Gidon Kremer / Kremerata Baltica SILENCIO

Kremer's orchestra returns with a program of music centered (for the most part) on silence. With the exception of the first movement of Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa, the works on this recording explore themes of quiet and introspection. Not that these pieces are background music; these are all complex pieces. Glass' Company, in fact, has a cascade of liquid passages full of arpeggiations and complex rhythms. The overall effect, however, is one of peacefulness. Interesting, too, the titles of the pieces lend themselves to images of intimacy -- titles Company, Come In!, and Darf Ich (German for "May I"). Come In! features soft and delicate music interspersed with a knocking sound. Opening movement "Ludus" from Tabula Rasa is the exception to the disc, with fiery intensity and almost unbearable tension. The Kremerata Baltica performs exquisitely and seem to do so effortlessly. This disc features two premiere recordings (Come In! and Darf ich) and one first recorded arrangement for string orchestra (Company). (Mark Allender)

MAIKE ZAZIE Fragmente

Maike Zazie is a pianist and a composer. Influenced by her passion for both music and literature, she composes and performs unconventional piano compositions. She operates at the crossroads of these two art forms, her medium being a type of sonic literature in both form and content: she composes pieces of music as she puts stories down on paper; she chooses notes as carefully as she chooses words. For Maike, sound is a language which enable storytelling. Her music is to be received as an experimental radio play or voice theatre or as a sonic essay. Only 50 cassette copies were originally distributed when Fragmente was first released a year and a half ago. 

Now Fragmente is revealed as one of the best hidden secrets of recent years. Fascinating, sophisticated, original and dreamy, the album is the first stage in a collaboration between Berliner Maike Zazie and 7K!, the label created as part of !K7, that is focused around avantgarde music and modern composition.

Katrine Gislinge / Stenhammar Quartet MOZART Piano Concertos No. 11 - 13

Pianist Katrine Gislinge trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen, and Yale University Over the last two decades she has established herself as one the most significant pianists in Scandinavia in both classical and modern repertoire with solo and chamber music concerts throughout Europe She has worked with musicians and conductors such as Okko Kamu, Heinrich Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Kurt Sanderling, Emmanuel Pahud and Gustavo Dudamel In 2014 Katrine premiered and recorded Bent Sørensen’s piano concerto Mignon – Papillons from the trilogy Papillons Katrine will also record the remaining two pieces, Rosenbad for piano quintet and Pantomime for piano and ensemble, to be released in 2017 for Dacapo She has recorded several CDs for, among others, Deutsche Grammophon and, in 2014, an acclaimed CD for Danacord Records with music by Schumann and Per Nørgård, who dedicated one of the works to her With The Danish Piano Trio she has recently released a Dacapo CD with Danish romantic piano trios She is currently recording a selection of Mozart piano concertos in chamber versions with the Stenhammar Quartet to be released for Alba Records in 2017.

Anna Netrebko DIVA

It is rare for an artist to break through the boundaries of classical music stardom and achieve recognition in the wider world, but Anna Netrebko has achieved that and more. In a recording career spanning less than fifteen years so far, she has not only seduced the classical scene with the beauty of her voice, her superb vocal control and supreme musicality, she has also become an international icon. More than an operatic diva, Anna Netrebko is an enormously charismatic individual whose style and stage presence are as celebrated as her musicianship. A passionate advocate for children’s causes, she supports a number of charitable organisations, including SOS-Kinderdorf International and the Russian Children’s Welfare Society. She is a global ambassador for Chopard jewellery.

Born in 1971 in Krasnodar, Russia, Netrebko studied vocal performance at the St Petersburg Conservatory. When she auditioned for the Mariinsky Theatre, she was spotted by Valery Gergiev, who became her vocal mentor. She made her operatic stage debut at the Mariinsky, aged 22, singing Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. One year later she made her US debut at the San Francisco Opera. She really started pulses racing in the international opera world with a triumphant Salzburg Festival debut in 2002 as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Since then she has gone on to perform with nearly all the world’s great opera companies, displaying consummate skill and naturalness as she inhabits each new role, including Mozart’s Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Puccini’s Mimì (La bohème) and Manon Lescaut; Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata), Gilda, Leonora, Lady Macbeth and Giovanna d’Arco; Bellini’s Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Elvira (I puritani) and Amina (La sonnambula); Donizetti’s Norina (Don Pasquale), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena; Massenet’s Manon; Gounod’s Juliette; Tchaikovsky’s Tatiana (Eugene Onegin) and Iolanta; Wagner’s Elsa (Lohengrin); and, most recently, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur.

Her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera also came in 2002, and she has returned every season since, becoming the only soprano to have opened the season in three consecutive years (2011–13), as well as captivating audiences worldwide thanks to the Met’s “Live in HD” cinecasts. Anna Netrebko appears every season at the Vienna State Opera – she has lived in Vienna for many years and obtained Austrian citizenship in 2006. Having made her La Scala debut in 2011 as Donna Anna, she returned to Milan in 2012, giving performances as Mimì that won praise from critics and audiences alike. She made her role debut as Verdi’s Lady Macbeth at the Bavarian State Opera in 2014 and was invited back to La Scala to open the 2015-16 season in a production of the same composer’s Giovanna d’Arco, the work’s first performance there for over 150 years and Netrebko’s first stage appearance in its title role.

Matan Porat LUX

With Lux, the brilliant pianist and composer Matan Porat offers a visionary programme inspired by the theme of light. Twelve pieces chosen among a repertoire spanning twelve centuries accompany the course of a day, from dawn to nightfall. each piece corresponds to a time of day, with its own particular light.

Marion Rampal / Quatuor Manfred / Raphaël Imbert BYE-BYE BERLIN

Bye bye… or Berlin for ever? Throughout the 1920s all eyes were turned towards Berlin. Driven by a collective energy, artists of all persuasions (writers, painters, architects, filmmakers and composers) there established the principles of ‘New Objectivity’, which saw the city become the very epitome of modernity, at the same time as following in the footsteps of other great cities worldwide, not least New York, the birthplace of jazz. Life in Berlin was not the stuff of romance however: strikes, poverty, repression, the rise of Nazism… The post-war social context contributed to the craze that swept the capital for cabaret, a kind of safety valve that allowed for a moral and social release. 

It is this ephemeral, underground world of ‘Great Berlin’ as depicted in ‘The Blue Angel’ that Marion Rampal and the Quatuor Manfred invite us to rediscover here, in collaboration with saxophonist Raphaël Imbert: a liberal burst of freedom and humanity delivered with passion.

