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Donizetti: Cristoforo Colombo And Chamber Works / Antonucci, Orchestra Giovanile Di Savona

Bongiovanni

$13.99 Sep 04, 2020

The available information concerning Colombo, ossia La scoperta dell'America is dubious. Various hypotheses have been put forth in the last years, including the suggestion that the work is a fragment of an unfinished opera composed on a text by Felice Romani. The most recent research, however, seems to support the theory that the composition was originally conceived as a scenic cantata, that is, a cantata which was destined for the stage. This genre, quite in vogue in the first half of the century, usually served to celebrate a particular event (royal birthdays and weddings, state visits, illustrious funerals, various commemorations). For these occasions, the composer on hand would be called upon to provide his patron with an undemanding work designed to highlight the vocal prowess of one or more soloists, but without particular aesthetic aspirations, in light of its "disposable" nature. Colombo, cantata for baritone, chorus and orchestra, was first staged at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples on 25 April 1838. It was part of a larger spectacle including dances and operas scenes by various authors and starred the singer Paul Barroilhet, who had successfully impersonated many of Donizetti's roles. The poetry - perhaps attributable to Donizetti himself, who had been his own librettist on more than one occasion - are not unlike those typical of an opera libretto. They establish a veritable dialogue between the soloist (Christopher Columbus)and the chorus (the sailors of his ship), and are complete with stage directions aimed at an actual theatrical performance in costume (see, for example, the opening: "The sailors are lying on the ground and others are standing in great distress"; and toward the end: "Colombus runs to see the land, then kneels down and remains in this position, thanking the heavens, until the cabaletta"). The version reproduced in this release is based on the autograph manuscript of the cantata preserved today in the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatory Library in Naples.

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Donizetti: Cristoforo Colombo And Chamber Works / Antonucci, Orchestra Giovanile Di Savona
Bongiovanni Sep 2020
CD
$13.99

EntArteOpera Festival: Concerto for Violin & Double Concerto

Gramola Records

SACD

$31.99 Sep 07, 2018

The project EntArteOpera is dedicated by means of concerts, scenic performances and publications to the perpetuation and revival of works by forgotten, ostracized composers who were persecuted, exiled or even murdered by the Nazi regime. Salzburg violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger presents on this upcoming release the Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra by Ethel Smyth, the Concertino for Violin, Clarinet and Orchestra Op. 21 by Vitezslava Kapralova, the Concerto funebre for Violin and Strings by Karl Amadeus Hartmann as well as the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra H 342 by Bohuslav Martinu. Collaborating artists for these exceptional instrumentations include Milena Viotti, horn, Reinhard Wieser, clarinet, and Michael Korstick, piano, the Orchestra Wiener Concert-Verein under the baton of Doron Salomon as well as the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt under the baton of Martin Sieghart.

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EntArteOpera Festival: Concerto for Violin & Double Concerto
Gramola Records Sep 2018
SACD
$31.99

Alfonso Rendano: Piano Concerto, Allegro in A minor

Dynamic

$16.99 Sep 19, 2025

Alfonso Rendano was at the forefront of Italy's instrumental composition renaissance in the late 19th-century but remains less well known than his near-contemporaries Giovanni Sgambati and Giuseppe Martucci. He was also a prominent pianist who performed with the illustrious violinist Joseph Joachim. The rhapsodic Piano Concerto, recorded here for the first time in it's original edition, was premiered in a version for two pianos in which the composer was joined by Franz Liszt who called it 'a vigorous, remarkable work, one I greatly appreciate'. The Allegro in A minor was rediscovered in 1969 and dates from Rendano's artistic maturity. The Piano Concerto is performed in Vito Cristofaro's edition and performed by him with Rendano's leading contemporary exponent, Daniela Roma.

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Alfonso Rendano: Piano Concerto, Allegro in A minor
Dynamic Sep 2025
CD
$16.99

Respighi: Roman Trilogy / Treviño, RAI National Symphony Orchestra

Ondine

$18.99 Sep 15, 2023

After recordings of Beethoven’s complete symphonies; two Ravel albums; one Rautavaara album; and the award-winning album ‘Americascapes’; Robert Treviño now turns his focus on the symphonic poems by Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936).Together with the Orchestra Nazionale Sinfonica della RAI; Robert Treviño presents the composer’s famous Roman Trilogy; an exciting orchestral masterpiece culminating in the triumphant Pines of Rome.

Respighi's fascination with the Eternal City is nowhere better expressed than in the three symphonic poems that make up the so-called Roman Trilogy. He had rarely taken on works of such proportions and his most recent large-scale orchestral work, the Sinfonia Drammatica, dating from 1914, still reveals the lasting influence of Brahms and Franck. But just one year later, he finally shook off the shackles of late 19th-century Romanticism, and offered a first glimpse of the remarkable use of color that would soon become a hallmark of his orchestral writing.

