No.247

Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) must have been one of the most widely knowledgeable, deeply learned,
and formidably equipped musicians of all time -- a composer who, in the monumental Offrande musicale
sur le nom de BACH, could make Western music's entire past seem contemporary -- yet an artist who
drew strength from and evokes an intuitive, pre-rational, childlike, art nouveau dimension. In an age
in which Faustian Sturm und Drang heroics turned to slick Sturm und Dreck fustian, an age dominated
by aesthetic clutter and such rule-of-thumb gambits as neo-Classicism, dodecaphonicism,
Gebrauchsmusik, or expressionism, an age that originated "crossover" by importing jazz, cabaret, Latin
American rhythms, or oddments from Bali into "highbrow," music, Koechlin in his most characteristic
work is so au fond different that to call him an "original" may be misleading. Nor will "eccentric" or
"a natural" do, either. He is, for instance, a master melodist whose lines range from the sensuous
and subtly sinuous to the athletically supple while seldom becoming, in the foursquare and viscerally
compelling manner of such inspired tunesmiths as Verdi or Gershwin, surefire. His rhythms are
often innovative -- never the relentless tomtoming touted as "daring" but a teasingly divided beat --
while his polytonal, polymodal harmony (further defying commonplace expectations) opens on vast
demesne of unique fantasy over which dreamlike constellations float and harlequin-esque apparitions
flit. He was generous in supplying music for neglected instruments -- not the usual etude-like
yardage goods but pieces imbued with unique character, such as the Virgilian elegy Au loin for
cor anglais or the 18 numbers of Les Confidences d'un jouer de clarinette, proposed as a film
score. For the bassoon he left three pieces with piano accompaniment, which would not be out of
place beside Faur�'s occasional pieces, and the pithy Sonata for bassoon and piano. The
dozen brief Silhouettes de com�die for bassoon and orchestra, sketch characters from
commedia dell'arte or French literature -- some familiar from Moli�re or Gautier, others unlikely
to be known even to the well read. The melodic character of Koechlin's inspiration is revealed by
the genesis of the Silhouettes -- the melodies composed between January and June 1942,
harmonized over August/September 1943, and orchestrated over October/November. For well
over half an hour, the acrobatic bassoon has hardly a moment's rest, set off by orchestral
underlining ranging from the exquisite to the riotous, occasionally recalling the Faur� of Masques
et bergamasques. Curiously, this vibrant music, joyous and moving by turns, remained not only
unpublished but unperformed until its preparation for recording in 1995 [this one].



Music Composed by Charles Koechlin
Played by the SWF Rundfunkorchester
With Eckart H�bner (bassoon) & Inge-Susann R�mhild (piano)
Conducted by Roland Bader

"There is so much of Charles Koechlin’s output to explore – some 225 opus numbers – with
so little of it recorded, that every new issue is enormously welcome. In the scheme of
Koechlin’s achievement these works for solo bassoon (two with piano, the Silhouettes de
com�die with full orchestra) are relatively modest in their scope. Harmonically these works
show none of the more radical tendencies (the use of polytonality especially) that
characterise his finest achievements, such as the series of symphonic poems based upon
Kipling’s Jungle Book, and instead their modal language betrays Koechlin’s kinship with
Faur� and Debussy. But like all of Koechlin’s works I’ve heard, the craftsmanship is
impeccable. The Silhouettes are a series of 12 utterly charming, effortlessly fluent
cameos depicting characters from Moli�re and the commedia dell’arte, with scoring
that has a feather-light touch, and bassoon writing of wit and lyric grace; while both
the early Three Pieces and the Sonata have a beguiling melodic purity. The performances
have all the necessary elegance, and Eckart H�bner makes light of the considerable
technical challenges insinuated into the bassoon parts; an endlessly enjoyable disc."
BBC Music Magazine



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No.248

Charles-Marie Widor’s Piano Concerto No.1 was completed in 1876, making it contemporary with
works like Saint-Sa�ns’s Concerto No.4 (1875), the original version of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto
No.1 (1875) and Dvor�k’s Piano Concerto (1876). The first performance was given at the Concerts
du Ch�telet on 19 November 1876, announced in Le M�nestrel. The Allegro con fuoco opens with sonorous
piano chords supported by the orchestra, followed by a more reflective accompanied cadenza. After another
forceful orchestral intervention a Schumannesque second idea is introduced and developed. A tranquil,
freer recollection of the opening by the soloist leads back to a full-throated tutti in which both the
principal ideas are recalled and developed. The rest of the movement derives all its material from
further exploration of these ideas, in a nicely balanced dialogue between soloist and orchestra that
sometimes has the pianist taking a subordinate role to instrumental lines that reveal Widor’s gift for
orchestration. At the start of the Andante religioso a rather austere theme is announced by the
woodwind, contrasting with a simple but noble series of piano chords that contain the germ of a second
theme. After a passage in which the piano develops the initial orchestral idea, the chords return,
now arpeggiated and marked quasi arpa. If the ghosts of Schumann and Liszt seem to hover over
some of what follows, Widor’s music remains individual and the movement draws to a beautiful
close with a serene recollection of the chordal theme. The scherzo-like finale is dominated by the
genial, slightly galumphing theme heard at the start, with echoes of Saint-Sa�ns. Near the end of
the movement, a cadenza makes fleeting reference to music heard earlier, and in the subsequent
coda Widor turns finally towards F major for the concerto’s jubilant conclusion.

Widor’s Piano Concerto No.2 was composed in 1905 and is dedicated to Francis Plant�. He had
performed Widor’s Fantaisie with the composer at a concert in Bordeaux in which Plant� and Widor
also appeared as soloists in a Bach concerto. Plant�, however, did not give the premiere of the
Concerto Widor dedicated to him: once again, that honour fell to Isidore Philipp, at the Concerts
Colonne on 26 February 1905. Writing about it in Le M�nestrel a week later, Jules Jemain was
full of admiration.



Music Composed by Charles-Marie Widor
Played by the BBC Concert Orchestra
With Martin Roscoe (piano)
Conducted by Martin Yates

"All three works are far more than vapid virtuoso showpieces, though all contain their share of
thundering octaves and brilliant virtuoso display. The First Concerto, completed in 1876, the
most conventional of the three, has many arresting, individual touches and themes. Like the
Second (1905), it is resourcefully orchestrated with a host of original ideas, such as the
accompanied violin solo just before the finale. The jewel here is the Fantaisie (1889), lasting
over 22 minutes, with many unusual episodes, glimpses of Saint‑Sa�ns, Franck, Brahms
and Liszt, but still uniquely Widor.

As far as the soloists, orchestras and conductors are concerned, I am going to sit on the fence –
not the most helpful advice for you the prospective customer – but the fact is that, once the
pros and cons have been weighed, there is little to choose between them. Overall tempi
are remarkably similar on both discs (the timing of one Fantaisie is within seconds of the
other); Becker and Fischer take a slightly brisker view of the concertos’ outer movements
in which, however, Roscoe and Yates are marginally more flamboyant. Roscoe has more
fun with the music-hall character of the First Concerto’s last movement and is the more
imaginative of the two in passages such as that in the Second Concerto’s second movement
marked agitato (piano solo, librement), leading to another marked tr�s �gal, sonorit�
d’Harmonica (3'07"); and compare the way the brass round off this movement in Dutton’s
warmer acoustic with Fischer’s more restrained attack. Hyperion, on the other hand, opts
for a more transparent sound picture and slightly clearer woodwind and brass detail,
matched by Becker’s lighter, sparkling touch; they have the better booklet (Nigel Simeone) –
and, of course, if you are collecting their Romantic Piano Concerto series it will be
de facto the first choice."
Gramophone





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P.S.: If you happen to find an album in this or my other thread that I posted TWICE, please email
me about it and I'll replace the newer post. I'm not sure Google can find 100% of my rips due
to Copyright search restrictions. I am trying to keep track of my own uploads in my mind, but with well over 900
releases in these two threads (some posts contain more than 1 album), it's perhaps understandable that I'm not
always 100% sure I'm uploading new content - especially with advancing age and increasing abuse of
alcohol.

Wimpel69, I simply want to say...thank you Maestro !

No.249

Young Clara Wieck-Schumann's Piano Concerto, like that of her future husband Robert Schumann,
is in A minor, but that's the only detail the two compositions share. Clara's concerto is the work of an
independent-minded young piano virtuoso who, although she was only 13 when she began writing it,
was fully aware of the most progressive tendencies of German music in the 1830s. It's true that
Robert did have his fingers in this piece; the two were already showing their works in progress to
each other and in fact, Robert orchestrated what would in two years become the finale of Clara's
three-movement concerto. But it's more Chopin-esque than Schumann-esque. Originally, the Schumann-
orchestrated movement stood alone under the titles Concert-Rondo and Concertsatz. The first movement,
Allegro maestoso (Clara orchestrated this and the slow movement herself), begins with a serious,
almost march-like orchestral introduction interrupted by a brief piano flourish; another orchestral
statement follows, then an impressive keyboard cascade that surely later inspired the opening
measures of Grieg's Concerto in A minor (Clara's concerto, though the work of a teenager, was
quite popular through the nineteenth century). The piano takes over the thematic material with
minimal orchestral support; the music has a lightness, a bittersweet flavor, and a digital complexity
that suggest the influence of early Chopin and, to a lesser extent, her older Leipzig colleague
Felix Mendelssohn. The piano retires, allowing the orchestra to lead the movement out of its
development section, but just as it seems the piano is about to launch the traditional cadenza,
it instead eases directly into the slow movement, called "Romanze." This introduces a simple,
graceful theme, moving upward in the manner of the main melodies of the outer movements.
The piano occasionally offers a few bars of intricate filigree, and eventually it is joined by a
solo cello singing the unadorned melodic line while the piano offers a more active, inventive
accompaniment. (This anticipates the slow movement of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.2,
which is largely a trio for piano, cello, and violin.) Again, a few solo piano gestures lead directly
into the final movement, the first to be composed. This is the most outgoing music so far,
but it's still rather stern. It also has something of the polonaise about it, again calling
Chopin to mind. (The most obvious model, though, Chopin's Grand Polonaise Brillante,
wasn't published in its orchestral form until 1835.) This movement is almost as long as the
first two combined. It's cast as a rondo, although the episodes are poorly enough
differentiated (and so unified by the polonaise rhythm) that the movement could as
easily be regarded as a set of grimly glittering variations.

Felix Mendelssohn's relationship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was both complex
and problematical. An approximate contemporary of Mozart, Goethe revered that composer's
work to the extent he understood it but found no favor in the Romantic thrashings of
Beethoven, for example, even though he himself was a linchpin in the evolution of Romanticism.
Having most likely never heard of the 12-year-old Mendelssohn in 1821, Goethe was persuaded
to meet him by a mutual friend, Carl Friedrich Zelter, who was also Mendelssohn's musical advisor.
Zelter, a composer of modest gifts, had himself attempted to set Goethe's Die erste Walpurgisnacht
(The First Witches' Night) to music as early as 1799, but had given up, realizing that the task was
beyond him. Upon discovering the young Mendelssohn, Zelter believed he had found someone with the
talent to finish the job. Believing also that Mendelssohn's early emulation of Mozart's style would endear
him to Goethe, he urged the project forward. It would be an exaggeration to say the two collaborated;
Mendelssohn's view of the poem was shallow in the extreme and his music, brilliant nonetheless, reflects
only the theater of it, ignoring Goethe's underlying meaning. That Goethe's profundities might be beyond
a 12-year-old apparently occurred only to Mendelssohn himself, and the work was not finished in any
version until 11 years later, in 1832, the year Goethe died. It was not performed until 1842, after extensive
revision and rethinking. Goethe, it is presumed, would not have approved. In any event, the music itself
is brilliant. Nearly 36 minutes in length, the work is in effect a set of nine seamlessly connected songs
based upon the text of the poem. Scattered among alto, tenor, baritone, bass, and choir, these are
preceded by a feverish ten-minute overture.



Music by Clara Schumann & Felix Mendelssohn
Played by the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
With Susanne Gr�tzmann (piano)
And Margit Neubauer (mezzo-soprano) & Hans-J�rgen Lazar (tenor)
And Detlef Roth (baritone) & the Frankfurter Kantorei & Singakademie
Conducted by Sylvain Cambreling

"Susanne Gr�tzmann was born in Leipzig in 1964 and studied with Dieter Zechlin in Berlin.
She won prizes at the Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau in 1981, the Concurso
Vianna da Motta in Lisbon in 1983, the Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1984 and other
international competitions. Winning first prize at the prestigious ARD Competition in
Munich in 1989 confirmed her reputation and she is today regarded as one of the best
German pianists.

The major orchestras with which Susanne Gr�tzmann has performed include the Leipzig
Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich, the Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra, the German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, the Berlin Symphony
Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart, the S�dwestfunk Symphony
Orchestra of Baden-Baden, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Frankfurt Museum Orchestra,
the Netherlands Philharmonic and the Arcos Orchestra New York.

The conductors with whom Susanne Gr�tzmann has performed include Wolfgang
Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Sylvain Cambreling, Hartmut Haenchen and Hans Zender.

Susanne Gr�tzmann has given numerous solo recitals at major venues in Germany
and abroad, notably the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Semperoper in Dresden and the
Liederhalle in Stuttgart, at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and performed at the Alte Oper
in Frankfurt, at the Laeiszhalle in Hambourg, at the Cologne Philharmonie and the
Beethoven House in Bonn.

She has performed in concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the large
Festival Theatre in Baden-Baden and the Berlin Festival. She has performed the
complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos many times with the W�rttemberg
Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn. In 2008 she was invited to tour China.

Her chamber music partners are the String Trio Berlin, the Ma’alot Quintet and
the Albert Schweitzer Quintet.

Susanne Gr�tzmann has recorded Chopin’s Preludes op. 28 and Schumann’s
Symphonic Studies op. 13 for Teldec. For Edition G�nter H�nssler she recorded
Schumann’s Abegg-Variations, Papillons and Davidsb�ndlert�nze as well as
Clara Schumann’s entire oeuvre for solo piano (Editor’s Choice of Gramophone).
This year a CD with works by Robert Schumann has been released."





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No.250

When Eugen d’Albert appeared in 1881 at one of Hans Richter’s concerts in London he played his
own Piano Concerto in A[/iB], but the work was never published and has not survived. However, from a
review in The Musical Times of November 1881 we can reasonably deduce that the Concerto had the
traditional three movements. The reviewer stated that it was ‘uncompromising in its pretensions to rank
with the chief of its kind; largely developed, ambitious in style and character, and rigidly observant of
classical form, while redundant in matter’.

This criticism remains a common one to be directed at composers so young, and is hardly surprising
given the stubborn confidence we know d’Albert had in his work. However, limited note does seem to
have been taken since three years elapsed before the appearance of the official Piano Concerto No.1.
It was dedicated to Liszt and the title page of the score indicates the work to be in einem Satz (in one
movement). It still betrays an excessive desire to display the pianistic virtuosity of which d’Albert was
so justly proud, but this becomes fused with considerable imaginative and creative ability. Despite being
slightly over-indulgent on occasions, especially in the piano writing, the melodic content is sufficiently
strong to sustain the listener’s interest and attention over a span longer in duration than that of many
a concerto with the usual three movements. Although broadly working around an extended A-B-A form,
d’Albert adds a substantial and innovative fugal cadenza before moving on to a short scherzo section
where he reworks the main opening theme of the Concerto in 6/8 time. The work concludes in
typically grandiose style. The B minor Concerto is a young composer’s tour de force and a reminder
that at heart d’Albert remained a pianist rather than a composer.

The Piano Concerto No.2, lasting for just under half the duration of the ‘First’ Concerto, provides
something of a contrast. It dates from 1893, by which time time d’Albert had reached maturity as a
composer. This Concerto is also in one movement and cyclic in form, but consists of four basic
contrasting sections flowing into each other. D’Albert uses his thematic material quite sparingly,
but it is well developed in its various guises throughout the Concerto’s more coherent structure.
In the same year d’Albert staged Der Rubin, the first of his twenty or so operas. He met with
little success in this venture, but never returned to serious composition for the instrument
he so loved.



[I]Music Composed by Eugen d'Albert
Played by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra
With Karl-Andreas Kolly (piano)
Conducted by Ronald Zollman

"The Swiss pianist, Karl-Andreas Kolly, studied with Hans Schicker at Musikakademie
Z�rich and in the master-class of Professor Karl Engel in Berne (1991 Eduard-Tschumi
prize for the best soloist diploma of the year), and master-classes with Mieczyslaw
Horszowski in Luzern. He participated successfully in various competitions.

Karl-Andreas Kolly has performed in numerous concerts as a soloist and chamber
musicians all over Europe, in Japan, Korea, Australia, in the USA and in various
festivals. He appeared as a soloist with such orchestras as the Tonhalle-Orchester
Z�rich, Sinfonieorchester Basel and Berner Sinfonieorchester, Slovakischen
Radio-Sinfonieorchester and Orquestra Sinfonica de Barcelona. He co-operates
frequently with the Z�rcher Kammerorchester and the Musikkollegium
Winterthur. As a chamber musician he played with Trio Novanta all the piano
trios of Johannes Brahms and C�sar Franck (Tudor).

In 1992 appeared Karl-Andreas Kolly's first CD on Pan Classics, dedicated to
works by Robert Schumann. Since that time over 40 albums on various
labels have appeared, including Felix Mendelssohn program (with D. Ashkenazy,
clarinet), works of Alexander Skriabin (with the Basler Sinfonie-Orchester
under Armin Jordan), rare piano works of A. Glasunow, Eugen d'Albert or
Franz Schmidt; in addition, solo works of Chopin and J.S. Bach (Goldberg
Variations). Karl Andreas Kolly is a Professor at the Hochschule f�r
Musik und Theater Z�rich."





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No.251

Every composer knows the bitter irony of the “world premiere” that turns out to be the last performance.
This is probably no more common than in the 18th century, yet every so often someone in the scene frets
publicly about how much recent music will “last,” as if posterity were the only judge of what should matter
to us now. William Bolcom's Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra is still finding new audiences 25
years after its premiere. Like much of Bolcom's music, the concerto is a big-tent piece that offers something
to satisfy just about anyone's criteria for what a concerto should be. There's some meaty bravura stuff for
the soloist (and an endless adagio melody too), lots of drama and dashes of humour. But Bolcom isn't
writing to order: He expresses his own interests fully. Just when you think you know what he's doing,
he changes the rules, slips into a different manner, finds a new way to surprise you.

The colorful Symphony No.5 ranges in style from chorales to the foxtrot; each movement is
successfully evocative of its title. The Fantasia Concertante is a set of variations on a theme of
Mozart - it was commissioned by the Salzburg Mozarteum.



Music Composed by William Bolcom
Played by the American Composers Orchestra
With Sergiu Luca (violin)
Conducted by Dennis Russell Davies

"Bolcom’s music is laid out with wonderful aural clarity – a delight to the ear. The ideas draw
on popular music in much the same way as Piston (Symphony 2 and Incredible Flautist) and
Barber (Souvenirs). As we know from his Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Naxos -
see review) he has no aversion towards hybridising all branches of modern culture with
‘high art’. This can also be heard in the wonderfully saturated sentimental smoochiness of
much of the Violin Concerto where Sergiu Luca’s style recalls that of Joe Venuti and St�phane
Grappelli. Despite this ham-fisted description much of the music evokes an ethereal ballet –
Ravel’s La Valse drifts into focus several times before falling away. The ear-tickling Fantasia
Concertante is a drier piece with gusts, gentler asides and rhythmic ebullience reminiscent of
Beethoven; it was after all premiered in Vienna in 1986. The Fifth Symphony was first
performed by Dennis Russell Davies and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1990. Across four
movements this is a work that breasts dissonant storms, does a groaningly spectral Fr�re
Jacques with Here Comes the Bride, continues the macabre strain with a bleakly haunted
Hymne � l’Amour and in its finale Machine rises to a thuddingly propulsive ruthlessness
that recalls both Mussorgsky and Panufnik. It is a superb work."
Musicweb





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No.252

While Charles Villiers Stanford's (1852-1924) reputation as teacher of such important composers
as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, John Ireland, and Frank Bridge has kept his name alive, his
own music fell out of fashion in the decades after his death; he is most remembered for his sacred works,
including a Stabat Mater, music for Anglican services, and the popular Easter anthem, Ye Choirs
of New Jerusalem. Yet a small revival of his secular music began in the 1980s and brought his
orchestral works much needed attention, particularly the six Irish Rhapsodies, the seven symphonies,
the Clarinet Concerto, and the Piano Concerto No.2. Less familiar are the youthful Cello Concerto
in D minor and the late Piano Concerto No.3 in E flat major; this 2007 release from Lyrita goes
far in reviving these obscure works, and reveals Stanford to be a lot more interesting than his status as an
academic or church composer might suggest. The Cello Concerto is quite reminiscent of Dvor�k and
flows with an arching lyricism that is comparable to Brahms, an overwhelming influence on Stanford in the
1880s. The Piano Concerto No.3 (orchestrated by Geoffrey Bush from an extant two-piano score) is a
mature work from 1919 that has much of Stanford's characteristic optimism and even bombast, but it is
tinged with passages of yearning and melancholy that evoke Chopin and the Romanticism of an age long past.



Music Composed by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
Played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
With Alexander Baillie (cello) & Malcolm Binns (piano)
Conducted by Nicolas Braithwaite

"The present Third Piano Concerto is a great work. To me it is not quite as successful as the Second,
but it is only fair to point out that I have known the latter work for twenty years: the former I have
listened to twice. The Third Concerto is full of good tunes. The balance of ‘first’ and ‘second’ subjects
in the opening movement is absolutely perfect. There is a surprising depth in the enigmatic middle
movement and a splendid closing ‘allegro’. There are moments in this work that bring tears to the
eyes: much of the piano’s musings can only be described as ‘heart-easing.’ This is a lovers’
concerto as well as a flamboyant display of technical virtuosity.

We have to thank the late and great Geoffrey Bush for realising this work for the present generation.
The original existed only in a two-piano version. Bush brought his skill as a composer and as an
enthusiast for the music of Stanford to bear on this concerto. It is a huge success and has been
100% worthwhile.

The Cello Concerto in D minor is quite a different work to the Piano Concerto of 1919. The former
work was written when the composer was 28 years old and nods to Dvoř�k. Lewis Foreman in
his excellent programme notes writes that “Stanford (at that time) was to all intents and purposes
a pan-German composer with regional accent, though that accent was not yet Irish.”

Stanford has an excellent understanding of the relationship between the soloist and the orchestra.
At no time in this work does it threaten to overpower the cellist. In fact it acts much more as an
accompanist than as a competitor. The most obvious thing about this composition is the seeming
cornucopia of tunes. The cello part just keeps unfolding and expanding before our ears. The first
movement is in sonata form, but there is no sense of the inevitable or the obvious. Each
statement of each theme is perfectly balanced and timed. I believe that this first movement is
the true heart of the work. The second movement is perhaps a ‘ballad:’ it is written as ‘molto
adagio.’ This is beautiful music. I cannot care a jot that critics will play ‘hunt the allusion’. It is
a truly wonderful exploration of slow and reflective material. Just accept that there is little in
the way of ‘Celtic’ twilight here – it is more Lough Neagh or the Wicklow Hills or some ancient
Irish legend seen through the eyes of a German!"
Musicweb





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What fantastic shares, billion thanks for that all wimpel69.

No.253

Constant Lambert (1905-1951) was born the son of painter George Washington Thomas Lambert in
London. Isolated in infirmaries for long spells as a child due to poor health, Lambert used this time to read
voraciously and intensively study music. In 1922, Lambert won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music
in London, where he studied composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams (whom Lambert admired but did not
emulate) and George Dyson (whom Lambert loathed). Early on, Lambert made friends with composers
William Walton and Philip Heseltine (aka Peter Warlock), and made some arrangements from Walton's Fa�ade.

The influence of Walton's approach can be seen in very early Lambert works such as the children's fable
Mr. Bear Squash-you-all-flat (1924). However, it was the music of Liszt and Duke Ellington that made the
deepest impact on Lambert. Jazz inflections can be found in many of the pieces Lambert wrote before 1931,
including the Piano Concerto (1924), Concerto for PIano and Nine Players (1931), Piano Sonata
(1928), and the short Elegiac Blues (1927) Lambert wrote in memory of the ill-fated vaudeville diva Florence
Mills. Russian motifs and the example of Stravinsky also had a great impact on Lambert, and his ballet
Romeo & Juliet (1927) was the first work by a British composer to be staged by the Ballets Russes.
Lambert's infatuation with Chinese-American silent movie queen Anna May Wong led to the composition of
his delicate Eight Poems of Li-Po (1927). In 1928, Lambert composed The Rio Grande, scored for
chorus, piano, brass, strings, and percussion. This work proved a huge success, but helped establish the
image of Lambert as a composer of entertaining yet insubstantial music.

After his more serious subsequent efforts failed to gain a foothold with the public, Lambert turned to
music criticism and wrote Music Ho!: A Study of Music in Decline (1934), a pessimistic and vitriolic tome
that foretold a bleak future for twentieth century concert music. This book is still seen as a most vital
and valuable tool for study in the art music of the 1920s and 1930s. By the late 1930s, Lambert was
building a reputation as a conductor, and from then on his output as a composer slackened. He was
strongly associated with ballet and co-founded the Vic Wells Company with Ninette de Valois. Lambert
conducted at the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, at the Promenade Concerts and at ISCM concerts in England.
By the 1940s, he was one of the most prominent conductors in England and well known internationally
through recordings and his popular ballet Horoscope (1937). However, this work even more firmly
established Lambert as a neo-Classical triviality in the minds of his peers and among critics who knew
nothing of Lambert's 1920s compositions. Lambert finally returned to serious composition in 1951
with the scandalous three-act ballet Tiresias, which was so "hot" that its premiere was censored.
Lambert's publisher, Oxford University Press, rejected it. This came as a final, sour blow to the pessimistic
composer, who promptly died two days short of his 46th birthday, the result of an undiagnosed diabetic
condition aggravated by years of hard drinking. Lambert came from the same generation of
British musicians that produced Walton, Tippett, Warlock, and Spike Hughes; however, his music is
stylistically nothing like these composers. In Lambert's jazz works he can be seen as a predecessor
of the serious, large-form pieces written by jazz composers such as Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea
starting in the 1970s. His other music is likewise inspired, original, and well worth rediscovering.



Music Composed by Constant Lambert
Played by the BBC Concert Orchestra
With David Owen Norris (piano)
Conducted by Barry Wordsworth

"More gaps in the Lam bertdiscography are enterprisingly plugged by these sensitive and shapely performances,
which consistently display most agreeable dash and commitment. The Piano Concerto recorded here is not that
unnervingly bleak 1930-31 creation for soloist and nine players but an earlier teenage effort from 1924 that
remained in short score, never to be heard in the composer's lifetime. Now, thanks to the indefatigable
musicological and editorial skills of Giles Easterbrook and the late Edward Shipley, we can at last savour yet
another astonishingly mature and skilful product of Lambert's youth. Not only is the concerto brimful of striking
invention and tightly organised (its four interlinked movements strongly resembling the `Fantasy' form
espoused by W W Cobbett in his chamber music competitions), it also plumbs remarkable expressive depths,
not least in the Andante slow movement which contains music as achingly poignant as any Lambert ever
penned. David Owen Norris does full justice to the glittering solo part (his soft tone is ravishing in its pearly
opalescence), and he receives splendid support from Barry Wordsworth and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Prize-Fight (Lambert's first ballet score) is earlier still, begun in 1923, completed the following year and
overhauled one last time in 1927. Lasting just under nine minutes, it's a veritable romp, pungently scored
in the manner of Satie and Milhaud, and with something of the anarchic spirit of Georges Auric's deliciously
daft contributions to those glorious Ealing Comedies. In point of fact, Lambert had long been a connoisseur
of the silver screen before he finally embarked on his first film score in 1940, for a flag-waving documentary
entitled Merchant Sean/en. Two years later, he compiled the present five-movement suite, and a decidedly
superior specimen it is too �€” aptly stirring in the Horoscopelike opening 'Fanfare' and concluding 'March',
yet powerfully moody when required. Pomona, of course, we've had before, from both Norman Del Mar
(still awaiting reissue on Lyrita, 1/80 �€” nla) and, altogether more recently, David LloydJones. By the
side of the latter's exemplary ENP account, Wordsworth's more spacious realisation occasionally lacks
something in sheer effervescence and dry wit (the Allegro deciso `Corante' is too heavy-of-foot for
my tastes). Slower numbers, however, are invested with a stately gravitas that works well enough,
save for the Passacaglia', which in Wordsworth's hands is inclined to drag. Vivid, truthfully balanced
recording, though on two copies I tried there was a curious patch of what sounded like faint interference
beginning at 236" into track 4 �€” hardly enough, I should add, to take the shine off wha
t is a most enjoyable and valuable compilation."
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Fantastic performances. Some great music here to find....'Summer's last will and testament' is my favorite tune from Lambert.

No.254

In the third volume of the orchestral works of Cyril Scott, we are taken further on the journey of this unique
composer’s musical landscape. Although an English composer, Scott studied composition in Frankfurt at the Hochsches
Konservatorium, and became part of the ‘Frankfurt Gang’, which included Percy Grainger and Roger Quilter. Scott, however,
eventually went his own way having absorbed a Germanic view of musical culture during these impressionable years.
Far ahead of his time in many ways Scott was one of the more remarkable men of his generation. As John Ireland his
friend and contemporary wrote to Scott ‘You were the first British composer to write music which was non-academic,
free and individual in style and of primary significance.’

Scott was enormously active in his late teens and his twenties, and many works conceived then were revised over a
lifetime, not achieving their final form until much later. Three of these are featured on our programme. These include the
broodingly dark Violin Concerto, strongly influenced by Stravinsky and Bart�k, performed by Olivier Charlier
who brilliantly spins the expressive rhapsodic line and burgeoning melody. This is coupled with the exquisitely atmospheric
tone poem Festival Overture for which Scott won the Daily Telegraph orchestral competition in 1933, and
Three Symphonic Dances, Op. 22. Scott’s earlier works have tended to be eclipsed by his later works; and
at the expense of his large orchestral scores - but these great works now receive the attention they deserve.



Music Composed by Cyril Scott
Played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
With Olivier Charlier (violin)
Conducted by Martyn Brabbins

"More Cyril Scott from Chandos (see 6/04; 7/06), following Lyrita reissues as well (5/07) – and
I understand the revival on CD isn’t stopping here. Scott’s Violin Concerto (c1925) inhabits some
of the same territory as the Delius a decade earlier. Delius wrote his concerto for Albert Sammons:
Scott sent Sammons an inscribed copy but he didn’t play it – May Harrison did. Both composers
employ a rhapsodic continuity based on melodic arabesque coloured by luscious chords. Not many
violin concertos open with a bassoon solo; then the soloist creeps in and there’s a lot of slow music.
For all his apparent waywardness, Delius was better at melodic relevance. But Scott sprawls
languorously in his seductive orchestral textures.

The purely orchestral works stem initially from the first few years of the 20th century, when Scott’s
reputation was growing, but they reveal insecurities in their various revisions. The Festival
Overture started as an overture to a play by Maeterlinck – Lewis Foreman (again providing
informative notes) finds the work still saturated by symbolism – but then Scott added a chorus
and organ and it ended up as Festival Overture. The Three Symphonic Dances started life as
a second symphony given at the Proms in 1903; then it was dismembered and performed
piecemeal at various stages including a two-piano arrangement by Grainger. Finally it became
this brilliant orchestral triptych where the ecstatic Straussian sostenuto of the second dance
is effortlessly sustained throughout. Scott’s command of the orchestra still sounds astonishing –
no wonder film composers such as Bernard Herrmann admired him decades later.
These are again fine performances and recordings."
Gramophone



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No.255

Darius Milhaud's 1934 Cello Concerto No.1 has an interesting progression of moods, each
of which is reflected in the tempo markings at the beginning of its three movements: (1) Nonchalant; (2)
Grave; (3) Joyeux. It was first played by Maurice Marchal in 1935. It is a substantial addition to the cello's
concerto repertoire. As the tempo mark suggests, the first movement is not bothered by much in the
way of passion; it rather placidly goes on with attractive music from both the cello (which opens the
concerto, solo) and the orchestra; even though the tempo does increase, the generally feeling of
lazy contentment continues. The second movement, on the other hand, is unusually somber for
Milhaud, both in the scoring with an emphasis on muted brass and in the gloomy character of the
cello's main melody. Milhaud's most familiar mood, joyous and dancing, asserts itself in the happy
finale. Very satisfying listening.

Of the three concertante works that Arthur Honegger composed, the Cello Concerto is the
only one without a diminutive in the title. Ironically, it is one of Honegger's most light-hearted, even
amusing scores. Considering that it is written in Honegger's most 'popular' style, its' neglect is incomprehensible.
It is tuneful and rhythmically vital.The soloist is given dramatic moments and showy displays. He croons some
lovely melodies, sings a swinging little ditty, declaims passionately, but always maintains dignity. Honegger's
writing for string instruments tended to be rather conservative. There is hardly a harmonic sounded nor a
pizzicato plucked. The orchestration is transparent yet full blooded. The use of muted brass emphasizes
the frequent hints of jazz sonorities. The balance between soloist and orchestra, always a problem in the
Cello Concerto, is achieved by means of having more dialogue than argument between the participants.
This also increases the geniality of the music, which does not wrestle with larger philosophical questions
as is often the case in Honegger's music. In places like the jazzy middle section of the work, Honegger
gives the cello a stately melody while the orchestra interjects comments of an almost comical nature.
Composed in 1929, it was premiered by, and dedicated to Maurice Marechal. Serge Koussevitzky led the
Boston Symphony Orchestra.



Music by Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger & Alun Hoddinott
Played by the London Symphony Orchestra
With Mstislav Rostropovich (cello)
Conducted by Kent Nagano

"In 1989 the LSO and Shell UK combined to give Alun Hoddinott a magnificent sixtieth birthday present,
commissioning a work for Rostropovich and the orchestra. The result, nevertheless, is no jubilant
celebration, but rather an acknowledgement of the inexorable passing of time, its title quoting the
words in which Marlowe's Dr Faustus seeks to prolong the night and postpone the day of judgement.
Hoddinott underlines this seriousness by sub-titling Noctis Equi ''poem for cello and orchestra'', rather
than concerto. The solo part is not exactly simple, and the soloist plays almost constantly through
the 21-minute composition, yet the intention is evidently to create an appropriate and memorable
atmosphere, not to dazzle by means of display.

Noctis Equi is cast in one of Hoddinott's characteristically substantial single movements, a five-part
structure alternating cantilenas and scherzos. There are some striking textural details, like the brief
duet for pizzicato cello and a pair of horns in the second scherzo, but the tollings and chimings of the
orchestral music are fairly muted in this recording. Fortunately, recording and performance do the
music fullest justice during its best moments, the eloquent concluding Adagio, where Rostropovich
brings his most magical feeling for phrasing and tone colour to bear on a melody which ascends
to the heights while the orchestra sketches a tonal resolution.

Balancing the Hoddinott with two French concertos from the inter-war years certainly ensures an
element of healthy contrast. The Milhaud is so light-weight that not even Rostropovich can pin
it down for long enough to linger in the memory. The Honegger is far more worthwhile. The form
of the first movement is too loose to carry much conviction, but the ideas are attractive and the
two remaining movements, the finale hinting at the kind of robust neo-classicism Stravinsky
would realize to perfection in his Violin Concerto a couple of years later, have much to commend
them."
Gramophone



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No.256

The Alphorn is phenomenal in its size and in its very limited musical range. The instrument is one of
great antiquity, a shepherd’s trumpet, made of wood, and is found in the Alps, the Carpathians, Lithuania,
the Pyrenees and in Scandinavia. Traditionally a signal instrument, with considerable carrying power, it
has undergone various changes in construction, and is now most familiar in the form with an upturned bell
at the end of a hollowed wooden pipe some eleven or twelve feet long. Since the early nineteenth century
the alphorn has also been made in different keys, to allow a certain amount of ensemble playing between
performers on the instrument. In recent years Swiss composers have brought the alphorn into
the concert hall.



Music by Jean Daetwyler, Ferenc Farkas & Leopold Mozart
Played by the Slovak Philharmonic & Capella Istrapolitana
With Joszef Molnar (alphorn)
Conducted by Urs Schneider

"Originally issued by Marco Polo in 1988, this is a damn endearing little CD.
The alphorn is that ungainly (some would say "ungodly") instrument used in the Alps
(and in other European mountains) to relay messages, before cellular phones
became all the rage. It is a rare visitor to the concert hall. Its timbre is horn-like,
but it has a restricted range - as few as five notes - and its notes aren't even of
equal quality, so composers need to dance around its limitations with deftness.

Leopold Mozart, when he wasn't raising his son Wolfgang, wrote several concert
works for unusual instruments, including the bagpipes and the hurdy-gurdy.
The Sinfonia Pastorella was scored for "corno pastorito," which can be translated
as "shepherd's horn." We don't know if he had the alphorn in mind, but it is well
suited to the solo part. Less than eleven minutes long, the Sinfonia is typical of
its composer: upbeat, tuneful, and perfectly proportioned.

The other three works, while also diatonic, sit firmly in the most recent century.
Ferenc Farkas (1905-2000) spent much of his young adulthood traveling
throughout Europe before returning to his native Hungary in 1936. There are
few large mountains in Hungary, and no Alps at all, so one wonders why Farkas
thought of the alphorn in his three-movement Concertino Rustico. The work is
flavored with paprika and other surprises; the lopsided rhythmic games in the
Finale are delightful, for example. This music will stick in your ear.

