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Author Archive for Divine Art Recordings Group – Page 8

Divine Art/Athene Records announces new recording by Peter Sheppard Skærved of English baroque music for solo violin

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

13 April, 2021

Important aspects abound in a new recording from Athene, featuring virtuoso violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved, to be released in the autumn. The album, titled ‘Florish in the Key’, presents John Walsh’s ‘Preludes & Voluntarys’ (published before 1704, 2nd edition 1705) and works by Thomas Balzar, providing a comprehensive survey of music for solo violin in London at the turn of the 18th century. As well as being of interest historically and musically, the album also features two extraordinary violins: the 1629 Girolamo Amati, which Skærved presented in his recent ‘Great Violins’ album (volume 4, Athene ATH 21210), and for the majority of the tracks, the so-called ‘Charles II’ violin of 1664. Though by an unknown maker, its inlay and known date suggest strongly that it was used in one of King Charles II’s violin bands, and possibly may have been played by some of the composers represented here. With the modern but early-baroque-style small bow by Airenti, this instrument demonstrates how this intimate early music would have sounded in its own day.

Peter Sheppard Skærved is one of the most accomplished violinists of our age with a hectic concert and recording schedule. Equally comfortable with ancient music and the very newest, as soloist or chamber musician with the Kreutzer Quartet and Longbow, he has had over 400 works written for him. His pioneering work on music for solo violin has led to international research, performances and recordings of many pieces and cycles. His recordings appear on several labels including the Athene (period instruments) and Métier (new music) imprints of the Divine Art group. Currently he is recording works by Edward Cowie for Métier and has just completed volume 5 of the ‘Great Violins’ series for Athene which is to be formally announced soon.

Album Details

TITLE: ‘Florish in the Key: The solo violin in London 1650-1700
LABEL: Athene
CATALOGUE NUMBER: ATH 23211
ARTIST: Peter Sheppard Skærved

Works (in order of album appearance)

Works from ‘Preludes and Voluntarys’ published by John Walsh)

Prelude in D major (Arcangelo Corelli)
Prelude in E minor (Giuseppe Torelli)
Prelude in A major (Nicola Cosimi)
Prelude in D major (Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber)
Prelude in D minor (Giovanni Bononcini)
Prelude in A major (Nicola Matteis)
Prelude in D major (Francesco Gasparini)
Prelude in F major (Nicola Francesco Haym)
Prelude in D major (Johann Gofttfried Keller)
Prelude in A major (“Mr. Dean”)
Prelude in D major (Tomaso Albinoni)
Prelude in A major (William Corbett)
Prelude in A minor (Henry Eccles)
Prelude in A major (Arcangelo Corelli)
Prelude in A major (Nicola Cosimi)
Prelude in D minor (Tomaso Vitali)
Prelude in B flat major (John Bannister)
Prelude in D minor (Johann Christoph Pepusch)
Prelude in D minor (Ambrogio Lonati)
Prelude in G minor (Henry Purcell)
Prelude in F minor (“Mr. Simons”)
Prelude in A major (Robert King)
Prelude in E flat major (Giovanni Battista Bassani)
Prelude in E major (“Mr. Smith”)
Prelude in A major (William Gorton)
Prelude in F minor (Marc-Antonio Ziani)
Prelude in E major (Gottfried Finger)
Prelude in A major (“Mr. Hills”)
Prelude in B flat major (Johann Christoph Pepusch)
Prelude in C minor (Giuseppe Torelli)
Prelude in D minor (Nicola Francesco Haym)
Prelude in C major (Tomaso Albinoni)
Prelude in C major (Nicola Matteis)

Works by Thomas Baltzar

“A Set of Tunings by Mr. Baltzar” (Suite in A major, Thomas Baltzar)
Preludium in C minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Corant in C minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Courante in G minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Sarabande in G minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Sarabande in B flat major (Thomas Baltzar)
Allemande & Variatio in G minor (Thomas Baltzar)

Peter Sheppard Skærved Recordings for the Divine Art Recordings Group

Coming Soon

Tags : Peter Sheppard Skærved

Divine Art announces forthcoming release of three albums by pianist Antony Gray

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

13 April, 2021

London-based Australian pianist Antony Gray has signed to the Divine Art label and will hit the markets with a resounding boom with three double-CD albums this year.

Two of those sets are filled with the magical and almost unknown piano music of Camille Saint-Saëns, comprising original works and also several fantasies and transcriptions of music from opera (his own and others), oratorio and cantata. While Liszt and several of his German contemporaries such as Thalberg have attained great fame for their operatic transcriptions, those of the French composer have largely been forgotten. This very extensive programme should rectify that and bring many fine works from the Romantic era into the wider consciousness. The first double CD and digital album is scheduled for release in July with the second following in the autumn (probably October).

The other forthcoming release is also set for July and is somewhat unique. It features works from a host of composers written specifically to be played by a piano teacher with pupils, beginning with Haydn’s obviously-titled ‘Il Maestro e lo Scolare’ and including the Easy Pieces by Stravinsky – the only work of this type to be considered ‘core repertoire.’ Antony Gray’s duet partners are 50 of his students ranging in age from ‘very young indeed’ to ‘quite senior’. The music may be relatively simple but is all a joy to listen to and hopefully an inspiration and repertoire-guide for other teachers and budding young pianists! What is also special about this disc is the ethnic diversity of the students which is as wide as that of London itself!

Antony Gray has long been regarded as one of the most interesting and communicative performers of his generation. His career to date has encompassed solo and chamber music performances around the world, as well as regular recordings for CD and radio. He has been a (selective) champion of contemporary music, and has premiered many pieces written for him. He has also championed many formerly neglected composers such as Enescu, Dussek, Martinů and Malcolm Williamson.

Recordings already released are the complete solo piano works of Eugene Goossens, Malcolm Williamson and John Carmichael, as well as the late piano pieces of Brahms, on ABC. A recital disc for the Spanish label KNS Classical was released early in 2005. He has also been involved in a disc of music by French composer François Sarhan (‘Hell, a small detail’) on the Zig Zag label as well as the Chandos Grainger series.

