Abel: Music for Flute and Strings

�their commitment to their repertoire is evident in every phrase. Browne has a sophisticated palette of colours at her disposal, from ethereally limpid to icily edgy, and the single strings draw a gestural and tonal range from their instruments that puts far better-known string bands to shame...these players urge you to delve into their take on Abel. Warmly recommended.� --Classical Music, June 2012 ****

�Browne and Nordic Affect deliver a historically faithful, poised and altogether very attractive account of Carl Friedrich Abel's delightful chamber music for flute...Every work is defined by an overall mellifluous elegance� --MusicWeb, June 2012

�Affectionate explorations of seldom performed pieces by mid-18th century composer and bass viol virtuoso Carl Friedrich Abel. An attractive programme.� --BBc Music Magazine, May 2012 ***

Although Carl Friedrich Abel (1723�87) is known as one of the last and greatest virtuosos of the viola da gamba, his instrument declined in popularity towards the end of the 18th century, leading him to compose for other instruments; some of his most successful results can be heard in the music recorded on this disc.
Abel�s ability to compose particularly fine music for the flute can be traced back his time working at the Dresden court, which possessed one of the greatest orchestras of the era .Among the musicians working there were the flautists Buffardin and Quantz - the latter a prolific composer of flute concertos and sonatas for Frederick the Great, a notable patron of the arts. It is likely that Abel himself was a skilled flautist, and the instrument�s popularity at the time created a great demand for new compositions.

The works featured on this disc are less well known than Abel�s music for viola da gamba, and are performed less often. However, they provide an insight into 18th century music�s transition from Baroque complexity to the melody-driven Classical style, and are illuminated through performances by flute soloist Georgia Browne and the ensemble Nordic Affect, specialists in historical performance.

Henry Purcell: Victorious Love

�Carolyn Sampson's luminescent soprano, with its easeful enunciation, seemingly instinctive ornamentation, and total lack of self-consciousness captures the bittersweet 'affects' of 'Sweeter than Roses', relishes the shifting tones of voice in the long nocturnal, 'From silent shades', and glows against a single theorbo accompaniment in the great 'Evening Hymn'. The instrumental palette, though limited, is exquisitely tuned to Sampson's voice and to the character of each piece.� --BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ****

 

�Her tone is extraordinarily beautiful: natural, warm and unforced, with almost superhuman vocal athleticism� --American Record Guide

�It is immediately obvious from the first few songs that this disc is truly special. Carolyn Sampson's singing is deliciously enjoyable for its sweet tuning, flawless intonation, impeccable stylishness, shapely phrasing of melodic lines and textual awareness. Each of these 19 songs, mostly taken from Purcell's operas and music for theatre plays, are given judicious performances.

The programme admirably shows the variety of characteristics and styles in Purcell's writing, and Sampson achieves the perfect degree of joyful radiance, seductiveness, witty comment or bittersweet melancholy in each song. 'Sweeter than roses' is an old warhorse for early music singers, but the poetry has seldom seemed so personal as it does in Sampson's heart-rending rendition. The Plaint from TheFairy Queen is beautifully done and the line 'he's gone and I shall never see him more' is remarkable for its stylish precision and emotional truthfulness (the performance is also notable for Sarah Sexton's superb solo violin-playing).

The supporting players always sound as if they are fully interested in the subtle nuances of the music. Well known favourites such as 'Music for a while', 'Fairest isle' and 'I attempt from love's sickness to fly' are excellently done, but several of the relatively obscure songs ('The fatal hour' and 'From silent shades') are shown to be equally rewarding and engaging. First-class new recordings of Purcell's music are much too rare, and this one deserves to be an enormous success.� --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Tchaikovsky 'live'

�if the bomb-proof technique, abundant temperament and innate good taste she [Nemtanu] displays here are anything to go by, she's undoubtedly a talent to monitor. A pity the close-set sound is not terribly alluring.� --Gramophone Magazine, June 2013

�friends making fine music for a great cause � and their vitality is infectious� --International Record Review, June 2013

When reading about Sarah Nemtanu�s many musical accomplishments in 2012, it is hard to believe that she is only 31 years old. At the age of 21 she became the joint leader and violin soloist of the Orchestre National de France, and in 2007 she won the French classical music industry�s Instrumental Soloist Revelation award. In 2009 she was the �real� violinist in Radu Mihaileanu�s film 'Le Concert'.

