Music is the key

In 1700, the 15-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach left behind his native Thuringia and travelled to Luneberg, in the north of Germany, where he studied, sang, developed his talents on the organ and made the acquaintance of some of the leading musical figures of the day. Hamburg was close enough that he could visit there, too, with its opera house and cosmopolitan musical life. French Huguenot composers, fleeing religious strife, had brought the latest keyboard fashions to the region, which he absorbed through his encounters with Georg Böhm. And the local musical culture meant steady exposure to Pachelbel, Buxtehude and Reincken. Benjamin Alard continues his revelatory complete keyboard works series with four discs that explore this new milieu, which had such a powerful impact on Bach’s musical style. ‘Towards the North’, the second instalment of this beautifully played and produced series, explores the years 1705 08; and like the first it includes music not just by Bach ...

The first instalment of Benjamin Alard’s projected complete keyboard works of JS Bach is entirely auspicious. Subtitled ‘The Young Heir’, this three-disc set includes works performed on the harpsichord and organ, dating from (roughly) 1699-1705, the young composer’s childhood and apprentice years. The first CD includes works of musicians with whom Bach would have been familiar, among them members of his own extended musical family, including the greatest of his forebears, his great uncle Johann Christoph Bach, and his father-in-law, Johann Michael Bach. Also included are works by Frescobaldi, Froberger, Pachelbel, Marchand and de Grigny, along with Georg Böhm, whose work was particularly influential on the young Bach. Alard is equally accomplished on both the organ and the harpsichord and moves from one to the other with facility. The organ is used not just for the early chorales but also, on the third disc, for the Capriccio on the departure of his brother, BW...

The album title is the programme in this meeting of remarkable artists brought together to interpret traditional music of Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Armenia, and to play original songs by Anatolian saz player Cihan Türkoğlu and lyricist Agathi Dimitroukas. In the spirit of the project, the new songs also bridge traditions and idioms and emphasize the potential of shared expression. Legendary Greek singer Maria Farantouri excels in this music beyond the borders, shaped also with the active participation of producer Manfred Eicher. German cellist Anja Lechner here draws on a knowledge of traditional folk forms gained partly through playing music of Armenian-Greek philosopher composer Gurdjieff. Armenian kanon (zither) player Meri Vardanyan has previously appeared on ECM as a member of the Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble. Ney player and ethnomusicologist Christos Barbas, from Thessaloniki, has played everything from music of the baroque to ragas. Percussionist İzzet ...

Led by nyckelharpa virtuoso Marco Ambrosini – first heard on ECM with Rolf Lislevand – Ensemble Supersonus applies its unique instrumental blend, capped by the otherworldly overtone singing of Anna-Maria Hefele, to very wide-ranging repertoire. Building bridges between cultures and traditions, Resonances sets compositions by Biber, Frescobaldi and Hildegard von Bingen next to Swedish folk music, Ottoman court music, and original pieces by the band members. Three pieces – “Ananada Rasa”, “Fjordene”, “Ritus” come from the pen of Wolf Janscha, the ensemble’s jew’s harp specialist. Ambrosini’s nyckleharpa solo “Fuga Xylocopae” opens the programme, leading on to a fresh and sparkling account of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s ”Rosary Sonata No. 1” . All of Ensemble Supersonus contribute to the spirited arrangements of the music.

Chopin’s Piano Concertos are works of a twenty year old composer and ambitious soloist. Powerful and challenging, their romantic dimension also carries sensitive effusions. This duality is highlighted here by an interpretation on period instruments in a chamber version. Choices that are as many clues to recognize the musicians from the Cambini-Paris Quartet and their accomplices: pianist David Lively and double bassist Thomas de Pierrefeu. Direct heir to Chopin’s piano teaching legacy, David Lively chose a vintage Érard piano to record both Concertos. Accompanied by a string quintet, he revives the tradition of the genre: before being performed in big concert halls, composers and pianists like Chopin played their latest scores in music lovers’ salons. The broad ambitus covered by the strings and the richness of the sound of the pianoforte respect the symphonic dimension of those two pieces. A musical quest for fidelity and authenticity to music and musicians and a ...

