Xenia Löffler / Anna Prohaska / Collegium 1704 / Václav Luks JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Oboe Concertos & Cantatas

After the very successful album with the B minor Mass according to the Rheinische Post, the most beautiful recording of this work currently in existence Vaclav Luks and his Collegium 1704 ensemble return to Johann Sebastian Bach. Joined by Xenia Loffler, the solo oboist of AKAMUS Berlin, and the renowned soprano Anna Prohaska, Luks presents a deluxe setup for a programme of concertos and cantatas in which the oboe plays a prominent role. As a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician, Xenia Loffler has gained an outstanding reputation as a baroque oboist over the past several years. Working with ensembles such as the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, where she has been active as a member and soloist since 2001, she has toured throughout the world and has performed at some of the most important music festivals and concert halls.

Liya Petrova / Odense Symphony Orchestra / Kristiina Poska PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 1 - NIELSEN Violin Concerto

After Liya Petrova won joint first prize at the 2016 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, jury President Nikolaj Znaider declared he had been 'absolutely blown away by how she had absorbed the Nielsen violin concerto - how it had become hers'. From her debut album on Orchid Classics you can hear just why she made such an impression on those who heard her performance. The Strad praised the 'iron will' Petrova brought to Nielsen's concerto; a fortitude which is matched on this recording by the sensitivity in her approach to the first violin concerto of Sergei Prokofiev.

Hélène Grimaud MEMORY

Music has been described as a means of rescuing that which is lost – a simple yet persuasive idea and one which informs Hélène Grimaud’s working definition of the art form. The French pianist’s latest Deutsche Grammophon recording addresses music’s unique ability to bring images of the past back to life in the present moment, to conjure up vivid evocations of time and place. Memory, set for release on 28 September 2018, explores the nature of recollection through a series of exquisite pianistic miniatures. Grimaud’s choice of repertoire embraces everything from impressionistic reveries by Chopin and Debussy to the timeless, folk-like melodies of Valentin Silvestrov.

Memory and music make perfect partners. Both are fleeting, never fixed, always subject to interpretation. Our identities are formed from memories, just as so many of our most enduring experiences are rooted in music. Hélène Grimaud wanted to explore the universal nature of memory, its place in the lives of us all. Memory, she explains, uses music to probe the many levels of human consciousness.

“Music peels back the layers of time to reveal the essence of experience,” she observes. “Momentary pain, distress, elation, fades – what remains is sensation. Sensation is the resonance of experience in the space of memory. And it is the space where music resonates within each of us – touching us, moving us, bringing us closer to ourselves. In that way, music can also help remind us that for all in our daily lives that is trivial, there’s a place where meaning is stored. And that it is not forgetfulness that is our burden, but the capacity to reflect and remember that is the wonder of being alive.” The pianist’s eloquent discourse on memory touches both the universal and the particular. It reveals, above all, much about her sensibility for music as a natural process, one shaped in the moment of creation and re-creation by instinct and intuition.

Memory follows in the wake of Grimaud’s Water album, a thought-provoking consideration of the world’s most precious resource. Her latest release complements its predecessor, not least by exploring another condition of life all too easily taken for granted until it begins to disappear.

Grimaud chose compositions that speak directly to memory, creating a programme of works which through their simplicity can bypass the barriers of rational thinking to unlock powerful moods, feelings and sensations. These miniatures are not weighty structures; rather, they possess what she aptly describes as immaterial qualities. Each of the album’s fifteen tracks suggests fleeting impressions of a thought recollected, a dream reimagined, an experience recalled to mind. Memory, she says, “serves to conjure atmospheres of fragile reflection, a mirage of what was – or what could have been”.

Her artistry flourished in the sacred space of the Himmelfahrtskirche in Munich’s Sendling  district. The recording venue, a former beer hall converted into a church a century ago, made a lasting impression on her. “The feeling of being alone in a cavernous, resonant space, a building itself constructed as a vessel for spiritual introspection, was immersive,” she recalls. “I am not necessarily a natural colourist yet to be surrounded by resonance – of the notes and between the notes – profoundly changes one’s concept of producing sound. The music must be so transparent as to allow the poetry to shimmer though.”

For composers, memory plays a central role in transmitting influence. Debussy, for instance, absorbed formative lessons from his studies of Chopin and recalled them later in life when composing pieces such as Rêverie and La plus que lente. His musical language also drew impressions from the harmonies of his friend Erik Satie. The points of coincidence emerge clearly in Memory.

Hélène Grimaud highlights the meditative character of works by all three composers, surrounding the heartfelt nostalgia of Chopin’s Nocturne in E minor Op.72 No.1 with a sequence of Satie’s minimalist miniatures, the first of his famous sets of Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies among them. The pianist also spotlights the common ground between two of Silvestrov’s subtle Bagatelles, products of the early 2000s, and Debussy’s beguiling Arabesque No.1 in E major, an early work inspired by the elegant lines and curves of Nature.

Hélène Grimaud compares Valentin Silvestrov’s keyboard miniatures to the image of ‘breathing light’, a poetic metaphor that might easily stand for the haunting impressions left by Memory. (Deutsche Grammophon)

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Christoph Denoth / London Symphony Orchestra / Jesús López Cobos NOCTURNOS DE ANDALUCÍA

The ever versatile LSO also features on this exceptional album, where the London-based guitarist Christoph Denoth winningly mixes the familiar and the unfamiliar. His account of Rodrigo’s evergreen Concierto de Aranjuez, with the orchestra winningly conducted by the veteran Spanish conductor Jesús López Cobos, is excellent, and can be highly placed in a competitive field. But the real reason for buying this well filled 68-minute album is the fill-ups. Lorenzo Palomo’s Nocturnos de Andalucía is a substantial 40-minute, six movement piece for guitar and orchestra, which revisits the same Spanish themes and moods that so inspired the great late-19th century Spanish guitar virtuoso/composers.

It’s attractive, without ever being too comfortable, and backward looking. It’s very cleverly scored for large orchestra, and will give much pleasure. There’s also a delightful lollipop at the end, with Denoth’s own arrangement for guitar and orchestra of Joaquín Malats’ Serenata Española—4½ minutes of pure joy. (David Mellor)

Danish String Quartet PRISM I

For its third ECM release, the Danish String Quartet – hailed by the Washington Post as “one of the best quartets before the public today” and as simply “terrific” by The Guardian – inaugurates a series of albums with the overarching title of Prism, in which the group will present one of Beethoven’s late string quartets in the context of a related fugue by J.S. Bach as well as a linked masterwork from the quartet literature. With Prism 1, it is the first of Beethoven’s late quartets, his grand Op. 127 in E-flat Major, alongside Bach’s luminous fugue in the same key (arranged by Mozart) and Dmitri Shostakovich’s final string quartet, No. 15 in E-flat minor, a haunted and haunting sequence of six adagios.