"This is one of my favourite works. The effect it had on me the first time I heard it was almost magical! I sensed I shouldn�t play it too soon; I preferred to save it for a special occasion...The special occasion has occurred. The gifted filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu was able to make the concerto his own through the sincere images and magnificent story of the film 'Le Concert', for which I had the pleasure of advising and doubling the actress M�lanie Laurent.

Mihaileanu�s favourite version for the lengthy final scene was a David Oistrakh recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. I had to adapt my tempi to theirs for the film, but what a pleasure it was to follow this marvellous violinist�s lead � as far as I�m concerned, he is the greatest of them all!

After 'Le Concert' was released, and although I could have taken advantage of the film�s reputation to help my own cause, I didn�t want to record the concerto. I took the time to create my own personal rendition. As chance (or magic. . .) would have it, the concert we recorded took place on 25 April last with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Kurt Masur at the Th��tre du Ch�telet." Sarah Nemtanu

Paganini: Ghiribizzi

The ultimate violin virtuoso, Niccol� Paganini also wrote more than 100 pieces for guitar, including these Ghiribizzi (�whims�). Composed for �a little girl in Naples� who must have been both talented and eager to develop her technique, these whimsical works explore a wide range of musical styles idiomatic to the guitar. Many of the 43 short movements draw on themes by Rossini, Paisiello, S�ssmayr, Mozart, Giuliani and, of course, Paganini himself. Praised by Les cahiers de la guitare as �inspired� and Koelner Stadt Anzeiger as a �genius�, Denis Sungho Janssens made his 2005 Carnegie Hall d�but as a Rising Star of the European Concert Hall Organization.

Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountains

"Warmly recommended: this would make an excellent introduction to Hovhaness's music.� Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

�It's easy to dismiss the music of Hovhaness, who was was suspiciously prolific, with opus numbers nearing 500. But despite such sustained productivity over more than seven decades, his work is stylistically consistent � so much so, in fact, that some only half-jokingly claim he wrote the same symphony 67 times. Certainly, the profusion of sing-song fugues and modal, hymn-like tunes throughout his output can give a feeling of predictability.

 And yet listening to the opening movement of the Mount St Helens Symphony (1982), it's difficult not to be entranced, even awed, by the music's sensuous beauty � those luminous clouds of strings, that majestic rising theme in the horns, then, a little later, the delicate spinning of the harp and a procession of ecstatic, exotic woodwind solos. Perhaps the depiction of the volcano's eruption is a bit primitive, though it's fascinating that Hovhaness seems to view the explosion not only as an elemental event but also as a ritualistic one.

Hymn to Glacier Peak (1992), the composer's penultimate symphony, is also appealing. As the title suggests, it has a preponderance of hymnlike melody, yet there's a touching valedictory quality to the music. The finale is particularly effective, moving from hymn to one of Hovhaness's most tuneful fugues via a darkly atmospheric interlude.

"Warmly recommended: this would make an excellent introduction to Hovhaness's music.� Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Pasquini: Sonate per gravicembalo

'The excellent Roberto Lorregian brings an attractive improvisatory quality to his playing, starting some pieces with a flourish of his own and employing rubato here and there.' --Gramophone

Not only does Lorregian adroitly nuance his articulation, phrasing and tempo shifts, but he switches from harpsichord to spinet, and changes stops on the harpsichord to vivify the brilliance hidden in Pasquinis score. The result charms and teases� --BBC Music Magazine

Roberto Loreggians playing is admirable, with a subtle sense of rhythm and an ability to project the most intricate part-writing. In the long ricercar, he reels off the virtuoso figuration with complete ease. Keyboard enthusiasts will find this a rewarding release. --Early Music Review

