Classical Music Discoveries
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Episodes
Episode 55: Sviatoslav Richter Plays Prokofiev
November 25, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 117 MBFor the first time, four classic Prokofiev recordings by towering virtuoso Sviatoslav Richter are available, newly remastered by Paul Arden-Taylor. Tracks Piano Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 14 I. Allegro ma non troppo (6:13) II. Scherzo: Allegro marcato (1:47) III. Andante (4:58) IV. Vivace – Moderato – Vivace (4:17) Piano Sonata No. 9 in C Major, Op. 103 I. Allegretto (7:38) II. Allegro strepitozo (2:54) III. Andante tranquillo (8:28) IV. Allegro con brio ma non troppo p...
Episode 44: Apotheosis Vol. 3 - Mozart - The String Quintets
November 24, 2023 00:00 - 3 hours - 249 MBMozart composed his first string quintet at age 17 and his last in the year of his death, so it might seem that he wrote string quintets across the span of his career, but that is not the case. His first quintet was a foray into new territory for the young composer, and then Mozart set the form aside for fourteen years — his final five quintets were all created in the last four years of his life. As such, they represent some of his most sophisticated musical thinking. They offer wonderful m...
Episode 43: Rachmaninoff Variations on a Theme of Chopin; Chopin Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3
November 23, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 120 MBSOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce the return of pianist Peter Donohoe to the label following his acclaimed complete survey of Mozart’s Piano Sonatas with a dazzling new recital coupling Rachmaninoff – on the 150th anniversary of his birth in 1873 – and Chopin. “Rachmaninoff is unimaginable without Chopin,” asserts Russian music expert Marina Frolova-Walker in authoritative booklet notes that point to Rachmaninoff’s long engagement with Chopin’s music in the concert hall and recordin...
Episode 42: Sir Adrian Boult Conducts
November 22, 2023 00:00 - 2 hours - 197 MBBoult had led the UK premiere of Berg’s excoriating setting of Georg Büchner’s play about a war-scarred veteran driven to madness and murder in 1934, although only Act II of that performance survives. This complete 1949 recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Heinrich Nillius’s Wozzeck and Suzanne Danco’s Marie – only the second UK performance – adds to Boult’s and the opera’s stature on disc. Recorded live in London’s Royal Albert Hall, it is a remarkable document of an exhil...
Episode 40: Dreams, Desires, Desolation - English Song
November 21, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 102 MB“Dreams, Desires, Desolation was created out of our love for English Song. The album comprises a real mixture of very familiar songs, along with some relatively unknown ones, and a few which were very popular in their day but have fallen out of fashion. There are also three world premiere recordings. We believe, despite the mixture of styles, each song brings something valid to our concept.” Tracks George Butterworth: Is my team plowing? (3:47) Frank Bridge: Come to me in my drea...
Episode 38: Orula
November 20, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 92.1 MBOn this one-of-a-kind album, the outstanding Danish ensemble Mathias Reumert Group presents three of Cuban composer Louis Franz Aguirre’s strongest pieces, including the large-scale composition for percussion ensemble and flute soloist, Orula (Liturgia de la Adivinación), a journey in extreme sonorities, complex polyrhythms and searing microtonal melodies. “I come from a culture where rhythm is the rationale for life and death. Where the drums are a means to worship, to communicate, and to...
Episode 39: Burkard Schliessmann - Live & Encores
November 19, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 138 MBAs well as exceptional performances, this recording offers phenomenal sound. The recording was made on 3-5 April 2023 at the Fazioli Concert Hall in Sacile, Italy in 5-channel Dolby Atmos high-definition audio and is available as hybrid multichannel SACD as well as a range of digital formats. Tracks Disc 1 Johann Sebastian Bach Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826 I. Sinfonia (4:31) II. Allemande (4:48) III. Courante (2:33) IV. Sarabande (2:55) V. Rondeau (1:23) VI. Capriccio...
Episode 37: Argumenta
November 18, 2023 00:00 - 52 minutes - 72.3 MBSamuel Andreyev’s music is incredibly varied, from the sparse resonance of the Sonata da Camera, the ‘cartoon music’ – as the composer puts it – of Vérifications, characterized by primary colors and strong instrumental timbres; the Sextet in Two Parts which in contrast focuses on minute timbral shadings; and of course the cantata for solo voice and ensemble which is the title track of the album. Performed by ensemble proton bern, conducted by Luigi Gaggero with the magical soprano voice of...
