Music is the key

I’ve wanted to make a solo orchestral CD for many years and when it finally happened I was particularly proud to work with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra who I admire and have known and worked with for many years. A special feature is that my older brother Johan is the orchestra’s principal flautist and we have always dreamed of recording together. Also my friend Gordan is one of the orchestra’s concertmasters – his playing was the inspiration for choosing Morgen and both Vivaldi arias. I was also very lucky to be able to have my husband Tecwyn as the conductor. Having all these personal touches to the project made the whole experience of recording at the Helsingborg concert house even more special.  I still don’t know how we managed to do everything we set out to do in just four days. It was such a short time to tackle all the music we wanted ...

Recorded in Amsterdam’s  Musikgebouw and Haarlem’s Philharmonie between March 2013 and July 2016, this 3-CD Set is a milestone in the documentation of Hungarian composer György Kurtág’s s work and also a labour of love.  It brings together all of Kurtàg’s works for ensemble and for ensemble and choir. The insightful and precise performances bear witness to extensive preparation by the dedicated Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble. Conductor Reinbert de Leeuw  speaks of “learning Kurtág’s oeuvre step by step, and performing these pieces repeatedly over a period of twenty years.”  De Leeuw consulted extensively with György and Márta Kurtág before and after each session: “There were moments when I was overwhelmed at first hearing”, says the famously-demanding Kurtág, “and we could embrace the result immediately. But sometimes we were critical. The fact that Reinbert always listened to our remarks and re-recorded fragments or even whole pieces makes this publicatio...

Pianist Rémi Geniet was 21 when he recorded this absolute honey of a Bach recital. His articulation often recalls Glenn Gould’s dry-point detaché touch, but with additional lightness and color, as the deliciously yet not excessively decorated Fourth Partita Ouverture demonstrates, along with the characterfully clipped Courante and Menuet. By contrast, steadfast pacing and astute timing help sustain Geniet’s broadly paced Allemande and Sarabande . The Capriccio also reveals the young pianist’s gift for conveying a sense of “air” between certain notes and his uncanny sense of rhythm. Each movement of the A major English Suite sings out with lilting intimacy, while Geniet’s supple and transparent finger work keeps the C minor Toccata’s long fugue vivid and alive from start to finish. Geniet’s joyous, invigorated, and well-recorded Bach interpretations cannot help but leave you smiling and wanting more. In other words, this kid’s got it! (Jed Distler / Classics Today)

With this programme of four sonatas, young pianist Rémi Géniet presents a highly judicious selection from Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, which Hans von Bülow described as the ‘New Testament’ for pianists; the ‘Old Testament’ being Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Rémi Geniet [b.1992] studied with Brigitte Engerer, Rena Shereshevskaya and Evgeni Koroliov. He is fast establishing himself as a prominent pianist since winning first-prize at the prestigious Young Concert Artists International Auditions, New York, in 2015. Outside France he made his debut at Carnegie Hall and has given recitals in Vienna, Japan, Geneva, Ghent, Brussels, Germany, Italy, Poland and Canada. His debut all-Bach CD, released in February 2015, has been unanimously praised by the critics and was in November 2015 one of 14 international recordings to receive the Diapason d’Or of the year. (Presto Classical)

Sheherazade as chamber music? Reduced to four members? Somewhere up there, Leopold Stokowski, the man who made this music a big-orchestra showpiece, is having a fit – especially since this recording is so successful in terms of the transcription and performance by the Zurich Ensemble. The four musicians – violin, piano, cello and clarinet – have the music in their souls and, through a combination of cunning and artistic will power, have made the piece their own. The small-might-be-better trend was also manifested over the summer with Ensemble Festivo playing Schumann’s Fourth Symphony with 10 instruments – somewhat convincingly but not nearly on the level of this group, whose transcription by Florian Noack and Benjamin Engeli is full of shrewd insights that save their endeavour from palm-court kitsch and give the music a greater sense of dramatic narrative. The solo violin (beautifully played by Kamilla Schatz) is pretty much intact, though the violin joins in with ...

