Raphaela Gromes, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Nicholas Carter

ROMANTIC CELLO CONCERTOS

 

Denis Kozhukhin GRIEG Piano Works

PIANO WORKS

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Vladimir Jurowski MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde

DAS LIED VON DER ERDE

Rundfunkchor Berlin / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Gijs Leenaars BRUCKNER Mass in E Minor STRAVINSKY Mass

BRUCKNER - STRAVINSKY

Johannes Moser / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Thomas Søndergård LUTOSLAWSKI - DUTILLEUX Cello Concertos

This album features cello concertos by Witold Lutosławski and Henri Dutilleux performed by the multiple prize-winning German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Thomas Søndergård. These works, premiered in 1970, are two of the biggest gems of the twentieth century, the golden age of the cello. While equally virtuosic and engaging, both pieces showcase different aspects of the musical landscape of the late twentieth century. Lutosławski’s concerto explores the possibilities of chance composition in the form of a duel between the solo cello and a ferocious orchestral accompaniment, in which the individual ultimately prevails. In comparison, soloist and ensemble work together more smoothly in Henri Dutilleux’ “Tout un monde lontain”. In this “cello concerto”, the composer invokes a mystical “world from afar”, inspired by Baudelaire quotes and full of allusions to French musical greats such as Debussy and Messiaen, while simultaneously sounding unmistakably Dutilleuxian.

Adam Laloum / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Kazuki Yamada BRAHMS Piano Concertos

Adam Laloum, described by Le Monde as “a great artist and poet”, is recognized as one of today’s most exciting young French pianists. For his debut recording on Sony Classical, Laloum has chosen to record the two piano concertos by Brahms. Each is a titan of any pianist’s repertoire, making this choice a special statement of Laloum’s artistic confidence and strength. In the words of Le Monde, “Adam has that je ne sais quoi which captivates the audience.”

In his new recording of the Brahms concertos, Laloum is partnered by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the baton of Kazuki Yamada. “I worked with Kazuki a few years ago with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, which was a very good experience,” Laloum says. “Therefore I was eager to ask him to do this recording with me. It was a wonderful working relationship because we were searching out the interpretation together, really sharing something. We weren’t trying to ‘fix’ the music, but to let it breathe, just giving our natural energy.”

Contrasting the two Brahms concertos, Laloum says: “I feel a sense of large landscapes in the D minor Concerto, something much colder than the B flat major work, yet also there is a special kind of light within it. The main character of the first movement is very dark, but still, in this work you find many different colours and feelings. The Second Concerto to me contains more fantasy, with an extraordinary sense of noblesse and a different type of generosity: it is warmer and more human, particularly in the third and fourth movements. Although it is an immense work, sometimes in it he talks about simple things and even about humour – always with a lot of tenderness.”

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Jakub Hrůša BARTÓK & KODÁLY Concertos for Orchestra

Exuberant, colourful and edgy concertos for orchestra by Bartók and Kodály are brought together in spirited and vivid performances from the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the podium sensation Jakub Hrůša on this PENTATONE release.

Bartók’s landmark Concerto for Orchestra is not only a thrilling orchestral tour de force; it’s also a striking and deeply expressive work which effortlessly assimilates Hungarian folk melodies and rhythms in its compelling and polished score. At times brooding and mysterious, it’s Bartók’s most popular and uplifting work, and it ends in a flurry of high spirits.

With its lush and vivid orchestration and a healthy rhythmic swagger, Kodály’s lesser-known Concerto for Orchestra is a captivating and buoyant work. Inspired by the Baroque concerto grosso but updated with a romantic sensibility, the result is a sure-footed, rousing and energetic showpiece for orchestra.

Arabella Steinbacher / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Vladimir Jurowski BRITTEN & HINDEMITH Violin Concertos

Breathtaking virtuosity flows seamlessly with expansive lyrical passages and fiendish passagework in this commanding performance by Arabella Steinbacher of the restless and technically demanding violin concertos of Britten and Hindemith, with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. 