Episode 36: Samuel Andreyev - In Glow of Like Seclusion
November 17, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 113 MBSamuel Andreyev’s music is incredibly varied, from the sparse resonance of the Sonata da Camera, the ‘cartoon music’ – as the composer puts it – of Vérifications, characterized by primary colors and strong instrumental timbres; the Sextet in Two Parts which in contrast focuses on minute timbral shadings; and of course the cantata for solo voice and ensemble which is the title track of the album. Performed by ensemble proton bern, conducted by Luigi Gaggero with the magical soprano ...
Episode 54: The Women's Philharmonic
November 16, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 97 MBThe short-lived, San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic, founded in 1981 and disbanded in 2004, had an enormous impact on America’s classical music scene, promoting not only the music of woman composers but performances by prominent woman conductors and soloists. In 1992, they made their first recording for the Koch International Classics label under the direction of conductor JoAnn Falletta. Musical Concepts is pleased to return this recording, featuring works by Fanny Mendelssoh...
Episode 53: Tansman
November 15, 2023 00:00 - 55 minutes - 76.7 MBTo the general amazement of musical circles, Aleksander Tansman, a citizen of Lódz, a young student of law, and a student of Piotr Rytel and Henryk Melcer swept all three prizes (the Grand Prix and two honorable mentions) at the first Warsaw composition competition, organized in independent Poland in 1919. Owing to this spectacular success, he then organized his first composition concert in Lódz and Warsaw. During the concert held on the 27th of February 1919 in Lódz, he performed t...
Episode 50: Éventail
November 14, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 103 MBIn his Éventail de musique française, Swiss oboist and composer Heinz Holliger traverses a broad selection of French works for oboe and piano in a multichromatic program of early 20th-century music. Contained in this wide-ranging recital are compositions by Ravel, Debussy, Milhaud, Saint-Saëns, Casadesus as well as Koechlin, Jolivet, and Messiaen – Holliger cultivated a personal relationship with several of the composers. Track Listing: 1 Ravel: Pièce en forme de Habanera, M. 51 ...
Episode 49: Bacheando
November 13, 2023 00:00 - 42 minutes - 58.3 MBPlinio Fernandes embarks on a captivating exploration of his favorite composer’s legacy on Bacheando. A dynamic inheritor of a decades-long tradition in which extraordinary Brazilian musicians have looked to the German master’s music for inspiration, Fernandes performs a harmonious blend of Bach's compositions alongside enchanting pieces by Brazilian greats Heitor Villa-Lobos, Paulinho Nogueira, and Mário Albanese. He also collaborated with legendary Brazilian guitarist and composer...
Episode 48: Baroque
November 12, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 88.7 MBSince his incredible breakthrough in 2011, when his debut album held the no. 1 position in the UK Classical charts for a breathtaking 28 weeks, MILOŠ has built an impressive international career by performing solo recitals and concertos at most of the world’s leading concert venues. His six studio albums have sold the equivalent of over half a million copies and conquered the classical album charts in multiple territories, earning him a Classical BRIT, Echo Klassik and two Gramophon...
Episode 47: El ultimo aliento
November 11, 2023 00:00 - 44 minutes - 61.3 MBWhen it comes to putting together a programme, Zsófia lets instinct guide her: “My choice of music repertory is intuitive. Pieces of music are like places for me, like spaces that I visit, step into and experience. They all have their own mood and colour, their own scent, their own pulse and a special effect on me. Each place calls for different forms of behaviour in me. Sometimes I am allowed to surrender myself freely to the moment, sometimes I channel a certain pulse and go with ...
Episode 46: 20046 What We Need Is Here
November 10, 2023 00:00 - 46 minutes - 64.3 MBLisa Reagan, former member of the Washington National Opera, has made another unexpected career turn with What We Need Is Here, to be released on October 6 by Stillpoint Records. The new album offers ten classic poems by noted poets, including Yeats, Frost, Keats, Wordsworth, and Shakespeare, set to original music she composed for the project. Lisa worked with Tony-award-winning and Grammy-nominated producer/orchestrator Jamshied Sharifi. The album also features the Celtic magic of ...