Album Details

Saint-Saëns: The Piano Music vol. 1 Opera, Ballet & Places

Label: Divine Art (recorded 2015 & later at BBC Maida Vale Studios; release date July 9, 2021)
Catalogue number: DDA 21235 (2CD / double digital album)
Artist : Antony Gray (piano)

WORKS (all by or arranged by Saint-Saëns)

CD1, Opera & Ballet transcriptions

Javotte – Quatre pièces. 1 Bourrée, arrangé par le compositeur
Javotte – Quatre pièces. 2 Scène et Valse Lent, arrangé par le compositeur
Javotte – Quatre pièces. 3 Pas de deux, arrangé par le compositeur
Javotte – Quatre pièces. 4 Allegretto – Allegro non troppo, arrangé par le compositeur
Caprice pour le piano, sur les airs de ballet d’Alceste de Gluck
Ascanio – deux transcriptions; 1 Danse du mendicant, arrangé par le compositeur
Ascanio – deux transcriptions; 2 Danse de l’Amore, arrangé par le compositeur
Valse du Prophète de Meyerbeer
Henry VIII – Quatuor, transcription pour piano par l’auteur
Paraphrase sur Mandolinata de E. Paladilhe
Proserpine – Deux Pièces. 1 Prelude to act II, arrangé par le compositeur
Proserpine – Deux Pièces. 2 Pavane, arrangé par Ph. Bellinot
La Mort de Thaïs, Paraphrase de concert sur l’opéra de J. Massenet
Scherzo, sur les Pêcheurs de Perles, de Georges Bizet

CD 2, Countries

Suite Algerienne Op. 60 – Marche Militaire Française, a 2 mains par l’auteur
Suite Algerienne Op. 60 – Rêverie a Blidah
Lola Op. 116 – Tango
Élégie Op. 160 pour Violon et Piano, transcription pour piano seul par l’auteur
Rhapsodie d’Auvergne Op. 73
Bénédiction Nuptiale Op. 9
Une nuit à Lisbonne Op. 63
Souvenir d’Italie Op. 80
Paraphrase sur La Islena (Havanaise), mélodie de Paladilhe
Souvenir de la Russie

Saint-Saëns: The Piano Music vol. 2 Oratorio, Bach & Milan

Label: Divine Art (recorded 2015 & later at BBC Maida Vale Studios; release date October 2021 tbc)
Catalogue number: DDA 21236 (2CD / double digital album)
Artist : Antony Gray (piano)

WORKS (all by or arranged by Saint-Saëns)

CD1: Oratorio

Prélude du Deluge, Op. 45
Serenade in E flat major, Op. 15
Hymne de la Fête de Pâques, fragment de La Damnation de Faust, de Hector Berlioz
Chant du Soir (Abendlied), Schumann, Op. 85 no 12. Transcription pour piano seul.
Improvisation sur le Beethoven-Cantata de Fr. Liszt
Andantino in C
Molto Vivace in G
Berceuse in E major, op 105
Paraphrase sur ‘Gallia’ de Gounod

CD2 : J S Bach & L. de Milan

Deux Fantaisies écrites pour le luth par Luis de Milan de Valence : No 1 in D
Deux Fantaisies écrites pour le luth par Luis de Milan de Valence : No 2 in G minor
Ouverture de la 28e cantate de J.S.Bach
Adagio d’après le 3e cantate de J.S.Bach
Andantino d’après le 8e cantate de J.S.Bach
Bourrée de la 2e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Andante de la 3e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Presto de la 35e cantate de J.S.Bach
Introduction et Air de la 15e cantate de J.S.Bach
Fugue de la 5e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Largo de la 5e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Recitatif et Air de la 30e cantate de J.S.Bach
Gavotte de la 6e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Air de la 36e cantate de J.S.Bach
Choeur de la 30e cantate de J.S.Bach

‘Il Maestro e lo Scolare’

Label: Divine Art (recorded 2015; release date July 9, 2021)
Catalogue number: DDA 21234 (2CD / double digital album)
Artist : Antony Gray (Maestro) and c. 50 of his students (lo Scolare)

Works:

Petit Carillon (Emile Paladilhe)
Il Maestro e lo Scolare (Joseph Haydn)
Two Romances from Op. 111: Nos 1 & 2 (Carl Czerny)
Le Maître et l’Elève, Op. 96 (Moritz Moszkowski)
La mère et l’enfant, Op. 32 (Edouard Lalo)
Seeing Russia with Teacher (Leo Ornstein)
Dedicatoria, ‘A mi hijo Eduardo’ from Cuentos de la Juventud, Op 1 (Enrique Granados)
Etudes à quatre mains pour un commençant, book 1: Nos 2 & 3 (Jean Roger-Ducasse)
Un tas de petites choses dans tous les tons, book 1 (André Caplet)
Une semaine de petit elfe Ferme-l’Oeil, ou Les songes de Hialmar, Op. 58 (Florent Schmitt)
Petites pièces pour piano à 4 mains (Guy Ropartz)
Steps (John Carmichael)
Paraphrases, 24 Variations et 15 petites pièces pour piano sur le thème favori et oblige
(Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Anatole Liadov & Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
Three Easy Pieces (Igor Stravinsky)
From the Stoep (Michael Blake)
Napoli, from Travel Diaries (Malcolm Williamson)
Five Easy Pieces (Igor Stravinsky)
Avec un doigt (Bohuslav Martinů)
Noch en Wiegenlied (Federico Maria Sardelli)
Jaggamuffin (Erik Windrich)
The Immovable Do / Zanzibar Boat Song / Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon (Percy Grainger)
Bridge over the River Kwai (Malcolm Arnold, arr. Percy Grainger)
Three Jazz Duets (Joe McGrail)

Coming Soon

Tags : Anthony Gray

Remembering Soprano Jane Manning

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

1 April, 2021

We are sorry to learn of the passing of the celebrated soprano Jane Manning on 31 March, at the age of 82. From her first appearances, Jane became one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary vocal music; her rendering of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in 1965 is still regarded by many as definitive and she performed the work well over 100 times. She introduced new works by many composers and was also a highly regarded teacher, lecturer and writer. She made two recordings for Métier in the 1990s, introducing opera and vocal works by Edward Harper and Lyall Cresswell. Click here for a longer biography.

Jane Manning Discography

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Tags : Jane Manning

Coming Soon – Burkard Schliessmann: At the Heart of the Piano

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

26 March, 2021

Virtuoso German pianist Burkard Schliessmann will increase his representation in the Divine Art catalogue with a new triple CD/digital album entitled ‘At the Heart of the Piano’. The album consists partly of items from CDs previously issued by Bayer (nla) and new tracks not previously released. This issue follows Schliessmann’s two critically-acclaimed and award-winning SACD albums of music by Bach and Chopin, and precedes his new recording of works by Schumann, delayed from 2020 due to the Covid lockdown.