Jean Daetwyler's two contributions are hardly less intriguing. He was a Swiss
composer, born in 1907, and also long-lived: he died in 1994. The Dialogue
avec la nature takes a page from Vincent d'Indy's Symphony on a French
Mountain Air, and it comes as no surprise to learn that Daetwyler was d'Indy's
pupil at the Paris Conservatoire in the early 1930s. The birds twitter, the horn
calls back, the mountain folk dance a droll measure, and all's right with the
Alpine world. This is pure picture postcard music, and none the worse for that.
The Concerto for Alphorn and Orchestra is somewhat more ambitious, but in a
similar vein. It ends with a Totentanz (Dance of Death) because "men who
live close to the land know by instinct that life can only come from death."

Molnar was the premi�re performer of Daetwyler's Concerto. A hornist by
training, he nevertheless has specialized in the alphorn, and in expanding its
repertoire and exposure. He accomplishes miracles on this CD, producing a
sound of rough-hewn beauty. Schneider and his orchestras are polished and
clearly enjoying themselves. You will too. Good engineering, 1987 vintage."
Classical Net





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huh...is there a Schuhplattler-Dance-Symphony also available? Nice share anyway, many thanks.

No.257

David Matthews was born in London in 1943 and started composing at the age of sixteen.
He read Classics at the University of Nottingham – which also made him an Honorary Doctor of Music –
and afterwards studied composition privately with Anthony Milner. He was also much helped by the
advice and encouragement of Nicholas Maw. He spent three years as an assistant to Benjamin
Britten at Aldeburgh in the late 1960’s. He has largely avoided teaching, but to support his
composing career has done editorial work – he collaborated with Deryck Cooke on the performing
version of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony – and orchestrations of film music.

His musical language on the one hand grew out of his English background and his special concern
for the music of Tippett, Britten and Maw; but it is also strongly connected to the central European
tradition, back through Mahler and ultimately to Beethoven. Matthews has been much concerned
with working in the great inherited forms of the past – symphony, string quartet, lately oratorio –
and finding new ways of renewing them.



Music Composed by David Matthews
Played by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Nova
With Philippe Graffin (violin) & Nicholas Daniel (oboe)
Conducted by George Vass

"Matthews first violin concerto dates from the early 1980s and was inspired by
#Robert Bresson's film Four Nights of a Dreamer, which is in turn based on the novella
by Dostoevsky, White Nights. Events in the composer's own life are also translated
into the work, which uses violin, flute, clarinet and baritone saxophone programmatically.
This technique can be hard to pull off; and it's probably not essential to this composition's
success. But successful it is; there are some delightful melodies and textures and the
overall mood of the concerto is melancholy with hints of resentment, anger even
(surely that's what Matthews is expressing in the middle of the (vivacissimo) second
movement [tr.2]), which was added later. What keeps the piece from drifting is the
intensity of the thematic development; this works in tandem with, rather than
independently of, density of orchestral texture. When this is coupled with the
variety, the ebbs and flows of tempo and attack, the concerto becomes a nicely
haunting work.

The Oboe Concerto was written ten years later to a commission for the London
Schools Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Daniel; that highly accomplished soloist
performs it here too. In order to preserve the delicacy of the oboe's tone against
a full orchestra, for which Matthews had been ased to write, he divided the
instruments across different scorings in each of the five instruments; no oboe
in the orchestra itself, only a cor anglais. The movements themselves are contrasting.
You may or may not feel that this approach, and the variety of styles ensuing,
carry off the concerto form and feeling. Or they may seem somewhat too
fragmented. The fourth ("blues") movement, in particular, seems out of place.
In either case, you're likely to admire Daniel's technique and interpretative sure-
footedness; his is a remarkable performance. It never oversteps the writing
provided for it, never dominates. Nor yet does it shrink.

In the Second Violin Concerto, begun 15 years after the first was eventually
completed, Philippe Graffin plays with as much conviction and penetration as in
the first. It was conceived while Matthews was travelling, and mirrors the idea
of a (soloist's) journey. Its four movements last 20 minutes and play continuously.
Like the other two concerti, the music is not "straightforward"; by that is meant
that it's full of interest, incident and invention. Not that it's aggressively
experimental or tonally eccentric. But it, too, retains your interest at every
point. That the CD presents the works in the order in which they were written
is useful; it allows us to see the development of David Matthews and at the
same time identify those characteristics (inventiveness, gentle but never
maudlin attachment to melody, suppressed lyricism, expert and exciting
scoring) which delight."
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No.258

David Nathaniel Baker, Jr. was born December 21, 1931 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is Distinguished
Professor of Music and Chairman of the Jazz Department at the Indiana University School of Music in
Bloomington, Indiana, as well as conductor and artistic director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks
Orchestra (visit: David Baker's Oral History - Smithsonian Jazz). A virtuoso performer on multiple
instruments and top in his field in several disciplines, Mr. Baker has taught and performed throughout
the USA, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. He is also the conductor
and musical & artistic director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Mr. Baker received both
bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from Indiana University and has studied with
a wide range of master teachers, performers and composers including J.J. Johnson, Bobby
Brookmeyer, Janos Starker, George Russell, William Russo, Bernard Heiden, and Gunther Schuller,
among others.

The Concert Piece for Viola and Orchestra was commissioned by violist Karen Elaine (Bakunin).
She premiered the work on February 25, 1991 at Indiana University with Robert Porco conducting
the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra. Says Baker: "Of the 20 concerti I have written, this
one is arguably the most ambitious. It is one of the most virtuosic, involves the largest orchestra,
is the grandest in terms of emotional sweep, and is very much in the tradition of the major string
concerti of the Romantic Era. Unlike most of my works, this concerto shows virtually no
hint of a conscious jazz influence; my references are more obviously Bartok, Tchaikovsky, and
Shostakovich. It is very much reminiscent of the tune-filled works of an earlier time."

The Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra was written in the spring of 1975
and was premiered in March of that year by Janos Starker for whom the work
was written and to whom it is dedicated. The concerto has three movements,
configured in the traditional format: Fast - Slow - Fast. The instrumentation is
somewhat unusual in that there are no cellos in the orchestral accompaniment.
The work is coloristic and dramatic. The first movement is lyrical in nature,
featuring the cello in a somewhat transparent environment, ending with
harmonics. The second movement opens with an extended solo cello recitative
in which all of the principal thematic material of this movement is presented.
The first theme is reminiscent of the material from the first movement; and
special effects, including glissandi in the upper strings and the use of exotic
percussion, create an impressionistic atmosphere. The third movement is jazz influenced.

Tennessee composer William Neil comments on his Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra:
"In ancient Greece a “rhapsod” was a singer of epic poems and bits and pieces of
tales strung together making a collage of entertainment. I have, in a like manner,
allowed a simple line of melody, first introduced by the violin, to speak a
musical tale. The violin, full of exuberance and the energy of youth, threads
through the story's themes and shadow themes, weaving a mosaic of sound
through each episode. Shadow themes are melodies that are acoustically derived
from one another like shadows. At first these themes perform supportive roles,
but as the story moves forward, they gain in dominance of pitch and dynamic.
Sometimes running ahead of a passage, making aggressive commentary, and
sometimes aligning with the emotional expression of the phrase, the violin shifts
between a mere exercise of notes to a noble exploration of broadening lyricism."



Music by David N. Baker & William Neil
Played by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra
With Milos Jahoda (cello), Paul Silverthorne (viola)
And Sharon Polifrone (violin)
Conducted by Paul Freeman

"Of the three concerti on the program, I liked William Neil's Rhapsody best. I've never
heard anything by Neil before, but this piece makes me want to hear more. The composer has
misnamed the work somewhat. Although it aims to convey the improvisatory singing of a
Greek rhapsody, most evident in the opening, it is nevertheless tightly-written. Its best
moments I find in the quicker portions, and they seem to derive from Benjamin Britten,
with an extremely characteristic harmonic world. They make an intense, brilliant effect,
reminiscent somewhat of Young Apollo. Nevertheless, it does go on for about twenty-five
minutes, not all of it gold. The slower, "non-metered" portions strike me as predictable.
I keep waiting for something else to happen and thus give thanks when the composer
gives the music a pulse again.

Most listeners know David Baker as a composer who incorporates jazz elements into his
concert work. The viola "concert piece" and cello concerto stand as exceptions to the
general picture. Baker has built up a huge catalogue over the years (somewhere around
twenty concerti alone). Baker builds a symphonic argument—- impressively, across
movements

The Cello Concerto runs two-thirds of the concert-piece's length and is all the better
for the concision. Some jazzy bits make their way into the finale, but overall this
concerto, well-made and interesting as it is, doesn't really stand out from dozens of
other cello concerti. One feels as though one looks at an expensive, solidly-built,
but not aesthetically distinctive house."
Classical CD Review


William Neil, David N. Baker.

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---------- Post added at 12:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 AM ----------




No.259

Trained at the Cleveland Institute, Kent State University, the University of Illinois and
Warsaw Conservatory, the American composer Dennis Eberhard (*1943) has established
himself as one of the leading American composers of his generation. The recipient of a number
of grants and awards, including the American Rome Prize, he is now on the faculty of
Kent State University. Eberhard’s Shadow of the Swan, a piano concerto originally conceived
for the Russian pianist Halida Dinova, became, under the influence of a poem by Yevtushenko,
a reaction to the disaster of the Russian submarine Kursk. His Prometheus Wept began as a
commemoration of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and incorporates the Russian liturgical
chant of a passage from the Book of Revelations, extending the human references of the work
into a still wider context.



Music Composed by Dennis Eberhard
Played by the St. Petersburg Capella Symphony Orchestra
With Halida Dinova (piano)
Conducted by Alexander Tchernoushenko

"Catastrophes provide the theme for this new release in Naxos' "American
Classics" series. The piano concerto gets its subtitle from a short poem by
Yevtushenko, in which he compares the explosion of the Challenger in 1986 to
a "great white swan of death made from the last breath of seven evaporated
souls." The direct inspiration for this concerto, however, was the sinking of the
Russian submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea with all hands lost.

The 41-minute piano concerto is in three connected sections: "The Fall,"
"Requiem," and "Quickening." The first section reminds me of a Messiaen/
Lutosławski hybrid – the music is at once tough and appropriately watery.
Eberhard's scoring is very colorful, but his seriousness dominates any superficial
prettiness, and this movement conveys both the beauty of the sea, and the
terror that lurks beneath. Elegiac string writing plays an important role in the
middle movement, but again, there are numerous references to the glittering but
grim sound-world of the previous movement. At length, peace, even transcendence,
are achieved. The final movement seems to be a sort of spiritual resurrection.
It opens with and maintains a very John Adams-ish blend of Minimalism and
Neo-Romanticism. In the first movement, melodic lines tended downwards;
here, the opposite is true. Although it is possible to hear many influences in
Eberhard's music, he is more than just an imitator, and "Shadow of the Swan"
is a humane, musically viable, and forward-looking interpretation of a
disturbing contemporary news item. Dinova plays her difficult part sensitively;
Eberhard gives her few opportunities to show off in the traditional manner.

Prometheus Wept is an allusion, of course, to the Greek hero who championed
mankind in defiance of Zeus, giving them the gift of fire. With the bombing of
Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, mankind showed it had the capacity to
misuse Prometheus's gift – thus Prometheus's tears. This 14-minute work
begins with a bass chanting (for more than four minutes) doom-filled verses
from Revelations, substituting the name "Chernobyl" for the name of the star
("Wormwood") that falls from the sky. Again, Eberhard's use of glissandos,
clusters, and hollow-sounding harmonies suggests composers as disparate
as Shostakovich, Penderecki, and Ligeti, but the composer's sincerity is not
in doubt. Even though neither of these works advances the frontiers of
new music, Eberhard is a skilled composer who knows how to open a direct
line of communication with the listener without insulting his intelligence,
even if the message he wants to share is not necessarily a pleasant one."
Classical Net



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No.260

Derek Bourgeois was born in Kingston on Thames in 1941. He graduated from Cambridge
University with a first class honours degree in music, and a subsequent Doctorate. He spent two
years at the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Herbert Howells and
conducting with Sir Adrian Boult. He has composed ninety-eight symphonies, sixteen concertos,
several other extended orchestral works, seven major works for chorus and orchestra, two operas
and a musical. As well as a considerable quantity of chamber, vocal and instrumental music,
he has composed fourteen extended works for Brass Band and seven symphonies for Symphonic
Wind Orchestra. He has also written a considerable amount of music for television productions.

Bourgeois' Trombone Concerto (Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble, op.114b)
is a substantial twenty-minute piece in three movements, "Allegro," "Adagio," and "Presto." Because
trombonists from the worlds of pop and jazz would attend the premiere as well as classical artists,
Bourgeois decided to make his new concerto musically ecumenical, and it was deliberately tailored
to have an appeal wider than the usual classical audience. The third movement, in particular,
was a great hit. The rest of the album includes British band music favorite Gustav Holst's
A Moorside Suite, and John Ireland's lesser-known A Comedy Overture.



Music by [see above] & Joseph Horovitz
Played by the City of London Wind Ensemble
With Christian Lindberg (trombone)
Conducted by Geoffrey Brand

"In order to make the point I have, admittedly, exaggerated the resulting imbalance
on this particular occasion; nevertheless, it is there. Also there, to be enjoyed, is a
very high standard of playing on the part of every individual concerned. This allows,
well, pretty full enjoyment of an exceedingly interesting programme. The John Ireland
you may know without realizing it: his Comedy Overture (originally for brass) was in
the event slightly extended and rescored for orchestra to become the better-known
London Overture (in which the bus-conductor's cry cannot have been, as is usually
suggested, "Piccadilly, Piccadilly!"; if you listen to the music, it must have been
" 'Dilly, Piccadilly!"). Also rescored (like the Ireland) from brass to military band,
was Hoist's A Moorside Suite, coming up very well in the process. Horovitz's
Paganini Variations are lively and effective; scored for just a brass quartet they
provide excellent contrast to the ear (and are marvellously played).

This leaves the Derek Bourgeois, a new piece exploiting the relationship of solo
trombone and wind band, as Rimsky-Korsakov and Gordon Jacob have done
before him. On this occasion the exploration is notably assisted by the most
skilled playing of the solo instrument imaginable: Christian Lindberg is a soloist
of absolutely splendid style and fluency. The latter quality, in particular, is
demonstrated to a near-unbelievable degree (for a slide trombone) in the concerto's
finale, a fast tarantella which is also probably the concerto's most musically
successful single movement. The first perhaps carries a little less conviction,
rather too indebted to Elgar to ring wholly true. There are, however, many
worse creditors than Elgar about.

Lindberg, however, lists as one of his own main creditors Jack Teagarden;
and there are also many worse creditors about in that field than Big T! What
Teagarden would have made of this record as a whole I can only speculate;
but that many listeners today will enjoy it greatly I am very sure."
Gramophone





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No.261

Doina Rotaru (b. 14 September 1951) is a Romanian composer best known for
orchestral and chamber works. Marilena Doinița Rotaru was born in Bucharest and studied
with Tiberiu Olah at the Bucharest Conservatory in Bucharest from 1970-1975. In 1991,
she continued her studies with Theo Loevendie in Amsterdam. In 1991 she also took a
position as a professor at the National University of Music, and has served several times
as a guest lecturer in Darmstadt and the Gaudeamus Composers Workshop in Amsterdam.
Her music has been commissioned and performed internationally in Europe, Asia and
the Americas. She is a member of the Romanian Composers Union.



Music Composed by Doina Rotaru
Played by the Huddersfield University Symphony Orchestra
With Pierre-Yves Artaud (flute) & Emil Sein (saxophones)
Conducted by Barrie Web

"A rare collection of Rotaru's large-scale work. Her extraordinary music employs
sound and timbre patterns recalling primary Romanian and far Eastern folk sources
together with structural principles determined by symbolic value and function,
incorporating sacred numbers, circular and spiral shapes."





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As always, thanks for all your shares. These two threads are a major treasure trove for unfamiliar classical music.

I have a problem with the Baker/Neil (#258) - while other mega files download without problem, this failed three times in a row (at 99% it stops, and states decryption error).

There must be an internal problem with MEGA. I'm getting the encryption error message even after I re-uploaded a freshly made RAR file, and I tried a 7z archive, same result. Let's wait and see.

---------- Post added at 01:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:25 PM ----------

I'm now getting that same error on older files, too. It must be an internal MEGA issue, let's hope it's temporary.

Has anybody successfully downloaded one of the latest files?

I even created a new account under mega, re-upped the same files - downloaded. "Decryption error".

A few hours ago I downloaded the Everhard (259), in parallel 258 failed.

EDIT: just now I tried again, 259 downloaded again without problems, 258 decryption error.

Same problem here, let's have some tots and try again tomorrow, must be a temporary thing at Mega!

It appears to have been a temporary thing, because I was able to download and open both the Eberhard and David Matthews works. Thanks, again, wimpel69. You're the best.

Yes, it worked just now for the Baker/Neil. Thanks again!

Yep, MEGA support emailed me upon my inquiry, saying it was a bug in their latest update that they now have fixed. So things can go on as normal.

No.262

Don Ray (1926-2005) was born, reared and educated in Southern California, where he took his
B.A. at U.C.L.A. and his M.A. from California State University. He joined the CBS-TV Music Staff in 1956
and remained there as Music Supervisor until retirement in 1986. While there, he composed scores
for G.E. Theater, Gunsmoke, Twilight Zone, CBS Movie-of-the-Week, and Hawaii Five-O, the
latter bringing an Emmy nomination for best dramatic score. On leaving CBS, he turned to writing
concert music. He has also been active in teaching film scoring techniques. His Piano Concerto is in
four movements, employs the standard symphony orchestra and lasts about 40 minutes. It was begun
in Dublin in 2000 and completed in Los Angeles in 2001. Family Portrait, Suite No. 2 contains a
series of character studies and events in the family of the composer's grandparents who homesteaded
a farm in the American Northwest around 1900. This suite is drawn from the original work which has
thirteen movements.

As a teacher, Don emphasized the practical aspects of film scoring to his students. �Don�t turn
composer problems into musician problems!� he warned, when a student wrote something unplayable
or presented the excellent studio musicians that came to play what the class wrote with a chart that
was hard to read or contained errors. Don was all about composers taking responsibility and being
practical about writing film music.



Music Composed by Don Ray
Played by the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra
With Conor Linehan (piano)
Conducted by Derek Gleeson



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No.263

A pupil of Ernest Bloch, Schoenberg and Sessions, the American composer Earl Kim (1920-1998),
a musician of Korean ancestry, taught at Princeton and then for some 30 years at Harvard. A composer
of great originality, he drew on his own knowledge of Western music and on the oriental (including Korea
folksong, Javanese gamelan and Whirling Dervishes). He compared his method of composition to a
Japanese garden in which multiplicity is reflected in unity. Kim’s orchestral music includes a Violin Concerto,
written in 1979 for Perlman, with the 1959 Dialogues for piano and orchestra characteristically
juxtaposing contrasting elements. His many vocal settings include a version of Rilke’s Cornet for narrator
and orchestra, a change from his earlier preoccupation with Samuel Beckett. Earl Kim died of lung cancer
at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday, 19th November, 1998, at the age of 78.



Music Composed by Earl Kim
Played by the RT� National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
With Cecylia Arzewski (violin) & Robert Kim (narrator)
And William Wolfram (piano)
Conducted by Scott Yoo

"Cecylia Arzewski played in the 1979 world premiere of Earl Kim's Violin Concerto,
as a Boston Symphony section violinist. The soloist was Itzhak Perlman, who
commissioned and later recorded it (on EMI). As ASO concertmaster, Arzewski
stepped into the solo part in Symphony Hall in 2001, and now she's cut her own
recording with an Irish orchestra --- and it's more convincing than Perlman's.

Kim (1920-1988) was a gentle modernist and an eclectic. The concerto brushes
musical impressionism, Indonesian gamelan and gutsy, high-powered violin playing.
Where Perlman's buttery tone and dominating ego jarred with the accompaniment's
spare, shimmering textures, Arzewski's bright, lean sound fits within the orchestral
tapestry. With solid accompaniment from Dublin's RTE National Symphony
Orchestra, she plays it almost like a Baroque concerto grosso, where the solo
voice steps in and out of the larger group."
The Atlanta Journal





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No.264

Larry Sitsky (*1934) is an Australian composer of major distinction and is honored
here with three outstanding works performed by, and dedicated to, a fellow Australian of
international renown, Jan Sedivka. Sitsky has always had a life-long interest in
extramusical pursuits and has sought to infuse mystical and visionary themes in his works.
But in contrast to other like-minded contemporaries (such as P�rt and G�recki), Sitsky's music
is far more rugged and demanding (for both listener and performer alike). Utilizing a wide
compositional palette that evokes an amalgam of twelve-tone techniques with the splashy
brass and percussion of Var�se and late Stravinsky, the First Violin Concerto is an incredibly
detailed work of shifting meters and colors and one with an intensely difficult part for the soloist.
The Third Violin Concerto has similar existential aims. Although Sitsky has not sought
to emulate Chinese music in this piece influenced by "I Ching" philosophy, traces of Chinese
music, particularly the use of Chinese portamento (slide) are effectively utilized throughout
the piece. These are serious works in committed performances by Sedivka who, because
of the demands made by the composer, evinces a wide-ranging talent.



Music Composed by Larry Sitsky
Played by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
With Jan Sedivka (violin)
And the Female Voices of Tasmanian Opera
Conducted by Vanco Cavdarski & Omri Hadari
And Christopher Lyndon-Gee

"Larry Sitsky has dedicated his Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 to Jan Sedivka, a good friend.

The first in 1972 takes Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum as its sub-title and poetic force.
The musical material is derived from Busoni's Faust - taking chordal progressions and other
material - and is cast in five movements lasting thirty-six minutes. Doubtless Sitsky's immersion
in Busoni's music, which does lend an impressionistic tint to it, in part derives from his studies
with Busoni's great pupil and propagandist, Egon Petri. The Concerto opens with an elusively
complex violin cadenza, which forms the introduction. Sitsky's scoring should be noted, as the
violins and violas don't make their appearance until towards the end of the work. Sitsky
employs a battery of percussion at climactic moments and some driving lower string writing;
the texture can also be eruptive and violent but there is also real lyrical expression here,
albeit one with a keen edge to it. The central movement is slow and glinting (Harmonicus is
the title Sitsky gives to it) with shafts of light flecking the score. In the final panel the chorus
sings the titles of each movement before a return to the opening material via the agency
of the soloist.

The second concerto bears the subtitle of its inspiration – the mystic and occultist Gurdjieff,
whose interest in Central Asian music is an enthusiasm shared by the composer. It’s cast
in seven movements, all short, the whole concerto lasting just under twenty-three minutes.
It’s lightly but colourfully scored with the composer utilising varieties of percussion for
telling effect. The violin is the orator, debater and reflective interlocutor, now assertive, now
passive. The most intense sense of mystic concentration comes with the Dolce opening.
Later on the violin scurries over percussion and high wind and later still a remarkable
Allegretto sees a noble brass melody unfold with stately Asiatic steadiness, the violin joining
with its obbligato and deferential commentary. Sitsky is also clear in his evocation of
antique-sounding melodies that have a sense of timelessness.

The Third Concerto (1987) is much more gently scored than the First and was inspired
by the I Ching. Thus the work is divided into eight sections - Water, Wind, Mountain and
so on - and all are quite short, unified by the all-embracing theme. Sitsky, who was
born in China but left when he was sixteen, attempts here to evoke the sound of Chinese
music but not to replicate it; his approach is mystical and spiritual. Technically he
makes use of the so-called Chinese string portamento with accompanying percussive
support. Rhythmically there is plenty of dance material - as in the second movement
Wind, a dance that is skittish and accompanied by a truly impressive Chinese brass
section. There is an eternal horizon feel to Mountain and a brassy enveloping in the
nocturnal Mist - that picks up the brass motif from Wind. Sitsky evokes these elements
of Chinese music with great sensitivity and timbral and rhythmic intricacy. I particularly
enjoyed the propulsively percussive writing in Heaven, a moto perpetuo, and the
contemplative and elliptical Fire. Fittingly Earth explores the registral depth of the
bass and the height of the flute in its encompassing wholeness.

Throughout, Sedivka is a protagonist and interweaver of distinction; he mediates
between Sitsky's elevated vision and the violin's technical realities with perfect
judgement. The recordings sound very well indeed and the notes are not too florid;
just right, in fact."
Musicweb





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No.265

Edward Joseph Collins (1886-1951) was born in Joliet, Illinois and was the youngest of
nine children all of whom were musical. He studied first in Chicago with Rudolf Ganz and then
in Berlin with Max Bruch and Engelbert Humperdinck, among others. He returned to the
United States in the fall of 1912 and began to concertize. During 1913/14, he was appointed
assistant conductor of the Century Opera Company in New York. In 1914, he traveled once
again to Europe where he was engaged as an assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festival,
where his duties also included playing the timpani. In August 1914, the outbreak of hostilities
in Europe necessitated his return to America. When the U.S. entered the War, he began as an
infantry private, but soon rose to the rank of Lieutenant. When Collins returned to Chicago,
he resumed his performing career and married a young voice student named Frieda Mayer
whose father was Oscar Mayer, the owner of the Chicago Meat Packing Company that bears
his name. Erik Eriksson, Collins' biographer has written: "The music of Edward Joseph Collins
deserves closer attention and more frequent performance. Collins was highly original in
his organization and employment of ideas, in the flow with which they were assembled,
and in the unforced introduction of American idioms to works that were conceived with
great seriousness of purpose. With strength of character and courage that must be
admired, Collins composed music that also exhibits an endearing capacity to convey
genuine and enduring emotion."



Music Composed by Edward Joseph Collins
Played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
With William Wolfram (piano)
Conducted by Marin Alsop

"Edward Collins (1886-1951) evidently was a composer of no mean distinction.
His music is excellently crafted and highly individual. This is the third release in Albany's
ongoing series of recordings dedicated to his orchestral music, and it contains two
very interesting and memorable works. Piano Concerto No. 3's four movements include
a charming Pi�ce Eccentrique with a gently persistent rhythmic kink, and a dynamic
Tarentella finale. The soloist plays almost from first bar to last, but the orchestral
accompaniment remains very finely judged and colorfully detailed. Stylistically Collins
sounds something like a late-model Frenchman of the Franck/d'Indy school. While
highly chromatic, his melodic ideas aren't at all difficult to recognize, and while they
aren't exactly the sort of thing you'll go home whistling, the piece as a whole has a
curiously compelling memorability.

The same observations hold true for Collins' only symphony, a 35-minute work that
packs a lot of interesting music into its very reasonable length. Again the tunes are
less important than what the composer makes of them--but make of them he
certainly does! The very opening paragraph, beginning in the strings and gradually
adding instruments in a grand arch of sound, gives eloquent evidence of the sure
hand of a true symphonist. The notes to this recording mention Delius as a possible
stylistic analogue, not without reason given the music's fluidity and avoidance of
literal recapitulations--but Collins has more muscle, and however rhapsodic he
becomes you never get the sense that he's meandering in a Delian, stream-of-
consciousness sort of way. It's the rich harmonic palette that legitimizes the
comparison.

The performances here sound very assured and sympathetic. In the concerto,
William Wolfram makes some ravishing sounds, particularly in the lovely third-
movement Nocturne, though I think a bit more abandon in the finale would
have been a good thing. As with Brahms, this music is almost anti-virtuosic
in conception however busy the soloist gets, and it needs as much drive and
energy as the performers can bring to bear. Still, it's an eloquent performance
that gives a fine sense of the music's quality, and the performance of the
symphony strikes me as better still, with Marin Alsop and the Scottish players
giving a thoroughly committed and professional account of music that sounds
quite challenging regarding details of balance and dynamics. Fine sonics add
the finishing touch to a very rewarding release."
Classics Today





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No.266

Egon Wellesz, born in Vienna in 1885, is among the group of composers of “degenerate art”
who survived the Nazi era physically, but not artistically. Like Braunfels, Zeisl, Mittler, or to a
lesser degree Hartmann, his music died twice: once when the Nazis declared it “degenerate”
and forced him into emigration, then again when the heavily subsidized postwar arts scene
thought him not “degenerate” enough—too tonal, too beholden to music rather than organized
sound. Even the many, many honors he received in the 50s, 60s, and 70s—in that sense he
was luckier than many a colleague with a similar fate—smacked of guilt and placation,
not genuine interest in his œuvre.



Music Composed by Egon Wellesz
Played by the Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin
With Margarete Babinsky (piano) & David Fr�hwirth (violin)
Conducted by Roger Epple

"The Viennese medieval scholar adulated Gustav Mahler and wrote the first biography
of Arnold Schoenberg. He fled to England in 1938, becoming professor of music at Oxford.
His compositions seldom grip from start to finish but there is plenty in them to occupy
the mind, in a style that is modern but never disagreeable. The 1933 piano concerto is
vivacious, the 1961 violin concerto meditative. Margarete Babinsky and David Fr�hwirth
are excellent soloists with the Berlin radio orchestra."
Norman Lebrecht



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Thanks for the Charles Koechlin's bassoon works, love this composer

Dear Wimpel :by the way,why some albums have not Flac? It�s some technical fact or maybe other reason?thanks in advance for the answer.

I bought those albums as downloads when most shops only offered mp3.


No.267

Einar Englund's (1916-1999) Violin Concerto might be described as innocently lyrical. It is in
three movements. The first, Allegro moderato, sounds a challenge, a combination of five notes, which
constitutes the motto of the work, and to this the violin replies. After an interlude from the orchestra, the
violin plays the main theme of the movement and this leads on to the widely spaced intervals of the central
section. These in turn provide the ingredients of the final part of the movement. Of the second and third
movements the composer writes: “The slow movement (Moderato) is in three parts. After a powerful
introduction the music becomes hushed and the solo violin weaves a pattern of long melodic curves. The
rondo-like finale (Allegro molto) might perhaps be compared to a Mozart allegro, advancing from
beginning to end in the same tempo with the lightness of a feather. Only the cadenza offers the
necessary contrast.”

Englund's musical language was, in his own words, based on sweeping terms and great symphonic
lines. He built his works on themes, clear harmonies and polyphonic thinking. As a composer he was
a neo-classicist, whose music based on tonality and included long, compact and even romantic
melodic lines side by side with spicy dissonances, energetic rhythm and vigorous orchestration.



Music Composed by Einar Englund
Played by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
With Kaija Saarikettu (violin), Mikael Helasuvo (flute) & Kullervo Kojo (clarinet)
Conducted by Ulf S�derblom, Leif Segerstam & Jukka-Pekka Saraste



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No.268

Edmund Rubbra's Piano Concerto not a heroic work in the Rachmaninov or Tchaikovsky vein.
The piano part is big and wide ranging, but the instrument is more the equal of the orchestra than its
competitor. The first movement opens in sombre mood, and in the minor key, despite the work’s major
key designation. The music gradually opens out – in line with its botanical title: “Corymbus” – to
imposing effect, and rising to a remarkably passionate climax. The second movement is entitled
“Dialogue”, but it is not at all an intense affair along the lines of the slow movement of Beethoven’s
Fourth, but calm and very beautiful. The finale opens with a dancing figure, and its rondo structure
is easily discerned even on a first hearing. There are references to earlier themes, in particular to
the opening of the concerto, before the brief flourish that ends the work. There is a certain ebullience
here that may surprise those who know the composer only from his symphonies and choral works.

During the first decade of Benjamin Britten's professional career, he seemed devoted more to
instrumental and orchestral music than to vocal works; although he had written some fine pieces for
voice, there is nothing resembling the emphasis on the voice that would emerge later. Composed for
himself to premiere in 1938 (Britten was a superb pianist and conductor), the Piano Concerto is
his first large-scale work in sonata form; its opening Toccata is one of the most imposing of his rare
sonata-allegro movements.

As the title indicates, this first movement is a virtuosic display of keyboard technique, stressing fast
repeated notes and a rather lean texture. In place of a scherzo this four-movement work has a waltz
for its second movement, possessing traces of bitter irony. The third movement was originally a
"Recitative and Aria." Britten seems to have accepted criticism from Aaron Copland and others that
it was not up to the standards of the rest of the concerto, for in 1943 he replaced it with an "Impromptu."
The discarded movement has been recorded as a separate piece. The replacement movement is a
work of genius, the high point of the score as it finally stands. It is a passacaglia based on an
unsettled, yearning theme that paces systematically through the circle of fifths to include all twelve
notes. As such it is a close cousin to the main theme of the opera The Turn of the Screw composed
a decade later. It is a theme pregnant with variation possibilities and the series of variations Britten
composed in this passacaglia is nothing short of magnificent. The theme's variation possibilities
continued to be proven when Sir William Walton used it as the basis for his own magnificent
Improvisations on an Impromptu by Benjamin Britten for orchestra. The conclusion is a dazzling
march, a dashing if noisy piece that exploits the percussive qualities of the piano. This concerto
is a fine piece that deserves a wider place in the repertoire.



Music by Edmund Rubbra & Benjamin Britten
Played by the BBC Symphony, Philharmonia & Royal Philharmonic Orchestras
With Denis Matthews & Jacques Abram (piano)
Conducted by Malcolm Sargent, Herbert Menges & Norman Del Mar

"The present disc commands the attention by making freshly available the first commercial
recordings of these works: two piano concertos framing a Prelude and Fugue for strings.

It is especially pleasing to see these two concertos return to the catalogue. The last time I
recall them breaking the surface was in a 4LP box of British piano concertos issued by EMI
in 1977 as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations.

The Rubbra concerto was commissioned by the BBC and the present performers also gave
the world premiere. The dedicatee was the Pakistani musician, Ali Akbar Khan. Do not
expect, however, a work woven from Indian material. Perhaps its contemplative inwardness
is a reflection of that connection although subtlety and spirituality are Rubbra hallmarks in
any event. Influences are present as you wopuld expect. I caught myself thinking of Sibelius
and of Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia Antartica once or twice. The age of these recordings
shows in the razory tone taken by the strings at climactic moments. Matthews and Sargent
are excellent and Rubbra must surely have been pleased with the results. The competition,
in the shape of a BBC Radio Classics disc, is worth finding despite the opacity of the studio
sound. The LSO are conducted, in that case, by Vernon Handley. The pianist in the Rubbra
Concerto is Malcolm Binns. These tapes come from a 1970s BBC concert. Incidentally in the
1956 recording I noticed a little cough at 00.06 on track 2. Interesting to note that
Raymond Leppard was the producer for the Rubbra.

The Prelude and Fugue is in Britten's oblique rather than populist manner. Del Mar and his
accustomed orchestra invests the work with scorching life looking back to the virtuosity
and display of the Bridge Variations. The work was written for Boyd Neel and his orchestra.
What a fine conductor Del Mar was. This is a stereo recording. The �lan and drive Abram
brings to the Britten concerto does not disappoint. Menges (best known as a conductor
in concertos) collaborates with ardour. This is a work requiring alertness and split second
attention. Its brilliance is undeniable but its heart is elusive."
Musicweb


Denis Matthews, Jacques Abram.

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Whoa, thank you for a Denis Matthews recording! What an excellent pianist he was.

Merry Christmas, wimpel69! Bless you for all wonderful gifts you've bestowed upon us all.

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No.269

Today, French late romantic composer Edouard Lalo (1823-1892) is best remembered for the
Symphonie Espagnole, for violin obbligato and orchestra (and, maybe, the Cello Concerto).
He did, however, also compose two very fine "regular" violin concertos, the Concerto en fa, op.20
and the Concerto Russe, op.29. They lay dormant for many, many years, until Jean-Pierre
Wallez revived them for this album by the PG label. At the time, these were the premiere
recordings for both pieces; unfortunately, the liner notes fail to specify exactly at which time. This recording
received a Grand Prix de l'Acad�mie du Disc Francais.

The Violin Concerto in F is engagingly songful and ought to be better known, but the real find
is the Concerto Russe, in essence a sister work to the Symphonie espagnole, but with Slavic
rather than sultry Spanish inspiration. The "Intermezzo" has witty offbeat comments from the timpani
and there is a sparkling finale introducing two more striking ideas.



Music Composed by Eduard Lalo
Played by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
With Jean-Pierre Wallez (violin)
Conducted by Kazuhiro Koizumi

"Jean-Pierrre Wallez (born March 18, 1939) is a French violinist and conductor.
He was the first solo-violin of the Orchestre de Paris from 1975 to 1977. At the same time, from
1968 to 1983, he was the leader of the Ensemble Instrumental de France, touring extensively.
While doing this, he continued his career as a soloist; he played with the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra, Bernard Haitink, the Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim and Zubin Mehta, the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic,
and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. He also played with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli,
Isaac Stern, Henryk Szeryng, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Mstislav Rostropovich, Galina Vishnevskaya,
Aldo Ciccolini, Paul Badura-Skoda, and Pierre Barbizet.

Wallez studied conducting with Pierre Dervaux and then with Sergiu Celibidache. He was
the artistic director of the Festival de Musique d'Albi from its creation in 1974 to its end in
1990. Most of the productions were recorded and broadcast on television. In 1978, Wallez
created the chamber orchestra Ensemble orchestral de Paris which toured Europe, South
America, and Japan. The concerts included Bach, contemporary composers, symphonic works,
chamber music, and a work with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble InterContemporain.

In 1986, Wallez left the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. He became the first guest conductor of
the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie in Belgium from 1987 to 1990, and of the
S�nderjyllands Symfoniorkester in Denmark from 1990 to 1993. He was the musical director
of the �rebro Chamber Orchestra in Sweden from 1992 to 1995. From 1994 to the end of 2000,
he was the principal guest conductor of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. In 1996,
he was also the first guest conductor of the Pasdeloup Orchestra in Paris. His repertoire
includes operas by Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Berlioz, Gounod, Britten, Offenbach.

