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Classical Editor: Rob Barnett Music Webmaster Len Mullenger: Len@musicweb-international.com
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Current
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PART 3 |
[Part 1 New]
[Part 2 A-B] [Part
3 C-L] [Part 4 M-R] [Part 5 S-Y] [Part 6 Misc] |
MARIO CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO GUITAR RECITALLorenzo Micheli, Guitar
Lorenzo Micheli certainly has a feeling for this music and is sensitive to its demands. As always the recorded sound achieved by Naxos is excellent.
CHARPENTIER (c. 1645-1704) Te Deum (H 146), Motets Pour Le Roi Louis
Gester's forces communicate very expressively the full range of emotions contained therein and the playing of the instrumentalists is polished and refined, and stirring too. For early baroque music enthusiasts a firm recommendation
COPLAND The Populist (suites from Billy the Kid and Rodeo, plus the complete ballet Appalachian Spring)
Whether an admirer of Copland, Americana, or the wide open spaces of Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, this is an essential recording which should please a wide musical constituency. One of the finest albums of the year.
DEBUSSY Préludes Books 1 & 2
Zimerman has a full command of the pianistic range of these pieces and brings each one vividly to life, tender or scintillating. The notes are by Roger Nichols, whose writings on French music are invariably illuminating and stylishly written. British record collectors will be fascinated to read about the English connections of these pieces.
Léo DELIBES Lakmé: Highlights
All in all this was an assumption which we are fortunate to have preserved.
DELIUS WHILE SPRING AND SUMMER SANG Transcriptions of DELIUS, and Piano Music by JOHN IRELAND
Beautifully produced CD - a personal testament on the part of the pianist Alan Rowlands - with an evocative title (from Rossetti) and sleeve design.
Christoph DELZ - Composer & Interpreter (PGW)
1. DELZ In the Jungle; MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition SWDR Orchestra/Kord; Christoph DELZ (piano) FSM FCD 97 742 [59.48]
2. DELZ Sils; 1st Piano Concerto LISZT Three late piano pieces Christoph DELZ (piano) SWF Orch Baden-Baden/Matthias Bamert FSM FCD 97 743 [53.33] (PGW)
3. DELZ Arbeitslieder; Piano Quartet; String Quartet Cologne Radio Choir Christoph DELZ (piano) etc
Grammont CTS-P 18-2 [51 mins] [PW]These three CDs pass one of my chief tests, that of uniqueness & unrepeatablilty.
DOWLAND Robert (Collected) A Musicall Banquet
Andreas Scholl has been touring this interesting programme internationally in recital with the same eminent accompanists. His counter-tenor voice combines a beautiful tone quality, and evenness, with musical intelligence and scrupulous attention to detail. This collection will assuredly give great pleasure and bids fair to reap critical reward.
Felix DRAESEKE (1835-1913) Symphony in G Major (1872) [38.55] Piano Concerto (1886) [31.46]
Rare and substantial romantic repertoire. No trace of milk and water. Long playing time. Two meaty rewarding works with highlights aplenty.
Henri DUTILLEUX String Quartet Ainsi la Nuit Claude DEBUSSY String Quartet Op.10 (1893) Maurice RAVEL String Quartet (1902)
.....the chief interest of this CD is likely to be the quartet of Henri Dutilleux (b.1916), which occupied this fastidious composer from 1971 to 1977, and bids fair to become established in the 'canon' of French masterpieces for the medium.
GEORGE DYSON (1883-1964) In Honour of the City, Sweet Thames Run Softly, A Spring Garland, The Blacksmiths, To Music
Stephen Roberts (bar) RCM Chamber Choir RPO/Sir David Willcocks rec 1985-87, LondonA collection including surprising pleasures. Dyson the original and Dyson the celebrant.
Heino ELLER (1887-1970) Complete Preludes for piano (1910-1937)
rec 3-4 Nov 1997, Lefrak Concert Hall, New YorkSelf-recommending to those in touch with Baltic sympathies.
JOHN ELLIS. Music for Organ.
Music in an idiom approachable if sometimes astringent.
NICOLAS FLAGELLO (1928-1994) Overture Burlesca (1952) Piano Concerto No 2 (1956) Credendum for violin and orchestra (1973) A Goldoni Overture (1967) Piano Concerto No 3 (1959)
A strong recommendation for anyone who having started exploration with the Naxos American Classics series would like to delve deeper into 20th Century Romantic Americana.
NICOLAS FLAGELLO (1928-1994) Serenata (1968) The Land - song cycle (1954) Symphony No. 2 Symphony of the Winds (1970) Symphonic Waltzes for solo piano (1958)
The most generous collection of Flagello on the market. This revives LP era recordings alongside a 1994 world premiere. Anything with Rankovich playing is worth having.
