Tracklista:1. Orchestral Works (33 Tracks On 2 Discs)

• Data premiery 2008-06-02
• Nośnik CD / Album

On a new disc to celebrate the 2012 Diamond Jubilee, The King's Singers present a selection of works from the past 500 years written in honour of the great Monarchs of Britain.   Starting with works for (and in some cases by) Henry VIII, the programme covers the Elizabethan 'Triumphs of Oriana' by composers such as Gibbons, Mundy and Dowland; a very Victorian selection of dedicatory works by Elgar, Parry and Parratt; choral arrangements from the opera 'Glorianna' by Benjamin Britten; and a new piece by Paul Drayton that comically pens 'A Rough Guide to the Royal Succession'. Drayton is perhaps best known to fans of The King's Singers as the composer of their much-loved encore work Masterpiece.

• Wykonawca The King's Singers
• Data premiery 2012-06-01
• Nośnik CD

  Shostakovich wrote two cello concertos for his great friend Mstislav Rostropovich. Cello Concerto No. 1 was written in 1959, a difficult year for the composer. His second marriage was failing, and he was suffering from a debility in his right hand that hampered his ability to write, and to play the piano. His personal circumstances could not help but to colour this dark and uncompromising cello concerto. The angular motifs in the first movement grate against one another, and the slow movement touches depths of feeling unheard in Shostakovich’s works since the First Violin Concerto a decade earlier.  Shostakovich’s inspiration for the concerto was Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto for cello and orchestra. He loved this work, and told Rostropovich that he had played the recording of it so many times that it eventually wore out completely and only emitted a kind of hiss when he put it on his gramophone player.  Cello Concerto No. 2 was written seven years later, in 1966. It was premiered at the composer’s sixtieth birthday concert with Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist. Until the very last moment it was doubtful that Shostakovich himself would attend, as he had recently suffered a heart attack. In the end, he did make it to the concert, and both he and the new concerto were rapturously received. In the words of Rostropovich, this work is ‘less striking [than its predecessor]… but its profundity is second to none’.  The works are here performed by the cellist Enrico Dindo, whom Rostropovich himself described as ‘a cellist of exceptional qualities, a complete artist and a formed musician, with an extraordinary sound which flows as a splendid Italian voice’. Dindo has performed with the BBC Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre national de France, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others, under conductors such as Valery Gergiev and Rostropovich. On this recording he is accompanied by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda, an exclusive Chandos artist.  

