ri

COUPERIN, F.: Harpsichord Music (L'Unique) (Vinikour) (CDR90000-194)




ri

COLLINS, W.: No Name (Unabridged) (NA0415)

Magdalen and Norah Vanstone have known only comfort and affluence for their entire lives. Orphaned suddenly following the unexpected deaths of their parents, the illegitimate sisters find themselves flung into the other extreme of living: their father had neglected to amend his will following their parents’ recent marriage, leaving them with nothing, and their bitter, estranged uncle, the legal inheritor of the family fortune, mercilessly refuses them support. They have no money, no rights and no name. Norah, the elder of the two, looks for work as a governess and accepts her fate. Fiery and headstrong Magdalen, however, does not. She vows revenge and schemes a series of traps to recover the fortune, no matter the cost…




ri

CLARKE, N.: Mysteries of the Horizon / Dial 'H' for Hitchcock / Swift Severn's Flood (Vanhoorne, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Thornton, Clarke, S.Smith) (8.574097)

Nigel Clarke has always been fascinated by virtuosity and timbre—it is the brass band genre that has lent itself most to his passion for musical athleticism. Dial ‘H’ for Hitchcock is an imaginary film score in the film noir vein, complete with classic and chilling sound effects, while the heroic, brooding and violent Swift Severn’s Flood was inspired by a line from Shakespeare. Cornet concerto Mysteries of the Horizon examines the atmosphere of paintings by René Magritte, and Earthrise celebrates one of the most iconic photographs in history and the drama of the Apollo 8 mission.




ri

CIPULLO, T.: Parting (The) [Opera] (Strickling, C. Cook, Mayes, Music of Remembrance, Willis) (8.669044)

Heard here in its world premiere recording, The Parting is a daring opera by award-winning composer Tom Cipullo and librettist David Mason that explores the life and art of Miklós Radnóti, one of the most important poetic witnesses to the Holocaust, and one of its tragic victims. Radnóti’s poems express emotions from love and enchantment to absolute loss, and The Parting includes texts found in his jacket pocket after his death. This opera is a profound meditation on what it is about art that outlives us, that enables us to be creative even in the face of unimaginable adversity, and reminds us to guard against hatred and to celebrate what makes us human.




ri

CHINA / SYRIA Gao Hong / Issam Rafea: From Our World to Yours (EUCD2899)




ri

Cello, Soprano and Piano Recital: Ruh, Janina / Kusnezow, Boris - POULENC, F. / DEBUSSY, C. / FRANCK, C. (Dialogues) (SWR19030CD)




ri

CATHER, W.: My Ántonia (Unabridged) (NA0457)

Orphaned at the age of 10, Jim Burden moves to Nebraska to live with his grandparents. There he meets Ántonia Shimerda, the daughter of an immigrant family from Bohemia, who have come to carve out a life for themselves in the harsh and bountiful Nebraskan landscape. At the urging of her father, Jim teaches Ántonia English and together they share adventures that will bind them throughout their lives, despite the vicissitudes of time and fate, and years of separation. The final book in Willa Cather’s Great Plains trilogy, My Ántonia is a lyrical tribute to the bygone pioneer life and the struggles and successes of America’s early settlers.




ri

BRUCKNER, A.: Symphony No. 4, `Romantic` (1886 version, ed. L. Nowak) (Bavarian Radio Symphony, M. Jansons) (900187)




ri

BRAHMS, J.: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Handel Variations (Vogt, Royal Northern Sinfonia) (ODE1346-2)




ri

BERNSTEIN, L.: Songfest / GERSHWIN, G.: An American in Paris (Wolf Trap Opera, National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, Judd) (8.559859)

An American in Paris is one of Gershwin’s most vivacious works, an orchestral ballet saturated in homesickness and the blues. This recording, however, uses the new 2019 critical edition and offers Gershwin’s original orchestration, unheard for 75 years—leaner, more angular and transparent, it also employs the correct use of the iconic taxi horns, for a new sonic experience. The breezy vitality of Copland’s An Outdoor Overture is balanced by Bernstein’s Songfest—written to celebrate the Bicentennial Year in America, setting the verses of 13 of the country’s poets.




ri

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Symphonies (Complete) (Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Norrington) (SWR19525CD)




ri

BEETHOVEN, L. van: String Quartets Nos. 13 and 15 / Grosse Fuge (Tetzlaff Quartet) (ODE1347-2D)




ri

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Chamber Music - Piano Quartet, Op. 16 / Minuets and Dances (Sofia Kim, Kroh, Segal, Sarid, IU Wind Ensemble, Dorsey) (8.574040-41)

