QUALITON IMPORTS LTD. 24-02 40th AVENUE, LONG ISLAND CITY, NY 11101 TEL: (718) 937-8515
FAX: (718) 729 - 3239
Web: www.qualiton.com e-mail: qualiton@qualiton.com
NEW RELEASES
BIS – 1873
BIS – SACD 1992
FEBRUARY 2013
BIS – SACD 1876
GLOSSA 922510
1
SACD NEW RELEASES
ARS SACD 38125 Label Code 449 Price Code V PICTURES: DIE 12 PIANISTEN Modest Mussorgsky/Arr. Noriko Ishiukawa. Pictures at an Exhibition Alexander Yossifov:Toccata Daniel Schnyder: Shourouk Georges Bizet/Arr. Noriko Ishikawa: CarmenFantasie Habanera Thomas Turek: Kein Liebeslied Gioacchino Rossini/Arr. Ferdinand Wrede:W. TellOuvert端re ARTISTS: The 12 Pianists/Karlsruher Pecussion Ensemble On this SACD other 'pictures' from Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria and the Arab world were added to Mussorgsky's exhibition without being afraid of even crossing the stylistic borders of western classical music. Much like Mussorgsky, the artists paint their 'sound pictures' from more or less distant perspectives, like when the Swissborn composer Daniel Schnyder, a longtime resident of New York City, mediates between oriental world music, jazz and classical 675754044015 avant-garde music, or when the japanese pianist Noriko Ishikawa arranges Spain's most prominent operatic drama, written by a Frenchman, for 2 pianos and 24 hands. The 12 Pianists also are a unique piano ensemble with multicultural influences whose members come from Germany, Russia, Hungary, Japan and Egypt. Naturally, the different nationalities, tempers and 'schools' contribute to a richer artistic work during the rehearsal. The choreographic efforts necessary to always put 24 arms with 120 fingers in the right places, on the keys is a spectacular sight for the audience. On this CD they were joined by the Karlsruher Schlagzeug Ensemble.
ARS SACD 38126 Label Code 449 Price Code V WORKS FOR VIOLIN Johann Jacob Walther : Hortulus Chelicus. Sonata no. 1 in A major Aria in forma di Sonatina no.14 in g minor Johann Paul von Westhoff: Sonata no. 2 in a minor, for violin solo and basso continuo Suite no. 5 in d minor, for violin solo Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita no. 2 in d minor for violin solo, BWV 1004 ARTISTS: Uta Pape, violin The two composers Johann Jacob Walther (1650-1717) and Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656-1705), as precursors of Johann Sebastian Bach, are put into a context on this recording. Ute Pape (baroque violin), accompanied by Klaus Mader (theorbo), Olaf Reimers (baroque violoncello) and Wolf-Eckart Dietrich (harpsichord), plays in an impressive way highlights of the progress the violin technique went through, which are also influenced the violin music of Bach.
2
675754044008
ARS 38127 Label Code 449 Price Code V CAMIELLE SAINT-SAENS - LE DELUGE OP. 45 Danse Bacchanal Orient et Occident ARTISTS: Isabelle Muller-cant, Soprano, Carolin Strecker, alto, Daniel Schreiber, tenor, Philip Hiederberger, bass, Figuralchor der Gedachtniskirche Stuttgart, Wurtlembergische Philharmonie Today Camille Saint-Saëns is classified as a conservative classicist by many people. By his contemporaries he was considered as a musical revolutionary who demanded “dreams of the future”. His oratorio Le Déluge courted the pope’s resentment; he criticized it as too secular. It certainly is a significant contribution to the French Oratorio, whose composer is finally rediscovered as one of the great personalities in the history of music.
675754043995
BIS SACD 1876 Label Code 419 Price Code P KALEVI AHO – WORKS FOR THE OBOES Kalevi Aho (b. 1949): Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra (2007); Solo IX for oboe (2010); Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1984–85) ARTISTS: Piet Van Bockstal, oboe. Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins, Yutaka Oya, piano. For those who have followed the career of Kalevi Aho (for instance through the more than 20 discs of his music released on BIS), it will be clear that he enjoys large-scale projects. One such project has been his ‘oboe project’, composing works in every genre for the instrument. These plans can be said to have begun soon after the Sonata for oboe and piano included here, composed in 1984–85 and thus possibly the first such work for this combination by a Finnish composer. The project received fresh impetus in 2002, when Aho encountered the 675754043865 eminent Belgian oboist Piet Van Bockstal. As a result he composed his Oboe Concerto, premièred by Bockstal in 2008, a work in which Aho wanted to explore fresh directions for tonality as well as creating orchestral music with a more powerful rhythmic pulse and a richer sound-world. As a result the Concerto employs scales from Arabic classical music as a melodic basis in some of its five movements, and also features the Arabic darabuka and African djembe (two types of goblet drum). Although there is no oboe included in the orchestral score, Aho also specifies the use of two of its rarely heard relatives: the oboe d’amore and the heckelphone (a baritone oboe). Three years after the Concerto, the composer returned to his oboe project, and completed it by writing a solo piece for the instrument. Dedicated to Piet Van Bockstal, the 10-minute Solo IX also forms part of another of Aho’s projects – a series of largescale, virtuosic solo works for various instruments. Together with a number of chamber works for different constellations, this disc sums up Kalevi Aho’s oboe project, in expert performances by Piet Van Bockstal, supported by the pianist Yutaka Oya, and by Martyn Brabbins conducting the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, for which Aho has composed so much of his music.