Episode 45: 20045 British Invasion
November 09, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 101 MBThe Alexander String Quartet and guitarist William Kanengiser form a dynamic collaboration that explores the music of Sting, Led Zeppelin, John Dowland and The Beatles by way of contemporary composers Ian Krouse, Dušan Bogdanović and Leo Brouwer. Track Listing Labyrinth (On a Theme of Led Zeppelin) Ian Krouse (20:23) Labyrinth, I: Theme, “Friends” by J. Page & R. Plant Labyrinth, II: L’istesso tempo, Adagio Labyrinth, III: Tempo 1 Labyrinth, IV: Quasi Passacaglia Labyrinth, V...
Episode 41: 20041 Howard Blake - Orchestral Music
November 08, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 93.5 MBSOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the label debut of the acclaimed British composer Howard Blake with a disc of his orchestral music to mark his 85th birthday. Blake himself is heard at the piano and conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, with Paul Daniel also conducting the English Northern Philharmonia. Tracks Symphony No. 1: Impressions of a City, Op. 42/409 (1967, rev. 1990) (14:34) Concert Dances for piano and orchestra, Op. 432 (1992) I. Parade (0:55) II. Slow Rag...
Episode 35: 20035 Giovanni Battista Casali - Sacred Music from Eighteenth-Century Rome
November 07, 2023 00:00 - 57 minutes - 78.4 MBThe history of music-making in Rome tends to focus on Renaissance polyphony, with an occasional nod to the Baroque thereafter. But thanks to composers like Giovanni Battista Casali (1715–92), choral music continued to flourish in Roman churches and other religious establishments in the eighteenth century, too, until Napoleon’s occupation broke many of its traditions. Casali’s music, though, is as good as unknown, and this pioneering recording reveals a composer at home in the galant...
Episode 34: 20034 John Thomas - Complete Duos for Harp and Piano - Volume Three
November 06, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 90.9 MBHarpist to Queen Victoria, the Welsh composer John Thomas (1826–1913) also wrote prolifically for his own instrument, both for solo harp and for duos of two harps or harp and piano – a combination where the different sounds of the two instruments enhance the clarity of the texture. Thomas’ original works use the elegant Romantic style of his own day, but he also left a generous legacy of transcriptions, especially of operatic favorites. Although some of his music was intended for th...
Episode 33: 20033 Émile Jaques-Dalcroze: Complete Lieder
November 05, 2023 00:00 - 56 minutes - 77.9 MBThe Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865–1950) is best remembered for his development of Eurhythmics, which teaches the appreciation of music through movement. This first-ever complete recording of all his German-language Lieder – setting folksongs as well as more recent Romantic poetry – shows him bridging both French and German traditions with a style somewhere between Fauré and Brahms. Written early in Jaques-Dalcroze’s career, these songs span a wide range of emotions, fro...
Episode 32: 20032 Leo Ornstein: Piano Music, Volume Three
November 04, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 94.8 MBLeo Ornstein is as well known for his extraordinary longevity as for his music: he was born in Ukraine in 1893 and died in Wisconsin in 2002, aged at least 108. His generous output of music, much of it for the piano, his own instrument, remains poorly known, although it can stand shoulder to shoulder with that of many better-known names. Some of the pieces here – which cover a span of over 60 years – have their roots in Debussy, Skryabin, and Szymanowski, but Ornstein welds those in...
Episode 317: 19317 Penitence and Lamentation
November 03, 2023 00:00 - 58 minutes - 80.3 MBOn Friday, November 3, 2023, Scribe Records releases Penitence & Lamentation, the Byrd Ensemble’s new album marking 400 years since the death of its namesake, William Byrd, and coinciding with Byrd Ensemble’s 20th anniversary season. Praised for their “rich, full-voiced, and perfectly blended” (Early Music America) sound, the Byrd Ensemble’s new project focuses on the unifying theme of guilt and grief, forming a collection of songs by Byrd and his contemporaries; Thomas Tallis’s mon...
Episode 52: 20052 Schütz, Heinrich: Il primo libro de madrigali, Op. 1
November 02, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 90.7 MBHeinrich Schütz (18 October 1585 – 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He is credited with bringing the Italian style to Germany and continuing its evolution from the Renaissance into the Early Baroque. Most of his surviving music was written for the Lutheran church, primarily for the Electoral Chape...
