Benny Andersson PIANO

Universal Music Group, the world leader in music-based entertainment, announces a brand-new album of solo piano music from legendary Swedish composer and ABBA co-founder Benny Andersson. The album titled simply ‘Piano’ was released on September 29, 2017 through iconic classical music label Deutsche Grammophon.

‘Piano’ takes listeners on a 21-track journey through his acclaimed and celebrated career as songs from ABBA, his musicals and other solo-compositions are re-interpreted as you have never heard them before, performed unaccompanied by just Benny himself, on his trusted grand piano. The album was recorded with Linn Fijal, engineer and studio manager at his own RMV Studios, on the island of Skeppsholmen, in the heart of his hometown Stockholm.

The tracks are tender, touching and emotional arrangements, highlighting the theatrical, as well as classical-like qualities, both in writing and performance of music that has touched millions around the world since ABBA first came together in 1972.  The music on this album reinforces Benny’s profound gift for melody, a gift shared with many great classical composer-pianists throughout history, that have also inspired him throughout his life and career.

Speaking on the genesis of the album, Benny Andersson said: “In the process of recording this album, I have come to realise that the pieces I have chosen to play are an integral part of me. In endeavouring to reach for some core within them, I have found that the more I strip away the clothing, the closer I feel to the music, regardless of whether it was created last year or 40 years ago. In a strange way, I feel like I am playing my memoirs.”

“It was very different to how I’ve made records in the past, and that was part of the joyfulness of it all,” he adds, “Even without the bass, drums, guitars, strings and vocals on these songs, I think there is still substance in all of them. That was very pleasing to realise.” (Deutsche Grammophon)

Alexei Lubimov MESSE NOIRE

The title refers to Scriabin’s Ninth Piano Sonata, nicknamed The Black Mass, a single movement of darkly smouldering mysticism. It is the last in a compelling sequence of Russian piano works, the first being the least Russian-sounding, Stravinsky’s Serenade in A. Lubimov perfectly catches the Apollonian detachment of its tactile neoclassicism. Both Shostakovich’s Sonata No 2 and Prokofiev’s No 7 were completed in 1942 and speak of dark times, though in different accents: the one laconic, the other expostulatory. Lubimov is subtly attentive to all these idioms. (Paul Driver /Sunday Times)

Alexei Lubimov certainly has a fine pianistic pedigree. Born in Moscow in 1944, he was one of the last students of Heinrich Neuhaus, whose previous pupils included both Emil Gilels and Sviatoslav Richter. Unlike those greats, however, the core of Lubimov’s repertory has always been the 20th century. … On this disc, the focus is Russian music from the first half of the 20th-century… Lubimov’s relaxed, transparent performance of Shostakovich’s Second Sonata and tightly coiled one of Prokofiev’s Seventh are both hugely impressive, as is his surprisingly emollient account of Scriabin’s “Black Mass” sonata. (Andrew Clements / The Guardian)

Alexei Lubimov DER BOTE

This is one of the best discs to have crossed my palm for some time. This package as a whole simply works so well. Here we have a themed compilation that doesn’t pamper to any trend, but has its own voice and something to say. Der Bote (The Messenger), the title, is attributed to Lubimov and is also the title of the last piece on the disc. The theme is mainly one of melancholy, with elegiac pieces that run the whole gamut of pianistic compositions, from CPE Bach to John Cage. The Cage piece sees him in unusually tonal territory; it’s a beautiful, and evocative piece with a definite whiff of the East. Lubimov’s intelligent coupling of these two pieces sets the tone for the whole imaginative collection.
When the 20th-century pieces are heard, there’s no feeling of a bitter pill surrounded by a sugared coating. There are offerings from Tigran Mansurian and the Russian Valentin Silvestrov. Chuck in a bit of Debussy, Bartók and Liszt and you have a fine recipe for an hour’s enjoyable comtemplation. Lubimov has a wonderful sense of darkness when need be, such as in Silvestrov’s Webernesque “Elegie” and a beautiful porcelain lightness in pieces such as Cage’s “In A Landscape”. His playing is laced with colour and mood and makes for a beautifully crafted disc. (Stephen Priest, Pianist)

VALENTIN SILVESTROV Bagatellen und Serenaden

Early in the morning in the Himmelsfahrtskirche in Sendling, before the Munich Chamber Orchestra began the first day’s work on the sessions, Silvestrov sat at the piano and began, quietly, to play. A solo piano recording wasn’t planned, but the microphones were set up for the orchestra, which included piano... Producer Manfred Eicher let the machines run anyway, and snared the first of these pieces, finding in these lontano audio snapshots a special poignancy, and encouraging Silvestrov to continue playing after the orchestra session.  There is a quality to the bagatelles almost like eavesdropping on private thoughts: the pieces sound as if created in the moment. But Silvestrov scholar Tatjana Frumkis specifies otherwise: “The bagatelles form a sort of improvised cycle… Yet what we hear is not improvisation in the strict sense: everything has been fully crafted in the composer’s mind down to the nethermost detail… The living flow of the music is sped up or restrained by a prevailing sense of rubato. The dynamics are governed by the softest pianissimos that seem to expand infinitely in the interior of the church. The listener is granted an opportunity to experience one of the composer’s unique autographs, a sound-ideal with his characteristic weightless attack (‘as if on springtime ice’).” The highly unusual recording reveals a great deal about Silvestrov as musical thinker – the bagatelles are like an x-ray of his melodic imagination – and help us understand both the sources from which his larger pieces flow and the kinds of demands he makes of his interpreters. This is not the first time that Silvestrov has recorded his own music, for his debut ECM disc Leggiero, pesante already included, as a postscript, his solo performance of ‘Hymne 2001’. It is, though, the most extensive documentation to date. (ECM Records)