• Wykonawca Dindo Enrico
• Data premiery 2012-01-01
• Nośnik SACD

The piano trio gained popularity in the second half of the 18th century with the introduction of the pianoforte. The new instrument, more expressive than its predecessors, thrilled musicians and fans alike. Composers rushed to create works showcasing its possibilities resulting in the creation of chamber music intended for performance within the family or among friends. Mozart composed half a dozen works for the new ensemble throughout his career. An early attempt, the Divertimento K. 254 from 1776, might be considered a sonata for accompanied piano, the violin conversing with the pianist’s right hand and the cello supporting the left. Later works however show the composer breaking away from the conventional dictates of sonata form, introducing broader formal dimensions and dramatic elements: a richly ornamented cantilena here (in the Trio K. 502), a contrasting theme with Bohemian accents there (in the Trio K. 542 finale), or taking us into the operatic universe of Le Nozze di Figaro (Trio K. 548). If Beethoven’s Op.1 trios demonstrate a young musician still influenced by Haydn’s teachings, then the trios of Op. 70 are doubly impressive for the skill with which the musician from Bonn transcends these lessons in works imbued with theatricality (“Ghost” Trio), and subtlety of emotion (Op. 70, No. 2). The “Archduke” Trio, composed just three years later, is a true masterpiece. Featuring a particularly dense structure in which the chords become interior voices, the “Archduke” Trio succeeds in establishing an expressive balance and dialogue between the piano and strings. Schubert waited until the last year of his short life to offer two highlights of the piano trio repertoire: No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898 and No. 2 in E-flat major, D. 929. His only other works for the form are Sonatensatz D. 28, a graceful work he wrote while studying with Salieri, and a late Notturno of troubling beauty, D. 897, probably a discarded slow movement from his Trio D. 898. Along with his authoritative String Octet Op. 20, Mendelssohn’s two trios with piano represent a summary of his chamber music production. A mature work, the Trio in D Minor balances dense contrapuntal passages with subtle instrumental textures, imbuing the piece with light, finesse, expressivity, and a certain mischief reminiscent of his A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Six years later, his Trio in C Minor marks another major achievement in the trio repertoire. The slow movement evokes the most sublime Songs Without Words, while the Finale is positively orchestral, with the pianist abandoning the role of accompanist to become orator. Shostakovich wrote music for the genre just twice. In the Trio Op. 9 one can hear the both enthusiasm of a student at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and the very foundations of the composer’s characteristic language - a juxtaposition of anxiety and humour not lacking in romanticism. Written 21 years later, in 1944, his Op. 67 wavers between austerity, fluidity, latent sadness and borrowings from Jewish folklore (a subtle reference to the horror of the Nazi death camps of Treblinka), as the immediately preceding years had deposited their weight of pain. Any decision to record the complete works of a single composer holds particular interest for performers. Especially when these works encompass the whole of an artist’s career, they allow the listener to trace a striking portrait of the evolution of the composer’s language. The works recorded here by the Gryphon Trio are snapshots of the composer’s lives. They invite us to join them on an interior journey. Juxtaposed with the early works, the mature works speak to us in a new way: exciting in the listener a desire to understand more deeply musical evolution of their creators. © Lucie Renaud Translation : Annie P. Prothin