Loreggian, who plays all the music with great flair and sensitivity, uses a harpsichord by Riccardo Pergolis (imitating a late-17th Century model) tuned in quarter-comma meantone. The liner notes include extensive musicological commentary on Pasquinis life, the sources for the music, and perceptive descriptions of many of the pieces. --American Record Guide

'The sound quality is first-rate, with Lorregian's Italian harpsichord and spinet comfortably set back in an attractive spacious drawing-room acoustic. Alessandro Borin's extended booklet notes are also a real bonus, despite some rather Italian musicologist-style obscurity of expression.' --International Record Review

Lament for Spain: Sephardic Romances and Songs

"Overall, I find this new release more enjoyable� I found Ferrero�s tenor an especially pleasing contrast to the female or countertenor voice. Second, the overall selection of Ladino songs offers more contrast of lyric content and gives an excellent overview of the repertoire. Third, and perhaps to me most significant, I find the arrangements and especially the instrumental accompaniments quite tasteful." --American Record Guide, November 2010

Sephardic music, from the ancient domain of al-Andalus (Andalusia), lies at the heart of this selection of songs in remembrance of a lost homeland.

The word endechar comes from a time before the expulsion of the Jews and their culture from Spain in 1492; within the Jewish community it meant �to sing funeral dirges� or �to lament�.

After leaving Spain, the Sephardim kept alive the tradition of singing endechas (laments), romances (narrative ballads), and other songs in their traditional language, ladino, or Judaeo-Spanish, which was based on ancient Castilian.

This was enriched by the addition of words from Hebrew and then from the languages, music and instruments of the places to which they travelled, such as Greece, the Balkans, Turkey and Morocco.

Dim Sum

In all of the selections on this disc, there is a conscious blending of sounds, techniques and ideas from traditional Chinese music with the string quartet of the Western classical tradition. At first hearing, the listener may be struck by the fresh and exotic sounds, textures and harmonies that result from this fusion. The play of these two traditions points to an even larger context, however, one shared by music the world over: that in the most profound way, sounds can capture the thoughts,

feelings and longings of the universal human spirit. The vitality of exchange between East and West only seems to grow stronger and more relevant each year, and this disc of musical dim sum offers a thought-provoking perspective on the dynamic artistic possibilities of this nexus.

Lutoslawski: Orchestral Works 2

�Gardner and the BBC Symphony, backed up by glittering sound, do [the Symphonic Variations] proud, from the folk-like opening flute theme, through its varied treatments...Lortie is an ideal soloist [in the Concerto], with a clarity of touch familiar from his recordings of the French repertoire, but also the power for the bigger gestures...Again, Gardner leads a detailed, musically sure-paced orchestral contribution.� --BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 ****

�in a performance as vivacious and committed as this one, [the Symphonic Variations] comprises a veritable treat...Gardner's conception of the riveting Fourth Symphony (1988-92)...has both infectious involvement and considerable expressive ardour to commend it...Throughout, Gardner secures some first-class playing from the BBC SO; Ralph Couzens's engineering is, needless to say, state of the art.� --Gramophone Magazine, April 2012

�[the Symphony Variations] now sound lush and exuberant...Louis Lortie makes the most of the slightly underwhelming Piano Concerto (1987-88). The jaunty Variations on a Theme of Paganini (1978) � written within a year of Andrew Lloyd Webber's better-known version � and the Fourth Symphony (1988-92) give far more sense of this discreetly quixotic composer.� --The Observer, 8th January 2012

Nino Rota

He's a virtuoso whose musicianship is complete within itself, almost orchestral; he barely needs anyone or anything else, a bandleader or body of song, to carry out his vision. He can be dazzling with the simplest tune or the most complex . . . Mr. Galliano gives the melodies their prominence: what stays in your head after they�re over are Rota's huge, beautiful, whistleable themes . . . it's imitative or impressionistic, approaching idealized notions of circus bands, 1950s New York jazz, the New Orleans jazz funeral . . .

