Catalan Concertinos and Fantasias

Most of the works by the two Catalan composers heard here – Joan Manén (1883–1971) and Marc Migó (b. 1993) – use material from their folk tradition, making the music fresh, immediate and direct, rather in the manner of Manuel de Falla. But there is also a loose connection with Vienna: Manén’s Violin ‘Concertino’ – an unusually modest label for a full-scale concerto – is something of a cousin to the Korngold Concerto; and Migó’s poignant Epitafi a Hans Rott was written in memory of a short-lived Austrian composer who was a close friend of Gustav Mahler.

Kalina Macuta, violin (Tracks 6 – 8)
Sergi Pacheco, piano (Tracks 9, 10)
Daniel Blanch, piano (Track 12)
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Volodymyr Sirenko, conductor

First Ladies: Three Romantic Violin Sonatas

One could hardly intuit from these fresh and flowing violin sonatas the obstacles their female composers had to face – family opposition for Mel Bonis in France and Ethel Smyth in England, institutional conservatism for Elfrida Andrée in Sweden. It has taken a century and more for that initial prejudice to fall away, and they are now beginning to attract a fair hearing for their music. What ultimately matters, of course, is not whether composers are male or female but whether they write good music, and these three sonatas – melodically expansive, rhythmically vivacious, harmonically warm – point to the musical riches that further exploration of their creators’ output will uncover.

Annette-Barbara Vogel, violin
Durval Cesetti, piano

Four Hands for France: Music for Piano Duet

Playing four-hands piano was both vital in the dissemination of music in the nineteenth century and also a popular domestic activity. The French composers recorded here span the Romantic century, from the salon charm of Chaminade and Massenet and the virtuosity of Alkan’s wild dance to the innocence of the family music-room in pieces by Chausson, Godard and Ropartz. The original 1853 Parisian Erard piano on which this recording was made combines warmth with bell-like clarity due to its straight stringing, allowing it to produce a surprising variety of appealing, expressive textures.

Stephanie McCallum (primo) and Erin Helyard (secondo)
Piano Erard 1853

¡Colombia Viva!: Piano Music by Mauricio Arias-Esguerra, Blas Emilio Atehortúa, Ian Frederick, Jaime León, Gustavo Parra, Germán Darío Pérez

In this album Mauricio Arias-Esguerra offers a kaleidoscopic view of recent Colombian piano music, highlighting its striking stylistic variety. Germán Darío Pérez sees a traditional dance through a jazzy lens, and Blas Emilio Atehortúa takes a post-serial approach in his Preludio, Variaciones y Presto Alucinante. The influence of progressive rock music can be heard in Gustavo Parra’s Pavec Lingus, as can Jaime León’s love of US American music in his Made in U.S.A. preludes; and there is techno and angst in Ian Frederick’s Suite Catrina. Arias-Esguerra’s own contributions are highly contrasted, with lyricism in his Arizona Mirage and rhythmic drive in his Toccata Bachkovsky.

Mauricio Arias-Esguerra, piano

Echoes of Autumn and Light: New Chamber Music from Luxembourg

These five pieces – all written by Luxembourgeois composers within the past decade – draw on the flexible forces of Kammerata Luxembourg to generate a kaleidoscopic range of colours and textures. Though the music is unapologetically modernist in style, it is presented in instrumental combinations remarkable for their delicacy and gentle contours – in the aural equivalent of a walk through autumn woods.

Kammerata Luxembourg
Mariette Lentz, soprano (Track 1)
Markus Brönnimann, flute, alto flute, piccolo (Tracks 1, 3–9, 11–16)
Sébastien Duguet, clarinet, bass clarinet (Tracks 3–16)
Max Mausen, clarinet, bass clarinet (Tracks 1-2)
Leo Halsdorf, horn (Track 1)
Sandrine Cantoreggi, violin (Tracks 1, 10)
Haoxing Liang, violin (Tracks 3 – 9, 11 – 16)
Sophie Urhausen, viola (Track 1)
Nora Braun, cello (Tracks 1, 10)
Ilia Laporev, cello (Tracks 2 – 9, 11 – 16)
Jeannot Sanavia, double bass (Track 1)
Chanel Perdichizzi, harp (Track 2)
Victor Kraus, percussion (Track 10)
Béatrice Rauchs, piano (Tracks 1, 3–16)
Camille Kerger, conductor (Tracks 1, 11–16)

The Birth of the Étude: Piano Studies by Berger, Boëly, Bomtempo, Cramer, Montgéroult, Steibelt and Woelfl

The best-known piano studies are the 27 by Chopin, most of them composed in the 1830s. But Chopin did not create the genre: a number of prominent pianist-composers had already established the piano study, or étude, in the decades before Chopin sat down to write his. Although this repertoire is as good as unknown today, it is a treasure-trove of miniature jewels, many of them announcing the dawn of Romanticism in their combination of Classical delicacy and a new harmonic warmth.