REVIEW:

Respighi’s three tone poems, collectively known as the “Roman Trilogy,” have been popular since their premieres, and there is no shortage of recordings. However, here is one that is worth consideration from a rising conductor and a major orchestra that is not recorded as often as it ought to be. This is absolutely infectious fun, and the performances are fully in the spirit of these evergreen favorites. Here is a release that will make one remember what it was they loved about this music in the first place.

-- AllMusic,com (James Manheim)

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Respighi: Roman Trilogy / Treviño, RAI National Symphony Orchestra
Ondine Sep 2023
CD
$18.99

Marcus Blunt: Orchestral Works

Metier

$19.99 Jan 19, 2018

Marcus Blunt, who turns 70 years old this year, is a well established British composer with an international voice – his harmonic language is distinctive and varied; arising from the Romantic tradition but full of complex contrapuntal chromaticism -and also touched by the mystic in subtle ways, perhaps more apparent in his solo piano music. These works are firmly in the modern mainstream and deserve a wide audience; from the convoluted lines of the Concerto, the restrained small orchestration of the Symphony to the picturesque nature of the Bassoon Concertino, Blunt’s works retain an intense interest for the listener. Murray McLachlan, one of the UK’s most celebrated pianists, has long championed Blunt’s work. Lesley Wilson is one of Britain’s most seasoned bassoonists and the award-winning Manchester Camerata has recently risen to the highest ranking among British chamber orchestra.

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Marcus Blunt: Orchestral Works
Metier Jan 2018
CD
$19.99

Rands: Concerto for Piano & Orchestra - Music for Shoko: Aub

Lyrita

$20.99 May 03, 2019

The international reputation of Bernard Rands as one of the leading composers of his generation rests on over a hundred well-crafted scores of notable formal cohesion, dramatic intensity and lyrical beauty. The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2013) was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in celebration of Rands's eightieth birthday year and as implied by it's title, the piece is for piano and orchestra rather than a piano concerto. Hence, the solo part is primus inter pares and is not required to play the conventional role of a protagonist striving heroically for supremacy over the masses. Canti del Sole, for tenor and orchestra (1983) describes a day's progression from dawn to dusk through a continuous setting of fourteen poems about the sun. The poems are arranged into two groups of seven. Music for Shoko: Aubade is an atmospheric mini-tone poem for English horn and string quartet (2017). It is dedicated to Bernard Rands's friend Shoko Suzuki in appreciation of their many years of friendship and her devotion to the composer's music. The piece is a transcription of the central 'Aubade' movement from the Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra, which was written for the soloist Robert Walters. The solo part of the chamber piece is identical to that of the concerto movement, while the orchestral music is accommodated, with adjustments, by the string quartet.

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Rands: Concerto for Piano & Orchestra - Music for Shoko: Aub
Lyrita May 2019
CD
$20.99

COMPOSITIONS FOR CONCERTINA
MDG Sep 2006
CD
$20.99

Lumbye: Complete Orchestral Works Vol 5 / Veto, Tivoli So
Marco Polo Jul 2001
CD
$19.99

Radecke: Orchestral Works / Zehnder, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn

CPO

$18.99 Apr 29, 2016

As a young child in Silesia, Robert Radecke’s musical talent was recognized and cultivated. His career bloomed in Berlin where he became the Royal Court Opera music director in 1863, and the Royal Chapel Master in 1871. From 1892 until he was seventy-seven years old, Radecke held the post of director of Berlin’s Royal Institute of Church Music. Radecke was personally acquainted with master conductors such as Wagner, Liszt, Schumann, and Strauss. His catalogue includes over 100 songs, chamber music, piano works, symphonies, overtures, sacred hymns, choral works, and organ works. This new release features Radecke’s symphonic pieces. The project was funded by crowd-funding efforts organized in Biel, as well as a donation from the composer’s great-grandson, Christian Radecke.