For Prism 1, the DSQ convened at the Reitstadel in Neumarkt, Germany, the group applying its lyricism and spirit of ensemble to this interconnected sound world of Bach, Beethoven and Shostakovich. Bach’s fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 876, was one of five pieces that Mozart transcribed for string quartet from his predecessor’s epochal collection of preludes and fugues, The Well-Tempered Clavier. Like Mozart, Beethoven also revered Bach and studied The Well-Tempered Clavier closely, his playing of its pieces noted in press reports on the young performer. Beethoven’s five late string quartets were his ultimate statement in music; the first three of these late quartets were commissioned by a Russian prince, in 1822. Shostakovich’s 15 string quartets constitute the greatest cycle of such works after Beethoven; the rarified example of the German’s late quartets was surely on the Russian composer’s mind as he completed his final – and longest and most intimate – work in the genre, in 1974, the year before his death.The spacious grandeur of Beethoven’s late quartets and, in particular, their epically hymnal slow movements – including that of the Op. 127, marked Adagio, mon non troppo e molto cantabile – were an obvious, powerful influence on the adagios of Shostakovich’s final quartet. Reflecting on the impact of Beethoven’s late string quartets, the DSQ note that “they changed the game. Every composer after Beethoven had to consider these five works and somehow figure out how to carry on the torch. Beethoven had taken a fundamentally linear development from Bach and exploded everything into myriad colors, directions and opportunities.” (ECM Records)

Silvia Márquez CHACONNERIE

Chaconnerie is a recording that deals with repetition. Chaconnerie illustrates that particular principle of Art that seeks to combine elements over and over again to achieve balance and unity. Chaconnerie encourages us to undertake a voyage in which sounds –through the centuries– build upon an insistently repeated, or imaginatively varied, scheme. Repetition has been a major element of humankind’s artistic manifestations and expressions ever since the time of the moais on Easter Island up to the drawings of Max C. Escher. Repetition is rhythm, pulse, and life, and life overflows in the chaconne, a dance whose origin Lope de Vega attributed to the American Indian (“from the Indies to Seville / it has come by post”) and whose character Miguel de Cervantes describes as lascivious and immoral. With its accent on the second beat and its variations on a harmonic scheme, this dancing base – together with sarabandes, folias, and passacaglias – was conducive to improvisation on chordal progressions, a novelty that had a crucial impact on Baroque music in Europe.

Toyohiko Satoh VIENNESE LUTE MUSIC

On this release, lutenist Toyohiko Satoh plays music from the court of Vienna from around the year 1700. A special discovery included on this album is the suite by Adam Franz Ginter, who was a famous castrato singer in that time, but also composed some pieces for the lute. This recording is a tribute to this largely forgotten musician who most probably had a short and rather sad life. The following suite by Saint-Luc contains a “tombeau for Francois Ginter” and was composed to lament the early death of this extraordinary singer, lutenist and composer. At Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Satoh studied music history with Tatsuo Minagawa and guitar with Kazuhito Ohosawa. He gave his first guitar recital in the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall in 1965. At Rikkyo, he also began his studies of the lute. Praised for his “intensity and sense of drama” and “electric tension and rhythmic spring,” he has performed and recorded both solo and with many chamber ensembles, and has been actively composing since 1981.

Christoph Denoth TANGUERO

The tango, which Piazzolla liberated from dance, is both extended and tamed by the classical guitar. That’s partly what the Swiss guitarist Christoph Denoth is getting at when he writes that ‘these present recordings aim to express today’s broader definition of tango and exploit the acoustic range of the guitar in order to integrate the tango and its untamed beauty into classical music’.

In all these miniatures – some arrangements, some written for the instrument – there are folkloristic echoes amplified by compelling rhythmic variations, extended harmonies and songlike melodies. Somewhere among this seductive sound world, Denoth finds room for his own style by finding pleasure in the play of opposites – especially the tension between European classicism and the folk traditions of South America.

Denoth’s recital opens with some of Piazzolla’s most widely arranged works, many of which have theatrical origins. The composer’s own favourite, Adios nonino, so full of subtle changes of mood, sits at the centre of a set which alternates between the urgency of pieces like Libertango and Verano porteño and those of a more reflective nature, such as Oblivion and the exquisite Milonga del ángel.

These contrasts are maintained throughout the rest of the programme, with works by other tango legends such as Gardel and those exploring different national styles, like Antonio Lauro with his Venezuelan take on the waltz, and Gismonti’s saudade-saturated Agua y vinho and Dyens’s cheeky ‘fake tango’ Tango en Skaï.

There is little here that hasn’t been recorded before by the likes of John Williams et al. What makes Denoth’s offering a must-have is a musical sensitivity exemplified as much by his curation as by his playing. (William Yeoman / Gramophone)

Vocal Concert Dresden / Cappella Sagittariana Dresden / Peter Kopp FLORILEGIUM PORTENSE

Florilegium Portense - this is the title of a collection of sacred motets from Italy, Germany and the Franco-Flemish region, first printed in Leipzig in 1618. It contains motets by the most famous composers of the time in Europe, such as Hieronymus and Michael Praetorius, Hans Leo Hassler, Orlando di Lasso, and Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. It's dissemination was so successful that almost all church choirs, school choirs and court orchestras between Eisenach and Breslau came into contact with it. The motets were compiled by Sethus Calvisius, the cantor of Schulpforte and later Thomaskantor of Leipzig, and edited by Erhard Bodenschatz, his successor in Schulpforte. Exactly 400 years after going to press, the Vocal Concert Dresden and the Cappella Sagittariana under the direction of Peter Kopp honor this important cultural monument with a recording of selected motets and hymns, including several premiere recordings.

Ensemble Marguerite Louise / Gaétan Jarry MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER Les Arts Florissans

At that time, the custom was to allow great exibility in matters of orchestration, which was linked to whatever vital forces were available and depended on when the performance of the works was programmed. Charpentier’s genius lies in the fact that that he had the ability to conceive his scores, even the most minimalist of them as works of a major stature. 