Wallez recorded for Decca, EMI, CBS, Erato, Forlane, Ades and received awards for them,
including the Grand Prix du Disque for the violin concertos by Jean-Marie Leclair, the Russian
Concerto and the Concerto in F by �douard Lalo, and a Gold Record for the Vivaldi Four Seasons
with the Ensemble orchestral de Paris."



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No.270

Emil Tabakov (*1947) graduated from the Bulgarian State Music Academy in conducting and
double-bass in 1974 and received his diploma in composition in 1978. He worked as conductor
of the Ruse Philharmonic between the years 1976 and 1979. From 1979 to 1987 he was
the music director and conductor of the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra. He was appointed
conductor of the Sofia Philharmonic in 1985 where he continued until 2000 first as principal
conductor then as music director and conductor. During the same period Tabakov worked as
the music director and conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic. Starting in 1999, he was the
artistic director of the New Year’s Music Festival in Sofia for six years. Tabakov served as
Minister of Culture for Bulgaria in 1997. Emil Tabakov was music director of the Bilkent
Symphony Orchestra between 2002 and 2008. Tabakov successfully combines the roles
of conductor and composer.

His Concerto for Two Flutes and Orchestra, written in 2000 at the request of the French flautist
Patrick Gallois, to whom it is dedicated, has been performed with great success in Turkey, Russia,
Mexico and Bulgaria. Its exotic scoring includes maracas, tambourine and the tamburo bulgaro. The
creation of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was prompted by the Rotary Club of Adana in
Turkey to celebrate the anniversary of the Turkish army, founded in 209 B.C. A virtuosic work in the
traditional three-movement sequence of the classical concerto, the Concerto is scored for a large
symphony orchestra and has already attracted several eminent pianists.



Music Composed and Conducted by Emil Tabakov
Played by the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra
With Patrick Gallois (flute) & Philippe Bernod (flute)
And Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)

"The Concerto for Two Flutes (2000) is in two lengthy movements. The first contrasts two
languorous themes: a sad chromatic melody over a sustained, quiet tall-chord harmony and
a simple, rising diatonic figure given in canon. Both alternate repeatedly for 15 minutes. The
finale is a lively Eastern dance with bumptious maracas, tambourines, and a tamburo bulgaro.
It's simplistic and repetitious, and general audiences will find it a lot of fun. The stretto ending
should have the crowd going wild.

The Piano Concerto (2003) was written to celebrate the anniversary of the Turkish army
(founded 209 BC), which accounts for the fanfare motive that opens the piece. The mildly
exotic and jovially splashy atmosphere is reminiscent of Khachaturian, with some Bulgarian
Bizet thrown in for good measure. The sleepy slow movement extends the exotica idea into
ritualistic gongs, pipes, reeds, harps, chant, and birdies. The virtuoso finale hits the repeated
note button, makes a pass at Rimsky, and flies to the requisite standing-ovation climax.
"The music speaks in a contemporary language without startling the listener or making
him feel unprepared", as the notes put it. Well, I wasn't startled, and I didn't feel unprepared.
If that's what you're looking for, go for it. Soloists are excellent."
American Record Guide



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No.271

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, born on 12 January 1876, the son of a German painter and his Italian wife,
was throughout his life divided between the two cultures, uniting in himself the deep-felt seriousness of
the German and the cheerful calmness of the Italian, bel canto and counterpoint, philosophy and grace.
He spent his life between Munich and Venice, in Germany longing for Italy and vice versa. This geographical
division was also the foundation of his creative existence. It was very early in his life that Wolf-Ferrari
enjoyed great cultural success, winning international fame with his choral work La vita nuova and the
opera Le donne curiose. Already at the age of nineteen he was appointed choral director in Milan
and at 27 he became, for his life-time, director of the Liceo Benedetto Marcello in Venice. After six years
he ended his contract to settle in Munich, where he lived and worked for the next 35 years, in complete
seclusion, seldom yielding to the light of publicity. The first World War brought about a great crisis in his
life, resulting in a creative break of several years. After that came a new impulse to compose and Wolf-
Ferrari produced one masterpiece after another. In 1939 he accepted appointment to the Salzburg
Mozarteum. His last years were clouded by the second World War and its consequences. Suffering
from heart disease, he dedicated himself strongly again to his old love, chamber music. He died of
a heart attack in Venice on 21 January 1948.

The Violin Concerto's opening rustling accompanying strings remind one of the opening of the
Sibelius Concerto and the almost immediate entry of the soloist solidifies the impression. Thereafter
there is one lovely and richly argued melodic statement after another, with structural points marked by
classical rigour. There are strong hints of Bruch in the broken passagework and the melodic generosity.
The Romanza probably began as a 16-minute homage to Mozart but Wolf-Ferrari sensibly halved its
length and imbued it with a charming rococo feel and a pensive minor section, even a Richard Strauss
moment of two – not inappropriate really as Wolf-Ferrari spent so much of his life in Munich.
The third movement is a virtuosic Improvviso, reminiscent of stormy late-nineteenth century violin
virtuosity. The finale is full of high spirits, and its quasi-operatic, almost buffo quality is strongly
audible. Tchaikovsky is certainly recalled, Hubay and his confreres too – indeed Rossinian high
jinx are never far away.

The 1894 Serenade is an attractive early work, very light-hearted and genially warm.
Mendelssohn and Rheinberger are the models – the latter especially in the fugal finale. Wolf-Ferrari’s
care over oppositional string writing is charmingly evident.



Music Composed by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Played by the HR Sinfonieorchester
With Ulf Hoelscher (violin)
Conducted by Alun Francis

"The Violin Concerto was written for the Wisconsin-born American violinist Guila Bustab�
"con ammirazione". The excellent notes by Herbert Rosendorfer suggest that the composer
was in love with Bustab� but details seem sketchy.

The first movement opens in hushed magic with the violin quietly intoning a Hungarian-
inflected tune over whisper-rustling strings. The second movement has (Richard) Straussian
moments. The final Beethovenian movement is the longest of the four at 13 minutes.
This is a most attractive, fresh and rounded work. Ulf Hoelscher is excellent, his playing
full of fantasy, brilliance and poetry."
Classical Music on the Web





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No.272

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s series on AVIE marks its eighth release with this
new recording of works derived from the Jewish tradition. The young principal cello of the orchestra, Jonathan
Aasgaard gives fine performances of two seminal works from this genre – Bloch’s Hebraic Rhapsody "Schelomo"
and Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. David Diamond’s Kaddish has been eagerly taken up by many cellists including
Janos Starker. The CD is completed by two premiere recordings: Gerard Schwarz’ In Memoriam and
Jonathan Aasgaard’s own arrangement for cello and strings of Bloch’s Prayer from the suite From Jewish Life.



Music composed by (see above)
Played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
With Jonathan Aasgaard (cello)
Conducted by Gerard Schwarz

"Although titled “From Jewish Life” this beautifully played programme does, I fear, give a
rather one-sided picture of what Jewish life is about. The elegiac element predominates save
for the ornately gilded rage that from time to time erupts in the pages of Schelomo. Jonathan
Aasgaard is principal cellist of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and focuses the inwardly musing
aspect of Schelomo’s narrative virtually to perfection. His warm, velvety tone is nicely
complemented by an assertive but never hysterical account of the orchestral score under
Gerard Schwarz.

But it’s Schwarz’s own moving In memoriam (which honours the memory of the Russian-born
cellist David Tonkonogui) that finds Aasgaard plumbing the depths, a touching piece superbly
performed: Aasgaard’s tone and phrasing really speak to you. Schwarz has always flown a flag
for the music of David Diamond; his records of the Diamond symphonies were among the crowns
of the Delos catalogue (most are now happily available on Naxos) and his handling of Diamond’s
inwardly contrasting Kaddish – a wordless setting of the ancient Hebrew prayer for the dead –
reaffirms his understanding of Diamond’s idiom.

Aasgaard again bows a rich and fluid line, as he does in Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. Listening to the
work’s opening bars, like a curtain slowly rising, reminded me of how utterly lovely this piece is,
certainly in the hands of someone who appreciates its simplicity and beauty. Bloch’s ruminative
“Prayer” is an added bonus. Excellent sound, and an enthusiastic recommendation, but I would
advise listening to just one or two pieces at time. That way each work retains its full quota
of expressive power."
Gramophone



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No.273

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (*1939), who is represented here by two widely divergent compositions, has
earned an international reputation for producing music that is at the same time recognisable, yet different.
Like the great masters of bygone times, she creates works “with fingerprints”, pieces that are peculiarly
American and that combine craft and inspiration in reflecting the composer’s optimistic and humanistic
spirit. Encyclopedia entries do not often make judgements or assessments, but the Eighth Edition of
Nicolas Slonimisky’s Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians effectively describes Zwilich’s position
among contemporary composers: “There are not many composers in the modern world who possess
the lucky combination of writing music of substance and at the same time exercising an immediate
appeal to mixed audiences. Ravel was one, and so in a quite different way, were Bart�k and Prokofiev.
Zwilich offers this happy combination of purely technical excellence and a distinct power of communication,
while a poetic element pervades the melody, harmony, and counterpoint of her creations.”

About the Violin Concerto, Zwilich writes in a programme note: “For me, the soul of the violin
shines through in the repertoire it has inspired, revealing a nature both sensuous and intellectual.
While the tremendous athleticism of the violin can sometimes overshadow its deeper nature, the
violin has shown itself capable of expressing the most profound aspects of music. And this is what
drew me, as a young composer, to play the violin.” For Zwilich, it is “important that the orchestra
play a crucial r�le in the dialogue, but I also want the violin to be free to be expressive in its mezzo
piano range. So, achieving good balances in a rich musical setting is a major challenge in writing
a violin concerto.”

Rituals is in four movements, each issuing from a ritual associated with percussion, but
with the orchestral interaction providing an essential element in the musical form. I. Invocation
alludes to the traditions of invoking the spirit of the instruments, or the gods, or the ancestors
before performing. II. Ambulation moves from a processional through march and dance to fantasy
based on all three. III. Remembrances alludes to traditions of memorializing. IV. Contests
progresses from friendly competition — games, contests — to a suggestion of a battle of
“big band” drummers, to warlike exchanges.



Music Compsoed by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Played by the Saarbr�cken Radio Symphony & Nexus/Iris Chamber Orchestras
With Pamela Frank (violin)
Conducted by Michael Stern

"Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's 1998 Violin Concerto is a marvelous work that communicates immediately
to the heart, yet at the same time stimulates the intellect. It begins with an excited shimmer in
the orchestra's high register, introducing the violin's arching, wide-interval theme. The serene,
ecstatic character of the violin writing is reminiscent of Szymanowski, though throughout the score
there also are hints of Prokofiev and Bart�k. That said, this is undeniably Zwilich's music, and the
fact that this work is a product of our neo-romantic, post-minimalist era is evident in the two
shattering orchestral crescendos that frame the first movement. The second movement is based
on Bach's Chaconne in D minor, here expanded and augmented by modern harmonies and
jazzy ornamentations. Jazz also figures strongly in the finale where, like Bernstein before her,
Zwilich seamlessly incorporates its stylistic elements into the orchestral fabric. None of this
poses any problem for Pamela Frank, who gives a masterful and passionate performance of
the entire work, handsomely accompanied by Michael Stern and the Saarbr�cken Radio
Symphony Orchestra.

Rituals (2002) is a celebration of percussion as used in various world cultures, and is so
different a work from the violin concerto that it hardly sounds from the pen of the same
composer. Nevertheless, it's a total delight, from the opening Invocations, with its stunning
pageantry of bells, gongs, and cymbals, to the dancing Ambulation, to the electrifying
Contests, where groups of percussionists engage in a thrilling musical combat, set against
an orchestral backdrop of increasingly alarming freight-train chords. Under Michael
Stern's leadership, NEXUS/IRIS Chamber Orchestra members play magnificently as they
build to a frenzied, exhilarating conclusion. Naxos' recording reproduces all of this with
satisfying presence and impact, although the Concerto, which was taped live for
broadcast, has noticeably less warmth and depth. The bottom line: This is one highly
enjoyable disc, enthusiastically recommended!."
Classics Today



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No.274

Written in 1951, Othmar Schoeck's (1886-1957) Horn Concerto reflects the increasing transparency of
scoring that the composer adopted though there was no diminishment in his lyricism and sense of fun.
The model is broadly Straussian, virtuosic and challenging, but lyrical. There are many opportunities
for lyricism and display. The second movement in particularly effective - colour and vibrancy to the fore
and a real romanticism as well, topped by a lighthearted hunting Rondo finale.

Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was a woman of formidable character. Whatever she did, whether composing
music, writing books, falling in love or allying herself with the suffragette movement, she did with unstoppable
passion, but her colourful life and reputation have tended to overshadow the thing she cared about most -
her music. Smyth had been sent to jail after lobbing a rock through the window of the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, Lewis Harcourt, who had made a condescending remark about women. Smyth had earnestly
embraced the Votes for Women cause. She was a friend of Mrs Pankhurst, and wrote the March of the Women,
which became the suffragettes' rallying cry. The Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra is one of
her major orchestral works, rooted firmly in the Romantic tradition.

Charles Koechlin arranged his 1925 Horn Sonata as his Po�me for Horn and Orchestra in 1927,
in which guise it was heard at a Straram Concert, conducted by Walther Straram, with the horn part taken by
�douard Vuillermoz, on March 24, 1927. This version has remained unpublished. Koechlin noted that while
"not a descriptive composition...the first two movements were set in the atmosphere of the Romantic forest
of Weber or...Heine," and that the final movement possessed a "certain ambiance marine." Despite its long
gestation and cunning composition, the Po�me is one of Koechlin's most spontaneously attractive works -
the melodic material (derived from the pastoral opening phrase) is engagingly fresh and never
loses its magic.



Music by Othmar Schoeck, Ethel Smyth & Charles Koechlin
Played by the Radio-Philharmonie Hannover des NDR
With Marie-Luise Neunecker (horn)
And Saschko Gawriloff (violin)
Conducted by Uri Mayer

"The established horn concerto repertoire is not that large, so this disc probably
doubles it. These three very different but intriguing rarities make for rewarding
listening, not least because of the mellifluous tone that Neunecker draws from
her instrument."
BBC Music Magazine





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No.275

Alexina Louie (*1949) is one of the brightest and most exciting composing talents to come out of Canada
the late 20th century. Her music is full of the sounds of her Chinese heritage. She was born of second
generation Canadians of Chinese descent, and she uses a full, rich and colourful palette in her works.
Her language is modern, but one which speaks readily to an audience. The Piano Concerto is a big
virtuoso work, the piano taking the lead and the orchestra supplying a varied tapestry of sound to highlight
the piano’s thoughts. There’s a lot going on in this work and it’s one of those pieces which really repay
repeated hearings. The lyricism of the work might not be immediately apparent but it is full of tunes,
and Louie works them out with a skill and grace which are typical of her music.

Violet Archer’s (1913-2000) Piano Concerto No.1 comes as a shock after the hothouse of Louie’s work for
here is very much a divertissement of a piece, the outer movements being sparkling and vivacious
surrounding a rather more severe and serious slow movement. The ending is pure farce with big
gestures, � la virtuoso vehicle being mocked and over-done.

Larysa Kuzumenko’s (*1956) Piano Concerto begins in a very uncompromising manner with
dissonance and a bravura cadenza for the soloist. That done, it turns into a neo-classical romp which,
oddly, is reminiscent of Arthur Bliss’s Piano Concerto. The central movement changes style into a frozen
northern landscape such as one which we have heard from Vagn Holmboe. The finale is a fast race
and reminds one of Alan Rawsthorne.



Music by (see above)
Played by the National Arts Centre, CBC Vancouver & Toronto Symphony Orchestras
With Christina Petrowska Quilico (piano)
Conducted by Alex Pauk, John Eliot Gardiner & Jukka-Pekka Saraste

"I review another of Quilico’s Centrediscs releases in this issue (Ann Southam’s Pond Life), and
what I wrote there about her attention to tonal color also applies here. These three concertos
also allow her to show off her pianistic muscles, however, and she has plenty to show off. Her
playing is as tough and assertive as the repertoire). This is a fine addition to her discography, and
I hope we will continue to hear much more from this pianist-in both familiar and unfamiliar
repertoire-in coming years. Recommended!"
Fanfare


Louie, Archer, Kuzmenko.

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No.276

Federico Ibarra Groth was born in Mexico City in 1946. He completed a degree in Composition at the
Escuela Nacional de M�sica at UNAM. In 1971, Radio Universidad and Radio Televisi�n Francesa awarded him
with a scholarship to continue his studies in Paris, and to attend a course in composition in Santiago de
Compostela, Spain, which he did in 1975. In March, 2006, he received his doctorate from the Universidad
Complutense of Madrid. His work as a composer includes works in many genres: operas, ballets, symphonies,
three concertos: for piano, for cello and for violin, sonatas for solo piano, for violin and for cello, cantatas,
songs, other works written for various instrumental combinations, and lyrics and music for theatre.

A native of Mexico City, Samuel Zyman (*1956) attended the National Autonomous University of
Mexico, where he earned an M.D., and Juilliard, where he earned both master’s and doctoral degrees in
composition. He studied with Stanley Wolfe, Roger Sessions, and David Diamond. He is currently a member
of the Juilliard faculty. Zyman draws upon both his Jewish heritage and his own Mexican nationality.
However, most of his music pursues an international, classically-oriented neo-romanticism, characterized
by a driving rhythmic vitality, as well by as a haunting lyricism. Mr. Zyman’s music is characterized by
intense and vigorous rhythmic energy, expressive lyricism, and the frequent use of near-jazzy imitative
counterpoint.



Music by Federico Ibarra, Samuel Zyman & Astor Piazzolla
Played by The National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico
With Carlos Prieto (cello)
Conducted by Enrique Arturo Diemecke

"This recording was recorded over 22 years ago yet remains relevant today. The compositions
are exceptional. Starting with Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Federico Ibarra, and
"Concerto for Cello and Orchestra" by Samuel Zyman. Both works are modern. Brilliant is
the only word that come to mind. The "Grand Tango" for cello and Piano by Astor Piazolla.
The "Grand Tango," piece serves as an appetizer to the main course from Maestro Prieto's
cello. Maestro Prieto articulates the Grand Tango, note to note. Pausing, sustaining his bow
as he shifts his bow in dramatic precision of a tango dancer. His bow delivers. Each note
arches in tango rhythms. Le "Grand Tango" is a masterful piece of music, with a equally
masterful performance from Maestro Prieto and Edison Quintana at the piano!

We need to hear more of the writings of Federico Ibarra, Samuel Zyman and Astor Piazolla.
Ibarra and Zyman's orchestrations are particularly dense, modern, and deliberate.
Reminiscence of Stravinsky, or Shoenberg's explosive expressive tonal approaches.
The orchestrations are particularly appealing. Such density is equal to that of Tchaikovsky
or Elgar. Both composers use of rhythm, and modern harmony make for brilliant duets
between Maestro Prieto and the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico under the
direction of Enrique Diemecke on Samuel Zyman's "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra".
Amazon Reviewer


Samuel Zyman, Federico Ibarra.

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No.277

Fernando Lopes Gra�a (1906-1994), or Lopes-Gra�a as he himself used to write, to preserve
his two family names, was one of the most prolific Portuguese composers of the twentieth century,
with compositions encompassing a wide range of genres. The most relevant aspect of his musical style
is, however, his endeavour to use Portuguese folk-music as a medium to forge his personal style, very
much like B�la Bart�k, although some of his works are very cosmopolitan in style and approach. As a
pianist Lopes-Gra�a regularly accompanied singers in performances of his own works for voice and
piano, and as a conductor he dedicated a great deal of his time to conducting the chorus from the
Academia de Amadores de M�sica in Lisbon, for which he arranged a great deal of Portuguese
folk-songs. All his works are characterized by a high degree of technical perfection.

These influences are potent in the Piano Concerto No.1 of 1940, a highly personal, atmospheric
and superbly orchestrated work imbued with bittersweet romanticism. Though the Iberian Baroque
permeates its finale, the Piano Concerto No.2 is a much darker and more ambivalent work,
marking a new milestone in his development.



Music Composed by Fernando Lopes-Gra�a
Played by the Orquestra Sinf�nica do Porto - Casa da M�sica
With Eldar Nebolsin (piano)
Conducted by Matthias Bamert

"The influence of folk music is fairly clearly heard in the First Piano Concerto completed in 1940
and dedicated to Jos� Vianna da Motta with whom Lopes-Gra�a studied in Lisbon. His other
teacher then was Luis de Freitas Branco. Later Lopes-Gra�a travelled to Paris and studied a while
with Charles Koechlin. The outer movements of this fairly substantial work are clearly Iberian in
tone with echoes of de Falla in the first movement, for example. At times there’s some added
dissonance inherited from Milhaud, but the composer's voice is personal enough to obliterate
such passing influences. The real gem of the piece is the beautifully atmospheric second
movement which - to my mind - may be one of the most poetic pieces of music that Lopes-
Gra�a ever penned. It’s still full of tension as the quiet, nocturnal mood of the opening is
progressively disturbed by some unsettling dissonance and a stringency that is eventually
released in the conclusion of the movement, a varied restatement of the opening.

The Second Piano Concerto was completed in 1950, revised in 1952 although there seems
to be some discrepancy about the time the second version was written: 1952 or 1954. It
was revised again in 1971 which is the version heard here. From the very beginning the mood
is at once sombre and dramatic. Again Bart�k might have been a model although Lopes-Gra�a
still remains his own man throughout. The music of the first movement is more percussive
while relying on ostinatos and repeated notes. It’s obviously less exuberant than the First
Piano Concerto while retaining some Iberian flavour, albeit in a less obvious way than in the
earlier work. The slow movement subtitled Evoca��o de Ravel pays sincere homage to the
French composer. The long unaccompanied theme heard at the outset of the movement is
clearly reminiscent of the slow movement of Ravel's Concerto in G though this is neither
parody nor plagiarism. The orchestra progressively joins in with increasing tension but the
movement eventually ends with what Ivan Moody describes as “a strange evocative ghost
of a waltz for the piano”. The concluding movement is a rather heavy-threading Toccata
with some darker episodes and it ends rather abruptly.

This disc is the second one entirely devoted to Lopes-Gra�a's music released by Naxos
(see review). Both give cause for reassessment of Lopes-Gra�a's achievement which
should definitely not be overlooked. Other substantial works still cry out to be recorded
anew or simply recorded. It is to be hoped that this Naxos CD will encourage further
recordings of this never indifferent music."
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No.278

Baron Fr�d�ric Alfred d'Erlanger (29 May 1868 in Paris – 23 April 1943 in London) was an Anglo-French composer,
banker and patron of the arts. His father, Baron Frederic Emile d'Erlanger, was a German, while his mother, Mathilde
was an American. One of four sons, his father was the head of a French banking house. He began his musical studies
in Paris under Anselm Ehmant, his only teacher. His first work, a book of songs, was published when d'Erlanger was
20 years of age. Shortly afterwards, in 1886, he moved to London with his elder brother, Emile d'Erlanger, to work as
a banker, for the private banking firm that his father owned. Both d'Erlanger and his brother became naturalised
Englishmen. His compositions include works of all kinds, notably the operas, Jehan de Saintr�, In�s Menso, Tess,
and No�l, produced at the Paris Op�ra-Comique on 28 December 1910.

D’Erlanger’s romantic Piano Concerto, "Concerto Symphonique", dates from 1921. Brilliantly played by
Victor Sangiorgio – all flashing pianism and sumptuous orchestration – it will appeal to lovers of the romantic
concerto. It is coupled with two delectable shorter works for cello and orchestra: the Ballade (1926) and the
Andante Symphonique (1903). Beautifully projected by cellist Guy Johnston, one immediately wonders why
we had not heard them before. Similarly romantic is d’Erlanger’s comparatively small output of orchestral music,
which is well represented here by Sursum Corda! (1919) and the Pr�lude Romantique (1934). This is a
gorgeous survey of a deserving romantic composer.



Music Composed by Fr�d�ric d'Erlanger
Played by the BBC Concert Orchestra
With Victor Sangiorgio (piano) & Guy Johnston (cello)
Conducted by Johannes Wildner

"German father, American mother, born in Paris, naturalised British (he lived most of his life
in London), Baron Fr�d�ric d’Erlanger (1868-1943) combined the professions of banker and
composer. An intriguing character – and, at a stroke, this disc more than quadruples all extant
recordings of his music. Fritz Kreisler gave the British premiere of his Violin Concerto; Benno
Moiseiwitsch championed the Piano Concerto heard here. D’Erlanger, as Lewis Foreman
observes in his excellent booklet, clearly established a considerable musical presence in his
lifetime.

The works here date from 1903 (Andante symphonique) to 1934 (Pr�lude romantique) but
could have come from any time in the previous half-century. But if his harmonic language
is conservative, d’Erlanger emerges as an extremely accomplished, agreeably undemanding
composer whose orchestral pieces hover somewhere between high-class Ket�lbey and
low-grade Elgar. The two cello pieces (Guy Johnston the eloquent soloist) are well worth
reviving.

The Piano Concerto is the meatiest offering here with the admirable Victor Sangiorgio,
increasingly the Michael Ponti of Dutton, doing the honours in splendid style. He has
more than his fair share of work during the four movements. The first of these is like a
mountain trek with a series of false summits, a succession of surging climaxes reminding
one of Marx’s Romantic Concerto, with a pretty secondary subject that threatens to
break into Liszt’s Liebestraum No 3. The Scherzo � la Litolff would have fitted on to one
side of a 10in 78, while the melodic movement flows easily into the arresting finale. A
superb recording (Watford Colosseum) with Johannes Wildner conducting the BBC
Concert Orchestra in the kind of music they do best."
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No.279

Frederick Delius wrote his Double Concerto while living at Grez-sur-Loing, during the fruitful
pre-World War I period many consider to be the pinnacle of his career as a composer. A number of works
written during this time were clearly influenced by his riverside home and its surroundings, as suggested
by the titles of such orchestral pieces as Summer Night on the River and In a Summer Garden. Widely
renowned as a pianist, Delius conceived most of his material while improvising at the keyboard, with little
advance planning of structure and harmonic direction. With that in mind, it is remarkable that he chose
to write a concerto for two instruments so difficult to orchestrate clearly against the tutti and each other;
previously, only Brahms had successfully written a concerto for both cello and violin. The concerto is
performed without a break, though it can be roughly divided into three sections. In spite of the opening
tranquillo passage that recurs at the close of the piece, the concerto is not bound to a strict form in the
classical sense. Instead, it is an expressive, impressionistic flow of ideas that are introduced and explored
in a more linear, chronological sense, with little purely harmonic development of earlier passages.
Much of the contrast in both the opening and closing sections of the concerto stems from varying
degrees of emotional tension, from the passionate melodies to the more restrained, repetitive
developmental passages.

In Delius' larger orchestral works, of which the Cello Concerto is exemplary, this is no more than
an ABA design. Delius composed the concerto between March and May 1921, spurred by the interest
of cellist Beatrice Harrison, though the premiere was given in Frankfurt by Russian cellist Alexander
Barjansky on January 30, 1921. As Fenby noted, "...Delius was drawn in later years to the problem
of developing lyrical line in terms of extended melody" -- whose triumphs and pitfalls render the
Cello Concerto, at length, equivocal.

Delius lived in Paris from 1880 almost up to the end of the century, and was an active member
of the community of artists, musicians and writers living on the West Bank of the Seine. The work,
described by his friend Philip Hestletine as "a corner of his own soul, a chapter of memories", was
written at the composer's house in the French countryside. To remind himself of the moods the city
Delius made rough notes on his first sketches -- "mysterious city ... city of pleasures ... of music
and dancing". Paris, The Song of a Great City, is scored for large orchesta, used to opulent
effect. The slow opening depicting dusk enfolding the city is followed by more urban sounds --
street cries and (perhaps to the puzzlement of todays Parisians!) the piping of a goat-herd.
After dark the scene livens as night-life starts, quieter passages suggesting the whispered
conversations of lovers. The music of cafes and music-halls is heard. As dawn breaks the voice
of the city is gradually stilled.



Music Composed by Frederick Delius
Played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
With Tasmin Little (violin) & Raphael Wallfisch (cello)
Conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras

"Even though ‘Paris’ is an early Delius work we hear all his trademark musical qualities.
This is a subtle impressionist tone picture, generally contemplative with atmospheric
tranquillity interspersed with exciting episodes of bold emotions. Sir Charles Mackerras
on this CFP re-release seems to bring out Delius’s early Straussian influences particularly
in the forte passages, turning the impressionist atmosphere on and off throughout the
work. The sound quality is more than acceptable with a wide dynamic range.

Delius was inspired to write the double concerto after hearing a 1914 performance of
the Brahms concerto for violin and cello played by the young virtuoso sisters May
and Beatrice Harrison, to whom Delius dedicated the work and consulted on its
composition. This is one of Delius’s four concertos and they have all been described
more as rhapsodies owing to their concise duration and continuous single movement
structure. The double concerto displays much of the composer’s individuality,
comprising many differing melodic ideas presented in a rather agitated manner,
yet the work has an appealing robustness and remains one of my favourite Delius
works. The CFP soloists Tasmin Little and Raphael Wallfisch give a warm and
thoroughly professional performance with just the correct amount of emotional
sensitivity without any temptation to wallow in the lush passages. Sir Charles
Mackerras is a passionate Delian and directs the RLPO with just a shade more
urgency than Meredith Davies and his RPO.

The Cello Concerto is a predominantly pastoral and dreamy work, not lacking
however in invention, although some critics have commented on the rather
meandering nature of the work. Sir Charles Mackerras the conductor and the
soloist have followed Delius’s intention by not playing the independent final
section as slow as it is frequently performed, thus providing the necessary contrast
to the other movements. Cellist Raphael Wallfisch is very much at one with
this work and provides the appropriate empathy in a beautiful and rather
pleasing performance."
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No.280

Goffredo Petrassi’s long creative life was marked by ceaseless absorption of
ideas and by constant invention. His Flute Concerto is notable for its boldness
of design and the surprise of its unorthodox sound world, where instruments rotate in
block form. The Piano Concerto is more overtly virtuosic, even showing some
influence from Prokofiev. The orchestral suite drawn from the ballet La follia di
Orlando (The Madness of Orlando) is often clothed in Petrassi’s experimental
orchestral sonorities.



Music Composed by Goffredo Petrassi
Played by the Rome Symphony Orchestra
With Mario Ancilotti (flute) & Bruno Camino (piano)
Conducted by Francesco La Vecchia

"‘I consider the score a complete failure.’ Thus Goffredo Petrassi on his sole Piano Concerto,
begun in 1936 and premiered three years later in Rome by Walter Gieseking. The great
pianist would, one imagines, have revelled in the distinctly Gallic flavour of the extended
central ‘Arietta con variazioni’ – that sublime melody from the slow movement of Ravel’s
G major Concerto clearly left its mark – but the predominant influences here are Bart�k,
Hindemith, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and, above all, Stravinsky. (Closer to home, I was
even reminded of the piano concertos of both Vaughan Williams and Kenneth Leighton,
the latter a distinguished pupil of the Italian master.) For all that it comprises an intriguing,
colourful and action-packed canvas, there’s no denying the far greater individuality of
Petrassi’s 1942 43 ballet La follia di Orlando (based on episodes from Ariosto’s epic poem
of 1516, Orlando furioso). Naxos gives us the Symphonic Suite that was first heard in
December 1945, fully 17 months before the ballet was finally staged at La Scala, Milan,
and consistently rewarding listening it makes, too, full of superior invention, and always
displaying a refined harmonic sensibility and felicitous understanding of the orchestra.

Entirely different again is the Flute Concerto that Petrassi composed in 1960 for Severino
Gazzelloni, a single-movement canvas both innovative in form and scored with fastidious,
ear-pricking subtlety (the unusual instrumentation eschews violins, violas, flutes and
oboes, and incorporates a very large percussion section as well as harp and guitar).
Petrassi employs his own brand of serialism in this absorbing 20-minute work, which
is by no means as forbidding as you might think. First-rate contributions from both
soloists and energetic playing from Francesco La Vecchia’s Rome band. The sound may
not be of the most glamorous but this remains a laudably enterprising release."
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No.281

Australian composer Gordon Kerry (*1961) lives on a hill in north-eastern Victoria where he
composes and writes about music. In 2008 he was composer in residence with the Australian National
Academy of Music in Melbourne. In 2007 he composed Elegy for the Sartory String Quartet, who
performed it extensively in the Victorian north-east, the NSW Riverina and Melbourne during October
and November 2007 as part of a partnership between the Australian Youth Orchestra and Murray
Conservatorium. Kerry's orchestral music, including several symphonic pieces and concertos for cello,
viola, clarinet and trumpet have been commissioned and performed by most Australian symphony
orchestras through the Symphony Australia network. He has composed numerous chamber works,
many for Musica Viva Australia, such as the Sonata da camera for the Australia Ensemble and
Harmonie for the Canberra Wind Soloists. His opera Medea, to a libretto by Justin Macdonnell,
has been produced by Chamber Made Opera in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Washington,
and by the Berliner Kammeroper in Berlin, Beeskow and D�sseldorf. Gordon Kerry studied
composition with Barry Conyngham at the University of Melbourne.



Music Composed by Gordon Kerry
Played by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
With Sue-Ellen Paulsen (cello) & Geoffrey Payne (trumpet)
Conducted by David Porcelijn

"This disc showcases the orchestral works of Gordon Kerry (picture), whose heart-on-
sleeve writing is at the same time sensual and spiritual. David Porcelijn, who completed
a notable Beethoven cycle in 2002 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, is a
more than worthy advocate for such music, and one will find meticulous workmanship
in these pieces, from both composer and performers. Take for instance, the opening
work on the album, the classically-titled Nocturne, written for a pair of chamber-sized
groups each comprising string octet and wind quartet, joined by a piano obbligato.
Obviously, a CD cannot fully capture the horizontal stereophonic effects of the intricate
musical dialogue possible from a live performance, yet one cannot fail to appreciate
the quality of focus which the players bring to Kerry’s writing.

Or how about the Concerto for cello, strings and percussion, originally written for
Norwegian cellist Truls Mrk, but performed here by TSO Principal Cello, Sue-Ellen
Paulsen. She delivers a persuasive reading, reacting with some dexterity and
puissance to Kerry’s wickedly virtuosic demands. What emerges from this material
is full of roiling polyphonic gestures, accentuated by percussive bursts, an intriguing
interweaving of soli parts tossed back and forth between soloist, strings and percussion.

The other three works on the disc take their titles from poetry, and indeed, in another
time and place, might have been described as “tone poems” (less the Romanticized
connotations.) From Gerard Hopkins’s That Nature is an Heraclitean Fire, and of the
Comfort of the Resurrection comes Heart’s-Clarion, a sideways reference to its
instrumentation for trumpet solo and strings. The soloist Geoffrey Payne gives a
remarkable account, playing with imagination and intelligence, alternating between
moments of disquiet and quietitude, underlined by energetic string playing which
Porcelijn does not allow to descend into banality.

Bright Meniscus is borrowed from a line in JR Rowland’s April in Canberra…, with
Kerry’s musical soundscape abstracted (in both meanings of the word) after
Rowland’s poetic landscapes. One also cannot fail to appreciate the apposite use
of “meniscus” to describe a form of surface tension under which an intricate
interaction of forces are at work. On its veneer, Bright Meniscus is not a million
miles removed from the generous Straussian brand of Romanticism – even if there
are also deeper undercurrents of tortuous chromaticisms. Under Porcelijn’s
revealing advocacy, this piece has genuine celebratory moments, especially in
the final third of the work, and a joy it is to savour the music as it evolves and
advances from start to end.

The title work of this album harvesting the solstice thunders was taken from a
maritime-inspired Voyages cycle by Hart Crane, a constellated heterophony which,
in the composer’s own words, “(finds) a satisfying abstract form.” Undeniably,
Kerry has a certain penchant for coups de thtre, which the performers seize
upon with much relish. Behind this stream of music-making, one can perhaps
sense the wellspring of a liberated, boundless music with a desire and
consciousness of its own, or what the German composer Wolfgang Rihm
describes as Triebleben der Klnge: the “life force of sounds”. These works
were written in the relatively short interval between 1993 and 1998, giving
a certain window of insight into Kerry’s artisanship. One can recognize the
common denominators of his musical language through these works;
nevertheless, like the way that man-made diamond, cubic zirconium, is
created in a crucible of its own material because no other substance is
robust enough to withstand the forge, these formidable pieces do not
necessarily present easy pleasures, but richly rewarding ones."
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No.282

George Dyson’s Violin Concerto dates from the Second World War and was completed in 1941.
Albert Sammons championed the new work and recommended it to Sir Adrian Boult in
September 1941. Dyson remarked that he ‘had expected to put it in a drawer till better days’;
but Boult accepted the concerto and Sammons gave its first performance with the BBC
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian on 16 February 1942.

A modern concerto in four movements is comparatively unusual, and gives the music a quasi
symphonic scale. The concerto was written too early in the war to be celebrating optimistic hopes
for world events and it is perhaps more a personal celebration. Between the wars there were few
British violin concertos, though many for the piano. During the war, however, Walton’s and
Bax’s concertos were first heard in the UK and Moeran produced a notably atmospheric
essay in the medium. So, Dyson was in good company, a company which he surely shares
as an equal.