Britten’s haunting and mesmerising violin concerto is considered one of the century’s finest. The three contrasting movements are replete with grand theatrical gestures, unabashed lyricism, and show-stopping pyrotechnics, and the work closes with an austere passacaglia of other-wordly beauty and power. Following the work’s enthusiastic reception at its premiere in 1940 at Carnegie Hall, Britten declared “So far, it is without question my best piece”. 

“Britten and Hindemith completed their concertos at about the same time,” writes Steinbacher, “both are absolutely bursting with emotional turmoil, persisting precariousness, and latent despair.” Steinbacher feels a particular affinity with the Hindemith concerto. “Every artist introduces his own life experiences and personal feelings into his interpretations ... with the Hindemith concerto, I have an extremely close, even private connection, as my father knew Hindemith rather well.”

Steinbacher’s previous recordings have received widespread praise. For her playing in the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin concertos, Gramophone commented “one could hardly wish for a more expressive account of both concertos”; for the Korngold and Bruch Violin Concertos, Gramophone noted Steinbacher’s “easy virtuosity with concern to find the right tone and nuance for every phrase”. And BBC Music Magazine said of her last album, Fantasies, Rhapsodies, Daydreams, that it was “recorded in glowing sound that feels astonishingly lifelike ... this recital is something of a triumph”. (PENTATONE)

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig / Marek Janowski BEETHOVEN Missa Solemnis

The conductor Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin continue their critically acclaimed collaboration with Pentatone in a magnificent reading of Beethoven's monumental Missa Solemnis, recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie in September 2016 in partnership with Deutschlandradio Kultur.

Considered by many to be his finest work, with the Missa Solemnis Beethoven updated the choral traditions of Handel and Bach with his own ineffable style to create a startlingly original and dramatic large scale work. By turns intimate and deeply moving, it's also one of his most forward-looking works. With consummate skill, Beethoven marshals the disparate elements of liturgical, secular and operatic expression in a wholly original and compelling way. From the jubilant Gloria with its ecstatic outbursts, to the radiant Benedictus with its soaring, ethereal solo violin, it's a riveting experience. And Beethoven constantly surprises throughout, especially in the closing Agnus Dei where the serenity is shattered by a terrifying militaristic outburst, eventually subsiding for a radiant conclusion.

Marek Janowski is no stranger to the Pentatone catalogue; his recordings with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin of the ten mature operas of Wagner were universally praised for setting new musical standards. The BBC Music Magazine described the Tannhäuser release as "…the best recording since that made in Bayreuth in 1962". Also recorded in the superb acoustics of Berliner Philharmonie, the Parsifal release was praised by the critic Michael Tanner who wrote that the sound was "…so realistic as to be almost alarming."

Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin are joined on this recording by the world famous MDR-Rundfunkchor Leipzig and the soloists Regine Hangler (soprano), Elisabeth Kulman (alto), Christian Elsner (tenor) and Franz-Josef Selig (bass).

Denis Kozhukhin / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Vassily Sinaisky TCHAIKOVSKY & GRIEG Piano Concertos

Denis Kozhukhin’s playing is characterised by an extraordinary technical mastery balanced by a sharp intelligence, calm maturity and wisdom. Kozhukhin has that rare and special gift of creating an immediate and compelling emotional connection with his audience.

Since winning First Prize at the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Kozhukhin has quickly established a formidable reputation and has already appeared at many of the world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls including the Verbier Festival, where he won the Prix d’Honneur in 2003, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Berliner Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Rheingau Music Festival, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Herkulessaal, Rotterdam De Doelen, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Milan, Théâtre du Châtelet and Auditorium du Louvre Paris.

In the 2015/16 season and beyond, Kozhukhin performs with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia, DSO Berlin, Frankfurt Radio, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR and Brussels Philharmonic.

The 2014/15 season included performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Morlot, Philadelphia Orchestra/Denève, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo, Mariinsky Orchestra/Gergiev, Houston Symphony Orchestra/Hrusa, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic/Gimeno and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo/Alsop. Kozhukhin also toured to China with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and made his debut with an ensemble comprising soloists from the West Eastern Divan Orchestra under Barenboim at the Salzburg Festival and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

As a recitalist, highlights of this season and beyond include returns to the Concertgebouw’s Master Pianists Series, Cologne Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and London’s International Piano Series, as well as debuts at the Lucerne Festival, Vienna Konzerthaus and the Boston Celebrity Series.

