Messiaen: Turangal�la Symphony

�any performance must keep sight of the romantic, sometimes disturbing, core of the work. This is clearly understood in this performance from Juanjo Mena and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra...the essentials are there...[Osborne] brings authority to the piano cadenzas and poetry to the filigree passages, while the orchestra players are clearly having fun.� --BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ****

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - October 2012
 

 

�A unity of vision between pianist and conductor helps make this Turangalila prevail where others are compromised...the concentrated meditative quality Mena and Osborne lend to the sixth movement rotates the symphony on its axis...No other conductor gets inside Messiaen's overlapping currents of cyclic time like Mena.� --Gramophone Magazine, October 2012

�Osborne copes faultlessly here, negotiating the bustle of the more intense movements with precision and smooth power, while the more reflective passages such as the "Jardin du Sommeil d'amour" are treated with fluid grace and understanding.� --The Independent, 28th July 2012 ****

�The virtue of this studio recording is, paradoxically, that it doesn�t get carried away. The balance of instrumental sound is exemplary, without compromising atmosphere or momentum, and there are virtuoso contributions from Steven Osborne in the easily overlooked piano part and from Cynthia Millar� --Financial Times, 11th August 2012 ****

�Mena doesn�t attempt to tone down the vulgarity or smooth the out the textures. He�s impetuous, excitable, the Bergen players managing to keep up with his swift tempi. There�s plenty of muscle on display, but the softer episodes are gorgeous...Osborne�s handling of the fiendish piano solo is effortless...Unmissable � this is already among the most uplifting discs you�ll hear all year.� --The Arts Desk, 11th August 2012

�Mena has a tremendous grip on the score and a real sense of its epic sweep. That sense of sweep, however, is not at the expense of attention to detail; Mena clearly has every aspect of this score at his fingertips...the playing of the Bergen Philharmonic is first class.� --MusicWeb International, August 2012

Koechlin: Complete Works for Saxophone and Piano

'Mondelci is equal to all Koechlin's demands (as usual with this composer, considerable) while Kathryn Stott matches him in fluency and accuracy.' --Gramophone

'Federico Mondelci has a warm, mellifluous tone which suits the predominantly lyrical nature of the repertoire perfectly and, partnered by the sensitive playing of Kathryn Stott, makes clear his obvious passion for these pieces.' --BBC Music Magazine

'Those perfect miniatures, superbly played by Federicao Mondelci with pianist Kathryn Stott� have an eloquence that is hauntingly potent.' --The Guardian

'He [Mondelci] rightly praises Kathryn Stott's empathy as accompanist� Chandos' warm, full acoustic captures this blend perfectly. Has the saxophone ever sounded more romantic?' --International Record Review

JS Bach: Concertos

�Mullova plays the two solo concertos elegantly, with beautiful precision and, in the middle movement, considerable eloquence.� --Gramophone Magazine, July 2013

�Mullova plays the glorious �Siciliano� second movement beautifully, while tongue-in-cheek elaborations in the accompaniment lend a sense of uninhibited exuberance to the finale� The two orginal concertos match anything else on disc.� --BBC Music Magazine, August 2013 ****

�thrilling, robustly profiled accounts� --The Observer, 5th May 2013

�Breezy tempi, scintillating details and muscular bowing in the allegros cede to slow movements of thoughtfully differentiated timbres� --The Independent, 6th July 2013

�The Violin Concertos in E major and A minor are served wonderfully. Both performances are transparent and light but always expressively engaging� Dantone�s continuo in the first movement of the E major finds Mullova revealing a tremendous depth of feeling.� --International Record Review, July/August 2013

Bloch: 4 Episodes, 2 Poems, Concertino & Suite Modale

Bloch is of course best known for his �Jewish � works�you can hear this in the finale of the Viola Suite, and perhaps most potently as the finale of the Four Episodes. Scored for piano, wind quintet, and strings, the performance here is wonderfully colorful and alive. Hiver-Printemps is one of Bloch�s earliest pieces, a pair of short tone poems that does exactly what the titles say: offer musical portraits of winter, and then spring. The style is impressionist, the scoring pellucidly lovely.