Alexei Lubimov HAYDN The Seven Last Words of Christ

Although it is played on a period instrument, no one is arguing that this recording of Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ is historically authentic. The work, exceptionally in Haydn's output, exists in multiple versions, for orchestra, string quartet, chorus, and keyboard (either fortepiano or harpsichord). But surely Haydn did not have the instrument heard here, the rare tangent piano, in his head. This was, speaking roughly, a piano-harpsichord hybrid that never really found its footing in the late 18th century. As long as listeners are down with the idea of a fairly speculative recording, the effect of the tangent piano in this particular work is electrifying. Lubimov gets the best of both worlds: the intimacy of the keyboard version and the dynamic contrasts and timbral shadings of the orchestral original. The keyboard transcription is not by Haydn himself but was made in his own time, and he approved it. Lubimov works from this, tweaking it and adding contrasts that break up the seven consecutive slow movements and give them an extraordinarily expressive quality. Even when listeners know it's coming, the final Terremoto movement, depicting the earthquake following Christ's crucifixion, comes as a shock. Listeners will never hear the work quite the same way again after experiencing this recording, and even if Haydn didn't intend it this way, most may well end up wishing he had. (James Manheim)

Corinna Simon LUTOSLAWSKI Complete Piano Works

Witold Lutoslawski was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. His well-known Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two pianos are in the repertoire of almost every respectable piano duo. Unfortunately, apart from the short piece An Overheard Tune, featured here, Lutoslawski left no other work for two pianists to posterity. During the Second World War, Lutoslawski played many of his own compositions in cafés, in duo with Andrzej Panufnik, in order to make a living. In July 1944 he had to flee from Warsaw, his home town, just a few days before the Uprising, and was only able to save a small number of his scores from extinction. He didn’t return to Warsaw until April of the following year. Among all the solo piano works Lutoslawski must have composed up to the end of World War II, only the Sonata (1934) and the Two Etudes (1940/41) are still preserved today. Lutoslawski was an excellent pianist, but after the war he only wrote a very small number of pieces for the instrument. They all pertain to his early post-war period, before he turned to twelve-tone pitch organisation and aleatory technique. What most impresses and thrills me in Lutoslawski’s piano output is his immense degree of creativity while heeding every detail with painstaking attention; his wonderful way of associating traditional forms with innovative, bold sonorities and structures, while managing to preserve a great degree of independence that makes this music sound effortless and lively. (Corinna Simon)

Nemanja Radulović TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto - Rococo Variations

After his exciting journey into the musical tradition of Eastern Europe (Journey East) and the Baroque sound-scapes of J.S. Bach (Bach), Nemanja Radulovic now turns his attention to the Russian master of the Romantic era, Tchaikovsky, excelling as violinist and (in an arrangement of the famed Rococo-Variations for viola and string ensemble) a violist.
Bringing together Tchaikovsky’s two most important works for solo strings and orchestra is bringing together the two most relevant poles of his life – Belgrade and Paris: The Rococo Variations are linked to the first part of his life, when he was a student in Belgrade before the Balkan war. At this time Nemanja not only used to play the violin, but also viola and sometimes the cello. Playing an arranged viola version of the Rococo variations which originally were composed for cello, takes him back to his musical childhood in Belgrade.

Yvan Cassar, who worked with Nemanja on Journey East has now produced compelling arrangements for strings and piano of the Rococo Variations. They provide a lightness and an energy that are perfectly suited for the neoclassical sound of Tchaikovsky’s music.

The Rococo Variations were recorded in Belgrade with ensemble Double Sens (French for: “double direction” & “double meaning”). The group reflects perfectly Nemanja’s dual past between Paris and Belgrade as it includes his former student-friends for Serbia, and his friends from the Conservatoire de Paris (including 2 members of the Fontanarosa family).

The Tchaikovsky concerto is linked to Nemanja’s arrival in Paris. He began to work on the concerto with his Conservatoire de Paris’ teacher Patrice Fontanarosa. Since then, this piece has been the concerto Nemanja has played most often during his career opening the doors to the great concert halls of the world like in Paris, London or Tokyo.

The concerto was recorded in Istanbul with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and Sascha Goetzel, with which Nemanja feels he finds the freedom and mutual sprit to develop and express what is fundamentally important to him in the respective work.
2018 marks the 125th anniversary of the death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).

Roman Trekel / Oliver Pohl SCHUBERT Schwanengesang

The swan is famous for its song. The Indo-Germanic stem “suon/suen” stands for “moaning” or “resounding.” But can he really sing? The mute swan, common in the composer’s region, does not. The great white bird usually glides majestically yet silently over the water. The singing swan, a bird with a more upright neck that ever more frequently winters in Germany, is another case altogether. After Die Winterreise (Winter Journey) and Die schone Mullerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill), Roman Trekel has selected Schwanengesang (Swan Song) for his latest Lied- album available from Oehms Classics. He interprets well known titles from this cycle, such as Kriegers Ahnung (Warrior’s Foreboding), Liebesbotschaft (Love’s Message) and the famous Standchen (Serenade) with intelligence as well as a mature, warm voice. His regular piano partner, Oliver Pohl, accompanies him with sensitivity, at times with vigour as well. (Naxos)

Carolyn Sampson / Iestyn Davies / Joseph Middleton LOST IS MY QUIET

Carolyn Sampson and Iestyn Davies have collaborated on many occasions in the field of Baroque opera and oratorio, but on this occasion they venture into a somewhat different territory. In the company of Joseph Middleton, they have been exploring the Lieder for one and two voices of Mendelssohn and Schumann, combining them with songs and duets by Roger Quilter. And even though the disc actually opens with a set of Purcell songs – repertoire which both singers have previously made their mark in – they are here performed with the piano accompaniments realized by Benjamin Britten, turning them into something quite new and different.

