CARL NIELSEN
Symphonies Nos 1 & 3 'Sinfonia espansiva' Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Dec/2014 ] BBC Music Magazine Award Finalist 2016 - Orchestral |
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: Symphony No. 1 / Cockaigne Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 21/Jun/2014 ] It was during the winter of 1900-01 that Elgar began to sketch what he hoped would turn into a symphony - his first. But the sketches were quickly absorbed into several shorter pieces, one of which was the Cockaigne overture. |
CARL NIELSEN
Symphony No. 2, Op. 16 'The Four temperaments' / Symphony No. 6, 'Sinfonia semplice' Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Apr/2015 ] "A feisty, unfettered Second and a benchmark Sixth; a triumph for all concerned." (recording of the Month MusicWeb April 2015) |
VICTORIA BORISOVA-OLLAS
Borisova-Ollas: Angelus Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo, Andrey Boreyko, Martyn Brabbins [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 7/Aug/2020 ] Born in Russia, Victoria Borisova-Ollashas lived in Sweden since 1993. In the international music press, she has been described as 'a composer with a sparkling individual voice' and an 'orchestrator of the greatest virtuosity'. |
ELGAR
Symphony No. 2 / Sospiri / Elegy for Strings Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Jun/2013 ] As the present principal conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo has chosen works by Edward Elgar, a composer whose music he has been a fervent advocate of since his tenure at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. |
WAGNER
The Ring - An Orchestral Adventure (arr. Henk de Vlieger) Royal Swedish Orchestra (Kungliga Hovkapellet) / Lawrence Renes [ BIS SACD / CD - released 16/Nov/2013 ] Henk de Vlieger's orchestral arrangement of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle boils down this monumental music drama in four parts to a symphonic poem with a duration of a fifteenth of the original score. |
FRANZ SCHREKER
Schreker: Orchestral Music from the Operas Royal Swedish Orchestra, Lawrence Renes [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 22/May/2017 ] "Little-known repertoire, superbly played and recorded; go on, treat yourself." MusicWeb |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Songs For New Life and Love Ruby Hughes (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 6/Aug/2021 ] "[Hughes] and the excellent Joseph Middleton create a remarkable sound world of intense intimacy, captured by BIS in demonstration-quality sound" Gramophone |
BRIAN ELIAS / CAROLINE SHAW / JOHN TAVENER / ERROLLYN WALLEN / MAURICE RAVEL / GUSTAV MAHLER / etc
End of My Days Ruby Hughes (soprano) / Manchester Collective [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 19/Jan/2024 ] "Imaginative, sensitive programming has been a constant feature of Ruby Hughes's collaborations; and this latest with the perennially adventurous Manchester Collective is no exception...A disc to concentrate the mind and enfold the soul." Choral & So |
PURCELL / BENNET / STROZZI / SESSA
Heroines of Love and Loss Ruby Hughes (soprano), Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann (cello), Jonas Nordberg (lute) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Feb/2017 ] "the striking feature of this disc is the array of powerful pieces by Italian women composers…to all them Ruby Hughes brings an exemplary understanding and stylishness." Gramophone Editor's Choice May 2017 |
KALEVI AHO
Aho: Solo Samuli Peltonen (cello), Hiyoli Togawa (viola), Piet Van Bockstal (oboe), Simon Reitmaier (clarinet), Bram van Sambeek (bassoon), Marie Luise Neunecke [ BIS SACD / SACD - released 2/Jul/2021 ] Seven instrumental solos by the Finnish symphonist |
KAVLEVI AHO
Aho: Chamber Music Samuli Peltonen (cello), Sonja Fräki (piano), Jaakko Kuusisto (violin), Pekka Kuusisto (violin) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 1/May/2020 ] Four leading Finnish musicians perform works by their compatriot. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Eine Alpensinfonie [An Alpine Symphony] / Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Frank Shipway, conductor [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Sep/2012 ] BBC Music Magazine Awards 2014 - Orchestral Finalist |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' Sasha Cooke, Ruby Hughes / Minnesota Chorale, Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Feb/2019 ] Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony started life as a single-movement tone poem called Todtenfeier ('Funeral Rites'). Completed in 1888 - one year before Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration - it echoed the composer's vision of seeing himself... |
W.A. MOZART
Flute Concertos Sharon Bezaly (flute) / Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas [ BIS SACD / SACD - released 1/Feb/2008 ] "I was immediately struck by the dynamic shading the conductor was extracting from the orchestra, each phrase sharply chiselled. A remarkable and fascinating achievement." (MusicWeb Oct 2005) |
PROKOFIEV / SCHUBERT / DUTILLEUX / JOLIVET
Masterworks for Flute and Piano Sharon Bezaly (flute) / Ronald Brautigam (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jan/2006 ] "On the evidence of this sensational disc, it seems clear that Sharon Bezaly is a flutist virtually without peer in the world today. Here we have four genuine masterpieces that make a lovely program together, all really written for flute and piano,... |
POULENC / MARTIN / REINECKE / MARTINU / MESSIAEN
Masterworks for Flute and Piano II Sharon Bezaly (flute) Ronald Brautigam (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/May/2010 ] From Carl Reinecke's Undine Sonata, composed in 1882, to Poulenc's 1957 Flute Sonata this disc brings together five central works in the repertoire for flute and piano, covering a wide range of styles and approaches. |
RODRIGO / BORNE / IBERT
Flute Concertos - Bridge across the Pyrenees Sharon Bezaly (flute) / Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra / John Neschling [ BIS SACD / SACD - released 1/Oct/2006 ] "There is absolutely nothing here to criticize. Sharon Bezaly is one of the world's top flutists; the repertoire has been chosen with her usual intelligence and imagination; she plays the living daylights out of all of three pieces; the... |
KHACHATURIAN / RAUTAVAARA
Flute Concertos by Khachaturian & Rautavaara Sharon Bezaly (flute) / São Paulo Symphony Orchestra / Enrique Diemecke (Khachaturian) Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Dima Slobodeniouk (Rautavaara) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 13/May/2016 ] "Bezaly makes a wonderful case for it on this new disc, throwing herself into the exuberant Armenian rhythms with abandon…[she] is lively in the piccolo-led second movement, with its hints of fairground dancing bears…an enjoyable disc" Gramophone |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Jazz and Variety Suites Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Litton [ BIS SACD / CD - released 1/Apr/2022 ] Dmitri Shostakovich was the most versatile of composers: popular and serious styles came to him with equal ease and are frequently found together in the same work. In his twenties, before the heavy hand of Soviet officialdom slapped him down in 1936,... |