Handel: Harpsichord Works, Volume 3

"It is no mean feat that Yate's delightful performance of these suites provides a rewarding listening experience without a dull moment despite a total duration of over 70 minutes." --BBC Music Magazine

"Edge of the seat playing that vibrantly dispels any thoughts of Handel's harpsichord music as dull." --Gramophone Magazine

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Saxophone Concertos

“Lovers of the saxophone must welcome a CD that offers two stalwart works in such fine interpretations, as well as significantly extending the recorded repertory.” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2008

Yoshimatsu’s Albireo Mo de and Toshiyuki Honda’s Concerto du vent are showpieces of Sugawa’s burnished sound… The sinuous athleticism of Ibert’s Concertino da camera and Lars-Erik Larsson’s stunning, bluesy concerto are worthier tests of Sugawa’s virtuosity. --Classic FM Magazine

Sugawa’s playing is a marvel in its own right… he seems to have lungs the size of barrage balloons, and breath- and lip-control that produce melodic lines of infinite ductility – and which are moreover as secure at the extremes of his range as in its centre. --International Record Review

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C.P.E. Bach: Cello Concertos

C.P.E. Bach would undoubtedly rejoice, were he alive, upon hearing this album of his cello concertos by Truls Mørk and Les Violons du Roy under the direction of Bernard Labadie. From the opening notes, one cannot help but feel the orchestra is fantastic. The A major Cello Concerto begins with vigor and liveliness, with the ensemble playing perfectly together in tempo with great spirit. Mørk plays just as well, with a clean, accurate, and somewhat light touch.

The Largo is also played beautifully and sensitively, though the cellist opts not to use much vibrato, and occasionally sounds like he is running out of contact with the string at the end of the bow. Yet Mørk never slips up, even in fast movements like the third one, where the orchestra plays with great contrasts between forte and piano underneath the cello line. The B flat major concerto is no less enjoyable: the Allegretto is graceful, the Adagio is beautifully somber, and the Allegro assai distinguishes itself very clearly from the Allegretto. The greatest surprise on the album is perhaps the last concerto, which is overall more energetic and fiery.

One senses this from the opening movement, which is more aggressive in sound. Mørk's rhythms are perfect as he plays more into the string than on the previous concertos, which makes it very exciting to listen to. The dialogue between the orchestra and cello is wonderfully engaging. Once again, Mørk never misses a beat in long runs, playing with as much agility as a violinist. This concluding piece on the album is rather like a Corelli concerto grosso, and it makes for a good choice of repertoire for this CD. All the elements seem to work together here, with a very enjoyable result. --allmusic.com

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Say: 1001 Nights In The Harem, Etc

“[The Violin Concerto] is colourful and consistently engaging, filled with ear-catching textures, rhythms and melodies...The orchestra matches Kopatchinskaja's vigour and suppleness with incisive playing.” --BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 ****

Fazil Say is an accomplished and acclaimed pianist, but the main focus here is on his composing talents. Not so long ago there was a craze for late-18th and 19th-century music that mingled European styles with Turkish traditions. Say demonstrates that this kind of fusion remains fertile in the 21st-century.

His Violin Concerto, written for Patricia Kopatchinskaja who performs here, is colourful and constantly engaging, filled with ear-catching textures, rhythms and melodies. As with Sheherazade, the violin unspools fascinating tales, linking the movements with cadenzas which, as Say says, bind them into an ‘intensely atmospheric unity’. The orchestra match Kopatchinskaja’s vigour and suppleness with incisive playing.

The sleeve, booklet and label go astray on the track order from here. On the disc, Summertimes, a set of cool jazz-flavoured solo piano variations on the Gershwin classic, follows the Concerto. Say displays his technique as well as his understanding of piano-jazz history.

Similarly, on his 110-second alla Turca Fantasia, he mingles Mozart with stride and boogie, but it hardly stands up against Brubeck’s masterpiece Blue Rondo à la Turk! The lovely, evocative and lyrical Patara, also Mozart-inspired, is here performed by piano, soprano, ney (Persian flute) and percussion, forming a magical core for the programme. --Barry Witherden, BBC Music Magazine

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Piazzólla: Tango Distinto

“A swinging, sultry collection of arrangements of the Tango King's music showcasing the exception talent of Greek trombonist Achilles Liarmakopoulos.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 ****

"Piazzolla’s music appears in a variety of arrangements, but this is claimed as the first recording with a trombone as the constant element. I don’t recall having encountered the young Greek trombonist Achille Liarmakopoulos before, but he’s a fine exponent of the music, in combination with a variety of other instruments. You probably already know if you like Piazzolla’s music—and it’s very hard to dislike. If you don’t, this is as good a way as any to get to know it…" --MusicWeb International, May 2011