Anna Petrova-Forster, piano

The Komitas Legacy: Armenian Piano Trios

Soghomon Soghomonian (1869–1935) took the name Komitas (or Gomidas) when he was ordained a priest in 1894; a year later he became Komitas Vardapet (doctor of theology) – one of the two names by which he is known to history. The other is ‘father of Armenian music’, since he collected thousands of songs from his compatriots, his fieldwork preserving and identifying the accent which makes the works of Armenian composers readily identifiable – as these piano trios prove: one twentieth-century classic and three new works, one of which completes the circle by recasting six of Komitas’ own folksong arrangements.

Trio Aeternus
Alexander Stewart, violin
Varoujan Bartikian, cello
João Paulo Santos, piano

*First recordings

The Harmonious Musick of John Jenkins: Volume Two: Suites, Airs and Vocal Music

Extent: 311 pages
Composition: Demy octavo
8 illustrations, b/w
82 music examples
List of Sources for Jenkins’ Music
List of Jenkins’ Works
Bibliography
Select Discography

Discovering Berlioz: Essays, Reviews, Talks

by David Cairns

Foreward by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Extent: 400 pages
Size: royal octavo
Published: December 2019
ISSN 0264-6889
Musicians on Music, No. 12

Read a Sample Chapter

William WORDSWORTH: Orchestral Music, Volume Two

The music of William Wordsworth (1908–88) – a great-great-grandson of the poet’s brother Christopher – lies downstream from that of Vaughan Williams and Sibelius; like that of his contemporary Edmund Rubbra, Wordsworth’s music unfolds spontaneously, as a natural process. This second volume brings two concertos, both major works – though long forgotten, and contrasted in their approach: the gritty and muscular Piano Concerto is cast in a single, tightly argued span, whereas the lyrical Violin Concerto is expansive and unhurried – and deeply touching. They are complemented by the Three Pastoral Sketches, which grow gently from understated autumnal hues to a dignified and moving climax. All three scores show an extraordinary command of orchestral colour.

Arta Arnicane, piano (Tracks 1-5)
Kamila Bydlowska, violin (Tracks 9-11)
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
John Gibbons

Northern Dances: Folk Music from Scandinavia and Estonia

This sparkling collection of folk dances from Norway and Sweden, offset by two Estonian chorales and three improvisations, comes from two of the finest practitioners of this kind of material: Gunnar Idenstam, playing on the new Klais organ of Kristiansand Cathedral in southern Norway, and Erik Rydvall, on the nyckelharpa, the keyed folk fiddle of Sweden. The combination of rhythmic vigour, the harmonic ambiguity of Scandinavian folk music and the huge range of instrumental colour gives these tunes – all in spontaneous, semi-improvised performances – an irresistible and immediate appeal.

Gunnar Idenstam, organ of Kristiansand Cathedral
Erik Rydvall, nyckelharpa

Outrageous Fortune: Four Concertos for Trombone and Winds

This unusual album shows the contemporary trombone in a rich variety of guises – dramatic, lyrical, flirtatious, solemn, capricious and many more – in four recent concertante pieces for trombone and symphonic wind band, demonstrating the striking versatility of the instrument. It’s an international undertaking, too: the soloist is English, the band and conductor American, and the composers American, Danish, Belgian and English, all four writing in a language that is direct and immediate.

Brett Baker, trombone
Natalie Grady, voice actor (Tracks 5, 6)
Middle Tennessee State University Wind Ensemble
Reed Thomas, conductor

Estonian Incantations 1

This remarkable recording explores an unsuspected soundworld – that of guitars, electric and acoustic, and chorus – in new works by four contemporary Estonian composers, whose styles range from the primitivism of ancient Estonian magical incantations via plainsong-like meditation to electronic sampling.

Marzi Nyman, guitar (Tracks 1 – 2, 6)
Andre Maaker, seven-string acoustic guitar (Tracks 3, 6)
Weekend Guitar Trio (Tracks 4, 6)
Ain Agan, fretless guitar (Tracks 5, 6)
Paul Daniel, electric guitar (Tracks 5, 6)
Annika Lõhmus, vocal (Track 5)
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Kaspars Putniņš, conductor
Robert Jürjendal, electric guitar, electronics
Tõnis Leemets, electric guitar, electronics
Mart Soo, electric guitar, electronics

Serenata Mexicana

The Anglo Mexican Foundation celebrates its 75th anniversary with this programme of three of its recent commissions – from Mexican composers Alejandro Basulto and Arturo Márquez – joining the first recording of Márquez’s harp concerto Máscaras, in an album that interleaves nocturnal warmth with an infectious spirit of dancing energy.

Morgan Szymanski, guitar (Tracks 2–13)
Jamie MacDougall, tenor (Tracks 14–18)
Gabriella Dall’Olio, harp (Tracks 14–22)
Shakespeare Sinfonia (Tracks 1–14, 19–22)
David Curtis, conductor (Tracks 1–13, 19–22)

Richard Flury: The Life and Music of a Swiss Romantic

Author: Chris Walton

Extent: 328 pages
Size: 16 x 24 cm
Published: March 2017
Illustrations: 22 colour illustrations; 51 b/w illustrations

Recording Francis George Scott’s Piano Music

Two years after I began to record it, the first-ever album of Francis George Scott’s piano music is now available. The programme as it appears… 

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