Flute Mystery

Only the full symphony orchestra can impose the true emotional dynamics of the arctic nature. FLUTE MYSTERY is a collection of five orchestral works by Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg. In this distinctive and dynamic surround sound recording, the Philharmonia Orchestra with Emily & Catherine Beynon as soloists on flute & harp are conducted by the legendary Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Vladimir Ashkenazy: I am very fond of Scandinavian mentality, the way people express themselves and their spiritual world. It has always been a very special treat for me to conduct and play Scandinavian music and it is a particular pleasure to introduce to the world a very talented Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg whose music in its own way is a genuine reflection of his world.

Berg's music is often described as melodious, accessible and dramatic, yet with a highly original quality. Berg himself tries to explain: It is really as simple as it is complicated - I breathe in what life has to offer, and breathe out what I have to offer life. I have given up trying to grasp what actually happens in the process from impression to expression. In his music Fred Jonny Berg reveals himself as a person who has experienced that life consists of light and dark, but unlike the majority of us he approaches both with a similar undaunted decisiveness; it adds an extra quality to his music: the conviction of an eyewitness.

Essential Violin

Over 2½ hours of glorious melodies

Essential Violin includes selections of popular repertoire from some of the greatest composers and performers in the classical world.

Artists include Nigel Kennedy · Akiko Suwanai · Joshua Bell · Mayumi Fujikawa · Arthur Grumiaux · Alexander Kerr · Alan Loveday · Ruggiero Ricci · Kyung Wha Chung 

Stenhammar: Serenade

“Lindberg and the Flemish musicians audibly relish [the Serenade's] subtle construction...A marvellous disc which makes fine introduction to a marvellous composer.” --Gramophone Magazine, August 2014

‘Finland has Sibelius, Norway has Grieg and Denmark Nielsen – so what about Sweden?’ This question, often put to Swedish musicians and music-lovers, is one that has no simple answer. Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), a personal friend of both Sibelius and Nielsen, would seem to be the obvious candidate – but when his name is suggested the usual reaction is ‘Stenhammar who?’

It is therefore gratifying that the tide seems to be turning: there is a growing international awareness of Stenhammar’s great skills as an orchestrator, and his quite individual approach to the opportunities that offered themselves to composers around the turn of the 20th century.

The present recording is an indication of this trend, with a Belgian orchestra – the eminent Royal Flemish Philharmonic – choosing to record three of Stenhammar’s orchestral works for its first disc on BIS. Conducting the music of his fellow-Swede is Christian Lindberg, who has collaborated with the orchestra in his three-fold capacity as trombone soloist, composer and conductor. The team has chosen to open with the symphonic overture Excelsior!, composed for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1896. Having made his début as a composer only four years previously, Stenhammar had not yet entirely found his own voice, but the work displays an infectious exuberance and enthusiasm, contrasting with the following, more reflective Interlude from the composer’s final large-scale work, the cantata Sången from 1921.

Closing the disc is the Serenade in F major, often regarded as Stenhammar’s finest orchestral score. Beginning it during an extended visit to Florence in 1907, Stenhammar was hoping to create ‘a sort of Florentine dithyramb to spring’, but doubts soon made themselves felt: ‘I wanted to write so beautifully and tenderly about the South, as only a Northerner is able to. But I don’t know if I can.’ Premièred in 1913 (with revisions made in 1919), the work has proved to its many admirers that he could – as well as, if not better than, anyone else.

Ravel: Arrangements for Wind Quintet

A sheer delight: arrangements for wind ensemble of three of Ravel’s masterpieces!

Ravel himself was an avid arranger/transcriber of his own music, a master orchestrator, with an incredible ear for timbre and colour. A real treat therefore to listen to these excellent arrangements of the Sonatine (original piano solo), the string quartet and the popular suite from Ma mère l’oye (original piano 4 hands). The combination of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn offers a completely new spectrum of sounds and colours, without doing any injustice to the original: good music stands firm in any good arrangement!