Legendary tango performer and composer Astor Piazzolla gained experience of jazz in New York and classical form and technique through studies with Alberto Ginastera. His work lends itself perfectly to arrangement for all kinds of ensemble, and this is the first recording with solo trombone. These popular pieces showcase the stunning playing of multi-award winning soloist Achilles Liarmakopoulos in a variety of moods, including the famous Oblivion, and Le Grand Tango, a virtuoso show-stopper originally written for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

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Poenitz: Songs and Hymns with Harp

The second instalment of the Poenitz cycle on Brilliant Classics presents works for solo voice, accompanied by harp(s) and harmonium. The unique instrumental colours lend a special atmosphere to these intimate and deeply felt works, often on sacred texts. Franz Poenitz was not only a virtuoso on the harp (as is clearly evident in the rich and complex writing for his instrument in this music) but also an accomplished painter, one of his creations adorns the cover of the CD. New recording, with liner notes written by a descendant of Poenitz, Mr Andreas Fischer.

The first volume of the Poenitz Edition (works for solo harp played by Laura Vinciguerrra) is available on Brilliant Classic 94179. Born in 1850 in Bischofswerder, West Prussia (now Poland), Franz Poenitz made his name as a harpist, performing and touring as a child prodigy from the age of six, before spending most of his adult career as a chamber musician at the Berlin Royal Court Opera. He began studying composition when he was 11, and continued to write music throughout his career – focusing primarily on works for the harp and harmonium, of which he was also a virtuoso.

Although Poenitz’s compositions never achieved widespread fame and were forgotten during the course of the 20th century, this fantastic new collection demonstrates why his works – particularly those for harp – are experiencing a revival of interest. In the eight pieces, Poenitz’s experience as a virtuoso harpist is evident; he makes full use of the instrument’s timbre, colour and lyricism to create evocative music of great delicacy. In Spukhafte Gavotte (‘Spooky’ Gavotte), Heinrich Heine’s ghostly poem Maria Antoinette is depicted through a suitably eerie arrangement. Der Fischer sees Goethe’s ballad of the same title set in an unusual arrangement for harp and mezzosoprano, while the evocative Wikingerfahrt may have been inspired by Swedish stories about the Viking Frithiof. In all cases, Poenitz’s ability to write intuitively for the harp is clear, and given full expression by this accomplished group of performers. Featuring world premiere performances of a number of pieces, this new disc is an introduction to this forgotten composer, and will be of particular interest to harp music enthusiasts.

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Cherubini: Arias & Overtures from Florence to Paris

“Schiavo displays a nimble coloratura technique, phrases elegantly and makes much of her words...The Tuscan period band Auser Musici are robust rather than specially subtle partners, with, as recorded, a distinctly abrasive string tone. But there is no doubting the energy and commitment of their playing.” --Gramophone Magazine, April 2012

“These are the first performances I have heard by Auser Musici, technically and musically a notably accomplished original-instrument ensemble. Its founder, Carlo Ipata, gives Cherubini's music his considerable all” --International Record Review, March 2012 

“What really surprises here, however, is that the lofty master of the severely sculpted phrase kicked off his career by writing coloratura showstoppers of fashionable difficulty for the divas of his day...Schiavo's coloratura generates the thrill of an athlete leaping hurdles. But when she essays anything like a sustained line, you're aware of shallowness in the tone.” --The Guardian, 9th February 2012 ***

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Onslow: Cello Sonatas

“These elegantly crafted Sonatas from 1820 combine some of the thematic rigour of Beethoven with the ornate virtuosity of Weber. These are strongly committed and highly expressive performances.” --BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

"It is good to hear Maria Kliegel again. Her warm sound is a pleasure…[Kliegel and Tichmann] enjoy themselves with this expansive yet classically phrased music. Altogether, it is a worthwhile project well handled by all, including the engineers." --American Record Guide, July 2013

"…Naxos really lucked out here with a pair of performers who seem to take an evident delight in playing these works…[Kliegel and Tichman] seem to really enjoy and understand this music, and their finely nuanced and often energetic interpretations make a really great case for it.

Kliegel and Tichman find exactly the right mood for each work, and you the listener are taken along for a very enjoyable ride. I cannot praise this disc highly enough. These are great works, and a fine addition to the repertoire of virtually any performing cellist or pianist who engages in chamber music." --Fanfare, July 2013

"The three cello sonatas on offer here show a sure-handed mastery of cello idiom (Onslow played the instrument) and a facility for composition that gives equal voice and musical interest to both cello and piano…these are substantial works as demanding technically to the performer as they are immediately attractive to the ear of the listener.