there is some real improvisation here and there on this record . . . it can be startling when it breaks out . . . both Mr. Galliano and Mr. Surman absolutely throw down, hesitating and teasing and letting you hear the whole sound of their instruments. Those are the places where the record comes into its own and establishes a unique identity . . . jumpy, precise and mischievous. --Record Review / Ben Ratliff, The New York Times / 23. January 2012

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2; Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue

Eminent Russian pianist Denis Matsuev presents his first recording with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Alan Gilbert, with Rachmaninoff�s famous Piano Concerto No. 2 and Gershwin�s Rhapsody in Blue, an album where two classical masters of the 20th century meet. Denis Matsuev has become one of the fastest rising stars on the interna- tional concert stage since his triumphant victory at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998 and has quickly established himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation.

He has developed into one of the most prominent pianists of the Russian School and appears regularly with leading orchestras around the world including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Matsuev is the Musical Ambassador to the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation and his recording of Piano Concerto No. 2 is in celebration of the 140th anniversary of the composer�s birth.

German Flute Concertos

These four flute concertos, here recorded for the first time, span the fascinating half century that saw the emergence of Romanticism from the Classical style of the preceding decades. Each requires different forces, reflecting the growth of the orchestra during this time, while giving a prominence to the solo instrument which would decline as the 19th Century progressed. They are, therefore, rare treasures to enjoy for their diversity and unique position in musical history. The performance material for this recording was specially prepared from original sources by acclaimed soloist Bruno Meier, who plays a 14-carat gold flute.

This is a splendid performance, rich in melodic charm and brilliant display, showing off Meier�s exceptional artistry. Meier has added his own cadenzas. Completing the disc are performances of two flute concertos by Peter von Winter (1754�1825) and one by Franz Lachner (1803�1890). --Diether Steppuhn, Classical Net, December 2009

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Bach: Partitas for Solo Violin Arranged for Guitar

�Korhonen's phrasing and articulation are intelligent and musical, and the execution is clean and crisp. Sometimes the downstroke of the bow is imitated...at other times...a more flowing, guitaristic approach is adopted.� --Gramophone Magazine, October 2010

�Korhonen always adheres closely to Bach's concepts, so that the notes added to the original violin score, filling out the harmony and adding basses, are subtle and never harmonically jarring...He plays with the intensity of one who really knows these works...one feels his love and admiration for these pieces.� --International Record Review, October 2010

This specially priced new recording features guitarist Timo Korhonen with the Partitas for Solo Violin by J.S. Bach, and his own arrangement for modern guitar.

This release follows on the success of the Bach Sonatas for Solo Violin (ODE1128-2). While many guitarists carry single movements in their repertoire, such as the famous Ciaccona from Partita No. 2, Timo Korhonen�s acclaimed project covers the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.

Korhonen�s transcriptions remain very faithful to the original violin score: �My aim was to execute the musical content, as if Bach had actually written it for six-string guitar back in 1720.� Timo Korhonen

Francesca Caccini: Sacred & Secular Songs

Francesca Caccini (no relative of the male composer with the same name) was a remarkable composer, singer, lutenist and poet in the Italian Baroque, serving at the prestigious court of the Medicis. She was a celebrated soprano, wrote a full scale opera and excelled in her own works. This recording features sacred and secular songs, music of deep emotional impact, dealing with the joys and sorrows of earthly and heavenly love.

New recording with the celebrated Italian soprano Elena Cecchi Fedi, accompanied by a colourful and rich instrumental group featuring cittern, theorbo, viola d�amore, guitars and strings.

Francesca Caccini was certainly an exceptional woman. Not only was she a 'diva' of the Baroque world who had the voice 'of a nightingale', but she was also a lutenist, poet, and the first ever female to compose a full-scale opera (La liberazione di Ruggiero). She first rose to fame at just thirteen years old when she performed in scenes of Peri's Euridice to widespread acclaim, earning the nickname 'La Cecchina' (Little Francesca) by which she would be known for the rest of her life.