Superb performances by Dutch elite players, soloists and first desk players of the Amsterdam and Rotterdam orchestras.

Echoes of Time

“[the Shostakovich] receives a deeply considered interpretation, its emotional narrative vividly etched by both soloist and conductor...Batiashvili begins the Cadenza in deep contemplation but quickly ratchets up the tension driving us irresistably towards the 'Burlesque', dispatched here with venom and rhythmic drive.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 *****

Gramophone Magazine Disc of the Month - March 2011

 

“few if any [recordings of the Shostakovich] are finer than this one...Batiashvili's reflective, almost weightless approach in the opening Nocturne...is rendered more distinctive by the resonant acoustic of the empty Herkulessaal...the passacaglia is exceptionally poised and the cadenza more sheerly musical than usual. The finale whizzes to its end without undue triumphalism.” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

“I will risk accusations of heresy by saying that this new recording of the Shostakovich Concerto make a btter case for the work than its premiere recording...Batiashvili's playing strikes me as more personal than Oistrakh's, and she seems more willing to dive into its bleakness, its black humour and its frayed nerves. She plays like a protagonist. At the same time, Batiashvili conveys these emotional states without sacrificing an iota of her gorgeous tone.” International Record Review, April 2011

Britten: String Quartet No. 2; 3 Divertimenti, Etc

“The Emperor Quartet gives a stupendous rendition of the Second Quartet, nuancing it with a fabulously imagined range of colour; it comes across as not only powerful but visionary...There are sounds here that one mightn't have realised a string quartet could make.” --Classic FM Magazine, November 2010 *****

“In their very different ways these are highly imaginative works and they receive lively, engaging performances here...the Emperor Players...captur[e] the essential Britten style well - salt-sea splashes of sound, straight out of Peter Grimes, in the Vivace - and able to build up the final Chacony as inexorably as any.” --Gramophone, Awards Issue 2010

“With the quality of the competition so consistently high, do we really need another recording of Britten quartets? When the playing is as outstanding as this, the answer is an irrevocable 'yes'...The inner parts are clearly audible and well-balanced.” --International Record Review, October 2010

“The Emperor Quartet play all three with the right mix of witty insouciance and technical accomplishment, but the group reveals its true colours in the Second Quartet.” --The Guardian, 26th August 2010 ****

The Carnegie Recital

“what's impressive here is not just the magnificent and reactive pianism on show but also his maturity. His Chopin Preludes possess a stunning elan...Perhaps it's no coincidence that Trifonov is also a composer; he has a composerly grasp of the structure of all the works here.” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2013

“the torrents of octaves in ...the Liszt are astonishing in their brilliance, boldness and bravura. Rather, the key thing here is that Trifonov can harness his digital strength, stamina and skill to a highly developed sense of the music’s expressive substance...a captivating recital brimful of character.” --The Telegraph, 21st November 2013 *****

Opinions differ on whether he is the heir of Horowitz, Richter or Kissin but in that line of giants, critical opinion is unanimous: Daniil Trifonov is THE great Russian pianist for the 21st Century.

In the past thirty years, the honour of a live Carnegie Hall recital recording has been bestowed by DG upon only two other pianists: Mikhail Pletnev and Lang Lang. Daniil Trifonov now joins this elite company for his very first recording on the Yellow Label.

Recorded in February this year, this richly contrasted and spectacularly virtuosic programme includes much-loved classics by Chopin and Liszt and is the perfect album to introduce the world to DG’s newest piano star . Born 22 years ago in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, Trifonov is already the winner of the Grand Prix, First prize and a Gold Medal in the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (2011.) Beyond his phenomenal technique, he is a distinctly Russian artist: an intense, soulful musician in the great Russian tradition whose presentation and repertoire set him apart from all other young piano stars of today.