This is one of those discs that, by virtue of its unfamiliar repertoire, might easily be overlooked, but don�t make that mistake. You�d be missing excellent performances of very high-quality, enjoyable music� --ClassicsToday.com, July 2007

A fascinating and highly rewarding collection, involving two soloists, two orchestras and, in the case of the Four Episodes, scored (in 1926) for a combination of string quintet, wind quintet and piano. The most striking Episode is the well-named Humoresque macabre, while in the second, Obsession, Bloch spiritedly anticipates minimalism with the same five-bar motive repeated two dozen times, in continuous variation. The pastoral Calm, with its shepherd�s pipe, suggests nature, and the closing Chinese evocation is piquantly exotic. The Two Poems are earlier (1905) and are appropriately titled in French, for there is an atmospheric warmth and transparency to the scoring which has influences from both Debussy and Ravel. But perhaps the highlights are the two late concertante works; the charming three-movement Concertino for violin and viola (1948) ends with a fugue which then gives birth to a lively polka. The Suite Modale, with a serene ancient-and-modern flavour, was written in 1956, three years before the composer�s death�an engagingly nostalgic reverie, interrupted by a bright central Gigue. The performances here are excellent, all very persuasively directed by Dalia Atlas; they are splendidly played and given top-quality Naxos sound. A disc not to be missed. --Penguin Guide, January 2009 ***

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Rachmaninov: Etudes-Tableaux

While there is no knowing what whimsy prompted the fine fellows from the reissue department of EMI to release Vladimir Ovchinnikov's 1989 recording of both sets of Rachmaninov's Etudes-Tableaux in its "encore" series, one can only be grateful it did. Along with rereleasing both Richter's sublime Schumann disc and Barenboim's abysmal Beethoven disc, EMI has released for the first time this vivid and virtuosic Rachmaninov recording by Ovchinnikov.

While recordings of all the Etudes-Tableaux are rare, recordings of all of them that are any good are even rarer. Even the best of them -- Ashkenazy's soulful but sometimes clattering recording and Shelley's brilliant but sometimes brittle recording -- leave something to be desired. But out of left field, Ovchinnikov does the impossible feat of being both evocative and virtuosic. While Rachmaninov repressed their programs, his Etudes-Tableaux are as much evocative as they are virtuosic and Ovchinnikov uses the latter to express the former and the result is as convincing pictorially as it is compelling technically. While not the greatest recordings of any of the Etudes-Tableaux ever made -- there are, after all, Richter's excerpts to consider -- Ovchinnikov's recording is perhaps the greatest recording of all of the Etudes-Tableaux. EMI's sound is just a wee bit close, but it is very, very immediate.

Lux Femin�

 

�Figueras is in her element. She can be dramatic or passionate, facetious or sorrowful; a young girl who wants her freedom and is only restrained with difficulty; and a saintly soul in a mystical union with God. Highly recommended.� --Gramophone Magazine, October 2006

�the best kind of musical archaeology, performed with imagination and unquenchable enthusiasm.� --The Guardian

 

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - October 2006
BBC Music Magazine Choral & Song Choice

This collection of mostly unfamiliar music from 900 to 1600 forms an homage to womanhood, femininity, sung by one of the most captivating early-music singers on disc. The ensemble, though made up of familiar personnel including her husband Jordi Savall, her daughter Arianna, Pierre Hamon, and Andrew Lawrence-King, is not credited as Hesp�rion XXI. The program is framed by Flavit Auster, a sequence in honor of the Blessed Virgin from Codex Las Huelgas that begins and ends the program. Other women honored are the Sibyl in an abridged rendition of the first Cant de la sibilla that Figueras recorded, and Beatriz de Dia, the first trobairitz. Sacred and profane music follow in succession, with a C�rceres villancico about a wife inviting another man to come in followed by a mystical poem of the Carmelite St. Teresa set as a contrafactum to an unknown melody. A kind of philosophical cast is thrown over the program by notes that divide the songs among seven aspects of womanhood.

