Works: The Spider’s Banquet
Padmâvatî Ballet Suites Nos 1 and 2
Artists: Royal Scottish National Orchestra • Stéphane Denève
One of Roussel’s most performed orchestral works, The Spider’s
Banquet was composed during his earlier impressionistic period,
and depicts the beauty and violence of insect life in a garden.
Roussel’s experiences as a lieutenant in the French Navy first
introduced him to Eastern influences, and the ‘opera-ballet’
Padmâvatî was inspired by his later visit to the ancient city of
Chittor in Rajasthan state of western India. It uses aspects of
Indian music to evoke this city’s legendary siege by the Mongols.
This is the fifth and final volume in Stéphane Denève and the
RSNO’s acclaimed survey of Roussel’s orchestral works. “An
excellent disc, splendidly and idiomatically performed and a
superb advertisement for composer, conductor and orchestra.
Highly recommended.”
(Gramophone on Vol. 4 / 8.572135)
Stéphane Denève is the newly-appointed Chief Conductor of
the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and, since
2005, Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
The first disc of their survey of the works of Albert Roussel for
Naxos won a Diapason d’Or de l’année in 2007.
Works: Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934) Sunset • Birds in the High Hall Garden*
In the Seraglio Garden • Love’s Philosophy • Over the Mountains High
Serenade from Hassan • Through Long, Long Years • Little Birdie
Slumber Song • With Your Blue Eyes
John IRELAND (1879-1962) Spring Sorrow • Evening Song* • Sea Fever
• The Holy Boy • Baby • The Three Ravens • Hope • Ladslove • Summer
Schemes • Her Song • In Summer Woods*
Artists: Julian Lloyd Webber, cello • Jiaxin Cheng, cello • John Lenehan, piano
Frederick Delius’s beautiful songs show his extraordinary gift for melody.
John Ireland admired Delius enormously and his songs are inspired
by a wide variety of literature, including his hugely popular setting of
John Masefield’s Sea Fever. Renowned cellist Julian Lloyd Webber
celebrates both composers’ remarkable melodic gifts in these sensitive
arrangements, and pianist John Lenehan has received great acclaim for
his Naxos recordings of Ireland’s complete piano music.
This recording revives a tradition which was common at the beginning of
the last century, arranging the best of vocal music for instruments, of which
the singing voice of the cello is one of the best suited. The performing
cast here is something of a dream team. Julian Lloyd Webber’s large
following will take little persuasion to explore his playing on this beautiful
CD, and he is joined both by his cellist wife Jiaxin Cheng and Ireland
expert John Lenehan, whose recordings include the Gramophone awardwinning
Michael Nyman Piano Concerto (8.554168).
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
(1844-1908) Orchestral Suites SS Schwarz No. 8.572787 CD
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897) Choral Music WPO Wit No. 8.572694 CD
Works: The Snow Maiden • Sadko • Mlada • Le Coq d’Or
(Orchestral Suites)
Artists: Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz
Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral genius shines through in his colourful
operatic suites, and that from his final opera Le Coq d’or is richly dramatic
and expressive. The complicated folk-based story of the Snow Maiden
is simplified into four enchanting movements, and that of Sadko into a
single, radiantly descriptive tone-poem. The thrilling legend of Mlada
is represented by vivid dances and a final Cortège. Gerard Schwarz’s
recording of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade (8.572693) with the
Seattle Symphony was described as ‘absolutely terrific’.
(ClassicsToday.com)
‘Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony conjure up a scintillating aura of the myth, magic and melodic allure that are fundamental to Rimsky-Korsakov’s style. There is plenty of energy coupled with subtlety in conveying a radiant spectrum of instrumental colours.’ Daily Telegraph
Works: Ave Maria Op 12 • Begräbnisgesang Op 13 • Alto Rhapsody Op 53 • Schicksalslied
Op 54 • Nänie Op 82 • Gesang der Parzen Op 89
Artists: Ewa Wolak, contralto
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra • Antoni Wit
Brahms’s first connection with choral music came in 1857, and his first
appointment in Vienna, in 1863, was to conduct the Singakademie. He
premièred A German Requiem in the city and wrote widely for choral forces,
taking a variety of poetic source material. Begräbnisgesang (Funeral Hymn)
evinces a great feeling of solemnity, whilst Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny)
is an urgent, volatile work. Nänie was written as a lament for the death of the
painter Anselm Feuerbach, and the Alto Rhapsody has remained one of the
greatest works for contralto in the repertoire. Antoni Wit, one of the most highly regarded Polish conductors,
studied conducting with Henryk Czyz and composition with
Krzysztof Penderecki at the Academy of Music in Kraków,
subsequently continuing his studies with Nadia Boulanger in
Paris. In 2002 he became managing and artistic director of the
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
Edwin York BOWEN (1884-1961) Viola Sonatas Bridge Duo No. 8.572580 CD
Joly Braga SANTOS (1924-1988) Alfama RSNO Cassuto No. 8.572815 CD
Works: Viola Sonata No 1 in C minor, Op 18
Phantasy, Op 64
Viola Sonata No 2 in F major, Op 22
Artists: The Bridge Duo (Matthew Jones, viola • Michael Hampton, piano)
The Bridge Duo’s warmly received recital disc of English Music for
Viola (8.572579) is joined here by a programme of York Bowen’s
brilliant pieces for viola and piano. This new recording will provide
fresh impetus to these relatively under-represented masterpieces.
Matthew Jones (top) is violist of the Bridge Duo (with pianist Michael
Hampton), and a professor at Trinity College of Music, Royal Welsh
College and Charterhouse International Music Festival. He has given
masterclasses around the world.
Works: Abertura Sinfónica No. 3 (Symphonic Overture No. 3) • Elegia à memória de Vianna da Motta (Elegy in memory of Vianna da Motta) • Alfama, Suite
de Bailado (Alfama, Ballet Suite) • Variations for Orchestra • Three Symphonic Sketches
Artists: Royal Scottish National Orchestra • Álvaro Cassuto
Joly Braga Santos composed in a wide variety of forms, faithfully mirrored in this selection of his highly appealing music.
The Elegy was written for his famous compatriot, the pianist Vianna da Motta, whilst the Symphonic Overture No. 3
utilises his own brand of folkloric material. Braga Santos’s Three Symphonic Sketches offer colouristic virility, full of
supercharged rhythmic energy. The Variations for Orchestra reflects a compositional change, more elusive but highly
subtle, and Alfama is a delightful ballet score. ‘Don’t miss this one!’ wrote ClassicsToday of Álvaro Cassuto’s recording of
the Second Symphony on Marco Polo 8.225216.
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