Episode 51: 20051 Mahler: Symphony No. 10 in F-sharp (unfinished)
November 01, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 113 MBConductor Kathryn Cavanaugh writes - The meaning of Mahler's 10th has always eluded me until recent world events unfolded in front of my eyes. As the world turns further from the gospel of Jesus Christ, Satan fills the void. After all, Man cannot serve 2 masters. Either we follow Good or Evil. We cannot be on the fence and serve either. The world just doesn't work that way. I find the world no longer forgives. There is little love in the world today. Hate and intolerance are...
Episode 31: 20031 Mozart - Violin Concertos
October 31, 2023 00:00 - 2 hours - 177 MBRenaud Capuçon’s exciting new Mozart project for Deutsche Grammophon comprises three albums and two STAGE+ performances, all to come before the end of the year. Together they encompass the artist’s multi-faceted career as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, artistic director, and mentor to outstanding young talent. Track Listing: 1 Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major, K. 207: I. Allegro Moderato 06:41 2 II. Adagio 07:28 3 III. Presto 05:36 4 Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major...
Episode 30: 20030 The Living Mountain
October 30, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 86.6 MBAustrian composer Thomas Larcher’s new album features premiere recordings of three strongly contrasting works. The Living Mountain, composed 2019-20, draws inspiration from Scottish poet and nature writer Nan Shepherd’s book of the same name. Having grown up in Tyrol and familiar with mountain landscapes, Larcher was taken by Shepherd’s unique approach to the topic in her memoir, and “how completely different it is from all the other literature touching upon this subject. There’s a...
Episode 26: 20026 In Jubilo - Legendary Concert
October 29, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 90 MBIn Jubilo Women's Chorale performs Turn Around A Girl's Garden The Road Not Taken God Help the Outcasts Ave Verum The Sun Never Says Set Me As a Seal Mr. Postman West Side Story Choral Suite Jackie Riddle-Jackson, Director Dee Holt, Director Teresa Redd, Accompanist
Episode 29: 20029 Bach Generations
October 28, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 122 MBAfter the huge success of his previous Deutsche Grammophon album, devoted to works by Mozart, oboist Albrecht Mayer turns his attention to the uniquely talented Bach family. For Bach Generations, he has chosen a selection of music by four members of the family: Johann Sebastian himself (1685-1750), Johann Christoph (1642-1703), Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788) and Johann Christoph Friedrich (1732-1795). There is also a transcription of a work by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, previousl...
Episode 27: 20027 The Great Puccini
October 26, 2023 00:00 - 59 minutes - 82 MBTenor Jonathan Tetelman marks the Puccini centenary by paying homage to one of the best-loved Italian opera composers The Great Puccini includes both favorite arias and rarities, with extracts from Il Tabarro, La bohème, La fanciulla del West, La Rondine, Le villi, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Tosca and Turandot. Track Listing: 1 Donna non vidi mai [Manon Lescaut, SC 64] 2 Nessun dorma [Turandot, SC 91] 3 Parigi! E la citta dei desideri [La rondine, SC 83] 4 Che gelida ma...
Episode 25: 20025 Arvo Pärt - Odes of Repentance
October 25, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 110 MBCappella Romana has prioritized Arvo Pärt’s music for over thirty years. It gave the first US performance of Pärt’s Passio by a US ensemble in 1993 directed by Paul Hillier, with national broadcast on NPR. Cappella Romana has continued to perform Pärt’s music to the present day, including the program on this recording in British Columbia in 2009 and at Cappella Romana’s week-long, sold-out Arvo Pärt Festival in 2017. Tracks From Triodion “Ode 1”: Introduction; O Jesus the Son of ...
Episode 24: 20024 Beethoven Symphonies - Vol 4
October 24, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 110 MB...“full of the most delicious music you could ask to hear, and the players give every indication of loving every note they play” was how one enthusiastic reviewer described the first volume of aria arrangements on SOMM, of “Handel at Home” (SOMMCD 055) with the London Handel Players in Pan Magazine. Indeed, it is an attestation of Handel’s power to speak to the very depths of one’s soul, to touch the heart, and to rouse the spirit that after many years performing the repertoire, t...
Episode 23: 20023 Total Eclipse - Handel at Home - Vol 2
October 23, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 112 MB...“full of the most delicious music you could ask to hear, and the players give every indication of loving every note they play” was how one enthusiastic reviewer described the first volume of aria arrangements on SOMM, of “Handel at Home” (SOMMCD 055) with the London Handel Players in Pan Magazine. Indeed, it is an attestation of Handel’s power to speak to the very depths of one’s soul, to touch the heart, and to rouse the spirit that after many years performing the repertoire, t...
