BIS 1822

KORNGOLD & DVARIONAS
VIOLIN CONCERTOS

Erich Korngold (1897-1957):
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35

Balys Dvarionas (1904-1972):
Pezzo elegiaco ‘By the lake’ (1946-1947)
Violin Concerto in B minor (1948)

REWIEW

BIS SACD 1823

FRÖST AND FRIENDS
ENCORES

SCRIABIN; J.S. BACH/GOUNOD;
J.S. BACH; BRAHMS; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV; KREISLER; MESSAGER; RACHMANINOV; SCHUMANN; MONTI; HILLBORG;
MARTIN FRÖST; CHAPLIN; GÖRAN FRÖST; HENRYSON; EDEN AHBEZ

Martin Fröst, clarinet

A calendar filled with orchestral concerts and chamber recitals in many of the world’s most prestigious venues has given the clarinettist Martin Fröst ample opportunity to develop a wide range of encores, for every occasion. Known for the imaginatively themed concert programmes he devises with various musician friends, he has also explored a number of musical genres. These aspects of his artistry are both demonstrated on this constantly engaging disc, which includes immortal gems such as Rachmaninov’s Vocalise and Kreisler’s Liebeslied as well as pieces rather less usual in a classical context: Charlie Chaplin’s Smile and the klezmer traditional Let’s Be Happy rubbing shoulders with an improvisation over the Nat King Cole standard Nature Boy. Throughout the programme Fröst receives the expert support of the pianist Roland Pöntinen, a chamber music partner of long standing who has also been involved in devising many of the imaginative arrangements, for instance of Vittorio Monti’s Csárdás. Three other musical companions of Fröst’s make cameo appearances, with mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman joining the clarinet in the head-long flight of not one, but two bumble-bees...

BIS 1316

KALEVI AHO (b. 1949)
SYMPHONY NO. 13

Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra
(Piano Concerto no 2 – 2001/02);
Symphony No. 13,
“Symphonic Characterizations” (2003)

Lahti Symphony Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Antti Siirala, piano

With fifteen symphonies in his work list to date, as well as numerous other orchestral pieces, Kalevi Aho is one of today's most important composers of orchestral music. Twelve of the symphonies have already been released on BIS, in recordings that have earned an ever-growing interest. Back in 1999, the release of Symphony No.7 (‘Insect Symphony') caused the reviewer in the American Record Guide to call the work ‘one of our century's great orchestral scores'. More recent discs have met with similar acclaim, for instance in the International Record Review where Symphony No.12 (‘Luosto') was described as ‘music of such graphic impact and visually arresting imagery that it feels as though you could reach out and touch it'. On the German website klassik.com, the reviewer similarly praised Symphony No.14 (‘Rituals') for demonstrating ‘the vitality of a genre believed to be extinct, with its seemingly boundless wealth of ideas and perfect craftsmanship.' Symphony No.13 was written for the fifth anniversary of the Sibelius Hall in Lahti in 2003, and exploits the acoustic capabilities of the hall to the full. Subtitled ‘Symphonic Characterizations', the work portrays a spectrum of human character types in two long movements divided into a number of shorter sections. One year before the symphony Kalevi Aho completed his Second Piano Concerto, for piano and string orchestra. It was written with the Finnish pianist Antti Siirala in mind, and in the composer's own words ‘the demanding piano writing is primarily a consequence of Siirala's remarkable command of the ‘Beethovenian-Lisztian-Brahmsian' pianistic tradition.' Siirala is the soloist on the present recording, supported by Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä, the eminent team which also gave the first performances of these two works.

• JAZZ •

UNITED ONE 0401/2

MATTHEW SHIP, piano

CREATION OUT OF NOTHING
(LIVE IN MOSCOW)

Recorded live in Moscow
February 11, 2009
at the DOM cultural center

ORFEO 750101

FELIX MENDELSSOHN
WORKS FOR CELLO AND PIANO

Daniel Müller-Schott, cello
Jonathan Gilad, piano

The playful virtuosity of the Variations, modeled after Mozart and Beethoven, inspires the duo to equally virtuosic brilliance, be it in the passionate eruptions in the seventh variation or the superb, subtle coda as it fades away.

The First Cello Sonata is also light and airy, and the Müller-Schott/Gilad Duo savors to the full its prevailingly cheerful, merry mood. The grace and passion that Mendelssohn‘s contemporaries already admired in him are here to be found throughout. In the Second Sonata, we find the most beautiful lyricism alongside moments of drama and sound colours that seem not so far removed from the world of Mendelssohn‘s Midsummer Night‘s Dream. On Bei der Aufnahme, Müller-Schott and Gilad here pull out all the stops.

SUPRAPHON MD 4025

DVORAK IN AMERICA

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Prague Philharmonia

Valcav Neumann, conductor
Jiří Bělohlávek, conductor

Josef Suk, violin; Josef Hala, piano
Milos Sadlo, cello
many others

The music is extremely inspired and profound, perfectly built and immensely amiable for the listener – simply beautiful. It reflects the powerful new sources of inspiration Dvorák discovered in America, yet also echoes homesickness, missing the family and familiar landscape. Josef Suk, the Panocha Quartet, the Czech Philharmonic under Václav Neumann and Jiří Bělohlávek – such names are a guarantee of a profound tradition of performing Dvorák's music. Accordingly, these 3 CDs comprise the gems of the most international of Czech composers as interpreted by artists who further spread the fame of Dvorak’s music worldwide.

HUNGAROTON 32647

J.G. ALBRECHTSBERGER
MUSIC FOR ENTERTAINMENT

DIVERTIMENTO IN C MAJOR À 4;
PARTITA IN C MAJOR; NOTTURNNO À 4;
DIVERTIMENTO IN G MAJOR À 4;
PARTITA IN D MAJOR; QUINTETTO

STERLING 1089

JOACHIM RAFF (1822-1882)
WORKS FOR CHOIR, PIANO & ORCHESTRA

DIE TAGESZIETEN, OP. 209;
MOREGNLIED, OP. 186A;
EINER ENTSCHLAFENEN, OP. 186B;
DIE STERNE, WOO 53

Norrlands Opera Symphony Orchestra
Andrea Quinn, conductor
Tra Nguyen, piano

Given the rather spotty evidence, one might conclude that Raff was not a choral composer per se. As with most all thisng Raffian, however,this is an illusion. Raff required an unusual challenge to set his creative juices flowing. The last 3 works are nothing if not unconventional solutions without precedent, and the results are wholly satisfying in form and content, and utterly original in their manner of construction and presentation. As with Die Tageszeitn, Raff’s compositional interests were frequently at odds with the conventions of the day. The shifting stylistic perspectives of his music, often within the same work, tended to drive his critics to condemn him as fundamentally heterodox. Raff ignored his critics, while a the same time producing a body of literature whose objectivism predicted many of the new directions of 20th Century composition.

• Club • Lounge • Dance •

Announcing Lola’s World,
a global beat label

LOLA’S WORLD 0002072

G LOUNGE VOLUME 7 MILANO

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