3
BIS SACD 1970 Label Code 419 Price Code P REFRACTIONS – CHORAL WORKS BY: Fartein Valen: Ave Maria for soprano and orchestra, Op.4; Hvad est du dog skiøn, Op.12; Kom regn fra det høie, Op.25; Der 121. Psalm for choir and orchestra (1911) Olivier Messiaen: Cinq rechants for 12 mixed voices a cappella; O sacrum convivium (1937) Anton Webern: Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen, Op.2; Zwei Lieder for mixed choir and instrumental ensemble, Op.19 Alban Berg: Die Nachtigall (1907) ARTISTS: The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Grete Pedersen, Berit Norbakken Solset, soprano, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Members of the Oslo Sinfonietta. The cause of mirages as well as rainbows, refraction is an optical phenomenon which under certain circumstances allows us to see objects that are actually hidden behind the horizon – 675754043872 distant islands across a wide sea, or the sun before it has actually risen. The reason is that rays of light change direction as they pass from one layer of the atmosphere into another, or from one medium, such as air, into another, such as water. The same principle applies to sound waves, and in a sense one might say that music in the early 20th century did pass from one medium to another, from late Romanticism into an unknown future. Refractions allows us to sample that transition in the field of choral music, through the prisms of four different temperaments – those of Alban Berg, Anton Webern and the Norwegian composer Fartein Valen, all born in the mid-1880s, and of the somewhat younger Olivier Messiaen. A number of the works are on sacred themes – including those by Valen – while others are at least nominally secular, although a spiritual dimension is often present. One instance of this is the celebrated Cinq rechants for twelve mixed voices, Messiaen’s fascinating musical expression of the Tristan myth in which love crosses the border between life and death – a mystical power that cannot be expressed in words. Refractions is the fourth disc to appear on BIS with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir and their conductor Grete Pedersen, and follow on Grieg interpretations ‘of breathtaking beauty’ (Le Monde de la Musique), a programme inspired by Norwegian folk music containing ‘some of the most striking and moving singing put down on disc for years’ (Gramophone), and most recently a disc of works by Brahms and Schubert, on which the choir, according to the reviewer for All Music Guide ‘sings with pristine intonation and purity, yet its tone is full, warm, and colorful.’ BIS SACD 1979 Label Code 419 Price Code P TELEMAN – OUVERTURES PITTORESQUES Georg Philipp Telemann: Ouverture in D major, TWV55:D15 for three oboes, strings and b.c. Ouverture in B flat major, TWV55:B5 (‘Völker-Ouvertüre’) for strings and b.c. Concerto polonois in B flat major, TWV43:B3 for strings and b.c. Concerto polonois in G major, TWV43:G7 for strings and b.c. Ouverture, jointes d’une Suite tragi-comique in D major, TWV55:D22 for three trumpets, timpani, strings and b.c.2 ARTISTS: Arte dei Suonatori directed by Martin Geste Throughout a long and extremely productive career, Georg Philipp Telemann harboured a great affection for the overture-suite, consisting of a French overture followed by a number of 675754043889 dances and character movements. Tempering the rigid model inherited from the French tradition with his own rich powers of invention and playfulness, he remained true to the form long after it had gone out of fashion. One variant of which he was particularly fond was the ouverture pittoresque, which offered a welcome opportunity to revel in tone-painting and characterization: ‘Nobody paints with stronger brushstrokes than him’ was the verdict by one of Telemann’s contemporaries. Instances here are the so-called ‘Völker-Ouvertüre’ where we are introduced to different nationalities (Turks, Swiss and Muscovites), and the Ouverture, jointes d'une Suite tragi-comique, in which Telemann depicts various ailments (hypochondria and gout being two of them) and their possible remedies. Another early influence was folk music, and specifically the Polish folk music of the Cracow region, where Telemann spent time in his youth, as Hofkapellmeister to Count Erdmann von Promnitz. In an early example of cross over, he experimented with clothing this music of a ‘true barbaric beauty’ in ‘Italian dress’. One result was the two ‘Polish’ concertos for strings, in which Telemann’s passion for Polish music can be felt from the very first note. Dignified, festive polonoises with chromatically tinged melodic twists begin both concertos, while the fast movements include many examples of Polish colours, such as drone-like effects reminiscent of the dudy, or Polish bagpipes. With a number of highly praised recordings, the Polish band Arte dei Suonatori is firmly established as a leading ensemble performing on authentic instruments. Among the group’s recordings for BIS is a previous collaboration with Martin Gester: the set of Handel's Concerti grossi, Op.6, which was selected as ‘Orchestral Disc of the Month’ in BBC Music Magazine, and described as ‘a model of authentic Handel performance’ in the German early music magazine Toccata.
4
STEVEN ISSERLIS ON TOUR February 1st – March 30th Visit www.qualiton.com for more details. .