Figueras is a supreme artist. The performances are uniformly first-rate, and the surround sound is palpable. The packaging is exactly like two recent Orlando Consort issues, a bound CD-size book of 172 pages, lavish with color printing; texts with six sets of notes and translations; and all the necessary documentation. The total product could not be done better. Buy this and you will treasure it. --FANFARE: J. F. Weber

Jan�cek: Orchestral Suites from the Operas Volume 1

�The extracts, expertly chosen by Peter Breiner, stand up reasonably well in the absence of the voices. They are nicely varied in character and pace, and are conducted by him with passion and sympathetic understanding.� --Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

�These are fine performances and stunningly dynamic recordings, with some fine low drum rumbles and plenty of sparkle and colour in the spectrum� if you want some refreshingly new orchestral music and an alternative view on Jan�cek then this is a very strong contender indeed.� --MusicWeb International

The operas of Leo� Jan�cek have been gaining their rightful place in major opera houses the world over.

First staged in 1904, Jenufa, a powerful tragedy set in a Moravian village, launched Jan�cek�s operatic career.

The Excursions of Mr Broucek, which had its premi�re in 1920, is his most candidly satirical opera, rich in high jinks as the bumptious Prague publican travels to the Moon and back to the 15th century.

Peter Breiner, who created the compelling orchestral suites heard on this disc, conducts these world premi�re recordings.

Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 33 Nos. 1-6 (complete)

�What is most impressive is the Borodin's sensitivity to the Haydnesque features that lend the music its special character, most notably its wit, in the sense of both humour and imagination...In the Borodin's superb accounts, we are reminded of all [Haydn's] virtues in a way that comes closer to the heart of the music than do most of the other [performances] I have heard.� --International Record Review, April 2011

�readings that are remarkable for their consistency of tone and security of technique. They rattle off fast movements with �lan...and serve slow movements well with their rapt concentration� --Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

Haydn composed his six string quartets op.33 between 1778 and 1781. He wrote that he had composed them �in a new and special way�. This was a rather mischievous claim, as the quartets do not represent a revolutionary compositional advance, rather a shift in style towards intimacy and subtlely from the flamboyant op.20 set of nearly ten years earlier. It was, though, a rather good promotional and sales gimmick on Haydn�s part.

These quartets are the lightest and most humorous in nature of all his mature quartets and do break new ground in having scherzos in place of the old minuet. This new term and the nature of the scherzo would appeal in a few years time to Haydn�s young pupil from Bonn, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Good humour abounds throughout op.33, especially the repeated false ending to the finale of no.2, where Haydn was said to have made a bet with friends that there would be applause at several points before the work ended. The nickname �The Joke� was quickly applied to this work.

Casella: Orchestral Works Volume 1

�...this is a remarkable and engaging work in its own right, with some striking features. In particular, the beautiful opening of the final 'Epilogo' is breathtakingly beautiful...the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda are both committed and convincing advocates in the premiere recording of this complex score.� --BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 ****

�This 50-minute would-be epic is given a splendidly forthright performance by Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic...[in the concerto] Martin Roscoe is a witty, trenchant piano soloist and the Chandos sound brings out all the piquancy of Casella's artfully un-18th century orchestration.� --Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

�Casella�s music isn�t too often heard here, but the BBC Philharmonic and its Italian maestro, Gianandrea Noseda, are trying to make a difference...Mahler is an evident influence, particularly in the fourth movement. Though styled a finale, it is followed by an Epilogo of hushed beauty, building to a massive, affirmative, organ-buttressed close.� --Sunday Times, 11th July 2010 ***

�[Scarlattiana] receives, of course, a glorious and poetic performance, with the added luxury of Martin Roscoe's participation...anyone with more than a passing interest in this fascinating composer needs to have this remarkable disc.� --International Record Review, July/August 2010

�...under Noseda�s guidance there is cohesion, drive and passion, and the playful Scarlattiana (1926) reveals Casella�s spirited allegiance to the clarity and perkiness of neo-classicism.� --The Telegraph, 13th June 2010 ***

Shchedrin - Concertos for Orchestra Nos. 4 & 5

All three works on this disc are world premi�re recordings.