• Wykonawca Gryphon Trio
• Data premiery 2012-11-01
• Nośnik CD

The Early Dreams project represents both a return to the source and a rebirth for Constantinople. It is the start of a new cycle. The group was born ten years ago around a meeting of the sonorous, musical and cultural worlds of two instruments—the setar and the European lute—the first, monodic and drawing melodic contours around the latter’s bass lines and harmonic patterns. This dialogue was complemented by the virtuoso percussion work of Ziya Tabassian and the rich sound of the viola da gamba, which can take on the roles of both bass instrument and solo voice. Since its inception, the ensemble has travelled the world to explore new projects arising out of unique musical encounters between old manuscripts and living musical traditions. Driven by a constant desire to renew itself through creation, the group’s projects draw from existing material while leaving room for informed improvisation. This new cycle begins with Early Dreams, in which the setar, the Baroque guitar, percussion instruments and the viola da gamba mingle with the voice of our long-time collaborator Françoise Atlan over the ostinato bass lines of Spanish and Mexican diferencias from the Baroque era. We used these bass lines, drawn primarily from the works of Lucas Ruis de Ribayaz (c.1626–c.1667) and Santiago de Murcia (c.1682–c.1740), two Spanish instrumentalists and composers whose works were widely played in 17th- and 18th-century Mexico, as a starting point to recreate both instrumental and vocal works. As part of this re-creation process, we immersed ourselves in the cultural essence of this promising New World and went to the heart of Baroque-era Mexico in search of what had fashioned the spirit of composers from the period: the fabric of the music, some written works, the grandeur of its cathedrals, and the treasures of its libraries. The cultural context of Mexico of that time is fascinating. There is clearly a strong Spanish influence on the society and as a result on the repertoire. Yet, Baroque Mexican culture stands out from its Spanish cousin by its religious and cultural syncretism. A major intellectual figure symbolizes the spirit of the entire period for both Mexico and Spain: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–1695), the first great Latin American poetess.We were overwhelmed by her impassioned poetry and texts, and the musicality of her writing made us want to bring it to life again. A highly intellectual figure, Sor (sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz also composed music and was an undisputedly talented singer. However, her scores and compositions have not survived. To remedy this situation, we selected some of her poems and set them to music over known bass lines of the period. As part of this (re)creation project, we teamed up with Canadian composer Michael Oesterle and invited him to write a piece. Sharing our fascination for the poetry and time of Sor Juana, he composed Tres sonetos, a very personal reading of this famous scholar’s work. Throughout this creative process, we kept an image of Sor Juana playing and singing her poems over these ostinato bass lines in our hearts. Françoise Atlan, performing Baroque repertoire for the first time, lends her warm and unique voice to the project. Actively involved in the creative process and a veritable restorer of a flamboyant past, she devoted her remarkable talent to the service of this key literary and intellectual figure’s poems. The virtuosic dialogues between the Baroque guitar, the Persian setar, the viola da gamba and the percussion instruments also recreate a unique sound, one that is characteristic of our group. It’s a sound that is both ancient and modern, tinged with Mediterranean and Middle-eastern sonorities, this time with a daring gaze toward the New World, nourished with respect and admiration for one of the most celebrated women scholars of New Spain, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Sor Juana Inés de la CruzThe life of Sor Juana is relatively well known in spite of the normal uncertainties given the three centuries and the geographical distance separating her time and place from our own. Our modern fascination with Sor Juana could be explained by the uniqueness of her personality – an indispensable source of information is her biography written by the Mexican man of letters and diplomat Octavio Paz (1941–1998), winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1990. However, the primary source remains Sor Inés’ own autobiography, entitled Respuesta a Sor Filotea (Reply to Sister Filotea), published in 1691, and virulently criticized in intellectual circles. Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, who was born in San Miguel Nepantla, in Mexico (New Spain at the time), in 1651 (some researchers say 1648) and died in Mexico City in 1695, seems to have been the illegitimate daughter of an adventurer who never admitted his paternity and a landed woman who never married. In a world where women were not allowed access to knowledge, and in particular a formal education, the young Inés demonstrated spectacularly precocious intellectual gifts (she wrote her first text at the age of seven) and rose up against prejudice by devising a scheme to disguise herself as a man in order to attend university. Although her plan failed, her mother sent her to Mexico City in 1664, and her remarkable talents eventually drew the attention of the court of Marquis de Mancera, Viceroy of Mexico, who was charmed by this) rare instance, for the time, of a female poet, and one with such a sweet and likable nature. She soon became a lady-in-waiting of the viceroy’s wife and proved to be just as brilliant in philosophy, theology, mathematics and astronomy, not to mention music, as she was in literature. She wrote with great relish, setting down poems, plays and texts to be sung at church—the popular villancicos so typical of Spanish music and essential components of the Empire’s great religious feasts. Her only interest being in the arts and sciences, Juana knew full well that the monastic world would allow her to dedicate herself entirely to these pursuits. Her first attempt to enter a Carmelite convent failed, but in 1669, she was successful and turned her back on the lavish court life and took the veil, becoming Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz at the monastery of Jeronimas de Puebla, where she continued to write and fascinate her compatriots throughout the world. At the monastery, Sor Inés was free to develop her immense intelligence and devote herself to her love of literature.What makes her œuvre so interesting is undoubtedly the numerous perspectives under which she is considered. Some see her as the ultimate expression of a certain Spanish classicism, others as incarnating the first expression of a true American identity. There are convincing justifications for either interpretation. Hence, her poem “Primer Sueño” (Early Dream), which describes the dreamlike voyages of the human soul, falls into a tradition of Spanish literature whose most obvious representative is Luis de Góngora (1561–1627), while her plays cannot but display her admiration for Calderón. But as Octavio Paz writes, numerous works, including “Primer Sueño,” are influenced by the Hermetic, mystical tradition of the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher. The polemics arising from her Reply to Sister Filotea clearly illustrate the problems raised by the existence of such a brilliant woman. A response to a letter attacking her for her focus on literature and the sciences and suggesting that she instead concentrate on theology, Sor Inés’ Reply is a remarkable text on the recognition of women in society of the day. It also takes a run at the inordinate power of the Inquisition, a sign that her personality, so highly appreciated by her contemporaries, also had an opinionated and determined side. Defending the place of women in society, Sor Inés was also a fervent advocate of other victims of social prejudice: She viewed prostitutes with a sympathetic regard and was also among the voices standing up for black slaves and aboriginals in Spanish territories. However, the Reply attracted the wrath of the Archbishop of Mexico, who condemned Sor Juana’s “waywardness.” She resolved to stop writing rather than submit to censure. In the end, only a small portion of Sor Inés’ œuvre, collected today under the title Complete Works, has survived, a quarter of it consisting of religious songs. Legend has it that her writings were saved by the Mexican viceroy’s wife herself, evidence that Sor Inés’ unique voice had echoed deeply among her entourage. Similarly, we now know that her texts were set to music for over a century (until the 1780s) by the most important composers of South America, though her poetry was “adapted” to local practices. It is moving to hear a voice in the struggle for liberty—a voice snuffed out by its suffocating era—sing out once again over the span of the centuries.