Grace Davidson / Academy of Ancient Music VIVALDI - HANDEL

It is a great pleasure to have recorded these glorious sacred works after performing them before an audience so many times. To make a recording with such a wonderful orchestra and in the pearly acoustic of All Hallows’ Church, Gospel Oak was a joy. I hope you will share these feelings when you hear the result. Special thanks to my dearest parents, Nigel and our wonderful children for their constant love and support. (Grace Davidson, 2018)

Fabio Biondi / Giangiacomo Pinardi PAGANINI Sonatas for Violin and Guitar

Fabio Biondi has chosen a selection of delightful virtuoso chamber music pieces by Niccolò Paganini to mark his tenth album for Glossa. Together with his long-term colleague from Europa Galante, the plucked-string specialist Giangiacomo Pinardi (here playing an original romantic guitar from c1825), Biondi delivers one of the most special Glossa albums of recent times. The works, composed between 1804 and c1828, are mainly two-movement sonatas contained in the Centone di sonate collection, although the album also includes the popular Sonata concertata in A major.

Recorded in Valencia by the engineer and producer Fabio Framba (another well-known component of Biondi’s recording setups), the booklet of this album includes a highly original essay signed by Pierre Élie Mamou, in which he looks into the Devil/God dichotomy as applied to the figure of Paganini by his own contemporaries. The graphic design for the CD takes its inspiration from this idea, for another typically Glossa look, listen and read experience… (GLOSSA)

Ezio Bosso / StradivariFestival Chamber Orchestra BOSSO, MARCELLO, BACH, TCHAIKOVSKY, CAGE

Resident Conductor and Art Director of the StradivariFestival Chamber Orchestra, Sony Classical International Artist from 2016, and in February 2018 he was designated as a Steinway Artist.

Moreover, Ezio Bosso is the Testimonial and International Ambassador of the Associazione Mozart14, official legacy of the social and educational principles established by the late Maestro Claudio Abbado, pursued with unique dedication by his daughter Alessandra. This confirms Maestro Bosso’s didactic and social commitment underlined by his intense dissemination activity, constantly emphasised through his concerts, his decision to open, where possible, all the orchestra or chamber music rehearsals to the public. He is the first conductor to do so: his lessons are open to everyone, but also his ventures with the Opera Pia Barolo and Medicina a Misura di Donna in Turin. 

Ezio Bosso is the official testimonial of the 2018 European Music Day. 

A conductor, a composer, a pianist when necessary as he loves to describe himself, Ezio Bosso intensified his concert activity in 2015 with a career constantly increasing that, after having attracted an audience of over 100,000 people to the most significant theatres with his solo piano recital in 2016, considered as the most important classical music tour in Italian history, sees him today having just completed a long series of triumphant concerts at the head of some of the best Italian and international orchestras in his regained roleof conductor, after a few years’ hiatus.

Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal / Kent Nagano LEONARD BERNSTEIN A Quiet Place

Decca Classics and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal are proud to present the world premiere recording of the chamber version of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘A Quiet Place’, adapted by Garth Edwin Sunderland. It is conducted by Kent Nagano and will be released on 22^nd June, ahead of the Bernstein centenary on 25^th August 2018.
Premiered in 1983, Bernstein’s opera ‘A Quiet Place’ was the composer’s last work written for the stage and remains one of his lesser known large-scale compositions. The concert-version presented on the new album features a chamber orchestra and was recorded live at the Maison symphonique de Montréal in May 2017. Garth Edwin Sunderland’s adaptation offers a compact presentation of the three-act opera which places equal focus on librettist Stephen Wadsworth’s dramatic narrative and Bernstein’s complex and highly developed late musical style.
Kent Nagano was introduced to Bernstein by Seiji Ozawa in 1984 and studied with him until his death in 1990. Nagano says, “For Bernstein music was life – the two were synonymous, inseparable. He never stopped exploring and pushing his own compositional language. The goal in this particular adaptation is to allow the spirited brilliance and poetic depth of the work to shine through – including dance rhythms and elements of American folklore. Our hope is that the timeless and universal quality of the piece and the genius of the composition are laid bare in this new recording.”
Joining Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal on this new album is an outstanding group of young singers featuring soprano Claudia Boyle as Dede and tenor Joseph Kaiser as François. The cast also includes: baritones Gordon Bintner, Lucas Meachem and Daniel Belcher; tenors Rupert Charlesworth and John Tessier; mezzo-sopranos Annie Rosen and Maija Skille; and bass Steven Humes; as well as the OSM Chorus led by chorus master Andrew Megill.
‘A Quiet Place’ is an audacious musical-dramatic exploration of the changing face of American society. As Garth Edwin Sunderland, Senior Music Editor at the Leonard Bernstein Office, said of the composer’s late opera, “It’s such a brilliant work, the culmination of what he accomplished and the culmination of his gifts as a composer. Creating this adaptation was a deeply powerful experience for me, and it is my hope that it will provide audiences with a similar experience of this great American opera.”

Anna Torge / Mayumi Hirasaki / Il cantino MANDOLINO E VIOLINO IN ITALIA

The Italian composers of the Baroque, led by Antonio Vivaldi, often honoured the small instruments of the lute family in their rich compositional oeuvres. At the time these instruments with a fourth-third tuning were known by various names, for example, as the leuto, leutino, mandola, or mandolla. Today the small lute is uniformly termed the 'Baroque mandolin' and more rarely the 'soprano lute'. The number of composers who wrote attractive works for the mandolin documents the fact that it was then a much-played instrument that musical audiences liked to hear. Accordingly, this new recording brings together concertos, trios, and sonatas by Carlo Arrigoni, Johann Adolf Hasse, Ranieri Capponi, and – of course – Vivaldi. What is particularly surprising here is the homogeneous sound of the dialogue between the Baroque mandolin and the Baroque violin – since they are two very different instruments in the field of tonal production. The tonal beauty of both solo parts, with one duo partner supporting the other with accompanying broken chords, produces a captivating effect in the second movement of Vivaldi's Concerto RV 548. Anna Torge is one of the leading virtuosos of the Baroque mandolin.

Ana de la Vega / English Chamber Orchestra MOZART - MYSLIVECEK Flute Concertos

With sensuous melodies and elegant virtuosity, Mozart’s Flute Concertos in G major (K. 313) and D major (K. 314) are the most cherished pieces composed for the instrument. Here they are brought together with the recently rediscovered Flute Concerto in D major by Josef Mysliveček, Mozart’s esteemed Bohemian contemporary. Released together with the Mozart Concertos, this rare, exciting work is finally on the market again.