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Radecke: Orchestral Works / Zehnder, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn
CPO Apr 2016
CD
$18.99

Bull: Violin Concertos / Folleso, Ruud, Norwegian Radio Orchestra [Hybrd SACD + Blu-ray Audio]

Blu-Ray with SACD

$44.99 Apr 27, 2010

BULL Sæterjentens Søndag . Violin Concerto in A. Concerto Fantastico in e. I Ensomme Stunde. La Verbena de San Juan. Et Sæterbesøg • Annar Follesø (vn); Ole Kristian Ruud, cond; Norwegian RO • 2L 67 (Blu-ray audio: 69:21)

& SACD

Tall, preternaturally handsome Ole Bull captured the fancy of concertgoers in Europe, and in the United States as well. In fact, at a time when classical artists like Henri Vieuxtemps had trouble making inroads in the American hinterland (supposedly after an initially disappointing reception, he composed his first set of variations on Yankee Doodle ), Bull made immediate connections with his program of atmospheric, sentimental, and technically dazzling pieces that he had composed himself—and always with his audiences in mind. Nevertheless, as had Paganini, whom he idolized, before him, he proved himself able to win the admiration of first-rank composers. The opening work on this program, Sæterjentens Søndag (The Herd Girl’s Sunday Morning), represents just such a simple song, one that must (and seems calculated to) have drawn an admiring tear from his listeners. Annar Follesø gives an appropriately sensitive and atmospheric account of it (with the accompaniment arranged for orchestra by Johan Svendsen), along with Ole Kristian Ruud and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. The two concertos, recently discovered, represent the more virtuosic side of Bull’s personality. The first, in A Major, opens with a long and symphonically conceived tutti, with some of the quieter passages sensitively orchestrated. The soloist enters with a showy cadenza that must have been in part just what Bull’s audiences wanted—and even expected. The writing for violin sounds like a (derivative?) mix of Paganini’s pyrotechnical wizardry and De Bériot’s suave tunefulness. Still, many listeners may doubt that Bull has integrated his thematic materials as successfully (or at least consistently) into the passagework as did his contemporaries the Henris (Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski). But Follesø displays the natural virtuosic flair to play some of these seemingly aimless passages without retaining his tongue in his cheek, as well as an affinity for the concerto’s genial ethnic harmonic and melodic atmosphere. The brief slow movement also opens with an extended orchestral passage; but the soloist claims the limelight upon his entry in an affecting passage on the G string. The Rondo pastorale that brings the concerto to a close features thematic fireworks in double-stops, and while some of the later material grows almost maudlin, Bull always manages to hold his listeners’ interest.

The nominally programmatic Concerto fantastico (with movements representing night, dawn, and day) also begins with a long tutti and features even more flamboyant passagework, which Follesø plays with aplomb. As in Bull’s Concerto in A Major, the streamers seem to be stretched pretty thinly over their underlying framework. Once again, though, Follesø (and Ruud and the orchestra) play their roles without sounding smugly superior to the program. The slow movement, built on a simple, heartfelt tune, sounds affecting in the same way as did the other concerto’s corresponding movement. The finale, a short but intoxicating romp with lyrical pauses for breath, seems even more shrewdly calculated for effect than does the other concerto’s finale. Once again, Follesø provides a rollicking, technically dazzling account. I Ensomme Stunde (La Melancolie), here arranged by Johan Halvorsen and Wolfgang Plagge, offers Grieg-like fare like that in Sæterjentens Søndag . The more extended fantasy, La Verbena de San Juan , however, with its percussion-rich orchestration, sounds like a sort of Norwegian counterpart to Sarasate’s ethnic concoctions, although it seems to go a step further in local color. According to the notes, Bull wrote it for Queen Isabella of Spain upon the occasion of a tour in 1846. The queen, again according to the notes, enjoyed Bull’s music—and perhaps other attentions. According to the notes, Bull incorporated Sebastian Yradier’s Jota Aragonesa out of gratitude to that composer; audiences should recognize it. They should also recognize Sarasate’s whistling harmonics (also familiar from Paganini). And Bull, as did Sarasate, incorporated left-hand pizzicatos liberally in his works. Follesø is equal to the challenges both these techniques pose.

Et Sæterbesøg includes references to folk fiddling with drones that I’ve always associated with the Hardanger fiddle or at least its style. The notes relate that, coupled with the words to Sæterjentens Søndag, it’s become a part of Norway’s cultural heritage. For those inclined, as many have been, to dismiss Bull as a sort of musical charlatan, the lyrical outpouring in the song’s middle should invite at least a second look. Arve Tellefsen played a program of Bull’s music for violin and orchestra with Andrew Karsten and the Bergen Symphony Orchestra in 1988 (Norsk Kulturraå ds Klassikerserie 50008), including two works on Follesø’s, Et Sæterbesøg, I Ensomme Stunde , and the Adagio sostenuto from the Concerto fantastico . Tellefsen’s version of Et Sæterbesøg takes advantage of bells to enhance the mountain atmosphere, and his “Hardanger” sounds twangier, even if he doesn’t draw as deeply affecting a cantabile from its lyrical passages (or those of I Ensomme Stunde— though Tellefsen’s version of the concerto’s slow movement throbs with a warmer expressivity despite his edgier tone production).

