Works: Credo (1998);
Cantata in honorem Almae Matris Universitatis Iagellonicae sescentos abhinc annos fundatae (1964)
Artists: Iwona Hossa (soprano 1), Aga Mikolaj (soprano 2), Ewa Wolak (alto), Rafal Bartminski (tenor),
Remigiusz Lukomski (bass)
Warsaw Boys’ Choir (Chorus-master: Krzysztof Kusiel-Moroz)
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir (Chorus-master: Henryk Wojnarowski)
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra • Antoni Wit
· Described by USA Today as ‘one of Penderecki’s most colorful and extroverted [pieces]’, the Credo is a sweeping, lavishly scored and highly Romantic setting of the Catholic profession of faith. Its use of traditional tonality alongside passages of choral speech, ringing brass and exotic percussive effects marks it as a potent Neo-romantic masterpiece.
Composed more than 30 years earlier, the short avant garde Cantata recalls the sound world of Ligeti and celebrates the survival, over 600 years, of the Jagellonian University near Kraków.
“Antoni Wit and his Polish forces are incomparable in this repertoire” ClassicsToday.com on Penderecki’s Utrenja, 8.572031
Works: Sinfonía Buenos Aires, Op. 15 (1951)*
Concerto for Bandoneón, String Orchestra and Percussion, ‘Aconcagua’ (1979)*
Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (1964-70)** (arr. Leonid Desyatnikov for violin and strings)
Artists: Daniel Binelli (bandoneón)*, Tianwa Yang (violin)**
Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Giancarlo Guerrero
Astor Piazzolla’s name has become synonymous with tango, the signature dance of his native country, Argentina. In the Sinfonía Buenos Aires, Piazzolla’s development of symphonic tango is notable for brilliant, original and often complex orchestration.
His Bandoneón Concerto, nicknamed ‘Aconcagua’ after the highest Andean mountain, provides the soloist with ample opportunities for drama, pathos and virtuosity.
Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires), a series of single tango movements with several references to Vivaldi’s famous work, is a vivid sequence in which the changing moods of the seasons are expressed by means of an almost limitless emotional range and depth.
“This disc… also draws attention to a name new to me: Giancarlo Guerrero. Watch out for more from him”. MusicWeb International on 8.559635
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810–1849) Piano Concerto No. 1 No. 8.572335 CD
John IRELAND (1879–1962) Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 No. 8.572497 CD
Works: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op. 13 Rondo à la Krakowiak
Artists: Eldar Nebolsin (piano)
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Antoni Wit
(piano)
· Chopin’s youthful Piano Concerto No. 1 is dominated by the brilliant piano part that the teenage performer-composer wrote to showcase his extraordinary virtuosity. Its ravishing Romanza (‘reviving in one’s soul beautiful memories’, as the composer described it) is framed by an opening movement rich in dramatic lyricism and a vivacious Rondo.
The Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op. 13 and the Rondo à la Krakowiak are similarly vehicles for Romantic reverie and bravura which pay tribute to the music of his homeland.
Eldar Nebolsin’s recording of Liszt’s piano concertos (8.570517) was ranked “among the finest” by Gramophone.
"Nebolsin, winner of the first Sviatoslav Richter International Piano Competition in 2005, is a virtuoso of power and poetry" Gramophone
Works: Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor Cello Sonata in G minor
Artists: Lucy Gould (violin)
Alice Neary (cello)
Benjamin Frith (piano)
· John Ireland’s violin sonatas gained extraordinarily positive reviews when they were premiered. The Star praised the ‘delicacy, lucidity, and tonal charm’ of the First Violin Sonata, while Musical Times regarded the Second as ‘a brilliant specimen of his powers’.
This disc presents new recordings by the critically-acclaimed and widely-travelled Gould Trio of these two unjustly neglected works, together with one of Ireland’s most profoundly expressive pieces, the Cello Sonata; three compositions which display the composer’s emotional intensity and passionate lyricism.
