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Russian Piano Music, Vol. 9 – Weinberg I
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 Minsk (now the capital of independent Belarus). He therefore comes well within the definition of ‘Russian’ for the…
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Antony Hopkins – A Portrait
Antony Hopkins is a phenomenon – a fact which escapes much of the public and even press who still confuse him with the actor (Anthony). Composer, pianist, conductor, broadcaster, lecturer, author … a true man of music. A live wire at the age of 91, (as we write in May 2012), his genius has suffered…
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Magical Places
Locations can be magical in many ways – musically they can be exotic, inspired by a holiday taken by the composer, expressions of a culture or of nature; here, special places range from England (Britten’s Aldeburgh) to Siberia to North Africa. These evocative symphonic poems for piano duet all express some fascination with locale which…
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Tchaikovsky Rare Transcriptions and Paraphrases, Volume 1
As ever, Anthony Goldstone as both pianist and, in some cases, arranger, has produced a startlingly original and vibrant program. Here, music originally written for concert or operatic performance is presented in little known transcriptions, all but one in fact here receiving their first recording. An important and rare addition to the Tchaikovsky canon. Volume…
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Hans Gál – The Complete Piano Duos
The music of Austrian composer Hans Gál is being rediscovered and appreciated more and more for its infectious tunefulness and verve, and bears close comparison with the music of Dvorak and the other mid European late Romantics. Here is the first and only recording of his works for piano duo : the album was previously…
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Terzetti: Trios for Flute, Viola and Harp
This disc contains beautifully atmospheric 20th century works for flute, viola and harp, from the well known Zodiac Trio of Mathias, to the lesser-known gem by Dubois. Three of Britain’s foremost soloists join to provide a memorable program.
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Madrigali: Fire and Roses
An intensely beautiful programme, delectably performed. Paul Mealor’s choir gives a stunning performance of original 16th century madrigals and some modern counterparts, including the fabulous Madrigali of Morten Lauridsen. Of Mealor, we have the awesomely beautiful ‘Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal’ cycle, of which the first movement was personally chosen by Prince William and Kate…
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Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
This special digital-only EP release contains a very special piece of music: Paul Mealor’s short choral cycle Now sleeps the crimson petal; adapted, as ‘Ubi Caritas’ for the 2011 Royal Wedding; its four poems set with such skill as to make this one of the most astonishingly superb choral works of our age. The EP…
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Russian Piano Music Vol. 8 – Mussorgsky
An individual and strongly gifted composer, Mussorgsky was a self-taught amateur who became one of Russia’s foremost 19th century musical figures, tragically dying young. This CD contains ‘alternative’ versions of many pieces to those most commonly heard – including the manuscript version of ‘Pictures’ avoiding the many substantial errors contained in the first edition and…
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J S Bach – 4 Klavierkonzerte
Bach’s Concertos for keyboard and chamber orchestra are rightly acknowledged as masterpieces of the genre, and among the first truly great concertos of the Baroque/Early Classical period. They are performed with a wide variety of instrumentation, and here Peter Seivewright plays a modern Steinway Model D grand piano, accompanied by a baroque size ensemble, also…
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Delicias – Spanish Delights for Piano Duo
Spain, with its location at the southern tip of western Europe, and its exotic history, has developed a unique music tradition, more aligned, through the influence of the Islamic Moorish period, with the middle east than with the more northern parts of Europe. This cultural uniqueness has attracted hosts of non-Spanish composers to write ‘Spanish’…
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Rainlight – Evocations of Water for Piano Solo
From the gentle to the torrential, water in nature affects, blesses (and afflicts) us in many ways, and composers have been drawn to this theme time and again. Here one of the world’s brightest young pianists, in his first CD for us, pulls together a stunning programme representing little raindrops and fountains to oceans and…