The Huelgas Ensemble under Paul Van Nevel are numbered among the world’s best vocal ensembles for over 40 years. Their recordings of, in many cases, completely unknown works has earned the ensemble the highest international acclaim. The press wrote of their last recording: “The Huelgas Ensemble once again demonstrates its artistic skill and expressive power” (SWR 2). For their new album, Paul Van Nevel has selected outstanding works by Huguenot composers of the 16th century, a period when Protestants were ruthlessly persecuted in pre-revolutionary France. The tragic height of this persecution was the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre on the night of 23–24 August 1572, when the lives of thousands of Huguenots were taken. Despite the religious repression and persecution, a Protestant culture filled with musical riches was able to develop in France. This included psalm settings by various composers that are well worth being discovered and cover an impressive range of styles from homopho...

Korean pianist Jaemi Kim was born into a family of musicians and began her musical training when she was four years old. After winning several major national competitions including the Dong-A, she enrolled at Indiana University where she was a pupil of Michel Block. After competing her Master of Music Degree, she returned to Korea where she taught at several music schools and universities and pursued her performance career. She played with many of the leading orchestras in South Korea including those of Seoul, Suwon, and Taoku. Ms. Kim returned to the United States to pursue her doctoral studies with Santiago Rodriguez at the University of Maryland. During this time, she was the winner of the Van Cliburn Piano Institute Concerto Competition.

Mona Asuka, the sister of Alice Sara Ott , demonstrated a great talent for music at a very young age. At four years old she performed as a guest artist at a competition in Munich’s Residenz. At eleven she appeared as a duo partner of Marcello Viotti with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester in a televised production of Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye, which has been broadcast several times on German television. Mona Asuka made her orchestral debut aged 13. This was quickly followed by appearances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Edo de Waart, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and Ivor Bolton, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Dresdner Kapellsolisten, Württembergisches Kammerorchester, Münchner Symphoniker, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie and Staatskapelle Weimar. Performances in Japan have included the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Kanazawa under Kazuki Yamada and New Japan Philharmonic at Suntory Hall.  Solo p...

Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt first recorded the three Brahms violin sonatas for EMI at the 2002 ‘Spannungen’ chamber music festival in Heimbach, Germany – spirited, occasionally restless performances that thrillingly capture the adrenalin rush of a live concert. This new studio account from Ondine preserves much of the ‘incisiveness, urgency and lightness of touch’ that Edward Greenfield justly praised in his review of that EMI disc, along with a breathtaking balance of poise and daring. As in their live recording, Tetzlaff and Vogt favour flowing tempi, yet there’s an even greater sense of spontaneity and elasticity here than before – as the opening movement of Op 78 illustrates so beautifully. Although it’s marked Vivace ma non troppo , the players start out serenely; indeed, there’s little if any sense of vivace at all. Rather, one becomes aware of a growing ebullience. It’s signalled subtly at the beginning, as liquid streams of quavers gather into a gentle c...

Polychrome. A simple concept that defines the very essence of this recording, in which colour is omnipresent and takes on diverse and nuanced forms. The choice of works in itself forms at once a harmony and a contrast of shades and sonorities: this album offers the virtuosic and lyrical Violin Sonata no.2 in D major op.94a of Sergei Prokofiev, the Sonate posthume of Maurice Ravel, and the Violin Sonata in E flat major op.18 of Richard Strauss, the pièce de résistance of the programme. Tobias Feldmann, a prize winner at the 2015 Queen Elisabeth International Competition, invites us on this musical journey with his vividly coloured and expressive violinistic language, supported with finesse by his partner Boris Kusnezow. Skilfully combining virtuosity and elegance , their expert fingers create an alchemy whose extreme precision enables these works to yield up all their poetry and refinement, revealing the specific colour of each of them. Alpha Classics is proud to support...