Italian Trumpet Concertos & Arias for Trumpet and Soprano

“The Marcello Concerto is lyrically phrased, positively languid in the first movement, and his lines are infused with energy and a controlled, even articulation. Soberly accompanied by tight chamber orchestral playing, the other Venetian concertos are also admirably contained in their assiduity and stylish elegance. The duets with the fine soprano, Mojca Erdmann, are universally delightful.” -Gramophone, November 2009

This interesting release features works by Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Marcello, Baldassare, Tartini, Galuppi and Albinoni.

The listener familiar with the works of Torelli and the other common examples of Baroque trumpet music may be surprised to see the diverse list of composers represented on this Swiss-German release. In fact not one of the nine works on the album precisely qualifies as an "Italian trumpet concerto." The five concertos included were all written for other instruments, mostly an oboe, although Albinoni's Concerto in B flat major, Op. 7/3, is indeed best known in the trumpet version heard here. It takes a modern trumpet to play any of these works; although annotator Anette Unger correctly notes that transcriptions made solo instruments interchangeable for many works, the concertos wouldn't have been thought suitable for the trumpet in their own time.

The valveless Baroque trumpet was a much less agile but more martial instrument than its modern counterpart. The arias by Scarlatti, Vivaldi (from the Gloria, RV 589), and Baldassare Galuppi, by contrast, did actually involve the fiery juxtaposition of soprano and trumpet. The performances here by Hungarian-German trumpeter Gabor Tarkövi, soprano Mojca Erdmann, and the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra smooth over the differences among these works with smooth, technically well-controlled readings augmented by audiophile-quality sound. It's an old-school Baroque trumpet recording, calculated to display the capabilities of the trumpet soloist with lots of sunny diatonic music and crisply executed ornaments. The music is best suited for general listeners rather than for those specifically interested in the Italian Baroque concerto, but Tarkövi, especially, succeeds on the album's own terms. --Allmusic.com

Fernando Lopes-Graça: Symphony for Orchestra

Fernando Lopes-Graça was one of the most prolific Portuguese composers of the 20th century. His use of Portuguese folk-music to forge a personal style is represented in the Suite Rústica No. 1. More sombre moods are expressed in the dark atmosphere of December Poem, which contrasts with the extrovert Festival March. Neo-classical in its extended structures and thematic development, Lopes-Graça’s award-winning Symphony maintains an unmistakable connection with the colours and textures of his nation to create music of great expressive and dramatic depth.

"Lopes-Graça as well as his slightly younger colleague Joly Braga Santos was an important figure in Portuguese contemporary music. His music had been well served many years ago but most recordings are now out of print. So this generous release including his impressive Symphony is most welcome and is the best possible introduction to Lopes-Graça’s music so far. Both performances and recording are excellent." --MusicWeb International, December 2012

Album Reviews

Milhaud: Music for two pianists

“An entertaining and delightful issue which brings some high-spirited pianism from these fine players.” --Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Milhaud was an inveterate traveller who absorbed influences from many national styles. The music here exudes infectious dance impulses, languid geniality, knockabout humour and joie de vivre. It may inhabit a limited expressive sphere, but providing you don't expect introspection or searching profundity you won't be disappointed.

There's enjoyment at every turn, whether in the foot-tapping 'Brazileira', the Satie-esque simplicity of the 'Valse' from Lessonges, or the breezy music-hall atmosphere of Le boeuf sur le toit, with its wonderfully imaginative piano writing. The performances are exemplary.

Stephen Coombs and Artur Pizarro both enjoy the byways of the piano repertory, and, even if Pizarro is the more starry soloist, they're well matched as a duo. Coombs's top part is suitably bright and sharply lit, and is offset by Pizarro's more subtle colouring. They revel in the protracted playfulness of Le boeuf sur le toit, where their feeling for Hispanic exoticism is matched by their virtuosity. The recorded sound is excellent.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Debussy: La mer; Stravinsky: The Firebird (Live)

Debussy’s La mer is a unique mix of tone poem and symphony, a three-movement impression of the ocean. As the idea took shape in his mind, Debussy wrote to a friend in September 1903 that “I was destined for the fine career of a sailor,” and that “only the accidents of life put me on another path.” He acknowledged that a musical work about the ocean “could turn out to be like a studio landscape,” but concluded that “I have countless reminiscences. This matters more, in my opinion, than a reality.”