‘Creamy’, ‘luminous’ and ‘supple’ are words that often appear in reviews about both Carolyn Sampson and Iestyn Davies, and in these duets they achieve a marvellous blend as well as the utmost precision. They are aided in this by Joseph Middleton, described in The Telegraph (UK) as an ‘unfailingly sensitive accompanist’

Hille Perl / Christine Schornsheim / Lee Santana BACH Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord BWV 525 - 530

Hille Perl is widely regarded as one of the leading viola da gambists in the world. Because of the prominence of her instrument in the Baroque era, her repertory is rich in works from that period, with the names, J.S. Bach, Telemann, Marin Marais, Sainte-Colombe, and other 17th and 18th century composers headlining her concert programs and recordings. Perl also plays the treble viol, the seven-string bass viol, Baroque guitar, Lirone, and Xarana. She often performs with her husband, lutenist Lee Santana, in duo repertory, and together the pair have formed two other ensembles: Los Otros, with guitarist Steve Player, and the Age of Passions, with violinist/conductor Petra Mullejans and flutist Karl Kaiser. Perl has also appeared with some of the leading Baroque ensembles in Europe, like the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Harp Consort. She has made numerous recordings, many of them available from Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.

Landestheater Linz / Bruckner Orchester Linz / Dennis Russell Davies PHILIP GLASS Kepler

This recording of Philip Glass' opera Kepler comes from the world-premiere production at the Landestheater Linz in 2009. Veteran Glass associate Dennis Russell Davies leads soloists and the chorus of the theater and the Bruckner Orchester Linz in the performance. Kepler, a treatment of the life and thought of the 17th century German astronomer, returns to the epic themes of the trio of great biographical operas that initiated Glass' career as an opera composer, Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten, and the libretto in German and Latin by Martina Winkel has some echoes of the non-linear aspect of those works. The music reflects more recent developments in the composer's style, particularly a use of denser, thicker orchestral textures, more like those of The Voyage, which Davies recorded with the Linz forces after its 2002 European premiere. The music doesn't break any new ground (except for perhaps the increased prominence Glass gives to the large percussion section) and lacks the variety that made works like Einstein and Satyagraha so striking. Particularly in the first of the two acts, the music has a relentlessly anguished, roiling quality. The second act is more musically successful, with greater textural and tonal variety. For the most part, the higher voices, among both the soloists and the chorus, sound taxed and strained by Glass' demands for so much singing in the upper register. In the title role, baritone Martin Achrainer sings with warmth and security, and gives focus to a production that is not otherwise especially vocally gratifying. Kepler may not rank among Glass' most memorable operas, which include his first three and later works like La Belle et la Bête and Orphée, but it should be of interest to the composer's fans, and it's always valuable to have a recording of a major composer's large-scale works. (Stephen Eddins)

Cathy Krier DEBUSSY - SZYMANOWSKI

"In this new album, Cathy Krier takes an original step and goes entirely against the grain of her previous programmatic approach. In her two most recent CDs she had juxtaposed the apparently divergent styles of Rameau and Ligeti, or Liszt vs. Berg/Schoenberg, uncovering astounding new connections among them. The current release now takes the opposite path. At first glance, Claude Debussy – the inventor of musical Impressionism – and Karol Szymanowski – often called the ‘Polish Impressionist’ – would seem to have much in common. Both composers even use the same title in French: Masques (masks). Cathy Krier affirms, nevertheless, that she is much more interested in the differences one can observe between these two works written roughly during the same period. Our listening experience is thus enriched thanks to a new, fascinating aesthetical perspective."(excerpts from the booklet notes by Clemens Matuschek)

Martha Argerich / Daniel Barenboim LIVE FROM BUENOS AIRES

There's undoubtedly an enormous amount of sensitivity and experience in the Schumann . . . [in the Debussy] you can hear two great pianists at work . . . There's a wide range of tone colour, and the flexibility of tempo is mostly coherent, bringing out the tragedy of the central movement, as well as the virtuoso outpouring of the first, and the wit and fleetness of foot in the third . . . [in the Bartók] Barenboim and Argerich are clearly in the swing of all the complex rhythms, and the first movement is very exciting. (Martin Cotton / BBC Music Magazine)

. . . [Schumann / "6 Studien in kanonischer Form"]: Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim bring a lovely leisurely flow to the first study, "Nicht zu schnell" with some beautifully done decorations. These two could easily be one, such is the terrific interweaving of musical lines. "Mit innigem Ausdruck" again has a fine flow with these two fine musicians gently pointing up every detail bringing a wonderfully subtle rubato in this most beautifully shaped performance . . . [Debussy / "En blanc et noir"]: This is a masterly performance . . . [Bartók / "Sonata for 2 Pianos & Percussion"]: There is quite thrilling playing here from all these musicians, a great freedom and wonderful panache. The precision between pianos and percussion is impressive with an electricity running right through this performance . . . The live recording is excellent, with my download full of warmth and detail . . . These are performances that shouldn't be missed. (Bruce Reader)

Ingrid Marsoner LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Klaviersonaten op. 78 - 101- 111

Following on from her recording of piano concertos by Hummel and Beethoven, Austrian pianist Ingrid Marsoner presents her interpretations of late piano sonatas by Beethoven. Marsoner’s subtle yet vigorous playing opens the disc with Sonata No. 28 in A major Op. 101. The Rondo alla ingharese, quasi un capriccio Op. 129 is better known by its popular name “Rage over a Lost Penny” and is an earlier work, as is the 'lighter' Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major Op. 78, which provides a welcome intermezzo and an interesting contrast to the somewhat more profound late sonatas featured. The final track, Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111, the last of Beethoven's piano sonatas, features two highly contrasting movements.