The soloist is none other than the actual person who rediscovered Mysliveček’s hidden treasure: flautist Ana de la Vega, who, as a successor of the great French school of Flute playing, possesses that captivating full tone coupled with exquisite legerity. On this PENTATONE release, she teams up with the English Chamber Orchestra, one of the most celebrated Mozart orchestras in the world.

Yoshiki Ieki AIRS OF EDINBURGH

 

The Japanese harpsichordist, Yoshiki Ieki, studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory, where she graduated wirh a soloist diploma in 1981.

Kukuruz Quartet JULIUS EASTMAN Piano Interpretations

Kukuruz started 2014 their involvement with Julius Eastman and his musical works. In 2017, their performance at documenta 14 in the Megaro Mousikis concert hall in Athens earned a standing ovation. They performed works by Julius Eastman: 'Evil Nigger', 'Gay Guerrilla', 'Buddha' and 'Fugue No. 7'. The recording of these compositions followed in November 2017 on four Steinway D pianos in the main hall of the historic Radiostudio Zürich. Composer, trombonist and scholar George E. Lewis, who knew Eastman personally and played with him, writes in the liner notes: „This brilliant recording by the Kukuruz Quartet constitutes an important new contribution to the growing corpus of performances of music by the composer, pianist, and singer Julius Eastman (1940-1990), who came to prominence in the experimental music scene of the 1970s and 1980s ... On this recording, the Kukuruz Quartet renders Eastman’s spirit of adventure audible and sensuous, exemplifying a new, creolized formation of contemporary classical music that is able to embrace a multicultural, multi-ethnic usable past and thinkable future that can affirm our common humanity in the pursuit of new music.“ (Intakt Records)

Cuarteto Casals INVENTIONS

Launching its complete cycle of Beethoven's string quartets, the Cuarteto Casals presents this first installment featuring initial examples of the genre from each of the three key periods in the composer's career: his formative years, the socalled 'heroic' middle period, and that of his artisticmaturity. The ingenious juxstaposition shows how much his superhuman quest for perfection enriched a compositional language of breathtaking originality in tandem with a depth of expression without precedent in this genre, of which Beethoven is the uncontested master.

Valery Afanassiev ICH BIN MOZART

Today we are too fond of clear-cut solutions and exhaustive explanations. Writers and film directors are supposed to shed light even on those nooks and crannies which should remain dark for the sake of perspective. And readers as well as cinema goers should remain in the dark about this and that for the sake of the same perspective, the same space, the same labyrinth. Alas, there are no more dark ladies either in sonnets or in novels. We have forgotten the aroma of unanswerable questions. And yet every masterpiece is an unanswerable question. And so is every artist of genius. In Pushkin's short tragedy Mozart and Salieri there are many unanswerable questions. Actually it ends with such a question: 'Is an evil deed compatible with genius?' (Gesualdo, who was unquestionably a composer of genius, killed his wife. But does this murder answer the question?) In the opening monologue Salieri ruminates over his music-oriented life and asks a crucial question: 'Why would God choose an obscene child to be his instrument?' That is how Peter Shäffer formulates the same question in Amadeus. Was Mozart an obscene child? Why should God have chosen Salieri in preference to Mozart? Salieri was an honest, hardworking musician: neither Pushkin nor Shäffer deny him that. What is more, his musical erudition did not prevent him from relishing Mozart's masterpieces with every fibre of his being (with every fibre of his soul, as the Russians would say)—a rare, priceless gift. At the end of Pushkin's tragedy Mozart says that if everyone could feel harmony as Salieri does, the world might come to an end, no one caring about the base needs of life, everyone luxuriating in art. What a pity the world will never come to an end through art. As a matter of fact, to paraphrase T. S. Eliot, such an end might turn out to be a magnificent beginning. (From the essay “WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART” in the booklet)

Wiener Philharmoniker / Valery Gergiev / Anna Netrebko SOMMERNACHTSKONZERT 2018

The Summer Night Concert of The Vienna Philharmonic is the world's biggest annual classical open-air concert set in the magical Schönbrunn Palace Baroque park in Vienna. The concert will take place on 31 May 2018 and its theme for this year is 'An Italian Night'. The concert is broadcast on TV and radio in more than 60 countries, and thus reaches an audience of millions. The evening’s repertoire is an attractive combination of extremely popular works for orchestra including the William Tell Overture, the March from the opera Aida and the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, as well as famous Soprano arias like Vissi d’arte, vissi d‘amore from the Opera Tosca. Valery Gergiev returns to conducts the Summer Night Concert and is joined by star Soprano Anna Netrebko in what promises to be one of the most popular concerts this year! (Presto Classical)

Rolf Lislevand / Concerto Stella Matutina NUOVE INVENZIONI

Rolf Lislevand and Concerto Stella Matutina first worked on a project in 2011, which would result in a prosperous collaboration in concert series and now, the release of their first CD together. The album is a mix of baroque and jazz as well as improvised passages with music arranged for the 12 people orchestra by Andrea Falconieri, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Vincenzo Albrici. Bringing the elements of baroque and jazz together and developing a new kind of music by optimizing the instruments of Early Music and giving each instrument section its moment on the recording was the goal of this release. With this intimate and well mixed recording, the musicians did not aim to create crossover music or fit into any other genre but rather generate a sound that is a symbiosis of different musical elements.

 

Virtuoso of the lute and Baroque guitar Rolf Lislevand is one of the most charismatic figures in today’s early music scene. Lislevand, whose solo recordings have won numerous awards, has been professor of lute and historical performance at Trossingen Musikhochschule since 1993.

 

Since the establishment of the Baroque orchestra 2005 the number of engagements at home and abroad has been growing. Concerto Stella Matutina has its own concert series in Vorarlberg and has gained an ever growing core audience in a very short time. The musicians, next to the interpretation of familiar masterpieces, also pay special attention to forgotten works of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Anna Wróbel TUTTI I CAPRICCI DEL SIGNOR PIATTI

Carlo Alfredo Piatti, born at Bergamo, Jan. 8, 1822, died at Crocette di Mozzo – about four miles from Bergamo – at the residence of his son-in-law, Count Carlo Lochis, on July 18, 1901.