“The Firebird belongs to the styles of its times,” said Stravinsky (in Expositions and Developments) about his first ballet score, adding, “It is more vigorous than most of the composed folk music of the period, but it is also not very original.” Was the composer being painfully honest by disparaging the work that laid the foundation of his fabled career or was he being disingenuous? Further he repeats the oft-quoted statement that the “orchestral body of The Firebird was wastefully large,” but he admits to being “more proud of the orchestration than of the music itself.” 

He does go on to concede that it paved the way for his work of the next four years (which included Petrushka and The Rite of Spring), and acknowledges that the finale “might be cited as the first appearance in my music of metrical irregularity. But” he avers, “that is all.”

Enescu: Piano Trio & Piano Quintet

“This is a superb performance [of the Quintet], alive to the music's every nuance, and pianist William Howard emerges as a very impressive primus inter pares...A very special release.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2013 *****

“a splendidly idiomatic performance from the Romanian violinist Remus Azotei, light of touch but deep of perception...Enescu is capable of writing some complicated, even dense textures but the outcome is lucid, and lucidly recorded.” --Gramophone Magazine, October 2013

In addition to being a world-class violinist, pianist, conductor, and teacher, George Enescu was a well-renowned composer. In fact, his most celebrated violin pupil, Yehudi Menuhin, made the prediction that Enescu’s compositions would become ‘one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century’, and, indeed, in recent years Enescu’s works have become more widely performed.

This is the Schubert Ensemble’s second disc devoted to works by Enescu. Classic FM magazine wrote of the preceding volume: ‘The Schubert Ensemble can be applauded to the skies for bringing Enescu’s ridiculously neglected chamber music to the fore... excellent playing in a valuable disc that should help bring Enescu a step further towards the attention he deserves.’

The Piano Trio is one of the very few works that Enescu composed during the Second World War; however, it was not performed until years later, after it was discovered by the pianist Hilda Jerea who premiered it in 1967. After this performance the work disappeared from view for another three decades, until the Enescu authority Pascal Bentoiu presented his own in-depth edition of the work. The Schubert Ensemble planned to base this recording on Bentoiu’s edition of the score, but came to amend it in numerous ways after a close study of the composer’s heavily annotated manuscript: ‘Our admiration for Bentoiu increased as we worked, but we ended up making a large number of changes to his version, where we felt we could bring greater conviction to our performance and coherence to the piece… The end result of all this work was not an edition that we could claim is in any way definitive, and even necessarily an improvement on Bentoiu’s, but one that is our own and which helped us to feel more in touch with the piece and to bring greater conviction to our performance of it.’

Also on this disc, we find the brief Aria and Scherzino for violin, viola, cello, double-bass, and piano, and the Piano Quintet which, like the Piano Trio, was left unperformed for the duration of the composer’s lifetime. This work is inspired partly by folkdances, and partly by the compositional style of Enescu’s teacher, Gabriel Fauré.

The Schubert Ensemble has established itself over the last thirty years as one of the world’s leading exponents of music for piano and strings. Regularly giving more than fifty concerts a year in over forty different countries, it has more than eighty commissions to its name and has recorded more than thirty critically acclaimed CDs, many of them with Chandos Records.

Chopin: Piano Concertos

“True, she sails perilously close to over-sentimentalising the opening Romanza...but Fliter plays with grace and heartfelt sincerity - abetted by some lovely duetting with the SCO's bassoonist - that...I was quickly won over...Fliter, by whatever magical means, touches the heart.” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2014

“With so many first-rate recorded performances of varying vintages and in different price-ranges did we need another recording? Emphatically yes, if it’s as good as this new Linn CD...There’s plenty of bravura and power in the outer movements without any sense of showing off and there’s poetry in the slow movements.” --MWInternational, March 2014

Award-winning pianist Ingrid Fliter makes her Linn debut with a distinctive performance of Chopin’s notoriously difficult piano concertos, featuring the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jun Märkl.