The songs in this collection would more than likely have been performed by La Cecchina herself at the Medici court, where she was employed as a musician, and many are representative of her florid style of composition; Caccini was known to be meticulous in the notation of her works, ensuring that each emphasis, syllable and melisma fell in exactly the right place. Fluid melisma and ornamentation are indeed characteristics of the works O vive rose, Non so se quel sorriso and Ch'Amor sia nudo, with those of the latter offset by lilting dance rhythms in the accompaniment. However, these are a stark contrast to the penitent Maria, dolce Maria, and pensive Dov'io credea. A highlight of the recording is undoubtedly Lasciatemi qui solo, a dramatic jewel, in which a lamenting vocal line and false relation in the accompaniment are joined by a mournful, singing theorbo part. These songs are just a glimpse of the skill and versatility of this special composer.

Soprano Elena Cecchi Fedi has performed in concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and has made several recordings. She is joined by the critically-acclaimed lutenist and theorbist Gian Luca Lastraioli, whose career has allowed him to appear in some of the most prestigious performance venues around the world, and who directs the Cappella di Santa Maria degli Angiolini on this recording.

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring & The Firebird

�Under Sokhiev the Toulouse orchestra plays The Rite with great skill and brilliance making an impressively unified sound. I felt that Sokhiev was somewhat cautious in his approach...[In The Firebird] the Toulouse orchestra under the calm, firm Sokhiev�s direction fare much better. Their playing has an abundance of drama that produces a glorious wash of warm sound.� --MusicWeb International, 17th June 2013

�As for the performances, these are polished and duly exciting...as an imaginative introduction to the world of the ballets, this is a welcome set.� --BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

�Sokhiev's Rite of Spring takes heed of the work's many textural contrasts, with plenty of bite and bounce from the strings in the 'Mystical Circles of the Young Girls' and darkly wailing lower strings in 'Spring Rounds'...I'd call it a driven performance rather than especially elemental� --Gramophone Magazine, February 2013

Classical Symphonies

This CD brings together repertoire that is not often performed. The Cappella Coloniensis made this recording in the 80s staying true to historical performance practice, defining the large symphonic sound by the seek, clear sound from original instruments.

At least in the case of Joseph Martin Kraus there has been a reappraisal: this Mozart contemporary is regarded today as a significant composer with his own, idiosyncratic musical language. Nevertheless the Cappella Coloniensis aimed to fill a gap with this disc, taking the listener on a journey to discover the symphonies that were composed and played during the time of Haydn and Mozart.

The Silver Violin

�Benedetti�s latest album has lots to commend it...Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony provide full-blooded backing. Extracts from two Shostakovich film scores are indecently enjoyable� --The Arts Desk, 27th October 2012

�her broadly romantic approach and genuine affection for this Hollywood-inspired concerto shine out...Benedetti is joined by star accordionist Ksenija Sidorova in a show-stopping performance which will have you on your feet! The warm acoustic of the Decca recording comes in appropriate widescreen sound.� --Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

�Benedetti decorates this repertoire with gleaming high-register pirouettes, plus vibrato throbs and hesitations that never descend into schmaltz...Such good taste is a pleasure, though her discretion can make the music paler than necessary.� The Times, 24th August 2012 ***

�The lush, romantic sound of Hollywood � 1930s to the present � suits her well� The Observer, 26th August 2012

�Benedetti's decision to place [the Concerto] in this particular context actually serves to enhance its musical stature. Certainly her performance is beautifully honed with a particularly atmospheric account of the central Andante...she has an instinctive grasp of the ebb and flow of Korngold's melodic lines and avoids the obvious temptation of becoming overtly mannered in order to intensify the musical expression.� BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ****

Lutoslawski: Orchestral Works 1

�Gardner makes the most of the taut rhythmic energy in the music...all the colours of this showpiece [the Concerto for Orchestra] are brightly painted, with a virtuosity which is never empty, but always has direction and purpose, and a sense of real enjoyment.� --BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 ****

