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Absolutely! – Music for string quartet and jazz soloists
When issued, this was our disc of the year, this is so new, different and unique we just love it… not mundane and simplistic crossover but a true fusion and blend of soft jazz solos and improvisations, over standard ‘straight’ classical playing: bring together the top performers Uwe Steinmetz, composer and saxophonist, jazz violinist Mads…
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Trio Anima Mundi – Romantic Piano Trios
The debut disc from one of Australia’s foremost ensembles which is making a very big name in its own territory and will shortly be well known worldwide if this album is anything to go by. Wonderful performances of high-Romantic pieces. Also check out their highly acclaimed recording of English Piano Trios – rare romantic gems.
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Tchaikovsky Rare Transcriptions and Paraphrases, vol. 2
In this superb album Anthony Goldstone performs exquisite versions of music from Tchaikovsky’s three major ballets, The Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. Apart from the piece by Percy Grainger, these are, incredibly, the first ever recordings of these superb transcriptions. See vol. 1 (transcriptions of opera and orchestral pieces) here
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Of Times and Seasons – Songs and Anthems by Peter Lea-Cox
Peter Lea-Cox is an English composer who while concentrating on vocal (usually sacred) music, employs a huge range of styles in order to best express the words being set – from the dissonance of Winter Prelude to the simple folk-like melody of ‘Let the Season Lift your Spirit’. Above all is Peter’s tremendous sensitivity to…
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Sounds of the Chionistra
The Chionistra is the beautiful Mount Olympus in Cyprus where the crocuses grow (not the one in Greece where the ancient gods ruled) … and close to home for Greek Cypriot composer Cilia Petridou, who though she moved to England in 1965, was deeply affected by the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the…
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Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 2
Acknowledged without reservation as the greatest composer working in England in the 18th century, Georg Frideric Handel is revered worldwide as a master composer. His Harpsichord Suites are among the finest instrumental works of the period, we are privileged to present exquisite performances by Gilbert Rowland, one of Europe’s foremost harpsichordists. Volumes One and Three…
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Haydn: Complete Notturni & Scherzandi
Among the chamber orchestral works of Joseph Haydn, these are relatively little known – his eight Nocturnes and the six Scherzandi are lovely unassuming but well balanced pieces ideal for both concert hall and salon. This release has been sponsored and supported by the Haydn Society of Great Britain whose President, Denis McCaldin, is also…
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Ronald Stevenson Piano Music
Ronald Stevenson is one of the most original minds in the world of the composition of music. – So said Yehudi Menuhin. This magnum opus set is a magnificent culmination of several years of planning and a great acheivement by Murray McLachlan. Stevenson’s most remarkable work, Le Festin d’Alkan, is given a superb performance as…
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Guido: The Four Seasons
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is perhaps the “classical” work best known to the general public; until very recently this work by Giovanni Antonio Guido was almost forgotten. It is a splendid work and some scholars now think it was the first to be written and may well have been known by Vivaldi and inspired him to…
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David Jennings – Music for Piano
This is the first album devoted to the wonderfully expressive piano music of David Jennings, all written between 1985 and 2010. This English composer, born in 1972, has a voice which is not afraid to challenge but always within a very traditional soundscape producing modern music ideally representing the growing English new romantic and lyrical…
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Stephen Beville in Karlsruhe
After studies at the Royal Academy and the Royal Northern College of Music, British pianist Stephen Beville won a scholarship to study at the Staadt Hochschule in Karlsruhe, Germany. During his time there he gave several acclaimed concerts and made studio recordings, a selection of which make up this, his commercial recording debut. Described as…
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Russian Piano Music, Vol. 10 – Weinberg II
Mieczyslaw Weinberg (aka Moisey Vainberg) was in fact born and raised in Poland, but the vast majority of his compositional career was in the Soviet Union and he remained there for the rest of his life, in Moscow. He therefore comes well within the definition of ‘Russian’ for the purpose of this series and was…