“Édua Amarilla” Zádory, which means "glistening moonrise" in Hungarian, was born in 1974, in the southern Hungarian town of Kecskemét. At the early age of seven, Édua’s outstanding talent on the violin became evident. Taking part in a competition at the Franz Liszt-Musikhochschule, Édua wowed the judges with her exceptional talent and was offered a scholarship at this outstanding Swiss institute of music. In 1992 Édua began to study under star violinists Habib Kayaleh and Tibor Varga. One of the greatest violinist of the 20th century, Yehudi Menuhin, recognized Édua’s exceptional talent. He invited her to join his master classes at Gstaad, Switzerland. In 1997 Vienna, the city of music, became the center of  her life. At the University of Vienna, Édua studied under highly acclaimed teachers Günter Pichler and Ernst Kovacic. After her university studies, Édua began to attend master classes with István Ruha, Péter Komlós and the Altenberg Trio Wien. Thr...

Spanish soprano Núria Rial has a voice ideally suited for early music. Her tone is marvelously pure and strong, but unforced. Her delivery is natural, and the easy agility she brings to even the most florid passages has the unmannered directness of folk song. Especially distinctive and attractive are the warmth and lively intelligence of the personality she puts across in her singing; she's equally at ease in playful whimsy and in heartfelt laments. These Spanish songs and villancicos from the Renaissance, many of which have the spontaneity, simplicity, and memorable lyricism of folk song, are an ideal showcase for displaying Rial's gifts. The vihuela, a close relative of the guitar, was the most popular instrument for accompanying songs in Renaissance Spain, and José Miguel Moreno plays various vihuelas and Renaissance guitars here, performing with fluidity and finesse. He also has several solo tracks. The composers, including Alonso de Mudarra, Diego Pisador, Miguel de Fuenl...

Flutist of Russian origin, Sofia de Salis won various international competitions and performed as a soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras; she also gave recitals with renowned pianists and chamber musicians. Her musicality and the quality of her sound are the distinctive elements of her talent.  Born in Moscow to a father who is well known as an artist-painter and to a singer mother, Sofia de Salis starts learning music at the age of four. After brilliant studies at the Moscow Conservatory, crowned with a concert diploma with distinction, she continued her training at the Conservatory of Basel in the class of Felix Renggli, where she obtained a concert diploma and an education diploma. She also studied in master classes or workshops with Renata Greis-Armin, Aurèle Nicolet, Ransom Wilson, Bartold Kuijken, Rachel Braun, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Andras Adorjan and Jacques Zoon. To enrich her musical experience in the field of Baroque, she followed the traverso course given by Osk...

The fourth volume of the Haydn 2032 project thrusts into the limelight one of the most important stock characters in the theatre of sounds and words, the Kapellmeister, and explores some glamorous and (in)glorious moments in the career of Maestro Haydn. It features three symphonies by the ‘Shakespeare of Music’ – one of which is even associated with an actual play. This bears the title ‘Sinfonia in C. per la commedia intitolata Il distratto’ (the name of the play soon became the symphony’s nickname) and consists of an overture, four entr’actes, and a finale to be played at the end of the performance. Also on this disc is a large-scale buffo scene by his colleague Cimarosa. Il maestro di cappella is a witty and ironic parody, in which a member of the ‘old school’ of musicians tries to improve the ensemble playing of his orchestra. To his chagrin, the players do react, but in extremely undisciplined fashion: they are distracted, make false entries and disagree musical...

Looking ahead to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Haydn in 2032, the Joseph Haydn Foundation of Basel has joined forces with the Alpha Classics label to record all of the composer’s 107 symphonies. This ambitious project is placed under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, who now presents the third volume, after two previous issues that attracted great attention and received numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik Prize 2015 for the ‘best orchestral recording’ of the year. Since he sees the music of Haydn as ‘a kaleidoscope of human emotions’, Giovanni Antonini has decided to approach the symphonies not chronologically, but thematically; the theme here is Haydn the philosopher. The Italian conductor has chosen in each of the programmes to make connections between the symphonies and other works. For this volume, he calls on the magnificent soprano Francesca Aspromonte to perform a number of arias including the famous ‘Solo e pensoso’. (Outhere Music)...