Burkard Schliessmann perfectly embodies musical Romanticism in his exceptionally expressive approach, never ‘smoothing out’ textures and rhythms in what can be very troubled and dramatic music, but instead searching for that music’s soul – it’s heart. Also a fine organist, professional scuba diver and owner of show-winning pedigree Maine Coon cats, he attracts awards at every turn including the Goethe-Plakette of the city of Frankfurt-am-Main; Classical Finalist 2019 International Acoustic Music Awards; 2 Gold Medals in the 2018 Global Music Awards; 3 Silver Medals in both the 2017 and 2018 Global Music Awards. Schliessmann is a Steinway Artist, recording and performing on his own Model D concert grand.

Among many other accolades, the American Record Guide said of two of the original albums that contribute tracks to this new set (when Schliessmann was still a young and relatively unknown performer):

“The best pianist I know at entering the world and expressing the awareness of the German romantics. There is something personal and unique about Schliessmann’s Schumann. It does not sound like anyone else’s. He is better than any other pianist I have heard–including Richter–in conveying the sense that this is deeply troubled music composed by a deeply troubled soul.” (ARG September/October 2000). “This spellbinding performance calls attention to itself, as Romantic playing should, and thus to Liszt’s music. It is an authentically Romantic reading. The Schumann Fantasie is even more astonishing, if only because one hears exciting recordings of it so rarely.” (ARG).

Praise for the pianist’s Scriabin is also glowing:

“…this is the most imaginative playing one has heard yet – on the level of Richter, Michelangeli, Wild, Gould – the highest order of artistry. Schliessmann gives the impression that his technique can stretch to fit anything his astonishing intellect can conceive ” (High Performance Review)

Divine Art CEO Stephen Sutton hopes that this part-new, part-reissue album will be ready for release in the Autumn; currently it is being remastered and reassembled by Paul Baily at ReSound UK. Sutton remarked “Having had to wait almost two years for Burkard’s new Schumann, after it was unavoidably delayed, it’s wonderful to be able to launch this new album shortly, in a new configuration, since its original version received such high praise.”

ALBUM DETAILS:

Label: Divine Art
Catalogue number: DDA 21373 (3CD/triple digital)
Artist : Burkard Schliessmann (piano)

Works:

Symphonic Etudes (R. Schumann)
Fantasie in C, Op, 17 (Schumann)
Piano Sonata in B minor (F. Liszt)
Chaconne (J S Bach, arr. F. Busoni) *
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F sharp minor, op. 23 (A. Scriabin)
Etudes Op. 2 No. 1 and Op. 8 No. 12 (A. Scriabin)
Preludes, Op. 11, Op. 16, Op. 27, Op. 37
Quatre Morceaux, Op. 51: No. 2 (Prelude) & No. 4 (Danse languide) (A. Scriabin)
Deux Danses, Op. 73 (A. Scriabin)
Vingt Preludes, Op. 74 (A. Scriabin)
Piano Sonata No. 1 (Alban Berg) *

Most tracks originally issued in different programmes on CDs by Bayer

* First commercial release

Burkard Schliessmann Discography

Coming Soon

Tags : At the Heart of the Piano, Burkard Schliessmann

Announcing a forthcoming Album of Piano Works by Graham Lynch

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

24 March, 2021

Divine Art Records will be releasing towards the end of the year a new album of piano works by British composer Graham Lynch.

Writing for piano has been central to Graham Lynch’s composing for many years now. This new album is based mainly around recent works, and has been recorded by American pianists Paul Sánchez and Albert Kim. An ongoing series of pieces, the White Books, have been further developed here, with White Book 3 being commissioned and recorded by Sánchez. This set of five pieces was inspired by the paintings of leading British artist Christopher le Brun. White Book 2, performed by Albert Kim, is also on the programme, and its six pieces have varied and diverse starting points, including Matisse and Lorca. (note: White Book 1 was recorded by Mark Tanner for Priory Records some years ago).

The recording also includes a number of shorter single movement works. Absolute Inwardness, with its introspective mood that draws on German romanticism, contrasts with the French influence in The Couperin Sketchbooks. And the disc ends with Ay!, a slow and intense piece that absorbs elements of tango and flamenco. All of the works are melodically rich, with complex keyboard textures set against passages of beautiful simplicity.

Divine Art CEO Stephen Sutton remarked: “We are overjoyed to have this new album from Graham. He has the rare ability to write new and fresh sounding music which is highly tuneful and full of life, but never facile or simplistic. Knowing some of his works from harpsichord from a previous album we knew that he has a remarkable talent.”

Graham Lynch’s music has been commissioned and performed in over thirty countries, as well as being frequently recorded commercially and featured on radio and television. Performers of his music include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Singers, Orchestra of Opera North, The Eastman Sax Project, and Mahan Esfahani. His works have been played in venues as diverse as the South Bank, Wigmore Hall, Merkin Hall New York, Paris Conservatoire, Palace of Monaco, at the Venice Biennale, and from the Freiberg Jazz Club to a cake shop in Japan, and everything in between. Six works by Graham Lynch, including Ay!, were recorded by Finnish harpsichordist Assi Karttunen on the album Beyond the River God (Divine Art DDA 25120) together with music by François Couperin, a major influence on Lynch.

Album details:

Graham Lynch: Piano music (album title to be confirmed)
Label: Divine Art
Catalogue number: DDA 25221
Release date: to be confirmed, late 2021
Recorded in 2020 in the USA

Works:

White Book 2 (performed by Albert Kim)
White Book 3
Absolute Inwardness
The Couperin Sketchbooks
Ay!

(all performed by Paul Sanchéz)

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Tags : Divine Art, Graham Lynch, Paul Sanchez

20th Century Polish Chamber Music Nominated for Fryderyk Award

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

22 March, 2021

The Fryderyk Award is the most important annual music award in Poland, and is awarded in 10 categories across classical music. The Huberman Duo & Trio (Barbara Karaśkiewicz, Magdalena Ziarkowska-Kołacka & Sergei Rysanov)’s recent 20th Century Polish Chamber Music album has been nominated in the “Best Polish Album Abroad” category!

