmonic and at the Silesian one. They emerged gradually from 1984 to 1997 thanks to the Polish Radio in Katowice and Warsaw. One could consider this selection as representative for the community although it is inevitably complete. Grzegorz Olkiewicz was born in Katowice in 1959. He has performed with most of Poland’s orchestras, and has given recitals and performed with orchestras in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, The US, and more. Many Polish composers have dedicated their compositions to him.

View Full Page

WORKS FOR FLUTE 20TH-C SILESIA
DUX Nov 2016
CD
$21.99

Lutosławski: Works for Orchestra / Tetzlaff, Collon, Finnish Radio Symphony

Ondine

$9.49 ~~$18.99~~ Save 50% Nov 03, 2023

This new album continues Ondine’s award-winning series of orchestral works by Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994) together with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The series has gathered several accolades, including a Grammy nomination, a BBC Music Magazine Awards nomination, and several recording of the month awards and best recordings of the year nominations. This album includes the composer’s early hit, his folklorish masterpiece Concerto for Orchestra, which is among his most performed compositions.

The album also includes Partita for Violin and Orchestra (with Christian Tetzlaff as soloist), a virtuosic 5-movement work which in its orchestral version is not short of a Violin Concerto. The rarity in the album is Lutosławski’s Novelette from 1979, which, although fragmentary, is already pointing toward the ideas of his 3rd Symphony.

REVIEW:

This illuminating program constitutes an ideal introduction as well as a must for the composer’s admirers. In the early Concerto for Orchestra, the orchestra plays with surging vitality, but also great delicacy. In the later works on the program, the playing is again incisive rather than heavy. This is a recording to cherish.

— American Record Guide

View Full Page

Sale

Lutosławski: Works for Orchestra / Tetzlaff, Collon, Finnish Radio Symphony
Ondine Nov 2023
CD
~~$18.99~~ $9.49

Strauss: Music for Orchestra / Urbański, NDR Elbphilharmonie

Alpha

$20.99 Apr 24, 2020

Is the imitation of rolling thunder, howling winds and bleating sheep a form of musical composition worthy of the name? Can we take seriously a composer who boasts of being able to 'set a restaurant menu to music, if need be'? These were the kinds of questions that Richard Strauss, one of the most virtuosic composers of the so-called 'programme music', had to ask himself. His answer: 'I am a musician from head to toe; for me, all "programmes" are merely incentives to invent new forms, nothing else.' The NDR Orchestra, conducted by Krzysztof Urbanski, has chosen to devote it's sixth Alpha Classics recording to three of Richard Strauss's most famous symphonic poems: Also sprach Zarathustra op. 30, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche op. 28 and Don Juan op. 20.

View Full Page

Strauss: Music for Orchestra / Urbański, NDR Elbphilharmonie
Alpha Apr 2020
CD
$20.99