Dating from long before this activity is his four movement suite for small orchestra —
Children’s Suite after Walter de la Mare. In evoking a nursery atmosphere, possibly
Elgar’s wartime incidental music for Algernon Blackwood’s A Prisoner in Fairyland may have
also coloured the atmosphere of the time. Dyson’s suite dates from 1920, and two
movements were given at the RCM in a Patron’s Fund concert in 1924.
It was performed complete at a Promenade Concert on 24 September 1925 conducted by
Dyson himself and was very cordially received by the press. Eric Blom, writing in the
Manchester Guardian said: ‘Dr Dyson’s music does suggest something of the fireside and
candlelight atmosphere, the spirit of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, drollery and fantasy, that
went into the making of the Songs of Childhood and Peacock Pie’; and The Sunday Times:
‘This is a charming work, and, all in all, the best novelty we have had this season’. The work
did not stay in the repertoire, even of light music, and it was forgotten, although in 1948 it
was revised as a suite after Walter de la Mare.



Music Composed by George Dyson
Played by the City of London Sinfonia
With Lydia Mordkovitch (violin)
Conducted by Richard Hickox

"Thinking of four-movement violin concertos, the other one that comes to mind is
Shostakovich's, also a work of the 1940s, but Dyson's molto moderato (i) is a world
away from DS's uneasy nocturne. No oppressive polticial status quo, Dyson's is a
prolonged reverie, Odysseus weeping as he passes within earshot of the Sirens' song.
Or think of Bartok's love for the violinist Stefie Geyer; who was Dyson dreaming of?
We're back on dry land for the urgent Elgarian vivace (ii), five minutes following
twenty (again, makes me think of Shostakovich). The poco andante which follows
carries a mood of love fulfilled, of a balmy night on and off the veranda. Is it ever
enough? Perhaps not, because a fourth movement is on the way. Even Odysseus
after twenty years away had to go out one last time."
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No.283

As a performer, George Enescu was endowed with phenomenal gifts, including that of versatility.
He was a violinist of international reputation, a pianist of concert level, and a first-rate conductor, not
only of his own music. And at the age of about twelve, while studying at the Vienna Conservatoire, he
also learned the cello. He must have reached a good standard: in his biography of Enescu, Noel
Malcolm relates that, on one of his many tours of the U.S.A., he took part in a string quartet
evening in a private house by playing each part in turn.

The Symphonie Concertante for Cello and Orchestra is Enescu's only concertante work for a solo
instrument and orchestra. It was composed in Paris in 1901, at around the same time as his two
most enduringly popular pieces, the two Romanian Rhapsodies. It met with considerably less
success than the Rhapsodies - because of its modern harmonic language and apparently meandering
structure, it was greeted with catcalls and boos by the audience. The piece seems originally to have
been called simply “Cello Concerto,” but Enescu decided instead to revive the title of Symphonie
Concertante, which had been given in the classical period to a multiple concerto. This title does
not signify, as it did later in the hands of Walton and Szymanowski, a work in which the soloist
plays a kind of obbligato role, sharing material equally with the orchestra: on the contrary, the
cello takes the melodic lead almost throughout, mostly in its singing upper register, pausing only
rarely for orchestral tuttis. What Enescu must have wanted to indicate is that this is a work of
extended, quasi-symphonic thematic development, rather than a lightweight virtuoso concerto in
the French tradition of Lalo and Saint-Sa�ns.

The Chamber Symphony for 12 instruments, Op. 33 of 1954 is a mature work, very
densely scored. Flute, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, violin, viola, cello,
double bass and piano are used with great finesse in textures which look black on paper. Although
played consecutively, there are four clear sections to the work, helpfully given separate tracks on
the disc. A fresh, verdant and relaxed Molto moderato features flute and strings in an
impressionistic manner which are reminiscences of Enescu's studentship at the Paris
Conservertoire. Even though some atonal techniques are used, the music could almost have
been written by Debussy, with dreams and fantasy swirling though the composer's imagination.
The following Allegretto is a scherzo, although not in triple time; droll, sardonic woodwinds
confer seemingly by improvisation, leading to brassy climaxes.



Music Composed by George Enescu
Played by the "George Enescu" Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra
With Marin Cazacu (cello) & Florin Diaconescu (tenor)
Conducted by Cristian Mandeal

"The Concertante Symphony op.8 can well stand on equal footing with the most celebrated
works for cello and orchestra in the literature. Here it is performed by an accomplished
Romanian cellist (Marin Cazacu) who proves able to handle the finest nuance of his
instrument and exploit the consistency of each phrase, of each inner line of the score.
The same unimpeachable impression is made by the seven songs on Clement Marot
verses op. 15 sung by a leading Romanian tenor (Florin Diaconescu) with care for
relating the expression to the content. When it comes to Chamber Symphony op.33,
one senses immediately the complexity of a late work, tributary to its time - the
midcentury dominated by the dodecafonic current. Yet, it could be fully integrated
into no trend. The proceedings of this recording are rounded off by a supreme master
in Enescu's music, the conductor Cristian Mandeal leading the Bucharest
Philharmonic orchestra. Superb achievement! Five stars!"
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Enesco is a great share! Thanks!

No.284

Composer George Walker (*1922) reflects on the music on this album:
The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, completed in 2008, received its first performance on
December 10th, 2009. Dr. James Undercofler, CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was the
magnanimous supporter who contracted the performances on the subscription series of the
orchestra. The Violin Concerto was composed for my son, Gregory Walker, who is the soloist in
this revelatory performance. The first of the three movements of this work begins with a brief orchestral introduction.
The entrance of the solo violin, enmeshed in the texture of the orchestra as a sustained octave,
emerges with a phrase that is suspended briefly before continuing in a long line marked by dotted
rhythms. After passages for the solo violin and the orchestra, a powerful interlude for brass,
strings and percussion initiating a four note motive is introduced. It reappears with modification
throughout the movement. Following a recurrence of the introductory material, a lyrical theme is
stated by the violin and reappears later in the orchestra. The latter part of the first movement is
characterized by energetic, rhythmic fragments in the solo part and the orchestra.

The second movement begins with several grace notes attached to four sustained notes,
C-C sharp-E-B flat played by the solo violin. These intervals restated on different pitch levels are
the basic pillars from which spiraling flourishes emanate in the solo part and in the orchestra.
There is a brief cadenza for the solo violin that is projected over a sustained dissonance in the
violas, celli and contra basses. The four note intervals heard at the beginning in the solo violin
part are repeated by the orchestra to conclude the movement.

At the beginning of the third movement a three note motive is played first by woodwinds
and horns and repeated twice by trumpets and brass with percussion. After two entrances of the
solo violin, a fugue subject is introduced—three sixteenths punctuated by a rest before their
repetition. They are played “martellato” (hammered) in the solo violin part. (The incorporation
of a fugue in the final movement may be the first example of its kind to be employed in a violin
concerto.) The fugue subject recurs modified in its entirety or in part six times in various instrumental
combinations. A lyrical section of florid lines played by the soloist follows. An orchestral
transition seques into a rhythmic projection of four notes in the violin part. The character of the
movement changes with the playful reappearance of the fugue subject. Reiteration of the three
notes of the motive heard at the beginning of the movement darkens the content of the music
again before the dazzling ascent of the solo violin leads to an affirmative conclusion."



Music Composed by George Walker
Played by the Sinfonia Varsovia
With Gregory Walker (violin) & Andrzej Krzyzanowski (flute)
Conducted by Ian Hobson

"George Walker, more often than not referred to as the dean of African-American
composers, is increasingly noteworthy in another sphere, as well; all the music on this
release was first performed after he turned 70, and the most recent work, the quite
ambitious Concerto for violin and orchestra, was first performed in December 2009,
when he was 87. Kudos to the Albany label, by the way, for having this recording in
circulation by March 2010; it's timely and exciting.

The violin part of the concerto is played by the composer's son, Gregory Walker, on
a fine 1718 Stradivarius instrument, and it's a dense, gnarly essay in which the
violin seems by sheer virtuoso force to wrench itself free from close, dissonant
orchestral textures. All of the music on the album has a serious but somehow
ceremonial quality, with vigorous brass writing handled well by Poland's Sinfonia
Varsovia under conductor Ian Hobson.

Perhaps the piece of most interest here for general symphonic orchestra is the
10-minute Foils for orchestra, subtitled "Homage � Saint George." The work stands
up to its triple referents: swordplay, the story of St. George, and the dragon, and
Walker's illustrious predecessor among composers of African descent, the
Guadeloupean-French violinist Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges,
a noted fencer himself. The final Pageant and Proclamation, written for the 1997
opening of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, demonstrates Walker's
approach to the use of distinctively African-American content: he quotes "When
the Saints Go Marching In" and "We Shall Overcome" rather than inflecting
his basic idiom in the direction of African content. The notes, copyrighted 2009,
are by Walker himself, who is delightfully photographed on the cover holding
a big red rose. Recommended, especially for those interested in the phenomenon
of late-life creativity."
All Music





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Ancient Greece had its Maecenas, we ve got our Wimpel69 ! You are really man of taste !!! Thank you so much !

I never cared for Argerich's playing anyway! She is a speed freak. I believe there are better female pianists out there who haven't received their dues! Seta Tanyel for one is a criminally underrated pianist. Her Scharwenka Piano Concerto No. 1 is mindblowing!

How mount of hate have us in your souls!! Angry words to a magnificent pianist.Be nice please

No.285

Best known internationally for his operas, Gian-Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) maintained throughout his
career a distinctively individual melodic style, tonal in orientation. The style features flowing and lyrical
melodies which mark him as a true successor to the mainstream of Italian opera, and faster music with
something of the sauciness and harmonic trickery of Prokofiev. Although instrumental music came to
dominate Menotti's output later, the Violin Concerto came at the height of his fame as a composer for the
musical stage, and marked one of his few forays out of that field at the time.

It was commissioned by Efrem Zimbalist Sr., one of the most famous violinists of the day. (His son,
Efrem Jr. was also a violinist and composer, though these were sidelines to a noted acting career.) Zimbalist
gave the premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Eugene Ormandy conducting. Although Menotti was
pleased with the work, he did not write another purely orchestral composition until 1970.

At the beginning he violin presents a motto idea, obviously destined to be the source of much that is to
follow. This is immediately confirmed by a statement of the main theme of the first movement, clearly
based on the motto. The main mood of the piece is alert though lyrical, with alternating passages
stressing brilliant passagework for the soloist. The second movement is melodic and romantic throughout
. It flows into a rhythmically incisive cadenza. The finale is lively, with a very neat balance between
rhythmic and melodic interest. In form it is a rondo, but the interrupting episodes are treatments of
ideas from the first movement.



Music Composed by Gian-Carlo Menotti
Played by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
With Ittai Shapira (violin)
And Gillian Tingay (harp) & the RT� Vanbrugh Quartet
And Christine Brewer (soprano) & Roger Vignoles (piano)
Conducted by Thomas Sanderling

"Known internationally as an operatic composer, Gian Carlo Menotti is less frequently recognized
for his numerous orchestral, chamber, and vocal works, which are generously sampled on this
2005 release from ASV. Even though Menotti displays an impressive technical acumen in his
Concerto for violin and orchestra in A minor (1952) and elegant form in his Cantilena e Scherzo
for harp and string quartet (1977), it is apparent that his lyrical gifts dominate everything he
writes, and that he is more in his element in Five Songs (1983) and Canti della lontananza
(1961). The violin concerto is energetically played by violinist Ittai Shapira and the Russian
Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling, and harpist Gillian Tingay and the Vanbrugh
Quartet are exquisite in the Cantilena e Scherzo; but because these pieces are so strongly
oriented toward song in their long, luscious lines, the listener may be tempted to skip ahead
to hear the real thing. Soprano Christine Brewer and pianist Roger Vignoles fully grasp
Menotti's intentions in these inventive songs, and communicate their varied emotions
through natural, unaffected singing and understated but lucid accompaniment. Taken a
s a whole, this album is a fairly representative introduction to Menotti, but most inviting to
fans of vocal music. The sound quality is fine in the first two works, but a little remote
in the song cycles."
All Music





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No.286

The year 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Grazyna Bacewicz. She was regarded by
Witold Lutoslawski as ‘a distinguished Polish composer of the twentieth century and one of the foremost
women composers of all time’. Bridging the gap between the neo-romanticism of Karol Szymanowski and
the modernism of Witold Lutoslawski, she certainly deserves much wider recognition than she has received
to date outside of her native country of Poland.

The Polish-born violinist Joanna Kurkowicz has previously made a rare recording of Bacewicz’s works
for violin and piano on Chandos; which was enthusiastically received. ‘This is music which demand
disciplined virtuosity, such as Joanna Kurkowicz has in spades”, wrote Gramophone, while American Record
Guide commented, ‘Lovers of fiddle music really can’t have too much of Grazyna Bacewicz’.

Joanna Kurkowicz writes on the current project: "For me personally, this recording project is a celebration
of a supremely talented composer… My sincere hope is that generations of violinists, teachers and critics
will be attracted to Grazyna Bacewicz’s œuvre – especially the violin concertos – and that the quality and
originality of Bacewicz’s works will secure them the acclaim they so richly deserve, and their rightful place
among the masterpieces of the repertoire.’ About the repertoire on this disc she says: ‘The idea of the
present recording, of bringing together Violin Concertos Nos 1, 3 and 7, came to me after the simple
realisation that these fabulous works for violin belong among the masterpieces of the violin repertoire…
Written by a violinist who knew the technical challenges of the instrument, these works are indeed
difficult. But at the same time they seem natural and convey musical ideas with absolute clarity…
choices of sonorities, articulations, tempos – even fingerings – in the musical text
suggest a deep understanding of the instrument, which draws me even closer to [the] music."



[B]Music Composed by Grażyna Bacewicz
Played by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
With Joanna Kurkowicz (violin)
Conducted by Lukasz Borowicz

"All performances on this cd are excellent and inspired. The soloist was evidently very much
engaged in this project (also clear from her very interesting notes in the booklet), and the
fact that Chandos took nine(!) days to record it makes clear that they also did everything to
make it a success!. The Polish engineers made a beautiful, clear and transparant recording.
I would very much like to hear Joanna Kurkowicz in the already mentioned Szymanowski
concerts: on this cd she convinces with an impeccable technique, beautiful tone, an
enormous variety in tone-colours and a performance that forces you to listen! And that is
an extraordinary achievement in these very difficult works. This cd is a winner in all
respects: wonderful, unknown repertoire in sublime performances, beautifully recorded
with interesting notes in the booklet. Just go and buy it!"
Opusklassiek





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No.287

A romantic piano concerto, lost for more than half a century, is brought to life in this world premiere
recording! Jacob Weinberg's dazzling virtuoso Piano Concerto No.2, inspired by the dream
of a Jewish national home in the Land of Israel, incorporates familiar synagogue tunes as well as a
stirring folk melody made famous by the early Zionist pioneers. This is a wonderful and immediately
appealing addition to the piano concerto repertoire. Further showcasing Weinberg's mastery are
premiere recordings of his String Quartet op.55 and Shabbat Ba'aretz (Sabbath in the
Holy Land). Rediscover the music of this most engaging romantic composer.

Jacob Weinberg (1879-1956) was a Russian-born Jewish composer and pianist who composed
over 135 works for piano and other instruments. He was one of the founders of the Jewish National
Conservatory in Jerusalem before immigrating to the U.S. where he became "an influential voice
in the promotion of American Jewish music" from the 1940s until his death.



Music Composed by Jacob Weinberg
Played by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra
With Jorge Federico Osorio (piano) & Patrick Mason (baritone)
And the BBC Singers and the Bingham String Quartet
Conducted by Karl-Anton Rickenbacher & Kenneth Kiesler

"Jacob Weinberg, a native of the Ukraine, was brought up in a musically congenial
and encouraging family. He studied at Moscow conservatory and later with Theodore
Leschetizky in Vienna. He was a member of Moscow section of the Society for Jewish
Folk Music - a pioneering organisation of Jewish composers, performers, folklorists,
and other intellectuals who nurtured a new, authentic Jewish national art music in
the early decades of the 20th century.

From 1921 to 1926 he spent time in Palestine where oriental, Jewish and Arabic
musical idioms crossed his field of vision as did a burning Zionist conviction centred
on aspirations for a new Jewish homeland. Weinberg went to the United States in
1926 where he was associated with prominent Jewish musicians. There he taught
at Hunter College and the New York College of Music. Although his music includes
a substantial amount of specifically Jewish pieces he also wrote various
American flag-wavers.

Weinberg’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Major is a flamboyant late-romantic piano
concerto. It follows the tracks of the Rachmaninov concertos and a contemporary
work, Moeran’s Rhapsody No. 3. The Jewish ethnic influence is there but it is a
gentle inflection - as at 8.39. The first movement ends in Technicolor brilliance
while the second includes a fanciful and delicate little dance. In that sense it is
not unlike Nights in the Gardens of Spain but with a Sephardic accent. The finale
returns to Rachmaninov territory. The performance is completely committed and
the only downside is that the strings sound a little undernourished. This will
certainly appeal to followers of Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series.

Weinberg’s String Quartet has a middle movement of considerable inwardness
and two outer movements that are not merely ripely romantic but bursting with
ardent intensity. The last movement has an abruptly declamatory tone which
reminded me of Shostakovich.

The Shabbat Ba’aretz will appeal to anyone who enjoys the choral works of
George Dyson. I could not take to the cantorial voice of Patrick Mason which
wobbles alarmingly. On the other hand Mason infuses every word with
conviction. As a spiritual experience I don’t doubt the intensity but in any
other capacity a more securely-toned voice would have helped. The choral
singing is unbridled and in tr10 L'kha adonai Weinberg seems to draw on
the traditions of Walton and Hadley."
Musicweb





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No.288

“Dionysian imbalanced exaltation… from restless, mysterious meditation of strongly
religious character to dizzying Dervish-like ecstasy” was how one newspaper critic
described the 1927 premiere of Joseph Achron’s Violin Concerto No.1. In fact,
Achron filled his concerto with biblical cantillation melodies that have roots in Jewish
antiquity. Mysterious legends of the past and biblical stories also inspired him to create
exotic orchestral tone poems based on The Golem of Prague and Belshazzar’s Feast.
All of these works are recorded here for the first time.



Music Composed by Joseph Achron
Played by the Berlin Radio, Czech Philharmonic and Barcelona Symphony Orchestras
With Elmar Oliveira (violin)
Conducted by Joseph Silverstein & Gerard Schwarz

"Prior to this Naxos American Classics disc in the Milken Archive of American Jewish
Music Series, all that could be reasonably heard on record of Russian-American composer
Joseph Achron's music were his short pieces for violin and piano and recordings of these
pieces stretch back to 1917. Achron's chamber and orchestral music is what the composer
himself regarded as his life's work, yet no trace of it was to be found on record. Conductor
Gerard Schwarz should be commended for bringing to listeners this first disc of Achron
in extended forms, Joseph Achron: Violin Concerto No. 1; The Golem, it is a splendid
example of Achron's capabilities in this realm and leaves the listener hungry for more.

Joseph Achron's music is like no other in the pantheon of early twentieth century
composers: tonally it's a little like Hindemith and Stravinsky, but stylistically not like
them at all. Achron's scores his orchestrations lightly over a large group of instruments,
like some Schoenberg or Liszt, but again, ultimately there is no comparison. Achron's
early violin music, such as the famous Hebrew Melody, Op. 33, is specifically centered
in the Jewish Folk Art Society style, practically defining the genre itself. But while his
mature music still bears strong ties to Jewish themes and folklore, it has a more universal
sort of appeal. The Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 60, played brilliantly here by veteran
virtuoso Elmar Oliveira, was a smash success when first heard at the Hollywood Bowl
in the 1930s; likewise The Golem Suite was one of the main attractions of the 1932
ISCM Festival, the last to be held in Germany before the rise of Hitler. Do not be scared
off by the lack of familiarity of the composer's name or the Judeo-specific nature of
the packaging -- this is music for every American, as mom and apple pie as Copland,
but made with Kosher salt. Seek out Joseph Achron: Violin Concerto No. 1; The Golem
and you, too, will wonder why these wonderful, colorful musical works went absent
for more than six decades."
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No.289

Hans G�l (1890-1987) was a prolific composer, teacher and scholar throughout his long life.
At the height of his powers and his popularity, he was forced to leave Germany and Austria, never
again able to achieve the cultural significance he had enjoyed during the years of the Weimar
Republic. G�l arrived in England just before the war, and his assimilation was postponed when
he, like many other Jewish refugees, was imprisoned in several internment camps for enemy
aliens. After the war he became a revered figure in Edinburgh's musical life and continued
composing well into his nineties. From his earliest compositions G�l's compositions evince a
kind of double unity. Not only are they beautifully constructed (G�l wrote himself about
intuitive organicism) but they relate to each other in a kind of graceful tracing.

G�l's music does not feature a continuous supply of bracing dissonance nor did the
composer believe that only ugliness can reveal great truth. While G�l's use of harmony
is inventive and refreshing, he rarely ranges into the world of conventional modernism.
In works such as his 1932 Violin Concerto, the Act III duet from Die heilige Ente,
the Canzona from the String Quartet No.2, or even in the lilting seventh variation of
the Improvisation, Variations and Finale on a Theme, the composer creates a kind of
exquisite and transcendent sound as transparent as it is powerful.



Music Composed by Hans G�l
Played by the Northern Sinfonia of England
With Annette-Barbara Vogel (violin)
Conducted by Kenneth Woods

"Hard on the heels of Gil’s violin sonatas and Suite (8/10) comes this superb new disc
featuring the pre-war Concerto and Concertino, separated by the invigorating late
Triptych (1970) written in his 80th year. Annette-Barbara Vogel is once again the
nimble-fingered and sweet-toned soloist, ably supported throughout by the Northern
Sinfonia and Kenneth Woods.

Vogel’s knowledge of and sympathy for G�l’s music is manifest from her first entry
in the Concerto (1931-32) following the exposition of the lovely opening theme
(given to the oboe). The Concerto, scored throughout with chamber-musical clarity,
is lyrical from first bar to last but no mere parade of tunes: G�l’s succession of
Fantasia, Arioso and Rondo are tightly organised, no matter how relaxed or light-
hearted they sound. The same attributes can be heard in the Concertino (1939),
written after G�l’s protracted flight from the Nazi menace to Britain via Vienna.
Scored for violin and string orchestra, its lightness of texture is a model of balance
and its sense of inner calm in extreme contrast to the uncertainty of his personal
circumstances at the time of its composition. While the Triptych is audibly the
product of the same mind as the concertos, it does have the feel of a late work.
Its spontaneity of invention was matched by its speed of composition: five weeks
from sketch to full score in January-February 1970. The energetic outer
movements (the concluding Comedy is a particular delight) frame a more sober
central Lament in the form of a pavane and stylistically seems closer to Franz
Schmidt than the Concerto. Woods directs a highly polished account but the
orchestral playing throughout is most assured. Avie’s sound is excellent but
it is the music that compels attention. Strongly recommended."
Gramophone





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No.290

After the completion of his Symphony No.4, Das Siegeslied, English composer Havergal Brian (1876-1972) embarked
on the composition of a similarly large-scale Violin Concerto. He himself had learned the violin as a child, and all four
of the symphonies he had written up to that point feature important episodes for solo violin, so a concerto was certainly a
logical project for him to tackle. He began to sketch it in the spring of 1934, and completed a draft of the entire work in short
score on 7 June. The following day his endemic bad luck scored its latest victory .As usual, Brian travelled to work as
Assistant Editor of the journal Musical Opinion by train from South London to Victoria Station; on arrival, he found that
his case, containing the entire existing material of his new Concerto, was missing - either lost or stolen. Though he
advertised in three national newspapers for the return of his property, the Concerto was never recovered. Nothing
daunted, Brian set to work again almost immediately: not, it seems, to reconstruct the lost Concerto, but to write a
second one using the themes he remembered from the first. This is entirely plausible given the highly memorable
nature of so much of the thematic material of the existing Concerto, whose short score was finished in November
1934. Brian completed the full score on 8 June 1935 - a year to the day since the work's predecessor had disappeared.
At first he called this new composition "Violin Concerto No. 2", and gave it a title - The Heroic. Later, however, he
dropped both numeral and epithet; history knows only a single Havergal Brian Violin Concerto, in C major.

Like most of Brian's important scores, the Violin Concerto had to wait a long time for its first performance,
but it found a champion at last in the late Ralph Holmes, who was the soloist in a BBC studio premi�re broadcast
on 20 June 1969, with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Stanley Pope. Holmes also recorded a later
performance for the BBC and played the Concerto in public at St. John's Smith Square, London in 1979.



Music Composed by Havergal Brian
Played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
With Lorraine McAslan (violin)
Conducted by Martyn Brabbins

"Havergal Brian’s First English Suite (1905-06, here receiving its first professional recording)
was his first great public success, its six movements as notable for their quirky individualism
as for any debts to Elgar or Strauss. There are real gems here, such as ‘Interlude’, ‘a
shimmering, glistening essay in sonic impressionism’, to quote Malcolm MacDonald, depicting
the Shropshire countryside or the riotous, concluding ‘Carnival’. The Fourth, Kindergarten
(c1921), is markedly different, its nine tiny movements (only the final pair exceed 90
seconds’ duration) partly an orchestrational study for the Gothic, the full orchestra
used only in the final ‘Ashanti Battle Song’.

Marat Bisengaliev and Lionel Friend recorded the Violin Concerto (1934-35) over 20 years
ago, mightily impressing Michael Oliver on one of my favourite Brian discs with The Jolly
Miller and Symphony No. 18. Dutton’s new version is a strong rival, McAslan as virtuoso
and searching an executant, more Romantic in expression, with a beguiling delicacy of touch.
Listen to the unearthly, muted lento episode in the finale to hear the difference between
McAslan’s filigree and Bisengaliev’s steel. Dutton’s sound has more depth, warmer and
much less clinical than Naxos’s.

Brian’s reputation rests on his symphonies and these discs premiere three and restore
to the catalogue the shortest of them all, No 22. After excellent accounts of two of Brian’s
finest single-span symphonies, Nos 10 and 30 (8/11), Brabbins compels again in one of
the toughest and most elusive, No 13 (1959-60), its 16 epic minutes traversing a dark
landscape taking in the tragic and the exuberant, alternating barely accompanied solos
with the grandeur of a massive orchestra with quadruple woodwind. A score that
repays familiarity, Brabbins reveals its lyricism and polyphonic subtlety.

In a way, the triptych of Symphonies Nos 22-24 (1964-65) is easier to assimilate for
the collectively larger scale and motivic inter-relationships. No 22, the nine-minute
Symphonia brevis (the least unfamiliar, having been recorded previously), sets the
ground for the combative No 23, an altogether larger work, and the single-span No 24,
which attains first victory, then celebration and finally serenity. Brian really did do
single-movement symphonies very well.

Naxos’s sound is clear and precise, the playing of the New Russia State Symphony
Orchestra remarkably idiomatic if understandably tentative occasionally. Their
account of English Suite No 1 is unquestionably superior to the City of Hull Youth
Symphony Orchestra’s and much better recorded. Both are highly recommended
to anyone wishing to understand this still much-misunderstood composer."
Gramophone





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No.291

The eventful career of Mieczysław Weinberg is mirrored by confusion over his proper name.
For years, he was commonly known as Moisei Vainberg. This is because he left his native
Poland at the start of World War Two and came to the Soviet Union. (His family remained in
Poland and eventually was killed in a German-run concentration camp.) There he had some
success as a composer – and a collegial relationship with Shostakovich – but his Jewish faith
made him a target for Soviet scrutiny. In fact, he was arrested in 1953, and survived in
part due to Shostakovich's intervention, and in part because Stalin himself died not long after.
Weinberg then enjoyed greater security and stature in the Soviet Union, and he amassed an
impressive catalog of works until his death in 1996.

Many of Weinberg's works were recorded by the Russian Melodiya label, but two of these
concertos – the Clarinet Concerto and the Second Flute Concerto – are receiving
their first recordings here. The almost ascetic Clarinet Concerto (1970) is remarkable for
how much it sounds like the work of Carl Nielsen, of all people. The composer's emotions are
kept reined in here, but one senses a great deal of tension just below the surface. The Second
Flute Concerto (1987) is a more engaging work, and its last movement includes famous
snippets from the flute repertory, including bits of the "Badinerie" from Bach's Second
Orchestral Suite, and Gluck's "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" from Orfeo ed Euridice.

The two other concertos are stronger, though, and one can understand why they have
been recorded previously. The Cello Fantasia (1951-53) is in an arch-like single movement,
with the arch defined by terraced increases and decreases in tempo. Many of the melodies
suggest Jewish folk origins, although they could as easily be original to the composer. The
First Flute Concerto (1961) boasts a short yet tremendous, dark, and very Shostakovich-
like slow movement.



Music Composed by Mieczysław Weinberg (Moisei Vainberg)
Played by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
With Claes Gunnarsson (cello) & Urban Claesson (clarinet)
And Anders Jonhall (flute)
Conducted by Thord Svedlund

"Nothing but praise of the highest order for this wonderful new disc of some of the
concertante works from Weinberg, including two premiere recordings ...All in all a
great disc, full of first class interpretations, all masterfully conducted by Thord Svedlund ...
The Chandos recording always captures the perfect balance between the soloists and the
orchestra, making the whole listening experience a pleasure. The Concerto is considered
by some to be the best form or type of composition, because of it’s contrasts between
soloist and full orchestra, and it’s demands on the instrumentalist. This recording meets
those requirements very well and displays Weinberg’s genius to boot!"
Classical Music Sentinel





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No.292

Charles-Marie Widor, best known for his organ music, composed prolifically in all forms.
After the success of Dutton Epoch's recording of Widor's piano concertos (posted earlier),
this second volume now explores his Second Symphony (1882) and Cello Concerto (1878).
Swedish cellist Torleif Thed�en is the soloist in this major addition to the nineteenth century
cello repertoire. Widor's unfamiliar Second Symphony is notable for its vivid orchestral
colouring and memorable invention, whilst three atmospheric preludes to his opera Les P�cheurs
de Saint-Jean (1905) complete this cherishable collection of French orchestral discoveries.
World premiere recordings.



Music Composed by Charles-Marie Widor
Played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
With Torleif Thed�en (cello)
Conducted by Martin Yates

"Hats off to the RSNO and Martin Yates for resurrecting these three
substantial orchestral works by Charles-Marie Widor, the composer
who has led many a couple of newlyweds back down the aisle with
the Toccata from his Fifth Organ Symphony. His output was sizeable
and extended way beyond the organ loft of Saint-Sulpice. We have
here his Cello Concerto (1878), the Second Symphony (1882) and –
best of the lot – three preludes from his opera Les p�cheurs de
Saint-Jean (1905), all of them apparently recorded for the first time.

Shades of various composers flit in and out of this music – Wagner,
Saint-Sa�ns, Schumann and C�sar Franck. But it’s one of those
intriguing discs that make you want to hear more of a composer
now renowned only for one part of one organ work. The joints of
the Cello Concerto do creak a bit but the French folk-like material
is charming. Torleif Thed�en is a tasteful exponent of it, opening
out passionately when given the chance. Contrary to accepted
practice, the finale’s coda ends tranquilly. Although George Bernard
Shaw said of Widor’s Second Symphony that ‘Berlioz himself, in
his most uninspired moments, could not have been more elaborately
and intelligently dull’, it has strong ideas and a sure impulse, while
the operatic orchestral preludes exude genuine dramatic colour.
Well worth exploring."
Gramophone





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No.293

Heitor Villa-Lobos had already written several works for concertante piano and orchestra
(notably No. 11 of the Choros and No. 3 of the Bachianas Brasileiras) before deciding,
at the age of 58, to compose a piano concerto proper. 'Proper' is, of course, a relative term in speaking
of so uninhibited and unpredictable a composer; and anyone looking for an orthodox concerto type will
be barking up the wrong tree. True, he kept to the same overall pattern in all five of his piano concertos—
four movements, with the solo cadenza (and enormously long that often is, particularly in No. 1) in the
third; but though there are occasional attempts at unification by the reprise of themes, his structural
procedures are essentially episodic, with constant abrupt, sometimes bewildering, changes of mood,
character, rhythm and sonority, and with climaxes that burst out as unexpectedly as volcanic eruptions.
This kaleidoscopic construction is colourful, often fascinating, and the sheer prodigality of his
invention and his colossal energy, with extravagant textures and instrumentation, are extremely
striking.



Music Composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
With Cristina Ortiz (piano)
Conducted by Miguel G�mez-Mart�nez

"Cristina Ortiz throws herself with zest into the hair-raising difficulties
and cascades of notes of his piano writing and carries everything off with
the right kind of imperious swagger, and the RPO respond manfully to the
scores' often exorbitant technical demands (how obviously they enjoy the
shattering ending of No. 2!). A set that can be warmly recommended to
those with strong constitutions."
Gramophone





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No.294

Currently one of America's finest composers (and one of the most popular in the Albany
Records catalog), Eric Ewazen is on the faculty of Juilliard. About the music on this CD,
Ewazen writes: "In 1992, James Houlik came over to my Manhattan apartment to show me what
he could do on the tenor saxophone. His spectacular playing caused unbelievable comment from
my neighbors and I was hooked on his beautiful, intense tone. His abilities at playing the most
exciting and virtuosic repertoire and his total command of all ranges and means of expression inspired
me to write a work showcasing his amazing talents. My Ballade was composed for my friend
Jean Kopperud in 1986, who presented the work at Merkin Hall in New York City. It was written while I
was guest composer at the Tidewater Music Festival in Southern Maryland. Outside my guest cottage was
the beautiful Chesapeake Bay. In the balmy summer weather, with the water gently lapping the shore,
I wanted to describe this unbelievably pastoral scene with music. This was the birth of the Ballade.
My Flute Concerto was written in 1988 for Julius Baker, the legendary flute player of the New York
Philharmonic. He premiered the work in 1989 in Merkin Hall in New York City. My Chamber Symphony
was composed in 1985 for the Fairfield Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Crawford, who
commissioned the work. The wonderful pianist Margaret Mills, first played the prominent piano part
(played by the composer on this CD). The piano takes the role of the harpsichord in Baroque
orchestral music."



Music Composed by Eric Ewazen
Played by the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
With James Houlik (saxophone) & Marya Martin (flute)
Conducted by Paul Polivnick

"The Classical Concerto, written for Houlik, opens with vigorous rhythms and harmonies
that leap miles very quickly, all within a strong tonal context. The concerto asks for an
heroic soloist with a singing tone, and Houlik fills the role superbly. The slow movement
sings beautifully, if a bit eclectically, with a strong modal flavor that reminds me a bit
of Hovhaness, R�zsa, and Vaughan Williams now and again. The finale, with its composite
rhythms against a large backbeat, recalled Creston, but probably only because I'd been
recently listening intensively to Creston. If the influences occasionally peek out,
nevertheless, the mix is both original and effective. The concerto itself has a strong
profile, much stronger than, for instance, Ward's concerto for Houlik.

Ewazen has also written a Ballade for Trombone, Harp, and Strings. It may turn out,
as with the Swiss composer Frank Martin, a series. The Ballade for Clarinet, however,
seems to have been inspired by a particular landscape: the rural shores of the
Chesapeake Bay, where Ewazen lived as guest composer of Maryland's Tidewater
Music Festival. Again, the music, at least the opening and closing, dreams a bit like
R�zsa, particularly the Notturno Ungherese, while the orchestration calls to mind
Hanson's Serenade and Pastorale. This music sandwiches an exceedingly quick and
lively near-moto perpetuo for the clarinet. The quick and the dreamy combine,
before the dreamy wins out. The pattern repeats without sinking into dullness.
A beautiful work, beautifully played by Neidich, who gives his clarinet the singing
quality and gorgeous, heartfelt tone we normally associate with the oboe.

The Chamber Symphony counts as my favorite work on the program. I hope
Ewazen can build on it, because modesty is all very well, but it tends to wear
after a while, if that's all you do. I compare Ewazen with someone like Arnold
Rosner, who uses many of the same tricks and manages to produce a much
wider emotional range: from charm to epic. Unfortunately, this isn't really
something an artist can will. The empty epic is ponderous, even ludicrous.
The best advice any artist can take is the old chestnut, "To thine own self be
true." You express what matters to you in the way that suits you best. If Ewazen
is truly an American Fran�aix, rather than a Poulenc, so be it, but he won't
know until he takes the chance."
Classical Music Review



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The Ewazen is a great album. I own this CD and never tire of listening to it. Thanks for posting it... more people should know his music... scott

No.295

Hans Pfitzner’s early Cello Concerto in A minor, Op posth., was scorned by his teachers (although
liked by the composer himself) and the manuscript disappeared during his lifetime. It was first performed in
public on 18 February 1977 and published the following year. His Cello Concerto in G major, Op 42, was
written almost half a century later. Completed in 1935, this richly melodic single span was composed for the
cellist Gaspar Cassad� (1897–1966), one of the finest cellists of his generation. This beautifully constructed
concerto derives its material from the lyrical cello solo (heard over a quiet timpani roll) at the very start of
the work. The orchestration is deft and often delicate, never submerging the solo instrument, but full of
attractive surprises, not least the tumbling trumpet fanfares that introduce the first of the faster sections.
The Cello Concerto in A minor, Op 52, is dedicated to Ludwig Hoelscher (1907–1996), a pupil of two
giants of German cello-playing: Hugo Becker and Julius Klengel. It was completed in 1943 and published
in 1944. Also included is a Duo for violin, cello and small orchestra.



Music Composed by Hans Pfitzner
Played by the Bamberger Symphoniker
With David Geringas (cello)
Conducted by Werner Andreas Albert

"Hans Pfitzner's later music suggests that he identified closely with the imprisoned soldier
in a poem by C. F. Meyer which he set in 1923, and to which he alludes in his Op. 52 Cello
Concerto of 1943. The soldier praises the dungeon which confines him, and Pfitzner likewise
seems to rejoice in the constraints of an anti-modernist romanticism which excludes any
associations with a manner much more progressive than that of Schumann.