Les Arts Florissants and La Couronne de Fleurs are an unquestionable example of this: the two operas became known as much for their subtlety and their intimacy in their original form (small ensemble and chorus of soloists), as for their depth and their density in their augmented form (use of an orchestra and a full choir). 

We have therefore chosen to explore the “augmented form”, and thus allow the works to offer a more varied orchestration, to benefit from the full choir), and also offer various theatrical effects such as the use of percussion instruments. Expanded in this way, these miniatures rehabilitate a Charpentier who was denied during his time of the great financial means from which only Lully was able to benefit. 

The extracts chosen from the Couronne de Fleurs present the pastoral as a sort of logical epilogue to the Arts Florissans, necessarily joining the springtime of the Arts inspired by Louis to that of Nature. (Gaétan Jarry)

Colibrì Ensemble / Alexander Lonquich SCHUMANN - BURGMÜLLER

The lives of Robert Schumann and Norbert Burgmüller intersect in fascinating ways. Both were born in 1810, and both spent significant periods of their lives in Düsseldorf, which is how Schumann came to orchestrate the Scherzo of Burgmüller’s Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 11. Acclaimed pianist Alexander Lonquich has long been intrigued by the complex interrelationships between these two composers and their circle of influences. Lonquich brings his unique and scintillating insight to this performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, a work which began life as a Phantasie for the composer’s wife, pianist Clara Schumann, but was later augmented to become an irresistible full-length work.
The conversational principles of the concerto’s first movement are taken even further in the central Intermezzo, in which Schumann creates a sense of intimate dialogue enhanced by the delicate, almost chamber-like treatment of his orchestral forces. We then tumble effortlessly into the finale, which is full of subtle touches that reveal a composer at the peak of his powers: there are no perfunctory finale fireworks, but rather a movement of quirky good humour and perfectly-judged invention.
Burgmüller’s Second Symphony unfolds with charming ease, undulating between genial lyricism and stormier interjections reminiscent of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony. The work culminates in the Scherzo, a tussle between a refined dance, perhaps representing the civilised aspects of humanity, and sudden torrents of sound reflecting the irrepressible forces of Nature.
Alexander Lonquich is joined on this disc by The Colibrì Ensemble, a chamber orchestra which performs regularly in Pescara, Italy, where it has its own concert season. Founded in 2013 by Andrea Gallo, this vibrant collection of musicians has already forged strong relationships with a host of outstanding artists, including a special connection with Alexander Lonquich, who is now a regular guest each season.

Antonio Salguero / Pedro Gavilán CLARINET SONATAS 20th CENTURY

A journey through the most important sonatas written in the 20th century with the clarinet as the protagonist, by five great composers. The Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) proposes us in his Sonata for clarinet and piano a neoclassical atmosphere in the clear formal definition of his themes and in a certain harmonic freedom, yet he offers a more scholastic work, more solid and resounding that is already clearly evident from the beginning of the work: in the underlying sonata form of the first movement, Allegro deciso. This CD includes a final perspective of the neoclassical conceptual model, offered by the Austrian (later an English citizen) composer and conductor Joseph Horovitz (1926) in his Sonatina for clarinet and piano composed in 1981. Quiet, as if emerging from a dim light, Sonata en re by Nino Rota (1911-1979), composed in 1945, comes to us to finally offer us a musical image brimming with Mediterranean light. Kindness, beauty, simplicity and pleasant repose merge into a piece of scholastic organization in which solid formal structures guarantee the listening and understanding of a fundamentally melodic discourse, always well articulated. Sonata for clarinet and piano by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), how much tenderness enclosed in the beautiful notes of this score! An irrepressible need to listen carefully, once again, the slow section of the first movement invades all of us who know the work, but its beauty is not only collected in that fantastic moment of 16 bars in which it seems to come together in the most delicate moments of Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet or of Pavane pour une infante défunte by the same author, the simple and naive way of these notes, full of grace, in the Renaissance sense of the word: “as if it was not difficult to write this passage “. A different world, despite the proximity in time, is what Edison Denissow (1929-1996) offers us in his Sonata for clarinet, composed in 1972. We have reserved for the end the comment of the penultimate work of this album this piece which is a very successful work that collects innumerable possibilities of expression of the clarinet, far from those exhibited in the rest of the chosen pieces. Glissandi, quarters of tone, frullati, trills, tremolos, etc.

Mark Padmore / Paul Lewis SCHUBERT Winterreise

Ah, this journey! How many have made it, sincerely and imaginatively, two setting out as nearly as possible as one! So many on records too, following the elusive track as with torchlight concentrated upon it. Yet, of all, I cannot think of one (not even Fischer-Dieskau in his 1965 recording with Jörg Demus) that leads more faithfully to the cold comfort of its end. And when we get there in this performance, what an end it is!

The journey begins with ever such a slight whine high in the voice, as with a calm acceptance of pain. The piano abstains from jabbing sforzandi to underline what the chords make plain enough, instead insisting calmly on its left-hand legato. The melting major-key modulation is all affection: no hint of bitterness in the sentiment that his passing footsteps should not disturb the faithless beloved’s sleep. But outside in the open, stillness and turbulence alternate like the moods of the weather-vane. And so throughout much of the trek the self-confiding of the loner holds in check the utterance of emotion as the icy surface of the river conceals the running water beneath. Even so the pain will out, as it does in the last phrase, “ihr Bild dahin”, of “Erstarrung”.

On we go, lulled and tormented by the magic music-box of “Frühlingstraum”, till the tragic chord before “so elend nicht” in “Einsamkeit” brings a dreadful reality into focus. The deceptive sweetness of “Die Krähe”, the giddy disorientation of “Letzte Hoffnung”, the subdued feverish excitements of “Täuschung” find an almost holy stability in “Das Wirtshaus”, but still the external world exists, felt as almost an intrusion in “Mut”. And soon we meet the organ-grinder. And his secrets must on no account be revealed by reviewer or arts-gossip. And the listener must wait, out of respect to this marvellous partnership of Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis, until time can be taken for it, alone and uninterrupted, to accompany them on the journey through to its unearthly end. (John Steane/ Gramophone)

Mark Padmore / Kristian Bezuidenhout SCHUBERT Winterreise

Only a few months after Florian Boesch’s second recording of Schubert’s great wintry song-cycle (Hyperion, A/17), here’s a second bite at the bitter cherry from another singer, albeit a very different one. With Mark Padmore at least there’s been a longer intervening period: it’s nine years since the release of his previous Winterreise, a 2010 Gramophone Award-winner, also on Harmonia Mundi. And there’s a major difference here, too, in that not only is Paul Lewis replaced by Kristian Bezuidenhout but a modern concert grand is switched for a Graf fortepiano.