�It is above all [Shchedrin's] ear for orchestral colour that dominates...[his] gift ensures that the ear is constantly beguiled...Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra do brilliantly with it all, and so, crucially, do the recording engineers in capturing all the delicate and original sounds.� --Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

This disc marks the start of a long collaboration between Naxos and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra�s new young Ukranian conductor, Kirill Karabits.

The distinguished Russian composer, pianist and teacher Rodion Shchedrin writes: �I spent my childhood in the small Russian town of Aleksin, situated on the river Oka, 300 kilometres south of Moscow. When I was growing up, purely entertaining, commercial music was not yet as ubiquitous as it is now� It was still possible to hear choral songs, the sound of the accordion, the strumming of the balalaika, funeral laments, the cries of shepherds at dawn, coming from beyond a river, enveloped in fog. All that distant and now extinct musical atmosphere of a Russian province is strongly etched in my childhood memories. I think, in all three compositions on this CD, it has found it own nostalgic echo.�

�Karabits demonstrated an impressive, riveting range of sensibility and sensitivity to musical style� The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra was on top form and receptive to his interpretative ideas.� Concert review by The Daily Telegraph

MP3 Audio Test [320 k/bits ABR]

A test CD from Marantz to check and test MP3s on your stereo equipment with a variety of classical and jazz music.

Trumpet Concertos by Haydn, Albinoni, Neruda & Hummel

��listeners will find in this 20-year old Norwegian a musician who plays with an especially beguiling, sweet and shimmering line, nonchalant technical authority and stylish understatement.� --Gramophone Magazine, March 2008

�- Helseth relishes Haydn?s epoch-making excursions into chromaticism with alacrity, especially in the slow movement, which she shapes with disarming naturalness. A splendid d�but disc. More please!� " --International Record Review

Tine Thing Helseth (trumpet)
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

The young trumpet virtuoso Tine Thing Helseth came to the attention of audiences and critics when she was awarded 2nd prize in the 2006 Eurovision Young Musicians finale in Vienna. With her debut CD, which includes a stunningly fresh new recording of the ever-popular Haydn concerto as well as terrific performances of works by Albinoni, Hummel and Neruda, she seems destined to take the world of classical music by storm.

Bach: Goldberg Variations BWV 988 (Arranged for String Trio)

"...you shouldn't miss Rachlin, Imai, and Maisky's consistently compelling, tonally vibrant reading . . . Recommended!" --ClassicsToday.com, April 2007

"The faster variations come off best, particularly the canonic ones, where the separate contrapuntal lines are played with some vigour in the phrasing." --BBC Music Magazine, March 2007

The present version . . . results in one of the most appealing transcription performances to have come across my path in some time. The balance between the three instruments is ideal and the recording acoustic suitably chamberish . . . this rendition is in fact replete with unfailingly tasteful variations in dynamics and articulation that sustain interest . . . to the extent that I was genuinely sorry when the performance ended. --Fanfare. November 2007

Of all trios who've tackled this opus on disc, DG's all-star crew outclass the others insofar as technical proficiency . . . Not one smudged, swallowed nor rhythmically unfocused note infiltrates the rapid, clearly delineated passagework in Vars 5, 14, 2, 23 and 29. Conversely, the musicians' delicacy and pinpointed control in the minor-key variations never allows the harmonic tension to slacken . . . Maisky reveals a deft and thoughtful ensemble sensibility different from his larger-than-life solo persona. Nobuko Imai's rich, penetrating viola timbre proves an anchoring influence and her supple, perfectly in-tune high-register work particularly impresses in Var 17, where the violin sits out. Virtually all repeats are observed in this excellently engineered release. --Gramophone, April 2007