Since winning the silver medal at the 2000 Frederic Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Ingrid has built a reputation as a first-rate Chopin interpreter.

Fliter has previously recorded two all-Chopin discs; her interpretation of the complete Chopin Waltzes received several five star reviews and was named as the Telegraph's ‘CD of the Week’ and Classic FM Magazine's ‘Editors Choice’.

Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is a thoughtfully scored composition that allows the piano to shine. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s beautifully delicate playing perfectly highlights Fliter’s authoritative, yet expressive performance.

Fliter carefully and skilfully showcases the range of tones in Chopin’s second piano concerto, from the dramatic introductory chords at the opening of the first movement to the sweetly lyrical second movement where the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s woodwinds vie for centre stage. Fliter is a breathtaking performer whose performance of Chopin’s commanding chords and lightening speed runs are effortless.

Ingrid Fliter first sprang to international attention when she was awarded the 2006 Gilmore Artist Award, one of only a handful of pianists to have received this honour.

Ingrid Fliter was also selected as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist from 2007-2009, working with several of the BBC orchestras under the auspices of this programme.

Ingrid Fliter works with orchestras such as Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

2014 is the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s fortieth anniversary year; ‘Chopin: Piano Concertos’ is its twenty first recording with Linn.

Conductor Jun Märkl is constantly in demand with the world’s leading orchestras and soloists, having studied with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.

Jacob: Chamber Music with Recorder

With some notable exceptions, professional recorder players have largely ignored modern repertoire regarded as being too tonal, melodic or romantic. Not so Annabel Knight, a former student at the Royal College of Music in London, where Gordon Jacob had also taught. On this disc she joins respected colleagues in presenting Jacob’s music, its sometimes sparse and desolate musical language frequently tempered with tuneful wit and a sense of nostalgia for England’s landscape and heritage. The result is an album presenting highly enjoyable music of superlative craftsmanship and heartfelt expressivity, including three world première recordings.

"The playing, all by British musicians, is superb. Interpretations have flexibility, character, and accuracy. Substantial notes are included with this release…Check the last issue for English Recorder Music by John Turner (Naxos 572503)—a worthwhile companion." --American Record Guide, March 2011

Album Reviews

Britten: String Quartets 1 & 3; Alla Marcia

“it is perceptive of the Emperor Quartet to include the very early Alla marcia...It is most definitely allied to the First Quartet here - their youthful and appropriately caustic playing of the fragmented themes stylised away from the Third Quartet” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2013

"BIS’s super-audio sound is, as usual, vivid and present. Regardless of competition, the performances on this disc are so compelling that once you are under their spell you can’t imagine the music being done any other way, or being done better. I believe that is a pretty clear recommendation." --Phillip Scott, Fanfare

On this second disc of the Emperor Quartet’s survey of Britten’s music for string quartet, Alla marcia appears as an interlude between the first and the last of Britten's three published string quartets.

The first disc in this series of three was released in 2010, and included a performance of the Second String Quartet described as 'stupendous' in Classic FM Magazine and 'magnificent' in Scherzo, while the reviewer in Fono Forum likened it to 'an entire cosmos of colours and nuances'.

Mortelmans: Homerische Symfonie & other orchestral works

“Colourful and dramatic - three orchestral works worthy of revival in the concert hall. …Mortelmans's scoring is full of colour and drama… Throughout the programme, the richness of the orchestration readily holds the listener's attention, especially in such responsive performances from the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under the highly sympathetic Martyn Brabbins, well projected by a splendidly spacious Hyperion recording.” --Gramophone Magazine, November 2009

“Lush, melodic and romantic...As for the grand, rhapsodic Homeric Symphony, it's epic.” --The Observer, 27th December 2009

Flemish music has a rather unusual position in the history of nineteenth-century music, in that orchestral and symphonic music were almost completely subordinated to vocal music. There was little expertise in instrumental music, and this concentration on vocal works (which was seen as part of an inherited French culture) got in the way of the development of an orchestral tradition. However, occasionally a figure would appear who broke the mould. Lodewijk Mortelmans (1868–1952) was one of those responsible for the Flemish orchestral renaissance, and who looked with curiosity beyond the Belgian borders.