For this second volume in the Haydn 2032 project, the complete recording of his symphonies, Giovanni Antonini has chosen to put forward the Symphony Der Philosoph . He associates with it a symphony by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, eldest son of the Kantor of Leipzig, who is generally considered the most gifted of his sons. Different reasons brought these two great composers the originality and sometimes eccentricity that characterize their works, one suffering from the fame of his father, the other from his own genius. Whereas Haydn’s symphonies differentiate themselves by form, orchestration and keys, W. F. Bach’s begins in the style of a Baroque overture, gradually turning into a tempestuous piece and perhaps already reflecting the transition from a ‘Golden Age’ to the more tormented world that will follow the Age of Enlightenment. (Outhere Music)

Alpha & Giovanni Antonini embark on a new major project!  Under the musical direction of Giovanni Antonini, the music project "Haydn2032" was created to realize a vision: to record and perform – in a unique cycle featuring concerts across Europe – all of Joseph Haydn's 107 symphonies by 2032, the 300th anniversary of the composer's birth.  ‘Symphony No. 49 is of dramatic inspiration, as is the finale of the 39th (with four horns!) in a fairly “Gluckist” style. We are at the beginnings of Sturm und Drang. ‘The first performance of Gluck’s ballet Don Juan, in Vienna in 1761, was an outstanding event in the development of dramatic expression in music. This was the first “modern” ballet , featuring dancers illustrating the story, not through a pre-established dance form (minuet, gavotte, etc.) but through free expression of their bodies. ‘I am truly captivated by the very strong correspondence existing in Gluck’s score between the story of Don J...

The Duo Le Gentil Dame was born thanks to the fortuitous meeting of the two musicians in Palermo (Sicily, South Italy) in 2006, with the intent to study classical chamber music written specifically for mandolin and cello by European composers of the eighteenth Century (Leone, Gervasio, Boni, Riggieri, Hoffmann, Denis and many others). The Duo started soon a tour all around Italy for important institutions. Camilla Finardi graduated with honors in mandolin at Milan Conservatory; she is also PhD in Musicology. She won a lot of awards as best mandolin player at international mandolin competitions. She is soloist in numerous chamber music groups, also playing with ancient instruments. She recorded various compact discs. She is mandolin teacher in different music high schools in Northern Italy. Daniela Santamaura studied at Paris Conservatory. She graduated in chamber music at Palermo Conservatory. She attended a master in chamber music with Bruno Canino. She teaches cello ...

The violinist Chiara Zanisi works with the finest early music ensembles, notably the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman, with whom she has just finished a long tour performing the Six Brandenburg Concertos. She now devotes her first solo recording to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Sonatas for Harpsichord and Violin. Alongside her is Giulia Nuti, among the most brilliant harpsichordists and scholars in Italy, whose solo CD Les Sauvages: Harpsichords in pre-Revolutionary Paris  (DHM) won a Diapason d’Or, among other awards. The kernel from which this project grew is their strongly shared idea that, in addition to great stylistic richness and invention, Bach’s music possesses an aura of magic and an almost divine form. Thus, in this valuable and elegant reading, it is clearly their intention to underline in the simplest way the grandeur of the writing. Even the choice of sound aesthetic, beautifully realised under the supervision of Fabio Framba, opts for the ‘r...