The technical strengths of Pfitzner's early style are clear in the concerto of 1888
(rediscovered in 1975), written when the composer was only 19. Although it is saddled
with an unconvincing major-key ending, the work brims with confidence and potential,
displaying a sense of steadily-evolving purpose that is by no means so consistently
evident in Pfitzner's more mature works. Nearly half a century later, in the single-
movement G major Concerto of 1935, Pfitzner's capacity for shunning the exploration
of overt psychological conflict, especially in faster episodes, is securely in place.
Somehow, nevertheless, this carefully restricted emotional territory still makes for
a distinctive musical experience, enhanced by the relative concision of the
concerto's design.

The Op. 52 Concerto balances an expansive first movement, with a striking
cadenza for cello and clarinet, against three shorter character pieces, which
regress into songlike or playful regions of experience well-suited to keeping the
complexities of the real world at bay. These performances, efficiently recorded,
manage to find that core of personality that prevents the music from lapsing into
passive introversion. David Geringas is a cellist of distinction, and Werner Andreas
Albert and the Bamberg orchestra provide committed support."
Gramophone



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The year 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Grazyna Bacewicz. She was regarded by
Witold Lutoslawski as ‘a distinguished Polish composer of the twentieth century and one of the foremost
women composers of all time’. Bridging the gap between the neo-romanticism of Karol Szymanowski and
the modernism of Witold Lutoslawski, she certainly deserves much wider recognition than she has received
to date outside of her native country of Poland.


Thank you for exposing me to Grazyna Bacewicz's music. It's inspired me to seek out more from the composer!

No.296

Following the success of the previous three volumes in Naxos’s Giuseppe Martucci
Orchestral Edition, the fourth presents the Italian composer’s Piano Concerto No.2,
a spaciously Romantic work whose sweeping opening movement reaches a dramatic climax,
setting the scene for a poignant Larghetto and a highly virtuosic finale. The best known of
Martucci’s later works, it made a considerable impression internationally when conducted
by Anton Rubinstein, Toscanini, Weingartner and Mahler, often with the pianist-composer
as soloist.



Music Composed by Giuseppe Martucci
Played by the Rome Symphony Orchestra
With Gesualdo Coggi (piano)
Conducted by Francesco La Vecchia

"The big 41-minute Piano Concerto 2 was written for his own brilliant pianistic
abilities; and he performed the work under the batons of such notable conductors as
Toscanini, Mahler, Weingartner, and Anton Rubinstein. I found both the work and
the performance here quite captivating. Since there are many similarities between
Martucci and Rachmaninoff, I was often reminded of the Russian as I listened to
the Italian…Naxos continues to find lesser-known conductors, soloists, and
orchestras that have a level of skill equal to the best-known names and often,
as in this case, a commitment to rare music that fully deserves to be discovered.

The concerto begins with a truly heroic first movement, replete with a huge
cadenza. Memorable and beautiful melodies characterize [movement] II. I must
give special mention to the clarinetist for some gorgeous playing and flawless,
intimate ensemble work with the pianist. The writing here is quite flexible in
tempo, with much rubato, and the artists play as if they were a long-standing
duo. It is not too unusual to find a 23-year-old pianist with all of the technique
and brilliance I enjoy here from Coggi. It is unusual to hear this kind of
sensitive ensemble work from a relative youngster. The ability usually comes
from years of work with singers and instrumentalists.

The rambunctious allegro con brio final movement is all that you might hope
for. The filler pieces are all piano pieces arranged for orchestra by the composer
and show off the high quality of the orchestra under La Vecchia’s direction.
For anyone who enjoys the romantic piano concerto repertoire as much as I
do, this is an essential acquisition."
American Record Guide



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No.297

Originally a horn player in the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Hiroshi Ohguri (1918-1982) was
the leading composer of Osaka, a city with its own special culture and spoken language (Osaka-ben) very
different in character from that of Tokyo. Much of Ohguri’s music reflects the sounds of Osaka-ben,
the folk songs and nursery rhymes of the Osaka area, Buddhist and Shintoist music and other
traditional sounds of Japanese music. The exciting, brilliantly orchestrated Violin Concerto uses
many of these traditional elements in a way that is suggestive of Bart�k, Kod�ly and Khachaturian.



Music Composed by Hiroshi Ohguri
Played by the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra
With Kazuhiro Takagi (violin)
Conducted by Tatsuya Shimono

"Just as London is untypical of England, Tokyo does not epitomise Japan. Osakans, it seems,
are more informal, outgoing and loquacious. Osaka-born Ohguri (1918-82) discovered Western
music at 13, learned the French horn at high school, then moved to Tokyo and eventually
took the principal’s chair in what is now the NHK Symphony. Within three years he resigned
to return home. In 1950 he joined the Kansai Symphony (now the Osaka SO) where he
stayed until 1966.

The Concerto, written in 1963, has a number of fine lyrical passages, especially in the
first two movements, but is dominated by some ferocious writing, realised with commendable
punch and brio by soloist and orchestra. The first movement is in conventional sonata form
but, as the composer declared, it’s more about rhythm than the development of the
subjects. The slow movement comprises variations on a nursery rhyme, itself derived
from a Buddhist chant, and demonstrates that Ohguri could conjure with melody as
skillfully as with rhythm. The Fantasy, heard here in its 1970 revision, was a great
success when premi�red in 1956. Ohguri again draws on traditional material from
religious rituals, both Buddhist and Shinto.

The other two works date from the 1970s. Legend is a vigorous programmatic work,
describing how the sun god became a hermit, plunging the earth into darkness.
Ohguri maps out the action clearly while avoiding pedestrian literalism. The Rhapsody
brilliantly juggles lullabies, nursery rhymes and game-songs in a kind of virtuoso
quodlibet. All these pieces bustle with vivid instrumental colours, muscular melodies
and incisive rhythms, and the performances, energetic and sharply focused, bring
them excitingly to life."
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Thanks a lot!

No.298

Felix Draeseke (1835–1913) was one of the more interesting also-rans of Romantic music. Although
He was even touted as a serious rival to Brahms as a symphonist, and boldly emulated Wagner with
an astonishingly ambitious sacred counterpart to the Ring cycle—a collection of choral works entitled
Christus: A Mystery in three Oratorios with a Prelude. But it was initially Draeseke’s orchestral
and instrumental music that was most admired.

Draeseke’s three-movement Piano Concerto in E flat major, op.36 was composed in 1885– 6,
and clearly demonstrates the more traditional elements creeping stealthily into the music of this
erstwhile lion of the avantgarde. The "Adagio" slow movement, a fairly straightforward set of
variations on a hymn-like theme initially presented by the piano, harks virtually back to Beethoven. It is,
indeed, rather obviously indebted to the similar slow movement of Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto (in the
same key as Draeseke’s), without, alas, reaching the rapt intensity of the earlier master’s music. The first variation,
characterized by alternating figures in sixths, further reminds us that the later nineteenth century was also the
era of Brahms, and those listeners who know the slow movement of Brahms’s F minor Piano Sonata will notice
some striking echoes here. But this remains the only Brahmsian allusion in the Concerto, for both the first
movement, with its vigorously assertive principal theme, and the last movement, a rambunctious scherzo-finale
in 6/8 time, confirm that Draeseke’s model was certainly Beethoven. The quasi improvisatory dialogue between
soloist and orchestra that so assertively opens the work once again has origins in the initial flourish of the
‘Emperor’, and Beethoven’s finale is also a rollicking movement in 6/8. Yet Draeseke’s Concerto is hardly
a slavish copy of his great predecessor’s. The piano writing, with its plethora of alternating octaves
and cascading chords, is very much in the late-Romantic style, and shows that Draeseke’s years with
Liszt in Weimar were not entirely wasted.



Music Composed by Felix Draeseke
Played by the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal
With Claudius Tanski (piano)
Conducted by George Hanson

"This is a symphony of high romance but not at all in the Raff or Mendelssohn camps.
Draeseke's stormy models are Beethoven and Brahms whose Egmont music and Second
Symphony respectively are denizens of the first movement. Did I detect a hint of
Tchaikovskian passion also? The bipartite first movement (ominous adagio and dark
allegro) ends in a 'st�rm and drang' sunset which takes us into terra Sibeliana.

The flighty scherzo has no Beethovenian or Brahmsian ponderousness. The precise
ensemble and complementary masculine clarity of recording and sound-picture are
wonderfully expressive. A good demonstration track. You need have no fears about
an orchestra that some may thoughtlessly dismiss as 'bush-league'. This is a very
polished eloquent ensemble and perceptively directed in an event that is anything
but a run-through.

The core adagio runs just over a quarter of an hour. at first rather 'stop-start' then
achieving continuity. Time does, sometimes, hang heavy here but it ends and
starts well.

Mendelssohn's Italian and Elgar's Black Knight are presences in the final allegro
con brio. The work ends with conventional classical flourishes.

The piano concerto's Allegro Moderato is heaved and thundered in best romantic
tradition with the piano striking upwards from the lowest registers. It is touched
with the passion of Schumann and the technique of Liszt. A cloying thickness in
the sound makes this less approachable than it could be. The second movement's
Elysian concentration will recall the 'still small voice' (4.20) at the heart of Brahms'
Second Piano Concerto and a playful delight which carries over into the allegro
molto vivace with an infusion of dance energy from Beethoven 7. Lovers of the
Saint-Sa�ns and Palmgren concertos your search is at an end ... for now!

The pertinent notes are by Matthias Sch�fer. Rare repertoire here does not
mean short playing time. Two meaty rewarding works with highlights aplenty."
Musicweb





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Great thread ! Thank you very much for all these gems !!

No.299

This disc demonstrates the richness and variety of 20th century Norwegian music when it responds to the
powerful stimulus of folk music. Klaus Egge’s breakthrough work, his First Piano Sonata, was inspired
by Draumkv�det (The Dream Ballad), a would-be medieval saga sung to traditional melodies. Egge’s
Second Piano Concerto is similarly based around a traditional folk-tune, the haunting Solfager og
Ormekongen (Sun-Fair and the Snake-King), also heard here in an arrangement by Grieg. Egge’s
Halling Fantasy, Sverre Bergh’s Norwegian Dance No. 2 and Alf Hurum’s Miniature all draw
on the tradition of folk-fiddling, and the disc ends with the premi�re recording of Brudlaups-Klokkor
(Wedding-Bells), a newly-discovered piece by Geirr Tveitt.



Music by [see above]
Played by The Trondheim Soloists
With H�vard Gimse (piano)
Conducted by Oyvind Gimse

"Folk heritage has been either a blessing or a curse to composers down the years, whether
of national "epics" such as the Norse sagas or the Kalevala, or the treasury of folk music
that all cultures possess. One composer for whom it has been an occasional blessing is the
Norwegian Klaus Egge. A new Naxos release of Norwegian piano music performed by Havard
Gimse features three folk*inspired works, including his First Sonata (1935) and Second Concerto
(1944). The latter is subtitled "Symphonic Variations and Fugue on a Norwegian Folktune" and
a fine set it makes. Scored for piano and strings, it is based on Solfager og Ormkangen ("Sun-Fair
and the Snake King"), which Grieg based the 12th of his 25 Norwegian Folksongs and Folktunes,
Op 17 (it opens Gimse's programme). Telemarkian fiddle-playing is evoked in Egge's brief and
enjoyable Halling Fantasy (1939) but the most enthralling item is his First Sonata, Draumkvaedet,
inspired by the great Norwegian poem (a kind of cross between The Divine Comedy and the
Kalevala) telling of a young man's visions of Heaven and Hell, Armageddon and the Last
Judgement. The structure of the sonata is musically based but its four movements derive
both their atmosphere and material from the poem and several of the traditional tunes that
accompanied its recitation. Gimse's splendid recital is completed by three folk-inspired
miniatures by Sverre Bergh, Alf Hurum and Geirr Tveitt."
Gramophone





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thanks, wimpel, for the havergal Brian...
(i discovered last days his so amazing Ghotic Symph.)

No.300

Here is a disc that makes a fine introduction to the music of an American composer whose
name is most likely unfamiliar to you. Fisher Tull is as American as apple pie. He was born
in Waco, Texas and died in Huntsville, Texas. After a brief sojourn with a traveling dance band,
he entered the University of North Texas and earned three degrees; B. Mus. In music education,
M. Mus. In music theory and a Ph.D. in composition having studied with Samuel Adler. He joined
the music faculty at Sam Houston State University in 1957 and was appointed Chair of the
Department in 1965, a position he held for 17 years. Most of his music is generally conservative
and fairly traditional by contemporary standards, maintaining a clear tonal center spiced by
carefully controlled dissonances. His Symphonic Treatise for Orchestra was conceived
as a celebration for the 100-year alliance between the City of Waco and Baylor University and the
silver anniversary of the Waco Symphony Orchestra. The Overture for a Legacy was
commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra and first performed on the Stokowski Legacy
Series of concerts. The Capriccio was commissioned by the Houston Chamber Symphony and
was first heard during the 1966-67 season. The Trumpet Concerto No.1 received its first
complete performance with James Austin, trumpet and Lawrence Foster conducting the Houston
Symphony. "Doc" Severinsen later commissioned a Second Trumpet Concerto from Fisher
Tull in 1974. This disc will be enjoyed by anyone who finds mainstream American music
appealing.



Music Composed by Fisher Tull
Played by the N�rnberger Symphoniker
With Willie Strieder (trumpet)
Conducted by Charles Johnson

"Fisher Tull (1934-1994) was an American composer who earned degrees from the
University of North Texas and taught at Sam Houston State University, serving as
Chair of the Music Department from 1965-82.These are traditional, tonal, melodic,
cheerful, and colorful works, the music often punctuated by percussion.Tull may not
be in Baker or Grove, but he is now in my memory bank and on my CD shelf. If it
does not matter to the reader that this music does not have a strong personal profile,
then get this disc of Americana. You will hear tonal melodies, a fine sense of form,
imaginative scoring, and fine performances and sonics. Tull wrote more than 80
works - perhaps we can hear more?"
American Record Guide



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No.301

Christos Hatzis is recognised as ‘one of the most important composers writing today’.
His music bears a number of influences—Christian spirituality, Byzantine music, as well as
more popular idioms—and is marked by a strong identification with his source material. Two
of his most prominent interpreters join forces on this recording to present two Flute
Concertos. Departures is a memorial piece written at a time of personal loss and
the 2011 tsunami at Fukushima, Japan and its aftermath. Its appeal is driven by the composer’s
unique and eclectic style, which brings in elements of traditional Japanese folk music, blues
and burlesque music. Overscript is a commentary on Bach’s Concerto in G minor for Flute,
which is ingeniously quoted in full, but in fragmented form, within Hatzis’s own composition.



Music Composed by Christos Hatzis
Played by the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra
With Patrick Gallois (flute)
Conducted by Alexandre Myrat

"Two flute concertos written in the 21st century by Canadian-born Christos Hatzis,
the disc describing him as ‘one of the most important composers writing today’. Forming
a bridge with the past, it is stylistically in the highly fashionable North America
school of modern tonality, Departures written in the wake of the massive 2011 tsunami
that struck the east coast of Japan…Hollywood style sentimentality in the second movement
will gain the work many admirers, while the highly commercial finale has a jazzy Blues
rhythm as its main characteristic. Overscript is part of another vogue sweeping across
the American continent that uses a masterwork from the past to create a ‘new’ work.
As for the performances, the renowned French flautist, Patrick Gallois, is a very
persuasive advocate of Hatzis, his technical brilliance and agility placed at the
service of both works, while the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, prove
once again that they are an ensemble of outstanding quality. Excellent sound."
David's Review Corner





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Greek Canadian Christos Hatzis was born in Volos, Greece and received his early music instruction at the Volos branch of the Hellenic Conservatory.

Megapolis
Jazzarium - Guillaume Saint-James Sextet et l'Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne Download album please

This is ALSO not a request thread.

No.302

The world-famous creator of the Christmas standard Sleigh Ride, Leroy Anderson was the
eclectic assimilator of many diverse styles. He is best known as a composer of painstakingly crafted,
to-the-point, irrepressibly tuneful original orchestral compositions. Yet a quick glance through his
catalogue also reveals an extensive listing of arrangements, as well as some revisions or alternate
versions of his own works. He etched out his own unique place in American music – a composer
rigorously trained in the classical tradition whose records could top the pop charts, a reclusive
personality whose compositions became household words, and a meticulous craftsman who could
pull one marvelous tune after another out of his hat almost at will. Here, in the first complete cycle
of Anderson’s orchestral music, the Anderson family has made available several pieces that the
composer did not release, with some first recordings scattered among the familiar and not-so-
familiar titles. Volume One closes with Anderson’s Piano Concerto which, since its revival in
1989, has been receiving an increasing number of performances.

Anderson's sole extended original orchestral work, a three-movement Piano Concerto in C which
the composer labored over in the first half of 1953. With Eugene List playing the solo part, Anderson
conducted the first performance in Chicago's Grant Park on 18 July 1953, and repeated it in
Cleveland the following July. Stung by the mixed reviews in the press and dissatisfied with the
first movement, Anderson withdrew the piece, even omitting mention of it in his 1970 list of
compositions. Toward the end of his life, however, he warmed to the concerto again and talked
of revising it, but never got around to the task. Eventually, Anderson's widow Eleanor decided
to release the concerto as he left it.



Music Composed by Leroy Anderson
Played by the BBC Concert Orchestra
With Jeffrey Biegel (piano)
Conducted by Leonard Slatkin

"The Piano Concerto dates from 1953 and is a thoroughly tuneful and entertaining work,
not much more ‘serious’ than the pieces which make up the rest of this CD. Beginning
with the vivacious Bugler’s Holiday, this collection includes many of his popular hits, such
as Blue Tango, as well as some lesser-known pieces, like the nostalgic The Golden Years.
The Classical Jukebox simulates a ‘stuck groove’ in the middle of the piece, which raises
a smile. The performances are excellent, as is the sound…"
Penguin Classical Guide





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No.303

Well known in his native Japan as a composer of over 100 film scores, including the The Seven Samurai,
and acknowledged by Takemitsu as one of his most formative influences, Humiwo Hayasaka (1914-55) sought to
combine common elements of Western gregorian chant and Oriental, Gagaku-like melodies. His 1948
Piano Concerto is written in a romantic style suggestive of Chopin and Rachmaninov. The first movement
is a requiem for his brother and an elegy for the victims of World War II. By way of contrast, the second
movement is light-hearted and played staccato almost throughout. Ancient Dances on the Left and on
the Right takes its inspiration from ancient Japanese courtly dance music, Bugaku, while the Overture in
D moves forward relentlessly to a furioso conclusion that recalls the music of Stravinsky and of Hayasaka’s
friend and fellow composer Akira Ifukube.



Music Composed by Humiwo Hayasaka
Played by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
With Hiromi Okada (piano)
Conducted by Dmitry Yablonsky

"If you're a film buff, you've probably heard music composed by Humiwo Hayasaka (1914-55)
even if the name is unfamiliar; among his many soundtracks are those to director Akira Kurosawa's
The Seven Samurai and Rashomon. According to program annotator Morihide Katayama, Hayasaka
served as organist in a Catholic church in Sapporo when he was 21, and thus his formative studies
in Western classical music focused on Gregorian chant - in which he found similarities to traditional
Japanese melodies and modes - as well as Satie, Stravinsky, and, naturally, Debussy. Throughout
his life he was active in societies and organizations that promoted new music, collaborating with
composers like Akira Ifukube, Yoritsume Matsudaira, and even the young Toru Takemitsu, and by
the 1950s he adapted into his music elements of atonality alongside traditional Japanese
influences. His death at age 41 was the result of a long battle with tuberculosis.

Hayasaka's unconventional approach to blending Eastern and Western sources energize these
three scores. The Overture, entered into a competition celebrating the Japanese Imperial Year
2600 (1940), is part-bolero and part-march, constructed from pseudo-Japanese motifs (avoiding
actual pentatonic modes and folk quotations) and building to a rousing conclusion - very much
like something from a John Williams film score, decades before the fact. Ancient Dances (1941),
on the other hand, is a lyrical fantasy based upon the juxtaposition of "right" and "left" symbols
drawn from Nature, dance, society, and music, alternating between traditional and classically
derived phrases.

Most curious, however, is Hayasaka's two-movement Piano Concerto (1948). Beginning with
a slow, somber, Brucknerian introduction of brass and winds intoning over droning strings,
the first movement proceeds through a series of dark, morose episodes that inspire a dour,
Rachmaninoff-like piano commentary. (Annotator Katayama reveals this movement is a
requiem for the composer's brother and other victims of war.) By way of shocking contrast,
the fanfare that opens the second movement kicks off a brisk, playful romp with more
than a few echoes of Gershwin (there's a rhythmic figure right out of An American in Paris)
and Shostakovich in his lighter moments, fueled by crisp, lilting piano filigree, deftly
whipping several traditional Japanese modes into a cosmopolitan froth. Yin and Yang
indeed.

Naxos's yeoman conductor Yablonsky and his orchestra provide convincing performances,
and pianist Okada smoothly negotiates the challenging, if incongruous, moods that the
concerto tosses his way. If you're curious about mid-century Japanese composers,
especially the various ways they reconcile traditional and European resources,
Hayasaka offers something out of the ordinary."
Fanfare





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No.304

Mark Bebbington, whose dedicated exploration of music by British composers for SOMM has
received widespread acclaim, is the soloist in this important new release featuring three works
for piano and string orchestra, including the world premi�re recording of Gordon Jacob’s Concerto
No. 1 for Piano & Strings. He is partnered by the Innovation Chamber Ensemble, founded in 2002
by the principal string players of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the conductor and
cellist Richard Jenkinson, whose recent performances have included the chamber versions of
Bruckner's Seventh Symphony and Mahler's Fourth.



Music by Gordon Jacob, Doreeen Carwithen & Malcolm Williamson
Played by the Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Conducted by Richard Jenksinon

"The cover of this CD claims the recording of the Gordon Jacob First Piano Concerto
to be a premi�re recording; the booklet by Graham Parlett, slightly more circumspectly,
refers to it as the “first commercial recording”. There has indeed been available for
some time on the internet a broadcast transcription dating from the 1950s featuring
the pianist Iris Loveridge, for whom the concerto was written. It has however to be
observed that the old recording suffers from fairly abysmal sound even for its era.
Although as always it is of interest to hear the view of the work taken by its creator
this new reading in modern sound is much the better way to encounter the work.
Malcolm Williamson’s Second Piano Concerto was recorded in the 1970s by Gwenneth
Pryor with the English Chamber Orchestra under Yuval Zaliouk for EMI (EMD 5520)
in the 1970s but this version seems never to have made the transition from LP to CD;
at any rate it is no longer listed on Archiv. I do however note that Hyperion have a
complete recording of all of the Williamson piano concertos performed by Piers Lane.
Doreen Carwithen’s concerto was recorded in modern sound back in 2006 as part of
a complete Carwithen CD conducted by Richard Hickox for Chandos with Howard
Shelley as the pianist. Even so the combination of these three concertos for piano
and strings is most welcome, since all three scores well repay investigation and
all have been neglected on disc over many years.

It is particularly gratifying to hear the Jacob concerto is modern sound, since it is
a most attractive work. At first the busy neo-classical style could be regarded as
superficial, but by 2.01 in the first movement we encounter some beautifully lyrical
writing. Jacob is most remembered nowadays for his work with Vaughan Williams —
he orchestrated the latter’s Folksong Suite — and his short book on orchestral
technique. This concerto predates his activities in this field and makes the listener
aware that he had already established his own style and voice. The slow movement
is particularly emotionally charged, with its use of solo strings almost sounding
like chamber music.

The Malcolm Williamson concerto, despite its jazzy outer movements, is
distinguished also by a heartfelt slow movement and it is amazing to realise that
the whole work was composed in a mere eight days. This was the period when
Williamson was at his most productive, and although the composer disclaimed
any pretensions to profundity in the writing the melody of the slow movement
has a haunting quality that will linger in the ear of the listener. It is a great pity
that many of the major works from this period, in particular his spellbinding
operatic setting of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince, have never made the transition
from LP to CD. In these days when Williamson’s music seems to be finding new
audiences I hope that their reissue will not be long delayed. Be that as it may,
we should be grateful to have this revival of the concerto to enjoy.

The Carwithen concerto is one of the composer’s major works. After her marriage
in 1961 to her former teacher William Alwyn she more or less gave up writing
music of her own during her husband’s lifetime. Like the Jacob concerto, it is
largely neo-classical in style but with a Ravelian delicacy in the string writing.
This is the only concerto on this disc to encounter modern competition. It has
to be said that Hickox obtains a richer sonority from his LSO strings at passages
such as the big tune in the first movement (track 7, 4.59) than the players here
can contrive. Then again, the listener may wonder whether Carwithen really
wanted the music here to sound quite as Rachmaninov-like as Hickox makes it.
The smoothly emotional performance here has an equal validity, although
Graham Parlett’s notes point out that Maurice Johnstone noted the parallels
with Rachmaninov at the time of the first performance in 1951. The work
was subsequently given at a Prom in 1952, again with the indefatigable Iris
Loveridge as soloist. The chamber-music like delicacy of the slow movement
is particularly beautifully realised here, and the forthright finale brings the
disc to a rousing conclusion.

Mark Bebbington, a marvellously adventurous pianist, is every bit as good in
these performances as we might expect. The orchestra, drawn from players
of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, is admittedly small in scale –
the big romantic tunes in the Williamson could also be richer – but their
performance has poise and accuracy and is superbly well recorded. Those
looking for a more overtly romantic and full-bodied approach may wish to
consider the alternatives although only that of the Carwithen is readily
available at present. Even so this disc should have a claim on their attention.
Those unfamiliar with these works will find much satisfaction here. The release
comes with an eight-page booklet note by Graham Parlett which is a mine
of useful information."
Paul Corfield Godfrey, Musicweb





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No.305

Russian composer Reinhold Gliere's Cello Concerto was written for Mstislav Rostropovich and is dedicated
to him, so it is surprising that there seems to have been no recording of it by its dedicatee. Listening to this gorgeous
work it is hard to believe it was written in 1944 the same year as Shostakovich completed his third quartet. The music,
unashamedly romantic and full of nostalgia, sounds as if it could easily have been composed 100 years earlier. It is a
substantial three-movement piece, lasting some 45 minutes in which the two lively outer movements frame a
particularly memorable "Andante" with its echoes of Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov and even hints of Elgar.

With the addition of valves in the early part of the nineteenth century, the French horn suddenly evolved from the
cumbersome, bugle-like accompanist it had been to a fully capable, full range solo instrument. And while many
composers were taken with its range and unique tone, Reinhold Gli�re captured its full power and virtuosity in the
concerto format. Written for Valeri Polekh, the solo horn player at the Bolshoi, his Horn Concerto in B flat is
unprecedented in both length and difficulty. Long at nearly 24 minutes and constructed without regard for the
natural conveniences of the horn itself, it was inspired by and modeled after the barbarically difficult Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto. The result is a stirring piece in three movements, full of the sort of epic sweep and
orchestral grandeur which Gli�re at his best could bring off as well as any Russian.



Music Composed by Reinhold Gliere
Played by the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra
With Quirine Viersen (cello) & Eliz Erkalp (horn)
Conducted by Marc Soustrot

"This is the kind of disc that makes collecting records worthwhile, because while there
have been many fine recordings of Reinhold Gli�re's superb Concerto for horn and
orchestra over the years, there were no digital recordings of his equally fine Concerto
for cello and orchestra before this one. A bigger piece than the 25-minute, three-
movement Horn Concerto, the 40-minute, three-movement Cello Concerto is a robustly
romantic work with big themes, lush textures, warm-hued colors, and powerful
developments written in an attractive and readily accessible tonal language. Thankfully,
the performance here is thoroughly persuasive. Cellist Quirine Viersen is totally on
top of the work technically. Despite its astounding difficulties, there's nothing in the
dashing outer movements Viersen can't play brilliantly. And she's completely
beneath the skin of the music emotionally. Her interpretation of the central Andante
is as movingly nostalgic a performance of the piece as is imaginable. Sympathetically
supported by the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under Marc Soustrot and coupled with
Eliz Erkalp's winning performance of the Horn Concerto, this disc will thrill listeners
looking for great Russian late romantic orchestral music they don't already know.
Talent's digital sound is a bit distant but full, detailed, and colorful."
All Music



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No.306

The unique Concerto Gregoriano for Violin and Orchestra by Ottorino Respighi gets its name
because it is written in some of the old church modes and because its melodies were inspired by the
Gregorian chants. In addition, it has a religious mood over and above these usages. It has been written
that the soloist plays the role of a church cantor and the orchestra that of a choir of believers.
The opening measures of the first movement have a strong churchly character, with a more vigorous
faster main section. Its cadenza flows into the second movement, which is the most Gregorian part of
the concerto. The composer called the finale an "Allelujah." For the most part the work avoids the
virtuoso quality of a standard concerto. It was composed in 1921.

Luigi Dallapiccola was spurred to write his Tartiniana Seconda, for violin accompanied by
either piano or orchestra, by violinist Sandro Materassi; hoping for a sequel to Dallapiccola's well-
received first Tartiniana, Materassi came to him with numerous photocopies of Giuseppe Tartini's
works to use as source material. In the earlier venture, Dallapiccola had manipulated Tartini's diatonic
themes as a serial composer would manipulate tone rows, while managing to preserve both emotional
character and instrumental color. Tartiniana seconda was written according to the same plan and
achieved a similar level of popular success after it appeared in 1956.

Goffredo Petrassi's Elogio per Un'ombra is dedicated to the memory of composer
Alfredo Casella; amidst its shadowy veils the concept of elegy becomes deliciously enigmatic.



Music by Ottorino Respighi, Goffredo Petrassi & Luigi Dallapiccola
Played by the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
With Domenico Nordio (violin)
Conducted by Muhai Tang

"Domenico Nordio is one of acclaimed musicians of our time. He has performed in the world's
prestigious halls (Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Teatro alla Scala in Milan,
Barbican Center in London and Suntory Hall in Tokyo), with leading orchestras, including
London Symphony, National de France, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestra
Nazionale della RAI, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Istanbul Borusan Philharmonic
Orchestra, Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Moscow
State Symphony and with conductors such as Flor, Steinberg, Casadesus, Luisi, Lazarev,
Aykal. Recent seasons included concerts at St.Petersburg Philharmonic Great Hall,
Bucharest Enescu Philharmonic Hall, Rio de Janeiro Teatro Municipal, Buenos Aires
Teatro Col�n, Moscow Tchaikovsky Great Hall and Istanbul Zorlu Center.

Pupil of Corrado Romano and Mich�le Auclair, born in Venice in 1971, former child
prodigy (he gave his first recital at age of ten), at age of sixteen Nordio won the
Viotti International Competition in Vercelli with the legendary Yehudi Menuhin as
President of the Jury. After the achievements at Paris Thibaud Competition, Vi�a
del Mar Sigall Competition and Marseille Francescatti Competition, the Eurovision
Grand Prix obtained in 1988 launched him to the international career: Nordio is
the only Italian prizewinner in the history."





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No.307

Sir Hamilton Harty’s Violin Concerto in D minor was composed in 1908 for Joseph Szigeti.
Many of Harty’s works have a strong Irish flavour through the use of Irish tunes (as in
An Irish Symphony) or the idioms of folk music, or through the use of a ‘programme’ based on
historical or legendary events (as in the tone poems). But this Irish influence is much less
evident in the Violin Concerto, and it would seem that the challenge of writing a work for
an international artist to play on concert tours brought him closer to the main stream of the
European musical tradition, with Dvor�k and Brahms as the dominant influences.

The Variations on a Dublin Air were composed in 1912 and first performed in February
1913. Although the work certainly makes considerable technical demands on the soloist
it is very far from being a mere display piece, and is distinguished by the imaginative way in
which Harty characterises each variation. Another outstanding feature is Harty’s
orchestration, an aspect of composition in which he had unerring skill.



Music Composed by Sir Hamilton Harty
Played by the Ulster Orchestra
With Ralph Holmes (violin)
Conducted by Bryden Thomson





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I love Harty's Irish Symphony...with same artists and label, chandos is a treasury.

No.308

Nino Rota's Concerto for Harp and Orchestra was written in 1947 for the harpist Clelia
Gatti Aldrovandi, who gave its first performance four years later in the concert hall of the
Italian radio (RAI) in Turin, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini. It is a work of the utmost
refinement, revealing Rota’s complete mastery of all the instrument’s expressive resources,
and mines the same neo-modal vein which the composer had been working with great
concentration in his youth. The slow movement is especially interesting: melancholy and
intensely melodic, it displays Rota’s gifts as an outstandingly subtle orchestrator.

The Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, written in 1966 and first performed in
public at the Great Hall of the Milan Conservatory on 6 May 1969 with Bruno Ferrari,
the work’s dedicatee, as soloist and the Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali di
Milano conducted by Franco Caracciolo. Cast in the customary three movements and scored for
an orchestra of reduced size (strings, six woodwinds and two horns), the concerto opens
with a very short Allegro giusto dominated by the terse theme given out by the solo
trombone. The second movement, Lento, ben ritmato, is the longest. It introduces a troubled,
tension-ridden atmosphere from which the solo instrument gradually emerges with ever greater
authority until, in the central section, it assumes the leading role in an impressive accumulation
of intensity. The work ends with a festive Allegro moderato simply bursting with a sense
of joie de vivre almost unique in twentieth century European music.

By the time he penned the score for La Strada, Rota had a handful of operas under
his belt, as well as a number of film scores (including music for Fellini's 1952 work Lo
Sceicco Bianco) and thus had already established himself as a composer of dramatic music.
So successful was the music for the film that later in 1966, he resurrected some of its more
poignant moments as a ballet suite for La Scala that would continue to receive regular
performances throughout the remainder of the twentieth century. Just as Fellini's films
from the period tended toward a kind of neo-realism, Rota's approach to composition
has a certain emotional pragmatism; that is, he doesn't unduly concern himself with
formalistic complexities of technique or the psychological indulgence of expressionist
exaggeration.



Music Composed by Nino Rota
Played by the Orchestre M�tropolitain du Grand Montr�al
With Jennifer Swartz (harp) & Alain Trudel (trombone)
Conducted by Yannick N�zet-S�guin

"Well, there's certainly more than one fine orchestra in Montreal! All of this music was
recently issued by Chandos, and very well done too, but conductor Yannick N�zet-S�guin
and his Orchestre M�tropolitain du Grand Montr�al take the palm in these delightful pieces.
It's so gratifying to see Nino Rota's "serious" music finally getting the attention that it
deserves. A confirmed neo-classicist, he might best be described as a sort of Italian Poulenc,
offering concert works of wit, scrupulous craftsmanship, instantly memorable tunefulness,
and immaculate polish--and these qualities also describe the performances on offer here
particularly well.

La Strada takes its subject from Fellini's 1954 film that also featured a score by Rota;
but for the ballet of several years later Rota borrowed tunes from both that film and
others. It's brilliant, effervescent music and this 30-minute symphonic suite belongs
in the active repertoire of orchestras everywhere. N�zet-S�guin leads a dynamic and
extremely colorful account of the piece, particularly effective in the tongue-in-cheek
Rumba at the end of the second movement, and especially in the Romantic, lyrical
episodes toward the end. The musicians of the orchestra seem to be having a terrific
time, and the entire half-hour passes by in a flash. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if
you immediately play the whole thing over from the beginning.

The harp Concerto also deserves more frequent exposure. Heaven knows there aren't
that many good ones around, and Rota's certainly stands among the best. Soloist
Jennifer Swartz plays magnificently, and this performance, a bit slower in tempo but
substantially more characterful and texturally sensitive than the competition on
Chandos, effectively savors the work's many luscious moments. The Trombone
Concerto is the least substantial music here (but then that's probably to be expected
given the solo instrument), and Rota seems to be writing with his tongue aptly in
his cheek. Alain Trudel similarly handles his solo part with the right jocose lightness.

Atma's sonics are uncompromisingly state-of-the-art. Wholly natural, ideally balanced
in the concertos (the harp Concerto is particularly marvelous), and ample in dynamic
range, the music effortlessly fills your listening room with its euphonious charms.
If you haven't had a chance to enjoy Rota beyond a few foreign films, make this disc
your first encounter. And if you already know this music from previous outings,
don't let that stop you from giving this disc a listen. These works are true classics,
benefiting from different interpretive views. And even if this weren't the case, you
would be hard pressed to find any versions finer than these."
Classics Today


Nino Rota at his snazziest.

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No.309

The orchestral work Furioso was first performed on 27th July 1947 at Darmstadt, conducted
by Hermann Scherchen, Rolf Liebermann’s friend and patron, and still remains among the best
known of Liebermann’s compositions. The work, which brings together twelve-tone technique with
a refined musical feeling, is in the three-part form of an Italian overture.

In the middle ages in Basel, music for drum and pipe was heard on various festive occasions,
among them the famous Fasnacht. This starts at four o’clock in the morning after the first Sunday
in Lent: to the sound of drums and pipes, different groups go through the streets of the city with
lanterns. The particular method of performance of the Basel drummer inspired many composers,
yet it was Liebermann who first gave the instrument a solo part in a symphonic work, the Geigy
Festival Concerto. The occasion was a commission from the Basel chemical firm J. R. Geigy
AG to celebrate the bicentenary of their establishment. In the four movements of the work
the Fasnacht events are depicted; Liebermann uses for the purpose different Basel melodies.

Medea, the daughter of the King of Colchis, fell in love with the Argonaut Jason and helped
him steal the golden fleece. She followed him to Corinth, but there, when Jason wanted to
take another woman to be his wife, Medea killed the children she had born to Jason.
In 1984 Ursula Haas published her novel "Freispruch f�r Medea" (Acquittal for Medea), which
served as the model for Rolf Liebermann’s 1995 opera of the same name. This was preceded
by the 1989 cantata Medea-Monolog, first performed on 26th August 1990 in Hamburg,
with a text by Ursula Haas. Medea’s solo scene is a gripping dramatic monologue, to which
the chorus of women of Corinth provide a background. In her song is depicted distance from,
but also sympathy with the ‘foreigner’, while Medea expresses her feelings of love, longing,
disappointment and hatred with the emotional variety of a great heroine of romantic opera.

