The composing career of Simon Bainbridge (born in London in 1952) is spanned by the four chamber works in this album, all of them cast as single narrative spans. The First String Quartet, written when its composer was not yet twenty, blends lyricism and pointillism, rather as if it were recasting abstract poetry in sound; and the recent Second offers a kaleidoscopic tableau of colour and nervous energy inspired by visual art. In his Cheltenham Fragments, as the title suggests, Bainbridge uses mosaic technique to build up textures and thematic outlines. And the long lines of the virtuosic Clarinet Quintet generate fleetfooted whirlwinds as they unfold. Linda Merrick and the Kreutzer Quartet worked closely with the composer on the preparation of these recordings.
Linda Merrick (Clarinet)
Kreutzer Quartet
Peter Sheppard Skærved, violin
Mihailo Trandafilovski, violin
Clifton Harrison, viola
Neil Heyde, cello
Although Liszt's thirteen symphonic poems exist in two-piano transcriptions prepared by the composer himself, it was his Czech student August Stradal (1860-1930) who was to transcribe them for solo piano — versions which demand almost superhuman virtuosity. As Malcolm MacDonald writes in his booklet essay, Stradal's versions 'transform these revolutionary orchestral compositions into viable and effective piano works, faithfully preserving their masterly musical substance'. A Fanfare review of Vol. 1 in this series had high praise for Risto-Matti Marin's pianism: 'One marvels at the stamina that can keep such a plethora of detail in place with such relentless élan; at his narrative shaping, which can turn up an already withering heat, so to speak, at climactic moments; at his overarching persuasiveness'.
Risto-Matti Marin, piano
Like his close friend and colleague Dmitry Shostakovich, Vissarion Shebalin (1902-63) knew a life of both celebrity and hardship: he was another of the composers condemned in the infamous 1948 Party congress in Moscow, and in later life he fought to overcome a series of crippling strokes. But his personality remained undaunted, as his music resolutely proves. This is the first recording of his First Suite for Orchestra and the first appearance on CD of the Second, both of them prepared from theatre music, and showing the lighter side of Shebalin's symphonic music. They have been recorded by the orchestra of his home town, Omsk, the capital of Siberia.
Siberian Symphony Orchestra, orchestra
Dmitry Vasilyev, conductor
Although Liszt’s thirteen symphonic poems exist in two-piano transcriptions prepared by the composer himself, it was his Czech student August Stradal (1860–1930) who was to transcribe them for solo piano – versions which demand almost superhuman virtuosity. As Malcolm MacDonald writes in his booklet essay, Stradal’s versions 'transform these revolutionary orchestral compositions into viable and effective piano works, faithfully preserving their masterly musical substance’
Risto-Matti Marin, piano
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