Arthur Benjamin & Leighton Lucas: Film Music

 �...Gamba directs first-rate performances of these works, all of which are played with electrifying panache (the brass in particular impress throughout) and attentiveness by the BBC orchestra. The recording itself, made in October 2011 at the orchestra�s acoustically inviting new home, Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, is predictably rich, detailed and spacious. This is another hugely enjoyable addition to this consistently top-drawer Chandos series. Unhesitatingly recommended.� --International Record Review, April 2012
 

 

"...As with all the Chandos Film music series discs this is a superb achievement. When one bears in mind that most of the music presented here has been arranged, transcribed or written down from hearing the soundtracks one realises just how much work has gone into making this CD the success it is. All the music is beautifully played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and their conductor on this occasion, Rumon Gamba. This selection of tunes is surely a good distillation of the full film scores. The sound quality is excellent. As always the sleeve-notes are excellent...One can only hope that this CD will encourage performers and record producers further to explore the music of Arthur Benjamin and Leighton Lucas. A superb achievement. Beautifully played." --Musicweb-International.com, April 2012

�here's British film music for every occasion, with seven samples of Lucas (usually refined, sometimes limp) and a meatier trio by Benjamin.� --BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 ***

�The strengths of the recording are immediately apparent - richly heraldic brass and secure warm strings� --MusicWeb International, May 2012

Zelenka: Solo Motets

Alex Potter (counter-tenor)
Capriccio Basel Baroque Orchestra, Dominik Kiefer

�one is in the company of such an inventive composer, such a stylish orchestra and such a fine singer � [Alex Potter] carefully crafts melodic lines, slowly warming longer notes, adding tasteful ornaments in Da Capo repeats, and deftly getting around the coloratura without a hint of strain in his voice� --Early Music Review, December 2012

Jan Dismas Zelenka, court composer of August Elector of Saxony in Dresden, is steadily regaining his deserved reputation.In thi snew recording for Pan Classics, the accomplished young British countertenor Alex Potter succeeds in displaying a wide emotional range in selected works for alto solo: he dazzles with astounding virtuosity in the motet 'Barbara, dira effera' and soars in tender arcs of tension in his performance of the 'Christe eleison' from a late unfinished mass.

He is accompanied with consummate sensitivity by the Capriccio Barockorchester from Basel who also round off this recording with several of Zelenka�s instrumental works. Alex Potter was a choirboy at Southwark Cathedral in London and subsequently Choral Scholar at New College, Oxford, before continuing his studies in ancient music with Gerd T�rk and Evelyn Tubb at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He now works regularly with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Frieder Bernius and Roland Wilson.

Spirit of Brazil

��there are gems such as the successful arrangement of Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 by former Aquarelle member Richard Safhill, and the incredible six-movement Br�sils by Roland Dyens, in which the AGQ manage convincingly to sound like an Amazonian rainforest and a marching band at the Carnival de Rio. Guitarquartetophobes - your cure has arrived!� --Gramophon, May 2009

�With outstanding playing an infectious spirit, this is no mere niche guitar CD, but a luscious and lively general-appeal winner.� --BBC Music Magazine, June 2009 *****

�If one guitar quartet can give a traditional string quartet a run for its money in terms of abundant technique and breathtaking artistry, it is the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet� --INternational Record Rewiev, June 2009

��this is the best Brazilian program I�ve heard in quite a while.� --American Record Guide

Shostakovich: Cello Concertos

Swedish cellist Frans Helmerson was born in 1945 and began playing the cello at the age of 8. After studies in Goteborg, Rome and London, followed by a debut in Stockholm, his solo career has taken him on countless tours all over Europe as well as the USA, Asia and Russia. He has performed with many of the finest orchestras under the baton of some of today's greatest conductors. He is also renowned throughout the world as one of the great teachers of the cello. He holds professorships at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, where he is based, and at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. A regular teacher at the Verbier Festival Academy.