As with the earlier recording, there’s a wealth of interest to be found at the keyboard. Here the instrument itself is beautifully mellow, with an especially tender con sordini sound as well as some brightness in the tone when required – not often, admittedly, in this most subdued of cycles. I love the hazy twang Bezuidenhout produces at the start of ‘Der Lindenbaum’, the wild clanging of the ‘Wetterfahne’ and the real sense he gives in ‘Die Krähe’ of the bird swirling ominously about. The melody of ‘Frühlingstraum’ is imbued with so much hope, that of ‘Der Leiermann’ with so little, its opening drone, played much as Lewis plays it, resembling less notes than just a pained, numb sound.

Bezuidenhout spreads his chords occasionally and offers a light sprinkling of ornaments, as does Padmore. And in the later stages of the cycle, in particular, the tenor offers singing of remarkable patience, control and concentration (listen to how he builds up ‘Das Wirtshaus’). The final songs are moving, and Padmore’s intelligence and seriousness are never in doubt, his interpretation always probing.

One notices, however, that the voice has lost some juice: he struggles to offer warmth to counter the blanched tone he employs elsewhere, while the lower register is underpowered. His German, too, is strangely affected, with vowels self-consciously opened up and consonants over-deliberate. The earlier recording, five minutes slower, features many of the same interpretative touches and characteristics, but they are more worrying here, less convincing. Matters are not helped, either, by engineering that places the voice in a strange quasi-ecclesiastical halo.

Padmore’s fans will no doubt snap his new recording up, but I’d otherwise recommend sticking with the earlier one, featuring Lewis’s warm, deeply human contribution at the keyboard. And if fortepiano’s what you need, head to Christoph Prégardien and Andreas Staier for something altogether more grounded, satisfying and idiomatic. (Hugo Shirley / Gramophone)

Mark Padmore / Britten Sinfonia / Jacqueline Shave BENJAMIN BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings - Nocturne GERALD FINZI Dies Natalis

Tenor Mark Padmore has an ideal voice for these two Britten song cycles written for Peter Pears. He has the kind of musical sensitivity and attentiveness to textual subtleties that characterized Pears' singing. His voice is essentially light in the way that Pears' was, but his is infinitely more attractive. Its tone is clear and pure, with none of Pears' nasal quality, and can be sweet without sounding precious. Padmore's technique seems absolutely secure and while his instrument is not large, he can produce an impressive range of dynamics. He and horn player Stephen Bell deliver a terrific performance of the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings, and Jacqueline Shave's leadership of the Britten Sinfonietta is energetic and nuanced. Padmore's phrasing is shapely and expressive and he can spin out the seamless legato most of these songs require. In "Hymn," he and Bell sing and play with nimble fleetness that seems thrillingly close to the edge of spinning out of control but that ultimately lands safely. The performance of "Dirge" is charged with darker-than-usual sinister energy; the running string figures that follow the canon seem here more like a demonic dance than a dirge, to wonderful, scary effect. There is no lack of topnotch recordings of the Serenade, but this is a version that anyone who loves the piece will want to hear. In Nocturne, Padmore again excels in bringing intelligent and sensitive, sometimes soaring musicality to the songs. Finzi's cycle Dies Natalis is something of a novelty, but it fits well with the Britten. His harmonic language is eloquently post-Romantic, solidly in the English pastoral tradition, and his text setting relatively conventional, but the cycle is a lovely, lyrical, entirely successful exemplar of that tradition. Serenade, written about five years after Dies Natalis, demonstrates by contrast the daring individuality of Britten's handling of texts and the rich originality of his melodic gift. The sound of Harmonia Mundi's SACD is immaculate and detailed, with a gripping sense of presence. (Stephen Eddins)

Marta Brankovich BLACK SWAN OF PIANO

Be transformed by the haunting intensity of Brankovich’s performance in Black Swan of Piano. Extending from the melancholic forms of 19th century composer Eric Satie to the dark, moving compositions of the pianist herself, this album invites listeners into the realms of the past, the war-torn images of her homeland, and a look into the immense possibilities for the musical future.

Victory and War are the first of Brankovich’s own compositions, but with her sharpened technique combined with an emotional drive, the pieces play like those by a seasoned composer. The works are directly inspired by melodies heard during her childhood in Serbia and the dramatic choral elements found in the Kosovo region. Her melodies refer to “the screams of the lost souls that vanished in the wars during the 90s in the Balkan region.” These compositions are dedicated to the innocent victims of violence during that dark time in her homeland.

Throughout the album, Brankovich intertwines Serbian and Western techniques with her own experimental style. The piano is stretched to limitless sonic possibilities thanks to Brankovich’s application of phrasing, tension, and mood. The solo pianist fills the soundscape effortlessly, allowing chords and melodies to linger. This is especially present in Božić’s Lyric of Athos and Mansell’s Lux Aeterna, originally composed for the 2000 film Requiem for a Dream. The album also consists of works by acclaimed composer and professor Fredrick Kaufman, Metamorphosis and Yin and Yang. Kaufman’s compositions provided key inspiration for Brankovich’s debut album, and she is joined on Yin and Yang by the notable pianist and scholar Kemal Gekić.

The “Black Swan” pulls listeners into each composition with her spellbinding command of the piano. She gives life to the Serbian sound by adding space between the notes, letting her piano breathe and tell the complex story of her people.

John Finucane / Elisaveta Blumina FRENCH HOLIDAYS

Feather-light music played as light as a feather: this is John Finucane’s first GENUIN release in a nutshell. He joins on the recording with piano partner Elisaveta Blumina, who has already appeared on three CDs with the Leipzig label. In this exquisite combination of French Romanticism and Post-Romanticism, the virtuoso Irish clarinetist does not betray the slightest hint that he is performing some of the most challenging pieces written for his instrument. Works by Debussy, Françaix, Saint-Saëns, and Widor are played with such joy and naturalness that we feel transported to the world of Paul Verlaine or Marcel Proust.

John Finucane / Elisaveta Blumina IRISH HOLIDAYS

Ireland is not only the green island, but also the land of legends and singers. All this is reflected on the second Genuin Classics CD by the Irish clarinetist John Finucane. The exceptional wind player brings together music from his homeland from 1911 to the present day. Without exception, these are genuine discoveries, and not only because of the world premiere recordings and works written for John Finucane. Even in the most modern of times, the magic of the past is still alive, and contemporary musical language is inspired by the spirit of the Irish harpists: from Stanford to Bax, from Ferguson to Trimble. An Irish blessing!