IN NYC
BIS SACD 1992 Label Code 419 Price Code P IN THE SHADOW OF WAR Ernest Bloch (1880–1959): Schelomo, Hebrew Rhapsody (1916) Frank Bridge (1879-1941): Oration, Concerto Elegiaco (1930) Stephen Hough (b. 1961): The Loneliest Wilderness (2005)* ARTISTS: Steven Isserlis, cello, Deutsches Symphonie, Orchester Berlin / Hugh Wolff, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Bagor Takacs-Nagy Recognized as one of the great communicators on the concert stage today, Steven Isserlis has written the liner notes to this disc, his third release on BIS, noting that the bond between the works he has chosen to record is their tragic inspiration – ‘the most terrible, senseless conflict the world has ever known.’ The conflict in question is the First World War, and Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo and Frank Bridge’s Oration, subtitled ‘Concerto Elegiaco’, spring directly 675754043896 from their creators’ reactions to its ‘grey hopelessness and the mindless, irreplaceable waste’. Schelomo was composed during the war itself, inspired by the boundless despair expressed in the text of Ecclesiastes: ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities…’ Bloch, who had originally intended to use the text itself in the work changed his mind after an encounter with the Russian cellist Alexander Barjansky. Naming it after King Salomo, traditionally regarded as the author of Ecclesiastes, Bloch created what has become one of the most frequently performed works for cello and orchestra from the 20th century. Less well-known, but no less deeply felt, is Oration, composed in 1930 by Frank Bridge, whose early works had been in a traditional vein with influences from Fauré and Brahms. A convinced pacifist, Bridge had been horrified by the war, and this greatly contributed to the radical changes in his musical language. One of the finest examples of this is the present ‘Concerto Elegiaco’, which Steven Isserlis describes as ‘taking us, almost cinematically, into the mud and slaughter of the battlefields, its cries of brutal suffering forming a musical protest.’ Closing the programme is The Loneliest Wilderness, a work which takes its title from a poem by Herbert Read published in 1919. More than eighty years later Stephen Hough, who as a pianist has collaborated extensively with Isserlis, composed his elegy, but it still resonates with the anguish of the Great War. CLASSICAL CD NEW RELEASES ACCENT 24276 Label Code 086 Price Code F PARTITAS FOR WINDS Ignaz Joseph Pleyel Partita ex Dis in E flat major (Allegro.Moderato; Allegretto) Eccossois (Adagio) Partita in B flat major (Allegro con spirito; Andante Variazione; Rondo. Allegro) Sextetto in C minor (Allegro agitato; Rondeau) Partita in E flat major (Moderato; Menuetto; Adagio; Menuetto; Finale Allegro moderato) ARTISTS: Amphion Wind Octet The heyday of wind ensemble music comprised the relatively brief period from 1780 to 1800 and was chiefly limited to corresponding ensembles at courts of the European nobility. The area of focus in this field was the south German linguistic and cultural region with Vienna as 675754044060 its outstanding musical centre. Most of the works for wind ensemble are for octet, intended for the entertainment of invited guests and frequently performed outdoors. There was always a great demand for new works, and Ignaz Joseph Pleyel proved himself to be a productive composer and resourceful arranger of his own and other works for wind ensemble. The Amphion Wind Octet is the bestknown ensemble for this combination and has already made about ten recordings issued by the labels Pan Classics and Accent. Members of the ensemble include the oboist Xenia Löffler as well as Václav Luks, who is not only an outstanding hornist but also the director of the Prague Collegium 1704. With this Pleyel recording, the Amphion Wind Octet is making these appealing and charming works better known, presenting them here as a world premiere recording.
5
ACCENT 24278 Label Code 086 Price Code F W.A. MOZART PIANO CONCERTOS VOL.2 KV 456 & KV 459 ARTISTS: Arthur Schooderwoerd, Ensemble Cristofori With his recording of K. 456 & K. 459, Arthur Schooderwoerd presents the second part of his complete recording of the Mozart piano concertos on ACCENT. Schoonderwoerd, one of the most soughtafter interpreters on the fortepiano, and his Ensemble Cristofori have set for themselves the goal of liberating Mozart's works from the sound concepts of the 19th and 20th centuries. The strings in the orchestra play only one instrument to a part, resulting in a much more slender and transparent sound that the fortepiano – a copy of an instrument by Anton Walter (Vienna, approx. 1782) – supports but never covers up. Its silvery sound is more reminiscent of a harpsichord but it differs very strongly from that instrument by virtue of its 675754044039 greater dynamic possibilities. The Piano Concerto, K. 459 deserves special attention, for it is heard here for the first time with reconstructed tympani and trumpet parts. Mozart lists these instruments in his own handwritten catalogue of works, but the corresponding parts have unfortunately not been preserved. Through the addition of these imperial timbres, Schoonderwoerd once again succeeds in breaking away from traditional listening habits, allowing Mozart to shine in a completely new light. In addition, Schoonderwoerd presents the intimate Concerto, K. 456 in Bflat major, a particularly diversified work with its marchlike dotted rhythms in the first movement, a melancholy series of variations in a minor key in the second movement and its hunting scene in the third movement.