Nyman: The Piano Concerto, Where the Bee Dances

 

�Simon Haram's performance is focused, unfussy and entirely compelling....John Lenehan, in his extremely fine account of the Piano Concerto switches between the lyric sensuousness and rhythmic propulsion required of him with fluency� --Classic CD

"any recordings of modern music at a price that allows you experimentation really deserves to be bought first and questioned later" --Gramophone

Neapolitan Cello Concertos

Giovanni Sollima successfully pursued a twin career as cellist and composer and it is in both capacities that the Palermo-born musician appears on this new recording from Glossa. Sollima teams up with Antonio Florio's I Turchini in a captivating demonstration of virtuoso concerto treasures by Leonardo Leo, Giuseppe de Majo and Nicola Fiorenza. The quality of their committed music-making is underscored by Dinko Fabris, in an accompanying essay, which provides a lucid exposition of the contemporary musical climate. 

Giovanni Sollima�s empathy with the spirit of the 18th century concerto is demonstrated in the elegantly appropriate cadenzas for the works of his forebears and also in his new composition, in keeping with its Neapolitan past ('Fecit Neap. 17..' mirroring the common enscription found on manuscripts of the 18th century).

As well as solo cellist, Giovanni Sollima, who is equally at home in the musical worlds of Patti Smith, Claudio Abbado and Philip Glass; a director in Antonio Florio, who brings his thorough overview of Neapolitan music from the Baroque onwards, this new disc was recorded in the old Santa Anna dei Lombardi monastery complex in the heart of Naples, which serves to point up how powerful a forging ground for cello music Naples was from the end of the 17th century and into the 18th, as well as in our own time.

The Chopin Album

�[Op. 25] No. 1 establishes the pianist's beautifully modulated sonority along with the kind of affettuoso gestures his critics love to hate...It's ironic how Lang Lang's most interesting playing occurs when he attempts to 'interpret' the least. Sony's resplendent, seductively resonant engineering deserves the highest praise.� --Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

�For the most part the playing is warm and communicative, beautifully shaped, luminously projected and boldly coloured - probably too bold and luminous for those who prefer more aristocratic refinement and reserve in their Chopin but without the exaggerated, showy style so many have found off-putting.� --BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 ****

 �Overall, there is more maturity and emotional investment than I expected from the performer. Lang Lang�s rubato speaks of a serious artistic imagination, and it produces very distinctive playing. For many a listener the effect may wear thin after a few listens, but for others this will be intoxicating.� --MusicWeb International, April 2013

�his Grande Valse Brilliante is brilliant indeed; so are the cascading double sixths in the eighth �tude in D-flat major...Lang Lang�s grin and enthusiasm are genuine: he simply loves playing his piano, communicating the joy of music. Bang Bang and glitter aside, that�s not something anyone should knock� --The Times, 26th October 2012 ***

�This album reflects his lifelong love for Chopin, and shows how fresh and individual his take can be...he delivers an exhilarating blend of poetry and power. The accompanying DVD is surprisingly amateurish, but reminds us of the god-given talent he was born with.� --The Independent, 28th October 2012

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Etc

Long live the tube! This newest release in the "transistor-free" series by Tacet is another musical jewel. The music that Tonmeister Andreas Spreer with his nostalgic, exquisite recording technique, using nothing but tube microphones and tube amplifiers, has conjured onto the disc boasts a naturalness, warmth and vividness we thought had disappeared forever and had almost forgotten. Here a violin still sounds like a violin.

 This disc is noted for the all-tube equipment in the recording chain up to the point when the analog signals captured initially by the Neumann M49 tube microphones (the music) is converted to digital and normalized to the so-called Red Book CD Standards so as to be played as regular CDs. It should be noted that these classic Neumann M49 tube microphones were developed in 1949 and manufactured around 1951. From the top, to my ears this orchestra just got rid of all romanticized vibrato and played with pure tone, and as a result the instruments sound much older than they really are. The music's execution thus shows a small chamber orchestra becoming in touch with the past; it is a modern instrument orchestra that sounds like a period instrument ensemble. Changing to period bowing styles makes a world of difference and there is no question about it, the tempi are fast and there is nothing ponderous in these enlightened performances. On this disc nobody gets in the way of Vivaldi, nor interferes with him either, and all seem to be Vivaldi's advocates! The Four Seasons from the Opus 8 is a unique set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) composed in 1723 and first published as scores for solo violin and string quartet in 1725. The present version is a modern transcription with different instrumentation for a small chamber orchestra including a harpsichord providing the basso continuo part.