In music of the baroque era it was popular to use the medium of numbers for conveying secrets and riddles, and Bach studies have illuminated many new 'meanings' in his sacred works. Now 'Morimur' explores the coded references, and hidden messages in his solo violin music, opening a window on Bach's thought at a time when he was deeply affected by the sudden and tragic death of his wife, Maria Barbara, in 1720. Building on the research of Professor Helga Thoene, violinist Christoph Poppen and the Hilliard Ensemble have realised a unique project for ECM New Series: They offer a stunning experience by interweaving the verses of the 'hidden chorales' of the Ciaccona with Bach's harmonically complex violin part. (ECM Records) You are about to hear one of the world’s greatest and best-known pieces in a completely new light. Indeed, you may be about to change your view of the composer whom the entire musical world reveres above all others: J...

In 2001 the German label ECM released a disc under the title Morimur on which the violinist Christoph Poppen and the Hilliard Ensemble presented the findings of the musicologist Helga Thoene. She had discovered a whole series of fascinating numerical relationships in the music of Bach, especially in the sonatas and partitas for violin, shedding light on messages the composer had hidden ‘between the lines’. Three years earlier, in 1998, Glossa had already released a recording based on the identical Thoene studies. Here, the voices of Emma Kirkby and Carlos Mena recreated the choral parts of Christ lag in Todesbanden , enveloped by the magical sonority of José MiguelMoreno’s baroque lute in his exquisite transcription of the D minor Ciaccona for violin. We have now reedited this disc within the Glossa Platinum collection. A fundamental part of the Glossa catalogue, it has been unavailable in stores for a number of years. On it, after 15 minutes of intoxicatin...

This is the second instalment in an innovative line of work that the ever-restless José Miguel Moreno, founder and principal artist of Glossa, inaugurated with the recently issued Semper Dowland Semper Dolens . Together with Eligio Quinteiro, the magnificent plucked-string continuo player living in London, Moreno proposes an intellectual exercise which consists in adding a second instrumental part, in the manner of a second voice, counterpoint and harmonic development, to pieces that were originally conceived for a solo instrument. The recording technique utilised enhances the total interweaving of the instrumental resources, making the two discrete sound sources almost indistinguishable. In line with a philosophy grounded in historical criteria, this procedure favours the possible over the probable. With a profound understanding of the music of Luys Milán , whose works he has previously recorded on CDs that have since become points of reference, Moreno on...

One of the most attractive and poignant repertories from across the whole Renaissance is undoubtedly to be found in the output of John Dowland, the composer of the greatly-admired Lachrimae and the musical representative of a whole philosophical, literary and artistic outlook when it comes to evoking melancholy. Lutenist José Miguel Moreno, co-founder of Glossa and architect of cult recordings devoted to Sylvius Leopold Weiss, J.S. Bach and Robert de Visée, could not miss out on his encounter with English repertoire and, in 2002, he recorded this double disc covering, across some 32 pieces, the most significant of Dowland’s works , and accompanied by Eligio Quinteiro on the theorbo or gittern (Renaissance guitar). This is one of those albums which define the whole aesthetic standpoint of a label… (GLOSSA)

Kristina Fialová has been primarily praised by the critics for her impeccable technique, impassioned performance and sophisticated musical sentiment. After winning the 2013 Michal Spisak International Competition in Katowice, Poland, she was invited to the major concert stages in Europe. Her appearance at the prestigious Tivoli Festival in Denmark was followed by her debuting at the Tonhalle Zürich and giving a recital at the 2015 Prague Spring festival. Kristina Fialová studied at the Brno Conservatory, the Hochschüle für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden (Prof. Vladimír Bukač), the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen (Profs. Tim Frederikson and Lars Anders Tomter), and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Prof. Jan Pěruška). She further honed her skills at master classes led by top-notch soloists and pedagogues around the world (Leif Ove Andsnes, Wolfram Christ, Sheila Browne, Tatiana Masurenko, Jerry Horner, Helen Callus, Charles Avsharian, ...

