Uuno Klami: Northern Lights, Kalevala Suite & Cheremissian Fantasy

This new release is outstanding in every way. The Helsinki Philharmonic knows this music as well as anyone, and in any event is a first-class ensemble no matter what the repertoire. John Storgards leads vibrant interpretations, with Samuli Peltonen an impressive cello soloist. The sonics are superbly lifelike, with plenty of detail and a wide dynamic range. Highly recommended. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com, March 2010,

Disc of the Month, Artistic Quality 10 / Sound Quality 10

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storg�rds

This new recording pays tribute to Uuno Klami (1900�1961) � one of the most successful and cosmopolitan Finnish composers; his popularity in Finland equals that of Jean Sibelius and Einojuhani Rautavaara and still awaits major discovery beyond the national borders.

This CD features his monumental masterpiece Kalevala Suite for large orchestra, which became a true landmark in Finnish music history and remains his best-known work and a real orchestral showpiece.

Also featured is the orchestral fantasy Northern Lights, which Klami himself once called his best composition; this is the work�s first-time recording for commercial release.

The cello concerto-like Cheremissian Fantasy has raised comparisons with Stravinsky. It features acclaimed young Finnish cellist Samuli Peltonen as soloist. hief conductor John Storg�rds here leads the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, which has a long history of collaborating with Klami and of performing his works.

�Storg�rds and the Helsinki Philharmonic turn in superb performances...Ondine's sound is of demonstration class...Thoroughly recommended.� --Gramophone Magazine, June 2010

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"

�Precise drive in the Scherzo, with brazen horns in the Trio, presages a finale of real stature.� --Gramophone Magazine, May 2008

�Manze takes a surprisingly Romantic view of the Eroica� with accomplished playing from the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.� --BBC Music Magazine, April 2008 *****

�Andrew Manze has had the ingenious idea of coupling the Eroica with the set of contredanses in which the theme of the symphony�s finale first appeared, and with the finale of Beethoven�s ballet score The Creatures of Prometheus, the melody�s second appearance. 

What makes the disc exceptional, however, is the superb clarity and incisiveness of the performances. The splendid Swedish orchestra plays the Eroica as if discovering and revelling in its beauty and audacity for the first time. Manze sets a spanking tempo for the opening movement, but always gives the music room to breathe, and the rest is equally inspiring.� Sunday Times, 15th June 2008 ****

Erwin Schulhoff: Violin Sonatas

�Tanja Becker-Benda offers absolutely stunning playing throughout this warmly recorded disc. She makes light work of the formidable technical challenges in the opening Allegro con fuoco of the Solo Sonata and brings an unexpected sense of desolation to the ensuing Andante sostenuto. Her exemplary partnership with Markus Becker reaps equally enthralling musical rewards in the other works.� --BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 *****

�Tanja Becker-Bender can muster both impressively full tone and a not inappropriate astringent edge� --Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

�she surfs the waves of Schulhoff's sparkling imagination with the deftest of touches...turn[ing] some of the most unpredictable and challenging violin works of the early 20th century into musical morsels of supreme naturalness.� --Classic FM Magazine, April 2011 ****

�There is some challenging music here for both players and it receives performances of the highest quality, as though this music were at the very centre of the standard repertoire instead of well beyond its fringes. Tanja Becker-Bender's tonal palette is wide, not shying away in the least from the occasional healthy dig into the strings; she seems totally at home with the material� --International Record Review, March 2011

Handel: Water Music, Royal Fireworks

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra hurl themselves into the robust spirit of the music with exhilarating zeal. Their playing of the resplendent French overture to the Fireworks Music is supple and resonant, introducing a real sense of occasion which Handel most certainly intended. Sometimes I found the orchestra's tendency towards clipped articulation a little predictable but this is a very minor point in the context of so much else that is first-rate.

The Water Music is sensibly subdivided into three suites, each anchored to its own key and dominated by an instrument of a contrasting timbre: a horn for the Suite in F, a trumpet for the Suite in D and a flute for the G major Suite, the most modestly scored of the three. The performances are, as I say, full of spirit and technically highly refined. An occasional predilection for rubato sounds somewhat anachronistic as do one or two of the rallentandos at closing cadences but one can only marvel at the precision of ensemble, the clarity of articulation and the sheer joie de vivre which these players bring to Handel's music. Textures are admirably translucent and this quality in the playing is further enhanced by a sympathetic if slightly dry recording acoustic. The various woodwind groups are effectively balanced and I especially enjoyed the ensemble playing of oboes and bassoon which often feature prominently as in the concluding movement of the F major Suite. The solo flute ornaments in the G major Suite however, struck me as lacking in propriety and considerably at odds with all else in this performance.

Little more need be said. It is a great joy to hear modern instrumentalists approach baroque music in such an enlightened way.

� Gramophone [11/1992]

Weber: Symphonies, Bassoon Concerto

"The Tapiola Sinfonietta under its former (1993-2000) director Jean-Jacques Kantorow match him in detail in a cleanly balanced recording. Both symphonies are played with relish, all solo opportunities exploited to the full. The music is charming, but Weber is surely still going to be remembered best for his operas and their overtures, but at least it gives clarinettists and, in this instance, bassoonists a chance to shine." --MusicWeb International

Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow

Kantorow and the Tapiola Sinfonietta revisit Weber focusing on works by the young composer, before the fame that his opera Der Freisch�tz would bring. The two symphonies � the only works in the genre that Weber composed � were written in the space of six weeks around New Year 1808, while Weber were staying at the court of the Count of W�rttemberg-�ls in Carlsruhe (nowadays Pok�j in Poland). The symphonies also bear witness to the period of transition from classicism to romanticism, particularly in terms of orchestral colour

Brahms Works for Viola II

�Rysanov demonstrates yet again his sensitivity and empathy with these pieces. The rich warmth of his tone complements the melancholic autumnal feel which pervades this collection of late works, particularly in the compelling songs, with Alice Coote's beautiful emotive vocal phrasing.� --Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 *****

�Viola discs are flooding the market currently...but this Brahms chamber music CD from Maxim Rysanov steals the limelight...It's addictive.� --The Observer, 27th February 2011

�In the rhapsodic musings of the slow movement Rysanov becomes the idealised incarnation of the gypsy fiddler that Brahms surely had in mind when composing that uniquely florid part. The whole work recieves a performance of such intensity and expressive unanimity that I'm convinced this version was worth disinterring.� --BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 ****

Hummel, Dussek & Onslow: Piano Quintets

The Dutch classical music magazine 'Luister' (March 2007) awarded this CD with top marks: 10

"This disc presents major piano quintets of three central European composers: Hummel, Dussek, and Onslow. Their work is situated in the transition period from the Classical to the early Romantic. All three composers made their way up to the courts of Vienna, Paris, or London, and were very successful at the time.

The sound of this recording is quite impressive too; the level of detail is amazing, and the spatial depth is compelling. The engineers at Brilliant know their job very well. This is a very valuable release. Presented with an interesting booklet (with pictures), this disc will be very hard to beat if you�re looking for an original performance of some great music." FANFARE: Bart Verhaeghe