In September 2015 Denis Kozhukhin signed an exclusive recording contract with Pentatone. His first CD recording for Pentatone of Tchaikovsky Concerto No 1 and the Grieg Concerto with RSB Berlin and Vassily Sinaisky will be released in April 2016.

Alexej Gorlatch / Rundfunk- Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Alondra de la Parra STRAVINSKY Works for Piano and Orchestra

The piano seem so central to the sound-world of much of Stravinsky's music that is seems surprising that he didn't write more music for the solo instrument. This disc, on Sony Classical, from the young German-based Ukrainian pianist Alexej Gorlatch and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by the Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra, brings together the Concerto for piano and wind instruments, the Capriccio for piano and orchestra and the early piano sonata. 

 We open with the Concerto for piano and wind instruments (in fact the ensemble includes double basses and timpani too), written in 1924 at the height of Stravinsky's neo-classical period. This is Stravinsky at his most hieratic, in Symphony of Psalms vein, and using the piano to maximum percussive effect.
After a slow, strikingly monolithic wind introduction, we are struck by the attack, brilliance and intensity of the piano entry. This is a full focus, high energy performance with Gorlatch and the orchestra giving maximum brilliance to Stravinsky's music. Attack and articulation are coordinated between soloist and orchestra to a superb degree, and the music is vividly involving too. The second movement, Largo, is full of contrasts, quiet intensity against very hard edged moments, and whilst percussive attack is prominent in the piano there is lyricism too. The last movement, Allegro, starts out rather fugal with a love sense of tone colours. Never a grim piece, this performance explodes in youthful energy and a great feeling of percussive joy.

Dating from a few years later (1928), Stravinsky also wrote the Capriccio for himself to play. Still neo-classical, there is a greater florid feel to the writing for piano. The opening movement, Presto, i perky and full of contrasts but with the percussive edge less to the fore in the piano. Here there is lyricism combined with rhythmic attack, but still a sense of that discipline which comes with Stravinsky's music of the period. In the second movement, Andante rapsodico, you notice the contrast between the disciplined rhapsodies of the piano and the lyrical lines of the instruments, with the piano writing quite florid. Finally, the Allegro capriccioso ma tempo giusto, is nicely perky and up-tempo with some brilliant jazzy moments.

There is a lovely unity to the playing of soloist and orchestra, this really is a performance which makes you sit up and take note. Throughout the orchestra under Alondra de la Parra is on brilliant form, matching the young soloist.
The final work on the disc is Stravinsky's early piano sonata, a work which he started when he was just 21 (in 1903) and finished a year later having got rather bogged down and needing to approach Rimsky Korsakov which was the beginning of their relationship. When Stravinsky finished the piece he gave it to Nicolas Richter who premiered it and kept the manuscript, which ended up in the State Public Library in St Petersburg on Richter's death, thus preserving a work which Stravinsky would have far preferred to disappear.
Gorlatch gives a fine performance, but you would be hard pressed to guess that this large scale (28 minutes) romantic work was by Stravinsky, Full of chromatic harmonies which reminded me of his contemporaries such as Rachmaninov, the piece is conventional but remarkable for one barely into his 20's. (Robert Hugill)

Alexej Gorlatch / Alondra de la Parra / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin STRAVINSKY Works For Piano and Orchestra

Alexej Gorlatch was born in 1988 in Kiev and has been living in Germany since 1991. He began his piano studies at the age of seven with Eduard-Georg Georgiew in Passau, before becoming a junior student of Martin Hughes at the Berlin University of Arts at the age of twelve, continuing his music studies two years later with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the University of Music and Drama Hanover and subsequently with Bernd Goetzke.