Along with composers like Alexander Scriabin and Frederic Chopin, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) knew how to write for the left hand just as effectively as the right hand. With the focal point of most pieces being delegated to the right hand, most composers tend to assign the left hand the simple role of harmonic support. But you can tell, especially when playing his music yourself, that Brahms applied meticulous care to the left hand note selections. He was aware that, to a certain degree, the use of different or unusual notes in the left hand can alter the tone, character and color of the melodic line in the right hand, and used this to his advantage when composing. Even the most subtle changes produce that effect, and pianist François Chaplin instinctively knows when and where to emphasize that crucial yet fragile relationship between the two hands. Throughout each piece his close attention to details in the left hand is highly apparent. And nowhere is that more obvious...

More than any other comparable text, that for the Missa pro defunctis has assumed an existence outside of any strictly liturgical consideration. Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen (2016) is no exception, its treatment (rather than setting) informed by an essentially humanist approach reflected in the recourse to other and ostensibly secular writings. In this sense, his piece goes well beyond the conceptual template of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem to reference such ‘one-offs’ as Delius’s Requiem and Zimmermann’s Requiem für einen jungen Dichter . That the former emerged during the First World War and the latter was finished just over half a century after it may be significant in terms of Rihm’s work, which exudes an unmistakable aura of commemoration through its introspective and (albeit obliquely) devotional content. Requiem-Strophen divides into four parts, over which the Requiem sequence is interspersed with numerous other writings ranging from the Psalms, ...

Seven Days Walking ‘DAY 4’ includes 12 tracks. It has been recorded at the Air Studio in London. “I was interested in exploring the music in a more independent and ongoing way, like it was a long conversation”

Seven Days Walking ‘DAY 3’ includes 12 tracks, 10 of them are variations of some pieces from the previous days and 2 of them are new, original tracks, “Full Moon” and “View From The Other Side”. “The nicest season starts now . The Spring. The nature is transforming day by day. Around here in two weeks it’ll be wonderful. Unfortunately I won’t be here…”

Some things have their own hidden genesis And just through this work of listening and analysis….I had almost 30 hours of music to listen back. It’s like when you walk into a room filled with clutter and try to understand if there will be that one priceless piece that I need. In order to find the right one you need to clean up and throw things away , but always be careful cause you might throw away something important….

Pianist Keith Jarrett and conductor Dennis Russell Davies - musical collaborators for 20 yerars - have both singled out this second round of Mozart Piano Concertos as an exceptional experience in their recording history. Jarrett: 'I feel it's some of the best work I've done. There were things happening that were magic. The orchestra was taken by surprise, Dennis was taken by surprise, I was taken by surprise.' The emphasis is on communicative interplay between the soloist and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra under the inspired direction of Davies.

Keith Jarrett is not the first pianist to establish himself as a jazz musician and fluent improviser before seeking public recognition as a scaler of 'classical' peaks, as my old 78s of the Andre Previn Trio testify, but to attempt the Eiger by the north face at such an early stage might be regarded as an act of veritable foolhardiness. Maybe so, but here you will find no dead or maimed body at the foot of the mountain. The annotation assumes that the reader does not need to be told the what and the why of the work, and focuses instead on Jarrest's approach to the music, beginning with his statement that ''This music does not need my assistance''. Well of course any music needs the performer's help to bring it to audible life but the leading question is: 'what kind of help is needed?'. Jarrett's answer is that the per former's duty is to understand the structure of this music, to grasp the expressive meaning o...

If, as I do, you enjoy Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues played on a variety of keyboard instruments, then Keith Jarrett's choice of a piano for Book 1 and a harpsichord for Book 2 may well appeal to you. I have been listening to his performances, especially of Book 1—which has been available for some time ((CD) 835 246-2, 10/88)—many times over and find much both to admire and enjoy. Jarrett seems to me to have successfully bridged the jazz world with the classical, proving himself in the process to be quite a formidable Bach player. There is nothing gimmicky or shallow in his playing; indeed, his fine rhythmic sense allied to a lively feeling for gesture, his grasp of ornament and his sheer spontaneity are aspects of the jazz musician's craft as much as the classical player's and they serve Bach's music extremely well. If I have a criticism to make of Jarrett's Bach playing, it is that rhythmically he errs on the side of caution, seldom...

