Tracklista: CD 1 1. Symphonic Works CD 2 1. Suites, Dances & Intermezzi CD 3 1. Overtures & Waltzes CD 4 1. Piano Sonatas
2nd CD of Austrian lutenist Bernhard Hofstötter (1st by label querstand) Contains four rarely or never before recorded solo lute works by Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750) One of the titans of European Baroque Music, almost forgotten by later generations and only re-discovered in recent centuries Friends with Johann Sebastian Bach Played in Dresden Court Orchestra for more than 30 years and was the best-paid musician there Broadens the typical baroque music structure with additional influences and ideas Taught pupils from all over Europe which led to copies of his works being preserved and currently re-discovered in libraries all over Europe
Six-part concert series by the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Prague Philharmonic Choir performing works by Antonín Dvorák.
Among Schumann’s inspired late chamber works is a collection of music for more unusual instruments, composed in a concentrated flurry of creativity between 1849 and 1853 and written specifically for particular players, and it is to these exquisite short works that the world-famous Nash Ensemble turns its impeccable collective musicianship. While Schumann modelled his music specifically to the timbres of the instruments he wrote for—piano, violin, horn, clarinet and oboe—he also arranged these pieces for alternative instruments with an eye to maximizing sales. Here, however, the soloists from The Nash Ensemble present the works in their original scoring in what are bound to be definitive performances—the delicious Fantasiestücke for clarinet, and the fiery and lyrical Märchenbilder, which feature star British viola player Lawrence Power. Other delights include the Adagio and Allegro for horn, a brilliant showpiece, the Violin Sonata No 1, Drei Romanzen for oboe and piano and the Märchenerzählungen for clarinet, viola and piano.
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3 & Solo Piano Works (2000).
The CD under the title „in fall of Byzantium” presents music from Italy, France and Byzantium during the first half of the century. Furthermore, provides works by Gaullaume du Fay and composers of his period, related to historical events between the Byzantium and the West.
Premièred in January 1945, Sergei Prokofiev’s optimistic and heroic Fifth Symphony had seemed to herald the victorious end of World War Two. In stark contrast to this, his Symphony No.6, which received its first performance in 1947, is one of his deepest and most personal works. Although it was greeted with enthusiasm by the audience, the Soviet authorities were critical of the work and in 1948 a Party resolution singled it out as ‘abnormal’ and ‘repellent’. In fact, the first ideas for the symphony preceded those for the Fifth, and date from a period when the issue of the war was still uncertain. Early in 1945 the composer had furthermore suffered a collapse, from which he never completely recovered and which forced him to live the life of an invalid with almost constant headaches. In regard to the work, Prokofiev himself stated: ‘Now we are rejoicing in our great victory, but each of us has wounds that cannot be healed.’ This haunted and haunting symphony is here coupled with two works which illustrate a very different side of the composer, his gift for creating vivid musical images that can sum up a scene in a few bold strokes. These are the ever-popular suites from The Love for Three Oranges, the tragic-comical opera from 1921, and from the film score to Lieutenant Kijé, a light-hearted satire from 1934. The original film score included two songs, which form the second and fourth movements of the concert suite. Often performed in a version for solo saxophone and orchestra, these are heard in this recording in their original vocal form, performed by the Ukranian baritone Andrei Bondarenko. With acclaimed previous recordings of music by Prokofiev, as well as by Stravinsky and Rachmaninov, Andrew Litton and his Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra are a tried-and-tested team in this repertoire, and once again make the most of the enormous palette of colours and moods provided by these three scores.
To mark the bicentenary of the birth of Frédéric Chopin, pianist Janina Fialkowska has selected the Polish composer's most beautiful works for piano, including the Polonaises, Préludes, Valses, Nocturnes, Ballades, Mazurkas, and Scherzos. Celebrated for her interpretations of the classical and romantic repertoire, she is particularly distinguished as one of the great interpreters of the piano works of Chopin and Mozart. For more than 30 years Madame Fialkowska has been enjoying a stellar career, launched in 1974 when she won first prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition.