NICOLAS FLAGELLO (1928-1994) She Walks in Beauty (1957) Capriccio for cello and orchestra (1962) Lautrec - Ballet suite (1965) Remembrance (1971) Contemplazioni Michelangelo (1964)
This disc has been around for almost a decade. Nevertheless it is well worth seeking out for the passion and power of Capriccio and the Broadway romance of She Walks in Beauty. A nice introduction to the vocal Flagello.
FRASER SIMSON The Maid of the Mountains
A lot of pleasure to be had listening to this generously filled CD.
Niels GADE SYMPHONIES Volume 1 Symphony no.2 in E, op.10; Symphony no.8 in b, op.47;
Allegretto, un poco lento (discarded slow movement from Symphony no.8); In the Highlands, op.7.For those who enjoy the hills as well as the mountains of romantic symphonism he still has much to say. The new series should be worth following, and the warm recording and helpful notes in three languages can only add to the pleasure.
Philippe GAUBERT Pièces Romantiques pour flûte et piano
Kathryn Thomas has a glorious tone - and her sense of the dynamic range of these works is finely attuned. This is undoubtedly a beautiful disc - and a beautifully played one.
GILBERT Dream Carousels, Quartet of Beasts ,Six of the Bestiary, Igorochki,* Towards Asavari 2
Elegance balanced by humour, fantasy sharpened by logic, compassion informed by clarity; above all, an inventive imagination which reveals our familiar world in new and unexpected lights
LOUIS GLASS Symphony No. 4 (1911)
A pleasing and undemanding late romantic symphony from unknown Dane, Louis Glass - precursor - we hope - to a white heat account of Glass's masterwork: Symphony No. 5.
Christoph Willibald GLUCK Orfeo ed Euridice
Unless you want a taste of how Mrs. Thatcher might have sung if she had been able to, leave well alone.
AMERICAN SYMPHONIES ROGER GOEB (1914-97) Symphony No. 4 (1954) HOMER KELLER (1915-?) Symphony No. 3 (1955?) ELIE SIEGMEISTER (1909-1991) Symphony No. 3 (1957)
Three decently recorded and extremely well performed American symphonies from the 1950s. Their idiom is moderately challenging in a vigorous Stravinskian way. They cannot be regarded as seriously dissonant. Equally these are not as accessible as Roy Harris or early Walter Piston.
DAVID GOLIGHTLY Symphony No. 1; Three Seascapes.
Gavin Sutherland.Well argued symphony - very accessible in idiom, a "Classic FM work", no more "difficult" than say George Lloyd or William Alwyn.
Morton GOULD (1913-1996) American Ballads; Foster Gallery; American Salute
Multi-talented, Morton Gould was a composer, conductor, arranger and orchestrator, and pianist. He wrote in a wide variety of musical forms from ballet to Broadway and from classical orchestral works to film and television scores..... The music is played with great vivacity by the Russians and you would swear they came from Utah rather than the Ukraine.
GRAINGER Tuneful Percussion
A generous sixteen tracks, the percussionists Woof! (their ! not mine) provide a wide variety of tone colour and sound, the stick work impeccably refined and technically secure, in a blend of familiar tunes (Shepherd's Hey to start and Country Gardens to end) to the unfamiliar (Gamelan melodies), also included are arrangements of pieces by Balfour Gardiner, Debussy and Ravel.
Jesús GURIDI Amaya Lyric Drama in three acts and an epilogue Basque libretto by Fr. José de Arrué after the novel by Navarro Villoslada
Though little known to outsiders, Basque composer Jesús Guridi (1886-1961) is as much beloved in Spain as in his homeland. He is a nationalist composer in the same deep sense as Vaughan Williams was in England, rooted in folk idioms, a generous melodist, approachable but never chauvinistic, above all imbued with a strong sense of the spiritual.
HANDEL Theodora
The recorded sound is very good and devoid of echoes, reverberations and all such other things that can plague a recording. The soloists are excellent and certain arias are , quite frankly, breathtaking or sheer beauty. The chorus is superb and some choruses are so very well executed that you have to play them again to makes sure you are not dreaming. The conducting seems absolutely right and the playing of the Gabreli Consort is a delight.
HAYDN Double Concerto in F, for violin, piano and strings HobXVIII 6, Violin Concerto in G HobVIIa : 4 , Violin Concerto in C Hob. VIIa:1.
....you can enjoy this music and the performances but, in a day when these concertos are not widely known we do need a more compelling and orthodox account of them.