About the Fryderyk Awards:

Fryderyki are prizes awarded by the Phonographic Academy, i.e. a jury appointed by the Audio Video Producers Association, which consists of over 1.5 thousand people. artists, creators, producers, journalists and representatives of the phonographic industry. Fryderyk nominees are selected by secret ballot of all members of the Academy, which is divided into three sections: popular, classical and jazz music. Members of the Academy may belong to only one section and only within that section have the right to vote. Thanks to this, everyone has the opportunity to express themselves in the field of music that is closest to them. It was members of the classical music section who voted for the nominees announced today in 10 categories.

See the full list of nominees at fryderyki.pl

News

Tags : 20th Century Polish Chamber Music, Award, Fryderyk, Huberman Duo, Huberman Piano Trio

Announcing a New Album of Piano Music of Scott Joplin from pianist Marilyn Nonken

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

25 February, 2021

Divine Art Records is delighted to announce the forthcoming release of an album of piano music by Scott Joplin and his collaborators. Largely avoiding the well-known rags which have been recorded so many times, on this new album American pianist Marilyn Nonken explores the music and influence of Scott Joplin, on a unique recording that features rags, concert waltzes, and novelties, as well as Joplin’s collaborations with Louis Chauvin, Joseph Lamb, Scott Hayden, and Arthur Marshall.

Acclaimed for her interpretations of works by early twentieth-century composers such as Arnold Schönberg and Charles Ives, Nonken turns her attention to their contemporary, Joplin, whose music – often mischaracterized as a simply American vernacular – reveals his close ties to opera and vocal genres. In Joplin’s works and those of his students and colleagues, one recognizes a heretofore underappreciated worldliness, elegance, and virtuosity. Taken together, these compositions celebrate the lively artistic community of which Joplin was the central figure, highlighting the underappreciated lyrical and dramatic range of ragtime itself.

Pianist and musicologist Marilyn Nonken has been heralded as “a determined protector of important music” (New York Times) and “one of the greatest interpreters of new music” (American Record Guide). Writes Fanfare: “Her virtuosity is equalled only by the insight and passion with which every piece is imbued.” Since 2006, she has been Director of Piano Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School.

A student of David Burge at the Eastman School, she is the author of The Spectral Piano (Cambridge, 2015) and Identity and Diversity in New Music (Routledge, 2019). She has recorded more than 30 discs, and has published widely on various topics in 20th-century music. Her two albums of spectral piano music for Divine Art’s Métier label have received superb reviews and her recording of the piano music of Tristan Murail is Métier’s best-selling title.

A Steinway artist, Dr. Nonken lives on New York’s historic Lower East Side with her husband, two children, four cats, and a tortoise.

The new collection which is titled ‘Syncopated Musings’ is to be recorded in New York in April and is scheduled for release around October 2021.

Album Details

Title: Syncopated Musings
Label: Divine Art
Catalog number: DDA 25220
Artist: Marilyn Nonken (piano)

Works

Heliotrope Bouquet: A Slow Drag Two Step.( Scott Joplin/Louis Chauvin, 1907)
Sensation. (Charles Lamb, arr. Joplin, 1908)
Stoptime Rag. (Joplin, 1910)
Eugenia. (Joplin, 1906)
Magnetic Rag. (Joplin, 1914)
Reflection Rag: Syncopated Musings. (Joplin, 1917)
Binks’ Waltz. (Joplin, 1905)
Pleasant Moments: Ragtime Waltz. (Joplin, 1909)
Bethena: A Concert Waltz. (Joplin, 1905)
Something Doing: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1903)
Sun Flower Slow Drag: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1901)
Felicity Rag: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1911)
Kismet Rag. (Joplin/Scott Hayden, 1913)
Lily Queen: A Rag Time Two Step. (Joplin/Arthur Marshall, 1907)
Swipesy: Cake Walk. (Joplin/Arthur Marshall, 1900)
Antoinette: March and Two-Step. (Joplin, 1906)
Solace: A Mexican Serenade. (Joplin, 1909)

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Tags : Marilyn Nonken, Scott Joplin

Announcing Music for Organ by Polish composer Marian Sawa, performed by Carson Cooman

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

22 February, 2021

Hot on the heels of the latest album of organ music by Carson Cooman (DDA 25218, “Antiphonies”) played by Erik Simmons, Divine Art returns to Cooman the performer for a new disc of music by Polish composer Marian Sawa.

Carson Cooman is only 38 but has become one of the most important figures in American musical life, as a composer of over 1300 works, an active concert organist, writer, reviewer and an active consultant to musicians in many areas of business including estate management and publishing. This new album will be his fifth for Divine Art as performer of works by another composer. The organ used is the remarkable 2014 Fleiter of St. Ludgerus in Billerbeck Germany, recorded via the Hauptwerk system.

Marian Sawa (1937-2005) has become very well known in his native Poland, but his name and work has not yet been discovered by the international community although an album of his violin music was issued by Naxos a few years ago. His music is now being promoted by the Marian Sawa Society (Towarzystwo im. Mariana Sawy) to which Carson Cooman is a consultant. His organ works are powerful, distinctively modern yet essentially tonal and can compete with any of the major organ works of the 20^th century. Stephen Sutton, CEO of Divine Art, remarked to Cooman on first hearing this album, that in his view this music is magnificent, and deserves to give Sawa a far greater reputation than he currently enjoys outside Poland.

Recorded between December 2020 and February 2021, this new recording will be released on CD and in all digital /streaming formats in July.

Album Details

TITLE: Marian Sawa: Music for Organ
Catalogue Number: DDA 25219
Playing time: 76:12
PERFORMER : Carson Cooman

WORKS:

Sequence I: Dies irae
Resurrection
Aria
Passacaglia II
Three Dances on Old Style
Suite
Fantazja Jasnogórska
Łomza Prayer
Sequence II: Victimae paschal laudes

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Tags : Carson Cooman, Marian Sawa

Announcing Alastair White’s ‘fashion-opera’ WOAD

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

17 February, 2021

In the medieval Scottish Borders, a young boy is bewitched – into the form of an ape, an adder, a speck of dust. But is it his shape that twists and churns, or that of the world around him? WOAD is a fashion-opera about metamorphosis and parallel worlds – from the team behind the groundbreaking WEAR (“spellbinding…an opera of rare imagination” – Boulezian) and ROBE (“highly inventive…wonderfully original” – Artmuse London). Created with the award-winning soprano Kelly Poukens and international saxophonist Suzy Vanderheiden, Alastair White’s WOAD adapts the Scots myth of Tamlane to ask: in a multiverse of endless possibility, what becomes of our potential, our regret?

