MAR-APR 2012 NEW RELEASE GUIDE THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHTS: HWR 1007 8.572695 GP606 Gerhard FROMMEL Howard SHORE Leoš JANÁČEK Hugo Taras Bulba BIS-SACD-1965 LPO-0061 8.572986 Tony BANKS Chameleon Ludwig van BEETHOVEN SIX Pieces for Orchestra Missa Solemnis (DVD) OA1073D / (Blu-ray)OABD7105D (DVD)709508 / (Blu-ray) 709604 6220606 English Recorder Concertos Claudio MONTEVERDI Leoš JANÁČEK L’Incoronazione di Poppea The Makropulos Case Naxos International (Far East) Limited 5B, Blue Box Factory Building, 25 Hing Wo Street, Tin Wan, Aberdeen, Hong Kong Tel: 2951 9557 Email: [email protected] Leoš JANÁČEK (1854-1928) Tony BANKS (b 1950) Taras Bulba SIX Pieces for Orchestra Lachian Dances • Moravian Charlie Siem (violin) Dances Martin Robertson (alto saxophone) Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra The City of Prague Philharmonic Antoni Wit Orchestra Paul Englishby Leoš Janáček was an authority on his native folk-music, and the Tony Banks, founder member of Lachian and Moravian Dances rock band Genesis, has already preserve and celebrate culture and written a much admired orchestral traditions which were vanishing work called Seven (8.557466), in even in his own lifetime. Based on Gogol’s historical novel, Janáček’s which he was praised for his ‘genuine melodic gift’ (Gramophone). inspired orchestral rhapsody on Taras Bulba depicts three moving His new work consists of six evocative songs without words which and dramatic episodes in the violent life of the Cossack leader, may arouse in the listener ideas of seduction, journeys, heroes, climaxing in his stirring and triumphant prophecy of liberation. This quests, decisions and goals. Two of the pieces feature solo release follows hot on the heels of Antoni Wit’s acclaimed Warsaw instruments – alto saxophone on Siren and violin on Blade – played recording of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and Sinfonietta (8.572639). here by elite soloists, which mesh into Banks’s orchestral tapestry with bewitching effect. The remaining pieces reveal his outstanding CLASSICAL MUSIC CLASSICAL (8.572639 and Blu-ray Audio NBD0026), which was described as “gripping from start to finish” by Gramophone and “a major release – lyrical gifts and total command of musical narrative. a mandatory purchase” in a 10/10 review from ClassicsToday.com. With its mixture of the powerfully emotive Taras Bulba and more Tony Banks has a big following for his solo work outside the group. pastoral Dances, and the Warsaw Philharmonic’s proven track record His classical compositions have been admired for their lyricism and in Janáček’s remarkable scores, this release will generate its own melodic qualities, with some critics noting an affinity with the string substantial following. works of Vaughan Williams. 8.572695 8.572986 Olivier MESSIAEN It Don’t Mean A Thing (1908-1992) String Fever Visions de l’Amen Marin Alsop (leader) Claude DEBUSSY Described as a ‘conductor (1862-1918) who makes a difference’ (Daily En blanc et noir Telegraph), and acclaimed for her Ralph van Raat (piano I) artistic vision and commitment to Håkon Austbø (piano II) accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop founded String Fever in Both works on this recording were 1981. Its pioneering blend of jazz, written during wartime. Debussy’s pop and classical repertoire took 1915 En blanc et noir, composed during a late creative burst, is critics and audiences by storm, breaking the boundaries between his musical response to the horrors of World War I. Messiaen’s musical genres through remarkable versatility and a palpable sense revolutionary Visions de l’Amen from 1943, written to be performed of fun. This album reflects String Fever’s forays into standards by the composer and his teenage pupil, Yvonne Loriod, is a profound ranging from Rogers and Hart’s early hit Manhattan to Dave religious meditation whose emotional intensity is overwhelming. The Brubeck’s famously rhythmic Blue Rondo à la Turk. role of the two pianos is clearly divided. Melodic and expressive elements are confined to the second piano, Messiaen’s part, whereas By no means all of Marin Alsop’s myriad fans will know that she all that is percussion, brilliance and rhythmic development is heard in performed widely as a violinist before becoming internationally the first piano, Loriod’s part. renowned as a conductor, and fewer still will have had access to these recordings made by her pioneering ensemble String Fever over Dutch pianist and musicologist Ralph van Raat has won, among other a remarkable 15 year period. These arrangements have more than awards, Second Prize and Donemus-Prize (for Contemporary Music) stood the test of time; serving as a vibrant reminder of where such of the Princess Christina Competition (1995); Stipend-Prize cross-over programming found its roots and making for a release Darmstadt during the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in which will be snapped up by a wide cross-section of the market. Darmstadt (1998); and First Prize of the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition (1999). Of Norwegian origin, Håkon Austbø Much in demand by many top solo artists from Billy Joel to the was the first non-French artist to win the Concours National de la late Sir Yehudi Menuhin, String Fever is featured on two of Billy Guilde Française des Artistes Solistes in Paris (1970), and in 1971 Joel’s albums, Nylon Curtain and Innocent Man. String Fever has he gained international attention when a unanimous jury awarded him collaborated with vocalist Mel Tormé, top dance great Honi Coles, the first prize of the Olivier Messiaen Competition for Contemporary and appeared as featured soloists with the Colorado Symphony Music in Royan, France. 