• Wykonawca Constantinople
• Data premiery 2011-03-01
• Nośnik CD

Tracklista: CD 1 – 6. 1. Symphonies & String Symphonies CD 7 + 8 1. Piano Concertos CD 9 1. Violin Concerto CD 10 + 11 1. Piano Quartets + Quintets CD 12 – 14 1. String Quartets + Quintets CD 15 + 16 1. Sonatas for Violin, Cello & Piano CD 17 – 20 1. Organ Works CD 21 + 23 1. Serenade, Duets & Songs CD 24 1. Overtures CD 25 1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream CD 26 + 27 1. Der Onkel aus Boston CD 28 1. Heimkehr aus der Fremde CD 29 1. Die erste Walpurgisnacht CD 30 1. Athalia CD 31 + 32 1. Elias CD 33 + 34 1. Paulus CD 35 + 36 1. Psalms CD 37 – 43 1. Sacred Choral Works CD 44 1. Songs without Words CD 45 1. Piano Works

• Wykonawca Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
• Data premiery 2017-10-01
• Nośnik CD

This chronological exploration of the musical universe of György Ligeti begins in 1948, with a brief piece for solo piano composed by a 25-year old music student in Budapest and ends with his final compositions, also for solo piano, when Ligeti had long since become established as one of the truly great figures of 20th-century music. On the way, it takes in a number of works which demonstrate the kaleidoscopic qualities of the composer and his oeuvre – from the sharply delineated sense of humour displayed in the Six Bagatelles to the otherworldliness of Lux Aeterna (used by Stanley Kubrick in his film 2001 – a space odyssey), and the sheer mass of Volumina for organ, in which the performer uses elbows, arms and the palms of his hands in order to strike the largest possible number of keys at the same time. The music and its creator are described in an enlightening essay by the musicologist Arnold Whittall, who quotes a remark by Ligeti himself as one explanation for this almost bewildering range of moods and atmospheres: ‘every­thing that is direct and unambiguous is alien to me’. Ligeti’s œuvre certainly bears this out, while also testifying to another observation by the composer: ‘what is serious is at the same time comical, and the comical is terrifying’. The present, amply filled anthology brings together some seminal Ligeti works in interpretations that were highly praised when originally released, by performers of international standing, including Nobuko Imai, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, Fredrik Ullén and Hans-Ola Ericsson, as well as the eminent vocal ensemble Schola Heidelberg.

• Wykonawca Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet , Ullen Fredrik
• Data premiery 2012-11-01
• Nośnik CD

Harking back to a golden era in recording, when the ensembles of the Eastman School of Music under the baton of the legendary Frederick Fennell made dozens of pioneering recordings for Mercury Living Presence, the Eastman Wind Ensemble celebrates its 60th anniversary with its first recording for AVIE Records. Stravinsky’s music figured early on in the EWE’s history; his Symphonies for Wind Instruments were performed in 1951 on a program conducted by Frederick Fennell that led to the establishment of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. And in 1966, at the age of 83, Stravinsky made his one and only visit to the Eastman School of Music, overseeing performances of several of his works. Under Mark Scatterday, who continues in the prestigious lineage as the fourth conductor in the EWE’s history, the superior student ensemble performs Stravinsky’s Octet, while Eastman Virtuosi, made up of the Eastman School’s renowned faculty members, turn in a devilishly fine rendition of “L’Histoire du Soldat.

