LUKAS FOSS
Foss: Ode / Renaissance Concerto / Three American Pieces / Symphony No. 1 in G major Amy Porter (flute) Nikki Chooi (violin) / Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta [ Naxos American Classics / CD - due 24/May/2024 ] Berlin-born Lukas Foss studied music in Paris before settling in Philadelphia in 1937. Though he freely explored diverse compositional styles, three of the works in this recording fall into his early neo-Classical period and exemplify his dictum that... |
VALENTIN SILVESTROV
Silvestrov: Symphony for Violin and Orchestra / Postludium for Piano and Orchestra Janusz Wawrowski (violin) Jurgis Karnavičius (piano) / Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Lyndon-Gee/ [ Naxos / CD - due 24/May/2024 ] Berlin-born Lukas Foss studied music in Paris before settling in Philadelphia in 1937. Though he freely explored diverse compositional styles, three of the works in this recording fall into his early neo-Classical period and exemplify his dictum that... |
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
Piazzolla: Buenos Aires - arrangements for Violin and String Orchestra Tomás Cotik (violin) / Martingale Ensemble, Ken Selden [ Naxos / CD - released 19/Apr/2024 ] Astor Piazzolla's Nuevo tango transcends categories and represents an amalgam of international influences. All the arrangements in this album are of instrumental works that Piazzolla composed for his Quinteto Nuevo Tango. |
CESAR GUERRA-PEIXE
Guerra-Peixe: A Retirada da Laguna Abner Landim (violin) / Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra, Neil Thomson [ Naxos The Music of Brazil / CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] César Guerra-Peixe is one of the leading composers associated with musical nationalism in Brazil. A Retirada da Laguna is a programmatic suite that describes one of the most dramatic moments in the Paraguayan War of 1864-70 |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN / MAX BRUCH
Mendelssohn / Bruch: Violin Concertos (LP) Itzhak Perlman (violin) / Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard haitink [ Warner Classics / LP - released 22/Mar/2024 ] Itzhak Perlman, born in 1945, is the supreme violinist of his time. More than a decade after his first recording of the Mendelssohn and Bruch concertos (with André Previn), Perlman returned to them with Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra |
FERRUCCIO BUSONI / JOHANNES BRAHMS
Busoni/Brahms: Violin Concerto Francesca Dego (violin) / BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/Mar/2024 ] The celebrated violinist Francesca Dego is joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and her regular collaborator Dalia Stasevska for this recording of the violin concertos by Brahms and Busoni. A cornerstone of the repertoire, Brahms's Concerto dates... |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto / Apollon musagète / etc James Ehnes (vioin) / BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 23/Feb/2024 ] "…James Ehnes gives a performance of unobtrusive elegance … Ehnes's intonation is, as ever, second to none." Gramophone |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Cello Concerto / Silent Woods / Romance / etc Zara Nelsova (cello) Ruggiero Ricci (violin) / Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind [ Vox Classics / CD - released 23/Feb/2024 ] Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto is considered the finest of his concertos, and arguably the greatest of all such works for the cello, with its majestic character, imposing themes and moods of intense drama and warm lyricism. |
ANTOINE & MAX BOHRER
Bohrer: Grande symphonie militaire Friedemann Eichhorn (violin) Alexander Hülshoff (cello) / Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicolás Pasquet [ Naxos / CD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] The Bohrer family produced a succession of distinguished musicians of whom the brothers Antoine, a violinist who studied with Rodolphe Kreutzer in Paris, and cellist Max were the most eminent. |
GIOVANNI BATTISTA VIOTTI / LUIGI CHERUBINI
Viotti: Violin Concerto No.22 / Cherubini: Symphony in D Massimo Quarta (violin) / Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni, Massimo Belli [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 2/Feb/2024 ] Giovanni Battista Viotti was a man of humble origins who studied with Gaetano Pugnani in the tradition of the Corelli school. By the age of 20 he was already an esteemed violinist, performing concerts in Geneva, Bern, Berlin and Saint Petersburg, and... |
WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra / Partita for Violin and Orchestra / Novelette Christian Tetzlaff (violin) / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Nicholas Collon [ Ondine / CD - released 26/Jan/2024 ] "This compelling release from conductor Nicholas Collon and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra makes clear the evolutionary exuberance of Lutosławski's creative development." Five Stars BBC Music January 2024 Orchestral Choice |
TCHAIKOSVKY / BRAHMS / SHOSTAKOVICH / SIBELIUS / HANDEL / RIMSKY KORSAKOV / etc
Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra - The Columbia Stereo Collection Isaac Stern (violin) William Kincaid (flute) Anthony Gigliotti (clarinet) Gary Graffman (piano) / Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy [ Sony RCA Original Masters / 88 CD Box Set - released 17/Nov/2023 ] The Sony label now presents Eugene Ormandy's stereo recordings from Philadelphia containing all recordings released from 1958 to 1963 (plus some fillers from later years). |
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI
Penderecki: Symphony No.6 'Chinese Songs' Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit, with Jarosław Bręk (bass-baritone), David Guerrier (trumpet) Aleksandra Kuls (violin) [ Naxos / CD - released 13/Oct/2023 ] Penderecki's Symphony No. 6 'Chinese Songs' is an intimate, chamber-scale work for bass- baritone and orchestra. It sets eight Chinese poems in German adaptations linked with interludes for the two-stringed erhu. It proved to be Penderecki's last... |
DVORAK / RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / MOZART / VERDI / SCHUBERT / etc/
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Edition - Volume 2 London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, NDR-Sinfonieorchester, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, with Alfred Brendel, Henryk Szeryng, etc [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 15 CD Box Set - released 29/Sep/2023 ] Supplementary to his legendary Beethoven cycles for Decca are Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt's recordings for Philips, Mercury, Deutsche Grammophon and Accord. They date from 1944 (Sutermeister) to 1972, when he made his last recording, fittingly by Mozart. |
PER NORGARD
Nørgård: Three Nocturnal Movements / Symphony No. 8 / Lysning Peter Herresthal (violin), Jakob Kullberg (cello) / Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra John Storgårds, conductor [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/Sep/2023 ] Celebrating his 90th birthday in 2022, Per Nørgård is undoubtedly one of the most important Danish composers since Nielsen. |
EDUARDO GRAU
Grau: Concertos for Soloists and String Orchestra Jana Jarkovská (flute) Simon Reitmaier (clarinet) Ana María Valderrama (violin) David Fons (viola) Fabio Banegas (piano) / Anima Musicæ Chamber Orches [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] The music of Spanish-Argentine composer Eduardo Grau is imbued with Hispanic elements. His Concerto of 'Yuste' for Violin, Piano and Timpani was inspired by the Spanish monastery of its title and is notable for its rhythmic drive, lyricism and... |
SAMUEL BARBER / MAX BRUCH
Barber / Bruch: Violin Concertos Ester Yoo (violin) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 25/Aug/2023 ] "...its exquisite attention to the lower end of the dynamic spectrum. The opening recitativos of the Bruch No. 1 in G minor find violinist Esther Yoo magicking those well-worn phrases with yearning intensity and a sense of introspective awe." BBC |
Solon MICHAELIDES / Manolis KALOMIRIS / Yannis CONSTANTINIDIS / Nikos SKALKOTTAS
TOPOS - 20th-Century Greek Orchestral Music Noé Inui (violin) / Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Zoi Tsokanou [ Naxos / CD - released 25/Aug/2023 ] Greek-Cypriot composer Solon Michaelides's evocative Dawn at the Parthenon is infused with impressionist elements whereas Manolis Kalomiris, the leading figure in Greek national music, turns more to the voluptuous richness of Rimsky-Korsakov. |
CHEN GANG / HE ZHANHAO
Butterfly Lovers Joshua Bell (violin), Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Tsung Yeh (conductor) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 4/Aug/2023 ] Grammy-award winning violinist Joshua Bell presents a captivating performance of the Butterfly Lovers Concerto, one of the best-known classical works in China and inspired by the ancient legend of the same name. In addition, Bell performs new... |
DVORAK / TCHAIKOVSKY / SMETANA / STRAVINSKY / SHOSTAKOVICH / PROKOFIEV
The Karel Ancerl Edition Karel Ancerl conducting the Wiener Symphoniker, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, with Wolfgang Schneiderhan (violin) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 9 CD Box Set - released 28/Jul/2023 ] A Czech maestro in his element: the complete Philips and Deutsche Grammophon albums of Karel Ančerl collected as a single edition to mark the 50th anniversary of his death (3 July 1973). |