Episode 22: 20022 Boireann - Music for Flute and Piano
October 22, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 115 MBBoireann features two compositions specifically crafted for this release. "Five Études for Two Flutes" reimagines earlier pieces for two violins, demonstrating Buckley's ability to transpose musical ideas across different instrumental settings. "In Memoriam Doris Keogh," a three-movement piece for flute and piano, reflects the broad musical interests of Buckley's flute teacher, Doris Keogh, offering a touching tribute to her influence. Tracks Five Études for Two Flutes* Perpetuu...
Episode 21: 20021 The Weary Blues
October 21, 2023 00:00 - 55 minutes - 76.9 MBHR Recordings releases The Weary Blues, an exciting new recording of songs resulting from a long and wonderful collaboration between American composer Drew Hemenger and soprano Adrienne Danrich. This first collaborative recording features a set of songs written for Adrienne based on Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, along with a gripping and sometimes harrowing song cycle, “Which Way Home?” on poems of Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet, Anne Sexton. The artists explore a c...
Episode 20: 20020 Henry Purcell - Fantasias
October 20, 2023 00:00 - 46 minutes - 64.4 MBHenry Purcell’s “fantasias” are regarded as some of the finest and most intricately wrought examples of the fantasia, due to their profound embrace of counterpoint and great command of the polyphonic techniques of the time. Composed in the summer of 1680 – a time when the fantasia was already considered old-fashioned and had been replaced by the sonata –, Purcell’s “fantazias” turned out to be the very last ensemble fantasias to be published in England. As John Holloway notes in his...
Episode 19: 20019 Veljo Tormis
October 19, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 115 MBThe elemental power of ancient folk music was the life force that drove the compositions of Veljo Tormis (1930-2017). As the great Estonian composer famously said, “I do not use folk song. It is folk song that uses me.” This sentiment is echoed in definitive performances by the Estonian Philharmonic Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Tõnu Kaljuste, for decades one of Tormis’s closest musical associates. Four orchestral cycles celebrate the changing season...
Episode 18: 20018 Rachmaninoff 150th
October 18, 2023 00:00 - 2 hours - 215 MBLos Angeles, the city in which Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) spent the last few months of his life, played host to an exceptional festival of music last February. As part of this year’s Rachmaninoff 150 celebrations, Yuja Wang joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel over two consecutive weekends to perform all four of the composer’s piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Deutsche Grammophon were there to capture the...
Episode 17: Rarities of the American Symphonic Repertoire
October 17, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 102 MBThe Philadelphia Orchestra and its Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin continue their pioneering project to revive neglected music by Black American composers. Their latest recording, set for digital release by Deutsche Grammophon out today, captures Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4 and William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony. Listeners have the chance to sample movements from both works ahead of the album’s full release, with the “Juba” from Price’s Fourth Symphony and “O,...
Episode 16: 20016 Rachmaninoff - A Reflection
October 16, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 103 MBFollowing his 2020 studio album, “Mozart,” this new recording features a repertoire by Rachmaninoff, the composer whose works played a pivotal role in Yekwon Sunwoo’s Van Cliburn victory. The release also coincides with the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth. Yekwon Sunwoo curated the album to include pieces that best represent the composer’s brilliance. Tracklist Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) 1 – 23 Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) 2...
Episode 14: 20014 Buddha Passion
October 15, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 146 MBTan Dun’s Buddha Passion is a captivating tale of wonder, truth, and gentle but irresistible transformation. The monumental work involving massed choirs, a large orchestra, six percussionists, and an array of soloists including indigenous singers, traditional Chinese instruments, and a dancing pipa player, is the first such ‘Passion’ on a Buddhist rather than Christian narrative. Track Listing: 1 Chant 2 Little Prince 3 Mantra 4 Under the Bodhi Tree 5 Equality 6 Deer of Nine ...
Episode 15: 20015 A Prayer to the Dynamo
October 14, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 91.8 MBA Prayer to the Dynamo was written in response to a commission from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. It received its first, and so far only performance at the orchestra’s New Music Festival on 3 February 2012. As noted by the festival’s curator, composer Matthew Patton, it represented a turning-point in Jóhannsson’s career, having been written without any of the narrative constraints involved in composing for film. “He never wrote a piece for orchestra this big, this long, and with ...