Austrian pianist Ingrid Marsoner is blessed with a musical sensitivity rarely found in the younger generation. Without any mawkishness, she is capable of moving listeners with Franz Schubert, accomplishing structural and atmospheric miracles with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, unfolding an amazing energy in musical competition with symphony orchestras and then, when she dips into the subtleties of a Mozart sonata or a modern impression, differentiating the finest nuances so fluently that the famous borderline between musical art and music once more completely loses its validity. She has received major musical inspiration from other eminent pianists such as Tatiana Nikolayeva, Paul Badura-Skoda and Alfred Brendel.
Competition successes and invitations to competition juries soon followed. She has been awarded First Prize at the Steinway Competition and the Jeunesse Competition in Vienna, and was also presented with the 'Big Prize, awarded for a performance of an exceptional quality’, for her interpretation of Schumann’s Kreisleriana at the Young Artists Peninsula Music Festival in Los Angeles. She was also invited to join the jury of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig.

Krystian Zimerman SCHUBERT Piano Sonatas D 959 & D 960

Krystian Zimerman, in his first solo album for Deutsche Grammophon for over twenty-five years, unlocks the drama and intensity of Schubert’s late piano sonatas.
Every new recording by Krystian Zimerman is sure to command worldwide critical acclaim. The legendary Polish pianist’s latest title for Deutsche Grammophon, his first solo album since the early 1990s, is set to take its place among the great Schubert recordings. Scheduled for international release on 8 September 2017, it contains revelatory readings of the Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major D959 and Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major D960, works written just months before the composer’s death at the age of thirty-one. Zimerman’s profound recorded interpretations flowed from his experience of performing the works many times in recent seasons and of becoming fully immersed in Schubert’s late creative world in the process. His approach highlights the experimental, visionary nature of both sonatas, the revolutionary work of a man looking forward to the future rather than dwelling on thoughts of death.
Krystian Zimerman used the approach of his sixtieth birthday – which he celebrated last December – as the motivation to explore Schubert’s final sonatas. “I had such respect for these works and for the late sonatas of Beethoven but with that came tremendous fear,” he recalls. “I realised it was time, as I came to a new stage in my own life, to find the courage to perform these late works. I let go of the old stories about this being music by a man aware that he was about to die. Schubert was ill, yes, but he was still in very good shape and filled with a wonderful sense of humour when he wrote what proved to be his final sonatas. I am sure he was looking ahead. The Sonata in A major, for example, is such a modern work. And it has so much to say about life here, as does the Sonata in B flat major.”
Zimerman found ideal conditions for his Schubert recording at the Kashiwazaki City Performing Arts Centre in Japan. The pianist gave a fundraising recital in the wake of a devastating earthquake that struck the town and its surrounding region in 2007; in return, the mayor offered Zimerman exclusive use of Kashiwazaki’s concert hall as a recording venue. For the sessions in January 2016, the pianist used a keyboard he himself had constructed especially for his Schubert performances, which was fitted to a local Steinway concert instrument. The results combine extraordinary details of articulation and orchestral depth with a singing line and warm tone.
“It is a tremendous privilege to work with an artist of such rare genius and relentless commitment to excellence,” comments Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. “Krystian Zimerman’s understanding of Schubert’s two late piano sonatas has grown over several decades and can be perceived in every note of his recording, in phrasing of extraordinary subtlety, in his exquisite singing tone, and in his feeling for the poetry as well as the daring structure and compelling clarity of the music. There’s no trace of cloying sentimentality. This new album will surely take its place in company with the greatest in the catalogue.”

Pablo Heras-Casado / Orchestra of St. Luke's TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1 Op. 13 - The Tempest Op. 18

For this 2017 Harmonia Mundi release, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Orchestra of St. Luke's present two of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's early works, the Symphony No. 1 in G minor, "Winter Dreams," Op. 13, and the symphonic fantasia after Shakespeare, The Tempest, Op. 18. While the symphony in its original form failed to please Tchaikovsky's conservative teachers, Anton Rubinstein and Nikolai Zaremba, its revised version was one of the young composer's earliest successes with an audience and proved that his talents for long-breathed melodies and rich orchestration were no impediments to working in symphonic form. Heras-Casado and the St. Luke's orchestra give a moody and evocative performance, and the wintry atmosphere and luminous scene painting of the first three movements may impress listeners more than the finale, which seems forced, episodic, and academic, even in the best hands. Essentially a tone poem with a loose program, The Tempest is less problematic than the symphony in its formal aspects, and in several ways it anticipates the fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet, not least in its dramatic action music but also in its characteristic love theme. This performance is warm and passionate, and Heras-Casado and his musicians give it rhythmic vitality where the music needs it. The recorded sound in both works is vivid and spacious, and approaches audiophile quality in its crisp details and transparent tone colors. (Blair Sanderson)

Del Sol String Quartet / Gyan Riley TERRY RILEY Dark Quenn Mantra

Sono Luminus announces the August 25, 2017 worldwide release of Dark Queen Mantra, a new recording from Del Sol String Quartet featuring new music by Terry Riley and Stefano Scodanibbio. The album includes Terry Riley’s Dark Queen Mantra (2015) written for Del Sol and Terry Riley’s son, guitarist Gyan Riley; Mas Lugares (su Madrigali di Monteverdi) by Stefano Scodanibbio (2003); and Terry Riley’s The Wheel & Mythic Birds Waltz from 1983.
Dark Queen Mantra begins brightly with “Vizcaino,” named for the hotel in Algeciras where Terry first stayed on arrival in Spain. The distinctively Spanish opening motive plays with shifting groupings and irregular accents. Terry started writing the second movement with Francisco Goya’s paintings in mind. Then the music began to take flight and grew fast and fluttery —“Goya with Wings” he called it. The final movement explores a heavier and more insistent groove. As Terry says, “it gets dark.” 