The Blu-ray version (audio only), to which I listened (although I used the CD version of Follesø’s program in making the comparison with Tellefsen’s program), provides extraordinarily sharp definition, hardly losing clarity in the midst of a somewhat reverberant setting. Whether or not this medium will offer relief to listeners fatigued by the roughness of even the best CDs, in particular in recordings of violin tone, it represents an improvement over CDs, as did DVD-Audio, among formats dependent on high-storage media (the sound: 24 bit and at least 192 kHz, with a choice of 5.1 DTS HD, 7.1 DTS HD, or 2.0 LPCM). Notes in the highest registers hiss and spit, yet with a relaxing smoothness and stimulating three-dimensional (a metaphor only) projection. The entire program, in this rich smorgasbord of formats, should appeal to lovers of the violin and perhaps to general listeners as well. As did Paganini and figures like Sinatra and Presley, Ole Bull represented a cultural phenomenon that should interest at least historians. His success in his own time demonstrates that, at least to the extent that his effect didn’t depend on his personality, genuine musicality underlay his work. It’s apparent in this collection. Recommended on that account, as well.

FANFARE: Robert Maxham

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Bull: Violin Concertos / Folleso, Ruud, Norwegian Radio Orchestra [Hybrd SACD + Blu-ray Audio]
2L Apr 2010
Blu-Ray with SACD
$44.99

Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1-5 / Skride, Aadland, Swedish Chamber Orchestra

Orfeo

$26.99 Sep 04, 2020

Mozart composed his violin concertos in 1773 (K 207) and 1775 (K 211, 216, 218 and 219). These five works and the three single movements recorded here have been passed down complete and verified as authentic. The genesis of these works is closely linked to Mozart’s work as Kapellmeister at the Salzburg court, ending with the probably most important kick-out in music history. Mozart scored no solo cadenzas for his violin concertos; in the practice of the time, they were improvised. All the cadenzas on these recordings derive from Baiba Skride. Eivind Aadland writes: “Baiba is such an intuitive player. She has this rare quality of discovering the music as we play. So she never plays exactly the same. There is a wonderful sense of creating, discovering, of going finding new ways.“ Baiba Skride about her new album: “I know that there are so many different and super recordings of Mozart, but I think it is important to enjoy the music you have heard a thousand times and will hear a thousand times more with new eyes and simply allow the music to play.”

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Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1-5 / Skride, Aadland, Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Orfeo Sep 2020
CD
$26.99

Sgambati: Sinfonia festiva; Piano Concerto / Damerini, La Vecchia, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% Dec 01, 2023

Between 1879 and 1880, as he approached his 40th birthday, Giovanni Sgambati completed his Piano Concerto in G minor, a work on which he had been working for about two years. It was a significant moment for Italian instrumental music: it was, in fact, the first Romantic piano concerto by a composer from the country that had given the world both the instrument, invented by Cristofori almost two centuries earlier, and the genre itself.

The Piano Concerto displays an assured compositional hand. It constitutes not only a new beginning for Italian piano music but also a synthesis of the possibilities offered by the genre. An extremely difficult work to play, it is not immediately accessible on a first hearing, given the density of its material, but reveals more about Sgambati’s inventiveness and technical mastery every time you listen to it.

The Sinfonia festiva (Ouverture de fête) was composed in 1878 or 1879, making it contemporaneous with the Piano Concerto and proof of Sgambati’s growing dedication to orchestral music. It is a short but mature work, confidently written, clearly inspired by the dance-like character of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Three main themes, the first lean and lively, the second more lyrical, the third impudent and leaping, are organized according to the principle of sonata form, with a development section in which the initial motif pops up time and again, wandering between tonalities, sometimes giving the impression of formal freedom, sometimes of obeying rondo form.

REVIEW:

A pupil of Liszt, Giovanni Sgambati (1841-1914) stood out among 19th-century Italian pianists for his advocacy of the German school and classical models. His massive three-movement Piano Concerto in G minor (1880) might be described as a hybrid that fuses the similarly scaled Brahms D minor concerto with piano writing marked by Lisztian bravura.

Imagine Liszt reworking the echt-Hungarian finale of Brahms’ Violin Concerto for piano on his own stylistic terms, and you’ll get an idea of what Sgambati’s third movement sounds like. Similarly, the grandiose first movement owes much of its existence to the arpeggiated flourishes in Beethoven’s Emperor concerto first movement and motives from Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasy.

Recorded live in 2013, the (late) pianist Massimiliano Damerini handled the daunting piano part with brilliance and confidence. He positively opens up and thrives in front of an audience.