Roberto Loreggian J.S. BACH Goldberg Variations

Italian organist and harpsichordist Roberto Loreggian obtained his organ and harpsichord diplomas with distinction. He then continued to study at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague under Ton Koopman. In addition to his busy career as a soloist, Roberto Loreggian is much in demand as continuo player in both orchestras and chamber ensembles. He is particularly interested in the great harpsichord heritage of 17th and 18th-century Italy, and has adapted all existing manuscripts of G.B. Ferrini’s works for the keyboard. The resulting recording was awarded the ‘Preis der duetschen Schallplattenkritik.’ For his new release, he has opted to record Bach’s Goldberg Variations, a staple in keyboard repertoire. Roberto Loreggian teaches at the Conservatory of music ‘C. Pollini’ in Padua.

Sara Hahn / Laura Loewen / Sarah Gieck I CLOSE MY EYES IN ORDER TO SEE

With her Navona debut I Close My Eyes In Order To See, accomplished Canadian flutist Sara Hahn demonstrates her exceptional sensitivity for emotional nuance coupled with great virtuosic capability, but most of all: the healing power of music itself. Hahn, currently the Principal Flutist for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, is rightly known for her refined and beautiful tone, and I Close My Eyes In Order To See indubitably attests to this. But extraordinarily, there is even more to Hahn's musicianship: An exquisite ability to get right into the heart of a composition. No doubt this is in part due to the highly personal selection of pieces: The album's eponymous opening track, I Close My Eyes To See, was dedicated to Hahn by composer Arthur Bachmann, written to commemorate her mother's hard (but eventually successful) battle with cancer. Indeed, the compositions of this album center around perhaps the greatest, and most universal, challenge of the human condition: overcoming Fate's hardships. In this spirit, the individual musical pieces represent emotions such as fear, sadness, the desire to bargain, and depression and anger are reached with the help of mental fortitude and spirituality all culminating, inspiringly, in acceptance and optimism. Sara Hahn's interpretation of these wildly diverse sentiments is nothing short of riveting and, towards the album's cheerful conclusion, supremely uplifting. In this sublime feat, pianist Laura Loewen and alto flutist Sarah Gieck, who both accompany with fitting delicacy, add great musical depth. I Close My Eyes In Order To See is an aesthetic feast for the ears, no doubt; but its true strength lies in having encapsulated not only a timeless constant of the human experience suffering but also a viable, feasible way to overcome it.

Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11 "The year 1905"

Deutsche Grammophon proudly continues the widely acclaimed, Grammy winning Shostakovich Symphony cycle with Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Andris Nelsons is the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and new Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. With both appointments, and in leading a pioneering alliance between these two esteemed institutions, he is firmly underlined as one of the most renowned, exciting and innovative conductors on the international scene today. After the “scandalously successful” (Sunday Times) Symphony No. 10 in 2015 and “the sheer expressive beauty” Gramophone Magazine) of Symphonies Nos. 5, 8, 9 from 2016 Andris Nelsons and his Bostonians turn their attention to the extrovert Fourth and dramatic Eleventh - both recorded live for the third instalment of this long-term collaboration of the Boston Symphony Orchestra – “America's most cultured orchestra” (BBC Music Magazine).

Théophile Alexandre / Guillaume Vincent ADN BAROQUE

The countertenor Théophile Alexandre and the concert-pianist Guillaume Vincent dare baring baroque music in Piano-Voice. In 21 pieces, like the 21 grammes of human soul, the artists dive us into the heard of mankind emotional DNA, exposing unheard facets of baroque essence : an audacious contemporary réinvention exploring the strengths and vulnerabilities of mankind through the powerful intimacy of piano-voice. Included : 4 duets with the sopranos Chantal Santon & Marion Tassou.

Marc Djokic SOLO SEVEN

For my debut album, I am proud to present a collection of pieces for solo violin written by great Canadian composers. Most of the selections on this recording are the result of my close collaboration with the composers. This dynamic between musician and composer has been formative in the interpretation and ultimately the final edit. My continuing research into new Canadian repertoire for my instrument is the inspiration behind this project, which I hope will continue over the years. As in the Sonatas and Partitas by J.S. Bach and Sonatas by Eugene Ysaye, these works celebrate the violin as a solo instrument. They push the technical, musical, and polyphonic limits of the violin and the ever-evolving violinist.

On this recording, I am playing on a violin by Petrus Guarnerius of Venice 1740.

Thank you for listening! (Marc Djokic)

Concert Artists of Baltimore Symphonic Chorale / Baltimore Symphony Orchestra / Edward Polochick HANDEL Messiah

Of all English oratorios Handel’s Messiah has always been the most overwhelmingly popular. It is the least theatrical of his oratorios and the most purely sacred in its choice of subject matter. The vivid choral writing—there are more choruses in Messiah than in any other Handel oratorio—coupled with the expressive density of the solo arias, have ensured its status as one of the greatest choral masterpieces in the Western canon.

12 Ensemble RESURRECTION

The 12 ensemble continue their remarkable rise on the international classical music scene with their stunning debut album Resurrection. Featuring a new work from the acclaimed composer & guitarist of band The National Bryce Dessner, a commission from boundary-pushing UK composer Kate Whitley and works by Lutoslawski and Woolrich, the record is a powerful collection of four works for strings that reflect the ensemble’s spirit of bringing new energy and exploration to established sounds and ideas. 

Always performing without a conductor, the ensemble have developed a reputation across Europe as one of the UK’s leading string orchestras. This debut recording highlights the group’s commitment to intimate music-making that lives and breathes, performed with dazzling energy and an astonishing sound, all based on the principle of putting the music in charge.

Yasunori Imamura JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Complete Works for Lute

The considerable variety of Johann Sebastian Bach’s output for the lute stands witness to different periods of his life and career. This collection comprises Bach’s complete lute works, amply demonstrating his interest in its expressive qualities. These works include the technically demanding Partita BWV 1006a, Bach’s own transcription of his Cello Suite No. 5, three pieces from the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion where the lute appears in an ensemble setting, and the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998, described by the renowned harpsichordist Wanda Landowska as ‘of incomparable beauty… unique amongst Bach’s works’.

Anne Queffélec ENTREZ DANS LA DANSE...