Episode 13: 20013 Night After Night Music from the Movies of M. Night Shyamalan
October 13, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 106 MBFor this album, James Newton Howard created eight suites that are piano-centric and include new and original material. Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performs throughout the recording. Violinist Hilary Hahn recreates her contributions to the soundtrack recording of the score for The Village, and cellist Maya Beiser reprises her performance of “An Event” from The Happening soundtrack. Gavin Greenaway conducts the orchestra and chorus in Howard’s new arrangements. TRACKLIST: 1. Signs: ...
Episode 12: 20012 Hélène Grimaud
October 12, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 109 MBHélène Grimaud explores the rich universe of German Romanticism For Clara couples Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana Op. 16 with Brahms’s Intermezzi Op. 117 and Lieder und Gesänge Op. 32, featuring baritone Konstantin Krimmel Track Listing: 1 Schumann: Kreisleriana Op. 16 : No. 1 Äusserst Bewegt 2 No. 2 Sehr Innig Und Nicht Zu Rasch 3 No. 3 Sehr Aufgeregt 4 No. 4 Sehr Langsam 5 No. 5 Sehr Lebhaft 6 No. 6 Sehr Langsam 7 No. 7 Sehr Rasch 8 No. 8 Schnell Und Spielend 9 Brahms: 3 ...
Episode 11: 20011 Vivaldi - Concerto for 4 Mandolins
October 11, 2023 00:00 - 13 minutes - 18 MB“This is how I want to make music!” That was Avi Avital’s reaction when he first saw Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini play live in Jerusalem. Now famed worldwide for his own charismatic and passionate performances, the mandolinist is delighted to be joined by this exciting period-instrument ensemble and its conductor and co-founder on his latest album, entitled simply, Concertos. Together they perform three original concertos for mandolin – by Barbella, Paisiello, and Humm...
Episode 10: Elgar and Lalo Cello Concertos
October 10, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 86.5 MBWhen cellist Ofra Harnoy entered London’s venerable Abbey Road Studios in 1996 to record Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85, she never imagined she would have to wait 27 years for the recording’s release – at last, set for release on September 15 via Sony Classical and available for preorder now. The new album also includes a reissue of Harnoy’s recording of the Cello Concerto in D Minor by the French composer Edouard Lalo, made in 1995 with the late Antonio de Almeid...
Episode 9: 20009 Ronald Stevenson - Music for Accordian
October 09, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 92.5 MBRonald Stevenson (1928–2015) is best remembered for his huge output of music for the piano, an instrument he played with a rare understanding of tonal color. It was thus entirely within character that he responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to explore the musical possibilities of the accordion, most impressively in a ‘Dance Poem’ of some scale. Stevenson was also an inveterate transcriber, producing hundreds of piano versions of pieces written for other forces. Neil Sutclif...
Episode 8: 20008 Friedrich Lux - Organ Works - Volume Two
October 08, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 113 MBFriedrich Lux (1820–95) was one of those musicians who formed the fabric of musical life in nineteenth-century Germany: though he worked away from the major cities, as a conductor, teacher, organist, organizer, and composer, he was an indispensable element of the communities in which he worked. His large body of organ music, as good as unknown before now, brings together elements of the musical language of Bach, Mendelssohn, and Schumann, in works that range from the intimate to the...
Episode 7: 20007 Mel Bonis - Complete Music for Solo Piano - Volume One
October 07, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 113 MBMélanie Bonis (1858–1937), a fine pianist herself, composed some 150 works for solo piano, publishing them with her first name shortened to ‘Mel’ to disguise the fact that she was a woman – while she lived among the French haute bourgeoisie as Mme Domange. They sometimes show the influence of Chabrier and have points of contact with the music of Chausson, Debussy, and Pierné, who had been fellow students at the Paris Conservatoire. But they also reveal an individual approach to rhyt...
Episode 6: 20006 Tchaikovsky by Arrangement
October 06, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 110 MBTchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker, which has its origins in a novella by E. T. A. Hoffmann, contains some of the best-loved music ever written. But its composer wasn’t very happy with it, perhaps because the plot he was given to work with allowed him to present only a series of dances, losing the moral basis of Hoffman’s surprisingly modern tale, with its messages of inclusivity and what is now called ‘women’s agency’ – here it is the little girl who saves the prince. Hoffmann’s a...