The Alia Mens Ensemble features singers and period instrumentalists led by Olivier Spilmont. The ensemble has performed at numerous festivals and national concert halls, including Lille Opera, ”Embaroquement immédiat”, Festival de la Chabotterie, the Mont-Blanc Festival, Midsummer Festival, le Bateau feu-Dunkerque, le Phénix-Valenciennes, Arras Theater, the ”Musique et Mémoire” Festival, Teatro de Vicenza, Bozar Brussels, ”Tage alter Musik” Regensburg and many others. Since 2012 the Alia Mens Ensemble has dedicated a substantial part of its activities to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Weimar cantatas in particular. The ensemble also regularly performs Bach’s multi-keyboard concertos with harpsichordists Pierre Hantaï, Maude Gratton and Olivier Spilmont. The group of Weimar cantatas is exciting on many levels. The purpose Bach expressed in his Mühlhausen resignation letter – which became a master beam of the musical edi ce he built throughout his life – is...

This CD is a double journey through time. On one hand, the three pieces selected span a century in the history of the Viennese piano trio; Hummel’s work, composed in 1799, keeps a foot firmly in the classical era; Brahms’ second piano trio, written in 1882, is a crown jewel of Viennese romanticism, and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht is a perfect example of the atmosphere that reigned in the city at the turn of the century. In addition, the three works mirror the intensities of the day. Hummel’s light and sparkling trio evokes the morning, Brahms’ resplendent and well-worked piece represents the afternoon and evening and Schoenberg’s composition, as the title already indicates, relates to the dark, moonlit night.

Born into a British-Turkish family, Joanna Goodale is a French-Swiss pianist with an eclectic and creative identity, opening up the classical repertoire to traditional world music and to her own comprovisations.  She has been invited to perform in Switzerland, in France, in Germany, in Turkey, in Spain and in the United Kingdom. Graduate of a Master of Arts in Piano (Geneva) and a Master of Arts in Anthropology (London), she has benefitted from the support of the Fondation L’ABRI in Geneva and of the advice of internationally renowned pianists such as Alice Ader, Alain Kremksi, Cedric Pescia, Menahem Pressler and Anne Queffélec. Deeply convinced that music can transcend borders and touch the sublime, she invites her public to enter in communion with sound and silence in a space-time of rare intensity.  BACH IN A CIRCLE proposes an encounter between the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Sufi whirling dervishes, weaved around a programme where the pieces are in a d...

Become Desert is the much-anticipated sequel to Adams’ Pulitzer-winning Become Ocean , and a major milestone in the creative partnership between the composer and the Seattle Symphony with Ludovic Morlot. For Adams, who has been called “one of the most original musical thinkers of the new century” by The New Yorker ’s Alex Ross, the 40-minute work completes a trilogy he hadn’t intended to write, and yet it emerges as one of his most expansive and consciousness-raising musical statements to date. In 2010, Adams created musical streams both aurally and visually with Become River . He followed with Become Ocean , which divides the orchestra into three parts to create a vast sense of undulating space and rhythm. The 2014 recording by Morlot and the Seattle Symphony debuted atop the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart, and won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. With Become Desert , space is once again a fundamental compositional element, bu...

Awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music, Become Ocean is set to finally extricate John Luther Adams from the shadow of his near-namesake. In fact the two lie at polar ends of the post-minimal spectrum. JLA composes slowly evolving, monumental sound creations that seem somehow to emerge from the essence of the earth. His lifelong engagement with elemental forces and the power of nature stems from years living in the Alaskan wilderness, where he has evolved a ‘music of place’ grounded in its physical, cultural and spiritual attributes. Surprising, therefore, that Adams’s recent composition is inspired by the sea rather than the earth. Become Ocean takes the sense of scale and space that captured the composer’s imagination when he first visited Alaska in the 1970s and applies it to the deep, dark and hidden depths of the oceans surrounding the Pacific Northwest. This is not ersatz programmatic music, however. Adams’s ‘sonic geography’ is a by-product of what c...