The same qualities as on her delightful cornucopia ‘Satie & Compagnie’ (4/13) are on display again in Anne Queffélec’s programme of dances from the belle époque and inter-war periods in France. All the composers were either disciples or pupils of one another or personal friends. Stylistically, it is easy to hear the cross-references: ‘Their works engaged in dialogue, nourished and interpenetrated each other’, as the excellent booklet has it. You can hear Faure’s Le pas espagnol, for instance, either as an affectionate tribute to or tongue-in-cheek pastiche of Chabrier. It was Fauré who provided early inspiration for the Catalan Federico Mompou, the sole outsider in nationality on this album (though not in terms of musical style) and whose Canción y Danza No 4 opens proceedings.

Again, Queffélec mixes the familiar with the less well known, with enough of the latter to entice any pianophile to invest and pianist to track down the sheet music (as an example, your reviewer has now finally got round to having a serious look at Poulenc’s Suite française). Her approach to the music is one of enchanting simplicity. No show, no grandstanding; she beckons the listener to leave what they are doing, if they wish, and to come over and join her. Minimum pedal, lovely finger legato, each note of these economically scored pieces intimately projected and made to tell.

Le pas espagnol, mentioned above, is one of five (out of the 24) tracks in which Queffélec is joined by Gaspard Dehaene. Notwithstanding the exuberant nature of this and a few others (Massenet’s Valse folle first among them), the general tenor of the 82-minute programme is one of reflection and introspection, a welcome balm, and warmly recommended. (Jeremy Nicholas / Gramophone)

Anne Queffélec SATIE & COMPAGNIE

From the wit of Satie to the to the poetry of Debussy, French music of the early decades of the twentieth century was created by exceptional and imaginative minds capable of grasping delicate nuances and shining infinite variations of light on the natural world and the human soul. Renowned for her diverse repertoire and impressive discography, French pianist Anne Queffelec has a special affinity for this repertoire. On this delightful collection from Mirare, Queffelec leads us down the varied and colorful pathways of some of the most fascinating French music for piano ever written.

Nevermind CONVERSATIONS

Nevermind is made up of four young musicians and friends whose passion for early music and for the influence of jazz and traditional music stimulated them to form an ensemble whose virtuosity is equalled only by their youthful impetuosity and their love of fine music . . . For its first disc, Nevermind tackles the treasures of the Baroque in the shape of two totally neglected French composers.

The first one, Jean-Baptiste Quentin, a dessus de violon at the Académie Royale de Musique (forerunner of the Paris Opéra), was a habitué of the Parisian salons, where he frequented Rameau among others. The second, Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, studied in Italy before joining the court musicians at Versailles. Sometimes whimsical and often very complex in Guillemain, invariably lucid and classical in Quentin, their style nonetheless presents a common feature: the dominance of the Italian idiom.

Alpha Classics continues its discovery of young talents with this project conceived by the inspired musicians of Nevermind. Their credo is to introduce the widest possible audience to the riches of music that has been too long ignored.

Marie-Catherine Girod / Quatuor Pražák GABRIEL DUPONT

Gabriel Dupont, who lived to the age of only 36 before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1914, is one of those late-19th- and early 20th-century French composers whom history has eclipsed in favour of such leading lights as Debussy and Ravel, yet in 1901 Dupont beat Ravel into third place by coming second in the Prix de Rome (André Caplet won first prize with the cantata Myrrha). Despite success with opera in his day, Dupont’s name has survived largely through his piano cycles Les heures dolentes (1903 05) and La maison dans les dunes (1907 09).

In these miniatures, as Marie-Catherine Girod shows in these affectionately turned performances of selections from both sets, Dupont expressed an attractive, limpid wistfulness. His illness, which dogged him for his last decade, not only removed him from the centres of musical activity in Paris but also seems to have wrapped him in a mood of inner reflection – by no means always sad, as can be heard, for instance, in the scintillating ‘Du soleil au jardin’ and ‘Coquetteries’ from Les heures dolentes, but generally with a sense of regret that he cannot completely enjoy his surroundings while encumbered with ill-health. ‘Mélancolie du bonheur’ (‘Melancholy of Happiness’) seems to be his overriding state of mind. Journée de printemps for violin and piano is a beguiling diptych of a spring morning and evening; but not even Girod and the excellent Pražák  Quartet can rescue the overlong, suffocatingly overheated Poème (Geoffrey Norris / Gramophone)

Duo Sempre DRAMATIQUE

Duo Sempre represents a duo of two guitarists, winners of numerous guitar competitions Arsen Asanov and Dariya Panasevych. Their performances are characterizing by a high sensitivity, expressiveness and clearness of musical images. Nowadays they are focused on the creation of a new repertoire by transcribing baroque, classical and contemporary masterpieces like clavier music of J.P.Rameau, D.Scarlatti, piano music by C. Debussy, A. Ginastera etc. At the same time, they have a full program composed out of highlights of original guitar duo repertoire, a heritage of such great composers as N. Coste, M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, L. Brouwer, S. Assad etc. Almost every concert program includes own compositions and it becomes a feature of the Duo.

The first CD "Seven Rings" was recorded at the "Ton- und Video-Studio" in Salzburg and was released in 2014. The new CD "Dramatique", dedicated to Harpsichord music of the 18th century, was recorded at "Hochschule für Musik und Theater" in Hamburg and released by Aliso Records in 2018.

Marie-Catherine Girod GABRIEL DUPONT La Maison dans les dunes GUSTAVE SAMAZEUILH Le Chant de la mer

Marie-Catherine Girod has won a unique place in the music world thanks to the audacious and virtuosic manner with which she defends unknown and rarely played works. With flawless technique and sincere conviction, she has introduced audiences the world over to composers such as Decaux, Tournemire, Le Flem, D'Indy, Emmanuel, Aubert, Bax and Bowen. 

At the same time, Ms. Girod devotes the same ardor and devotion to the standard repertoire, and her recordings of Chopin, Frank, Rachmaninoff and Weber have won critical and popular acclaim. 

A regular featured artist at major French music festivals, such as the Festival Chopin de Bagatelle or the Festival de Nohant, La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée in Nantes and Tokyo. Ms. Girod has performed in major venues all over Europe, including the Settembre Musica of Turin, and the Husum rare piano music festival in Germany. She is also a regular guest on radio broadcasts of France Musique and Radio Classique.