Both conductor and orchestra make a splendid case for the delightful Sinfonia festiva (‘Ouverture de fête’), presented in its world premiere recording here.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

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Sgambati: Sinfonia festiva; Piano Concerto / Damerini, La Vecchia, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma
Naxos Dec 2023
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99

Beethoven: Piano Concertos 4 & 5 / Sudbin, Vanska, Minnesota Orchestra

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Dec 01, 2010

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Expectations ran high in anticipation of this release, and they have not been disappointed. BIS just completed a partially successful Beethoven piano concerto series in which an often inspired Ronald Brautigam was shackled to an expressively challenged and period-pedantic Andrew Parrott. Here, both conductor and soloist are consistently operating on the same exciting wavelength. Osmo Vänskä's credentials as a Beethoven conductor remain impressive. He understands the importance of accents, of sforzandos that enliven but don't disrupt the melodic line. He never fails to balance Beethoven's all-important bass lines clearly (opening tutti of the Fourth concerto), or to give sufficient prominence to those rapid accompaniments in repeated notes that energize the music's texture (first movement of the "Emperor"). The orchestra plays with real intensity as well as expressiveness, offering the perfect collaboration for Yevgeny Sudbin's contributions.

These are no less memorable. It's sometimes said that you can tell how well the Fourth concerto will go from the pianist's handling of the opening phrase, and there's some truth to this observation. Sudbin plays it with simple dignity, refuses to make a big ritard at the end, and strictly observes Beethoven's eighth-note value on the last note. The result is that the phrase sounds incomplete (as it should), arousing expectation and carrying the music through the pause to the hesitant entry of the violins in a different key. He understands that some of Beethoven's biggest surprises arrive softly. In short, there is a true give-and-take between soloist and orchestra throughout these performances that makes them especially engaging.

The slow movement is wonderful: Vänskä finds a tempo--a touch slower than usual--that allows him to observe the "sempre staccato" indication and provide the necessary rhetorical weight to the strings' emphatic proclamations, while Sudbin's answers represent the soul of inward poetry. The finale, by contrast, is dazzling and uninhibited, with trumpets and drums cutting through the texture, and Sudbin's fast passage-work is joyous but never tonally forced or hard.

Indeed, it may sound odd to say so, but one of the joys of Sudbin's playing is his handling of simple scales and runs. Mozart once remarked how he delighted in making them "go like oil", with perfect smoothness, and that's just how Sudbin handles them. There are a lot of scales in these pieces, in the "Emperor" particularly. In its first movement, each major entrance (and exit) of the piano features a simple scale, and anyone who can make these as memorable and beautiful as Sudbin does is a major talent indeed. He has a particular way, in the Adagio for example, of rendering the melodic line expressive through control of touch and dynamics without distorting the rhythm, and this makes the music touching without excess sentimentality. It all seems very much in the spirit of Beethoven, as is the robust and perfectly-timed manner in which he and Vänskä launch the finale--grand in all of the right ways. The coda's huge, amazingly well-judged diminuendo and ritard only confirm the generally masterful impression. Gorgeous SACD sonics make this release a Beethoven experience you will not want to miss.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Beethoven: Piano Concertos 4 & 5 / Sudbin, Vanska, Minnesota Orchestra
BIS Dec 2010
SACD
$21.99

Violin Concerto / Ikon / Flip for String Orchestra / Spirals for 2 violins and orchestra
Naxos Apr 2011
CD
$19.99

Tabakova: Orchestral Works & Concerti / Lazarova, Johnston, Rysanov, The Hallé

Halle

$20.99 Oct 06, 2023

This album marks the culmination of two special Hallé collaborations and includes four major pieces from one of the most distinctive of current British compositional voices. Delyana Lazarova (Hallé Assistant Conductor 2020-23) and composer Dobrinka Tabakova (Hallé Artist in Residence 2022-23) were both born in the historic city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Working together for the first time during their time with the orchestra they formed a strong musical connection in which the Hallé musicians displayed a close understanding of the intricacies and dialect of Tabakova’s musical language. This album contains two of Tabakova’s major orchestral works. The three-part Earth Suite, which the composer says was inspired by ‘the overwhelming force of Nature’, recently drew ‘exquisite playing’ from the Hallé (Bachtrack, April 2023).

Orpheus Comet features fast rhythmic material combined with atmospheric transparent orchestrations and a glorious climax featuring quotations from Monteverdi. The two significant concertos for strings and soloists included on this album solidified Tabakova’s reputation as an outstanding contemporary voice and display the composer’s close affinity with string instruments. Ukrainian-British Maxim Rysanov, is one of Tabakova’s longest collaborators who premiered the Concerto for Viola and Strings in 2004, a piece described as being ’saturated with an inner, captivating and natural energy’ (Culture Magazine, Nov 2004). The Concerto for Cello and Strings (whose score was described as ‘gorgeous’ by the Daily Telegraph, Australia) is here performed by Guy Johnson, one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation.