The album title is that of the final song, Sor’s Las mujeres y cuerdas , with its caveat that both women and strings need ‘tuning’ – but carefully. The cover is adorned with Madrazo’s painting (1853) of the Countess of Vilches (seated in the luxurious surroundings appropriate to her rank), whose demeanour suggests that she may be dreaming of romantic love, or perhaps listening to musical expressions of it. The gentle guitar was at that time popular as an accompanying instrument in the home or salon, incapable of supporting anything vulgar or excessive; the publishing of guitar-accompanied songs was a flourishing trade. The song by Martin y Soler , a composer of opera buffa , was published with the  option of guitar or keyboard; all the others were composed or arranged by guitarists. Giuliani, the darling of the Viennese salons, exercised his (Italian) gift of melody in responding generously to the market, whilst Sor worked as a singing teacher during his sojourn ...

As a soloist and chamber musician, Katia Braunschweiler has performed in Switzerland, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Austria and Spain.  Katia was born in Geneva, daughter of a Swiss father and a French mother. She received her first piano lesson at the age of 6 and three years later was accepted into the music conservatory of Geneva where she pursued her music studies in piano and violin.  At the age of 15, Katia was accepted into a “Pre-Professional Section of Piano” in Geneva. After her graduation in 2003 where she was awarded a prize for best composition, she decided to relocate to Holland to study with American pianist Alan Weiss (laureate of the Queen Elizabeth Competition). In 2007 Katia decided to come back to Switzerland (Zurich) to study with the German pianist Eckart Heiligers, member of the Jean-Paul Trio.  Katia has participated in many piano master classes, held by such musicians as Gyorgy Sandor, Jeremy Menuhin, Maria Jao Pires, Alexis Golovine...

Dvorák's Stabat Mater, Op. 58, was finished in 1880, wrenched out over several years after the death of the composer's daughter. It is a sizable setting that has been largely overlooked in favor of Dvorák's later works, but increasing interest in Romantic-era choral music has brought new performances. It has few specifically Czech elements, gaining its interest partly from its combination of a rather formal quality with strong personal feeling. This reading, conducted by Estonia's Neeme Järvi, is hard to beat. Start with the live engineering from the London Philharmonic Orchestra's new Royal Festival Hall, getting clarity from very large forces. Continue with the soloists: the Verdian sound of soprano Janice Watson is a standout; the thick, intense mezzo Dagmar Pecková may not be to everyone's taste (you can sample it in the "Inflammatus," track 9), but is absolutely distinctive. Järvi deserves his share of the credit as well, with perfect balances ...

The Liederspiel was an early 19th-century genre in which songs, often on well-known texts, were added into plays. Schumann revived the form in 1849 with the three works presented on this recording, but without including any dialogue. Each work requires a vocal quartet, but unlike Brahms’s much more familiar sets of Liebeslieder Waltzer , most of the musical numbers are solo songs or duets, with relatively few full-ensemble settings. The texts—10 translations apiece by Emanuel Geibel of 15th- and 16th-century Spanish love poetry in opp. 74 and 138, and eight Rückert love poems in op. 101—present no apparent narrative, but the perceptive Schumann biographer John Daverio points out the outline of a dramatic progression in op. 74 “from the first meeting of the lovers to the burgeoning of their love in the form of grief, from their fear that neither returns the other’s feelings to union in mutual bliss.”   In the excellent booklet notes, Roman Hinke cites the “imit...

Andreas K. W. Meyer’s notes provide a timeline for the life of Allan Petterson (1911–1980), “orchestra violinist, composer, oddball.” In any event, he cast his Second Violin Concerto in one, almost hour-long, movement (the recording has been divided into 10 tracks for those who might want to study specific sections). Its elfin opening, with swirling tonal parts in the upper registers surrounding a tempo at figure 41 in the score (the designation of the fourth track) and even more strikingly through most of the a tempo of the seventh and at the beginning of the cantando, tempo IV of the eighth and ninth tracks—and, throughout, woodwind sonorities highlight many passages. Meyer relates that Ida Haendel, the dedicatee, gave the work its premiere on January 25, 1980 (it had been composed between 1977 and 1979).   It might not strike most listeners that Pettersson based the Concerto on a poem, God Goes over the Meadows , and his own musical setting of it. The text...