Marie Catherine Girod is Chevalier des Arts et Lettres et Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite. With an impressive discography comprising over fourty titles of which a large number are world premieres, Ms. Girod has received numerous awards for her recordings: Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, 10 de Répertoire-the major French music magazines have all praised her original repertoire where one can hear Pierre Octave Ferroud and Gabriel Dupont next to Manuel Rosenthal or Gustave Samazeuilh.

The Grand Prix de l’Académie du Disque Français was awrded two times to Ms. Girod, for her recording of sonatas by Georges Auric, Henri Dutilleux and André Jolivet, and again for her complete cycle of the sonatas of Maurice Emmanuel. 

She also received the Grand Prix International Charles Cros for her recording of the works of Arthur Lourié. Recently, she recorded for Mirare the “Poème” from Gabriel Dupont with Prazàk quartet for the label Mirare Concert artist and pedagogue, she is professor in Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. 

Impassioned, enthusiastic and sensitive in all her appearances on stage, Marie-Catherine Girod strives in all her repertoire to present the piano in all its aspects at the highest artistic level.

Rebekka Hartmann / Salzburg Chamber Soloists / Lavard Skou Larsen OUT OF THE SHADOW

Rebekka Hartmann is the winner of several national and international awards. Her international concert activities brought her together with conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Justus Frantz, Salvador Mas Conde, Esa Pekka Salonen, Jukka Pekka Saraste and Enoch zu Guttenberg. Her repertoire comprises the complete spectrum of violin literature from early Baroque to contemporary music and new compositions, of which she has also performed some first recordings and world premieres like works for solo violin by Håkan Larsson and Anders Eliasson. In 2012 Rebekka Hartmann was awarded the ECHO Classic-Prize in the category „Best solo recording of the year” for her CD „Birth of the Violin“(2011, Solo Musica). Rebekka Hartmann performs on an Antonio Stradivarius violin from 1675.

The Salzburg Chamber Soloists have completed four extensive tours of South America to date. For the 250th Mozart Anniversary in 2006, the The Salzburg Chamber Soloists were invited by the city of Salzburg to perform a Best of Mozart concert series. They then continued these celebrations on two extensive tours of the USA and Mexico, visiting cities including Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Indianapolis and Mexico City.

Leila Schayegh / Jan Schultsz JOHANNES BRAHMS Violin Sonatas

The Violin Sonatas of Johannes Brahms were the product of much self-critical reflection, and the three surviving works are from a composer mature in years. Composed around the same time as the Violin Concerto (No 1), the C minor Piano Trio and the Second Cello Sonata (Nos 2 and 3), they also echo some of his songs, such as those written to poems by Klaus Groth.

Into this Romantic atmosphere come new performances of the three works on Glossa, played by violinist Leila Schayegh (particularly fêted for her recordings of Bach, Caldara and Benda), teaming up here with pianist Jan Schultsz. Schayegh plays a copy of a period violin, whilst Schultsz uses an original 1879 Streicher instrument.

The two players aim to recapture the performing tradition as the composer would have known it, and within which he would have intended his pieces to have been played. Schayegh and Schultsz worked with Clive Brown and Neal Peres Da Costa in their efforts to aim for “the spirit rather than the dead letter of the score” and they pay admirable notice of important interpretative questions for music of this time – and they provide an intuitive musical and emotional response to the lyricism of the first two sonatas and the darker-hued tones of the third, investing these late-nineteenth-century works. (Glossa)

Josu De Solaun ENESCU Complete Works For Solo Piano

As a First Prize winner of the XIII George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest, the Spanish pianist JOSU DE SOLAUN has been invited to perform in distinguished concert series throughout the world, having made notable appearances in Bucharest (Romanian Athenaeum), Venice (Teatro La Fenice), St Petersburg (Mariinsky Theatre), Washington, DC (Kennedy Center), New York (Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera), Princeton (Taplin Hall), London (Southbank Centre), Paris (Salle Cortot), Leipzig (Schumann Haus), Taipei (Novel Hall), Mexico City (Sala Silvestre Revueltas), Prague (Nostitz Palace), and Rome (Academia de España). He is the only pianist from Spain to win the Enescu and Iturbi competitions in their respective histories, and was invited to a private reception with the King and Queen of Spain at the Royal Palace after winning the coveted Bucharest prize. Josu De Solaun is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music.

Giorgio Koukl / Virginia Rossetti LUTOSŁAWSKI Complete Piano Music

Witold Lutosławski’s few surviving apprentice works are suffused with the elegance of Ravel and the lush effusiveness of Szymanowski, and this is particularly true of the early Piano Sonata, heard here in Giorgio Koukl’s new and corrected edition based on the original manuscript. Further premières include the wistful A Kiss of Roxanne and the technically complex Invention. Including all of the folk-music tinted pedagogical miniatures, works for piano four hands and other occasional pieces, this is the most comprehensive edition of Lutosławski’s works for solo piano ever recorded.

Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin / Sandrine Piau HAYDN La Reine

It was in 2015 that Julien Chauvin decided to bring back to life one of the most famous orchestras of the late 18th century, Le Concert de la Loge Olympique. Founded in 1783 and owing its lasting famous for having commissioned Joseph Haydn’s ‘Paris’ Symphonies, it gave its first concerts under the high patronage of Marie-Antoinette, hence the subtitle of the fourth ‘Paris’ Symphony: ‘La Reine’. 

Although the name has been slightly changed today, now called Le Concert de la Loge, this ensemble of a variable number of musicians perpetuates the same tradition of excellence as its illustrious namesake. On the programme, of course, the recording of the cycle of these ‘Paris’ Symphonies and, to get the series off to a start, the recording of this famous ‘Reine‘. Taking up the purest tradition of concerts of the ensemble at the time, for each programme, Julien Chauvin combines not only instrumental works by various composers but also vocal pieces (in general, opera arias). 

Thus the fabulous Sandrine Piau, a distinguished guest of this first recording, ideally portrays the gentle Sélène in the world premiere recording of an aria from Giuseppe Sarti’s Didone abbandonata (1762) and offers dazzling virtuosity in Diane’s spectacular aria from Johann Christian Bach’s serenade Endimione. The listener will also (re)discover a little gem by Henri-Joseph Rigel, violist in Le Concert de la Loge Olympique: the Symphony Op. 12 no.4 (1774). With this first release, Julien Chauvin already proves that his orchestra will quickly establish itself and regain its past glory.