His father, Antonio Piatti, born at Bergamo in 1801, was a violinist of some repute, who held the post of leader in the orchestra of his native town. Piatti began in his extreme youth to study the instrument which was destined to make him famous. Given the option – at the age of five – of choosing between the professions of violoncellist and cobbler, he decided in favour of the first, and was promptly sent to his great-uncle Zanetti to receive instruction. Though an old man at the time, Zanetti was an accomplished violoncellist, and a patient teacher. He mode it a rule to seat his diminutive pupil in a chair placed upon a table, and it was in this elevated position that the precocious child easily mastered those ordinary difficulties, which severely tax most students. After two years' study his great-uncle, considering his pupil sufficiently advanced, applied for, and obtained permission for him to play in the theatre orchestra. The only return he received for the serious physical effort of the engagement – which lasted three months – was a present of ten francs from the Impresario, half of which was retained by his great-uncle...

Elena Moşuc VERDI HEROINES

Although Elena Moşuc is first and foremost a bel canto specialist and performer of various Mozart heroines for dramatic coloratura soprano, it must be noted that Giuseppe Verdi’s stage works have always been an integral part of her repertoire and will play an even more prominent part of it in the future. Since Maria Callas these roles are sung with heavier and above all dramatic voices. Nowadays this is considered common property. However, one should always keep in mind that these roles – in terms of requirements and stylistics – can not be separated from the era of bel canto and even in Verdi’s times were sung or composed explicitly by leading bel canto primadonnas for these types of voices , Elena Moşuc began her brilliant international career at the Zurich Opera House. Guest appearances take place at the most important houses and festivals in the world (including the opera houses of Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Hamburg, Milan, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, London, Helsinki, Rome, Venice, Verona) as well as in the USA at the MET, in Japan, China and Korea.

Convergent Winds: Music of PAUL HINDEMITH

An accomplished performer on the viola, piano, and clarinet, Paul Hindemith used to brag that he could play any instrument in the orchestra with a little practice. Over the course of his prolific career, the German composer proved that he could write for any instrument as well, and that very notion became something of a mission for him- to ensure that each instrument had its share of solo repertoire. Convergent Winds, a new recording from Oberlin Music, showcases five sonatas Hindemith wrote for woodwinds. It features performances by a host of esteemed Oberlin Conservatory faculty: clarinetist Richard Hawkins, pianist James Howsmon, flutist Alexa Still, oboist and English hornist Robert Walters, and retired bassoonist George Skakeeny. The works were written between 1936- a time when Hindemith’s music was banned from performance in Nazi Germany- to 1942, by which time he has resettled in America. For Howsmon, a longtime professor of instrumental accompanying at Oberlin, the recording pays tribute to an exacting neoclassicist whose music has unfairly fallen out of fashion. “Rather than being a huge innovator, Hindemith took his inspiration from past eras, and yet he had a really wonderful approach to it,” Howsmon says. “He took old models and made them look new, and no matter how wild he gets, you can always find where his starting point was, and it was always 150 years before. He’s like a master furniture builder- a total craftsman. There have been others who have done that, of course, but to me he is the best of them.

Notturna / Christopher Palameta FORGOTTEN CHAMBER WORKS WITH OBOE FROM THE COURT OF PRUSSIA

The ensemble Notturna under the direction of oboist Christopher Palameta has unearthed repertoire in several archives worthy of rediscovery. On this album they present as world premiere recording Berlin Chamber Music at the time of Friedrich dem Großen (Frederick the Great). The commonality of the selected sonatas by respected composers such as Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708-1763), Christian Gottfried Krause (1717-1770) and Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703-1771) is the solo instrument oboe. In the shadow of the flute, the favorite instrument of Friedrich dem Großen (Frederick the Great), the role of the oboe at the Prussian Court was underestimated for a long time. However there is still a variety of sonatas and concerts for this instrument which survived from this time. The Quintet in A minor by Graun, who was concertmaster of the Royal Court Orchestra since 1741, is characterized by frequent and unexpected changes of affects, dynamics and harmonies in order to achieve expressive and sentimental effects. In contrast to this work are the Trio Sonata in A minor, the Quadro Sonata in B-flat major and the Trio Sonata in G major by Janitsch, who became a violinist in the Court Orchestra in 1736. His works are much more influenced by a gallant style with varied melodies. The Trio Sonata in D minor by Krause is particularly fascinating in its original third movement, in which the oboe enters into a dialogue with the violin. A recording of beautiful Baroque music in unique interpretations.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8 (THE ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA COLLECTION 6 / 6)

This collection of previously unreleased live recordings celebrates the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s centenary and the ten-year residency, from 2008 to 2018, of its principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic, under its long-term Principal Conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, is widely recognised as one of Europe’s most distinguished orchestras. Celebrated for its winning combination of passionate commitment, boundless energy and scintillating virtuosity, the orchestra has come a long way since its relatively humble beginnings in 1918 as a private ensemble whose members initially paid for the privilege of joining its ranks.

The arrival of Canadian maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin in 2008 signalled a new golden era for the Rotterdam Philharmonic, as is evidenced by this outstanding set of recordings, captured live in the Doelen concert hall between 2011 and 2016 and collected together here for the first time by Deutsche Grammophon. At the end of 2017/18 season Nezet-Seguin assumes the role of Honorary Conductor, handing over the post of Principal to 29-year-old Lahav Shani.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra DVORÁK Symphony No. 8 DEBUSSY Nocturnes HAYDN Symphony No. 44 (THE ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA COLLECTION 4 & 5 / 6)

This collection of previously unreleased live recordings celebrates the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s centenary and the ten-year residency, from 2008 to 2018, of its principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic, under its long-term Principal Conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, is widely recognised as one of Europe’s most distinguished orchestras. Celebrated for its winning combination of passionate commitment, boundless energy and scintillating virtuosity, the orchestra has come a long way since its relatively humble beginnings in 1918 as a private ensemble whose members initially paid for the privilege of joining its ranks.

The arrival of Canadian maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin in 2008 signalled a new golden era for the Rotterdam Philharmonic, as is evidenced by this outstanding set of recordings, captured live in the Doelen concert hall between 2011 and 2016 and collected together here for the first time by Deutsche Grammophon. At the end of 2017/18 season Nezet-Seguin assumes the role of Honorary Conductor, handing over the post of Principal to 29-year-old Lahav Shani.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8 TCHAIKOVSKY Francesca da Rimini TURNAGE Piano Concerto (THE ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA COLLECTION 3 / 6)

This collection of previously unreleased live recordings celebrates the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s centenary and the ten-year residency, from 2008 to 2018, of its principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic, under its long-term Principal Conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, is widely recognised as one of Europe’s most distinguished orchestras. Celebrated for its winning combination of passionate commitment, boundless energy and scintillating virtuosity, the orchestra has come a long way since its relatively humble beginnings in 1918 as a private ensemble whose members initially paid for the privilege of joining its ranks.