�On this evidence, Edward Gardner and the BBC SO are a dream team, pressing the claims of a composer who has been neglected since his death in 1994...This performance sets a seal on a disc that leaves one eager for its successors� --Gramophone Magazine, December 2010

�Gardner�s ENO-honed ability to choose and hold a tempo and set a tangible mood from the off serves him well in each movement: there�s tautness and weight in the Intrada�s production line of pounding rhythms, a fine sense of pace to the slow-burn Passacaglia and impressive lightness in the piquant woodwind flutterings� --Andrew Mellor, bbc.co.uk, 2nd November 2010

�Gardner pulls no punches in the 'Intrada'...few have equalled this for long-term conviction, in which the playing of the BBC forces leaves little to be desired...Gardner's interpretations are much more 'inside' the idiom than Daniel Barenboim's rather dutiful readings...this disc can be warmly recommended, not least if it hastens the return of Lutoslawski's music to its former eminence.� --International Record Review, December 2010

�Their account of the concerto is lively and crisply virtuosic, but the performances of the other two, much later works on this disc are the more significant...Gardner's performance [of Symphony No. 3] is impressive � vivid, incisive and well controlled � and he does an equally good job on the slighter and more elusive Chain 3 from 1986.� --The Guardian, 14th October 2010 ****

�This CD offers a thrilling reminder of [Lutoslawski's] craftsmanship...Chain 3 is a small, brilliant orchestral jewel. Atmospheric, if not quite virtuosic, performances from the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Gardner, who must be encouraged to explore more of Lutoslawski�s oeuvre.� --Financial Times, 16th October 2010 ****

�Exciting performances of exciting music. Lutoslawski is a master of whipping up the orchestra, though in a tasteful, increasingly refined manner...A fanfare guides us through the novel form [of the Symphony], though Gardner is a persuasive guide in his own right.� --Sunday Times, 24th October 2010 ****

Berlioz: Harold In Italy; Paganini: Sonata Per La Grand Viola

�Carpenter rises to all the challenges with great dexterity, preserving fine tone and pure intonation in the most (for the viola player) alarming situations...the performance of Harold, too, has much to recommend it - a fine-toned soloist, rhythmic, well-balanced orchestral playing and clear, bright recording. There are some especially imaginative touches of tone-painting� --Gramophone Magazine, December 2011

�the undisputed star is the first recording of the more virtuosic, original version of Harold in Italy which is fully exploited by Carpenter's beguiling, beautiful tone and thrilling technique. The orchestra is no bit-part player here; Ashkenazy's ensemble throughout makes this an outstanding collaboration.� --Classic FM Magazine, December 2011 ****

�Carpenter is the eloquent viola soloist in Berlioz�s Byronic symphony...[Ashkenazy and the Helsinki orchestra ] reveal the music�s narrative heart compellingly. Paganini�s own Sonata for viola and orchestra, scarcely on a par with Berlioz, nevertheless allows Carpenter to demonstrate his lyrical musicality and bravura.� --The Telegraph, 22nd September 2011 ****

�The excellent violist David Aaron Carpenter has reinstated a virtuoso passage in the opening adagio, originally sketched for Paganini. With Ashkenazy and the Helsinki PO, he gives a masterly account of the work, glowing and incisive.� --Sunday Times, 16th October 2011

Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 3, Sinfonia Concertante

�These musicians have all the hallmarks of excellence and it's impossible not to be drawn to their empathy with the rhythmic vivacity and finer sensibilities of the music.� --Gramophone Magazine, July 2009

�The First Concerto's opening tutti sets the overall tone of this disc with bright and light phrasing. Renaud Capu�on's� vibrato is tight, never becoming sickly, and he spins an elegantly effortless line in the slow movement, with a wide variety of tone colour.� --BBC Music Magazine, August 2009 ***

�Capu�on is partnered by the viola player Antoine Tamestit, who perfectly complements his unfailingly musical phrasing without ever slavishly copying it. A fine achievement.� --The Guardian, 17th April 2009 ****