This CD sketches a portrait of the musical reality of the British Isles during the first half of the 18th century. The eight concerti grossi in this programme have been chosen for the features they possess in common, a primordial position being accorded to the work of Francesco Scarlatti. These are pieces of Italian origin in sonata form; the concerto grosso being the émigré of this programme. The huge success of the Italian concerto grosso was a response to the necessity of freeing music from a secondary role to which it found itself confined, notably in France with ballet music. Unaffected by the rivalry between French and Italian music that was then raging, the British seemed to be attracted by purely instrumental music; the concerto grosso consequently afforded them a freshness, a boldness, and a hint of unique maestria that held an immediate appeal. Thus it was that the concerto grosso emigrated, as did a number of Italian composers who responded to the emotion...

The percussionist Vivi Vassileva is one of the most fascinating classical soloists of her generation, and she now releases her debut CD, entitled "singin' rhythm", on the alpha classics label.  Born in 1994 to a Bulgarian family of musicians – her mother is a pianist, her father and brother are violinists, her sister plays violin too and she herself learned the instrument – Vivi was captivated by music at an early age especially when she heard some hand drummers playing on a remote, unspoiled beach at the black sea where her parents own a house. It was then that she decided to change from the violin to percussion. With her dynamic, infectious way of making music, Vivi exudes a sense of enjoyment that is in no way limited to the elaboration of rhythms or the igniting of a display of tonal pyrotechnics. Her main aim is to touch people, to tell stories expressed in terms of melodies, harmonies and rhythms. Vivi is motivated and inspired by the diversity of to...

Asked the question ‘How many sonatas for violin and piano did Johannes Brahms compose?’, many lovers of chamber music would probably answer three, and maybe also add their respective keys and opus numbers. When pressed, a number of them would also remember the so-called F.A.E. Sonata, a collaborative effort by the young Brahms, Albert Dietrich and their mentor Robert Schumann. But very few would probably think of the two Opus 120 sonatas, composed in 1894 for clarinet (or viola) and piano, but a year later published in the composer’s own versions for the violin. As the range of the B flat clarinet goes a fourth lower than that of the violin, Brahms had been forced to make considerable revisions to the clarinet part – which in turned entailed changes in the piano part, and consequently the printing of a new piano score. The seasoned team of violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen have now decided to record all the Brahms sonatas, and the results are being rel...

The five cello sonatas span Beethoven’s three creative periods, with the audacious op.5 sonatas dating from the early years on his time in Vienna as a piano virtuoso and aspiring composer (1792-9), the great op.69 sonata is from the period that saw the composition of symphonies 4-8, the violin concerto, Mass in C and the String Quartets op59. The two op102 sonatas are from the cusp of the ‘late’ period, this is the time of the 9th Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, the great string quartets op127 – 135 and the last five piano sonatas. The cello and piano are truly equal partners in all these works, and Beethoven exploited the full range of the cello placing great demands on the player. The op.17 sonatas from the 1790s was composed for horn and piano. The transcription is believed to be by the composer, or at least approved by him.

For Gustav Mahler, composing his early symphonies meant „building a world”. His Ninth, however, seems more concerned with the deconstruction of this world – a look back, a long farewell. In the draft of his score, he noted words like „O youth! Vanished! O love! Blown away!“. In 1909, his idyllic world was destroyed, having been diagnosed with a heart valve defect two years earlier – a disease that would ultimately lead to his death. While his last completed symphony still contains some folksy elements, Mahler composed a heartbreaking Adagio as its Finale. Herbert Blomstedt, honorary conductor of the Bamberger Symphoniker, guides the orchestra through this rollercoaster of emotions, ranging between deep sadness, comfort and melancholia. This exceptional recording is the first CD release with the Bamberger Symphoniker and their honorary conductor Herbert Blomstedt!