These four concertos were written by Vivaldi to go along with four sonnets and they are, therefore, true tonepoems, and an early example of programmatic music. Do yourself a favor and follow the music with the text of the sonnets and see how much more sense the whole thing makes. The text for the sonnets can be found at www dot baroque-music-club.com/vivaldiseasons.html. On listening to this Four Seasons there is a physical sensation that can, as in this recording, be transformed into an emotional sensation that comes through the sounds and the expert manipulation of stringed instruments' acoustics; instrumental acoustics is not the same as hall acoustics. Instrumental acoustic balancing control is exemplary throughout but none more so than in Tracks No. 8 (Adagio molto), No. 14 (Adagio) and No. 17 (Adagio). Moreover, the strings are supremely strong and precise throughout while observing a warm pure tone as in Track No. 10's an Allegro molto violin solo with cellos and contrabass accompaniment which in turn moves swiftly to the marvelous violin pizzicatos of Track No. 11's Largo with their perfect syncopation, and the remaining strings providing pure tonal harmony.

The music in this disc is not about anyone, not even about Daniel Gaede - the violin soloist - the music is about Vivaldi with a very lean and taut sound. The present orchestra jells together very well their modern instruments and period sound with their lilting fast allegros, sharply-executed phrasing in the slow middle movements, and the joyous final prestos. There is energy and commitment from the orchestra's parts, the soloist and the conductor as evidenced by their precise entrances and of all things no discernible mistakes. All this I am saying about the Four Seasons can be transposed to the other two violin concertos on this disc just as well. The 'tubes only' sound is adequate but nothing on the spectacular side; I am not convinced that 'tubes only' regular CDs have much to contribute and I would rather see (or hear) a 'tube only' SACD. On this CD imaging is excellent but dynamics are just rather flat, save for an occasional entrance of the cellos and/or the contrabass when playing very loud. My very subjective opinion is that an SACD recording would have been a much better choice. In this 'tube only' incarnation the sound is less than... Final words: fortunately the artistry of the performance amply surpasses the just average...John Nemaric --Audiophile Audition

The Wigmore Hall Recital: Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn, J.S. Bach

Over four decades since securing worldwide recognition as one of the finest musicians of her generation, Maria Jo�o Pires continues to transfix audiences with the immaculate integrity, eloquence and vitality of her art. With Pires partnered by Antonio Meneses, cellist with the Beaux Arts Trio and artist of great wisdom and imagination, this recital is clearly a red-letter event for chamber music connoisseurs. "[Meneses's] warmly eloquent understatement matched Pires's own, and grave us something close to perfection" --The Telegraph, Jan 2012

"Portuguese pianist Maria Jo�o Pires shared her recital with cellist Antonio Meneses, in a performance which brought a real sense of community, of intimately shared music-making." --The Times

Lutoslawski: Orchestral Works 3

�Gardner's control of [the Second], not least its eventual disintegration, is highly compelling...the Cello Concerto receives a superbly concentrated performance here from the soloists Paul Watkins...[Grave] forms a fitting counterbalance to everything else on this disc.� --BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 ****

�With my ideas about the Cello Concerto completely transfixed by Paul Watkins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra...I feel pretty secure in being able to put forward this Chandos version against and above all others.� --MusicWeb International, January 2013

�The characteristic formal diptych of the symphony is superbly enacted.� --Sunday Times, 25th November 2012