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Tabakova: Orchestral Works & Concerti / Lazarova, Johnston, Rysanov, The Hallé
Halle Oct 2023
CD
$20.99

Two Piano Concertos and a Sonata / Seferinova, Williams, Ukrainian Festival Orchestra

Toccata

$20.99 May 07, 2021

The phrase ‘unashamed Romantic’ might not have been coined for the French composer Corentin Boissier, born in the Paris suburbs in 1995, but it certainly fits him well. As the titles of his Glamour Concerto and Philip Marlowe Concerto suggest, he revels in the full-textured sound of 1940s and ’50s Hollywood, the golden age of Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, Rota’s Legend of the Glass Mountain and other such high-calorie classics. The Second Piano Sonata, the Sonata Appassionata, is no less Neo-Romantic, but has flecks of Russian color, locating it downstream from Rachmaninov.

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Two Piano Concertos and a Sonata / Seferinova, Williams, Ukrainian Festival Orchestra
Toccata May 2021
CD
$20.99

Duarte: Orchestral & Concertante Works for Guitar

Brilliant Classics

$8.49 ~~$16.99~~ Save 50% Aug 25, 2023

John W. Duarte was born in Sheffield, England on 2 October 1919. He started playing the ukulele, but soon moved to the guitar at the age of 15. The advent of guitar phenomenon John Williams, whom Duarte taught for 18 months before the young musician’s entry into the Royal College of Music, London, gave the composer an opportunity to expand his chamber music oeuvre.

The Concertante Quartet Op.22, a substantial work in four movements. In 2021 the composer’s son, Christopher Duarte, discovered some folk songs arranged for guitar and small orchestra among his father’s manuscripts. There is no mention of these arrangements in his list of works and no correspondence relating to their creation, but from the composer’s handwriting these probably date from the mid-late 1950s and may have been written for John Williams to play with fellow RCM students.

Next Market Day, scored for piccolo, snare drum and strings, is an energetic rendering of an Irish love song which Duarte revisited several times. The Coolin of Rùm (or, The Rùm Cuillin), scored for flute, oboe and strings, is a tune from the Isle of Rùm, one of the small islands near the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides. Cuillin is the name for a range of mountains in this area and Duarte may have been alluding to the name of a previous owner of Rùm, Maclean of Duart.

Duarte began work on what became A Tudor Fancy in early 1967. Following A Tudor Fancy, a concerto in all but name. The Concierto alegre Op.101 (1986) is deliberately light in woodwind (2 flutes, one each of the rest), a trumpet, strings, but with a battery of percussion, including two vibraphones. As with A Tudor Fancy, the music proceeds in a variety of ‘conversations’, with the orchestration kept deliberately light when the guitars are playing.

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Duarte: Orchestral & Concertante Works for Guitar
Brilliant Classics Aug 2023
CD
~~$16.99~~ $8.49

Herz: Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto & Orchestral Works / Silber, Berlin RSO

Capriccio

$21.99 May 17, 2024

Maria Herz, nee Bing, was born in 1878 in Cologne. By the 1920s, she became to be recognized as a dynamic element of the contemporary music scene. New music's 'chief theoretician', Theodor W. Adorno, became interested in her works and their style, which was rooted in Late Romanticism and aimed at Modernism by way of Expressionism, New Objectivity, and Neo-Baroque, all while retaining it's playful, charming air. She was close to a veritable Who's-Who of contemporary musicians, including the Budapest String Quartett, Gregor Piatigorsky, Emanuel Feuermann, Hermann Abendroth, Otto Klemperer, and Hans Rosbaud. In her lifetime, only five songs (1910) and a transcription of Bach's Chaconne for string quartet (1927) were published, but all her 30 orchestral works, solo concertos, chamber music pieces, and art songs have survived in manuscripts. The Nazis seized her family's assets and forced Maria Herz to emigrate, first to England, and, after the war, to the United States where she lived with her children and died in 1950, in New York.

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Herz: Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto & Orchestral Works / Silber, Berlin RSO
Capriccio May 2024
CD
$21.99

Frisson: Music for Woodwind Orchestra

Divine Art

$18.99 Jan 09, 2026

On 9 January 2026, conductor Shea Lolin presents Frisson, an exciting new album of music for woodwind orchestra and his third recording with the principal woodwind players of the Czech Philharmonic (Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year 2024). Frisson follows the release of the ground-breaking Twisted Skyscape, the first album devoted entirely to new music for woodwind orchestra, and Chromosphere, which focused on contemporary repertoire. Frisson marks Shea Lolin's 20-year involvement with the woodwind orchestra and celebrates it's evolution from the early eighteenth-century genre of Harmoniemusik - formal ensemble music for pairs of winds - to it's modern form. The album features a superb programme of arrangements for woodwind orchestra by Shea Lolin, all originally commissioned by the Bloomsbury Woodwind Ensemble. He expands Franz Krommer's exquisite Octet - Partita in F Major, Op. 57, and Richard Strauss's youthful Serenade, Op. 7, creating a broader sonic landscape while maintaining their essence. Also included is Cécile Chaminade's beloved Concertino, Op. 107, arranged for woodwind orchestra and featuring young Glaswegian flautist Fiona Sweeney, who makes her debut with the Czech Philharmonic on this release. Completing the album is More Gordian Knots by Guy Woolfenden OBE, a spirited reimagining of Purcell's music for The Gordian Knot Unty'd, written during Woolfenden's remarkable 40-year association with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