HOWELLS Piano Concerto No.1 in C minor Op.4 Piano Concerto No.2 in C major Op.39 Penguinski
A most welcome addition to Howells' steadily expanding discography
HOWELLS Suite for Orchestra: The Bs; Three Dances for Violin & Orchestra; In Green Ways
Rare works in very fine performances (that of The Bs I find particularly beautiful), superb warm recording
HOWELLS King's Herald (1934) Paradise Rondel (1925) Fantasia (1936/7) Threnody (1935) Pastoral Rhapsody (1923) Procession (1920)
Hickox conducts fine performances of these unfamiliar pieces and the LSO, in top form, respond wholeheartedly.
IVES (1874-1954) Complete Works for Violin and Piano. Pre-First Violin Sonata. Largo. Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-4.
By far the most successful aspect of Wakabayashi's performances is her willingness to react to Ives' nostalgic side. I hope to encounter Miss Wakabayashi's playing again: she clearly feels great affection for this fascinating music.
Guus JANSSEN 2nd String Quartet Streepjes; Voetnoot 1 for piccolo; Temet (flute, violin, cello, Harp); Octet; Klotz (violin, high-hat & ensemble); Veranderingen (Gerard Bouwhuis & Cees van Zeeland pianos)
Here is a splendidly entertaining and thought provoking CD to introduce Guus Janssen (b.1951)
SCOTT JOPLIN (1868-1917) Piano Rags and other pieces
Phillip Dyson carries off these pieces with dapper but sensitive aplomb.
Hanspeter KYBURZ Malstrom SWR-SO Baden-Baden & Freiburg/Zender; The Voynich Cipher Manuscript Sudfunk-Chor Stuttgart/Klangforum Wien/Huber; Parts Klangforum Wien/Rundel
New Saxophone Chamber Music Hanspeter KYBURZ Cells Christoph STAUDE Obduktion Isabel MUNDY Composition for saxophone & tape Walter ZIMMERMANN Fragmente der Liebe
Hanspeter KYBURZ Parts Klangforum Wien/Rundel The Voynich Cipher Manuscript Sudfunk-Chor Stuttgart/Klangforum Wien/Huber Cells Klangforum Wien/Rundel with Marcus Weiss (saxophones)I remain haunted by Hanspeter Kyburz (b. 1960), little known in UK yet although widely performed in Europe
PAUL LADMIRAULT (1877-1944) The complete sonatas Violin Sonata (1931) Cello Sonata (1939) Clarinet Sonata (1942)
Robert Plantard (piano) rec 1980 ADDA good disc strong in the two string sonatas. Recommended.
LAMBERT Overture The Bird Actors, Pomona, Romeo and Juliet
These youthful works exhibit a remarkable assurance and an extraordinary orchestral masterly. The more so bearing in mind that Lambert was nearly twenty at the time. Shortish on playing time - grippingly recorded and performed.
Jón LEIFS (1899 - 1968) Hafís, Tveir Söngvar, Guðrúnarkviða, Nótt, Fine 1
As long as record companies continue to research the archives for hidden masterpieces - and 'masterpieces' is no exaggeration for the music to be found on this disc - and serves them up with such loving care and attention as BIS has done here, then there is plenty of hope for the future of the medium, whether it be in the form of downloads or physical music carriers.
LEKEU (1870-1894) Cello Sonata (1888) Three Pieces for piano (1892)
Boyan Vodenitcharov (piano)No denying the attraction of this music even if the Sonata is diffuse it is never less than committedly presented by two enthusiastic and able artists.
Theo LOEVENDIE Gassir, the Hero Opera in One Act
A concise 34 mins. chamber opera based on an African folk tale about a great warrior who was urged to relinquish his triumphalism and persuaded to take a lute with him to the next battle, in which he loses his sons one by one - but the lute sang of their deeds and that song lives forever! The Dutch composer Theo Loevendie employs Turkish heterophony and his own 'curve technique', based on enlarging or reducing intervals. Despite its brevity, it makes a powerful and enduring impression.
[Part 1 New]
[Part 2 A-B] [Part
3 C-L]
[Part 4 M-R] [Part
5 S-Y] [Part 6 Misc]
Classical Editor: Rob Barnett, Reviewers: Rob Barnett, Ian Lace, Len Mullenger, and: Richard Adams, Colin Anderson, Arthur Baker, Terry Barfoot, Marc Bridle, Arthur Butterworth, Colin Clarke, Paul Conway, Gary Dalkin, Andy Daly, Tony Duggan, Harry Downey, Christopher Fifield, Lewis Foreman, Simon Foster, Christopher Howell, John Phillips, Ailís Ní Ríain, Humphrey Smith, Philip Scowcroft, Colin Scott-Sutherland, Andrew Seivewright, Christopher Thomas, Richard Whitehouse, Peter Grahame Woolf, David Wright. A complete list of contributors can be seen here
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