A large number of saxophone concertos have been written, but only a handful are regularly performed. With these premiere recordings Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo showcases five works that, had circumstances been different, might easily have established themselves as repertoire pieces. John Beach Cragun’s beautifully voiced work is the first saxophone concerto by an American and, like Yrjö Gunaropulos’ concerto – which enjoyed celebrity in the 1930s – was only rediscovered in 2016. The concertos by Eilert Lindorff-Larsen and Leopold van der Pals are compact, varied and exciting, while that by Phyllis Tate is considered her first major work.

When Xianji Liu became the first Chinese-born winner of the prestigious Francisco Tárrega International Guitar Competition in 2016, a new star emerged in the world of the classical guitar. Latin sonatas is a journey through the popular music of Brazil, Cuba and Puerto Rico, its rhythms, harmonies and colours, in a contemporary language breathing new life into the old form.

Born in Slovakia, Hungarian soprano Réka Kristóf graduated in Singing from the Hochschule für Künste Bremen with Prof. Krisztina Laki and Prof. Thomas Mohr, and took master classes by Prof. Krisztina Laki. Currently, she is studying Music Theater / Opera Performance at The Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding, in cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, class of Prof. Fenna Kügel Seifried. While studying, she has already performed several roles on stage, including Gretel in E. Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel and Lisette in Puccini's La Rondine . She was heard on the stages of the Bremer Konzerthaus "Die Glocke", the garden room of the Prinzregententheater in Munich and the Philharmonie in Gasteig Munich, with vast repertoire of songs and oratorios from early composers to contemporary music. Most recent and upcoming projects include among the others the role of Grisostomo in the rare Telemann's opera Don Quichotte a...

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s prolific early career succeeded in launching a fundamental renewal of opera buffa, offering a clear alternative to the dominance of Wagner and Puccini, while his Venetian upbringing inspired a songlike and lyrical style. With its subtle orchestration and vivacious Mediterranean charm, Il segreto di Susanna (‘ Susanna’s Secret ’) is a magical comic opera that became a box office success in its day and remains one of Wolf-Ferrari’s most frequently performed works. The early Serenade reveals his innate gift for inspired melody, expressing both carefree bliss and bitter melancholy.

For close to 300 years Bach’s Goldberg Variations have awed performers as well as listeners, through an unparalleled combination of a dazzling variety of expression and breath-taking virtuosity with stupendous polyphonic mastery. No wonder then that other musicians than harpsichordists have wanted to make it their own – pianists, first and foremost, but also accordion players and guitarists, flautists and harpists.   Having performed and recorded much of the classical as well as the modern string trio repertoire, Trio Zimmermann began working on the Goldberg Variations several years ago, playing an existing arrangement. But in their own words, the three members – among the leading string players of our time – ‘soon became captivated by the original score and its innumerable beauties and details’. As a result they have jointly prepared a performing version which here receives its first recording. Playing an important part on this disc are also the Trio’s instrume...

The choice of works on this amply filled disc, as well as the performances are the result of Lorenda Ramou’s research into the artistic environment of Nikos Skalkottas, in Berlin (1921–33) and in Athens (1933–49). The programme is organized as a triptych, focusing on three distinctive compositional styles. First, all surviving Berlin works for piano solo are presented in chronological order, showing how the young composer was reacting to the new and exciting jazz/dance music, but also to the people around him and to events in the musical world of Berlin in the 1920s. This is followed by Suites Nos 2, 3 and 4, a group of mature works composed at the beginning of World War II (1940–41). Closing the disc, finally, is the dance suite The Gnomes, probably composed in 1939 and one of a group of piano scores for ballets with Greek subjects. Lorenda Ramou has previously released ‘ The Land and the Sea of Greece ’ – a disc of precisely such scores by Skalkottas – which earned he...