As Brahms had Joachim and Britten had Rostropovich, so, too, did Igor Stravinsky have a significant relationship with a performer who inspired an abundance of music. In Stravinsky's case, it was violinist Samuel Dushkin; the two collaborated together as performers, which resulted in the arrangement of several of Stravinsky's works for violin and piano. It also yielded the masterful and surprisingly lyrical Duo Concertante. The complete works for violin and piano fill two discs on this Newton Classics album featuring violinist Isabelle van Keulen and pianist Olli Mustonen. Equally at home playing standard repertoire as lesser-known modern works, and on the viola as well as the violin, van Keulen offers up some dazzling, nicely stylized performances of Stravinsky and Dushkin's collaborations. Her playing is fiery and brazen while still delivering some warm subtlety when called for in the score. The lyrical moments in Stravinsky's writing are played with a beautiful legat...

In comparison to the violin and cello, the viola has always had a small repertoire, and works for other instruments have been adapted to augment it. Of the three pieces on this 2013 release by violist Lise Berthaud and her accompanist, Adam Laloum, only Robert Schumann's Märchenbilder was conceived from the beginning for viola and piano. Franz Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata was originally composed for a six-stringed cello-like instrument, and the music was transposed to the viola's range and arranged to be playable on four strings. The Sonata No. 2 in E flat major by Johannes Brahms was written for clarinet and piano, but he was so taken with the possibilities that he subsequently arranged it for viola and violin. Yet all three works have become staples for violists, and the program is unified by a common Romantic style and means of expression. Berthaud produces a rich and deeply vibrant tone, and her smooth, sustained lines and lyrical style give the...

The ensemble Amarillis is a baroque ensemble with variable geometry, laureate of three international first prizes and distinguished by the 'Révélations classiques de l'ADAMI'. Amarillis collaborates regularly with the best singers of its generation and unites, in the same chamber music spirit, talented and confirmed instrumentalists. Amarillis performs regularly on the best stages around the world, with recent and upcoming concerts in the United States, Ukraine, and France. Releasing its 17th album 'Bach, Telemann: Effervescence Concertante' date in March 2017, the ensemble's discographie continues to receive glowing reviews from the international press. Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach, friends in both heart and mind, liked to transgress established rules and explore, each in his own way, the forms and styles of the Baroque era . Hence our desire to bring them together in this programme without, of course, setting one against the ...

Chausson’s premature death in 1899 in a cycling accident left his String Quartet unfinished. Two movements were complete, with a third needing the helping hand of Vincent d’Indy. It was clearly intended as a four-movement work and is conceived on a grand scale. The Doric make the best possible case for the piece, even where it’s less than polished. This is very much a product of its time, sitting on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries, with all the unease that that suggests; it has its hints of Wagner but also echoes of Debussy. The third movement is the weakest, without a particularly pronounced character, which is ironically not helped by d’Indy’s very definite ending, which rounds it off as if it were a true finale rather than the penultimate movement. The Concert is another matter, however. Chausson’s musical inventiveness amply fills its statuesque dimensions and it never outstays its welcome. There are plenty of opportunities for Jennifer Pike to display h...

Jennifer Pike, an exclusive Chandos artist and one of the brightest up-and-coming stars on the musical scene today, named BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2002, performs some of the greatest music for the violin in the repertoire. On her first recital recording for Chandos, she partners the distinguished pianist Martin Roscoe, and together they superbly capture the Gaelic qualities of the violin sonatas by Franck, Debussy, and Ravel. The Violin Sonata in A by César Franck was written in 1886 as a wedding present for the great violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Sensuous, yet spiritual and serene, this is a triumphant example of cyclic form in four movements: a languid Allegretto , a fiery Allegro , a Recitativo-Fantasia recalling earlier themes, and a gentle finale which is one of the finest examples of a canon written after Bach. The 1886 premiere took place in an art gallery in Brussels, in a room so dark that Ysaÿe was forced to play the sonata largely from memory. The Vio...