BIS 1873 Label Code 001 Price Code P TENEBRAE John Pickard (b.1963): Piano Concerto (1999–2000); Sea-Change for orchestra (1988–89); Tenebrae for orchestra (2008–09) ARTISTS: Frederik Ullen, piano, Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins ‘A born master of the orchestra’ is how the British composer John Pickard was described when BBC Music Magazine reviewed a previous disc of his orchestral music, while Fanfare called it ‘essential listening for lovers of modern music’, finding the performances ‘absolutely thrilling, emotionally involved and seamlessly evolved’. Given such reactions, it is not surprising that Pickard, Martyn Brabbins and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra decided 675754043858 to continue their rewarding collaboration, with results that can be heard on the present disc. The three pieces included span three decades, and in his own liner notes to the disc, Pickard remarks that the programme gives an overall sense of his development as an orchestral composer: ‘from the clear outlines of the early Sea-Change, with its indebtedness to the sound-world of several Nordic composers, through the colourful exuberance of the Piano Concerto, to the darkness and turbulence of Tenebrae.’ Completed in 2009, Tenebrae takes as its starting point a fragment from Carlo Gesualdo’s Tristis est anima mea (Sad is my soul) from the composer’s settings for the Tenebrae services of Holy Week. The work is in itself a result of the earlier collaboration between Pickard and these performers; commissioned by the Norrköping orchestra which gave it its première in 2010, it is dedicated to Martyn Brabbins. Joining the team on this disc is Fredrik Ullén, making his first recording with orchestra after a number of highly praised solo recitals. John Pickard’s piano concerto has three movements, Toccata - Passacaglia - Fuga, forming a continuous span. During the course of the thirty minute-long work, three different basic relationships between soloist and orchestra are explored: dialogue, dominance and partnership, the latter illustrated in the closing double fugue, throughout which the soloist and the orchestra work together very much as a team.
6
CENTAUR 3198 Label Code 079 Price Code C JANACEK STRING QUARTETS Leos Janacek (1854-1928) String Quartet No.1 Kruetzer Sonata String Quartet No.2 Intimate Letters ARTISTS: Arianna String Quartet: John McGrosso, violin; David Gillham, violin; Joanna Mendoza, viola; Kurt Baldwin, cello; 044747319827
CENTAUR 3222 Label Code 079 Price Code C STEVEN STARYK: A RETROSPECTIVE VOL. 4 PROKOFIEV Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op. 19 Sonata No. 1 in F, Op. 80 Sonata No. 2 in D, Op. 94 ARTISTS: Bernard Haitink, conductor; Hochstein Stradivarius, violin; Steven Staryk, violin; Mario Bernardi, piano;
044747322223
CENTAUR 3236 Label Code 079 Price Code C CONCERTOS OF DAVID FINKO Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1971) Moses: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1971) Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1988) Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra (2006) ARTISTS: Marcantonio Barone, piano; Mimi Stillman, piccolo; Michael Strauss, viola; Mikhail Tsinman, violin; James Freeman, conductor;
044747323626
7
CENTAUR 3246 Label Code 079 Price Code C ROMAN HANDEL: CANTATAS AND INSTRUMENTAL WORKS BY HANDEL, BONONCINI, CORELLI, ASPARINI, AND LULIER George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): Concerto in D minor for traverse, violin, cello, and continuo. Giovanni Bonocini (1678-1741): Fuori del sua capanna Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713): Trio Sonata in B flat Major, op. 2, no 5. Giovanni Lulier (c. 1662-1700): Amor di che tu vuoi Fracenso Gasparini (1661-1727): Concerto in A Minor for traverse, two violions and continuo George Frederic Handel (1685-1759): Tu fedel? Tu constante? ARTISTS: Kristen Watson, soprano; Suzanne Stumpf, traverso; Sarah Darling and Jesse Irons, violins; Daniel Ryan, cello; Michael Bahmann, harpsichord;
CENTAUR 3247/8 (2 CD SET) Label Code 079 Price Code C RACHMANINOFF AND GINASTERA FOR CELLO AND PIANO Disc 1: Segei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19 (1901) Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983): Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 49 (1979) Pampeana No . 2, Op. 21 (1950) Disc 2: Alberto Ginastera: Punena No. 2, Op. 45 Sergei Rachmaninoff: Danse Oriental, Op. 2, No. 2 (1892) Prelude Op. 2 No. 1 (1892) Lied (1890) ARTISTS: Evelyn Elsing, cello, Santiago Rodriguez, piano
044747324623
044747324722
CENTAUR 3263/4 (2 CD Set) Label Code 079 Price Code C 6 BACH CELLO SUITES Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Disc 1: Suite No. 1, BMV 1007 in G Major, Suite No. 4, BMV 1010 in E flat Major, Suite No. 5, BMV 1011 in C minor Disc 2: Suite No. 2, BMV 1008 in D minor, Suite No. 3, BMV 1009 in C major, Suite NO. 6, BMV 1012 in D Major. ARTISTS: Carmine Miranda, cello
044747326320
8
CHRISTOPHORUS 77362 Label Code 034 Price Code F SACRED CONCERTS Thomas Selle (1599-1663): Ich schlaffe (I sleep) Was betrübstu dich Besolas manos Erhalt uns, Herr (Lord, keep us Steadfast in thy Word) Ach, mein hertzliebes Jesulein (Oh, my Sweet Beloved Jesus) Magna Dei Bonitas Die Güte deß Herren (The Goodness of the Lord) Musica du edle Kunst Charittis edle Schäferin Echo ich bitt Ach Anne fein (Oh pretty Anne) O Unglück! A Domino factum est Factum est praelium magnum Kompt 675754043957 her und shawet (Come here and see) Frisch auff Lieblich Musiciren Es stund auff grüner Heyde (There stood on the Green Heath) Amarilli mein höchster Zier (Amarilli, my Ultimate Decoration) ARTISTS: Monika Mandelartz, Ensemble Metamorfosi. On the 350th anniversary of the year of his death, the Hamburg church music director Thomas Selle is being acknowledged with a CD completely dedicated to his early production. Between the ages of 25 to 35, he initially held smaller posts in the Dithmarschen region – in Heide, Wesselburen and Itzehohe – before taking over the highest and most important position in North Germany as music director of the main churches of Hamburg.