�a broad view of Lutoslawki's creative profile, which the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner fleshes out with playing that is as polished as it is animated and alert to the individuality of Lutoslawski's musical vocabulary and mode of expression. Gardner keeps the overall structural span of the Symphony in view...while giving close attention to the localised instrumental combinations and conflicts that lend the music its vibrant personality.� --Gramophone Magazine, December 2012

�This is a wonderful disc, brilliantly delivered by Edward Gardner�s BBC Symphony forces. Few orchestras play this repertoire so well.� --The Arts Desk, 8th December 2012

�The performances continue the highly favourable impression of this series to date, with Gardner securing playing of real immediacy and finesse from a BBC Symphony Orchestra that sounds as fully engaged in the lighter aspects of the composer's music as in its more searching utterances.� --International Record Review, December 2012

Pulkkis: Tales of Joy, Passion, and Love

YLE's classical music journalists have chosen Ondine's CD "Tales of Joy, Passion, and Love" (ODE 1176-2) featuring orchestral works by Uljas Pulkkis (b. 1975) to be the "Disc of the Year 2011"!

Kari Kriikku as the soloist in the clarinet concerto, is joined by baritone Gabriel Suovanen as co-soloist. The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra is led by it chief conductor Hannu Lintu. The "Disc of the Year" award given by YLE (the Finnish Broadcasting Company) is a recognition for a recording which has substantial weight in the promotion of Finnish performing or creative musical arts.

This new recording features Kari Kriikku (�a physically flamboyant player of Olympian virtuosity� � The New York Times) as soloist in Uljas Pulkkis� both cheerful and meditative clarinet concerto Tales of Joy, Passion, and Love.

This colourful work�s concluding movement, Tales of Love, includes the setting of a poem by Thomas Moore, featuring baritone Gabriel Suovanen as co-soloist.

The Romantic and Impressionist dimensions in Uljas Pulkkis� music are further showcased in the seven orchestral fantasies of On the Crest of Waves, as well as in the tone poem Vernal Bloom.

Ondine herewith continues Kari Kriikku�s acclaimed recording series of clarinet concertos, which have been written for and performed by this clarinet muse of internationally acclaimed Finnish composers. Previous releases include concertos by Magnus Lindberg (2006 BBC Music Magazine Award & Classic FM Gramophone Award), Jukka Tiensuu, Kimmo Hakola, and Jouni Kaipainen, with Kaija Saariaho�s D�om le vrai sens to follow in the autumn.

The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, here led by its chief conductor Hannu Lintu, has made several award-winning recordings of contemporary music.

Spanish Dances: Selections from Ruiz de Ribayaz's 'Luz y Norte'

�Concerts with The Harp Consort have the spontaneity of improvised jazz and the perfection of state-of-the-art Early Music� a stupendous mixture of historical accuracy and improvisatory freedom� breaking the concert mould� Music-theatrical fascination� gypsy dances� Spanish Humour� French elegance� thrilling �a magical collage of text, sound and dance: The fabulous Harp Consort� -- Frankfurter Allgemeine, Rundschau, Neue Presse & Main-Ech

Marianna Martines: Il Primo Amore

�Paraschivescu and La Floridiana draw us into Martines's music through exquisite detailing...The archness of Martines's phrasing, the delicacy of her dancing pulses, and the sly timing of her modal shifts bloom gorgeously. Soprano Nuria Rial is equally appealing...all the music richly deserves to be heard.� --BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 ****

�Nicoleta Paraschivescu and her little band of woodwind, horns and single strings are powerful advocates and Nuria Rial is splendidly passionate in the scena. Buy the disc: you won't regret it.� --Gramophone, August 2012

�a talent firmly rooted in the style of her contemporaries Mozart and Haydn but imbued with a refreshingly feminine vivacity. The cantata "Il primo amore" and aria "Berenice, ah che fai?" are brought to life by the gloriously sweet-toned soprano Nuria Rial, while the formidable Nicoleta Paraschivescu directs the lithe players of La Floridiana� --The Observer, 25th March 2012