The work will have its world premiere stage performance in Belgium in March 2022 using Poukens’ experimental theatricality alongside the high fashion of designer Renli Su in a live digital event.

This world premiere recording will be released by Métier Records in late 2021 (MÉTIER MSV 28617) on CD and Hi-Res digital download and streaming.

Alastair White explains, “Tamlane is a traditional myth of metamorphosis which, through its imagery, can be read as an exploration of the mutable, transformative nature of the body: how, in adolescence, for example, our bodies are recast and divided through time as a series of separate versions of ourselves. In WOAD, these ideas are used to aestheticise the social implications of the multiverse: where versions of events coexist in different areas and types of space. The work contextualises this against the backdrop of the social change foregrounded by the current health crisis, relating the themes of metamorphoses and quantum ‘flickering’ to socio-historical revolution and the possibility of a break with the horrors of multinational capitalism.

“The piece engages these themes by further developing the compositional methodology devised in the creation of WEAR and ROBE. For this particular piece, we attempted to create a sense of material objectivity in the phenomenological apprehensions of the listener. This is achieved through the overlay of different compositional methodologies that each imply mutually exclusive approaches of listening. It is hoped that this interpretive complexity allows the listener a series of different paths and perspectives: a constantly changing experience that is marked by the collapse of other possibilities. This was expanded throughout the process in collaboration with Kelly and Suzy, where we attempted to radically incorporate contingency into every aspect of the work. We are trying to find a way of dramatising absolute change, and the potential this implies, without it being neutralised to mere indeterminacy or simply another referent within the work’s limits.”

Kelly Poukens is an international artist whose recent highlights include Regan in King Lear (Holland Opera) and solo recitals at the Henry Le Boeuf Hall. Saxophonist Suzy Vanderheiden’s distinguished career sees her tour worldwide, currently as a soloist with her saxophone quartet and in the Royal Harmonie Tessenderlo. Shortlisted for several Scottish art awards, composer-librettist Alastair White’s work is characterised by a lyrical complexity described as “virtuosic” (Winnipeg Free Press), “passionately atonal” (Gramophone) and “deftly manic” (American Record Guide). Renli Su is a globally-recognised fashion designer whose collections are characterised by her sense of nostalgia: where a love for old craftsman’s techniques is balanced with innovative, modern methods. Fashion curator Gemma A. Williams is author of Fashion China (Thames & Hudson). WOAD is produced by UU Studios, a fashion-opera collective co-founded by Williams and White.

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Tags : Alastair White, Fashion, Kelly Poukens, WOAD

Divine Art Announces Vol 14 of Carson Cooman’s Organ Music: ‘Antiphonies’

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

8 February, 2021

Organist Erik Simmons’ ongoing recording series of the organ music of American composer Carson Cooman continues with Vol. 14, a collection of diverse pieces from 2013–20. Two suites, Three Autumn Sketches after a Watercolor by Maria Willscher and Suite circulaire, are joined with a series of varied single movement piece—ranging from the intense, monolithic memorial of Preludio del ricordo, to the calm stasis of Desert Marigold, to the ebullient energy of Fantasia canonica. The new album follows a year-long break after 13 instalments in this series which has produced glowing reviews for Cooman’s seemingly endless inspiration and ability to produce a vast output (he has reached Op. 1365 by the age of 39) of fresh and imaginative works. The album features the wonderful voices of the Orgel Fleiter instrument (2014) at the Propsteikirche St. Ludgerus in Billerbeck, Germany, recorded with the awesome Hauptwerk system. The instrument has 72 speaking stops across four manuals and pedals and has been designed predominantly in the grand French symphonic style.

Erik Simmons started playing the organ at age 10 when he was a chorister at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale, California. His primary organ teacher was Richard Slater. Erik has furthered his studies by working with Lanny Collins, Barbara Baird, and Lee Garrett, and through master classes with various clinicians, including Harald Vogel. Erik holds a BA in applied mathematics and MS in mathematical modeling from Humboldt State University. He has recorded many CDs, including one of the organ music of American composer James Woodman, and this ongoing critically-acclaimed series of albums of the music of Carson Cooman for Divine Art.

Carson Cooman, composer — Carson Cooman © Colby Cooman

Carson Cooman (b. 1982) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms—ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman’s work appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty-five complete CDs on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions Altarus, Convivium, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels. Cooman’s primary composition studies were with Bernard Rands, Judith Weir, Alan Fletcher, and James Willey. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him, and his organ performances can be heard on a substantial number of commercial recordings and more than 3,000 recordings available online. Cooman is also a writer on musical subjects, producing articles and reviews frequently for several international publications. He serves as an active consultant on music business matters to composers and performing organizations, specializing particularly in the area of composer estates and archives.

Album details:

Release date: May 15, 2021
Title: ‘Antiphonies’ (Carson Cooman Organ Music Vol. 14)
Recorded between August 2020 and January 2021
Label: Divine Art
Catalog number: DDA 25218
Performer: Erik Simmons (organ)

Works:

Fantasia canonica
Two from the British Isles:
- Prelude on ‘Kingsfold’
- Postlude on ‘Hyfrydol’
Three Autumn Sketches after a watercolor by Maria Willscher
A St Patrick Silhouette
St Michael Antiphonies
Desert Marigold
Preludio del ricordo
Suite circulaire

(Playing time 72:11)

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Tags : Carson Cooman, Erik Simmons

Peter Sheppard Skærved and Hafliði Hallgrímsson at work

New album of solo violin music from Hafliði Hallgrímsson

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

4 February, 2021

Divine Art Recordings Group announces the forthcoming release on its Métier label of an album of music for solo violin by Hafliði Hallgrímsson, performed by the outstanding soloist Peter Sheppard Skærved. The great Icelandic composer Hafliði Hallgrímsson began his professional life as a virtuoso cellist. His deep understanding of the limitless potential of string instruments underpins the poetry and lyricism of his musical language, resulting in music which is instantly recognisable. Hafliði is also an extraordinary artist: there’s a subtle interweave between his work in both media. His scores themselves are visually beautiful, a joy to work with, and to read.