WORLD PREMIERE COVIELLO CLASSICS 50805 Label Code 194 Price Code F FANTASIA TROPICA Geza Frid (1904-1989): String Quartets No. 1-4 ARTISTS: Amaryllis Quartet Géza Frid (1904-1989), a Dutch composer of Hungarian origin, was one of the most influential personages on the Dutch musical scene after the Second World War. His musical roots lie in his native country of Hungary, however. He studied piano with Béla Bartók and composition with Zoltán Kodály, thus, his musical development was shaped by the two great Hungarian musicians of the prewar period. Although he emigrated in 1929, acquired Dutch 675754043841 citizenship in 1948, and was almost fully integrated into postwar Dutch society, he never forgot his origins. The melody and rhythm of his music are clearly influenced by the folklore of his homeland. In this respect, there are obvious parallels with Bartók, and Frid also shared his teacher's particular fondness for string instruments: He composed five string quartets, a sonata for solo violin, twenty violin duos, and three violin concertos. The German/Swiss Amaryllis Quartet presents four of his string quartets in world premiere recordings. The Quartett was trained in Basel by Walter Levin, first violinist of the LaSalle Quartet, and received coaching from the Alban Berg Quartett in Cologne. The rediscovery of forgotten masterworks is one priority for the members of the young quartet. The quartet is also an advocate of contemporary music, however, and has premiered several new works, among them those of Berlin jazz cellist and composer Mathis Brun and the Estonian composer Eino Tamberg. The Amaryllis Quartett plays regularly for concert series and festivals in Germany, Switzerland, and elsewhere in Europe.
9
COVIELLO CLASSICS 61302 Label Code 194 Price Code F BEYOND Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita d minor BWV1004 Giacinto Scelsi: L’ame D’Ailee, L’ame Ouverte & Xnoybis ARTISTS: Barbara Luneburg, violin Why have you decided to combine Johann Sebastian Bach (16861750) and Giacinto Scelsi (19051988) on one CD? The absoluteness and the spirituality in Bach's and Scelsi's music fascinate the violin player Barbara Lüneburg. She loves the consequence of both composers in their work and their different ways of filling the space. In some aspect the musical language of both composers is almost contrary.
675754043988
GLOSSA 922510 (2 CD Set) Label Code 119 Price Code F WILLIAM HAYES - SIX CANTATAS, ORPHEUS & EURIDICE CD 1: Six Cantatas Set to Musick (1748): A winter scene at Ross in Herefordshire; Why, Lysidas, shou’d Man be vain; While I listen to thy voice, Chloris; Chloe’s dream; To Venus a rant; An ode to Echo CD 2: An Ode (1735): Orpheus & Euridice ARTISTS: Berli, Hofbauer, Tubb, Bentley, Cabena, Munderloh, Rooley, The SCB Hayes 675754044046 Players. Beyond the dominating presence of Georg Friedrich Handel in English music from the 18th century there are to be found many enticing surprises, such as those contributed by William Hayes (17081777). His cycle of cantatas from 1748 provides original and humorous musical stories, graced by instrumentations unusual for the time and flecked with touching musical episodes. Hayes’s choice of keys and orchestration develop from one work to the next, whilst the subject matter and texts employed in the works reflect, in a highly particular way, the individual milieu of Hayes in his teaching capacity at the University of Oxford. One strikingly mature composition comes in the shape of Orpheus and Euridice: an Ode (1735). It is hard to imagine that this was composed for the occasion of Hayes receiving his BMus at Oxford. Entirely set within the scene of Euridice’s unsuccessful departure from Hades, Hayes lays out for our listening an exciting psychological study of the two lovers as their emotional states veer between desire and devastation... Anthony Rooley and his carefully chosen group of singers and instrumentalists linked to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis here give us, following on from their dazzling 2010 reading of The Passions, a fresh new incursion into the previously little known compositional world of William Hayes, in this way contributing to Hayes’s deserved placement once again as one of the leading contemporaries of Handel.
10
GLOSSA 922511 Label Code 119 Price Code F LA CONTADINA Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783): La Contadina Michele Mascitti (1664-1760): Concerto in G major op. 7 no. 6 ARTISTS: Oddone, Regazzo, Cremonesi, Ensemble Arcadia Johann Adolph Hasse was twenty-nine years old and on his first visit to Italy when he wrote La Contadina in Naples. The music of the intermezzo, which sparkles with wit and temperament, enjoyed such a great success that a total of thirty-eight productions in major European opera 675754044053 houses can be documented between 1728 and 1769. La Contadina was one of the hits of the eighteenth century. It is hard to believe that this work was composed at the same time as Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas and passions. Its strengths include a spirited libretto full of humor and earthy eroticism, and, above all, extremely modern music that is already endowed with all the characteristics of the subsequent “Classical” style. The timeless vitality of the agile recitatives and individually fashioned arias also captivates today’s listeners. At a time of a substantial reappraisal of the work of composers such as Porpora, Vinci, and Mancini, as well as Hasse himself, GLOSSA and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis are pleased to be able to reissue this splendid recording which, apart from featuring notable singers in Graciela Oddone and Lorenzo Regazzo, involves fine instrumental players such as Pablo Valetti, Amandine Beyer, Riccardo Minasi and Attilio Cremonesi.