• Wykonawca Various Artists
• Data premiery 2013-03-01
• Nośnik CD

In 1806, Beethoven composed two concertos – the Fourth Piano Concerto followed by the Violin Concerto Op. 61. In both cases the composer soon returned to the works to produce new versions, and it is these later versions that are presented here. At the public première of the Fourth Piano Concerto in 1808, Beethoven performed the piano part very ‘capriciously’ according to his pupil Carl Czerny, playing many more notes than are to be found in the printed edition. A clear indication of what Beethoven played comes from his copyist’s orchestral score, in which the outer movements contain annotations in the composer's hand. These have been transcribed by Beethoven scholar Barry Cooper who, in his insightful liner notes, describes this rarely recorded 1808 version as 'strikingly inventive’ and ‘more sparkling, virtuosic and sophisticated than the standard one'. In the case of the Opus 61 concerto, Beethoven succeeded in writing what many consider to be the quintessential violin concerto. Less well-known is the fact that soon after the first performance, Beethoven produced an arrangement of the solo part for piano, modifying the violin part slightly in the process. When the work was first published, it was as a concerto for violin or piano. Worth noting is that although Beethoven did not compose any cadenzas for the violin, he did so for the piano version. The one for the first movement is especially striking, in that it includes a part for timpani, reminding us of the timpani solo that begins the entire work. Ronald Brautigam and the Norrköping SO under Andrew Parrott have received acclaim for two previous discs of Beethoven's works for piano and orchestra: 'These well-known works emerge as if freshly minted' wrote International Record Review about Concertos Nos. 1 and 3, while the German magazine Piano News hailed the release of No.2 and the youthful Concerto WoO4 as 'a magnificent recording in which Brautigam demonstrates his stylistic expertise, and which shows what a splendid pianist he is.'

• Wykonawca Brautigam Ronald
• Data premiery 2009-01-01
• Nośnik SACD

This disc completes the cycle of Tchaikovsky's symphonies with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi, a cycle which as a whole can be described as resolutely unsentimental, with interpretations aiming to rid these popular scores of the melodramatic excesses that have become part of a performance tradition during more than 100 years in concert halls and on disc. This quality has been remarked upon by reviewers, who described Symphony No.1 as 'superb ... liberated from all the slag of sugary romanticism' (Classics Today France.com) and regarding No.4 wrote 'With immense skill and without making any concessions to the pathetic, Neeme Järvi grants the work its full magnitude. A reading at once rich in nuances and carved in rock ...' (Le Monde de la Musique). Another acclaimed instalment was Symphony No.2 ‘Little Russian’, hailed in Gramophone as ‘an outstanding performance … beautifully played and paced and immaculately recorded.’ Besides symphonic works, the previous five discs in the cycle have included a number of smaller scores, from favourites such as Francesca da Rimini and the Serenade for Strings to rarities. The present instalment also includes a number of shorter works, among which the dances from Eugen Onegin will be familiar to many. Two less well-known works connected with the stage are also represented here, with extracts from The Voyevoda and from the music to the play Dmitri the Pretender and Vassily Shuisky. Equally unusual is the brief Serenade, written in 1872 in honour of Nikolai Rubinstein, the tireless champion of Tchaikovsky’s music who conducted the first performances of a large number of his works. The opening work on this disc is one of these: the Third Symphony, nick-named ‘The Polish’ on behalf of its final movement, with the tempo marking Tempo di Polacca.

• Wykonawca Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
• Data premiery 2009-06-17
• Nośnik SACD