�His performance here is lithe, graceful and refined, capturing vivacious humour with luminous upper-stringed sparkle, and colouring the slower movements with warm, musical poetry...There is real artistic synergy here: each matches the others gentle poise and warmth, with the velvety depth of the viola setting off the sweet descant of the violin.� --Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 21st May 2009

Villa-Lobos: Complete Works for Solo Guitar

Finally this collection offers a complete set of Villa-Lobos solo guitar music performed by Anders Miolin who brings his own beautiful sound to this enormous undertaking. Anders Miolin is an unflinching virtuoso of great sensitivity. I have no hesitation in recommending his contribution to this magnificent box set as worthy of addition to the great tradition of Villa-Lobos performers which includes, inter alia, Segovia, Bream, Williams, Yepes, Santos, Fernandez, Fisk and Zanon. --CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE (GRAHAM WADE), England

Panufnik: Heroic Overture, Sinfonias, Landscape

�The Tampere Philharmonic under John Storg�rds deliver a rhythmically propulsive and dramatically epic performance� Throughout the disc, the Tampere brass sound has the swank and punch of a big band, while the string-playing is fastidiously nuanced�� --Gramophone Magazine, November 2007

�This is a fine and often moving entry in the Panufnik catalogue... This handsomely presented premium price anthology drawn from Panufnik�s orchestral music is recorded with integrity and performed with devout brilliance.� --MusicWeb International

Panufnik's music has always seemed more elusive than its demonstrable surface suggests. Even the wartime Heroic Overture � a work that plays to the gallery and knows it � has a more sober subtext as the Polish patriotic song on which it's based is secreted in the background. Is its relegation a symbol of repression? Could be, but Panufnik's driving optimism simultaneously transforms his source into a beacon of hope, something to be aspired to at a time of uncertainty.

The Tampere Philharmonic deliver a rhythmically propulsive and dramatically epic performance.

Throughout the disc, the Tampere brass sound has the swank and punch of a big band, while the string-playing is fastidiously nuanced � power-house sheets of sound rain down as required, and pianissimi are acutely hushed. This honed orchestral playing makes for a Sinfoniasacra that's a revelation. Probably Panufnik's most popular symphony, the work begins with brass fanfares embedded with tart harmonic ambiguities that Storg�rds has primed with snarling clarity. His sense of pace, as Panufnik strips the orchestra down to strings alone and rebuilds again over a 30-minute duration, has the precision of sonar and supreme dramatic flair.

Panufnik's increasing interest in geometry governed much of the music he wrote in the 1970s, the Sinfonia di sfere included. The beauty of the music became highly objectified, just as his ear for piquant harmonies and idiosyncratic orchestration intensified. A potent combination, equally powerfully in the execution.� --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Zelenka: Sonatas

�it's the group's nuance that's transfixing. When textures become sparse, delivery intensifies; when the line expands, the tempo stretches; when counterpoint thickens, articulation is leavened. The players are audibly intelligent, at once humorous and illuminating. Non-interventionist engineering shows that less can be more when the artists are first-rate.� --BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 *****

�There is highly capable playing, with expert tuning, smooth lines, and techniques apparently taxed only by the quickfire repeated notes in Sonata No. 6. The sound is also wonderfully clear and well balanced.� --Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012

�The lively Ensemble Marsyas are joined by violinist Monica Huggett in the third of the set, full of literally breathless counterpoint, while at the end is a beguiling single slow movement that leaves us up in the air, as if I had finished this review with a question mark.� --The Observer, 2nd September 2012

�Zelenka constantly beguiles...Ensemble Marsyas play everything with real flair.� --Sunday Times, 23rd September 2012

Bach: Cello Suites Nos. 1, 4 & 5 transcribed for viola

�Rysanov really claims the music for his lush-toned 1780 Guadagnini viola in a manner that few can rival...He gives a spring to the dance rhythms that sounds spontaneous, irresistibly so...No admirer of great viola playing should forgo the pleasures of Rysanov�s playing.� --Sunday Times, 22nd August 2010 ****

�Rysanov eschews both puritan authenticity and inappropriate Romantic emoting. His phrasing pays due acknowledgement to the suites' dance roots.� --BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 *****

The young violist Maxim Rysanov makes his debut on BIS with three of Bach�s suites transcribed for viola by Simon Rowland-Jones.