IDI 6660 Label Code 316 Price Code A THE ART OF ANDRES SEGOVIA VOL. 7 Frescobaldi: Passacaglia, Corrente. Weiss: Fantasia, J.S. Bach: Suite no. 3 in A Major BMV 1009. Aguado: 8 Lessons for guitar, Granados: Andaluza, Albenitz: Granada, Zambra Granadina, Mendelssohn: Song without Words Op. 30, Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin. ARTISTS: Andres Segovia, guitar. At the end of the ’50 of XX century, Andres Segovia was considered by everybody the greatest guitarist in the world. Even he was no longer young he continued in giving concerts 675754043902 and recording; showing an absolutely enviable technique with that sensitivity for the sound and instrumental touch that he only had. In this CD in which we can find recordings of some of Segovia’s favorite composers from Albenitz and Granados to the beloved Bach, with the transcription of the Suite BWV 1009 never recorded by Segovia before. The result is superb, wonderful as usual, and is demonstration of a poetry in Segovia’s music that the maturity made only more elegant without chancing the deepest aesthetic values
11
NEOS 11209 Label Code 273 Price Code F H.E. ERWIN WALTHER CHAMBER MUSIC Heinrich Ernst Erwin Walther (1920-1995) ARTISTS: Ib Hausmann, clarinet, Peter Bruns, violon cello, Frank Gutschmidt, piano In the avant-garde scene of the 1960’s, graphic scores were very much in fashion. The American Earle Brown had started the trend with December 1952 – a score that is legendary today, consisting merely of horizontal and vertical lines. Heinrich Ernst Erwin Walther (1920675754044183 1995) must not only be considered one of the pioneers of graphic scores, as the phenomenon was far more than a passing fad in his case. Correlations between visual art and music had been a central aspect of his work from the start. He had made his first attempts at graphic notation as early as 1938, while still a student of conducting at the Wurzburg Conservatory. In 1949, after the ewar and captivity, he made his debut as a pianist in Nuremberg with improvisations on drawings by Franz Xaver Fuhr. From the mid-1950s on continuing until his death – Walther produced what he termed “audiograms”. More than 300 of this graphic scores have survived – and, as can be heard on the present CD, they are among the most inspiring examples of the genre. That they have remained virtually unknown is due not least to the character of a composer who scarcely seemed interested in any more than regional renown; one could almost say that he stubbornly obstructed the dissemination of his own works. It is about time to introduce this creative composer to a broader public!
NEOS 11210 Label Code 273 Price Code F H.E. ERWIN WALTHER VOCAL MUSIC Vier Lieder nach spanische Texten, Drei Gasange fur Tenor und Klavier, Sechs Lieder fur Soprano und Klavier, Zwei Lieder fur Tenor und Klavier, Vier heitere Lieder fur Soprano und Klavier, Zwolf Sprechlieder fur Sprecher und Klavier. ARTISTS: Yvonne Friedli, soprano, Joachim Vogt, tenor, Wolfram Tesmer, baritone, Frank Gutschmidt, piano. H.E. Erwin Walther’s oft-quoted statement that, as a composer, he was a colourful character, is especially appropriate in the case of his songs. In his output for voice and piano, spanning over 50 years, one finds Romantic Lieder alongside Tragodie vom Huhn und vom Kirchturmhahn 675754044190 (The Tragedy of the Hen and the Church Tower Rooster), chansons on text by Wilhelm Bush as well as the settings of Spanish poets featured on the present recording, while a single song Tag ist (it is Day, from the Emmerig cycle) might Include both twelve-note procedures (in the broader sense) and aleatory elements.
12
NEOS 21301 Label Code 273 Price Code F LE PHENIX: SOLO DOUBLE BASS IN BAROQUE AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Sonata for Violoncello and Basso continuo in e minor No. 5 Philip Glass (1937): Facades for two flutes and two saxophones and string ensemble. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Sonata No. 2 in D major for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord. Arvo Part (1935) Spiegel im Spiegel for violin and piano Michel Corrette (1707-1795) Le Phenix Concerto in D major for four bass viols and basso continuo. Julien-Franccois Zbinden (1917) Hommage a J.S. Bach op. 44 675754044176 Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) Trio Sonata in G minor for Two Violins and Basso Continuo op. 2 No. 8 ARTISTS: Christine Hoock, double bass, Thomas Martin, Tomas Jauch, Stephan Bauer, Double Bass, Florian Birsak, harpsichord, Barbara Nussbaum, piano. Chr. Hoock is a versatile virtuoso. She can be heard in the most varied constellations in classical music, world music and jazz. Concert tours have taken her all around the world. Today, Chr. Hoock is Professor of Double Bass at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She plays an English instrument by William Tarr built in 1848.
NEW PAN 10276 Label Code 250 Price Code F SEBASTIAN DURON - LA GUERRA DE LOS GIGANTES
An Opera in One Act. ARTISTS: Rogerio Goncalves, Ensemble A Corte Musical, Eva Juarez (Jupiter), Camilla de Falleiro (Hercules), Anna Freivogel (Minvera) Maria Weiss (Palante). "La Guerra de los Gigantes" by Sebastián Durón is one of the earliest Spanish operas in the history of music – a musical rarity in a stirring presentation by Rogerio Gonçalves, his Ensemble A Corte Musical as well as singers Eva Juárez (Jupiter), Camilla de Falleiro (Hercules), Anna Freivogel (Minerva) and Maria Weiss (Palante). This "War of the Giants" is about the battle of colossuses who, incited by their leader, Palante, rebel against the gods but are ultimately defeated. In setting this warlike storyline, Durón makes use of a musical language influenced by Spanish folk music and in which the rhythmic complexity is particularly impressive. The music's special timbre is largely due to the use of a natural trumpet, guitars, harp and percussion instruments.