Peter Sheppard Skærved has worked with Hallgrímsson since 1995. He regards this composer’s unique voice, emotional clarity, and uncompromising approach to sound and colour as a profound influence on the development of his work on the violin. Peter has played the music all over the world, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. He premiered the first version of ‘Klee Sketches’ in Mexico City in 2005, and the final version of the full cycle in a performance of all of Hallgrímsson’s solo violin music in Reykjavík in 2019.

The album will be scheduled for release in the early summer of 2021.

Album details

TITLE: Hafliði Hallgrímsson: “Offerto”: Music for solo violin
LABEL: Métier
CATALOG NUMBER: MSV 28616
PERFORMER: Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin)
WORKS:

Klee Sketches Op 32 (2005-2019)-Book One

Klee practising an accompaniment for a popular song
And now for the art of string crossing
Klee experimenting with a new scale
Klee takes a legato – line for a walk (version B)
Do not neglect your pizzicato Herr Klee
Frau Klee is sleeping (version B)
Klee entertaining Kandinsky

Offerto (1991) (in memorium Karl Kvaran) to Guðný Guðmundsdóttir

Written in sand
Lines without words
The Flight of Time
Almost a Hymn

Klee Sketches Op 32 (2005-2019)
Book Two

Klee the artist plays his violin
Klee ‘sounds out’ an etching he is contemplating
Frau Klee is sleeping (Version A)
Klee sketching a tree
Klee performing at the grave of his father
Klee observing a large butterfly
Klee takes a legato – line for a walk (Version A)
Klee notates birdsong in the aviary

Recorded on May 15^th and July 3^rd 2019. St Michael’s Highgate, London
Musical Supervision by the composer
Produced by Peter Sheppard Skærved
Engineered by Jonathan Haskell of Astounding Sounds

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Tags : Hafliði Hallgrímsson, Peter Sheppard Skærved

Divine Art announces third album for composer Robin Stevens

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

21 January, 2021

British composer Robin Stevens (b. 1958) is embarking on a recording of his music for cello and piano, to be recorded in the first three months of 2021. The performers are Nicholas Trygstad, lead cellist of the Manchester-based Hallé Orchestra (with whom he recently played the Elgar Cello Concerto), and David Jones, Head of Keyboard Accompaniment at the Royal Northern College of Music, also in Manchester, who made a superb pianistic contribution to Robin’s 2020 CD of wind music, Prevailing Winds. The largest piece on the album will be the expansive, single-movement Sonata Romantica, a predominantly lyrical composition which also incorporates expressive use of microtones, including in particular, and rather unusually, thirds of a tone. Most of the remainder of the disc comprises shorter pieces in Robin’s personal brand of accessible Modernism: here the composer’s intimate knowledge of the cello (he is himself a music-college-trained cellist) comes to the fore in miniatures of considerable power and originality. By way of contrast, the set will also showcase the lighter side of Robin’s output in his tuneful Balmoral Suite, five movements portraying different members of the royal family, including an affectionate depiction of Prince Philip in his centenary year. The album is due to be released in the Autumn of 2021.

Robin Stevens: Music for Cello and Piano (DDA 25217)

Label: Divine Art
Recording Date: Jan – Mar 2021
Album Release Date: Autumn 2021

Performers:

Nicholas Trygstad, cello
David Jones, piano

Works for cello and piano:

Sonata Romantica
Balmoral Suite
Say Yes to Life
On the Wild Side
3 Character Pieces
3 Epigrams
A Birthday Trifle

Works for solo cello:

Unfailing Stream
Sospiri
Sound and Fury
Much Ado about …
Carried on a Whimsy

This collection follows two previous releases by Divine Art of Stevens’s works, both of which received very high critical praise:

Coming Soon News

Tags : David Jones, Music for Cello and Piano, Nicholas Trygstad, Robin Stevens

Métier Records announces Gráinne Mulvey’s “Great Women” Performed by Elizabeth Hilliard

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

15 January, 2021

A new mini-album or ‘EP’ is to be launched later this year by Métier, the new-music division of Divine Art Recordings. The sole work on the new recording is the 25-minute ‘Great Women’, for voice and electronics, by Irish composer Gráinne Mulvey, performed by Elizabeth Hilliard.

This work was commissioned by the Great Music in Irish Houses Festival to mark its 50th anniversary in 2020 with funds from the Arts Council / An Comhairle Ealaíon, which also gave financial support to the recording project. The recording is to be made in Dublin in February and will be released to coincide with the Great Music in Irish Houses Festival 2021 in June.

The piece is a celebration of the strong, remarkable Irish women who have helped shape the social and political landscape through their striving for equality and liberation. Among those whose words are set are pioneering patriots such as Countess Markievicz and Rosie Hackett, alongside such equally inspiring contemporary figures as Ireland’s former Presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, extracts from whose inaugural speeches are embedded in the textures of the live and tape parts.

The tape part includes readings from Markievicz’ letters and excerpts from Rosie Hackett’s account of events leading up to the 1916 Rising. The readings were recorded by renowned soprano, Elizabeth Hilliard, for whom this work was written and to whom it is gratefully dedicated.

Almost all sounds on the tape derive from those recordings treated in the manner of musique concrète (with just a very few “atmospheric” field recordings added), while the live part uses many extended vocal techniques such as overtone singing, fragmentation of text, vocalise, etc. The aim is to integrate the recorded sounds and live voice into a single continuum, giving the work a sense of unity reflecting the shared vision, aspiration—and, above all, struggle—of generations of Irish women through the last century.

Both composer and performer have earned recognition for their fine work in the contemporary music field, whether in concerts, recordings, teaching or adjudication. Gráinne Mulvey was born in Dublin, studied under Nicola LeFanu at the University of York and in Belfast with Agustin Fernández. She was appointed Professor of Composition at Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama in 2018. Her music has been performed and broadcast across the globe, she has received numerous commissions and several of her works have been recorded by both Métier and other labels. Elizabeth Hilliard is an exceptional singer based in Dublin, widely regarded as an able, imaginative and dramatic interpreter of new music. She has worked in close collaboration with several composers and champions Irish art music and composers and is beginning to achieve recognition in the UK and USA as well as her native country.