A double-disc set of orchestral, choral and organ music by one of the most distinguished English composers of the 20th century. Herbert Howells’  An English Mass  is presented by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge with the Britten Sinfonia, recorded in the sublime acoustic of King’s College Chapel. Alongside the work is the magnificent orchestrated Te Deum from the  Collegium Regale service, and a premiere recording of the Magnificat from the same service, orchestrated by John Rutter. For both these recordings, the Choir and orchestra are joined additionally by the King’s College mixed voice choir, King’s Voices. Howells’ completed Cello Concerto is performed by former King’s chorister Guy Johnston, one of the UK’s best solo cellists, with the Britten Sinfonia directed by Christopher Seaman. Also recorded in King’s College Chapel, the surround-sound recording presents this glorious, but lesser-known work in a way never before heard, but in an e...

A previously unreleased live concert recording of Keith Jarrett performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 is out now. The live concert was recorded in March 1987 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in New York state, a venue renowned for its beautiful acoustics. Keith Jarrett’s studio recording of JS Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier was made one month before the live concert recording, in February 1987, and was the first in a series of his acclaimed Bach recordings. When the studio album was released, Jarrett’s manner in these iconic preludes and fugues surprised many listeners with its poetic restraint. Jarrett said, “When I play Bach, I do not hear the music, I hear almost the process of thought.” The pianist was deeply attuned to what he called “the process of thought” in Bach; by not imposing his personality unduly on the music, Jarrett allowed every note of the score to come through via the natural lyricism of the contrapuntal melodic line...

Arvo Pärt (born 1935) is without doubt one of the best-known and –loved composer of today. His highly personal style, influenced by Gregorian Chant, is based on slowly shifting patterns, tintinnabuli (little bells), creating a meditative and hallucinatory effect, a visionary world of spiritual contemplation. Pärt’s sacred choral works enjoy a huge popularity with both the traditional classical audience as well as an open- minded new generation. This new recording presents two of Pärt’s choral masterworks: the Stabat Mater and Magnificat, as well as the Maria-Antifonen and the Nunc Dimittis, all dealing with the complex emotions of Maria, Mother of God, in deepest sorrow and bliss. Excellent performances by Le Nuove Musiche , conducted by Krijn Koetsveld, who delivered a remarkable achievement in recording the complete Madrigals by Monteverdi for Brilliant Classics. Their experience in performing Renaissance vocal music is paying off in these deeply felt performances o...

MARI by Mari Samuelsen explores our longing to feel grounded, to escape into nature, and how that sits with the modern notion of global citizens and the busy, fulfilling lives we wish to lead. “This contrast is something we’ll see more and more of”, says Mari. “The urge to live slow is going to become more important in order to keep yourself, your life and your mind in balance. But when you are conscious of these two, contrasting worlds, one can experience ‘a moment of flow’, where you are able reconcile these opposites, if only fleetingly.” MARI was conceived over the course of a year and a half, a process that was constantly evolving. Mindful of the power music has to transport people back in time or to certain places, Mari sought out pieces and composers that were evocative of dreams and a childlike innocence, as well as the contrast inherent in our perceptions of modern living and culture. “Things that are beautiful but not tangible” was one criterion; “p...

Fumito Nunoya is considered the custodian of the marimba. In the preface to this album, the Japanese musician explains why the marimba is still not a main instrument in the classical music scene. But with an exciting programme ranging from the Baroque to Modernism, he impressively proves the opposite, at least for the inclined listener of this recording. Marimbist Fumito Nunoya is gaining international recognition as one of today’s leading marimbists. Born in Odate, Japan, he currently lives in Kreis Herford, Germany. He has taught marimba at the Hochschule fur Musik Detmold in Germany since 2009. In addition to performances in Germany and around Europe, he regularly travels to perform in Japan and the United States. This gloriously played disc explores the marimba in various guises, from nimble Baroque stick-work in a transcription of Vivaldi to Nobunaga’s atmospheric concerto . — BBC Music Magazine

This is good! Eighty-one minutes of Nino Rota’s music for the films of Federico Fellini – played superbly by the La Scala Philharmonic, conducted with relish and affection by Riccardo Chailly (he first met the composer in 1974), and given vivid, up-front sound-quality, albeit with a resonant overhang in tow. The film music of Rota (1911-79, he wrote for the concert-hall and opera-house, too), whatever its merits in complementing the moving image, transcends the silver-screen medium for listening pleasure on its own terms (although a caveat might be a certain sameness across the whole). Amarcord opens the show, saxophones, brass, an accordion and a mandolin to the fore (Rota’s original orchestration is used) – smoochy (this is a La Scala love-in), marching-bands (La Scala players know how to swagger), popular-song a mainstay (Stormy Weather being one), and if your dance-card isn’t full, take your partners, for Rota can tango-hoof it with the best of them. He can al...