Stefano Scodanibbio’s Mas Lugares (su Madrigali di Monteverdi) refracts Monteverdi through the lens of bassist/composer Scodanibbio’s prodigious timbral imagination. The piece is dedicated to Luciano Berio, another master of transcription and re-invention of music of the past. 

In his The Wheel & Mythic Birds Waltz, Terry Riley views an Indian tabla rhythm through a kaleidoscope of possibilities, gently shifting the meter to set it dancing in new ways. Sometimes the music surges forward with sweeping melodies, sometimes it lingers looping in eddies. In a pre-concert talk with Del Sol Quartet in Camptonville, California, Riley revealed that the birds he imagined in the piece came from Anagarika Govinda’s account of Tibetan Buddhism, The Way of the White Clouds. He had been reading the book and wanted to give the birds a dance to do. (Pledge Music)

Accentus / Orchestre de Chambre de Paris / Ottavio Dantone ROSSINI Petite Messe solennelle

Starring Julia Lezhneva, Ottavio Dantone and accentus, this live recording brings a new and fresh light on Rossini's most famous choral work. The concert took place in Paris - Basilique de Saint-Denis, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the work, first performed in March 1864, in Paris. The amazing quality of the solo voices (Julia Lezhneva, Delphine Galou, Michael Spyres, Alexander Vinogradov) meets the dynamic direction of Ottavio Dantone and is supported by the vocal dexterity of accentus chamber choir.

“Because of its uncommon instrumental forces, the ‘chamber’ version of the 'Petite Messe', for two pianos and harmonium, was long regarded as the definitive version; the orchestration Rossini made in 1867-68 was viewed as merely an arrangement. In his recent critical edition, Davide Daolmi presents a different interpretation, which makes the orchestrated version the culmination of a long genetic process, begun in 1862, in which the ‘chamber’ version is merely an intermediate stage. The posthumous premiere of the definitive version of the 'Petite Messe', which was also the work’s first public performance, took place at the Théâtre-Italien on 28 February 1869, the anniversary of the composer’s birth, with Gabrielle Kraus (soprano), Marietta Alboni (contralto), Ernest Nicolas (tenor), and Luigi Agnesi. It was at once a triumph and a highly emotional occasion. A few years later, on 30 May 1876, Verdi was to conduct his 'Messa da requiem' in the same theatre, thus continuing the homage to the great Italian composer.” (from the booklet notes)

Nina Kotova / Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra / Vladimir Fedoseyev TCHAIKOVSKY

Nina Kotova has joined links with Russian maestro Vladimir Fedoseyev to replay the wonderful works of Tchaikovsky in her latest album ‘Tchaikovsky’. The album includes a total of thirteen emotional, moving and simply terrific pieces by the man himself – played with soul and meaning.

Kotova’s skill to play the Cello is unquestionably splendid, throughout the album she showcases her maturity and connection to the pieces especially in lively pieces such as ‘Pezzo capriccioso Op. 62’. Furthermore, the album is full of range, joyous themes are shifted from when the sound of ‘Serenade for Strings’ enters, ultimately moving us from theme to theme.

Conclusively, the album is a terrific showcase of the dynamic that Kotova and Fedoseyev have as collaborators. Bringing back the great works of Tchaikovsky in a masterful way for those that sometimes forget the impact he has had, giving us a scale of emotions in one true album. This album is one for fans of classical music, especially those that adore the work of Tchaikovsky – one we recommend. (Modestas Mankus)

Christian Tetzlaff J.S. BACH Sonatas & Partitas

Award-winning violinist Christian Tetzlaff continues his highly successful series of chamber music recordings on Ondine with a new recording of Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV1001–1006) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). 

Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas have an iconic status in the violin repertoire. Yet, little is known about the background of these fascinating works. Bach’s autograph manuscriptis dated in Köthen in 1720, and it is commonly considered as the year when the cycle was completed. In his booklet notes Christian Tetzlaff offers fascinating perspectives to these masterpieces. 

Christian Tetzlaff is considered one of the world’s leading international violinists and maintains a most extensive performing schedule. Musical America named him ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in 2005 and his recording of the violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann, released on Ondine in 2011 (ODE 1195-2), received the ‘Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik’. He has recently been awarded an ECHO as ’Best Instrumentalist’ for his recording of Brahms Sonatas with Lars Vogt. In addition, in 2015 ICMA awarded Christian Tetzlaff as the ‘Artist of the Year’. His recordings on Ondine with Brahms’ Trios (ODE 1271-2D) and Violin Concertos by Dvorák and Suk (1279-5) released. (ONDINE)

MICHEL VAN DER AA Above - Between - Attach - Just Before - Auburn - Oog

Above, Between, Attach, Just Before, Auburn, Oog is the long title assigned by Dutch Composer's Voice label to the maiden solo voyage on disc of contemporary Dutch composer Michel van der Aa. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, van der Aa is considered one of the young Turks of cutting-edge European concert music. Composers attempting to make a name in the late twentieth century had to deal with a great deal of mid-century dogma, the legacy of academic serialism, and of minimalism. Van der Aa comes to contemporary music with no such baggage in tow, yet instead of turning back to traditional, audience-friendly musical forms, van der Aa makes avant-garde music that is fresh, uncompromising, and boundary-expanding. He arrives at a time of cynicism and a lack of decisiveness about the future of experimental music; and perhaps his time is right.