Great Women (MDS 29007)

Work: Great Women
Composer: Gráinne Mulvey
Performer: Elizabeth Hilliard (soprano) with electronics

Gráinne Mulvey and Elizabeth Hilliard on Métier

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Tags : Elizabeth Hilliard, Great Women

Announcing A New Album of Orchestral Works from Marius Constant

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

21 December, 2020

Divine Art Records is delighted to announce the forthcoming re-issue of a stunning recording by Riverside Symphony of orchestral works by the Romanian-French composer Marius Constant (1925-2004). Best known in the classical world for his ballet scores, his most widely known work is the original theme to the TV Series ‘The Twilight Zone’. His “pure” orchestral music displays remarkable expressive depth, unbounded imagination and sheer sonic beauty, exemplified in the works on this album which show why this great composer’s name should be much more widely known. Turner is a suite of three movements, each inspired by a J.M.W. Turner painting; Brevissima is a four-movement symphonic argument compressed into ten gripping minutes, and 103 regards dans l’eau is a wonderful and extensive violin concerto of over 30 minutes, made up of 103 vignettes in four movements, inspired by poetic and philosophical observations of water.

The album is due to be released in early April 2021. It was first issued by Riverside Symphony in 2014 and while attracting great acclaim, was not at the time distributed globally.

Marius Constant emigrated to Paris from Bucharest in 1945 and became an important fixture in that city’s musical life. He served as Roland Petit’s Music Director at the Ballets de Paris for over 10 years and was in constant demand as a composer, conductor and teacher for the following 50+ years. Not unlike his close friend Henri Dutilleux, Constant, though by no means a reactionary, was over-shadowed internationally by the ascent of the avant-garde, as exemplified by Pierre Boulez. In an 11-minute video feature (included on the CD), Riverside Symphony directors George Rothman and Anthony Korf explain their discovery of Constant’s music and make a case for the composer’s renewed legacy.

Olivier Charlier is internationally recognized as an important representative of the French school of violin playing, joining such artists as Jacques Thibaud, Ginette Neveu, and Christian Ferras. Showing precocious talent, he graduated with a Premier Prix from the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM) at the age of fourteen, then won acclaim at international competitions, including Munich, Montreal, Helsinki, Paris, Indianapolis, and New York. Nadia Boulanger, Yehudi Menuhin and Henryk Szeryng are among the musical figures who encouraged the young musician early in his career. Mr. Charlier has performed with nearly fifty different French orchestras, as well as with major orchestras around the world. His active recording career reflects his eclecticism; it includes violin concertos by Dutilleux, Lalo, Gregson, and Gerard Schurmann, as well as Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns.

George Rothman, Music Director of Riverside Symphony since its inception, has guest conducted throughout the Far East, Europe, South America, and the United States. He has led world and New York premieres of major American and European contemporary composers at Lincoln Center while championing emerging composers on an international scale through readings, workshops, and recordings. In addition to the standard repertory, he has focused on lesser-known works by noted composers from all periods, ranging from the Baroque era to 20th century masters, and has presented New York premiere performances of works by Prokofiev, Ravel and others.

A native New Yorker, Rothman trained at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School, Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music, and, as a scholarship student, at Tanglewood Music Center, where he studied with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Currently a member of Brooklyn College’s Conservatory of Music faculty where he serves as Music Director and Conductor of the Conservatory Orchestra, his prior academic affiliations include Columbia and Yale Universities.

Riverside Symphony, co-founded in 1981 by George Rothman and Anthony Korf, has been widely noted for its unique focus on discovery — discovery of young artists, unfamiliar works by the great masters, and important new pieces by living composers from around the world, for which it provides a rare forum at its annual Lincoln Center concert series at Alice Tully Hall. Critically acclaimed for its vibrant performances of music from all periods, the orchestra counts New York’s finest instrumentalists among its membership.

Riverside Symphony recordings have brought international acclaim, including a Grammy nomination and Editor’s Pick from Gramophone and The New York Times. The orchestra can be heard on Bridge Records (9057 Ruders; 9091 Imbrie; 9112 Davidovsky; 9294 Korf) and New World Records (383 Davidovsky, Korf, Wright).

Marius Constant: Orchestral works (DDA 25216)

Release date (worldwide, CD, digital and streaming): April 9, 2021*

Riverside Symphony, directed by George Rothman

Works:

Turner (1961) 12:45
Brevissima (1992) 10:11
103 Regards dans l’eau (1981) 30:40 (violinist: Olivier Charlier)

Bonus Video Feature

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Tags : Marius Constant, New Release, News

Ed Hughes: Time, Space and Change a Sunday Times Best of 2020!

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

14 December, 2020

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The Sunday Times has released their Top 100 Recordings of 2020 and Ed Hughes: Time, Space and Change on Métier made the list!

“The title alludes to England and its music. Cuckmere: A Portrait is the transformed score for a film about a river, the idiom a cheerily naturalised minimalism.”

See the full list at TheTimes.co.uk

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Tags : Best of the Year, Cuckmere, Ed Hughes, The Sunday Times, Time Space Change

Divine Art Announces Great Violins 4: 1629 Amati Brothers

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

1 December, 2020

Divine Art Recordings Group (Athene division) will be adding to its highly praised Great Violins series in the spring of 2021 with the fourth volume, featuring a ‘Brothers Amati’ instrument from 1629, played as usual by the virtuoso Peter Sheppard Skærved. In practice the violin was most likely produced by Girolamo Amati with his son Niccolò; Girolamo continued using the ‘Brothers’ label for many years even after the partnership with his brother Antonio had been dissolved with great rancour!

Peter Sheppard Skærved describes the instrument as having extraordinary qualities. It has a front of spruce, the back a single piece of maple. It has particularly fine f-holes and purling in poplar and pearwood and is a magnificent work of art. It also has a phenomenal sound.

The music on this album is no less spectacular: the Six Partitas for solo violin by Johann Vilsmaÿr (1663-1722). These works constitute a bridge between the virtuosic solo writing from the end of the 17^th century such as heard in the music of Biber, to the more philosophical masterpieces that would emerge in the 1720s from Bach and Telemann. Vilsmaÿr’s partitas include elements of both, from the use of older, rhetoric and virtuoso bravado to the later more considered (though still astonishing) style of violin-playing. The six partitas are also notable for the use of scordatura (non-standard tuning).

This new album was recorded at various dates (because affected by lockdown restrictions) during 2020 by engineer Jonathan Haskell of Astounding Sounds, who has been responsible for the very fine sound of this series, and is scheduled for release around April 2021.