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Frisson: Music for Woodwind Orchestra
Divine Art Jan 2026
CD
$18.99

Mix & Match

Antonio Rosetti: Bassoon Concertos, Vol. 2 / Hubner, Kurpfaelzisches Kammerorchester

CPO

$18.99 Oct 30, 2012

Antonio Rosetti began his career as a double bassist at the Oettingen-Wallerstein court but then slowly but surely rose to the post of chapel master of this court ensemble and to the status of a widely renowned orchestral conductor. His seven extant bassoon concertos, four of which Eckart Hübner recorded some years ago for cpo (cpo 999 936-2 / 7172829), show that even as a composer he continued to be especially fond of bass instruments, and the three new productions on this CD now mean that a complete recording is available.

Once again the concertos are stamped by wonderful melodic invention and exhibit part writing of the highest virtuosity in the solo part as well as a refined instrumentation. Hübner once again plays »with a wonderfully well-rounded, very noble tone and lyrical cantabile reflection« (Financial Times). Rosetti’s concertos are presented together with Mozart’s earliest concerto for a wind instrument. The then eighteen-year-old composer immediately succeeded in producing a work doing complete justice to the character of the solo instrument and was already at the height of his compositional powers.

- CPO [Translated from German]

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Antonio Rosetti: Bassoon Concertos, Vol. 2 / Hubner, Kurpfaelzisches Kammerorchester
CPO Oct 2012
CD
$18.99

Mendelssohn: Double Concerto, Octet / Tognetti, Leschenko, Australian Chamber Orchestra

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Feb 01, 2013

Until this recording arrived for review I had been unaware of how good the Australian Chamber Orchestra was. What a superb group of musicians! With the exception of the pianist Polina Leschenko all other participants are members of this fine orchestra including violin soloist Richard Tognetti who also leads the Octet. As usual BIS have blessed the project with a first class recording that allows all details to tell and yet to remain within a believable acoustic space.

If I were to pick any holes I would rather like to have heard the Concerto on a period piano instead of the modern concert grand which has a good deal more power than is required for this essentially 18th century music. The thorough notes by Horst A. Scholz tell us that Mendelssohn composed the Concerto for Violin and Piano in May 1823 at the ripe old age of 14. It is less the antecedent of Hummel that one hears than the influence of Carl Philip Emmanuel and even Johann Christian Bach. There is no problem whatever with a young protégé emulating his predecessors when it is done so beautifully. The concerto is a joy to hear providing you do not expect the Mendelssohn of the Violin Concerto in E minor of 1844 or of the mature symphonies. Both soloists play with wonderful accuracy and joie de vivre. The three movement form is absolutely to the classical standard except for the considerable length of the opening Allegro which runs for nearly 18 minutes, a length even Mozart rarely reached.

The real shock is that only two years elapsed before the entirely characteristic Octet for Strings was composed. Here at 16 we have a fully fledged Mendelssohn. Despite the large number of earlier chamber pieces this was his real breakthrough and a complete masterpiece. The form of the double quartet is not unknown, Spohr wrote four but the first of these only predated Mendelssohn's Octet by two years and is far more a work for two string quartets, as the name implies. Mendelssohn composes for a full integrated group of four violins, two violas and two cellos. He even states on the title page that the work must be played 'in the style of a symphony'. Few other pieces like this are in the repertoire even today. The eight strings of the Australian Chamber Orchestra play with finesse and vitality such that they fear no comparisons with the competition, even the most prestigious. There being almost no repertoire for a string octet all performances on record are by groups brought together, or extracted, for the occasion.

Those seeking a recording should consider the present issue very seriously because the coupling is unusual and the whole is better recorded that any other I know.