The arrival of Canadian maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin in 2008 signalled a new golden era for the Rotterdam Philharmonic, as is evidenced by this outstanding set of recordings, captured live in the Doelen concert hall between 2011 and 2016 and collected together here for the first time by Deutsche Grammophon. At the end of 2017/18 season Nezet-Seguin assumes the role of Honorary Conductor, handing over the post of Principal to 29-year-old Lahav Shani.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin MAHLER Symphony No. 10 (THE ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA COLLECTION 2 / 6)

This collection of previously unreleased live recordings celebrates the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s centenary and the ten-year residency, from 2008 to 2018, of its principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic, under its long-term Principal Conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, is widely recognised as one of Europe’s most distinguished orchestras. Celebrated for its winning combination of passionate commitment, boundless energy and scintillating virtuosity, the orchestra has come a long way since its relatively humble beginnings in 1918 as a private ensemble whose members initially paid for the privilege of joining its ranks.

The arrival of Canadian maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin in 2008 signalled a new golden era for the Rotterdam Philharmonic, as is evidenced by this outstanding set of recordings, captured live in the Doelen concert hall between 2011 and 2016 and collected together here for the first time by Deutsche Grammophon. At the end of 2017/18 season Nezet-Seguin assumes the role of Honorary Conductor, handing over the post of Principal to 29-year-old Lahav Shani.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 4 (THE ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA COLLECTION 1 / 6)

This collection of previously unreleased live recordings celebrates the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s centenary and the ten-year residency, from 2008 to 2018, of its principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic, under its long-term Principal Conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, is widely recognised as one of Europe’s most distinguished orchestras. Celebrated for its winning combination of passionate commitment, boundless energy and scintillating virtuosity, the orchestra has come a long way since its relatively humble beginnings in 1918 as a private ensemble whose members initially paid for the privilege of joining its ranks.

The arrival of Canadian maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin in 2008 signalled a new golden era for the Rotterdam Philharmonic, as is evidenced by this outstanding set of recordings, captured live in the Doelen concert hall between 2011 and 2016 and collected together here for the first time by Deutsche Grammophon. At the end of 2017/18 season Nezet-Seguin assumes the role of Honorary Conductor, handing over the post of Principal to 29-year-old Lahav Shani.

Nadia Shpachenko QUOTATIONS & HOMAGES

“A bountiful offering of extraordinary piano music combined with highly skilled performances… 6 Fugitive Memories is a remarkable exposition of historical and influential musical voices, expertly realized by Ms. Shpachenko… The wide variety of density and colors make Rainbow Tangle a well balanced tribute to Messiaen’s landmark work… Down to You is Up makes effective use of the Velvet Underground material without being derivative, creating a sparkling, original work… Epitaphs and Youngsters is a well-balanced multimedia work that memorably captures the essence of its subjects in music, visual art and words… Ms. Shpachenko sat quietly and seemed to gather herself before attacking the keyboard, issuing blizzard of rapid notes from the piano that filled the air with an amazing variety of complex sounds – for about ten seconds [in Piano Piece for Mr. Carter’s 100th Birthday]… Bolts of Loving Thunder displays an impressive range of emotions and exuberance in keeping with a great tradition… Igor to Please is visceral and exciting, an amazing ensemble of electronics and piano that calls for virtuosic skill by the soloist… Accidental Mozart was received in good fun and showcased Borecki’s acute sense of musical style and arrangement.” (Paul Muller, Sequenza21)

Benjamin Schmid / Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra / Tibor Bogányi BÉLA BARTÓK Die Violinkonzerte

Austrian star violinist Benjamin Schmid has a great reputation for his extraordinarily broad repertoire, which besides lesser known works for violin also includes the jazz genre. In cooperation with the Pannonic Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Tibor Boganyi, Schmid now releases a recording of both violin concertos by Bela Bartok. Written in 1908, the first concerto Op. posth. Sz 36 remained lost due to his unfortunate admiration of, and the handing over of the manuscript to, a violinist until late after Bartoks death, and only was published in 1956. The violin concerto No. 2 Sz 112 was composed in 1937/38 and should become the last completed solo concerto before Bartok’s emigration to the United States. Here, the listener can from listening alone hardly tell that in addition to the typical “Hungarian” melodies, twelve-tone motives and even quarter tones can be found in the solo part. Bejamin Schmid is one of today’s most versatile violinists. He has recorded around 50 albums which have received various awards such as the German Record Prize, the Gramophone Editor’s Choice, and the Strad Selection. He performs in about 80 concerts a year worldwide, and is professor of violin at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. (Arkiv Music)

David Veslocki BACH Volume I

American Guitarist, Record Producer and educator David Veslocki leads a fulfilling and diverse musically life that has taken him around the world and earned him many awards, television, commercial and movie placements. The winner of the Elliot Fisk Award, The International Songwriting Competition, The Unsigned Only Songwriting Competition, David has performed as a soloist with the Hartford Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the world icon composer John Adams.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't working on this record. I learned my very first Bach piece as a child and was entranced by the streaming river of notes whose architecture was so magnificent as the entire universe itself it felt. Throughout every stage of my life the music of J.S. Bach deeply consoled, encouraged, informed and elevated me. My journey as a guitarist and a producer are coming together to bring this record to life. (David Veslocki)

Moonkyung Lee PARTS TO PLAY

On Parts to Play, critically acclaimed violinist Moonkyung Lee turns from the symphonic environment of the critically lauded label debut, Tchaikovsky, on which she performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, to a more intimate setting, with only pianist Martha Locker as her partner on a selection of works that include both stunning solo performances and intricate yet simple duets.

Choosing to include Prokofiev’s “Sonata for Solo Violin” amid compositions from six contemporary composers who collectively represent three decades of works is indicative of Lee’s ability to tease out the subtle nuances of every piece she performs. The three-movement suite moves from the simplicity of Moderato’s Classical sonata format through the more lyrically, introverted Andante Dolce to the clever finale, Con Brio.  Similarly, her transit through Benjamin Ellin’s composition for solo violin, “Three States at Play,” is a nuanced journey through three movements, in which the more serene second movement is bookended by two outer movements that are quite rhythmically active.

