Johann Sebastian Bach

Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933) was Professor of Composition at the Leipzig Conservatory and best-known as Germany’s foremost champion of the Kunstharmonium, ‘art harmonium’, which at that time was a full concert instrument and for which he made over 400 transcriptions.

He began his musical career as a boy chorister and organist who deserted the seminary where he was enrolled to become an oboist in a wind band. Later, rejected from active service because of his age, he served as a military musician (oboe) during WWI. But it was his organ music that made him internationally famous as a composer, particularly in the USA and UK,

although he was unusual in having no professional proficiency himself; a recital tour of the USA in 1932 was so disastrous that it might even have precipitated his death a year later.

His own organ music is frequently recorded and heard in recitals, but his many organ transcriptions are less familiar. After Wagner, Bach was the composer whose music Karg-Elert transcribed most often, carefully choosing the pieces best suited to the dynamic and colouristic possibilities of the late Romantic organ.

The Brandenburg Concertos are an encyclopedia of Baroque concerto manners; consciously styled as so, naturally, by the completist Bach, determined to prove his excellence in all areas of contemporary musical achievement (bar opera). Instrumental colours are whirled in kaleidoscopic combinations, from the extrovert trio of hunting horns in the First to the intimate string consort including violas da gamba in the Sixth.

The expressive characters of each concerto are no less varied, from the trumpet-led high spirits of the Second to the rather more ambitious, even proto-Romantic sensibility of the Fifth with its gigantic cadenza for the keyboard capping the first movement.

Bach clearly aimed to show his mettle to the Margrave of Brandenburg when he sent him a richly ornamented copy of these concertos; no doubt to prove his versatility at a court wealthier and more glamorous than the comparative outpost of Weimar where Bach was retained as Kapellmeister. Much good this putative job application did him: Bach never even received an acknowledgement.

These sprightly, rhythmically driven modern performances are soaked in Leipzig’s long Bach tradition. The great tenor and conductor Peter Schreier was himself a chorister in Bach’s Thomaskirche, and the CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra is his handpicked group of instrumentalists. They are joined by a distinguished array of soloists as required, including the flautist Irena Grafenauer, oboist Maurice Bourgue, and no less than Simon Preston as the harpsichord soloist in the Fifth Brandenburg.

1986 Recording

Dynamic is proud to present 4 CDs of works from Frescobaldi to Brahms performed by Giorgio Questa on a portable organ he built himself. The ‘portable’ organ is small in size, made entirely of wood and completely mechanical. Its structure is that of a common Italian organ of the sixteenth century. Igor Markevitch said of Questa: “Certainly the organ is a masterpiece, but you are a masterpiece too!”. Nadia Boulanger was also a friend and personally requested he perform Frescobaldi: “Frescobaldi’s works fascinate me… It would be a real joy if once again you could bring back to life these works that are all too often left in silence.”

Within this highly varied selection of original compositions and transcriptions we move from Bach’s masterful First Cello Suite transcribed by Irina Kulikova, to Fernando Sor’s Fantaisie, an ingeniously structured work that is vital and energetic yet at times intimate. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sonata, written for his friend Segovia, is a witty homage to Boccherini, while Baroque and Broadway are the motors for California Suite by José María Gallardo del Rey.

The winner of numerous international competitions, the brilliant young accordion player Ksenija Sidorova here presents her debut recording; a recital for solo classical accordion.

A particularly accomplished artist, Ksenija has collaborated with many leading musicians (including the Belcea Quartet, and Valergy Gergiev with the CBSO), and won numerous awards and accolades.

“one of the real finds of this series” The Times

Still an underexploited resource in western classical music, the accordion has had a fast-increasing amount of music written for it since the mid-20th Century. Here, Ksenija Sidrova brings a varied recital featuring some of the best contemporary compositions for the classical accordion, alongside transcriptions of well-known works.

No composer has been transcribed more often than Bach; but the accordion - heard here in Bachʼs Overture in the French Style - brings an advantage that few other instruments can offer; itʼs notes do not die away as soon as they are sounded. This allows an array of colouristic possibilities, denied to other musicians.

Amongst the contemporary works here, Arne Nordheimʼs Flashing, written in 1985 for solo accordion, has become a classic of the accordion repertoire. Nordheimʼs music has a real sense of physicality, of movement and change on a large scale. In contrast, Luciani Berioʼs Sequenza XIII opens with a compressed melody which is gradually developed amid splashes of complex harmony and virtuoso filigree.

Yuji Takahashuʼs Like a Water-Buffalo is preceded on this disc by the poem that inspired it. Well-known in Takahashiʼs native Japan, it is a moving, heartfelt piece, strongly transmitting the sounds of freedom.

This recital CD also features a ʻbonus trackʼ - Astor Piazzollaʼs “Asleep”, the first of the composerʼs Five Tango Sensations, performed by Ksenija Sidorova with the exuberant young Sacconi Quartet.

“an amazingly accomplished artist” Classical Source

Composers featured in this stunning recital include: Nordheim, Berio, Schnittke, Takahashi, Piazzolla, Scarlatti, Bach and Mozart.

Winona Zelenka is one of Canada’s finest cellists, known for her gorgeous, luminous tone and expressive brilliance. On this new two-CD set she performs one of the most popular works in the repertoire, J. S. Bach’s six unaccompanied Cello Suites.

In some ways the journey that Winona Zelenka has taken as a soloist has been typical of a cellist of her generation: from the ultra-romanticism of Casals, to the modernist logic of Starker, to a European school that has been more open to historical performance practice. Active as a soloist, as well as performing in chamber groups and symphony orchestras, she electrifies her audiences with her impeccable musicality, superb technique and elegant style.

The cello used in this recording was made in 1707 by Joseph Guarnerius of Cremona, Italy, son of Andrea and father of Joseph “Del Gesu”. The Cremonese instruments of this period are considered the summit of achievement and this Guarneri is an excellent example. It is known for its rich magnificent tone.

This is one of the first four new releases on the Canadian label Marquis since Proper Note took over its distribution this month.

Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis is a magnificent account of Bach’s concertos and sinfonias for oboe with Holliger once again proving himself unrivalled as a player of the instrument.

Holliger’s albums of classical core repertoire have become infrequent, and this is his first such for ECM since his 1997 Zelenka recording.

The oboist’s superb performance also attests to his long artistic relationship with the Camerata Bern. Soloist and ensemble are in perfect accord and impeccable ECM sound renders every detail in the music crystal clear. Holliger also contributes liner notes in which he speaks of his abiding love of Bach’s work.

Anyone who plays a pedal harpsichord for the first time is inevitably fascinated by its possibilities. We know that Bach himself preferred a rich, resonant sound and this CD celebrates the repertoire.

Luc Beauséjour is renowned for the elegance, virtuosity and expressiveness of his playing.

The British artist Helen Callus has been hailed by the American Record Guide as “one of the world’s greatest violists”. She performs as a recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist, as well being professor of viola at the University of California. Here she performs the Bach Cello Suites, transcribed for viola.

The harpsichord specialist Béatrice Martin regularly performs with many ensembles including Les Arts Florrissants, Ricercar Consort and the Berlin Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle. She wanted to record these concertos on two robust instruments, by Christian Zell (1737) and Johan Marti (2001 after Zell’s model).