‘Why should it not be permissible to arrange, in the form of the Italian concerto grosso, in
which a group of soloists is set against a full orchestra, a work that contrasts and combines
jazz soloists and a symphony orchestra?’ Rolf Liebermann asked himself, when, in a
commission for South West Radio Baden-Baden, he wrote his work for the radio symphony
orchestra and Kurt Edelhagen’s jazz ensemble, the Concerto for Jazz Band and Symphony
Orchestra, first performed on 17th October 1954 at Donaueschingen. ‘My concerto
must be an attempt to include an element of actual contemporary dance in art music’ -
the problem of how to be able to combine the two musical groups was amusingly solved
by Liebermann: ‘The jazz orchestra will be used as the equivalent of the preclassical
concertino, while the symphony orchestra takes on the function of accompanying and
providing intervening episodes’. The concerto is in eight movements, played in alternation
by the orchestra and the jazz band, brought together by the use of a twelve-note row.



Music Composed by Rolf Liebermann
Played by the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra
With the North German Radio Big Band
And Rachael Tovey (soprano) & Alfons Grieder (percussion)
Conducted by G�nter Neuhold

"Naxos is again to be thanked for its commitment to unfamiliar 20th-century
music. This CD provides a fascinating cross-section of Liebermann's work,
demonstrating his skill at putting to work 'exotica' like jazz, the 12-tone system
and the rhythmic patterns of machinery (Les Eschanges) to enrich his music
rather than constrict it with strict methodology."
Gramophone


Rolf Liebermann with Igor Stravinsky.



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Furioso is furious, nice to find Liebermann here wimpel69. Many thanks.

No.310

Kurt Atterberg must have seemed almost irresistibly efficient in everything he undertook
during the 1910s. But not everything proceeded as smoothly. Two major works caused him considerable
difficulties. His fifth symphony, which was to be called Sinfonia funebre, and his Concerto for
Cello and Orchestra were both started about 1917 but work on these two compositions was
remarkably slow. Following a frantic spurt he finally completed the symphony on 21st July 1922, at
half past two in the morning according to the manuscript score. The same autumn saw the completion
of the Cello Concerto and he started ‘frenzied’ practice of the solo part ‘so that I can play it myself’.
The Cello Concerto reflected rather less of these circumstances than the symphony but the
composition of a concertante work for his very own instrument clearly had a special significance
for the composer.



Music Composed by Kurt Atterberg
Played by the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin
With Werner Thomas-Mifune (cello)
And Carmen Piazzini (piano)
Conducted by Karl Anton Rickenbacher

"Mifune adventurous soloist - witness his recorded repertoire which includes
the Grechaninov suite, the Rubinstein concertos and the Khachaturyan concerto.
In the present recording (I have not heard the others!) there is no suspicion of
time-serving. On the contrary the impression left is of an artist at the service
of the music.

The sonata which is quite volcanic is clearly the work of a very fine and affecting
tunesmith. It begins with a first movement that has a long romantic tune spun
with infinite care and resource. This rises to a climax when the soloist's
instrument almost howls in passion. The middle of the movement invokes
blue and placid waters. Mifune draws on both delicacy and strength from
both parts. This sonata has both piano and cello truly interacting. There is
little of submissive accompaniment from the piano though singer is the cello.
It is a work of sentiment without sentimentality; try the middle movement
adagio molto. The finale is one of romance and Medtnerian aristocratic filigree.
The piano part eggs on the cello in triumphant virtuosity. A grand plunging
and surging romantic tune rounds off the proceeding, is given an Hispanic
twist and then trails satisfyingly to the closing bars of surprising calm. The
sonata joins the lists which already include the rachmaninov and Foulds cello
sonatas: very affecting; a real discovery

The Concerto's andante cantabile first movement is an audacious introduction
where an awed vibrato from the high violins provides a bed of sound over
which the solo cello sings. The cello part projects music shaken wretched
and shivering with dark and compelling emotion. A gloomy and cataclysmic
tone winds in and out of the work leavened by the soloist's impassioned song.
This is truly a work of late romantic fervour. Going by the sound of several
passages Atterberg seems to have been deeply impressed by Sibelius whose
second symphony and Humoresques (violin and orchestra) were clearly an
influence. Add to that many pages where Atterberg seems dead set on
becoming the Swedish Korngold and you have a work to reckon with. Lissom
tunes, golden taste, regret and Elgarian bite summarise this major discovery.
If there were any justice the work would have become a repertory standard
years ago."
Musicweb





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A great Atterberg CD, lovely played. A very fine composer, catchy melodies in all pieces, the Symphonies are masterpieces, love this guy.

I only regret that I have but one "Like" to give for the Atterberg cello concerto.

No.311

Ferruccio Busoni's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35a is the composer's first real masterpiece,
written while his international touring career as the greatest piano virtuoso of his day was at its height.
The Violin Concerto explores the same Romantic territory covered at greater length by Busoni's
gargantuan Piano Concerto of 1904, but without the intellectual and aesthetic problems posed by
the later work's literary allusions and concluding male chorus; and, at about twenty-five minutes (versus
the Piano Concerto's seventy minute length), the Violin Concerto is a much more manageable
enterprise for the listener. Throughout Busoni's work, it's evident that although the highest degree of
virtuosity is required of the soloist, the real virtuoso at work is Busoni himself, who here wrote a
thoroughly accomplished and preternaturally modern masterwork that still has the power to surprise
latter-day audiences.

Richard Strauss' Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 8 (1881-1882), the only essay in the
genre the composer ever attempted, is an interesting example of Strauss' early music. The works
of this period (the Sonata for Cello and Piano also comes to mind) are full of warmth and melodic
sentimentality: the realization of "Gem�tlichkeit" carried to the extreme. Yet, at a deeper musical level,
the Concerto is not entirely successful. Although Strauss, who began composing this work at the
age of 17, was an extraordinarily accomplished young man, he still lacked the sort of maturity and
practical experience evident in works composed just a few years hence. Still, it isn't fair to dismiss
the Concerto out of hand as uninteresting juvenilia. The work's youthful sincerity, breadth of lyrical
expression, and virtuoso fireworks retain a great deal of appeal for concertgoers, and the work
does not deserve to be reduced to a mere historical curiosity.

While violinist Joseph Joachim had a hand in fine-tuning Max Bruch's first violin concerto,
Pablo Sarasate was the direct inspiration for Bruch's Violin Concerto No.2. This is unfortunate,
for Bruch provided the Spanish soloist a virtuoso vehicle lacking the balance and direct expression
that made his first concerto so popular. This concerto begins with a long Adagio non troppo, which
Johannes Brahms found altogether troppo: "Normal people cannot endure it," he wrote.
The movement is in sonata form, the violin singing out a first theme tailored specifically to
what Bruch called Sarasate's "soulful" style. This is the concerto's strongest movement, with
highly expressive writing for the soloist over unobtrusive, but effective, ominous support from
the orchestra. Throughout, the music does ease off from time to time, but these more relaxed
episodes still require ardent playing from the soloist, and the rip-roaring final measures are
clearly designed to bring an audience to its feet.



Music by Max Bruch, Ferruccio Busoni & Richard Strauss
Played by the Bamberger Symphoniker
With Ingolf Turban (violin)
Conducted by Lior Shambadal

"This disc is a generous 80 minutes’ worth (despite its indigestible diet of D tonality
throughout) of rare violin concertos that you are unlikely to hear in the concert hall.
All three works (written in the last quarter of the 19th century) are retrospective
glances at a Romantic genre which began with Mendelssohn and peaked with Brahms.
They are given committed performances by Ingolf Turban, a young talent not short
of either lyrical tone or dazzling virtuosity. Busoni’s concerto is really the most
interesting piece with its occasional parody of Beethoven and Brahms, its fiendishly
difficult finale and some wonderful orchestral solos managed masterfully by the
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. The Bruch gets the sweet-toned and lyrical
treatment it needs, the orchestra lushly supportive throughout. With its innovative
form and explorative recitativo style, this is not a work to be dismissed lightly.
Strauss’s concerto was literally written at school. Though conventional in outlook
it nevertheless shows signs of the later Strauss in both melodic line and orchestration,
with some felicitous touches for French horn (no doubt his horn-player father’s
influence at work) and divided lower strings. This is a most enjoyable recording
by a young soloist with a promising future."
BBC Music Magazine (*****/*****)



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Wondeful disc. Ingolf Turban played also a fine disc with Respighi Works for violin and orchestra on Claves.

No.312

Vincent d’Indy (1851–1931) was born into a French aristocratic family – royalist, Catholic,
nationalist, and traditionalist – and took his heritage seriously. In a French art scene
which had become irrevocably politicised, conservatism in music was one means of
defending his other beliefs. The Concerto for Piano, Flute, Cello, with Strings was his
last orchestral work, written at the age of seventy-five. It is not uncommon for
composers near the end of their working lives to go for simpler forms and smaller
forces. However, there may also have been a political subtext for d’Indy’s choice of the
concerto grosso style. It was a device then being explored by the French neoclassicists
as one of the means of ‘re-nationalising’ French music, an idea to which d’Indy responded strongly.
The concerto comes from the middle of his ‘Agay’ period – the years between 1924
and 1929 when d’Indy had just married his second, much younger wife and moved to
the C�te d’Azur – and, though it is without a programme, it might be said to reflect his mood.

Arthur Honegger wrote his score for the spectacle (part dance, play, mime, and opera)
The Story of the World at Play (Le Dit des Jeux du Monde) for a chamber ensemble consisting
of flute/piccolo, trumpet, strings, and percussion. It's an early work, close in sound to the tone
poem Le Chant de Nigamon, and it already provides clear evidence of that instant ability to
conjure up a particular atmosphere that served the composer so well in his numerous film scores.
The music is often very dissonant, but at the same time melodically conceived and passionately,
indeed expressionistically communicative.

Dynam-Victor Fumet (4 May 1867 – 2 June 1949) was a French composer and organist.
Born in Toulouse in 1867, he began his musical studies at the municipal Conservatory where his
exceptional talents were very quickly recognized, and where he received all the possible prizes.
At the age of 16, he entered the Paris National Conservatory, where he studied organ with
C�sar Franck and composition with Ernest Guiraud. For a while, Fumet was the orchestra
conductor at the "Chat Noir", but he soon quit and left the post to his friend, Erik Satie.
It was shortly after this period that he became interested in spiritism and became a well-
known medium. After a suicide attempt, from which he miraculously survived, he regained
his faith in God, and under the influence of L�on Bloy regained his faith in Christianity.



Music by Vincent d'Indy, Arthur Honegger & Dynam-Victor Fumet
Played by the Orchestre de Chambre Jean-Jacques Wiederker
With Patrick Dechorgnat (piano) & Jean Ferrandis (flute)
Conducted by Fr�d�rick Bouaniche


Dynam-Victor Fumet.



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No.313

A colorful collection of works for saxophone and orchestra or sax solo.

Gerard McChrystal comes from Derry, N.Ireland. Initially self-taught he studied
at the RNCM, Manchester, Guildhall School, London and Northwestern University, Chicago.
His career has largely been project driven, which has led to collaborations and performances
with Philip Glass, The Soweto String Quartet, tenorist Tommy Smith, guitarist Craig Ogden,
The Smith Quartet, Rambert Dance Co., Ensemble Bash, economist Charles Handy, poet
Cathal O Searcaigh, The Quad Saxophone Quartet and vocal groups Anuna and Codetta in
countries including USA, South Africa, Ireland and Portugal.

Gerard has made concerto CDs with BBC NOW, Ulster Orchestra and London Musici.
He has performed in 30 countries and venues include San Francisco Opera House, Baku
Opera House, Azerbaijan and the Royal Albert Hall, London.

As well as teaching saxophone at RWCMD, Gerard is professor of saxophone at Trinity
Laban, London and is an ambassador for Derry-Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013.
He served on the jury of the 2010 Royal Overseas Competition, London and the 5th
Adolphe Sax International Saxophone Competition, Dinant. He is sponsored by RICO.



Music by Dave Heath, Michael Torke & Michael Nyman
And Michael McGlynn & Ian Wilson
Played by the London Musici
With Gerard McChrystal (saxophones)
Conducted by Mark Stephenson

"McChrystal has an enviably full and warm soprano saxophone tone, and his intonation
is as secure as his gift for melodic phrasing is unfailing. This is of inestimable advantage
in a work such as Heath's Concerto, where the solo instrument is entirely dominant (and
perhaps a little too prominently balanced here). Heath stresses melody and atmosphere,
and this seems to suit McChrystal, even where the folk element is occasionally represented
a little too literally. The solo piece by Ian Wilson finds McChrystal on alto saxophone, and
here his tone is pellucid, while his control of alternating fingering is precise and affecting.
The music itself is cryptic and melancholy. McGlynn's solo effort (also for alto sax) is a
good deal more conventional, closer to its folk music source, and is accordingly
somewhat less striking.

The two major works here are the Nyman and Torke concertos. Nyman's typical rhythmic
and melodic patterns are to be found in abundance in Where the Bee Dances, but there
is also a more discernible willingness to allow the music sequential development and
several chances to pause and reflect than one normally associates with this composer.
The listener benefits accordingly from the more considered pacing. The gem in this
collection, however, is the Torke, a three-movement concerto revelling in constantly
transmuting thematic shards, unravelling orchestral colours and timbres, and genuinely
engaging rhythmic complexities, often hinting at Far-Eastern influences. The outer
movements are full of brilliant light, generated by the predominantly percussive scoring,
supported by woodwinds and strings. The slow second movement is that modern rarity -
a warm and moving construction with a ravishing theme which avoids any hint of
sentimentality. It is also brilliantly scored. Unfortunately, this is the least well executed
piece on the entire disc, with the London Musici woodwinds falling short of the
high standards set elsewhere."
Gramophone





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No.314

Herbert Howells, a raw country boy with his untamed Gloucestershire accent, full of doubts,
nerves and insecurities, with no money in his pocket faced with the style and swagger of London, was
armed with nothing but a fragile belief in his abilities. He quickly became one of the prized students
of the Royal College of Music and the First Piano Concerto was his first major orchestral work.
It was written for his pianist-friend and fellow student Arthur Benjamin and the 1914 premiere was
conducted by his tutor, Stanford. One of the most arresting facets of the work is its assimilation of
influences and the extraordinary fluency and confidence of the writing, not least in the colour and
brilliance of his orchestration. The solo piano part is extremely demanding.

The Second Piano Concerto was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society and first
performed in 1925. Howells’s reputation was established by this time and the new work was widely
anticipated. It was poorly received, not helped by a lacklustre performance, and Howells withdrew
it from publication straight away. He described the work as having ‘deliberate tunes all the way’,
being ‘jolly in feeling, and attempting to get to the point as quickly as maybe’. The modernity of
the music must not be underestimated. It is a huge advance, stylistically, on the earlier concerto
and is a remarkable tour de force quite unlike any other work of the period.

Penguinski was written for a visit made by the Prince of Wales to the Royal College of
Music in 1933. It takes an affectionately sideways glance at Stravinsky’s Petrushka and is full
of all those orchestral mannerisms (including an important piano part) which, together with a
healthy sense of humour, make what must been a tiny ballet of great amusement and delight.



Music Composed by Herbert Howells
Played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
With Howard Shelley (piano)
Conducted by Richard Hickox

"These are absolutely superb performances and make it evident that the
performers have much empathy and enthusiasm for this neglected but
captivating music. The recorded sound is as laudable as the performances."
American Record Guide

"…Howard Shelley as soloists is clearly passionate and committed, and
Richard Hickox obtains playing from the BBC Symphony Orchestra that sounds
wholly secure… A great start to 2001 for lovers of British music…"
International Record Review



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Absolutely amazing CD. Friends listen to this and hear wonderful music. Second Concerto with Stott / Handley on Hyperion is amazing too.

No.315

No one could accuse the London Sinfonietta of neglecting younger composers, so a few years ago they
commissioned six works by a selection of younger, up-coming composers (all born between 1971 and 1977),
offering a tantalising perspective on creative talents still in the making. This discs features three of the
resulting works for small orchestra and various solo instruments.

Dark Room (2003) has Morgan Hayes pit clarinet against ensemble in a controlled decrescendo
of activity, the musical ideas gradually being elaborated as textural contrasts become more fluid and
amorphous – a gripping piece that recalls an earlier era of British Modernism. Jonny Greenwood’s
Smear (2004), however, inevitably exudes a French influence through the use of ondes martenot
as the timbral and harmonic basis for its progress through predominantly relaxed but never somnolent
material…welcome repose before the onslaught of Dai Fujikura’s Fifth Station (2003), its
dispersal of instruments around the auditorium aiding the impulsive, almost tangible dialogue of cello
and ensemble, with the inconclusive close just one aspect of the piece’s impressive handling of
musical time.



Music by Morgan Hayes, Jonny Greenwood & Daj Fujikura
Played by the London Sinfonietta
With Mark van de Wiel (clarinet) & Bruno Perrault (ondes martenot)
And Louise Hopkins (cello)
Conducted by Martyn Brabbins

"Radiohead scion Jonny Greenwood celebrates the ondes martenot in Smear (twice over
since there are two of them entwining and deftly avoiding any clich�s associated with
Martenot’s other-wordly apparatus). Morgan Hayes’ Dark Room, meanwhile, is a mini
clarinet concerto undertaking an ear-arresting journey from translucence to opacity
and back – breathtakingly played by Mark van de Wiel. And similarly incisively
conducted by Martyn Brabbins is Dai Fujikura’s remarkably assured cello concerto
for Louise Hopkins, Fifth Station – music that knows what it wants to do, and
how to do it."
BBC Music Magazine


Jonny Greenwood, Morgan Hayes, Daj Fujikura.



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Complete unknown to me, many thanks wimpel69.

No.316

Both Montague Phillips and Victor Hely-Hutchinson are best known for their
light music. Hely-Hutchinson, whose A Carol Symphony is still popular, barely composed
anything else (though not for lack of craftsmanship), and his The Young Idea is a
typically charming rhapsody for piano and orchestra, with the composer keepings things
bright with syncopated rhythms.

Montague Phillips on the other composed a number of "regular" concert works, among
them the two Piano Concertos recorded here. Listening to these big-boned, romantic
pieces it seems strange that a company like Hyperion didn't pick them up for their series on
"Romantic Piano Concertos". In fact, the Piano Concerto No.1 of 1907 hadn't been
played between 1912 and the sessions for this recording. The second concerto of 1919
was more popular, getting occasional performances until well after World War II.
Both works are cast in the usual three movements, and are full-scale 30 minute
concertos. The style is Russian rather than British, and in the first work in particular,
comparison with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 are perhaps unavoidable.

If you are a fan of the Hyperion series (and I know there are many), you should seriously
consider giving these works a try. Especially since the performances by the
enterprising David Owen Norris are excellent and far beyond the call of duty.



Music by Montague Phillips & Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Played by the BBC Concert Orchestra
With David Owen Norris (piano)
Conducted by Gavin Sutherland

"Phillips is known in the field of British light music but rather like Haydn Wood
he had occasional excursions into the concert hall. Here are two of them.

The Second Piano Concerto has been broadcast by the BBC in various studio
performances; not that there have been many of these. The First Piano Concerto
is a total unknown.

The two concertos would not have been out of place in Hyperion's ‘Romantic Piano
Concertos’ series. Neither for that matter would Dutton's recordings of the
Bowen piano concertos and as if to prove the point Hyperion's recordings of
the second Bowen and his monumental third piano concerto will be released
later in 2008. Roll on a project to record the allegedly Rachmaninovian piano
concertos of Roger Sacheverell Coke. There are six to choose from. At one
stage in the 1930s and 1940s they were getting regional concert exposure
and broadcasts. After that someone needs to look over Gaze Cooper's
piano concertos.

As for the present works for piano and orchestra, Phillips' First Piano Concerto
would sit comfortably alongside the Tchaikovsky First and Concert Fantasy,
the First Rachmaninov and the two Glazunovs. The outer movements are
agreeably rhetorical-heroic with the central movement being touchingly
reflective and delicately pointed. The finale carries the grand manner high
with a dash of pomp.

The Second Concerto, from twelve years and a world war later, is more
original and with a slightly more tangy harmonic edge. The music is still
high on rhetoric with good ideas not in short supply. Some stock romantic
gestures will be recognised but there is plenty to engage the attention and
the heart. Phillips' writing in this work sometimes recalls the Bliss Piano
Concerto. The second movement is more relaxed but still has a lean
energetic charge (2:43 onwards). The finale has a mariner's swagger
and something of Elgar's sweeping nobilmente but with more of
a surrender to sentimentality (1:33) and a redolence of Harty's Piano
Concerto."
Musicweb


Victor Hely-Hutchinson, Montague Phillips.



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I just have to URGE everybody to listen to those superb works. Lush Piano Concertos at their best!!!

Great share, many thanks wimpel69.

No.317

Of Anglo-Irish descent, Ernest John Moeran was brought up in Norfolk and the scenery and folk-music
of Ireland and Norfolk were a lasting influence on him. Studies at the Royal College of Music were interrupted
by the 1914–1918 War, in which he served on the Western Front, sustaining serious head injuries that
affected him physically and mentally for the rest of his life. After the war he resumed a passion for collecting
folk-songs and began to study privately with the composer John Ireland. As a composer Moeran was a
late developer. He tackled most of traditional musical forms with the notable exceptions of opera and
cantata but, despite the early promise of such works as the central Elegy from his three piano pieces
entitled Fancies (1922), he did not achieve widespread critical and public success until the late 1930s.

Moeran’s individuality as a composer grew throughout his creative life and in the Cello Concerto of 1945
his eclectic influences are successfully subsumed within an authentic personal voice. Peers Coetmore gave
the work’s first performance with the Orchestra of Radio Eire conducted by Michael Bowles at the Capitol
Theatre, Dublin, on 25 November 1945. In the first movement (Moderato), the cello sings an almost
continuous, spontaneous-sounding melody. After a brief introductory orchestral gesture, the soloist
enters with a hushed and extensive theme, driven by an insistent rhythmic figure. As in several other
Moeran works, including the Symphony in G minor and the Violin Concerto, the opening phrase is
central to the succeeding material. The long-delayed second idea, more compact and relaxed, is lightly
scored for cello, with delicate woodwind decoration. Framed by baleful fanfares, the often stormy
development section refreshes and energises the movement, offering new variations on its principal
theme. In the closing section, Moeran revisits the secondary idea first, whilst the movement’s main
melody makes a delayed return in a final, pared down version.

The second movement is an imposing, meditative Adagio. A brief, anguished orchestral introduction
precedes the nostalgic and profoundly felt main melody, a song without words for cello accompanied
by hymn-like muted strings. At the end of the movement, a short solo cadenza avoids virtuosity
for its own sake, playing more of a structural role, as Moeran deftly transforms the main theme of
the Adagio into what will be the principal idea of the ensuing Rondo. A bracing Allegretto deciso
alla marcia begins the finale, a protean movement that incorporates various contrasting, lyrical
passages within its tightly controlled structure, including, towards the end, a deeply expressive
section where the main theme is transfigured into a passionate love-song. The work concludes
briskly with a fast jig. All of the finale’s elements are alive with the spirit of Irish folk music.



Music Composed by Ernest John Moeran
Played by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta
With Raphael Wallfisch (cello)
Conducted by Norman Del Mar

"Raphael Wallfisch is one of the leading English cellists of his generation. His repertory is vast,
taking in 19th century staples by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Dvor�k, as well as 20th century
standards by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Respighi, and Barber. Yet he has also focused much
attention on works by British composers, too, from Elgar, Delius, and Bax to Maxwell Davies,
MacMillan, Simpson, and Tavener. Wallfisch has recorded extensively for many labels,
including Chandos, Nimbus, and Naxos.

Wallfisch was born in London on June 15, 1953. His mother was a cellist and his father a
pianist. Young Raphael, after studies on the violin and piano, turned to the cello at age
eight. His list of teachers is impressive: at home he studied with Amaryllis Fleming (1967-
1969) and Derek Simpson (at the Royal Academy of Music from 1970-1973), and abroad
with Amadeo Baldovino (Italy; 1969) and Gregor Piatigorsky (the U.S.).

It was through his studies with Piatigorsky in California that he was given the opportunity
to perform in several private recitals with Jascha Heifetz. Wallfisch won first prize in
Florence, Italy, at the Gaspar Cassad� International Cello Competition in 1977. Thereafter,
his career grew in several directions: as a soloist he regularly appeared in recitals and
with British orchestras; in 1980 he began a 12-year stint playing in a duo with his father,
Peter, while serving as a professor of music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in London. He would later teach cello at the Z�rich Winterthur Konservatorium and
Hochschule in Mainz, Germany.

In the 1980s Wallfisch gained an international reputation from his appearances
throughout Europe and the U.S. In 1982 he started a long relationship with the English
label Chandos: among his earliest recordings were a coupling of the Barber Cello
Concerto and the Shostakovich First Cello Concerto (1982) and a disc of Tchaikovsky
works that included the original version of the Rococo Variations (1983). Over the
next decade or so he would make more than 20 recordings for Chandos. Since the
1990s he has branched out his recording activity to include other labels. Among later
recordings is his two-disc set of the complete works for cello by Shostakovich on
Nimbus (2006). Shostakovich was also featured, along with J.S. Bach and
Tchaikovsky, in his successful concert tours of the U.K. and Germany in the fall of
2006. Further efforts included recordings of Zemlinsky's Cello Sonata (2007)
and the cello sonatas of Chopin, Laks, and Szymanowski (2010)."



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No.318

Alec Wilder (1907-1980) was one of those unusual composers who managed to bridge the
worlds of serious and popular music, jazz and classical, the concert hall and the dance hall, without
losing credibility in any of those areas. A major figure in the New York music world, he was equally at
home writing ballet and opera, or composing songs for Tommy Dorsey, authoring concertos or pop
standards for Frank Sinatra. He studied at the Eastman School of Music, teachers included the
composer Howard Hanson. He first established himself in New York as a songwriter and arranger
in big-band jazz circles at the end of the 1920s and the early '30s, composing for Benny Goodman.
Wilder's exposure to the world of popular jazz exerted a powerful influence on his career as a serious
composer -- he composed jazz music for wind instruments, and in 1942 premiered a ballet entitled
Juke Box with the American Ballet, built on popular thematic material. It was the first of several
ballets, including False Dawn and Life Goes On. In some ways, he was the heir to
George Gershwin as a composer of jazz-based classical music.

John Corigliano's Aria for Oboe and Strings may be performed in either two versions: with
string orchestra or with string quintet. The materials provided here include footnotes indicating
how the piece should be performed depending on which version is selected. The first performance
of Aria was given by the Connecticut String Orchestra on January 6th, 1977 with Humbert
Lucarelli, oboe and Renato Bonacini, conductor.



Music by Alec Wilder, John Corigliano, Wayne Barlow & Robert Bloom
Played by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra
With Humbert Lucarelli (oboe)
Conducted by Michael Barrett

"Having already programmed Humbert Lucarelli's winsome reading of Wayne Barlow's
vernal The Winter's Past for Classic FM's "Contemporary Classics", I can confidently
vouch for the work's immediate appeal. Barlow's style reflects lazy, sunsoaked
afternoons, rather in the manner of Copland or Vaughan Williams. Here, as elsewhere
in this warming miscellany, Lucarelli weaves a warm, sinewy tone and receives
responsive support from the Brooklyn Philharmonic under Michael Barrett.

Although John Corigliano receives top billing for his intensely moving Aria (an
effective arrangement for strings and oboe from the slow movement of his Concerto
for oboe and orchestra), it is Alec Wilder's catchy, easygoing Concerto for oboe,
string orchestra and percussion which occupies the lion's share of this CD (roughly
half its playing time, in fact). Wilder's work ranges in tone from 'classical' music
to popular ballads; Sinatra is one of his great fans (he made a famous record of
Wilder's beautiful song, IT be Around) and many other prestigious artists have
espoused his cause. Yet mindless categorizing has sometimes inhibited a fuller
appreciation of his skills as a 'serious' composer: "[his work] fiercely resists
labelling," writes Lucarelli, who then relates how Wilder was often pained that
"his music was not more widely accepted by either jazz or classical composers".
However, the concerto's gentle demeanour and subtle echoes of various
contemporary masters (Lucarelli himself suggests Gershwin, Poulenc and
Villa-Lobos) make for an utterly bewitching 25 minutes.

Then there's Robert Bloom's nicely crafted, neo-romantic Requiem (with its
Hebraic undertones) and his rather more 'personal' Narrative�€”both of them
prime contenders for any oboist's repertoire. Lucarelli ends his programme
with Wilder's wistful, upbeat Piece for Oboe and Improvisatory Percussion”
a pleasant encore to an altogether charming, well-recorded disc."
Gramophone





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Well, because of you Wimpell69, I had to redifined Comparison of Adjectives. Now it sounds for me ...good - better - the best - WIMPELL69 !!!! Thanks !

Many thanks wimpel69 for the link received #107 'BARBER, BERG, HARTMANN, STRAVINSKY & BRITTEN: Violin Concertos of the 1930s, Vol.1'.
Haven't had chance to listen to it yet, (computer system trouble has held me back till now), yet I can certainly still thank you for encouraging me to be more cosmopolitan with regards to my musical tastes (having in this instance migrated from
Thread 121898 ).
So again many thanks indeed.

Like janoscar said, the Montague Phillips: Piano Concertos 1 & 2 - Victor Hely-Hutchinson: The Young Idea CD is wonderful to listen to.

Montague Phillips, another fantastic gift - thank you, wimpel69!

No.319

Alberto Ginastera was one of the most admired and respected musical voices of the twentieth
century, who successfully fused the strong traditional influences of his national heritage with
experimental, contemporary, and classical techniques. The two Cello Concertos are among his
most innovative, brilliant and technically formidable compositions. The First Concerto, the definitive
version of which was premi�red by Ginastera’s second wife Aurora N�tola in 1978, is notable for the
provocative singing lines, Latin dance rhythms and virtuosity of its solo part, and the intense colours
and abundant percussion of the orchestral accompaniment. The Second Concerto, composed as
a 10th wedding anniversary tribute ‘To my dear Aurora’, makes more prominent use of Argentine
folk elements. It includes a brilliant depiction of the rising sun, percussion instruments portraying
sounds of the jungle, and a celebratory rustic finale.



Music Composed by Alberto Ginastera
Played by the Bamberger Symphoniker
With Mark Kosower (cello)
Conducted by Lothar Zagrosek

"One of the most celebrated Argentine composers of all time and certainly among the most
notable Latin American composers of the 20th century, the music of Alberto Ginastera was
heavily influenced not only by the pervasive rhythms and folk melodies of his country, but
also his decisive musical intellect and passionate underpinnings. He penned several works
for the cello, and eventually took the famed cellist Aurora N�tola as his second wife. This union
inspired a large-scale revision of his First Cello Concerto (which N�tola premiered under
Rostropovich’s baton), and the composition of the Second Concerto in 1980, a virtual
reenactment and tribute to the couple’s life together. Both of these concertos possess
formidable technical challenges to both soloist and orchestra, yet Ginastera’s intertwining
of intellect, musicality, and folk influence make them both satisfying, engulfing experiences
for listeners. Ginastera was a master orchestrator as evidenced not only by the endless
variety of colors and textures he coaxes from the orchestra, but also the ingenious way
that he scores for the solo cello so that issues of balance rarely come into play. Cellist
Mark Kosower takes full advantage of this during his performances of the two concertos
with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Despite the lofty technical demands, Kosower’s
playing still manages to seem relaxed and at ease, his sound never forced in an effort
to overcome the orchestra. Both Kosower and conductor Lothar Zagrosek interpret
Ginastera’s works admirably, focusing heavily on precise rhythmic integrity. Listeners
unfamiliar with these two highly worthwhile concertos would be hard pressed to find
a more reliable, pristine performance."
All Music





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---------- Post added at 11:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------

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No.320

The Australian composer and pianist, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) exerted an inestimable influence
and contribution on Australian music. She considered it her mission to promote new music, especially that of
Australian composers ‘who’, she said, ‘experienced public indifference and a profound sense of isolation.’
Sutherland’s teaching was legendary; she personally inspired young poets, composers and artists. After
teaching and giving recitals for several years in Australia, she commenced studying orchestration and
conducting in London and Vienna. Under the tutelage of Sir Arnold Bax in London, Sutherland composed
one of her first published works, her Violin Sonata. She went on to publish more than 90 compositions,
covering stage, instrumental, vocal, chamber and orchestral (including a Concerto Grosso). It was,
however, many years before Sutherland’s full contribution to the arts was recognised; it was equally
long before her own compositions received the recognition they deserved. Sutherland was awarded a
DMus. from the University of Melbourne in 1969, an OBE in 1970, the Queen’s Jubilee medal in 1977
and in 1981 she received the Order of Australia.



Music Composed by Margaret Sutherland
Played by the Queensland & Melbourne Symphony Orchestras
With Leonard Dommett (violin) & Sybil Copland (violin)
And John Glickman (viola) & Max Cooke (harpsichord)
Conducted by John Hopkins & Patrick Thomas

"Margaret Sutherland is a name likely to be known to those who already know
their Bax in detail. She came to England from her native Australia in the 1920s
and took private tuition from Bax. The title of her tone poem, Haunted Hills naturally
suggests parallels with Bax's Irish works (e.g. In The Faery Hills). However her music
defies any speculation that her music will ape that of Bax.

Concerto for Strings is a gracious and concise expression rippling with the dynamism
of the Bliss Music for Strings. Sutherland is to the point, fresh in invention and athletic
in her handling of the strings. The Wiren Serenade, Waxman Sinfonietta and the Rozsa
Concerto for Strings are works akin in their eloquence and movement. The short finale
has a Hungarian accent.

With a title like that and the distinctive instrumentation it is no surprise that the
Concerto Grosso is a work of neo-classical tendencies. There is a busy Allegro, a
phlegmatic Adagio and a troubled and impatient Allegro con brio. An abrasive
Bartokian element surfaces in the finale.

The Violin Concerto takes the flavour (and it is only a flavour) of atonality one small
step further. The work is best thought of as a running-mate for Lennox Berkeley's
violin concerto, either of the Rawsthornes (the first rather than the second), the
Fricker and the Frankel concerto. At times we can imagine we are hearing a lost
concerto by Miklos Rozsa - that Zingaresca inclination again - notably in the first
movement. The grotesque strut and jaunty march of the finale places this very
close to the first Rawsthorne Concerto and to the reflective aspects of the William
Schuman Concerto.

Haunted Hills with its harp arpeggio-swept opening pages mingling with the
emotionally disturbed surges of Vaughan Williams' Ninth Symphony takes us back
to the Concerto for String Orchestra. This is no Celtic pastel sketch. The world
created by Sutherland is, overall, unlike Bax's though his voice is unmistakable at
4.19 in one of those passion-exhausted marches of which Bax was a master
magician. This is a bejewelled score alive with a crowd of detail lovingly
rendered by orchestra and engineer. The swooping pages of the opening and closing
can be likened to the great waves of sound that rend Louis Aubert's Tombeau de
Chateaubriand - itself a marine impression rivalling Bax's Tintagel."
Musicweb





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I don't know if you're aware wimpel69 but it appears that your mp3 links to the following are down.

#120 Colin McPhee: Piano Concerto, Symphony No.2, Balinese Ceremonial Music, Nocturne

#121 Florent Schmitt: Symphonie Concertante, Soirs, R�ves

#122 Edmund Rubbra: Violin Concerto, Viola Concerto

#123 Henri Dutilleux: Violin Concerto (L'Arbre des Songes), Cello Concerto

Anyway, great work you're doing here. Thanks. I'm learning all the time.

Thanks guideff, I have replaced the four links, should all work now. Also No.211 (Swedish Romantic Violin Concertos), which was down, too. :)

No.321

Bernard Stevens (1916-1983) made his first big splash as a composer while serving in
World War II. His First Symphony ("A Symphony of Liberation") won a newspaper competition.
He created a sensation by taking his bows in his uniform. Stevens's place in British cultural life for many
years was marked by his sympathy for Communism, although, as did many others (particularly after
the suppression of Hungary) he broke with the Soviet cadre after the war. His social thinking later on
probably fell under the heading of liberal humanist. Most people who knew his name thought of him
primarily as a teacher. He had a noteworthy academic career. He never really pushed his compositions,
and no conductor with a major career took him up.

Stevens acknowledged in his early Violin Concerto, written for Max Rostal, the influence of Bloch,
who by the way wrote one of the great violin concerti (which you can find in this thread, too). Stevens's
first movement in particular - while having little idiomatically in common with Bloch - nevertheless strives
to hit the epic note. It moves in a grand symphonic sweep (similar in feel to the Moeran Symphony),
and indeed the line between symphony and concerto blurs a bit. Various composers, including Eisler,
Alan Bush, and Rubbra, acclaimed it as a masterpiece and the equal of the Walton and Britten concerti.

The Second Symphony belongs to the Sixties. It comes from Stevens's brief application of dode-
caphonic serialism. It is yet another indication of the strong attraction Schoenberg and Webern in
particular held for even tonal composers. When one works in a chromatic, rather than diatonic, idiom
to begin with, it's not unusual to want to work with basic materials which incorporate all twelve tones.
We see this also in Britten, Walton, Arnold, and Alwyn, to name just four British composers.