NEW PAN 10284 Label Code 250 Price Code F JOHANN JOSEPH FUX - ORATORIUM GERMANICUM DE PASSIONE ARTISTS: St. Florian Boys’ Choir, Ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria, Gunar Letzbor The Oratorium Germanicum de Passione, composed in 1731, is the only oratorio in the German language by the Viennese court composer Johann Joseph Fux. The work was long considered lost; aside from a handwritten textbook in Kremsmünster Abbey, no other sources appeared to have been preserved. In 2004, a score from Ottobeuren Abbey incorrectly attributed to Antonio Caldara could be identified as identical to the Fux oratorio believed to have been lost; this work has now been recorded for the first time by Gunar Letzbor, his Ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria and soloists of the St. Florian Boys' Choir.
675754043971
675754043964
13
PAVANE 7550 (5 CDS FOR THE PRICE OF 4) Label Code 037 Price Code MP HOMAGE TO CARLO VAN NESTE: BELGIAN VIOLIN SCHOOL Violin Concertos by: Charles-Auguste de Beriot (1802-1870), Francis de Bourguignon (1890-1961), Frederic Devreese (1929), Henri-Jacques De Croes (1705-1786), Eric Feldbusch (1922-2007), Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881), Eugene Ysaye (1858-1931), Raymond Chevreuille (1901-1976) Works for Violin and Piano by: Albert Huybrechts (1899-1938), Fritz Kreisler, Franz Anton Schubert, Johannes Brahms Complete Piano Trios by: Johannes Brahms ARTISTS: Carlo Van Neste, violin, RTBF/INR Orchestras conducted by Edgar Doneux, 675754044077 Franx Andre, Daniel Sternefeld, Rene Dofessez, Trio Reine Elisabeth de Belgique (Carlo Van Neste, Eric Feldbusch, Naum Sluszny) Carlo Van Neste was one of the great Belgian violinist of international reputation. First Prize for Violiin at the age of ten, he gave concert tours in Belgium and abroad since he was 12. In 1928 he made his first recording for Columbia. Alongside his career as a child prodigy, Van Neste pursued advanced studies with Eugene Ysaye and at the Ecole Noramle de Musique in Paris with Jacques Thibaud and with Georges Enesco. In Homage to his talent and in celebration of the 30th anniversary of his first concert, in 1956 Queen Elisabeth gave him a magnificent violin by Pietro Guarneri (Venice, 1725). Van Neste’s touring schedule took him all over the world under distinguished conductors such as Charles Munch, Rafael Kubelik, Engen Jochum, Ernest Ansermet, Igor Markevitch, Paul Kletzki, Hermann Abendroth, Andre Cluytens, Anal Dorati and Lorin Maazel. Critics continued to heap praise on him, hailing him as a worthy representative of the Belgian Violin School.
SIGNUM UK 318 Label Code 303 Price Code D AROUND BRITTEN Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Third Suite for Cello Op. 87, Mournful Song, Autumn, Street Song, Depart in Peace, with the Saints, Greensleeves, The Salley Gardens, Tre Laude Dolce, Since She whom I loved, Concord, Oliver Cromwell John Tavener (1944) Threnos, Chant, Matthew Barley, Improvisation ARTISTS: Matthew Barley, cello
14
635212031827
SIGNUM UK 319 Label Code 303 Price Code D THE ORGAN SYMPHONIES VOL. 2 Charles-Marie Widor Organ Symphony No.1 in C minor, Op. 13 No. 1 Organ Symphony No.2 in D major, Op. 13 No. 2 ARTISTS: Joseph Nolan, Organ
635212031926
SIGNUM UK 321 Label Code 303 Price Code D Alessio Bax plays Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 24 & 27 8 Solo Variations on Sarti’s “Come un agnello”, K 460 ARTISTS: Alessio Bax, Piano, Southbank Sinfonia, Simon Over, conductor. 635212032121
SUPRAPHON MD 4109 (3 CD SET) Label Code 333 Price Code MP VIKTOR KALABIS SYMPHONIES & CONCERTOS CD1: Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006) Symphony No.2 “Sinfonia pacis” for Large Orchestra, Op. 18 Concerto No.1 for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 17, Symphonic Variations for Large Orchestra, Op. 24 CD2: Concerto for Large Orchestra (Concerto per Grande orchestra, Op. 25), Symphony No. 3 for Large Orchestra, Op. 33, Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra “le tambour de villevieille”, Op. 36 CD3: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings, Op. 42, Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 49, Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Op. 64, Concerto for Bassoon and Wind Instruments, Op. 61 099925410926 ARTISTS: Petr Skvor, violin, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Zdenek Kosler, Vaclav Neumann, Prague Symphony Orchestra, conductor Viktor Kalabis, conductor Ladislav Slovak, Jiri Belohlavek, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Milos Konvalinka, Zuzana Ruzickova, harpsichord, Josef Suk, violin, Milan Langer, piano, Jiri Formacek, bassoon, Prague Chamber Orchestra, conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tomas Koutnik, Czech Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, conductor Milos Formacek To mark the 90th anniversary of the birth of Viktor Kalabis, one of the most distinguished 20th-century Czech composers, Supraphon is releasing this special selection of his symphonies and concertos. The life of Kalabis and his wife, the renowned harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková, was first afflicted by war and subsequently by the straitjacket of the Communist regime. The two forms of lack of freedom would have a marked impact on Kalabis’s work. His Sinfonia pacis, one of the most frequently performed contemporary Czech pieces abroad, reflects the escalating tensions of the Cold War, without the composer succumbing to the clichés of the Communist “peace” proclamations. In connection with Symphony No. 3 (1970-71), its creator talked about the anxiety prevailing during the post-occupation years, defiance, as well as the final resignation beneath the unceasing suppression of truth. Kalabis’s works duly enjoyed the attention of renowned orchestras, conductors and soloists (the Berliner Philharmoniker, Matačić, Casadesus, Blomstedt, Rilling, Ančerl, etc.). This new selection of recordings bears witness to a superlative composer, as well as the dark atmosphere of the time during which this music came to life.