8.572472 Orchestra and the Eugene Symphony Orchestra. 8.572834 Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) Ernest BLOCH (1880-1959) Violin and Piano Works America: An Epic Rhapsody Suite italienne • Divertimento Concerto Grosso No 1 • Duo Concertant Patricia Michaelian (piano) Carolyn Huebl (violin) Seattle Symphony Chorale Mark Wait (piano) Seattle Symphony Gerard Schwarz Stravinsky’s music for violin and piano was written for his duo with Swiss-born Bloch, a pupil of violinist Samuel Dushkin. Both the Eugène Ysaÿe, emigrated to the Suite italienne and Divertimento United States in 1916. Written in are arrangements of ballet scores, 1926, two years after Bloch had each work in turn an alchemic transformation of Baroque and become an American citizen, America: An Epic Rhapsody, is the Romantic styles into Stravinsky’s distinctive idiom. The enigmatic composer’s tribute to his adopted country. This romantic and patriotic but unwaveringly expressive Duo Concertant was Stravinsky’s only score vividly surveys the history of the US from the native American original work in this form. Huebl and Wait were acclaimed for their melodies of pre-colonial days to the modern era of 1920s jazz and recording of Schnittke’s complete Sonatas (8.570978). Mark Wait ® beyond. The Concerto Grosso No 1 is a bold statement which unites received two GRAMMY nominations for his disc of Elliott Carter’s the eighteenth century concerto grosso form with a modern tonal Piano Concerto (8.559151). 8.570985 language. 8.572743 2 MAR-APR 2012 GREAT OPERA GREAT BALLET CD 1 Mozart Don Giovanni • CD 2 CD 1 Adam Giselle • CD 2 Delibes Mozart Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Coppélia / Sylvia • CD 3 Tchaikovsky Flute) • CD 3 Rossini Il barbiere di Swan Lake • CD 4 Tchaikovsky Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) • Sleeping Beauty • CD 5 Tchaikovsky CD 4 Verdi La traviata • CD 5 Verdi Nutcracker • CD 6 Glazunov The Aida • CD 6 Bizet Carmen • CD 7 Seasons / Raymonda • CD 7 Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana / Khachaturian Gayane / Spartacus / Leoncavallo Pagliacci • CD 8 Puccini Prokofiev Cinderella • CD 8 Prokofiev Tosca • CD 9 Puccini Madama Romeo and Juliet • CD 9 Ravel Butterfly • CD 10 Puccini La Bohème Daphnis et Chloé /Stravinsky Firebird • CD 10 Stravinsky Petrushka / The Rite of Spring 8.501054 (10 CDs for 6) 8.501055 (10 CDs for 6) GREAT PIANO CONCERTOS GREAT VIOLIN CONCERTOS CD 1 Mozart Piano Concertos CD 1 Vivaldi Four Seasons / J. S. Bach Nos. 20 & 21 • CD 2 Mozart Piano Violin Concertos in A Minor & E Major Concertos Nos. 23 & 25 • CD 3 • CD 2 Mozart Violin Concertos Nos. MUSIC CLASSICAL Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4 & 5 / Spohr Concerto No. 8 • CD 3 4 • CD 4 Beethoven Piano Concerto Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major No. 5 / Mozart Piano Concerto No. / Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 • CD Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E 27 • CD 5 Brahms Piano Concerto 4 Minor / Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 / No. 1 / Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5 • • CD 6 Brahms Piano Concerto No. CD 5 Brahms Violin Concerto in D 2 / Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 • CD Major / Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 7 Grieg Piano Concerto / Schumann Piano Concerto • CD 8 Chopin • CD 6 Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 / Lalo Symphonie Espagnole • Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 • CD 9 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 CD 7 Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major / Glazunov Violin Concerto / Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 • CD 10 Ravel Piano Concerto in in A Minor • CD 8 Elgar Violin Concerto in B Minor / Wieniawski Violin G Major / Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 / Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Concerto No. 2 • CD 9 Dvořák Violin Concerto in A Minor / Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor • CD 10 Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 / 8.501056 (10 CDs for 6) Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 8.501058 (10 CDs for 6) GREAT ROMANTIC GREAT RUSSIAN SYMPHONIES SYMPHONIES CD 1 Schubert Symphonies Nos. CD 1 Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 / 8 and 9 • CD 2 Brahms Symphony Borodin Symphony No. 2 • CD 2 No. 1 / Schumann Symphony No. Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 / 1 • CD 3 Brahms Symphony No. 4 Romeo and Juliet • CD 3 Tchaikovsky / Schumann Symphony No.