For their second album on Naïve, the three percussionists (marimba players) of Trio SR9 have chosen to shine the light on the theme of dance, in all its rich variety throughout the history of Western classical music: from Rameau and Bach, to Debussy, Satie and Borodin. So, shall we dance? The first part of the album is a set of Baroque dances (Gavotte, Sarabande, Minuet, Gigue...) drawn from the legacy of various European composers. These pieces are presented in the form of a large suite, as was the tradition at the time. Then we move on to explore Europe of the nineteenth century . A taste for exoticism and folk dance rhythms are here made even more sublime by Claude Debussy with his Tarentelle Styrienne, Béla Bartok with the Romanian Dances and Alexander Borodin with his Polovtsian Dances. The last part of the disc is dedicated to the mysticism of dance and begins, perhaps unsurprisingly, with the Ritual Fire Dance by Manuel de Falla. It is followed by Narnchygä...

Although we know of at least five concertos J.S. Bach wrote for solo organ we have no surviving Bach organ concertos with orchestral accompaniment. Contrast this with the 200+ cantatas: of these, 18 feature organ obbligato, which Bach uses as a solo instrument in arias, choral sections and sinfonias. The most obviously conspicuous date to 1726. In May to November of that year, Bach composed six cantatas which assign a prominent solo role to the organ. Most of these are reworkings of movements of lost violin and oboe concertos written in Bach’s time at Weimar and Köthen. Why Bach wrote such a number of obbligato organ cantatas in such a short period remains unknown. One possible explanation may lie in Dresden, where Bach had given a concert on the new Silbermann organ in the Sophienkirche in 1725 . Some scholars think that, in addition to other organ works, he also performed organ concertos, or at least a few earlier versions of the sinfonias, with obbligato organ and s...

“Dealing with the Bach cantatas is a lifelong and wonderful task and challenge. Despite decades of experience with the works, new aspects are being discovered every day,” says Gotthold Schwarz, 17th Thomaskantor after Johann Sebastian Bach. The cantatas on this first recording of the Thomanerchor Leipzig under the musical direction of Schwarz, speak about the human certainty of being secure in/with God (BWV 17: “How a father has mercy on his young children”) and the confidence that God will deliver man from all trouble (BWV 33: “I call on thee in whom I trust”). There is no better credo that the Thomanerchor Leipzig and their Thomaskantor could base their joint path on.

The Bartók string quartet cycle has been a career rite for quartets since the 1960s, and you can find any number of sets on the market by famed ensembles. There is quite a variety, from very sober, classical readings that emphasize the polyphony and take a very elevated tone (works well in the final String Quartet No. 6, on the dawn of war, where each movement is marked "Mesto," sad), to those that emphasize Bartók the folk music collector. France's Quatuor Diotima come up with often original readings that stand up to those of more famous groups. There are commonalities among the Bartók quartets, but Quatuor Diotima treat each one as an individual and play up the ways in which the composer responded to what was going on around him stylistically. The String Quartet No. 1 shows how Bartók emerged from an essentially French context, and the next three quartets get slashing, intense readings that derive from an Expressionist environment. Bartók's late retur...

Frescobaldi brilliantly combines improvisation and architecture. These qualities resonate with the discography of harpsichordist Christophe Rousset, whose choice of repertoire and interpretation are adventurous and serious at the same time. Frescobaldi’s counterpoint goes along with the finest art of singing, inherited from the Italian madrigal and the flexibility of his language highlights the virtuosity of his compositions. Christophe Rousset recorded toccate and partite on a beautiful and original harpsichord of the late 16th Century. Its sound faithfully testifies for the significant place of this First Book of harpsichord pieces in the nascent modernity of Frescobaldi. If the modal harmonies are still old-fashioned, the free beat and subtle melodies make it an indisputable baroque master, admired from Italy to France and Germany: Bach is said to have had a copy of his Fiori musicali. This new disc by Christophe Rousset reveals the first treasures composed spe...