In his first decade in Vienna, Beethoven seems to have been preoccupied with music for wind instruments. The best-known example is his Quintet in E flat major, Op. 16, which he arranged at the same time for piano quartet. He also wrote music for dances and settings of folk songs, and reflected the public’s interest in automata by writing for musical clock. The Napoleonic wars were mirrored in Beethoven’s music of the period, especially in his military compositions such as a series of Marches and the Equali, scored for trombones, which were later played at his funeral.




ri

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven - Music from His Late Compositional Period (c.1815–1827) (9.30207)




ri

BALZAC, H. de: Cousin Bette (Unabridged) (NA0458)

Lisbeth Fischer has lived in the shadow of her beautiful cousin Adeline for much of her life. Pampered while Lisbeth works in the fields, Adeline makes an enviable leap in status when Baron Hulot offers her his hand in marriage. Out of kindness, they bring Lisbeth to Paris, where she falls in love with the artist Wenceslas, her protégé. However, when she is jilted for Adeline’s daughter Hortense, her jealousy and rage exponentially intensify, and she resolves to bring the Hulot family to ruin, employing the cold seductress Valérie Marneffe as her vehicle for revenge. A classic tale of obsession, self-destruction and unabated desire, Cousin Bette is a blazing portrayal of libertine France, and the fatal excesses which drive the novel to its dark end.




ri

BALADA, L.: Clarinet Works - Caprichos Nos. 6 and 7 / Double Concerto (Ivanov, Rominski, Polaczyk, Eryılmaz, Larson) (8.579056)

Barcelona native Leonardo Balada’s creative style has been labelled ‘Dalí’s surrealism in music’—an aspect of his work explored in this programme through the technique of ‘sound transformation’ in which abstract musical materials become familiar melody. Fusing traditional and contemporary elements, Caprichos Nos. 6 and 7 engage intimately with Spanish culture and history, while the virtuoso Double Concerto, heard here in an arrangement for flute, clarinet and piano, blends well-known Mexican folk tunes with the composer’s distinctive avant-garde style.




ri

VIVALDI, A.: Four Seasons (The) / VERDI, G.: I vespri siciliani: Le quattro stagioni (R.M. Minasi, La Scintilla Orchestra) (PHR0112)




ri

Violin Sonatas (American) - SCHOENFELD, P. / STUCKY, S. / HARBISON, J. (Three American Sonatas) (Cho-Liang Lin, J.K. Parker) (8.559888)

The three sonatas on this recording were written at the behest of violinist Cho-Liang Lin, who worked closely with each composer at their premiere performance. Paul Schoenfeld’s Violin Sonata references literary influences and the composer’s past as well as his Jewish heritage in the work’s final Freilach or “joyous dance”. Steven Stucky acknowledged Debussy as the source of inspiration in his work, while the alchemy of John Harbison’s style creates music that is simultaneously abstract and narrative. Wryly introduced as “crazy modern music”, Bernstein’s brief Canon for Aaron was composed for Copland’s 70th birthday celebrations.




ri

Violin Recital: Arnoldi, Roberto - ANZAGHI, D. / ARNOLDI, N. / GARBARINO, G. / SPINOSA, R. / VACCHI, F. (New Music for Solo Violin) (TC940003)




ri

VERDI, G.: Due Foscari (I) [Opera] (Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Orchestra Giovanile della Via Emilia, Arrivabeni) (CDS7865.02)




ri

VERDI, G.: Attila [Opera] (I. D'Arcangelo, Monastyrska, S. La Colla, G. Petean, Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Radio Orchestra, Repušić) (900330)




ri

TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Sacred Choral Works - Vesper Service / Hymn in honour of SS Cyril and Methodius (Latvian Radio Choir, Kļava) (ODE1352-2)




ri

SINIGAGLIA, L.: String Quartet Works (Complete), Vol. 1 - String Quartet, Op. 27 / Brahms Variations / Hora Mystica (Archos Quartet) (8.574183)

The renowned Italian composer and mountaineer Leone Sinigaglia wrote a fascinating series of pieces for string quartet that reflect his powers of characterisation and elegance. Flowing melodies can be heard throughout, not least in the Concert-Étude, Op. 5, while the more substantial Variations on a Theme of Brahms, Op. 22 display his technical skill and expressive variety, whether reflective, sombre or exuberant. His String Quartet in D major, Op. 27 exemplifies his dual inheritance: a commanding central European facility, combined with a natural Italian lyricism.




ri

SIERRA, R.: Cantares / Loíza / Triple Concierto (Trío Arbós, Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club, Xalapa Symphony, Marcelletti) (8.559876)