He won the Prix de Rome in 1893, and used the prize money to travel to Germany and Italy to broaden his cultural experience. As a music correspondent he wrote about performances in Bayreuth and kept his finger on the pulse of European musical life. He wished to create an autonomous, ‘Flemish’ symphonic culture, while also appealing beyond its boundaries by choosing ‘extramusical’ subjects with a more universal agenda than Flemish nationalist topics.

One cannot accuse Mortelmans of being musically avant-garde or adventurous: he was aware that European classical music was following a new, atonal and even serial path, but right up to his death he was unwilling to abandon his romantic signature. But he perfected his traditional approach and his music is deeply attractive, showing the influence of both Sibelius and Wagner. A selection of his greatest works for orchestra are recorded here. Hyperion regular Martyn Brabbins conducts the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in their first recording for Hyperion.

Chill with Chopin

Born near Warsaw in 1810, the son of a French émigré and a Polish mother, Fryderyk Chopin was a prodigiously gifted child. He entered the Warsaw Conservatory at the age of sixteen and left three years later with a report from the head of the Conservatory that read “Lessons in musical composition: Chopin, F., third year student, amazing capabilities, a musical genius”. It is for his myriad solo piano works that he is far and away best known: as a pianist himself he instinctively knew how best to write for that instrument and in fact did not write a single work that does not include a piano in some capacity.

About this Recording

I Remember Yesterday [from 192/24bit]

I Remember Yesterday is Donna Summer’s 1977 pop-disco masterpiece. This undeniable classic enjoyed international success, being certified Platinum in the United States and Gold in the U.K. It features arguably her two biggest singles “Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)” and “I Feel Love.” “I Feel Love” reached the Top Ten in the United States, the U.K. and Norway. This is one of Summer’s greatest albums of all time.

Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over), 1977

Chart History/Awards
- Reached the Top Twenty on the Billboard 200 and Billboard's Top R&B Albums.
- "Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)" reached the Top Twenty on Billboard's Top R&B Singles.

Khachaturian: Spartacus & Gayaneh (excerpts)

"...all this is a preamble to the present disc, so outstandingly played by the excellent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Karabits." --Gramophone, February 2011

"Karabits is not that far from the composer himself, in terms of giving the music nobility and downplaying the 'wow' factor. He almost never states the obvious. Onyx's atmospheric, wide - ranging sound does its share to put these performances across as well - none of the comparison recordings comes close....This bodes well for Karabits and the Bournemouth S.O. Next release from them: Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky." --International Record Review, January 2011

Gramophone February 2011
Editors Choice

'...all this is a preamble to the present disc, so outstandingly played by the excellent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Karabits.

He is totally sympathetic to Khachaturian's music and includes most of the best numbers from both
ballets, including, from Gayaneh the Lezginka, Dance of the Girls, an engaging Scene and Dance , the deliciously sinuous pas de deux for Aysha and Gayaneh and Aysha's Monologue. The playing truly catches the eastern Armenian flavour which makes Khachaturian's music so seductive.

The selection from Spartacus includes six highlights including the Introduction to Act 2 and dance of the Nymphs, the delicate Adagio of Aegina and Harmodius, the contrasting, sprightly Variation of Aegina and Bacchanalia, The Scene and Dance Crotala, and a passionate account of the justly famous Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia. This is now easily the best disc of Khachaturian's ballet music in the catalogue, full of vibrant life and seductive lyricism, and the recording (made this year in the Lighthouse, Poole) is first class in every way." --Ivan March