Van der Aa works with audiophile-quality, multi-track recordings that are recorded by the ensembles participating in these chamber works; often it is difficult to tell where the live music ends and pre-recorded material begins as the two are combined so smoothly. A favorite device is the use of tearing or ripping sounds on the tapes, a stylistic attribute that is amusingly echoed in the disc's striking cover image. Abrupt punching in or punching out of sounds, a recording engineer's nightmare, is another favored technique. Of these works, the most strongly attractive one is the piano piece Just Before, played beautifully by pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama. It appears that Mukaiyama had some collaborative input into the piece itself, significant as not many virtuosi would care to have such an extreme level of intervention and manipulation of the recorded performance by the composer as is heard. The guitar piece Auburn, which initially helped van der Aa gain his reputation, is impressive in its jazzy, highly dissonant fast section. Oog, for cello, is a nervous piece that has an affecting moment where the cello's tone seems to shatter apart. Listeners who seek in contemporary music balm for their frayed nerves will find nothing in van der Aa's music to ease their troubles. Nonetheless, those who love a challenge, yet hate academicism for its own sake, will embrace van der Aa with enthusiasm and listen to this disc again and again. (Uncle Dave Lewis)

MICHEL VAN DER AA Violin Concerto - Hysteresis

Michel van der Aa’s new Violin Concerto for Janine Jansen received its first performance on 6 November in Amsterdam, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Van der Aa has described the partnership of Jansen and the RCO as his “dream team”. It combines an orchestra with whom he now has a long-standing and intimate relationship, and a soloist with a magnetic stage presence and a heart-on-sleeve style of playing, ideally suited to Van der Aa’s direct and physically expressive music. As “house composer” for the RCO since 2011, he was able to work unusually closely with the players, checking details throughout the period of composition. He has also been free to write the works he chooses. In this case, it was Jansen’s personality that served as inspiration, and the composer claims that “If Janine had played the flute, I would have written a flute concerto.” 

The piece has its roots in the classical concerto – unusually for him, Van der Aa hasn’t even included any electronics – but he couldn’t resist giving it a distinctly theatrical quality. “As an opera director, I love the theatrical possibilities of having someone who is the embodiment of the work.” The theatre begins in Jansen’s presence and personality, but extends across the whole stage. The lead violinist and cellist are drawn in as secondary soloists, and with Jansen often form a trio of their own. 

Their energy spreads outwards to three percussionists, harp, the string groups and finally the whole orchestra. Those lines of transmission are articulated visually as well as aurally – the three percussionists are spaced among the orchestra not only because of the way that distribution sounds, but also because of how it looks. Visual considerations extend to the stage lighting and even to the type of dress the soloist wears. “Yes, I am a control freak,” admits Van der Aa, “But in addition to the music all these aspects are of great importance to the total experience.”
The concerto is composed in the traditional three movements. Van der Aa describes the first as abstract, the second as more direct and melodic, and the third as very fast, performed at breakneck speed and close to the edge of possibility. Like Van der Aa’s other recent pieces – the opera Sunken Garden and the clarinet concerto Hysteresis – it also includes allusions to popular styles; in this case to jazz and bluegrass. With no electronics or video, the alter ego role familiar from many other Van der Aa pieces is taken up by the orchestra, which mirrors and balances the soloist, rather than playing a traditional accompanying role. (Tim Rutherford-Johnson)

Le Cercle de l’Harmonie / Jérémie Rhorer MOZART Don Giovanni

Here is the third and last instalment in the ‘Live at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées’ series of Mozart operas conducted by Jérémie Rhorer. After Die Entführung aus dem Serail and La clemenza di Tito comes Don Giovanni, recorded in 2016. On the occasion of the performances (directed by Stéphane Braunschweig) during which Radio France recorded the present discs, Le Figaro wrote: ‘Jérémie Rhorer expertly conducted his orchestra “Le Cercle de l’Harmonie”. On the stage, Jean-Sébastien Bou sang and acted the title role impeccably. He was seconded by his valet Leporello, superbly played by the Canadian Robert Gleadow. A thrilling production both musically and intellectually.’ The cast is completed by the ardent Myrtò Papatanasiu in the role of Donna Anna, the lovely voice of Julie Boulianne as Donna Elvira and the elegant timbre of Julien Behr as Don Ottavio, not forgetting the magnificent Commendatore of Steven Humes and the lively Zerlina and Masetto of Anna Grevelius and Marc Scoffoni. (Outhere Music)

Grace Francis CONSOLATION

This album contains the two most greatly significant solo piano sonatas of the mid-nineteenth century, coincidentally composed at the same time by two of the greatest composers of the era - who, in aesthetic development and individual character, could hardly have been more different from one another, although their mutual respect is one of the least appreciated aspects of their later relationship. Grace Francis was born in East London and attended the Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied with Peter Norris and Louis Kentner. At the Royal College of Music, Ms. Francis studied with Irina Zaritskaya and was awarded the Chappell Gold Medal, the highest award for a pianist. She continued her studies with a Wingate Scholarship in the UK, also receiving the Hattori Foundation Award and winning the international competition, Nerada Piano House Award, in Zagreb. In 2014 Grace played in the ‘PIANOWORKS’ gala concert at the Cadogan Hall and 2016 saw the digital release of Sacred. This was also broadcast over several days on BBC Radio 3 in 2015 for International Women’s Day.

Delphine Galou / Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone AGITATA

Delphine Galou is renowned and admired for her musicality and her appealing timbre. She has taken part in many productions of Baroque music and recordings of operas (notably by Vivaldi), but this is her first recital. It is a programme of sacred music, motets, cantatas and excerpts from oratorios, which in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were influenced by the increasingly fashionable genre of opera. From the famous ‘Agitata infido flatu’ from Vivaldi’s oratorio Juditha triumphans, here counterpointed by an aria from another setting of the story of Judith composed by Jommelli, to Stradella’s Lamentations and Porpora’s magnificent motet ‘In procella sine stella’, Delphine Galou covers a wide range of spiritual emotions. She is accompanied by the excellent Accademia Bizantina under its director and harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone. A concerto by Gregori and a sinfonia by Caldara complete this release, which includes several world premiere recordings. 