Roberto Sierra’s refined compositional voice is subtly combined with contemporary musical techniques and his Puerto Rican heritage in the three works recorded here. Cantares, commissioned by the Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club to celebrate the university’s sesquicentennial anniversary, evokes ancient Peruvian, Aztec and Afro Caribbean voices lost in time. The virtuoso Triple Concierto transforms the popular Caribbean rhythms of salsa, bolero and merengue into complex contemporary expressions, while the polyrhythmic layers of Loíza conjure a Puerto Rican town known for its strong African traditions.




ri

SCRIABIN, A. / PASTERNAK, B.: Piano Works (Samson-Primachenko) (UP0213)




ri

SCHARWENKA, P.: Piano Trio, Op. 121 / Duo for Violin and Viola / Viola Sonata / 4 Concert Pieces (Breuninger, Berthaud, Triendl) (C5391)




ri

SAURET, É.: 24 Études Caprices, Vol. 4 - Nos. 20-24 (Rashidova) (8.574159)

The final volume of the 24 Études-Caprices by the internationally renowned virtuoso Émile Sauret, crowns one of the most impressive but seldom performed bodies of solo violin writing in the entire canon. In the last five Études, once again played by Nazrin Rashidova on Sauret’s own Stradivarius violin, the full range of his art can be heard, from double- and triple-stopping, to registral leaps, chordal and staccato techniques and exercises for absolute control of the bow. Of Volume 3 (8.573975) The Strad wrote: ‘Rashidova plays superbly’.




ri

PROKOFIEV, S.: Songs and Romances (Gritskova, Prinz) (8.574030)

Sergey Prokofiev is acknowledged as one of the 20th century’s greatest composers, and his enduring popularity today rests on a rich legacy of orchestral and chamber works. Less well-known are his songs, which display a lyrical component that suited his liking for clear and simple forms. This can be heard particularly in Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova, but all of these pieces show Prokofiev to be a worthy successor of the great 19th-century tradition of art songs. Margarita Gritskova’s voice was described by Opera News as ‘a spectacular instrument’ in her recording of Russian Songs on Naxos 8.573908.




ri

PRADO, J.A.R. de A: Piano Concerto No. 1 / Aurora / Concerto Fribourgeois (Rubinsky, Minas Gerais Philharmonic, Mechetti) (8.574225)

At the time of his death in 2010, Almeida Prado was one of Brazil’s most internationally admired composers, one who created music of unique sonority and colour, rooted in his native country. In Aurora (‘Dawn’) he employs his newly developed ‘transtonality’ to radiant effect, while the Concerto Fribourgeois features a collage technique. In his Piano Concerto No. 1 Almeida Prado explores a cogent structure in which the soloist opens up, rips apart or transforms the theme and variations, in a work that is both grandiose and luminous.




ri

MAYR, J.S.: Due duchesse (Le) [Opera] (M. Schäfer, T.M. Herbert, Bavarian State Opera Chorus, Simon Mayr Choir, Concerto de Bassus, Hauk) (8.660422-23)

As one of the leading operatic composers of his generation, Johann Simon Mayr nurtured a fascination with the chivalric stories of medieval England. Le due duchesse, an opera semiseria with buffa elements, is set during the reign of the 10th-century King Edgar. Huntsmen’s and Knights’ choruses and troubadour-like songs give great vivacity to a score that is both lyrical and dramatic. Mayr’s compound of Viennese Classicism and Italianate melodic beauty, allied to his ambitious writing and a skilful libretto, produced an important and influential opera couched in his own unmistakable idiom.




ri

LISZT, F.: Wanderer Fantasy / SCHUBERT, F.: Piano Sonata No. 13 / BRAHMS, J.: Handel Variations (C. Park, Eschenbach) (C5412)




ri

INDIA Sabri Family (The) (EUCD2904)




ri

HAYDN, J.: 6 Original Canzonettas, Books 1 and 2 / Lieder (Britain's Glory) (Horak, R. Fuller) (Gramola99212)




ri

HANDEL, G.F. / GLUCK, C.W.: Opera Arias for Soprano (Care Pupille) (Mariño, Halle Handel Festival Orchestra, Hofstetter) (C998201)




ri

GROVEN, E.: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 (Kristiansand Symphony, Szilvay) (8.573871)

Many interwar Norwegian composers tried to create a new national music by combining elements of authentic folk music with new techniques. Eivind Groven was considered one of the most innovative composers in this quest, integrating the structure of folk dances from his rural upbringing into familiar formal principles. Both symphonies make use of techniques of so-called ‘progressive transformation’, which led fellow composer Arne Nordheim to declare: ‘While others made instrumentations of folk tunes, Groven created sounds, for example in his [two] symphonies which, in my opinion, are quite unique.’