Album Details

Title: Great Violins IV: 111629 Amati
Works: 6 Partitas (or parties) for violin alone by Johann Vilsmaÿr *
Label: Athene
Catalog number: ATH 23210

* The full title (excluding the very lengthy dedication) is Artificiosus Concentus pro Camera, Distributus Sex Partes, seu Partias à[sic] Violino Solo Con Basso Belle imitante

Great Violin Series

Coming Soon

Tags : Great Violins

Artyomov: Album XI Nominated for 2021 ICMA!

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

17 November, 2020

Our latest release from our Vyacheslav Artyomov Retrospective, Album XI, featuring a selection of live and studio performances of Artyomov’s chamber works performed by top Russian musicians has been nominated for the 2021 International Classical Music Awards for Contemporary Music!

Album XI

Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. His music is deep, ultimately spiritual and brilliantly crafted, with influences from the Russian symphonic tradition colored by Mahler, Scriabin, Honegger and Messiaen to name a few – but melded into a unique voice.

The Divine Art Artyomov Retrospective (which to date has received wonderful reviews internationally) is a mix of new recordings and former Melodiya releases. This is the eleventh album, containing a selection of studio and live concert performances of chamber works for slightly unusual combinations: flute quartet, and saxophones much to the fore. Apart from ‘Hymns of Sudden Wafts’ and Clarinet Sonata these are all premiere releases. The works are performed by some of the best of Moscow’s orchestral and chamber musicians and represent a somewhat lighter (though the term is relative) side to Artyomov’s work than his massive, granitic symphonies. It includes a touching set of songs on poems by Ashot Grashi.

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Tags : Award, ICMA, Vyacheslav Artyomov

Announcing the Ciccolini Prize Competition

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

16 November, 2020

Divine Art Records To Collaborate With Aldo Ciccolini European Arts Academy

Divine Art Records, independent classical music group based in England and the USA, is to collaborate with a major Italian music foundation to establish a new and unique online piano competition to be held at least once a year. The Ciccolini Prize Competition is administered by the Aldo Ciccolini European Arts Academy in Trani, Italy, and its associated Foundation and the inaugural round will be judged in February 2021, with applications accepted from November 12 until February 1. The two winners will be offered the opportunity to record an album for Divine Art’s new Debut Series, with repertoire to be chosen for innovation and interest (not necessarily related to the competition entry). The competition is open to pianists of all ages and from all nationalities/locations.

The prestigious jury for the 2020 competition will be:

Professor Pierluigi Camicia (President): international concert pianist and previous Director of the Tito Schipa Conservatory, Lecce
Professor Alfonso Soldano (Artistic Director): international pianist, musicologist and professor at the Umberto Giordano Conservatory in Foggia
Professor Tatjana Vratonjic: international pianist, Director of the Gaetano Braga Conservatory in Teramo
Professor Giuseppe Greco: international pianist, Professor at the Umberto Giordano Conservatory
Dr. Attilio Cantore, pianist and senior music critic for Amadeus Magazine and many others, Doctor of Musicology from Milan University

Stephen Sutton, CEO of Divine Art, is delighted with this new venture, which was the brainchild of regular Divine Art recording artist Alfonso Soldano. “It is a great privilege for us to be chosen as the Ciccolini Academy’s partner in this exciting new web-based competition – though of course a concert hall performance in front of the jury is preferable, this format will allow more pianists to enter without the expense and difficulty of travel to a venue. Over the last couple of years, we have begun to develop a fine roster of young Italian pianists including Alfonso and also Stefania Argentieri and Christian Ugenti. We look forward very much to seeing how this competition develops. There will be two winners; we will discuss programming for their debut recording which is to be produced by the Foundation for us, and distributed worldwide.”

Divine Art was founded in the UK as a specialist classical label in 1993, opening its American headquarters in 2009, and is now a group of acclaimed labels including Divine Art, Athene, Métier and Diversions among others and releases around 40 new titles a year, working with studios and musicians in many countries including in 2020 the UK, USA, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, Russia and Poland among others.

For entry information and rules, artists should visit www.accademiaciccolini.org

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Announcing Divine Art Gift Certificates!

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

9 November, 2020

Now available in time for the holidays for all music lovers in your life — you can purchase a gift certificate in any amount to be used by the receiver to buy any item from the Divine Art online store: CD, digital audio, sheet music, and more!

Better still as a thank you for introducing new customers to us, your gift certificate will automatically carry a 10% discount, so if you buy one for $20, it only costs you $18. And like any other product it can be priced in US dollars or British pounds, depending which ‘flag’ you click at the top of the page.

Get yours today

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Tags : Gift Certificate

Alfonso Soldano to Record Piano “Metamorphoses”

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

26 October, 2020

Divine Art is to produce a new album of piano works performed by young Italian star Alfonso Soldano. Titled ‘’Metamorphoses” the programme includes piano transcriptions, some well-known and some receiving the first recording, including Soldano’s own set of 15 Romances, Books 1-3, after Rachmaninov songs. The recording is due to be made in Italy in the spring of 2021 though due to new lockdown restrictions this does remain subject to final confirmation.

This will be Soldano’s fourth recording for Divine Art. He was a favourite student of Aldo Ciccolini (and now is Artistic Director of the Aldo Ciccolini European Arts Academy Foundation based in Trani, Italy). He has won many competitions and has been widely praised for his virtuosity and deep insight into music and has widely toured throughout Europe. His mentor Ciccolini praised him: “Alfonso Soldano : a huge great promise for the piano, supported by outstanding instrumental abilities as well a musical sensitivity absolutely out of the ordinary. Alfonso Soldano was born in Puglia, South Italy: and therefore belongs to a land which is, and has always been a breeding ground for top class artists. Congratulations with all my heart!” – Aldo Ciccolini

His Romances, based on Rachmaninov Songs, are published by MusePress in Japan and among many other projects is continuing to produce song transcriptions for solo piano. He is also an author, having written the first biography of Sergei Bortkiewicz (Florestano Edizioni) and has three more recordings in preparation for release over the next two years including the complete piano music of Alexander Scriabin.

Metamorphoses (DDA25215)

15 Romances after songs by Rachmaninov (arr. Soldano)
Debussy: Prelude from L’enfant prodigue (arr. Soldano)
Pabst: Concert Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty (new edition by Soldano)
Debussy: Fêtes (arr. Soldano)
Franck: Prélude, Fugue et Variations (arr. Bauer)
Wagner : Isolde‘s Liebestod (arr. Liszt)