His victory at the International ARD Music Competition, where Alexej Gorlatch additionally received the audience prize and several further special awards, was preceded by a remarkable musical career – within just six years, he received first prize at nine renowned international piano competitions, including those in Hamamatsu, Japan (2006), the German Music Competition (2008), the International Anton G. Rubinstein Competition (2009), and in Dublin (2009), as well as the Silver Medal in Leeds.de

Conductor Alondra de la Parra has gained widespread attention for her spellbinding and vibrant performances, making her one of the most compelling conductors of her generation. She holds the distinction of being the first Mexican woman to conduct in New York City, and is an official Cultural Ambassador of Mexico. She has been heralded by Plácido Domingo as “an extraordinary conductor” and the French newspaper Le Monde states that “there is no doubt that, with Alondra de la Parra classical music has arrived into the XXI Century”.

Frequently in demand as guest conductor, Alondra de la Parra has led some of the most prestigious orchestras of France, Germany, USA, Japan, Brazil, Sweden and Russia including the Orchestre de Paris, RSB Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Milan’s Cameristi della Scala. She also undertook a tour across China with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Tolouse.

In Latin America, De la Parra works frequently Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and with the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra, from whom she received their highest award. She has also conducted Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic in Argentina, Montevideo’s Philharmonic in Uruguay and in Mexico, the orchestras of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Xalapa, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Estado de México and the National Symphony.

Nareh Arghamanyan / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Alain Altinoglu PROKOFIEV - KHACHATURIAN Piano Concertos

Nareh Arghamanyan's first recording for PENTATONE of solo piano works by Rachmaninov showed her to be an artist of surprising maturity who combines musical acuity with a prodigious technique. Her follow-up disc of the Liszt Piano Concertos confirmed one's favourable opinion of her potential in virtuoso repertoire.
Her latest release couples Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto – his most popular and most recorded – with the Piano Concerto of her fellow Armenian Aram Khachaturian, a work rarely appearing on concert programmes and even less frequently on disc and as in the earlier Liszt recording she is partnered here by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the young French-born conductor Alain Altinoglu with whom she obviously has a close rapport.
Khachaturian's Piano Concerto dates from 1936 and attempted to revive the bravura pianistic traditions of Liszt while at the same time introducing material in the concerto that derived from Armenian folk sources, though the composer denied quoting directly from such sources.
The bass drum thwack that opens the work resonates impressively in PENTATONE's vivid recording made in the Haus des Rundfunks, RBB Berlin in October 2013 and Nareh Arghamanyan's decisive first entry illustrates both the physical strength of her playing and her virtuosity as the movement proceeds. She plays the first of the movement's two long solo passages with a relaxed improvisatory feel and brings great exuberance and stunning virtuosity to the second.
The haunting central 'Andante' begins and ends with the bass clarinet extemporising under soft chords on muted strings before the gentle entry of the soloist. Khachaturian's scoring calls for a most unusual, and frankly bizarre sounding instrument – the flexatone, to be used in this movement. For this recording, however, Alain Altinoglu, has replaced the flexatone by a musical saw which certainly blends better with the strings and sounds here little different from a theremin or an ondes martinot.
The jazzy and sometimes even orgiastic finale is given a terrific performance from both soloist and orchestra, the music only slowing for the brilliant cadenza before building to a restatement of the first movement's opening theme and then driving to its thrilling and emphatic final chords.
Though this concerto has often been accused of brashness and empty rhetoric it is still worth an occasional outing especially when heard in such a beautifully recorded and committed performance as this one by Nareh Arghamanyan.
The Prokofiev concerto that follows faces much tougher competition from countless rival recordings and though Arghaman's playing has all the necessary fire power her performance fails to match the best of the SACD alternative versions in this piece that include those from Byron Janis, Freddy Kempff and Denis Matsuev. Thanks to the rather cautious tempi adopted by Altinoglu and Arghamanyan her account lacks the flamboyance of those mentioned above and its slightly restrained quality, while sometimes appropriate in the slower section of the work, misses some of the composer's wit and panache in the outer movements.
It must, however, be said that the orchestral contribution could hardly be finer. I can't recall a recording that reveals so much subtle detail in Prokofiev's orchestral writing and needless to say PENTATONE's sound quality is beyond reproach.
Those seeking this release for the Khachaturian Piano Concerto need not hesitate. (2014 Graham Williams and SA-CD)