ri

Flute Music - CASTALDI, P. / COSMI, G. / DAVISMOON, S. / FANTICINI, F. / MORRICONE, E. / PROCK, S. / TACCANI, G.C. (Flute XXI) (Fabbriciani) (TC980090)




ri

DOPPLER, F. and K.: Flute Music (Complete), Vol. 10 (Arimany) (C5304)




ri

DAUGHERTY, M.: This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie (Socolofsky, J. Daugherty, Dogs of Desire, D.A. Miller) (8.559889)

In This Land Sings, GRAMMY Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty has created an original musical tribute to the singer-songwriter and political activist Woody Guthrie (1912–1967). Traveling the backroads of America from coast to coast with a guitar and harmonica, Woody Guthrie performed folk songs of love, wandering and social justice during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Daugherty has composed his own original songs and instrumental interludes that give haunting expression, ironic wit and contemporary relevance to political, social and environmental themes from Guthrie’s era. Under the baton of GRAMMY Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller, the Albany Symphony’s new music ensemble Dogs of Desire, joined by soprano Annika Socolofsky and baritone John Daugherty, give a poignant and rousing performance.




ri

CHINA Folk Music of China, Vol. 6: Folk Songs of China's Tajik and Russian Minorities (NXW76093-2)

This album features folk songs from the Tajik and Russian ethnic minority groups living in the western and northwestern areas of Xinjiang, China. These folk songs have an earthy beauty that is theirs alone. Many of the Tajik songs featured here are accompanied by the Rewap—an ancient stringed instrument made from mulberry trunks. The sound is similar to that of an acoustic guitar, but the tone is brighter and more elastic. Many of the Russian songs feature the Bayan (a type of accordion) and the Balalaika.




ri

CELTIC Brian Ó hEadhra / Fiona Mackenzie: TÌR - Highland Life and Lore (NXW76115-2)




ri

BELEVI, K.: Guitar Duos - Cyprian Rhapsodies Nos. 1-4 / Suite Chypre / Turkish Suite (Duo Tandem) (8.574081)

Kemal Belevi’s music is steeped in the colours and atmosphere of the eastern Mediterranean, and his aim is ‘to create beautiful music’ based on melodies and rhythms that have been absorbed from the folk music of Greece, Turkey and the Middle East. Belevi’s own arrangements of works such as the evocative Suite Chypre and the richly varied Cyprian Rhapsodies have significantly extended the repertoire for two guitars. The Duo Tandem are drawn towards this composer’s skilful modernity and his celebration of traditional heritage reimagined within the sound world of the classical guitar.




ri

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Folk Songs (Bohnet, D. Johannsen, Klimbacher, Herzer, Christelbauer, B. Bartos) (8.574174)

George Thomson of Edinburgh, a notable promoter of Scottish music, encouraged settings of his nation’s folk songs. In particular, he found a rich source of arrangements in Vienna, where he commissioned first Haydn and then Beethoven to set a large sequence of poems, including those of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. Thomson envisaged simple works, agreeable to amateurs, but Beethoven found it impossible to compose within such limitations and his settings, which include Irish and Welsh songs, with the accompaniment of strings and piano, have proved perennially popular.




ri

AFRICA Pure Africa (EUCD2903)




ri

ABEL, M.: Intuition's Dance / 4 Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva / The Elastic Hours / Clarinet Trio (The Cave of Wondrous Voice) (Shifrin, Sherry, Plitmann) (DE3570)




ri

DEBUSSY, C.: Pelléas et Mélisande [Opera] (Zürich Opera, 2016) (NTSC) (BAC157)




ri

DEBUSSY, C.: Pelléas et Mélisande [Opera] (Zürich Opera, 2016) (Blu-ray, Full-HD) (BAC457)




ri

ART OF OHAD NAHARIN (THE), Vol. 2 - Sadeh21 [Ballet] (Batsheva Dance Company, 2018) (NTSC) (BAC172)




ri

ART OF OHAD NAHARIN (THE), Vol. 2 - Sadeh21 [Ballet] (Batsheva Dance Company, 2018) (Blu-ray, Full-HD) (BAC472)




ri

GALERIE DORÉE - The 300th Anniversary Concert (Devos, Le Concert de la Loge, Chauvin) (NTSC) (BAC171)




ri

GALERIE DORÉE - The 300th Anniversary Concert (Devos, Le Concert de la Loge, Chauvin) (Blu-ray, Full-HD) (BAC571)