Jennifer Pike was the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2002. She has given performances throughout the UK and around the world and, now aged twenty-three, is widely regarded as one of the finest violinists in Britain. The pianist Tom Poster who performs alongside her is well known for his artistry and versatility, equally in demand as a soloist and as a chamber musician. This recital features violin sonatas by Brahms and Robert Schumann as well as Three Romances by Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 is very much a ‘Duo’, the two instrumentalists performing in equal partnership. It was written in 1851 at quite a stressful time in Schumann’s life. There is certainly an air of robustness, even roughness, in the baroque-style finale. By contrast, in Brahms’s Violin Sonata No. 1 , the violin is always the principal voice, the piano never a competitor but rather a subtle accompanist. Brahms wrote the work in memory of his godson...

Jean Sibelius is perhaps best known for his seven great symphonies but there is also a large body of music for the concert hall, the theatre, and the salon, some of which is explored in this release. The Violin Concerto in D minor, Sibelius’s only full-length concerto, marries brilliantly idiomatic writing for the solo instrument with the seriousness characteristic of the symphonies. Intensely virtuosic, it is both a dramatic and a deeply romantic work. The Swan of Tuonela comes from the suite of four Lemminkäinen Legends , inspired by traditional Finnish myths. In it the majestic motion of the swan is evoked by the arching phrases of the cor anglais. Also featured are two well-known shorter works indelibly linked with Finnish identity. Finlandia became a national emblem of the Finnish struggle for independence from Russia while Andante festivo is a staple of Finnish public occasions. The Karelia Suite is another patriotic work, the rough-hewn character of its three mo...

'I'm not sure what medieval ears would have made of it but there's no denying Sinfonye's capacity for alerting us to a small but distinctive repertoire from an age and mentality essentially no different from our own' (BBC Music Magazine Top 1000 CDs Guide)   'The disc is irresistible. The singing and playing are ravishing , the sound immediate and caressing. This month's list is full of unfamiliar things but this may be the loveliest' (Fanfare, USA)

Here is England’s first great opera presented with a truly cohesive sense of theatrical purpose, one which unusually allows the drama to unfold in a close identification with each of the cameo characters… we have a supremely wide-ranging, tragic and experienced queen from the start, inhabiting the shadows of ‘Ah! Belinda’ with early signs of deplorable fate, which are accentuated by an extended symphony luxuriating poignantly on this resonating conceit… Lucy Crow’s Belinda is a splendid foil for Connolly’s self-absorption, with her astute and increasingly desperate buoying up. (Gramophone Editor’s Choice) There are many recordings of Dido and Aeneas , and I am convinced that this one must rank among the finest. Sarah Connolly assembled the cast and played a major part in the artistic decisions, including the insertion of pieces of additional music. She brings to the role of Dido a regal gravity that is indispensable for a convincing portrayal… The success or ...

Performed on piano in a mainstream performance style, the five keyboard concertos of J.S. Bach are given a robust treatment in this 2011 Decca release. Pianist Ramin Bahrami and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, led by Riccardo Chailly, make no concessions to period performance practice or historically informed scholarship, so there's no attempt to render the music in Baroque style. To early music connoisseurs, this disc may be dismissed out of hand for that reason, but listeners who are open to hearing Bach's concertos in modern instrumentation, with a minimum of ornamentation and a fairly straightforward execution, will be more favorably inclined to accept Bahrami's playing. This Iranian pianist specializes in Bach's keyboard music, and his interpretations stem from his intimate involvement with Bach's music from his teens. As a mature performer who plays with energy and assertiveness, Bahrami makes the concertos feel rather urgent in their fast outer movements...