When performing duets with Locker, such as on Rain Worthington’s “Jilted Tango,” Lee’s violin seamlessly integrates with the piano to create an atmosphere both spirited and poignant, capturing the “push and pull in a dance of love” implied by its title. Another sort of dance entirely is captured on the duo’s performance of the vibrant and upbeat “Grand Tartanella.”

Moonkyung Lee’s career includes numerous accolades, awards and scholarships including the Yale Chamber Music Celebration, and an NYU/Steinhardt Doctoral Fellowship for Doctoral Studies, of which she was the first ever classical string performer recipient. Her extensive array of performances, both in Europe in the US, include collaborations with many eminent ensembles, conductors and performers. Among the venues at which she has performed are Lincoln Center. the Berlin Konzerthaus, Dvorak and Smetana Halls in Prague, and the Seoul Arts Center Recital Hall.  Her Parma label debut, Tchaikovsky Works for Violin and Orchestra, won the silver medal at the 2017 Global Music Awards and was chosen by Spotify for their Classical New Releases playlist.

Pianist Martha Locker performs as both a soloist and chamber musician in both the United States and abroad. As a soloist she has performed with the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra and the New Juilliard Ensemble; as a chamber musician and performer of contemporary music she performs throughout New York at such venues as Symphony Space and New York University. She has been a fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center and has been a guest artist at the Kyoto International Music Festival and the New York University Summer String Seminar, among many others.

Kreutzer Quartet / Roderick Chadwick / CalArts Orchestra / Susan Allen GLORIA COATES Piano Quintet - Symphony No. 10

The quantum leap forward the American composer, Gloria Coates, is bringing to the sounds of classical music is parallel to the advent of the Second Viennese School. Whether you are yet prepared for such a change is very much a personal reaction, though if you are willing to explore her world, then the Piano Quintet, composed five years ago, would be a good starting point. It begins with the notion of tuning the strings of two of the quartet members a quarter tone higher, which in itself could prove a problem for those with perfect pitch. It certainly has the life-changing impact Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring must have made on its early audiences, the unusual tone of the piano—it sounds more akin to a ‘prepared’ piano in this ‘live’ concert recording—adding its own dimension. There is a programme to each of the four movements explained in the enclosed booklet, and is in essence a sound picture influenced by Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Coates has been based in Germany since the 1970’s, the Tenth Symphony influenced by the ancient Celtic tribes who settled in Bavaria. It is scored for a small group of brass and percussion, its hollow and repetitive nature creating a sense of timelessness in the opening movement; the central ‘The Glory of Decay’, scored for percussion describes that nature is repetitive but is still constantly changing; then add brass and you have the sounds of the final movement. The recording was taken from one public performance and brings with it the sadness that it was the final concert appearance of the America conductor, Susan Allen, before her untimely death. All of the performances come from those who are interested in exploring and promoting modern music, the Kreutzer Quartet being particularly associated with the music of Coates. Recordings of good quality. (David’s Review Corner)

Eva Juárez / A Corte Musical / Rogério Gonçalves SEBASTIÁN DURÓN Lágrimas, Amor...

Sebastián Durón is one of those composers whose turbulent life story, combined with an exceptional musical output, can end up leaving nobody indifferent. He was born in 1660, in Brihuega, a small municipality in Castilla-La Mancha and was the younger brother of another important Spanish composer, Diego Durón (1653-1731), who became the maestro de capilla in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. At the age of nineteen, Sebastián embarked on his musical career as assistant organist to Andrés Sola in the cathedral of San Salvador (La Seo) in Zaragoza. In the following years, he travelled across mainland Spain to be employed as second organist in the cathedral of Sevilla (1680), and first organist in the cathedrals of Burgo de Osma 1685) and Palencia (1686). During the course of this time he was ordained as a priest. 

By now, his fame as an organist and as a composer was already such that in 1691 King Carlos II appointed him to succeed the organist José Sanz, who in that year was going into retirement. Durón quickly became one of the favourite Madrid court composers, as much for his religious music as for that for the stage. During this period, Durón also took the opportunity to work for high-ranking families of the nobility, such as the Dukes of Osuna and the Counts of Oñate. The absence of the official maestro of the Real Capilla, Diego Verdugo led increasingly to the musical responsibilities falling upon Durón until, in 1701, with the arrival of the first Spanish Bourbon king, Felipe V, Durón was appointed maestro of the Real Capilla as well as rector of the Real Colegio de Niños Cantorcicos.

Diego Ares ANTONIO SOLER El Diablo Vestido de Fraile

Diego Ares, born in Vigo in 1983, studied piano with Aldona Dvarionaitė and Alis Jurgelionis, and harpsichord with Pilar Cancio (Spain), Richard Egarr (Holland), Jesper Christensen and Jörg-Andreas Bötticher (Switzerland).

As harpsichord soloist, Diego Ares has performed extensively in Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, and Japan.

For his first CD, he recorded Soler’s Fandango and two harpsichord concertos by J. S. Bach with the Island of Menorca Chamber Orchestra conducted by Farran James (Columna Musica, 2006). His two solo recordings for Pan Classics have been praised by audiences and critics: “El Diablo vestido de fraile,” harpsichord music by P. Fr. Antonio Soler, was given the Diapason d’Or and recommended by “The Record Geijutsu”; “Vivi felice,” harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, was also awarded the Diapason d’Or and rated exceptional by Scherzo Magazine.

Goldmund Quartet SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartets 3 & 9

The Goldmund Quartet, formed by violinists Florian Schötz and Pinchas Adt, violist Christoph Vandory and cellist Raphael Paratore, is now counted as one of the most exciting young string quartets in Europe. Since their debut at Munich’s Prinzregententheater, the quartet appeared at international festivals such as the Festival Aix-en-Provence, Festival de Música y Danza Granada and Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele. Recitals have taken them to prestigious chamber music venues and series in Denmark, France, Norway, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, China and the US. The 2017/18 season sees the Goldmund Quartet give its debuts at Washington’s Phillips Collection, Hemsing Festival Norway and at Shanghai Concerto Hall.

The Goldmund Quartet from Munich celebrates its debut with Berlin Classics and goes straight to the top: the string quartets no. 3 and 9 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Irony, cynicism, depression, but apparently boundless joy, and intense ecstatic emotion: those are all characteristics of the music of Shostakovich. Absolute high points are confronted with deeply tragic moments.