Music Composed by Bernard Stevens
Played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
With Ernst Kovacic (violin)
Conducted by Edward Downes

"The outstanding work here is the Violin Concerto. Written largely in intervals in night-time
guard duty at the height of the blitz, it bears the first imprint of its time. Stevens's strong
political awareness (he was a card-carrying Communist until the Soviet invasion of Hungary
in 1956) is evident, not in crudely programmatic terms, but in the deeply troubled mood,
and in the solo's evocations of an almost painfully expressive virtuosity associated with some
of the Jewish musicianexiles Stevens had met in the early days of the war; one of these,
Max Rostal, was the work's dedicatee. And although in the end the Concerto could only
be the work of an English composer, two Jewish composers also seem to have left their
mark: Bloch's influence on mood and character emerges in some turns of phrase, while
the intense thematicism of the writing obviously owes a good deal to Schoenberg—the
sinuous germinal figure runs quickly through the 12-note gamut."
Gramophone





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A special thanks for Montague Phillips's pianos concertos and Margaret Sutherland's concertos. Totally unknown to me ! Wonderful surprise ! :)

This continues to be my favorite thread on the entire Internet. Thank You :) :)

No.322

As a composer Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) turns away from complex composition processes
and musical convolutedness and rather employs concepts like logic, consistency and clarity –
similar to what we find in Viennese Classicism. The music of Joseph Haydn was a great source
of inspiration, just as one senses influences from Carl Nielsen, Jean Sibelius, Igor Stravinsky
and B�la Bartok. Holmboe’s thirteen symphonies constitute the core of his oeuvre. Add to this
an extensive series of solo concertos for virtually every symphonic instrument. His more
than 20 string quartets occupy a stunning and central position among the chamber works.
And finally, Holmboe’s vast production of pieces for mixed choir a cappella should not go
unmentioned, particularly his Liber Canticorum series.

Vagn Holmboe’s solo concertos for violin and viola are works that combine the
composer’s own purist Nordic style with a huge declaration of love for the wild, dancing
eastern European folk music that captivated him throughout his life. These premiere
recordings by some of Scandinavia’s strongest string soloists – Norwegian Lars Anders
Tomter and Swedish Erik Heide fronting the Norrk�ping Symphony Orchestra
under Dima Slobodeniouk – are joined by Holmboe’s Concerto for Orchestra, which
has never been performed before.



Music Composed by Vagn Holmboe
Played by the Norrk�ping Symphony Orchestra
With Erik Heide (violin) & Lars Anders Tomter (viola)
Conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk

"The music of Danish composer Vagn Holmboe sounds a bit like what would have happened
if Sibelius had lived long enough to absorb the music of the neo-classic movement, or perhaps
if Bart�k had spent some time in France in the 1920s. It is large, brilliantly orchestrated, with
driving brass rhythms and influences from Eastern European folk music. Holmboe was prolific,
and even if his works do not always sharply distinguish themselves one from another he deserves
credit for having explored the possibilities of an individual style for more than 50 years. The
Concerto for viola, Op. 189, was composed in 1992, when Holmboe was 82. Its Jewish melodic
flavor was the result of its being composed for an Israeli violist, but the international cast of
characters here (Norwegian violist, Russian conductor, Danish orchestra) puts across the
overgrown-Bart�k quality of the work. The Concerto for orchestra, which is more an overture
than a concerto for orchestra in the sense in which Bart�k or Hindemith used the term, was
a student work but is characteristic of the composer's mature writing. The Violin Concerto
No. 2, written in 1979, is a sort of East-meets-West mixture of Nielsen and Bart�k, with
vigorous solo writing well executed by Swedish violinist Erik Heide. Competent throughout,
and recommended for listeners interested in the grand Scandinavian tradition."
All Music



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I'm really enjoying the Holmboe - not so much his Concerto for Orchestra, but the other two concertos are engaging listens. Modern, intricate, yet catchy/accessible (IMO) neoclassical sound... His output seems vast and definitely worth discovering further. He also taught Per Norgard, who is also an awesome contemporary composer.

Thanks!

No.323

Nicolas Flagello was one of the last composers to develop a distinctive mode of expression based wholly
on the principles and techniques of European late-Romanticism. Born in New York City in 1928, Flagello grew
up in a highly musical family with deep roots in Old-World traditions. A child prodigy, young Nicolas was
composing and performing publicly as a pianist before the age of ten. While still a youth, he began a long
and intensive apprenticeship with composer Vittorio Giannini, who further imbued him with the enduring
values of the grand European tradition. His study continued at the Manhattan School of Music, where he
earned both his Bachelor's (1949) and Master's (1950) Degrees, joining the faculty immediately upon
graduation, and remaining there until 1977. (During the 1960s he also taught at the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia.) In 1955, he won a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Rome, and earned the Diploma di Studi
Superiori the following year at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, under the tutelage of Ildebrando Pizzetti.
During the years that followed, Flagello composed at a prodigious rate, producing a body of work that
includes six operas, two symphonies, eight concertos, and numerous orchestral, choral, chamber, and
vocal works. Flagello died in 1994.



Music Composed by Nicolas Flagello
Played by the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice
With Tatjana Rankovich (piano) & Elmar Oliveira (violin)
Conducted by David Amos

"American/Italian composer Nicolas Flagello was born in New York, but spent a good part of his
career as conductor of the Rome Symphony Orchestra. His music reflects his extensive experience
as a conductor, being superbly scored and structured with a sure hand. Stylistically, it belongs
squarely in the American neo-classical tradition of composers like Piston, Giannini (Flagello's
teacher), Persichetti, Creston, and Menin (all of whom were also first generation Americans of
Italian origin). The music is appealing, propulsive, and very passionate, rising to climaxes of
real intensity and excitement. The two piano concertos are marvelously written for the soloist:
they sound like great fun to play, and they contain many moments of pure magic (such as the
way the Second Concerto's opening movement melts into the ensuing Andante). Credendum,
for violin and orchestra, would make a great concert companion to Chausson's Poeme, and
it's very well played by Elmar Oliveira. In fact, pianist Tatjana Rankovich is no slouch either.
Her playing in the two concertos has real glitter and Romantic sweep. Toss in the two
charming overtures, and the result is a first rate tribute to a very fine, neglected composer."
Classics Today



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No.324

Widely considered one of the foremost 20th-century American composers during his lifetime,
and especially known for his concert music inspired either by Jewish or by American Indian sources,
Frederick Jacobi (1891-1952) was championed by such legendary conductors as Koussevitzky,
Stokowski, and Monteux. Jacobi's "Jewish" compositions combine the refinements of the great
European romantic tradition with an evocative melodic and harmonic palette, suggesting both
traditional Jewish flavors and Near Eastern atmospheres. The Milken Archive is proud to
reintroduce Jacobi's music on these new recordings.

Jacobi composed his Concerto for Cello (on the Psalms) while in Switzerland in 1932, shortly
after the premiere of his Sabbath Evening Service at Temple Emanu-El, and he revised the
orchestration in Gstaad in 1950. On a spiritual plane, the concerto is almost quasi-liturgical,
and indeed, at the time, it was cited as an outgrowth of his inner experience in writing his first
synagogue service. It was inspired by the Book of Psalms—in particular, Psalms 90, 91, and 92—
and it is actually a series of meditations on sentiments expressed in, and evoked by, those
Psalms. The three movements are each prefaced in the score by a quotation from Psalms.
This concerto is no virtuoso display vehicle for the soloist, but an invitation for intense solo
instrumental singing, spiritual introspection, and intimate reflection.

New York’s Temple Emanu-El has had a long history of important musical endeavors. It was
one of the first American congregations to embrace goals of western musical sophistication.
It was among the first to commission artistic music for services—beyond functional hymns
or adaptations from the operatic canon. And it was probably the first American synagogue
to commission serious 20th-century classical composers to write for its liturgy. Jacobi
received the commission to compose a full-length Sabbath eve service for Temple Emanu-El
under its Choir Committee’s auspices in 1930, and he wrote it during that winter in
Switzerland after first working closely with Saminsky on correct accentuation of the
Hebrew. The service was premiered at Temple Emanu-El in December 1931, conducted
by Saminsky, with Cantor Moshe Rudinoff as soloist. It contains eight settings of Hebrew
prayer texts found in the liturgy of all synagogues—although the texts were set as they
appear in the Union Prayer Book, then the standard prayerbook of virtually all American
Reform congregations.

Hagiographa was written in 1938 on a commission from the legendary patroness of
American music Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, to whom the piece is dedicated. It received
its premiere that same year at the Pittsfield Festival by the Kolisch String Quartet with the
composer’s wife, pianist Irene Jacobi, who was highly regarded as a champion of new
music. It was performed subsequently by the Budapest String Quartet (also with Irene
Jacobi) as well as other ensembles, and it became Jacobi’s best-known work in his
chamber music catalogue. Jacobi chose only two of the books of the Hagiographa
(k’tuvim) as subjects for this three-movement work: Job and Ruth. The third, Joshua,
is from the Prophets. Whether one considers it a piano quintet or a work for string
quartet and piano, Hagiographa is a rhapsodic instrumental depiction of aspects,
episodes, and moods of those three biblical books, with sonic portraits of their
three principal characters.

Two Pieces in Sabbath Mood (1946) is a two-movement tone poem that depicts
the spiritual parameters of the Sabbath in Jewish tradition and life. That spirit historically
comprises a dual mood: a sense of peace and tranquillity that flows from the rejection
and avoidance of practical daily concerns; and a mandated experience of uplifting joy
on both internal and social-familial levels—shabbat ru’aḥ (Sabbath spirit)—with which
nothing is permitted to interfere.



Music Composed by Frederick Jacobi
Played by the Barcelona & Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestras
With Alban Gerhardt (cello) & Patrick Mason (Baritone)
And the Academ of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus
Conducted by Karl Anton Rickenbacher & Samuel Adler
And by Joseph Cullen

"The opening of Frederick Jacobi's Cello Concerto will take your breath away....
If you love wonderfully rich romantic musical tapestries, tinged with ethnic
(Jewish and native American) melodies and harmonies, Jacobi is a composer
well worth exploring."
Fanfare

"Having listened to the Cello Concerto (as well as the balance on this
[album]), I am of the opinion that it is a work of substance and power. It is
not too far off the mark to state further that it is a work of genius."
Jewish Post and Opinion





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No.325

Although widely heralded as a masterpiece, Roger Sessions's brilliant Violin Concerto (1935)
suffered through a painful adolescence. The original New York premiere was canceled by the soloist,
and the work was not performed there until 1959; only recently has the work begun to find the respect
which it deserves. Sessions worked on the concerto from 1930, when he was still living in Europe, to
1935, when he found himself back in the United States, jobless and in the process of a traumatic divorce.
The concerto represents a major turning point for the composer: Though nearly forty at the time,
Sessions was just beginning the period of his real compositional maturity, which saw the prodigious
production of works in a striking, inimitable style.

The Violin Concerto is cast in a four-movement scheme that is somewhat uncommon for a
concerto (three-movement concerti are more usual). The work employs a basic B minor tonal scheme;
typically for Sessions, the tonal sense is strongest at the beginnings of movements and sections,
after which it is quickly obscured by intense chromaticism. Sessions eliminates violins from the
orchestra altogether, perhaps influenced by the dark sound of Stravinsky's Symphony of
Psalms (1930), which likewise uses no violins in its scoring.

The opening Largo is a large ternary (ABA) form; the same three-bar idea, a mildly chromatic
gesture played over a sustained F sharp, opens all three sections. Following the first movement's
gentle dissolution (a typical Sessions tactic), a highly chromatic but delightfully playful Scherzo
(also in ABA form, but with the addition of a coda) commences. The Romanza, a tiny five-part
rondo (ABACA), is possessed of a simple lyricism; despite its superficial rondo structure, the
movement bears a strong resemblance to a three-part song form. The finale is a nerve-wracking
exercise in perpetual motion. Albert Spalding, who was to have played the solo part in the
premiere, objected to the movement's relentless intensity and eventually declined to play
the piece. It would be up to the New York Philharmonic's new music director -- the young
Leonard Bernstein -- to resurrect Sessions' hopes for a New York premiere.

James Bolle's Ritual for violin and chamber orchestra inhabits a world
not far removed aesthetically from the Sessions (and, like it, uses no violins in the
orchestra). Bolle appropriates music from the past for his thematic material, so his
piece is clearly a product of post-modernism, but his developments have a strongly
abstract, modernist element.



Music by Roger Sessions & James Bolle
Played by the Monadnock Festival Orchestra, New Hampshire
With Ole Bohn (violin)
Conducted by James Bolle

"Although Roger Sessions' Violin Concerto (1935) is considered one of his
major works (and Elliott Carter, in his program notes for this recording, calls
it one of the outstanding works of its era) it has never caught on with performers
or audiences, either in concert or on recordings. Part of its neglect may be
traced to the cultural climate in America at the time of its composition. In the
midst of their own Depression, with disturbingly dark clouds gathering over Europe,
Americans were more open to new music with the sunny, jazzy ease of Gershwin
than to Sessions' relatively cerebral abstractions in a distinctly modernist tonal
language. With the ascendancy of modernism coming to an end in the late twentieth
century, composers like Sessions went into eclipse, and the much of the avant-
garde of the last century seems quaint and old-fashioned to many performers
and audiences.

Albany Records is to be recommended for focusing attention on classics that
are an important part of our national musical heritage but are currently out
of style. Violinist Ole Bohn and James Bolle, conducting the Monadnock Festival
Orchestra, emphasize the concerto's lyricism and passion, while at the same
time give it the clear-eyed objectivity its neo-classical style requires. Bohn
negotiates the treacherous final movement, dubbed unplayable by the
violinist for whom it was written, with fiery elegance."
All Music


Sessions with conductor Georg Solti.

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No.326

Jon Lord (1941-2012), of Deep Purple, composed his first "classical" work back in 1969.
The Concerto for Group and Orchestra has become a cult favourite, but Lord had to be prodded
and pushed into completing it by his "classical mentor", Malcolm Arnold. This disc, featuring two recent,
much more confident pieces, was issued not long after Arnold's death, and Lord dedicated his
Disguises (for strings) to his erstwhile mentor.

The Piano Concerto Boom of the Tingling Strings was inspired by the poem "Piano"
by D.H. Lawrence:

"Piano (1918) by D.H. Lawrence

Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.

In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide.

So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past."

Says Lord: "I began this piece after reading Lawrence‘s splendid poem late in 1998.
The poem’s depiction of a small boy sitting under the piano in “the boom of the tingling
strings” – a wonderful phrase – had an enormously strong resonance with my own
memories of childhood, and, in the first movement, I wanted to describe the same
nostalgic yearning for a vanished, maybe rose-tinted, past. What follows might be
seen to depict my journey forward from there, with occasional fond backward
glances, towards a world beyond Lawrence’s “flood of remembrance”, and his
weeping for the past. Although prone to that myself, I wanted to end in a more
hopeful and joyous world where one perhaps learns from the past rather than
living in it."

Lord on Disguises: "These portraits of three people were chosen in some way
for their similarities as well as their contrasts. They are: In the first movement,
a famous composer who was a seminal influence on my musical life [Arnold].
In the second movement, my late mother who, when she died, left me, among
countless wonderful memories, the little six-note theme that appears throughout
Music for Miriam. In the third movement an old friend, who brings me occasional
benign madness and hilarity when I most need it, and whose joviality disguises
a certain wistfulness."



Music Composed by Jon Lord
Played by the Odense Symphony Orchestra
With Nelson Goerner (piano)
Conducted by Paul Mann

"Boom of the Tingling Strings is a fourmovement piano concerto in the mould of those
essays by Ravel, Prokoflev, Shostakovich and Gershwin where the piano is a busy
primus inter pares. The title comes from a DH Lawrence poem about a small boy
crouching underneath a piano played by his mother. The music celebrates some
obvious Lord favourites - Sibelian pedal-points, a little recreation of "the" theme
from Saint-Saens's Organ Symphony, bright Arnold-like brass fanfares - and
manages some memorable keyboard effects and an infectious energy all of its
own, not least in a barnstorming, virtuoso finale that has Proms Favourite written
all over it. In addition to Arnold ("MAs.q.u.e"), the friends pictured within the
tone-poems of Disguises are his mother ("Music for Miriam") and an important
friend called "The Clown", identified only by initials but well characterised in
some angular, Nordic string writing."
Gramophone





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Just listening to #192 'Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No.1 (Br�utigam, Hamelin, Shostakovich)' (the Shostakovich one).
Brilliant stuff. A great listening experience. Many thanks indeed for this.

No.327

Alison Young, the flutist on this recording, writes: "Two years ago, conductor Charles
Anthony Johnson approached me with the idea of producing a recording of flute concertos
together. We decided to concentrate on American music, exploring new territory by locating works
that had never been recorded or were currently unavailable on CD. Our decision to record the
particular four works on this recording was based on the music's unique American characteristics,
defined by their compelling individualism. They are products of this century, but their composers
chose to use more traditional styles, utilizing familiar rhythmic patterns and tuneful melodies.
It was a sad discovery for us that these exceptional pieces were not only unavailable on recordings,
but had also seen little performance exposure. As I began studying and practicing, I realized that
this was a great injustice to the composers themselves as well as a loss to musical audiences.
The four works on this CD represent some of the finest flute music written in this country."

A romantic twentieth century classicist, David Diamond was a brilliant orchestrator, who
infused his clearly structured music with intensely individualistic lyricism. He had a large and varied
output, the core of which includes symphonies, quartets, and songs. The Flute Concerto is in
the traditional concerto form with three movements and an extended cadenza in the first movement.
It makes use of a large orchestra, which adds variety and excitement to the flute solo.

Hungarian-born conductor and composer, Antal Dorati (1906-1988), writes in a style he
describes as "recognizably contemporary but not unafraid of melody." Written in 1970, at a time
when Dorati was completing a tenure with the Stockholm Philharmonic and returning to the U.S.
to begin work with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., Night Music for Flute and
Orchestra is a five-movement programmatic piece, rich in orchestral color and nostalgia, with
ad libitum cadenza passages for the flute and orchestra.

Published in 1954 for flute and piano and later arranged for a string orchestra accompaniment,
Ernst Krenek's Suite, op. 147 is a simple, neo-classical work in four movements with
some atonal sections. It was premiered by Paul Horn, flutist, and Paul Katz, pianist, at the Pasadena
Art Museum in California on February 9,1958.



Music by (see above) & Bernard Rogers
Played by the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra
With Alison Young (flute)
Conducted by Charles Anthony Johnson

"Alison Young, who has served as principal flutist for the Houston Ballet and Atlanta
Symphony, has chosen for this attractive collection American flute concertos that have
suffered "sad" neglect and have gone unrecorded, even though they are tuneful and
engaging. The spooky eloquence of Antal Dorati's Night Music recalls the slow movements
of Bartok's Piano Concerto 2 and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste. It is a nice
contrast to the brilliant, bristling playfulness of David Diamond's Flute Concerto....The
most immediately appealing piece is Bernard Rogers's coolly elegant Soliloquy. Ernst
Krenek's Suite is more subdued and abstract. Alison Young is a lyrical player, just right
for this repertory. The Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic - yet another Czech ensemble
recording American music because American Orchestras cost too much - offers colorful
support, especially in the impressionist swirlings of the Dorati."
American Record Guide



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No.328

Aarre Merikanto (1893-1958) was a Finnish composer. He studied music in Helsinki
1911, Leipzig 1912–1914 and Moscow 1916–1917. Merikanto's early style was rooted in
Finnish romanticism, but in the 1920s he developed a personal, atonal but not dodecaphonic
Modernist style. The reception of Merikanto's works of this period was mixed: the
"Schott" Concerto for nine instruments was awarded in a competition organized by the
German publishers Schott & S�hne, but his domestic Finnish audiences and critics were generally
unenthusiastic and his opera Juha, today considered one of his major works, was never
performed during Merikanto's lifetime. Disappointed with the reactions, starting in the early 1930s,
Merikanto gradually abandoned his more radical style and turned towards a more traditional
idiom based on Neoclassicism. The contrast is evident when you listen to the Violin Concerto No.2,
which is more modernistic, and the more accessible, neo-classical Violin Concerto No.4.



Music Composed by Aarre Merikanto
Played by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
With Kaija Saarikettu (violin)
Conducted by James DePreist

"The Violin Concerto No. 2, from 1925, is quite reminiscent in its sound-world of the
violin concerti of Karol Szymanowski, in the pervasive sound of shimmering strings
underpinned by the celesta, particularly in its first two movements. The concerto's
third movement is more extrovert by comparison (Heikinheimo even baldly states in
the notes that "the finale does not unfortunately reach the same high standard"),
but with one last surprise at the very end, where the ending is not the standard
fortissimo, up-tempo crowd-pleasing ending that one would expect of a conventional
concerto, but is something rather quieter. But this concerto is a very appealing work,
and would be worth revival by some enterprising violinist (most likely, if it were to
happen, by a Finnish violinist).

The 'Ten Pieces for Orchestra' (1930), in spite of the word orchestra in the title,
utilize more chamber-like scale musical forces, sometimes on the scale of a chamber
orchestra (the premiere featured a 21-piece ensemble), and in other movement
literally just a handful of instruments. Given their eclectic and somewhat scattershot
nature, the work overall doesn't necessarily claim to have a particular unifying
theme. It has to be said that featuring several slow movements in succession
somewhat made this listeners attention wander at times. Of course, your own
listening mileage may vary. Merikanto seemed to have a gift for surprise endings
in his works, because the last of the Ten Pieces has its own surprise ending,
which stops suddenly before seeming to be played out, musically speaking.

The Violin Concerto No. 4, from 1954, is more outgoing and overtly playful and
light-hearted in spirit compared to the 2nd Violin Concerto. The first part of its
slow movement is perhaps a bit diffuse in argument, but things tighten up by its
end. This concerto also has its own surprise ending in its finale, which again, like
the 2nd Violin Concerto, doesn't go for the standard crowd-pleasing ending, but
ends in rather mezzo-dynamic territory. If the 2nd Violin Concerto is more exotic
in nature, the 4th Violin Concerto is more of a charmer, of a divertimento-like
character, and would be worth reviving in its own right."
Amazon Reviewer

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Merikanto is a underrated composer i like his piano concertos 2 and 3, and the Lemminkainen tone poem also. There is a wonderful Konzertst�ck for Cello and Orchestra on my Finlandia Meet the composer double disc.

Nearly finished listening to #260 'Derek Bourgeois: Trombone Concerto + British Music for Wind Ensemble'.
Gentle in many places but overall very powerful. A delight.
Many thanks for this.

No.329

Sir Malcolm Arnold’s preference for classical forms is fully explored in this representative but
uniquely distinctive programme. Orchestrations of earlier works form the lyrical Concertino for Flute
and Strings and a Saxophone Concerto whose bold statements foreshadow the gritty and
powerful Symphony for Strings. Arnold’s virtuoso Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet is a
late work, and the Cello Concerto was the composer’s last in this form; a piece which speaks directly
from the soul, appearing here in its premi�re recording.



Music by Sir Malcolm Arnold
Played by Northern Chamber Orchestra & Manchester Sinfonia
With Raphael Wallfisch (cello) & John Turner (recorder)
And Esther Ingham (flute) & Carl Raven (alto sax)
Conducted by Nicholas Ward & Richard Howarth

"Arnold’s concertos span his productive life from the 1940s to the 1980s and so do his
symphonies. The Cello Concerto was his last and was premiered - as was the solo cello
Fantasy - by Julian Lloyd-Webber. Never broadcast and rapidly disappearing after the
RFH premiere one wonders why it never made it into concert and radio lists. Perhaps
the performing rights were exclusively held and not further licensed; who knows. Not
sure why Novellos did not promote it at a time when Arnold’s star was rising. That’s not
the only mystery. When premiered it sported the title The Shakespearean but now that
has been magicked away. Did the title have any linkage with the music? The otherwise
useful liner-notes here tell us nothing about that. While not as lustrous and catchy
as the Oboe Concerto it’s certainly a quicker win than the grim torturous passions of
the Seventh and Ninth symphonies. The emotional core is the soulful middle movement.
The outer movements are rhythmically lively. The finale admits paragraphs of touching
depth at times recalling the Finzi Cello Concerto itself a work that looked in its outer
movements to tragedy but leavened and intensified by joy. This is a more compact
work but radiates a grand schema. You might compare this with another work which
was very much the property of Julian Lloyd-Webber: the Rodrigo Concierto como
un Divertimento (1981) as against the instant popularity of the same composer’s
Aranjuez Concerto. Like its companions here the recording is vivid and, as expected,
the faultlessly executed and inspired playing of Raphael Wallfisch is totally
engrossing. Has anyone recorded as much and always with such acumen and
communicative success.

The Flute Concertino is - like all four concertante works here - crafted and made
concert-playable by Liverpool-born composer David Ellis on this occasion orchestrated
from the 1948 Flute Sonatina. Flautist Esther Ingham catches the winks and
beguilement very well indeed and picks up on the resonances with Francis Poulenc;
the last movement has Arnold sauntering along very much the boulevardier and
fl�neur languidly intent on seduction. This is classic Arnold cantabile and can cosy
up rather comfortably with his two Flute Concertos recorded for EMI Classics by
Richard Adeney and John Solum (sadly never reissued). Ellis kits the work out
with idiomatically Arnoldian wings.

John Turner is very much a benevolent immanence when it comes to evangelising
work for the recorder among British composers. We are in his capable presence
for the five movement Fantasy for recorder and string quartet. He is more than
put through his paces as the cheeky humming bird of an Allegro emphasises.
The faster music has all the gamin helter-skelter of an Auric film score. Serenades
and sprints abound. I do not know who the quartet are.

The Piano Sonata dates from wartime. It forms the springboard for the Saxophone
Concerto. This is a most valuable addition as is the Flute Concertino. Carl Raven’s
sax plays the field from music that touches base with Glazunov’s concerto (review).
It ranges from hauntingly metropolitan nostalgia to the acidic Weill-like sardonics
of the finale.

You expect and get real perception from Paul Harris’s liner-note. He draws attention
to the Bart�kian asperity of the Symphony for Strings which he quite rightly says
links with the similarly stern Concerto for Two Violins. It was written for the Kathleen
Riddick String Orchestra which in 1946 had his first wife Sheila Nicholson as a
leading member. Do not expect Arnold the melodic weaver here although there
are tunes in the thorny melos. Fascinating material which places Arnold close to
Rawsthorne and Shostakovich. This is the psychological vein from which sprang
the asperities and snarling gloom of the Seventh and Ninth symphonies.

The disc is a hands-down winner in the Naxos catalogue and slips nicely into the
same rank occupied by Penny’s box of the symphonies. It is in complementary
company alongside the equally well targeted Naxos CD of the piano and
orchestra works."
Musicweb





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No.330

Japanese musicians have often taken the connection between man and nature as their
theme and award-winning composer Toshio Hosokawa stands strongly in that
artistic lineage. His Horn Concerto ‘Moment of Blossoming’ imagines the solo instrument
as a lotus flower and the orchestra as the cosmos. The theme of the blossoming lotus
continues in the piano concerto Lotus under the moonlight and in the songful Chant for
cello and orchestra, influenced by Sh�my� singing (the ceremonial music of Japanese
Buddhism). The Horn Concerto was co-commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic, the
Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and London’s Barbican Centre.



Music Composed by Toshio Hosokawa
Played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
With Stefan Dohr (horn) & Momo Kodama (piano)
And Anssi Karttunen (cello)
Conducted by Jun M�rkl

"Born in 1955, Toshio Hosokawa has become one of today’s leading Japanese composers
who are taking their musical world into the twenty-first century. With both musical feet
planted in tonality, his works often link nature and mankind…His orchestration follows
European traditions, a fact immediately made clear in the Horn Concerto with its subtitle,
Moment of Blossoming, the horn not viewed in its usual guise as a heroic instrument,
but one that pictures the blossoming of the lotus flower. That theme continues in the
Piano Concerto, Lotus under the moonlight…it does not forget that the beauty of the
flower eventually dies. Chant is, by any other name, a cello concerto, and uses as its
influence the ceremonial music of Japanese Buddhism. I imagine Hosokowa is delighted
with the performance by Anssi Karttunen, while Stefan Dohr…and the much acclaimed
Japanese pianist, Momo Kodama, complete the solo line-up. I have the greatest
admiration for the Scottish orchestra who recorded these extremely difficult scores
in just two days. Excellent sound."
David's Review Corner





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No.331

Malcolm Forsyth, honoured as Canadian Composer of the Year in 1989, has earned international recognition
as one of Canada’s leading composers. Born in 1936 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Forsyth majored in trombone,
conducting and composition at the University of Cape Town and played trombone 8 years with the Cape Town
Symphony Orchestra (CTSO) while obtaining his Master’s and subsequently Doctorate degrees. His career as a
composer was launched when the CTSO performed Overture Erewhon (1962), and its success led to an invitation
to write the Jubilee Overture for the orchestra’s 50th anniversary in 1964. Sketches from Natal, commissioned
and broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1970, was Forsyth’s first major commission in Canada.
This vibrant work for chamber orchestra is the first of many subsequent compositions which explore the tribal
rhythms of his native country. Other works Forsyth produced during the seventies include the critically acclaimed
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1979), two symphonies, several works for brass and woodwind ensemble,
as well as two concerti grossi written for the Canadian Brass, Sagittarius (1975) and Quinquefid (1976).
Forsyth died in 2011.



Music by Malcolm Forsyth, Sergei Prokofiev & B�la Bart�k
Played by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
With Jane Coop (piano)
Conducted by Mario Bernardi

"Pianist Jane Coop, one of Canada’s most prominent and distinguished artists, was born
in Saint John, New Brunswick and grew up in Calgary, Alberta, where she began her musical
education with Alexandra Munn and Gladys Egbert. For advanced studies her principal
teachers were Anton Kuerti in Toronto and Leon Fleisher in Baltimore.

At the age of nineteen she won First Prize in the CBC’s national radio competition (the
Young Performers Competition), and this, along with prizes at New York’s Kosziusko
Foundation Competition and the Washington International Competition, launched her
career. In the early years she made recital debuts at Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Recital
Hall (now called Weill Hall), as well as giving performances with the Toronto Symphony,
the Calgary Philharmonic the Victoria Symphony and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra.
In 1976 she was invited to tour the New England States as soloist with Mario Bernardi
and the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada in Mozart’s Concerto in D minor, K.466.

Subsequently she has played in over twenty countries, in such eminent halls as the Bolshoi
Hall in St. Petersburg, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, the Hong
Kong Cultural Centre, the Beijing Concert Hall and the Salle Gaveau (Paris). In her own
country she has given concerts from north to south: Whitehorse (Yukon) and Niagara Falls
(ON), and from west to east: Tofino (BC) and St. John’s (Nfld) and many, many cities,
towns and communities in between. She is in fact one of the few who has remained
resident in Canada throughout her career. Commissions from Stephen Chatman,
Ramona Luengen and others have been included in both her live performances and
her recordings.

Coop’s love of chamber music has led her to collaborate with artists from many parts
of the world. Her longtime association with violinist Andrew Dawes, and her more recent
partnership with cellist Antonio Lysy have given her the opportunity to delve into the
sonata literature of Beethoven, a body of music to which she feels particularly drawn."



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No.332

The Times called it a "superbly played concert" Ivan Ženat� and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Jiř� Bělohl�vek performed Josef Bohuslav Foerster’s First Violin Concerto at
London’s Barbican Hall in December, 2007. The concerto was written at the urging of Czech violin virtuoso Jan
Kubel�k, the dedicatee of the work, and the soloist who premiered it in Chicago in 1910. The second concerto,
recorded in the studio, is a somewhat neglected part of the solo repertoire, not being a work for the presentation
of superficial violin virtuosity. Ženat�, however, succeeds in delving beneath the piece’s surface and uncovering
its introverted beauty for the audience. Thus these pieces appear together for the first time ever on this album,
produced in cooperation with BBC Radio 3.

Foerster was born in Prague in 1859. His ancestors were of Bohemian German ethnicity, but had assimilated
into the Czech community. The family normally lived in Prague and was musical. His father, a composer
also named Josef Foerster, taught at the Conservatory. (His father's students included Franz Leh�r.) His brother
was artist Viktor Foerster. Josef was educated accordingly, and duly studied there. He also showed an early
interest in the theatre, and thought of becoming an actor. From 1884 he worked as a critic, and he would
prove to be a writer of distinction. In 1893 he married the leading Czech soprano Berta Lautererov�
(Bertha Lauterer) in Hamburg, during ten years making his living there as a critic, and she was engaged
at the Hamburg Staatsoper. In 1901 he became a teacher at the Hamburg Conservatory. Foerster produced
numerous compositions. His music is not nationalistic in the sense of employing the idioms of Czech
folk music. His work, words and music, is considered very subjective and personal, mystical and idealistic.



Music Composed by Josef Bohuslav Foerster
Played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
With Ivan Ženat� (violin)
Conducted by Jiř� Bělohl�vek

"Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951) was a contemporary of Gustav Mahler and, like him, was
born in Bohemia, then still part of the Austrian Habsburg empire. Yet where Mahler is now unequivocally
regarded as an Austrian composer, Foerster's lesser but still significant music is firmly part of a
Czech tradition that stretched from Smetana and Dvorak well into the 20th century. Foerster was
hugely prolific, a poet and critic as well as a composer, and nowadays his reputation rests largely
on his six operas and handful of orchestral works couched in a late romantic style that owes more
to Brahms than anyone else. This is claimed as the first complete recording of the two violin
concertos, which were completed in 1911 and 1926 respectively. They are intensely lyrical works,
mostly conventional in form but gorgeously expansive in the best of their melodic writing.
The performances seem beautifully judged, and the soloist Ivan Zenaty has the perfect
pure-toned expressiveness the music needs."
The Guardian





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Great music, Foerster's Symphonies are beautiful too.

thank you, wimpel. such a delight looking into these

No.333

William Busch (1901-1945) was born of German-naturalised parents in London in 1901. His early musical
life focussed on the piano, with which he first made his name as a musician and earned his living as a young
man. His natural inclination, however, was always towards composition and through his friendship with Alan
Bush and then study with John Ireland and Bernard van Dieren, Busch developed his skills, The Two Pieces for
Wind Instruments was his first composition to be performed, in 1927. As the 1930’s progressed, just as his
mind turned more and more to composition so he curtailed his career as a pianist. In the mid 1930’s he made
the first of his important contributions to the canon of British song, wrote (unsurprisingly) several piano pieces
and in 1937 completed his breakthrough work, the Piano Concerto. The composition of the concerto had
been a self-critical struggle but its premiere was a success, gathering much praise from the likes of Finzi and
Vaughn Williams. It was from this time onwards, despite evacuation to Devon at the onset of the Second World
War and the frustrations at being distanced from the centre of musical life in London, that Busch composed
the bulk of his small output. He was also newly married to Sheila, with whom he was later to have two children,
Nicholas and Julia. William Busch’s life was cruelly cut short in 1945 when he was at the height of his creative
powers. Whilst most of his output consisted of songs, piano and chamber music (including the masterful Piano
Quartet), he also completed the Cello Concerto in 1941 and at the time of his death a violin concerto
was left incomplete. Busch’s voice was definitely English, lyrical but with an economy of material and a certain
toughness that set him apart from most other English composers of his generation and perhaps can be seen to
stem from his German heritage.



Music Composed by William Busch
Played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
With Raphael Wallfisch (cello) & Piers Lane (piano)
Conducted by Vernon Handley

"Proving that there are still forgotten twentieth century English composers deserving of being
recognized, Lyrita has released the first recordings of the Cello Concerto and the Piano Concerto of
William Busch. A student of Ireland and a friend of Alan Bush, Busch had a deserved dual reputation
as a sharp-edged, strong-willed modernist composer and a kind-hearted and retiring man when he
died in 1945 at the age of 43, leaving behind a beloved wife, two children, and an impressive but
soon-forgotten body of works. This is a shame: the works here are fully worthy of joining the
English standard repertoire. Busch's Piano Concerto was premiered in 1937 and dubbed by Vaughan
Williams as a "masterly" work, while his Cello Concerto was premiered in 1941 under Adrian
Boult, and he, too, was favorably impressed by the composer's craft and inspiration.

As played here by pianist Piers Lane and cellist Raphael Wallfisch and accompanied by Vernon
Handley leading the Royal Philharmonic, both works live up to these compliments. Lean, muscular
music full of powerful ideas and gripping developments expressed with intensity, Busch's music
is still resolutely tonal and unfailingly direct. And yet it's also deeply melodic music with expressive
themes that will stick in your ear given half a chance. Both the Cello Concerto and the Piano
Concerto make virtuoso demands on the soloists as well as the orchestral players, but the writing
is never merely showy but rather always straight to the point without a wasted note or gesture.
Imagine a more sinewy and less sarcastic Walton or a more refined and less bucolic Vaughan
Williams and you'll have some idea what to expect. If you enjoy those composers' works, you'll
surely enjoy Busch, as well. Lyrita's digital sound is clean, clear, colorful, and deep."
All Music





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No.334

The recorder has been part of Western music for more than seven hundred years, during which
time it has enjoyed a particularly special relationship with the composers and musicians of England.
The present recording showcases the music of three generations of English composers who have
embraced the recorder, making significant contributions to the repertoire in the process. Gordon
Jacob, the eldest, composed numerous works for the recorder from the 1950s up until his last year.

Sir Malcolm Arnold was to follow Jacob’s example contributing his Concerto for Recorder,
originally written for and premiered by Michala Petri. Arnold’s amphibious existence as a composer
for both film and the concert hall is echoed in the career of our youngest contributor, the BAFTA award-
winning composer and recorder player Richard Harvey. The result? Pure musical enchantment!
Jacob’s delightful Suite has been a mainstay for recorder players (and an audience favourite…) since
its premiere, while Arnold’s rarely performed concerto is a late masterwork truly deserving a wider
audience makes a most welcome return to the catalogue. The program is capped off by Harvey’s
magical Concerto Incantato (composed especially for Michala) - a true concert piece for the Harry
Potter generation.