…all of this is realized by two very competent and obviously devoted performers, cellist Maria Kliegel and pianist Nina Tichman, who work together in stylistic accord and with just enough individual interpretive freedom to ensure a lively interactive dynamic." --ClassicsToday.com Read complete review

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Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1, Etc

To celebrate Franz Liszt’s bicentenary, Lang Lang has selected some of the most famous, virtuosic and poetic solo pieces ever written for the piano, concluding with a fabulous new recording of the Piano Concerto No. 1 – accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev.

Alternating the lyrical Liszt with the bravura, Lang Lang’s tribute to his ‘piano hero’ mixes old favourites with some lesser-known pieces, transcriptions with original works – and rounds off with the high octane First Piano Concerto.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt's birth, virtuoso pianist Lang Lang has selected some of the composer's most characteristic pieces for his 2011 Sony release, Liszt: My Piano Hero. Prominent on this album is the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, which features Lang Lang in a high-energy performance with Valery Gergiev and the Vienna Philharmonic. Without a doubt, most of Lang Lang's fans will savor this Romantic showpiece, and for technical brilliance and drama, the performance doesn't disappoint. 

He is especially lively and vivid in this work, and his interactions with the orchestra seem spontaneous and playful, as one might well imagine Liszt would have been. But Lang Lang seems more introspective and personally involved with the solo keyboard pieces that make up the greater part of the album. Here also is the flashy side of Liszt, but there is a greater emphasis on the poetic and rhapsodic, so Lang Lang indulges in reflective pieces as much as the flashy encores. Highlights include La Campanella, the Grand Galop chromatique, Liebestraum No. 3, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, and the arrangement of Schubert's Ave Maria.

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Hoffmeister: Double Bass Quartets Nos. 2-4

The novelty of Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s double bass quartets lies in his substitution of that husky-voiced instrument for the first violin in a regular string quartet line-up. Seldom heard in such a prominent position the double bass reveals itself as a good humoured and surprisingly expressive vehicle for Hoffmeister’s amiably melodic writing. It also gives an especially haunting melancholic quality to Schubert’s much-loved Arpeggione Sonata, not merely in the beautiful Adagio but also in the more agile outer movements.

"Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812) was a quite prolific classical composer whose music has only been intermittently recorded so far. It isn’t particularly serious in mood, but it is well worth exploring. Duka is a remarkable player with a lightness of touch that must have seemed even more remarkable in 1980 when these pieces were recorded.

…I would recommend this disc for the Hoffmeister alone." --American Record Guide, July 2011

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Chausson: Concert in D major for violin, piano, and string quartet

“Violinist Jennifer Pike, pianist Tom Poster and the Doric String Quartet have done much more than scratch the surface of this piece...it is their handling of the gradually building tension in the slow movement, from disquiet to impassioned pleading via reflection and agitation, that marks out as an especially fine performance.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 *****

“[Pike and Poster] play superlatively - beautifully merging into the texture of the whole...The recorded sound is warm and resonant without being overwhelmingly lush...Anybody who is at all interested in late romantic chamber music should snap it up without delay.” --MusicWeb International, April 2013

“There are plenty of opportunities for Jennifer Pike to display her sinuous, tender tone, while Tom Poster reminds us yet again why he's so highly regarded as a chamber musician...A real front-runner for the Concert, and the most convincing of advocates for the more problematic String Quartet.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

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Casella: Triple Concerto; Ghedini: Concerto dell'Albatro

“Ghedini’s colours are so tastefully blended and applied that I found myself listening for a second time, and a third...Casella fans will want this concerto; the Ghedini is a real bonus, though.” --MusicWeb International, 9th January 2014

“a pair of radically different mid-century triple concertos...I Pomeriggi Musicali's fine live performances are scrupulously conducted by Damian Iorio... Violinist Paolo Ghidoni and cellist Pietro Bosna adopt a lyrical approach, in contrast to the more overtly virtuosic playing from pianist Emanuela Piemonti.” --The Guardian, 21st November 2013 ****

Both Alfredo Casella and Giorgio Federico Ghedini are featured in ongoing Naxos series of orchestral works, but this is the first release to couple the two of them. The pieces have much in common—not least, both are concertos using the rare combination of piano trio and orchestra, pioneered by Beethoven—but they are also beautifully contrasted. Casella wrote his Triple Concerto for his own Trio Italiano, who performed it five hundred times on three continents in less than a decade. Ghedini’s Concerto dell’albatro adds the voice of a narrator to the piano trio and orchestra, evoking, in words from Herman Melville’s sea story Moby-Dick, a remarkable encounter with an Antarctic albatross.

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