This provides the young ensemble with a real stimulus: "The greatest challenge is that this music is so extreme. Elation, incredible downs, unbelievable sadness. You need to immerse yourself in these different emotional moods. With Shostakovich you really need to go all out."

Choir of the Queen’s College Oxford / Owen Rees THE HOUSE OF THE MIND

This Friday, 8 June, sees the release of House of the Mind, the Choir’s new CD. The Choir celebrates the works of choral music icon Herbert Howells in a disc that sets his works alongside pieces that they inspired and influenced – such as Nico Muhly’s Like as the Hart for choir, solo violin and percussion – as well as works that, in turn, influenced him. The disc features two world premiere recordings by David Bednall: settings of two Marian Antiphons Alma redemptoris mater and Ave regina caelorum that ‘complete’ the partly-lost set of works that Howells wrote for Westminster Cathedral.

Giovanni Antonini / Kammerorchester Basel HAYDN 2032 - No. 5 L'HOMME DE GÉNIE

Haydn2032, the ambitious project of recording the complete symphonies of Haydn, has been placed from the start under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, with two ensembles, Il Giardino Armonico, which made the first four volumes, and the Kammerochester Basel, to which this fifth volume and the next two are assigned. Another characteristic of the edition is that each time Haydn is set in perspective with another composer; here it is Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-92): ‘Kraus was the first man of genius that I met. Why did he have to die? It is an irreparable loss for our art. The Symphony in C minor he wrote in Vienna specially for me is a work which will be considered a masterpiece in every century’, said Haydn in 1797. Though he long remained forgotten after his death, Kraus made an active contribution to the movement of poetic renewal called ‘Sturm und Drang’ or ‘Geniezeit’ (time of genius) because such artists as the young Goethe broke free of all tradition to follow their hearts alone. When Haydn called Kraus homme de génie, in French, he probably had this context in mind. The two composers had met in Vienna in 1783.

Diego Ares BACH Goldberg Variationen

In the thirty-two movements that make up the Goldberg Variations, Bach offers us a perfect equilibrium between structure, proportion, counterpoint and melody. Diego Ares, for whom this remarkable work has been a lifelong inspiration, sees the key to it in the notion of travel: a moving trip to different environments, enriched by new experiences in the course of the variations, the last of which (the Quodlibet) marks the composer's salutary return home. A profound and humanistic message and an angle from which the Variations have rarely been approached before.

Caroline Goulding / Symphonieorchester / Kevin John Edusei KORNGOLD & MOZART Violin Concertos

 For nearly a decade, the virtuoso violinist Caroline Goudling has performed with the world’s premier orchestras, in recital and on record and has blossomed from “precociously gifted” (Gramophone) 13-year-old soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra to “a skilled violinist well on her way to an important career” (Washington Post).

"Re-emerging from a seven-month pause from concertizing to focus her attention on meditative practices and the merging of meditation and music, Caroline is reopening the 2018 season with the release of her third album on Claves Records." Caroline has studied with Christian Tetzlaff, Donald Weilerstein, Paul Kantor, Joel Smirnoff and Julia Kurtyka. A past member of the Stradivari Society, Caroline currently plays a Giovanni Battista Rogeri (1675), courtesy of Peter and Cathy Halstead.

Bolette Roed J.S. BACH Sonatas - Partitas - Suites

This new Ondine release by Danish-born recorder player Bolette Roed includes the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) arranged for solo recorder. The works were arranged by Frans Brüggen (1934–2014), famous Dutch recorder player and conductor who was of the greatest importance to the movement of the historically informed performance practice.

With the exception of his Partita BWV 1013, Bach wrote relatively few works for the recorder. However, composers like Bach and Vivaldi did themselves arrange many of their works for different instruments. From this point of view the work of arranging Bach’s solo cello and violin pieces for recorder is something what Bach himself could have done, had he been inspired by a talented recorder player himself at the time of his compositions. For this recording several different recorders were being chosen. For the 11 movements written for the violin original keys were kept by changing the recorders accordingly. The cello suites are being played by one recorder only by transposing the original keys down a minor second.

Bolette Roed is an award-winning artist who regularly performs with major Danish orchestras as well as with early music ensembles and baroque orchestras in various countries. Bolette Roed strives to extend the instrument’s repertoire beyond its established role in Early Music, towards new frontiers of improvisation, folk, and world music. Roed further aspires to adapt canonical classical works to the recorder and stays in constant dialogue with and commissions new works from today’s composers.

Giovanni Antonini / Kammerorchester Basel HAYDN 2032 - No. 6 LAMENTATIONE

The year 2017 was a vintage one for Giovanni Antonini: he was awarded an Echo Klassik, two Gramophone Awards and a Diapason d’Or of the Year for his recent releases. Two of these prizes distinguished Il Distratto, volume 4 of the complete recording of the Haydn symphonies on which he embarked for Alpha in 2014. For the sixth volume, released in 2018, the Milanese conductor is again joined by the Kammerorchester Basel, which shares the project with Il Giardino Armonico and which he knows very well, since he conducts it regularly and they have made many recordings together, including volume 5 of the Haydn series. This volume focuses on symphonies with a ‘sacred’ inspiration: the Symphony No.26, ‘Lamentatione’, was composed in 1768 for Holy Week, and no.30 was nicknamed ‘Alleluja’ after the plainchant melody Haydn uses in it. Symphony No.41 was written in 1769.

Daniel Lozakovich JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Partita No. 2

Debut album by the next young and talented violinist on Deutsche Grammophon, following the successful footsteps of Anne-Sophie Mutter and David Garrett who both joined the label as youngsters.

The youngest musician currently signed to Deutsche Grammophon (born in 2001).

Daniel Lozakovich is a mature core-classic artist and young sports fan at the same time.

Multi-award winner, including the 1st prize at the 2016 Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition.

Praised by audiences and critics alike (Lozakovich is destined for a prodigious career).