-- Dave Billinge, MuscWeb International

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Mendelssohn: Double Concerto, Octet / Tognetti, Leschenko, Australian Chamber Orchestra
BIS Feb 2013
SACD
$21.99

Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Pietro de Maria, Rustioni, Tuscan Orchestra

Dynamic

$18.99 Mar 17, 2023

Fresh from his success in Vienna with the Rondo à la Krakowiak, Chopin decided to explore the piano concerto genre where he would compete with a triumvirate of composers then enjoying huge success in the city: Moscheles, Hummel and Kalkbrenner. Dedicated to Kalkbrenner, though inheriting influence from Hummel, the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 is discreetly orchestrated and marries brilliant virtuosity with expressive melancholy. Structurally similar is the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, though here heroism is tempered by a more reflective intimacy that reaches its apotheosis in the beautiful slow movement.

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Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Pietro de Maria, Rustioni, Tuscan Orchestra
Dynamic Mar 2023
CD
$18.99

Petrassi: Orchestral Works
Stradivarius Oct 1999
CD
$18.99

Sammartini: Concertos / Suppa, Bianchi, Ferrigato, Quaranta

Dynamic

$10.99 Dec 21, 2010

A pleasant sampler of Giuseppe Sammartini.

We shouldn’t forget that the British have something of a share in the music of Giuseppe Sammartini, in much the same sense that we have a share in that of Handel. It was in London that Sammartini died in November 1750. The Whitehall Evening Post of Saturday 24 November 1750 reported that “Last week died at his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, Signior S. Martini, Musick Master to her Royal Highness and thought to be the finest performer on the hautboy in Europe”. Sammartini had lived and worked in London since the summer of 1728. His greatest fame, as this brief obituary implies, was as a performer, in which capacity he was recorded – and praised – as a member of the orchestra in works by both Bononcini and Handel. He was appointed music master to the family of Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1736 and held the post until his death. During his years in London his chamber music was quite well known; his concertos were, for the most part, published after his death.

Of the concertos to be heard on this disc, it appears that the two flute concertos were probably relatively early works, written before Sammartini’s departure for London. The harpsichord concerto and the oboe concertos - which latter certainly speak of the composer’s own mastery and understanding of the instrument - belong to his years in London and, indeed, suggest how attentively he had listened to Handel.

Of the two concertos for flute, that in A major turns out, after a promising start, to be a relatively dull affair. The initial allegro contains some pleasant melodies and has a charming gracefulness; however, the ensuing andante (especially) and allegro are somewhat pedestrian. Invention is better sustained in the D major concerto, not least in the central siciliano which, though short, sings out delightfully. In the outer movements the music could surely benefit from a good deal more vivacity and punch than the present performers bring to it.

The harpsichord concerto was one of four published posthumously in London in 1754 ( Concertos for the Harpsicord or Organ with the Instrumental Parts for Violins, etc. Opera Nona, Printed for I. Walsh). It is an impressive piece, made up of a stately opening movement (marked andante spiritoso), an allegro assai which has some attractive writing for the harpsichord, an andante which has an attractive sense of spaciousness and contains much attractive interplay between orchestra and soloist, as does the closing allegro assai, characterised by an unfussy playfulness. The whole is well-played by Donatella Bianchi - an assured soloist I don’t remember encountering before - and I Musici Ambrosiani.

The two oboe concertos which close the disc are preserved in a manuscript ( RM23b8) in the British Library. The manuscript contains twelve concertos, only the last four of which make use of the oboe. The first of the two heard here has some striking writing for the oboe in its first movement, but the following andante and allegro grab the listener’s attention rather less than forcefully; there is a degree of ponderous stolidity in the way the andante is played - though the marking is andante ma non tanto - and the closing movement (tempo di menuetto) is a bit short on ideas. The second of these concertos is altogether more successful. Again in three movements, Sammartini’s writing is far more than merely well-crafted - the sense one has in listening to the first of these concertos; here there is consistent panache, expressed in solo writing of some virtuosity. Sammartini doubtless had his own abilities in mind when writing it, and he presumably performed it during his years in London. The brief central andante is richly expressive and the closing allegro is infectiously lilting. Francesco Quaranta is heard at his best here – and so is Sammartini.

Not all the music here is completely persuasive – but the best is very much so. The performances are always decent – sometimes much more than that.

-- Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb International

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Sammartini: Concertos / Suppa, Bianchi, Ferrigato, Quaranta
Dynamic Dec 2010
CD
$10.99

Cartellieri: Concertos For Clarinet And Orchestra / Klöcker

MDG

$23.99 Feb 01, 1996

REVIEWS:
BBC Music (6/98, p.67) - Performance: 4 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5) - "Great credit is due to Professor Dieter Klöcker, not only for his fine performances here, but also for his tireless research into composers who do not deserve the obscurity in which they languish....Klöcker, with very fine accompaniment from the excellent Prague Chamber Orchestra, plays with his usual effortless virtuosity..."

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Cartellieri: Concertos For Clarinet And Orchestra / Klöcker
MDG Feb 1996
CD
$23.99