There is one thing that all the three works here have in common: they stand out clearly from an entire French tradition of sonatas for violin and piano. Each, in its way, represents an affirmation of aesthetic independence as well as a fascinating and at times cruel or bitter reflection of its era. The sonatas of Poulenc, Ferroud and Ravel, without foregoing a lofty elegance, are freed from a certain number of rules and forms that had been long imposed. Judith Ingolfsson and Vladimir Stoupel are both soloists with strong profiles, who search passionately for new paths in the intimate atmosphere of the chamber music recital. After the “Concert-Centenaire” trilogy this is the fourth CD of the renowned duo on the Accentus Music label.

This internationally renowned early music group specializes in the powerfully gripping music of the Sephardic romances passed on by an oral tradition, as well as the court and sacred music of the early sixteenth century (Juan del Encina, Juan de Anchieta, Antonio de Cabezón, etc.) and the more complex polyphony belonging to the later part of that same period. The Accentus Ensemble itself was founded in Vienna in 1988. The total group has 13 members who appear in different combinations depending on the demands of the particular compositions and there are also guest artists who are asked to assist in certain performances that draw upon their special skills. The various members of the Accentus Ensemble are especially adept at the improvisational elements native to the performance practice of the early music of Spain. The group has appeared at early music festivals throughout Europe, at the important Semana de Musica Antigua in Seville, and in Israel.

Lyric dramatic soprano Lise Davidsen has attracted serious attention since she was crowned winner of both the Operalia and the Queen Sonja competitions in 2015. Growing up in Stokke, a rural town in south-eastern Norway, Lise has been an artist to watch since she began her musical training. Lise began studying guitar and singing at age fifteen. At first she favoured the guitar but, with more training, singing took prominence. Lise’s early teachers included Mona Skatteboe and Runa Skramstad, who gave her an excellent foundation in classical music. Lise achieved her bachelor’s degree in classical singing in 2010 from the Grieg Academy of Music in Bergen, Norway. During this time she worked with many notable singers including Bettina Smith and Hilde Haraldsen Sveen and joined the Norwegian Soloists Choir as a mezzo soprano, under artistic director Grete Pedersen. While studying for a master’s degree at the Royal Danish Academy of Music , Lise’s teacher, Susanna Eken, u...

Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir went the extra distance for her score for Chernobyl = taking a real power plant as inspiration for her haunting score. In a fascinating interview for Score: The Podcast , Guðnadóttir recounts how she followed the film crew to a decommissioned nuclear power plant in Lithuania – even donning a Haz-Mat suit for the research. (Lithuania here is a stand-in for the original site in Ukraine.) Guðnadóttir, the composer and cellist was joined by Chris Watson on field recording. But this wasn’t just about gathering cool samples, but as she puts it, about listening . So every sound you hear is indeed drawn from the landscape of a similar Soviet-era nuclear plant, but as she tells it, the act of observing was just as important. “I wanted to experience what it feels like to be inside a power plant ,” she says. “Trying to make music out of a story – most of it is about listening.” So they go into this world just to listen – with a man who records an...

 The repertoire on this recording was written for harpsichord during the Baroque period, generally considered to span the years 1600 to 1750. While many pianists have played Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, Rameau, and even Couperin and Froberger, few harpsichordists have come to the defence of the harpsichord repertoire on the modern piano. The idea was born during a meeting with Analekta president, François Mario Labbé. I was submitting some recording proposals for harpsichord and clavichord, and he asked me, “Why not make a CD of piano music?” Somewhat taken aback, I asked for a few days to think about it. Not long after, I suggested a program that would not only include harpsichord repertoire already covered by pianists–Bach, Scarlatti, and Handel– but would also feature some lesser-known works. In compiling this program, I played for several friends on various occasions to get their opinions. After reading through quite a number of works, I selected those that app...