Olivier Fortin FRANÇOIS COUPERIN L'Art de Toucher le Clavecin

The harpsichord is perfect in its compass, and brilliant in itself; but, as one can neither swell nor diminish its notes, I shall always be grateful to those who, through consummate art sustained by good taste, manage to make this instrument capable of expression.’
Why is it difficult to play the music of François Couperin when it seems so simple at first glance? By offering precious information on the interpretation of his music (and more generally on the interpretation of French music of his time) in his treatise L’Art de toucher le clavecin (The art of harpsichord playing), Couperin provides us with the necessary elements for today’s performer, who seeks above all to respect the composer’s intentions. However, fear of not going beyond the indications given by the latter and excessive attention to every detail can inhibit inspiration and distract from the purpose of the works. Like the French language, it consists of rules but also of many exceptions. Modern grammars and dictionaries give us complete, firm, infallible answers to all these questions. But things were quite different at the time.

Les inAttendus POETICAL HUMORS

Unexpected? The pairing of viola da gamba and accordion is certainly that! But perhaps even more surprising is how well the singing strings of the veteran instrument harmonize with the subtly vibrating reeds of the centuries-younger newcomer.

Also unexpected is this cross-generational meeting of two musicians (what are the odds?) who found each other exploring the ‘poetical humours’ of early-Seventeenth-century England.

Recently reunited in the recording studio after several seasons of rapturously received recitals, with this well-timed album the duo Les inAttendus makes its first entry into the harmonia mundi catalogue.

Les Cris de Paris / Geoffroy Jourdain MELANCHOLIA

A most unusual cabinet of curiosities: “Finding pleasure even in meditating on what causes one’s pain”: that neatly defines the theme of this album of music from the cusp of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. Here Italian and English madrigals rub shoulders with motets and Tenebrae responsories.

A melancholic poetry that provided endless nourishment for musical creativity in the late Renaissance and which Geoffroy Jourdain presents in his first recording for harmonia mundi.

Claire Désert SCHUMANN Fantaisie - Trois Romances - Scènes de la Forêt

Claire Désert seduces her audience with her graceful, profound and humble interpretations. She is in the line-up of important French and international festivals, and she regularly performs with important symphonic orchestras.

At 14, she entered the Paris Conservatoire and graduated with a First Prize in chamber music in Jean Hubeau’s class and a unanimous First Prize in piano in Venislav Yankoff’s class.  She was recognized at an early age and the French government selected her to pursue her studies at the Moscow Tchaïkovski Conservatory, in Evgeni Malinin’s class.

Claire Désert is an exceptional artist and a World-class chamber musician. Her favorite partners are pianist Emmanuel Strosser, cellist Anne Gastinel, violonists Philippe Graffin and Tedi Papavrami, the Quatuor Sine Nomine and the Quintette Moraguès. 

Since her very first disc, Claire Désert has summoned the Schumannian rages in solo or in chamber music.

Here, with three major piano works, she portrays the soul of German Romanticism, from its dark forests to its popular romances.

This is also the whole universe of Schumann, between virtuosity, madness and fervour.

Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin HAYDN L'Ours

The well-known Concert de la Loge, the period-instruments orchestra led by the violinist Julien Chauvin, comes back with the third episode of Haydn’s journey in Paris. His complete Parisian Symphonies recording continues this fall with the number 82 nicknamed “The Bear”. It is coupled with the Symphonie concertante for bassoon, horn, flute and oboe of one of his contemporaries, François Devienne.

This colorful third volume draws a witty and virtuoso panorama of French 18th century music.

Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin / Justin Taylor HAYDN La Poule

Thanks to Julien Chauvin and his ensemble La Loge, the programs of the Concert Spirituel’s evenings in the late 18^th century Paris come back to life. The so called Haydn’s “symphonies parisiennes” are the core of their musical project which also features contemporary composers, some of them are still unknown.

After “La Reine”, Julien Chauvin and his musicians release “La Poule”, which mischievous doted notes are famous, and Marie-Alexandre Guénin’s Third Symphony. In addition to being a member of the Concert Spirituel’s orchestra as a violinist, Guénin was a teacher and a composer. This score, typical of the Sturm und Drang dramatic gestures, has nothing to envy to the works of his more prominent peers.

The disc ends with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17, K 453 performed by the young and talented Justin Taylor on the fortepiano. His technique allows his sensibility and intelligence to blossom freely so that the soloist can offer a pure moment of delicacy.

Anna Liszewska FRANZ XAVER MOZART Piano Works

Franz Xaver Mozart, the youngest son of Wolfgang Amadeus, has some 30 piano works to his name. They include nine cycles of variations with opus numbers, three sets of Polonaises melancholiques, sonatas, fantasies, rondos, and several smaller forms. In contrast to his father, he never displayed a performing interest in any instrument other than the piano. He used his outstanding performing skills in his compositional output, the lion’s share of which was for the piano. It is these works that pianist Anna Liszewska has included on this release. Anna Liszewska studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, gaining her diploma in 1995. She later went on to study under Barbara Halska, John Owings, and Andrzej Jasinski. In addition to an active performing and recording career, Anna is a teacher, and has directed a piano class at the Henryk Wieniawski Primary and Secondary Music Schools, and is on the faculty of the Music Academy in Lodz, lecturing in the Department of Piano, Organ, Harpsichord, Early Music, and Jazz.

Amsterdam Sinfonietta / Candida Thompson THE ARGENTINIAN ALBUM

I can’t imagine a more diverse palette of sounds, styles and colours than the three composers on this recording. They are unmistakably Argentinian yet tantalisingly different. Between them they represent the vibrant fusion of cultures that exist in Argentina today. In order to give full justice to their music, we researched their personal tastes, sources and sound worlds, looking for the influences that shaped them. Although one immediately feels that Ginastera’s unique masterpiece Concerto per corde is written in a language close to the European masterworks of the twentieth century such as Bartók’s Divertimento, or Berg’s Lyric Suite, it’s a very particular and original work. Ginastera changes between such imaginative quasi improvised solo sections and very precisely structured passages. While playing his Concerto one has a tremendous feeling of freedom within structure. (Candida Thompson)

Tillmann Höfs / Akiko Nikami AIR

For more than thirty years there had not been an individual prizewinner in the discipline of horn at the German Music Competition, that is, until Tillmann Höfs came from Hamburg in 2017. He won the hearts of the audience and literally blew the jury against the wall. His qualities, technical superiority, and great musical genius also distinguish his GENUIN debut CD, which was produced in the Primavera series in cooperation with the German Music Council. Höfs shows the entire breadth of his youthful, slim yet festive horn playing with works by Richard Strauss, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paul Hindemith and Jörg Widmann. Outstanding repertoire and interpretation!