Many supporters, including Valery Gergiev, Martin Engstroem, Daniel Hope, Andris Nelsons, Daniel Barenboim, Renaud Capuçon. (Presto Classical)

Already the winner of many awards for young musicians and at 17 the youngest artist on Deutsche Grammophon's roster, Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich already enjoys an impressive performance schedule as a young soloist with orchestras and conductors worldwide. He is also a regular performer at multiple international music festivals. In his debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, Daniel presents Bach’s two violin concertos in collaboration with the Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks together with the solo Partita No. 2, which includes the famous Chaconne. (Deutsche Grammophon)

Quatuor Girard THE STARRY SKY

“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travellers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You, you alone will have the stars as no one else has them… […] You, only you, will have stars that can laugh!” (The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

 

If the pieces recorded here owe their existence to the stars, the development of the disc itself is a great meeting of the stars. Perhaps we hear them laughing at the opportunity to travel between neighbouring galaxies…
Our wonderful experience of playing the complete Beethoven’s quartets live in concert, our radiant encounter with Philippe Hersant, whose fourth string quartet we have the honour of premiering on record, our truly enriching residence at the Queen Elisabeth Musical Chapel of Belgium, and the precious relationship that quickly grew with luthier Charles Coquet, leading us to play on a quartet of instruments… these are all lively and significant realities from a moment in our life as quartet musicians which we wanted to bring together in a single story.
The purpose of this recording is not to freeze shooting stars… It seemed important to us, in this fleeting life, to take the time to lift our gaze, because it is the starry skies that we cannot fail to contemplate and thank. (Quatuor Girard)

Blandine Staskiewicz / Les Accents / Thibault Noally ORATORIO

Since its foundation in 2014, Thibault Noally’s ensemble Les Accents brings to life rare works from the Italian Baroque era: in particular the vocal repertoire of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Their new record features unpublished extracts of oratorios. Born at the same time and made of the same theatrical stuff as his opera brother, the oratorio, a lyric and dramatic work without staging, also moves the crowds! And its heroines Athalie and Judith have the same temper as their operatic counterparts.The virtuoso arias of Caldara, Scarlatti (father) or Porpora performed by the mezzo-soprano Blandine Staskiewicz, full of baroque ornaments and jubilant flights, also testify to the instrumental ardor of the genre: the dramatic effects of the orchestra, the alternation of allegros and adagios, and the various of playing modes marry the movements of the passions of these characters with great intensity.

Angela Hewitt BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Op. 27 No. 1 - Op. 31 No. 2 - Op. 79 - Op. 109

This latest instalment of Angela Hewitt’s Beethoven is bookended by the great ‘Tempest’ and Op 109 sonatas. The performances—incentive enough to acquire this release—are as usual complemented by Angela’s own booklet notes which provide real insight into how she approaches these masterworks.

RADU MALFATTI darenootodesuka

The pureness of sounds can be easily clouded by a musician’s individuality, which can overshadow the music with a strong statement or emotion or tendency. When this happens, the world of music is narrowed and limited to the musician’s own small sphere, which can fade as time goes by due to its narrowness. What Malfatti seems to want to achieve is to clear this cloud away. By attempting to minimize the performers’ expressions or tendencies, his goal is to create the clearest air or the environment for the sounds to be born in the purest form. This approach can be seen in his 2012 release darenootodesuka. The CD title darenootodesuka means ‘whose sound is it?’ In fact, the borders between all the performers’ sounds in this piece are very ambiguous. The listener is suggested to play the CD ‘very quietly’ according to the liner notes. Here, the six performers – Antoine Beuger (flute), Jürg Frey (clarinet), Marcus Kaiser (cello), Michael Pisaro (guitar), Burkhard Schlothauer (violin) and Malfatti (trombone), play sounds very quietly and very slowly, as if they were trying to dissolve their individualities into the environment. Their sounds are all unified in a simple, similar tone color – like pale gray, evoking in me a calm wind blowing through an uninhabited landscape. This simplicity, where no performer’s strong individualities are demonstrated, imparts a serene beauty to this piece. (Yuko Zama)

duo Contour FREY - BEUGER duos

"Two sets of pieces written for the duo Contour (Stephen Altoff-trumpet, Lee Forrest Ferguson-percussion), a potentially unwieldy combination. Frey's "22 sachelchen" (small things) is rather just that, 22 miniatures lasting 32 1/2 minutes that vary from quiet reductionism to outright fanfares. I guess some of the latter sort are a bit...shocking, at least in a Wandelweiser context. But there are also oblique references to jazz (the mute in no. 11), processional music (the tympani in no. 13) and much else. For me, however, that resulted in something of a grab bag effect, a series of disconnected bagatelles, some attractive (no. 17, a lovely quasi-scale, and the closing section), some bland (all finely played, I should say), some annoyingly blaring, that added up to a cabinet drawer of odds and ends. Beuger takes his time and the results bear him out. Five sections in his "dedicated duos" (the dedicatee being the mathematician Julius Dedekind, an associate of Cantor), and they don't stray all that far from one another--quiet, considered, the instruments often creating parallel lines of sound, not so different from what label-mate Michael Pisaro does with sine tone and acoustic instruments. Indeed, I was often reminded of some of the quieter moments from Greg Kelley over the past years. Very pure, very calm, each tone or duo of tones shimmering in its own space, receding, allowing the next to surface. Lovely work, worth it on its own." (Brian Olewnick)

Early Opera Company / Christian Curnyn ECCLES The Judgment of Paris - Three Mad Songs

At last we have a recording of John Eccles’s Judgment of Paris, the pastoral masque composed for a competition in 1701. The text itself, by Congreve, presents a contest between three goddesses (Juno, Pallas and Venus) for a golden apple, judged by a lowly shepherd (Paris). In the competition, organised by a group of English noblemen, Eccles came second to John Weldon, followed by Daniel Purcell and Gottfried Finger; Eccles’s version alone has stood the test of time, but except for a recording of the opening “Symphony for Mercury” by the Parley of Instruments (Hyperion, 11/88), none of the music has until now been available on CD.

Eccles’s one-act “semi-opera” calls for five solo singers, a choir and relatively modest instrumental resources – four-part strings, four trumpets, two recorders, kettledrums and continuo. Absent are castrati and countertenors. The music is tuneful, the boundaries between recitatives and airs often blurred. To address the lack of anguish or whiff of treachery in the masque, three “mad” arias by the composer, each sung by a different soprano, are included at the end. The Early Opera Company band delivers delicately balanced homophonic accompaniments to the airs, varied by ground basses that remind us of Henry Purcell, and occasional solos, duos and quartets. As charming as it is, it doesn’t bear comparison with opera seria of the day and, in particular, Handel’s Rinaldo, presented to London audiences a decade later.

Christian Curnyn offers an unaffected, faithful reading of the printed score. If anything, it is understated, the instrumental forces reduced (the premiere employed 85 musicians in addition to the “verse singers”) and the recording acoustic intimate. Lucy Crowe’s Venus may win the prize, but all of the soloists contribute beautifully judged portrayals. (Julie Anne Sadie / Gramophone)