15
SUPRAPHON MD 4122 (3 CD SET) Label Code 333 Price Code MP JEAN FOURNET IN PRAGUE CD1: Cesar Franck (1822-1890) 01: Redemption, Symphonic Interlude from the Oratorio 02: Les Eolides Symphonic Poem, 03: Le Chasseur maudit Symphonic Poem, 04: Les Djinns Symphonic Poem. CD2: Pysche Symphonic Poem for Orchestra and Choir Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Nocturnes for Orchestra CD3: Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) Three Dances from the balet El sombrero de tres picos. Claude Debussy: Iberia, Rondes de printemps, La mer. Trois esquisses symphoniques ARTISTS: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Jean Fournet, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Chorus, chorusmaster Joseph Veselka, Frantisek Maxian, piano. 099925412227 In the past century, Jean Fournet (1913–2008), a “gentle perfectionist”, as some of the critics characterised him, was one of the leading champions of French music throughout the world. In addition to heading globally renowned orchestras (director of the Opera-Comique in Paris, chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra), he also left a distinctive footprint in Prague, with the Czech Philharmonic in particular. He first appeared there as a guest at the Prague Spring festival in 1954, then in January 1961, and for the last time, at the age of 90 (!), in 2003. At the time of the Iron Curtain, Fournet represented for the Czech Philharmonic a rare and precious opportunity to enter the world of French music with the most competent guide there was. During his visits to Prague between 1963 and 1967, he and the orchestra made the enchanting and highly acclaimed recordings presented on this CD: in their “Ančerl” period, the Czech Philharmonic naturally embraced Fournet’s refinement, sense of form and purity of colours. The precious recordings, newly remastered, are being released on a Supraphon CD for the very first time.
JAZZ CD NEW RELEASES
ANIMAL MUSIC 033 Label Code 478 Price Code F BLOOD SINGS Music of Suzanne Vega ARTISTS: Jaromir Honzak feat. Sissel Vera Pettersen The new CD by the distinguished jazz bassist, composer and pedagogue Jaromír Honzák, the holder of three prestigious Czech “Anděl” awards for Jazz Album of the Year, is not made up of his own pieces. Instead, it features works by the American artist Suzanne Vega, whose songs Honzák has arranged in his characteristic manner. He invited along to the album’s recording sessions the Norwegian singer Sissel Vera Pettersen, the Polish musician Łukasz Żyta, the Czech pianist Vít Křišťan and the Czech guitarist Josef Štěpánek. The CD was completed at the end of 2012 at Studio Sono.
16
675754044152
QUALITON IMPORTS LTD. 24-02 40th Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101 Tel: (718) 937-8515 Fax: (718) 729-3239 e-mail: qualiton@qualiton.com
NEW RELEASES ORDER FORM – FEBRUARY 2013 SACD
ARS SACD 38125___________ 38126___________ 38127___________ BIS SACD 1876____________ 1970____________ 1979____________ 1992____________
CLASSICAL NEW RELEASES
JAZZ
ACCENT 24276____________ 24278____________
CHRISTOPHORUS 77362____________
BIS 1873_____________
COVIELLO 50805____________ 61302____________
CENTAUR 3198_____________ 3222_____________ 3236_____________ 3246_____________ 3247/8___________ 3263/4___________
GLOSSA 922510___________ 922511___________ IDI 6660_____________ NEOS 11209____________ 11210____________ 21301____________
NEW PAN 10276____________ 10284____________
ANIMAL MUSIC 033______________
PAVANE 7550_____________ SIGNUM U.K. 318______________ 319______________ 321______________ SUPRAPHON MD 4109_____________ 4122_____________
Check Stock on the Grammy Nominees BIS SACD – 1986 SIBELIUS: SYMPHONIES NOS. 2 & 5 Nominated for Category 72 Best Orchestral Peformance ARTISTS: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska, conductor.
GLOSSA SACD 921623 ALESSANDRO STRIGGIO (C. 1536-1592): MASS FOR 30 AND 60 VOICES Nominated for Category 74 Best Choral Performance ARTISTS: Le Concert Spirituel, Herve Niquet, musical direction
675754037956
675754038052
17
18
NEW PAN 10276
GLOSSA 922511
SUPRAPHON MD 4122
ANIMAL MUSIC 033