Recognised as one of the world�s finest and most charismatic viola players, Maxim Rysanov performs worldwide as a concerto soloist and chamber musician. Rysanov is a past recipient of both the Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year and the BBC New Generation awards and is a prizewinner of the Geneva International Music Competition and Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition among others. Originally from the Ukraine, he studied with Maria Sitkovskaya in Moscow and with John Glickman in London, his adopted home town.

Pinto: Piano Music

Born in London in 1785, Pinto was one of the boldest and most innovative composers of his time. His harmonies and idiomatic writing for the piano often seem to anticipate the Romantic school, yet his music has only gradually become known in the last forty years. On his death at the age of only twenty, his teacher Johann Peter Salomon remarked �if he had lived and been able to resist the allurements of society, England would have had the honour of producing a second Mozart�.

Pinto�s extant compositions include several fine works for violin, a score of songs, and fifteen works for solo piano. The complete piano pieces were published in 1985 in �The London Pianoforte School, Vol 14�, edited by Nicholas Temperely. The most important of them are included on this disc.

The two �Grand Sonatas�, Op. 3, were published in 1801, when Pinto was sixteen. Showing some influence of recently published sonatas by an established London musician, John Baptist Cramer, (1771-1858), they far surpass their models in originality and emotional range. Less that a year later, Pinto published his Grand Sonata in C minor, this time dedicated to his friend and fellow-pupil John Field (1782-1837), whom he had just seen for the last time before Field�s departure to Russia. The opening sounds strong and formal, but almost at once there is a prophecy of Schubert in the sudden plunge to D flat major, reinforced by other colourful modulations.

Pinto�s last sonata, left unfinished at his death, was the Fantasia and Sonata in C minor. It was completed by Joseph Woelfl (1772-1812), assembled and edited by Samuel Wesley (1766-1837, who declared himself happy to �perpetuate the posthumous Fame of so great a Genius�, and published by Pinto�s mother in 1807/8. It is remarkable in having all five movements in minor keys, its darkness only relieved by Woelfl�s conclusion in C major.

The three shorter pieces all, in different ways, show Pinto�s distinctive qualities. (None of them can be dated with confidence.) The Rondo in E flat and the Minuetto in A flat are among Pinto�s more �classical� works, but the Rondo on an Irish Air, �Cory Owen�, was most likely published in 1801. The episodes between statements of the tune stray a long way from it in mood and style, and show early examples of Pinto�s fiery passage-work and his harmonic surprises.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 27 & 20

�The conducting is intelligently alive, in quality reminiscent of Benjamin Britten...Pires enters into the prevailing mood, her artistry as thougthful as yore...Pires shows that expressive sensitivity isn't confined to a slow tempo...Reduced forces might have enhanced the concerto's intimate character. It's a small point. These absorbing, penetrating performances deserve the widest currency.� --Gramophone Magazine, January 2013

�it is the autumnal Concerto No. 27...that is perhaps better suited to the understated poetic eloquence of Maria Joao Pires's playing than the more overtly dramatic Concerto No. 20...Abbado and his Orchestra Mozart offer fine support in both Concertos, and the performances as a whole have an elegance that cannot fail to give pleasure.� --BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ****

�From the first moment, the performance has a quality that characterizes the entire recording: a perfect balance between musical, textural and rhythmic precision and all of the mood and atmosphere that the music requires� --International Record Review, December 2012

�[K595] has a strange, veiled, ethereal quality, an air of difference from the others, well brought out by Pires, with Abbado and his fine players. By contrast, the opening of the D minor sounds rather tame...The other two movements are much more convincing.� --Sunday Times, 16th December 2012