Music by Richard Harvey, Malcolm Arnold & Gordon Jacob
Played by The City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong
With Michala Petri (recorder)
Conducted by Jean Thorel

"What a lovely disc this is! This is a collection of three English recorder concertos by
Malcolm Arnold, Gordon Jacob, and Richard Harvey…Petri is asked to play several different
recorders throughout, from tenor to sopranino. The recorders are accompanied by a
delicate orchestra, consisting of strings, flutes, clarinets, harp, celesta, and percussion.
As the movement titles suggest, this is elfin, magical music.I have to confess it: I’ve
loved every Michala Petri CD that has come my way, and it is too late to turn back now.
She offers proof—if proof were needed—that the recorder transcends its schoolhouse
associations by producing sounds that are both uncommonly plangent and sweet.
Her many fans might be reluctant to duplicate the Arnold and Jacob works, but
Harvey’s concerto is a most enjoyable discovery, and so there’s really nothing to do
but to go out and purchase this CD as well!"
Raymond Tuttle - Fanfare





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No.335

Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991) made a dramatic escape from his homeland, Soviet-dominated Poland,
in 1954. Soon thereafter he settled in England and became conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra. After 1959 he was able to retire from all regular positions and devote his time to composing.
His compositions often restrict themselves to pre-defined sets of intervals or notes, and he tended to use
geometric patterns as models in building his music. When he agreed to write a Piano Concerto he first
set the following aims: to write a virtuoso work, implying display of the soloist's poetic sensitivity and technical
ability; to explore the entire sonic range of the piano; to give the orchestra a significant, powerful role; and
(this was a general goal of his) to impose very strong compositional discipline in order to achieve "maximum
expression with minimum means." The concerto is in three movements, amounting to about twenty-four
minutes. The first movement is not in a sonata-allegro form; it is entitled "Entrada," is moderately fast in
tempo, and at four and a half minutes functions as an introduction to the whole work. Panufnik uses a
three-note cell consisting of a major second and minor second. The second movement, Larghetto molto
tranquillo, comprises quiet dialogues, not only between the piano and the orchestra but among the wind
The third movement, Presto molto agitato, follows without pause with a violent eruption from the orchestra.
The movement is based on a pair of intervals, the major and minor third, except for a lyrical middle section
instruments and strings.

Although Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994) was a concert pianist for five years of his career, he did not
get around to writing a Piano Concerto until the last decade of his life, a time when his music was
mellowing. The work is in four continuous movements and features greater emphasis on melody and less on
aleatoric counterpoint, an element found in many of his previous large compositions. Cast in four sections,
the opening panel serves as a sort of introduction, presenting the materials from which the succeeding
movements spring. The driving second movement begins menacingly in the bass register, swirling upwards,
taking on a Bart�kian sort of rhythmic spring, both on the keyboard and then in the orchestra. The music
mixes playfulness with a queasy sense of risk, of danger lurking around the corner. The third movement
also begins on the piano, the music slowly taking shape, initially seeming to struggle to find its lyrical way
in the long piano solo that dominates the first half. The theme for this final movement is delivered
throughout by the orchestra and is made up of short phrases filled out by rests. The music, then, has
a sort of stop-and-start character in its creepy opening.

Paweł Szymański (*1954) is a Polish composer. His music is based on strict technical discipline
and the initial sound material of Szymański’s pieces has roots in past conventions but is always processed
and composed from the beginning. Szymański himself talks of his music using the qualification “surcon-
ventionalism”. His single-movement Concerto for Pianoforte is episodic and atmospheric in character,
alternating between quiet passages and sudden eruptions.



Music by (see above)
Played by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
With Ewa Poblocka (piano)
Conducted by Kazimierz Kord

"Ewa Poblocka is one of the Polish most distinguished pianists. She studied at the Music Academy in Gdansk,
and is the holder of top awards from piano competitions in Vercelli, Bordeaux and Warsaw. Ewa Pobłocka
has performed throughout most of Europe, as well as both North and South America, Singapore, Korea,
Japan, and Australia, appearing in such famous venues as the Herkules-Saal in Munich, the Musikhalle in
Hamburg, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall in London, the
Musikverein in Vienna, New York's Lincoln Center and Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.

She has given concert performances with, among others, London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber
Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bayerisher Rudfunkorchester, Nieder�sterreichisches
Tonk�nstlerorchester, Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, Polish Chamber Orchestra and
the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice."





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No.336

Vytautas Bacevičius (1905-1970) remained virtually unknown as a composer during his lifetime, in
contrast to the fortunes of his sister Grażyna Bacewicz, who retained her Polish nationality. Rendered
stateless by the outbreak of World War II while he was on tour as a concert pianist in Argentina, he
eventually settled in New York until his death in 1970, giving acclaimed piano recitals, teaching, and
writing astoundingly original orchestral scores. He never lost his deep allegiance to and nostalgia for
Lithuania. This recording gives an eloquent introduction to his pianistic virtuosity and to his mystical,
Scriabinesque vision of the orchestra.

The Piano Concerto No.3 dates from his earlier years in the country (1946–49), when he was still
optimistic about his prospects, and when his ears were still very firmly in Europe. Thus, it has powerful
echoes of the “French” idiom of works such as the Troisieme and Quatrieme Mot, of Vision, written in
Kaunas, and of the Second Symphony ‘della Guerra’, composed while he was trapped in Buenos Aires.
Following a rather conventional “martial” opening, we hear a lyrical, chromatic oboe theme; it will be
with this contrasting second subject that the piano opens its argument, continuing with a transposed
version of the same music at the second solo entry. Then later, the piano soloist explores a third theme,
also lyrical and cantabile (marked Moderato), that is never shared in exact form with the orchestra.
There is a sense until the very concluding pages that piano and orchestra are less interlocutors and
collaborators than somewhat estranged observers of each other. In a similar way, the staccato themes
of the rondo Finale are related in type of movement, rather than in dialogue with each other.

In Bacevičius’s work chronology, the composition of Piano Concerto No.4 (1962), subtitled (in an
echo of Karol Szymanowski) "Symphonie Concertante," is sandwiched between two of the composer’s most
important achievements: the Symphony No. 6 ‘Cosmic’ of 1960, and Graphique, a symphonic poem
of 1964. 15 Thus, it is a vital work for the understanding of his “cosmic” period, and is in stark contrast
with the “French” lyricism of the third concerto. By “cosmic”, Bacevičius intends the inner world of the
non-verbal soul, the limitless imagination of the human mind liberated from corporeal concerns: "… I searched
for new creative and asthetic ideas in my own [Universe]; in this I was much helped by my subconscious,
which is an inexhaustible treasure and source of previously undiscovered ideas and creative elements of
abstract and tonal music."



Music Composed by Vytautas Bacevičius
Played by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra
With Gabrielius Alekna (piano)
Conducted by Christopher Lyndon-Gee

"Though born in Poland in 1905, and spending his life in exile, Lithuania lays claim to the musical soul
of the virtuoso pianist and composer, Vytautas Bacevičius. The booklet’s biography sets out his years of
self-imposed exile from his father’s Lithuanian homeland, when he first went to study in Paris, followed
by years of touring as a concert pianist. He was on an extended visit to South America when the Second
World War began, and found his dual passport worthless. Fortunately he gained sanctuary in the United
States where he enjoyed a successful life in the concert hall and as a teacher. Yet from his younger years
he was intent on becoming a composer—his sister Grażyna enjoying success in that field—and was to
publish an extensive portfolio of scores. Sadly, from the vast volume of letters he wrote, we learn he
has always homesick for Lithuania, where he had spent his formative years. Stylistically he was wedded
to tonality through to the 1940’s, Scriabin the ever present inspiration, with the technical demands of
the Third concerto also owing much to Liszt. He then made a very conscious move towards the post-
war avant garde of the new Polish era of Lutosławski, and at that point he should have been readily
embraced into the concert repertoire, his Fourth concerto, ‘Symphonic Concertante’, from 1962, a
masterpiece of that period. Often forming part of the orchestral texture, the piano part is extremely
difficult, a second movement seemingly one of improvisation as it moves to the central orchestral
eruption. The highly coloured Spring Suite stands between the two, both in the date of composition
and style, at times following in the footsteps of Charles Ives. Throughout there is a deep commitment
in the playing of the Lithuanian Orchestra under Christopher Lyndon-Gee, the multi-award winning
pianist, Gabrielius Alekna, unfazed by his taxing role. I look forward to this ongoing series of discs."
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Sorry,but Bacevicius never was "trapped" in Buenos Aires(a free city in the WW II)

No.337

With his four concertos for marimba the Danish composer Anders Koppel (b. 1947) has played
a crucial role for the development of a concert repertoire for this distinctive instrument. His
concertos have been performed by virtuoso percussionists all over the world, but for this premiere
recording the composer has personally selected a quite special soloist, the young Polish marimba
player Marianna Bednarska, who is thus making her CD debut – accompanied by the Aalborg Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Henrik Vagn Christensen.

Anders Koppel was a co-founder in 1967 of the rock group Savage Rose. From 1976 to 2012 he was a member
of the trio Bazaar. He plays in the trio Koppel-Andersen-Koppel which includes his son, saxophone player
Benjamin Koppel. Koppel has twice received the Danish film award "Robert" for best film score (1994 and 1996).
His first daughter Sara Koppel is an animator and artist, and the second daughter Marie Carmen Koppel is a
renowned gospel, soul and jazz singer. Koppel has composed music for eight ballets for the New Danish Dance
Theatre and music for more than 150 movies, 50 theatrical plays and three musicals. He has also composed
more than 90 works for classical ensembles, chamber music and 20 concertos.



Music Composed by Anders Koppel
Played by the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra
With Marianna Bednarska (marimba)
Conducted by Henrik Vagn Christensen

"When Anders Koppel (b1947) was part of the rock band Savage Rose I doubt he – or anyone else –
would have expected him to pen four concertos for marimba. He has produced a sizeable number
of concertos, such as those for saxophone recorded by his son Benjamin in 2005.

The First Marimba Concerto (1995) was written as a test piece for the Luxembourg International
Percussion Competition. Two compact movements are succeeded by a much longer bravura finale
which rather unbalances the structure, and in truth outstays its welcome a touch away from
competitive occasions. The later ones are more satisfying musically. The string-orchestral
accompaniment of the Second (2000) provides a leaner context and expressively the subject
of time’s passing – suggested perhaps by the millennium – is gripping. The Third Concerto (2002,
rev 2003), like the Fourth (2006), was written for the virtuoso Martin Grubinger. No 3, Linzer, is
named for the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz, who premiered it, and deploys their standard late-
Romantic instrumental complement. No 4, In memory of things transient, is the most varied,
adding an organ into the mix in an engaging eight-movement suite occasioned by the 250th
anniversary of Mozart’s birth and including quotes from Mozart, Balkan folk music and an old
pop tune of Koppel’s.

The young Marianna Bednarska plays all four works – and the solo encore PS to a Concerto
(1995) – with �lan and is expertly supported by the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. Dacapo’s
sound is superb. Listening to this disc is a hugely enjoyable way to spend 79 minutes."
Gramophone



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No.338

Lyell Cresswell, one of New Zealand’s most distinguished composers, is
represented on this recording by three examples of his mastery of the orchestral
sound world. His Piano Concerto is cast in seven movements, written in memory
of his fellow composer Edward Harper, and suffused in expressive intensity, by turns
grieving and unsettled. I Paesaggi dell’anima explores affinities between music
and art through imaginary landscape patterns. The Concerto for Orchestra and String Quartet
is ingeniously constructed and pursues the idea of progression from solo voices, to quartet
interplay and finally to a unanimous voice.



Music Composed by Lyell Cresswell
Played by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
With Stephen De Pledge (piano)
And the New Zealand String Quartet
Conducted by Hamish McKeich

"In December 2009 I wrote: ‘my first acquaintance with the New Zealand-born composer, Lyell Cresswell,
has been one of the most rewarding in recent times’. This second disc shows a composer moving forward
into new sound-worlds, and we have to journey with him, even when the going gets tough. Performances
from the New Zealand orchestra demonstrate much detailed rehearsal, with the fine New Zealand String
Quartet adding much to the Concerto for Orchestra. The pianist, Stephen De Pledge, readily moves from
his role of contemplation to frenetic activity in the Piano Concerto. The sound quality is excellent."
David's Review Corner





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Cresswell sounds like Ligeti especially in the scherzo movements of the PC. Anyone else hear it? I was expecting something lush in neo-romantic vein but this is also nice! Thanks!

If you found the PC enjoyable, you owe it to yourself to seek out Unsuk Chin's PC, which was released by DG very recently.

No.339

�mile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865 - 1950), was a Swiss musician and an inspiring
music educator. He studied composition with Anton Bruckner, Gabriel Faur� and L�o
Delibes, and in 1892 he became professor of harmony at the Geneva Conservatory. In
the early twentieth century he invented eurhythmics, an experimental and highly
successful method of learning that involves teaching musical concepts through movement
to develop an integrated and natural feel for musical expression. Turning the body
into a well-tuned musical instrument, Dalcroze thought, was the best way to provide
a solid musical foundation. As well as being an outstanding teacher - eventually
founding his own Institut in Geneva in 1915 - Jaques-Dalcroze was an accomplished
composer, writing operas such as Le Violon maudit, Sancho Panza and Les Jumeaux
de Bergame, as well as songs, choral and chamber works, and music for orchestra.
This outstanding CD features his two beautiful Violin Concertos, which show
him to be a master of his craft.



Music Composed by �mile Jaques-Dalcroze
Played by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra
With Rodion Zamuruev (violin)
Conducted by Alexander Anissimov

"A good friend of several legendary late-romantic violin virtuosos, including Eug�ne Ysa�e
(1858-1931), the composer fully exploits the solo instrument in both works. The first of
these, completed in 1901, is in the usual three movements, beginning with an allegro that
for the most part adheres to sonata form. The two thematic ideas in the opening statement
are reservedly regal (RR) and cheerfully lyrical (CL) respectively. The sophisticated
development that follows is notable for a clever central fugato in the orchestra, which
the soloist transits in stately fashion, playing RR as if it were a chorale. The thrilling
recapitulation which soon follows features some fancy fiddling in addition to remembrances
of past themes.

The delicate largo is a melodic gem with cyclic references to RR and CL that make the work
all the more coherent. It’s the lull before the boisterous finale quasi fantasia, which is
brilliantly orchestrated with harp and wind embellishments. Additional memorable melodic
material is introduced at the outset, and then this masterfully constructed concerto ends
with the main thematic protagonists taking final bows.

The Poem for Violin and Orchestra came eight years later in 1909. When it first appeared
in print it was misleadingly subtitled his second concerto, probably at the insistence of
the publisher in hopes of selling more copies. A considerably more serious and advanced
work than the previous one, it’s in two extended free-form rhapsodic sections lasting
about twenty-minutes each. The first is sad, and may bring to mind Ernest Chausson’s
(1855-1899) Poem… of 1896. With spun-out melodies and a late romantic chromatic angst,
it’s extremely moving.

The last section is noteworthy for a recurring sinister martial ostinato pessimistically
proclaimed by the orchestra. But the violin eventually refuses to have any part of it,
rallying everyone into a triumphant outpouring of hope for the future. Again cyclic
thematic flashbacks endow this music with a satisfying sense of continuity.

The winner of many violin competitions, Rodion Zamuruev distinguishes himself in
dramatic, yet meticulous renditions of these little known selections. Many readers will
remember conductor Alexander Anissimov for his memorable accounts of Alexander
Glazunov’s (1865-1936) symphonic music. And it would seem he’s equally at home with
Jaques-Dalcroze’s, judging from the ideal support rendered by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.

Recorded in the Mosfilm Studios, Moscow, the sound is superb, and presented across
a wide soundstage with just the right amount of reverberation. Zamuruev’s violin tone
is extremely rich, and he’s perfectly balanced against the orchestra."
Classical Lost and Found



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No more updates for the next ten days.

Wow wimpel60! With this most beautiful post you make us even more aware how long these 10 days gonna be...lol
Have a good time wherever you go!!

No.340

The German composer Ulrich Leyendecker was born in Wuppertal in 1946, studying in Cologne and later teaching
at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg, followed in 1994 by a similar appointment as Professor of Composition at the
Heidelberg-Mannheim Musikhochschule. In his style of writing he represents a post-modernist generation, writing works
under traditional formal titles, while avoiding rigid adherence to these or a doctrinaire approach to composition.
This distinguished and ought-after composer gives his compositions titles from historically defined genres, such as
the Symphony No.3 and Violin Concerto included here, yet he avoids mimicking the styles of past
masters. Both works vividly demonstrate Leyendecker’s interest in music as sonic architecture, while managing to
communicate directly and emotionally with the listener.



Music Composed by Ulrich Leyendecker
Played by the NDR Sinfonieorchester
With Roland Greutter (violin)
Conducted by Johannes Kalitzke

"Of the Concerto the composer tells us "Constant changes in the relationship between solo and
orchestra and increasingly disparate instrumentation determine still more strongly the working
out in the middle section of the first movement". We should not deny that this work is powerful
and gripping. It demands your attention and will occasionally bowl you over. You embark on a
varied and exciting musical journey once it starts. First there is a scurrying idea which made me
immediately think of a Hardanger fiddler. Added to it are tiny points of colour which increase
until suddenly at 1’22" the pulse slackens to expose a fragile but still pointillist world. This
also grows in intensity, meanwhile the violinist’s virtuosity increases. After a further minute
even this idea is halted as the soloist weaves a melancholy line over curious forest noises.
And so it goes on fascinating the ear, new tempi, new textures, but all related. This section
too builds to a frantic and totally dissonant climax.

And incidentally, just to surprise you, the third movement is a set of nine variations on a song
which the composer had written a few years ago as part of his ‘Hebrew Ballads’.

Sometimes these pieces reminded me of James Dillon; sometimes of Hans Werner Henze.
But these analogies are stupid because frankly this music is pan-European and yet totally
individual."
Musicweb





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No.341

All three works in this programme were written for the celebrated viola virtuoso Lionel Tertis (1876–1975),
an artist who dominated British viola-playing in the first half of the twentieth century, commissioning many
new works, setting new standards of playing and in the process designing a new model of solo instrument.
Tertis, almost single-handedly, ran an immensely successful campaign to make the viola an acceptable solo
instrument in its own right and to provide it with a repertoire. With his unprecedented virtuosity and rich
tone he particularly influenced the student composers at the Royal Academy of Music in the early years of
the twentieth century, including Arnold Bax, Benjamin Dale and York Bowen. Tertis toured this repertoire
abroad.

Tertis’s first major commission was the Viola Concerto by the Scottish composer John Blackwood
McEwen, and although this work did not generate a big following at the time it certainly drew attention
to Tertis’s playing and to the possibilities inherent in the viola as a solo instrument. The Viola Concerto
pre-dates the influence of Impressionism on British music, but was pioneering for its presentation of the
viola as soloist in a substantial three-movement work. Indeed, this is a viola concerto on the largest scale.
McEwen recognizes the difficulty of projecting the solo viola above the full orchestra.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Flos Campi (‘Flower of the field’) was first performed at London’s
Queen’s Hall by Lionel Tertis with the Queen’s Hall Orchestra and a choir from the RCM conducted by Sir
Henry Wood, on 10 October 1925. With its unusual scoring and biblical superscriptions from the ‘Song of
Songs’ (the choir only vocalize to ‘ah’) it puzzled its first audience. This is one of the most original pieces
in Vaughan Williams’s entire output. Not only are the forces required unusual but at the first performance
the words were printed in the programme in Latin, with that unthinking intellectual arrogance that once
led educated men to append quotations in classical Greek. Flos Campi’s six movements play continuously.

The Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra was written nearly ten years later, also for Lionel Tertis,
who gave the first performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent
at the Queen’s Hall on 12 November 1934. This work consists of three ‘groups’ of pieces—respectively of
three, of two and again of three movements. Individual numbers have been widely played with piano
accompaniment, but the complete Suite is a rarity, which is a pity because it contains some of the
composer’s most mellifluous invention. The chief characteristic of this work is the varied colour and
lightness of the orchestration.



Music by John Blackwood McEweb & Ralph Vaughan Williams
Played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
With Lawrence Power (viola)
And the BBC National Chorus of Wales
Conducted by Martyn Brabbins

"Lawrence Power is one of the pre-eminent viola soloists performing today, and has a number
of well-received recordings of British viola works under his belt (Walton & Rubbra concertos—
Bowen & Forsyth concertos—Bowen sonatas). His performances here are everything you
would expect, and the support he gains from Martyn Brabbins and the Welsh orchestra and
chorus are first class.

Production values are the usual high standard from Hyperion, and there is really nothing
more I can say than if you are a lover of British music and this passed you by in 2011 as
it did all but one of our reviewers, make haste to your usual source of record purchases."
Musicweb





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Ralph Vaughan Williams was one of the best british composers in my opinion, what wonderful melodies here...i own the old chandos recording with Frederick Riddle, L. Power is a nice alternate. Many thanks wimpel69.

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No.342

In 1938 Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) was an adjudicator at the Ysa�e International Competition for pianists;
in his autobiography "As I Remember" he recalled that ‘Hearing … so much brilliant playing made me wish to write
a work for the instrument myself. I must have put intense concentration into the wish for almost immediately
afterwards the opportunity arose’. It came from the British Council, which commissioned Bliss to compose his
Piano Concerto to mark British Week at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The premi�re took place on 10th
June that year, with Solomon as the soloist, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Adrian Boult.

As to the character of the concerto, Bliss described it in his own programme note: ‘It was to be played by Solomon
and dedicated to the people of the U.S. so obviously it had to be a concerto in the grand manner and what is
loosely called “romantic”. Surely the Americans are at heart the most romantic in the world’. ‘Grand’ and ‘romantic’
are certainly the key words for it is both. Here is a big-boned work, energetic, ebullient, and forthright, but within
this expansive framework there is also room for quieter, more personal emotions portrayed in a rich vein of lyricism.
The adjective ‘romantic’ is equally appropriate for a work following in the tradition of concertos by Liszt, Tchaikovksy
and Busoni. Indeed the ferocious double octaves at the opening of the work indicate Bliss’s intentions and a
virtuoso of a high order is required to fulfil them.



Music Composed by Sir Arthur Bliss
Played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
With Philip Fowke (piano)
Conducted by David Atherton

"If I were to describe this concerto as Rachmaninov's Fifth, or even Grieg's Second, I suppose
it would be taken as a sneer rather than as a compliment, the implication being that Bliss's music
is eclectic and unoriginal. But to have written a work like this in 1938 in a deliberately grand and
romantic manner to a commission from the New York World Fair and for it then not to have turned
out to sound Rachmaninovian would have been surprising. And since Bliss was half-American and
Rachmaninov spent many years in America, the points of similarity were even more coincidental.
But I mustn't lay too much stress on these. This is a work very obviously by the composer of Things
to Come and the Music for Strings and it remains one of his most successful compositions, with a
pleasing astringency of which Rachmaninov was incapable.

Like, I imagine, many other older Gramophone readers, I learned this concerto from Solomon's
splendid wartime HMV recording [scheduled for reissue in the autumn—Ed.], made like this one in
Liverpool. Philip Fowke plays it with the same kind of flair and conviction. He believes in it and he
makes the listener do likewise. The recording is rather 'tubby' in places but always acceptable and
has transferred well to CD. Also on the disc is the rather moving March of Homage written after
Churchill's death in 1965.'"
Gramophone





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No.343

Show Piece for Orchestra was written in the spring of 1954 on commission from Columbia Records Incorporated,
as the musical element of an LP demonstrating the composer's most advanced means of reproducing orchestral
instruments. It was first performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra on May 7, 1954, with Eugene Ormandy conducting.
Given its origin, it may be understood that "Show Piece" is a good title for this work, and the music contains a great
deal of virtuosic writing for a modern symphony orchestra. However, Morton Gould has disavowed any intention of writing what
he describes as "a trick piece." Gould has chosen as the framework for his thoughts the theme and variations form,
with (as might be expected from his agile mind) one difference. If the players seem to be tuning up while the conductor
is on the podium giving them cues, no contretemps has occurred.

StringMusic is a large-scale suite, or serenade, for string orchestra, consisting of five movements. There is
much antiphonal writing sometimes suggesting two separate string orchestras, using such devices as col legno
(tapping the strings with the wood part of the bow) and playing without vibrato. Basically, StringMusic is a
lyrical work. It won Gould a Pulitzer Prize in Music.

As far as anyone can determine, there have been just two public performances of Morton Gould's Piano Concerto;
the 1938 radio premiere, with Gould at the piano and Alfred Wallenstein on the podium and a concert performance in
1993 at Queens College, with pianist Randall Hodgkinson and conductor Maurice Peress. The 1993 performance was
in honor of the composer's 80th birthday. Gould showed up for a two-piano rehearsal, with Leslie Amper, Mr. Hodgkinson's
wife, who performed the orchestral part. Mr. Peress remembers that after the first movement, which is full of note
clusters and mixed rhythms, Mr. Gould said, "That guy Stravinsky's been stealing from me ever since I was a kid."
After the bluesy second movement, Mr. Gould commented, "That shows I was just as miserable in 1938 as I am
today." About the virtuosic third movement, Mr. Peress recalls Mr. Gould did not make any particular observations.



Music Composed by Morton Gould
Played by the Albany Symphony Orchestra
With Randall Hodgkinson (piano)
Conducted by David Alan Miller

"Three world-premiere recordings of large-scale pieces by Morton Gould are cause for celebration, and
with this release we are close to having all of Gould’s orchestral pieces on either LP or CD… not the least
here is Gould’s String Music, the work for which he won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in music. The work is a
five-movement suite reflecting, as Gould wrote in his program note to the score, the “man and musician
we have all come to know for the intensity and emotion of his commitment to music and life, Mstislav
Rostropovich”' anyway, what’s important is that the work is a lovely, intensely lyrical, and thematic work'
Conductor David Alan Miller leads the Albany Symphony in totally sympathetic performances that I can’t
imagine being bettered. [In the Piano Concerto] Randall Hodgkinson tosses off his solo lines with aplomb.
Albany’s sound is complimentary to the music’s colours. This CD is a prime example of intelligent
A&R planning.’"
Fanfare



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Wow, many thanks for this gem, wimpel69.

No.344

Ernst von Dohn�nyi was for many years a little known and unjustly neglected composer. Chandos’
series of recordings of works performed by Matthias Bamert and the BBC Philharmonic significantly
increased his profile, and are regarded as best examples of this repertoire. 2010 marked the fiftieth anniversary of
Dohnanyi’s death. To commemorate this anniversary, Chandos has packaged the two Piano Concertos on one
album, released on the Classics label. Fifty years separate Dohn�nyi’s Piano Concerto No.1 from his Piano
Concerto No.2. For the first concerto, completed when he was just twenty-one, won the prestigious B�sendorfer
Prize. The second is a thoroughly engaging work and notable for being perhaps the last substantial piano concerto
written in the grand Romantic tradition. The irrepressible Howard Shelley performs these virtuosic concertos.



Music Composed by Ernst von Dohn�nyi
Played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
With Howard Shelley (piano)
Conducted by Matthias Bamert

"Ernst (or Ern�) von Dohn�nyi was Bart�k's classmate, saw his music dismissed by the Nazis
as too Hungarian (and, moreover, related by marriage to Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and by the
Hungarian Communists as not Hungarian enough, and ended up as a teacher at Florida State
University. He suffered a final indignity when modernist fundamentalists rejected his music
as too conservative, but a modest revival has been helped along by the fame of his grandson,
conductor Christoph von Dohn�nyi. The two piano concertos here could each be programmed
by a middle-rung symphony orchestra and visiting pianist and would send an audience home
happy. Although they were composed almost 50 years apart, they are recognizably similar in
structure. Both first movements introduce the piano early and use it to subject the orchestral
material to lively questioning in complex, rather episodic dialogues. The middle movements are
lushly lyrical, and the finales are more motoric, with the sole hints of Hungarian flavor in a
generally Brahmsian style. Originally recorded in 2002 and 2004, the two concertos were put
together in a sensible 2010 reissue. British pianist Howard Shelley and the BBC Philharmonic
under veteran conductor Matthias Bamert deliver engaging, not overly sentimental readings
that fit the music, and the Chandos sound is unimpaired in the reissue. At a budget price
this is a nice find for those interested in national styles, or, indeed, any lover of the late
Romantic concerto."
All Music





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Dear Wimpel, thanks a lot for the "McPhee". I did'nt know this guy, it's great!


PS: by the way, i've finally found the Khatchaturian i was looking for in this forum


this one by Frederick Fennell wind ensemble, i love it.
(http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=993169MI0003424382.jpg)

if someone is interested i have it in lossless (pm me)

No.345

Although written in a difficult modern style, the dramatic qualities of Peter Maxwell Davies's
Piano Concerto does not lack in appeal for the reasonably experienced average classical listener.
Davies was born in 1934. When asked whether he is surnamed "Davies" or "Maxwell Davies" his publisher
says everyone just calls him "Max." He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of
the radical "Manchester Group" of young composers and musicians. He moved away from formally
twelve-tone composition into a style that uses "extended tonality": that is, music with a tonal center
but using all chromatic pitches and considerable dissonance freely.

His interest in a Piano Concerto was stimulated by the playing of Kathryn Stott whom he
had heard play often and worked with as conductor with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a Mozart
concerto. He says he was also especially impressed with her playing of the very upbeat piano
concerto by English composer John Ireland. Of his keyboard writing in this concerto Max writes:
"I listened to her playing very carefully and much of the piano writing is related exactly to how
she plays." The concerto was finished on September 24, 1997, and is dedicated "for Kathy."
Once a plan had begun for Max to write a concerto for Kathryn Stott, their initial plan was for a
concerto for a chamber-sized orchestra on a Mozart model. But Max soon developed plans for a
bravura and virtuosic work of the dimensions and power of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1.
Other models that might be mentioned are the crisp and powerful concertos of B�la Bart�k and
Sergei Prokofiev. Accordingly, the concerto is over 35 minutes long and contains sharp-edged contrast
between powerful, rushing music and tense, quiet episodes - a reminder of Prokofiev.

With the seemingly contradictory characteristics of being both charming and modern, the Piccolo
Concerto goes to the top (along with Lowell Liebermann's concerto) of the slim repertory of this
bright, smaller brother of the flute. He wrote this work for relatively small orchestral forces and
the piccolo on a commission from one of London's major ensembles, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
for its principal piccolo player. It was first performed by Stewart MacIlwham and the Royal Philharmonic,
the composing conducting, at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, England, on April 23, 1997.
Although the piccolo has a tone that can cut through the orchestra -- or ride above it -- in its high
register, Davies did not rely on that quality to assure a balance between soloist and orchestra.
The concerto lasts about 15 minutes and is in the standard three movements, though they are
played without pause.



[I]Music Composed and Conducted by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
With Kathryn Stott (piano) & Stuart McIlwham (piccolo)

"Peter Maxwell Davies has written more concertos than most, but this is his first
for the most popular of all concerto instruments. It is dedicated to Kathryn Stott,
whom he has heard in a wide range of repertory (including a Mozart concerto that
he conducted); he says that “much of the piano writing is related exactly to how
she plays”. Just so, and he might have added “and to what she evidently enjoys
playing”. It is a virtuoso piece, with florid solo writing in both the outer movements,
and a deal of grand pianistic rhetoric.

The Piccolo Concerto (in both senses: its total duration is less than the Piano
Concerto’s first movement) is full of long-lined lyricism and dazzling brightness,
but the piccolo’s thinness of tone is also dramatically and effectively set against
orchestral mass and its high lines often hover above cavernous depths. Maxwell’s Reel,
with Northern Lights is another of Maxwell Davies’s exuberant lighter pieces, like
An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise, and it could prove just as popular.

Excellent performances; I could have done with a little more impact to the
piano sound, but the recordings are otherwise good."
Gramophone



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No.346

Attracted by a delightful fusion of early music sonorities with modern expressiveness, Philip Glass,
John Rutter and Jean Francaix in this amazingly rich and varied programme build on the
magnificent harpsichord concerto legacy of JS Bach. John Rutter’s beautiful Suite Antique is full
of rich and haunting themes, with a significant solo flute part and a jazzy Waltz which is as much Brubeck as
Bach. Philip Glass delivers an exciting experience of virtuoso instrumental blending and solo expressiveness,
and with typical wit and elegance. Jean Fran�aix’s Concerto is terrific fun throughout.



Music by John Rutter, Philip Glass & Jean Francaix
Played by the Westside Chamber Orchestra
With Christopher D. Lewis (harpsichord)
Conducted by Kevin Mallon

"What a great disc this is: three delightful contemporary works for harpsichord and orchestra,
easy on the ear, but clever and consistently interesting. John Rutter’s Suite Antique might be
English Poulenc. The tunes are captivating, and the “antique” element needs to be taken with a
large grain of salt (the “waltz” is subtitled “A Jazz Waltz”). The writing for flute and strings is
immaculate, graceful, and sounds like great fun to play, while the keyboard solo takes excellent
advantage of the instrument’s sparkling timbres and ability to delineate rhythmic patterns with
gentle persistence. The performance is also terrific, as fine as the composer’s own, with John
McMurtery an excellent flute soloist with a firm, round tone.

Glass’ Harpsichord Concerto also has plenty of arresting harmonies and a wide range of textures.
The outer movements chug along with unquenchable vitality, and even touches of humor in the
finale, while the central slowish movement makes imaginative play with a variety of melodic
shapes. It’s extremely visual: you can almost see the music as it unfolds. Glass takes full advantage
of the harpsichord’s natural ability to act both as soloist and accompaniment, with the result
that the music’s shifting layers consistently entertain through, and not despite, the usual
abundance of repetition.

As for the Fran�aix, the Concerto begins with two contrasting toccatas, followed by a songful
andantino, minuet, and finale. It’s a zesty romp that brings the disc to a wholly winning close.
Christopher D. Lewis plays a bright, sweet-toned harpsichord with minimal mechanical clatter.
His digital dexterity proves very satisfying, and he’s excellently balanced against the extremely
capable West Side Chamber Orchestra under Kevin Mallon. This is one of those discs that you
might overlook, but you’d be missing a real treat. I’ve already played it several times just
for pleasure, and so will you."
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No.347

Christopher Rouse on his work: "I completed my Concert de Gaud� in
Pittsford, New York on August 1, 1999. The work was a joint commission for guitarist
Sharon Isbin from the Norddeutsche Rundfunk and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra,
with additional funding provided by Richard and Jody Nordlof, to whom the work is dedicated.
In conceiving a guitar concerto, my thoughts went immediately to the great Spanish tradition
of music for this instrument, and it seemed logical for me to exhibit my admiration for this
tradition in my own composition. This in turn led me to reflect upon the work of the extraordinary
Catalan architect Antoni Gaud�, hence the Catalan-language title for the concerto. What has
always struck me particularly strongly about Gaud� is his quintessentially Spanish combination
of surrealism and mysticism, and I strove to include these elements in this score.
Towards this end, I used that music which most might well recognize as archetypically
Spanish -- flamenco — as a foundation for the score. I then proceeded to "melt," "bend,"
and otherwise transform this material into something I hoped would be musically akin to
the way in which Gaud� would take a traditional design and add fanciful, phantasmagoric
touches to make it unlike the work of any other architect.

"Balance and counterpoint is one of the most important things to me in writing music,"
writes composer Tan Dun about his Guitar Concerto (Yi 2), "not only note-to-
note in a single style and tempo, but in a much broader sense. Through the Yi-Ching
(the Chinese philosophical work Book of Changes, 5th century BC), I became interested
in the balance between that which already exists, and that which has not yet come to
be. I learned that ways of balancing the existing and the potential are truly unlimited.
This idea began to enlarge my understanding of counterpoint. I began to think that it
could include not only the relationship of notes, but of styles, tempos, timbres,
dynamics, structures -- even of different ages, of the converging worlds of East and West.
Yi 2 presents a “counterpoint of styles” to Yi 1, a concerto for cello and
orchestra entitled Intercourse of Fire and Water. The writing for solo guitar is totally
different from that for the cello; rhythmically and melodically, the guitar’s materials are
influenced by Spanish flamenco music. Furthermore, a “cultural counterpoint” is found
within the guitar part itself: it blends and contrasts the different traditions, relationships,
and characteristics of two plucked instruments: Spain’s flamenco guitar and China’s pipa.
The guitar’s solo line is no longer coherent as flamenco or pipa music; it has been
transformed by this mingling and exchange of two cultural traditions. Something entirely
new has been created which doesn’t echo tradition, but nevertheless retains the
“shadow” of its roots.



Music by Christopher Rouse & Tan Dun
Played by the Gulbenkian Orchestra
With Sharon Isbin (guitar)
Conducted by Muhai Tang

"Isbin herself is a dazzler; her work as a technician is top notch.
Even more importantly, she possesses an outstanding sense of color
and understanding of the world of textures available to her as a master
guitarist. Her crisp articulation also is remarkable, perhaps reflecting
the influence of her former teacher, the celebrated keyboardist and
Bach expert Rosalyn Tureck. It's hard to judge much of the contributions
of the Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Orchestra, or even those of conductor
Muhai Tang, who seems to be pretty much following Isbin's lead.
The sonic quality of the recording is sharply divided; Isbin is miked
crisply and brightly but the orchestra is distant, dark, and dim."
Musicweb





Source: Teldec CD (My rip!)
Formats: FLAC(RAR), DDD Stereo, mp3(320)
File Sizes: 220 MB / 118 MB

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mp3 version - https://mega.co.nz/#!XNFxETKR!D6qlctN-pLEiU2M6QDo2Zo1UWx7UjIbpueD0OOOIQyc

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