Kathrin Christians / Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn / Ruben Gazarian FELD - WEINBERG - THEODORAKIS

“Feld’s Concerto for flute, string orchestra, piano, harp and percussion is the work that set the idea to record this rather unusual repertoire in motion. This piece is one of the cases in music history where a decent work is at risk of wrongly being forgotten. It is played far too rarely. The outward-thrusting eruptive energy, which might not be typically associated with the flute, is what intrigued me. Weinberg’s brilliant version of Concerto no. 2 op. 148 for flute and string orchestra is recorded here for the first time ever and was another important item for me, even though I initially harboured some doubts when putting the programme together. I spent a long time pondering on whether or not to include the Weinberg and Mikis Theodorakis’s Adagio for Solo-Flute, String Orchestra & Percussion, fearing that it would make for a very sombre release. This dilemma was an important process because it made me realise just how good the selection is. All the pieces go hand in hand with one another, feed into one another and give one another so much energy.”

Kathrin Christians is an internationally renowned flautist, having performed worldwide both as a soloist and with orchestras. On this release she performs with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn (WKO), under the baton of its chief conductor and artistic director Ruben Gazarian. (Presto Classical)

Olli Mustonen / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu PROKOFIEV Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 3 & 4

This is the second and final disc in a cycle of Sergei Prokofiev’s piano concertos with pianist Olli Mustonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu. Of the first volume, Gramophone wrote: 'How many times have I regretted a shortage of fantasy, flair and fairy-tale imagination in recordings of the Prokofiev piano concertos? Well, here is a disc that takes all those qualities to the top'.

Upon reading the score of the 2nd Piano Concerto before its premiere, composer Nikolay Miaskovsky wrote to Prokofiev: 'When I was reading through your concerto tonight, lying in bed, I went almost crazy with admiration: I jumped and cried out, so that if I had neighbours, they’d have probably thought I’d gone mad'. Prokofiev wrote this magical work just before World War I. The original score was destroyed during the Russian revolution, and Prokofiev had to re-write the concerto in 1923. Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5 is completely different in nature than its predecessors. A stylistic change towards simplicity is evident in the work. Although Prokofiev considered naming the work 'Music for Piano and Orchestra' he produced in the end a challenging concerto that tests any soloist’s technique. Prokofiev himself gave the first performance in Berlin on 31 October 1932.

Pianist Olli Mustonen has recorded many works with Ondine, including Respighi’s Concerto in modo Misolidio with Sakari Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony and a critically acclaimed disc of Scriabin’s solo piano music. Recent recordings by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu on Ondine have been a fruitful collaboration, gathering excellent reviews in the international press.

Guro Kleven Hagen / Marianna Shirinyan FAIT PLEURER LES SONGES

The pairing of Prokofiev’s first Sonata for Violin and Piano with Poulenc’s Violin Sonata form the core of the repertoire we wanted for this CD. Both sonatas are amongst the most beautiful, most brutal and emotive we know, and we have always had an enormous respect and love for these works. Although at first glance the works may seem an unusual combination, they have much in common, not just in their means of expression, but also in their background. Both sonatas were written as a reaction to the horrors the composers witnessed during the 2nd World War. 

Ravel’s sonata (op.post) was to some extent unknown to both of us at the point when we decided to record the Prokofiev and Poulenc. However, we immediately fell in love with it when we heard it for the first time. It is quite a contrast to the two sombre sonatas, with a youthful credulity and tenderness, and shows characteristics of being written by a young Ravel while Europe was still at peace. 

The choice of these three sonatas, written during two utterly different sets of circumstances, gives a natural “war and peace” theme to the CD. With this in mind, we chose the title “Fait pleurer les songes”, translated into Norwegian as “Får drømmene til å gråte” – “Makes dreams weep”. The title also reflects Poulenc’s violin sonata, where the 2nd movement has the subtitle “La guitare fait pleurer les songes” (the guitar makes dreams weep), taken from a poem by the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca. The sonata is dedicated to Lorca, who was murdered during the Spanish civil war. 

Dreams can be dissolved into tears during the horrors of war. In the same way, as in these three sonatas by Ravel, Poulenc and Prokofiev, music has the ability to make us daydream and to recall our tears and strong emotions. (Guro Kleven Hagen & Marianna Shirinyan)

Christina Pluhar / L'Arpeggiata HÄNDEL GOES WILD

With Händel Goes Wild Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata once again embark on some musical time travel, this time in the company of soprano Nuria Rial, countertenor Valer Sabadus and jazz clarinettist Gianluigi Trovesi. The album features sumptuously reimagined versions of some of Handel’s most celebrated operatic arias. “All baroque composers used strict forms,” explains Christina Pluhar, “but those forms would also allow the singers and musicians to improvise and add ornament freely.” Highlighting the composer’s dynamism and temperament, she says: “Händel must have been pretty wild himself.” 

George Friderich Händel now joins Purcell, Monteverdi and Cavalli on the list of composers who have inspired an album by Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata. The title of this new album refers first and foremost to the imaginative treatment his music receives from L’Arpeggiata, but Christina Pluhar reminds us that “Händel must have been pretty wild himself,” quoting this famous anecdote: “At a rehearsal for his opera Ottone, when the celebrated soprano Francesca Cuzzoni refused to sing the aria ‘Falsa immagine’, he became so furious that he grabbed her round the waist and threatened to throw her out of the window.”