Dan Laurin has a reputation not just as a recorder virtuoso, but also for his great interest in and curiosity about the less well-known repertoire for the instrument. On disc he has performed not only staples such as concertos by Vivaldi and sonatas by Handel, but also earlier music – his recording of Jacob van Eyck’s monumental Der Fluyten Lust-hof on nine discs has been called ‘a standard to compare all others to’ (American Record Guide) – as well as contemporary works, many of which have been composed especially for him. With Songs of Yesterday he opens up yet another, less familiar chapter in the history of recorder music: between 1939 and 1989 Carl Dolmetsch, the great pioneer in modern recorder playing, gave almost annual recitals at Wigmore Hall in London, for which he often commissioned works with piano or harpsichord accompaniment. This is described in the informative liner notes by Andrew Mayes, who has also published a book on the subject. In his own introduction to the disc, Laurin remarks upon ‘Dolmetsch’s ability to inspire composers to search for a contemporary idiom adequate for the instrument, resulting in an unparalleled number of top-quality works which unfortunately have been largely forgotten.’ Among these, written by composers such as Edmund Rubbra and Lennox Berkeley, Laurin and his partner Anna Paradiso have selected seven pieces which, to quote Laurin once more, give his instrument a rare opportunity to ‘sing like a French impressionist (Ravel, Debussy!) or a Russian modernist (Prokofiev!) – all of whom can be heard through the filter of this English, post-First World War melancholy longing.’ 1. Sonatina for Recorder and Piano op. 121: Allegro Piacevole2. Sonatina for Recorder and Piano op. 121: Andante Tranquillo3. Sonatina for Recorder and Piano op. 121: Allegro Giocoso4. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Harpsichord op. 128: Allegretto Comodo5. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Harpsichord op. 128: Adagio Mesto6. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Harpsichord op. 128: Variations on 'En la Fuente del Rosel'. Moderato Scherzando7. Aubade for Treble Recorder and Piano: Molto Moderato8. Sonata for Treble Recorder and Harpsichord: Largo9. Sonata for Treble Recorder and Harpsichord: Presto10. Sonata for Treble Recorder and Harpsichord: Recitativo. Andante a Piacere11. Sonata for Treble Recorder and Harpsichord: Finale. Allegro non Troppo12. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Piano: Allegretto13. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Piano: Larghetto, Molto Tranquillo14. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Piano: Allegro Leggiero15. Passacaglia Sopra 'Plusieurs Regrets' op. 113: Allegretto Moderato16. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Piano op. 13: Moderato17. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Piano op. 13: Adagio18. Sonatina for Treble Recorder and Piano op. 13: Allegro Moderato
Of the works performed here by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the prominent Delius interpreter Sir Andrew Davis, the first three (Paris, the Piano Concerto, and Idylle de printemps) offer a fascinating insight into the early years of the development of Delius as a composer, when he was slowly and painstakingly honing his craft, and assuming the characteristic personal voice that is evident in more mature works such as Brigg Fair.Paris, sub-titled ‘The Song of a Great City’, is strongly inspired by the composer’s many years of living and working in Paris. With large-scale orchestral forces, Delius paints opulent pictures of a city that he obviously loved. The slow opening portrays the still darkness falling over Paris; then the music changes pace and takes us through the teeming and intoxicating nightlife of the city, with impressions of exuberant dance music coming from the many cafés and music-halls. The opening material returns, culminating in the sounds of the awakening streets.Until recently Delius’s Piano Concerto has been know exclusively in its final, one-movement form, which was first performed in London in 1907. The version recorded here, however, represents the composer’s earlier thoughts, from 1897. Performed by Howard Shelley, the work is brimming with full-bodied romanticism while showing the influences of Grieg and Liszt throughout.The airy mood of Idylle de printemps points to later depictions of nature in Delius’s music, as in Brigg Fair, which Delius categorised as ‘An English Rhapsody’. Cecil Gray, the Scottish music critic and composer, described the opening of Brigg Fair as ‘evoking the atmosphere of an early summer morning in the English countryside’. The work is based on a folk-tune which came to light in a competition instigated by Percy Grainger in 1905 to find ‘the best unpublished old Lincolnshire folk song or plough song’. Grainger was immediately taken with the folk-tune, and having arranged it himself for solo tenor and chorus, he approached Delius to write orchestral variations on it – urging him on as the only composer worthy of the task. Delius was soon persuaded, and Brigg Fair became one of his bestloved works.