William ALWYN (1905-1985) Chamber Music No. 8.572425 CD
Joseph HAYDN (1732–1809) Masses Vol 4 No. 8.572124 CD
Works: Clarinet Sonata
Oboe Sonata
Viola Sonatina*
Suite for Oboe and Harp
String Trio
Conversations
Artists: Hermitage String Trio,
Sarah-Jane Bradley, (viola), Lucy Gould (violin), Robert Plane (clarinet), Sophia Rahman (piano), Sarah Francis (oboe), Lucy Wakeford (harp)
Among British composer William Alwyn’s large body of work, including five symphonies, concertos for flute, oboe, violin, harp, piano, and many shorter orchestral works, there is a significant amount of chamber and instrumental music. This disc presents six works which were composed between 1934 and 1962.
During this time, Alwyn’s style developed from the easy flowing melodies exemplified in the Oboe Sonata, Viola Sonatina (here receiving its world première recording), and Suite for Oboe and Harp to the more astringent and darker language of the Clarinet Sonata and String Trio. Conversations, originally named Music for Three Players, comprises eight short descriptive pieces.
Works: Missa Cellensis, ‘Mariazellermesse’ in C major (Hob.XXII:8; 1782);
Missa in tempore belli, ‘Paukenmesse’ in C major (Hob.XXII:9; 1796)
Artists: Trinity Choir
Rebel Baroque Orchestra
Jörg Michael Schwarz (leader)
J. Owen Burdick
As Haydn scholar H.C. Landon explains, ‘it is clear that with this Missa Cellensis... he reached, and reached with panache and astonishing vigour, the popular style for which he had been so long and so diligently searching.’ For this reason, the Mariazellermesse ‘is both the precursor to Haydn’s late Masses as well as the culmination of his early efforts in the genre.’
Fourteen years elapsed before Haydn’s setting of the Mass in Time of War, also known as the Paukenmesse because of his evocative use of the timpani; the work demonstrates Haydn’s new approach to the Mass, including dramatic extremes and more frequent integration of solo and chorus.
“The playing [of REBEL Baroque Orchestra] is stylish, rhythmic and technically assured...and there is remarkable precision of ensemble.” The Strad
George BUTTERWORTH (1885–1916) Songs No. 8.572426 CD
Cyril SCOTT (1879–1970) Violin and Piano Music No. 8.572290 CD
Works: Songs from A Shropshire Lad Folk Songs from Sussex
Artists: Roderick Williams (baritone)
Iain Burnside (piano)
One of England’s most distinctive composers, George Butterworth belonged to the generation of young men decimated in the Great War of 1914-1918.
His sensitive and melancholic settings of poems from A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad, with their subject matter of the futility and arbitrariness of war, are small-scale masterpieces. Of particular note are the ‘Loveliest of Trees’, describing the passing of the seasons, and the ghostly and elegiac ‘Is my team ploughing?’
The Folk Songs from Sussex and settings of poems by R. L. Stevenson, Shelley and Wilde, whose subject matter revolves around flirtation, love, courtship, marriage and desertion, are no less notable for their attention to detail, linguistic nuance and delicate, economical piano writing.
"(Williams's) musical poise and sheer beauty of tone in the very first phrase of Loveliest of Trees sets the standard for the 11 songs that follow, and Burnside is a model partner." Andrew Clements, guardian.co.uk
Works for violin and piano are an important part of Cyril Scott’s chamber music.
This disc presents three sonatas which span his output.
The capricious and ruminative First Violin Sonata ranks among the most convincing and successful of his earlier large-scale compositions. Sonata Melodica is a more relaxed yet equally quixotic work, while the Third Violin Sonata is one of the most inventive from his later years.
“The whole collection is a most attractive expression of Scott’s highly characteristic style, all wonderfully played. Clare Howick and Sophia Rahman are both superb.” Gramophone on a previous release
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