Fortunately, the ‘wildness’ on this album is purely pleasurable. Händel Goes Wild is in the beguiling vein of Music For A While – Improvisations on Henry Purcell, released by L’Arpeggiata on Erato in 2014. Praising that album, BBC Music Magazine wrote: “Long experienced in fusing Baroque with jazz-inspired performance styles, L'Arpeggiata's approach breathes new life into the Restoration composer, whose ground basses are akin to riffs, his melodies folk-like in their raw simplicity... Baroque instruments and a jazz-style combo mix to intriguing effect.” (Warner Classics)

Anna Netrebko / Yusif Eyvazov ROMANZA

Romantic roles have long been part of Anna Netrebko’s professional life, but the idea of romance must have acquired a new resonance for her since she met Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov. In her two latest Deutsche Grammophon releases, she shines as she joins forces with her husband to perform a collection of contemporary love songs written especially for them by the renowned Russian songwriter Igor Krutoy, and is equally radiant as Elsa of Brabant in Wagner’s most Romantic opera Lohengrin. Romance and Romanticism – two glittering facets of the soprano’s life and career.  

Fanfare trumpets, rousing choruses and a plot steeped in Grail legend helped propel Lohengrin to the status of Wagner’s most popular opera. For all its enduring appeal, the work is among the composer’s least understood. Christian Thielemann and a dream cast, headed by Piotr Beczała as Lohengrin and Anna Netrebko as Elsa, both new to the roles and to Wagner, gathered at Dresden’s Semperoper in May 2016 to probe the opera’s psychological depths and bring fresh light to its dark tragedy. Lohengrin emerged here as a work of revolutionary freshness. It did so by paying full attention to the score’s rich details, exchanging the usual Wagnerian default setting of loud and louder still for a bel canto interpretation shot through with spine-tingling dynamic contrasts and expressive subtlety.

This was a Lohengrin of our time and for all times, hailed by critics as a landmark event. Opera News concluded that it was “a ridiculously good performance”, a view supported by a stream of five-star reviews and rapturous news headlines. UNITEL, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary last year, was there to document Wagner history in the making. The company’s film catalogue includes Patrice Chéreau’s ground-breaking “Jahrhundertring” (“Centenary Ring”) from the 1976 Bayreuth Festival and the recent Ring cycle staged by La Fura dels Baus in Valencia. The DVD of Thielemann’s Lohengrin, set for international release by Deutsche Grammophon on 7 July 2017, marks the yellow label’s first adventure in Ultra HD video. Its high-definition images and sound capture the intense drama and emotional power generated by one of those rare Wagner ensembles in which all the participants – from Beczała and Netrebko to the Sächsischer Staatsopernchor and Staatskapelle Dresden – combined to produce the perfect instrument. The central characters were richly supported by the implacable, unstoppable Ortrud of Evelyn Herlitzius, Tomasz Konieczny’s resounding Telramund and the utterly majestic King Heinrich of Georg Zeppenfeld.

Conductor Christian Thielemann’s choice of lead singers ideally suited a work that owes much to the influence of bel canto opera. Wagner, he explains, knew the music of Bellini and Donizetti and heard the great Italian singers in Paris in the early 1840s. “Wagner’s orchestration in Lohengrin supports the voice,” he adds. “The orchestra is not there to compete with the singers – or at least it shouldn’t be.”

“Wagner is one of my favourite composers,” observes Anna Netrebko. “But I never thought I’d ever sing anything by him. Elsa is the one and only Wagner role for me. Maestro Thielemann helped me learn the style and I also gained so many insights from my wonderful colleagues involved in this production. I must admit that it was very hard for me to learn the text. I can memorise any English text; I can learn anything in French or Italian, but German is really difficult for me. Elsa’s ‘Einsam in trüben Tagen’ was okay, until … silenzio … I couldn’t remember how it ends! Christian Thielemann helped me connect with the words. He said he wanted to hear ‘Tttexssssttt! Vowels! Consonants!’ That was the key for me. It opened the door to Elsa’s all-too-human psychology.”

Like Netrebko, Piotr Beczała is in high demand at the world’s most prestigious opera companies and as soloist with the finest international orchestras. The Polish tenor, described by Opera magazine as “one of the most truly exciting male voices of the present day”, made his name with eloquent interpretations of roles such as the Duke in Rigoletto, Rodolfo in La bohème and Des Grieux in Manon, parts that call for sustained lyricism and the vocal weight required to project dramatic climaxes. Christian Thielemann convinced him that he was ready for the Wagner challenge. “Lohengrin is no more dramatic than my other roles,” says Beczała. “But it does involve aspects of the voice that I would not normally use in the French, Italian or Slavic repertoire.”

Thielemann delivers unconditional praise for Lohengrin’s stars. “The quality of Anna Netrebko’s artistry, the light and shade of her voice, its endless range of colours, are ideal for this role,” he says. He was equally delighted by Beczała’s Lohengrin. “His performance combines brightness with warmth, heroism with tenderness, compelling musicianship with searing emotional honesty. With such a fine cast working so hard and with such eloquence, I feel this was a special Lohengrin. I am delighted that, thanks to Deutsche Grammophon, audiences worldwide can now share that experience.”

Romanza, meanwhile, is not only Anna Netrebko’s first album of duets with husband Yusif Eyvazov, but also her debut crossover release. Perhaps the most famous and vocally prodigious couple in the opera world, Netrebko and Eyvazov met in early 2014 during rehearsals for Manon Lescaut at the Rome Opera, became engaged shortly afterwards, and married in Vienna in December 2015 amid a whirl of publicity. Now Romanza will appear on Deutsche Grammophon’s crossover label PANORAMA, celebrating their intense emotional connection and the radiant power of love.

With their lush instrumentation, rich palette of harmonic colour and unforgettable melodies, Igor Krutoy’s songs celebrate the many aspects of a love affair between two people. They take in every emotional nuance, from tender devotion to pulsating passion and tormented yearning, all brought vividly and thrillingly to life by the heartfelt performances of Netrebko and Eyvazov. (Deutsche Grammophon)