Avie label - CDs

Born on Merseyside in 1974, Adrian Chandler studied both modern and Baroque violin at the Royal College of Music with Rodney Friend and Catherine Mackintosh. Whilst still a student at the RCM he founded the period ensemble La Serenissima with whom he has since performed numerous solo recitals and Vivaldi concerti in major festivals around the world.

His most recent CD releases feature virtuoso sonatas by Albinoni, Pisendel and Vivaldi (AV0018), Vivaldi Concerti and Arias (AV0031), religious concerti by Vivaldi (AV2063), the first two of three award-winning records (AV 2106 & 2128) charting the development of the North Italian Violin Concerto (NIVC) and Vivaldi cantatas and sonatas (Linn CKD 281). His performances have also been broadcast by BBC Radio 3, Radio Scotland, Dutch Radio, Radio 3 Belgium, Radio France, Danish Radio, Classic FM and Japanese TV. Adrian was awarded a three year AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) fellowship at Southampton University in order to research the development of the North Italian violin concerto between 1690 and 1740. The culmination of this project is the release of this CD, the third of the North Italian Violin Concerto series.

Beaux Arts Trio founder Menahem Pressler and fellow Beaux Arts cellist Antonio Meneses join forces on this special recording of Beethoven’s complete music for cello and piano. The 2-disc set is scheduled for release to coincide with the Beaux Arts Trio’s extensive farewell concert tour. Both artists are consummate chamber musicians and Mr. Meneses considers this recording collaboration to be a “dream come true.” Pressler and Meneses have been performing the complete cycle of sonatas around the world to the delight of audiences and critics alike.

From performances at the Handel Halle Festival to a solo at the Paris Fashion Show for Alexander McQueen, Julian Perkins pursues a diverse and demanding career. Primarily a Baroque and early Classical music specialist, he performs with leading singers, ensembles and opera companies in the UK and abroad.

Here he offers the first complete recording of James Nares’s eight brilliant harpsichord setts (suites) from 1747. Organist of the Chapel Royal, James Nares epitomized the late English Baroque style, one which takes after the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and Thomas Arne.

Thanks to the generosity of The Royal Collection, much of this music was recorded using the Queen’s rare and newly-restored Shudi harpsichord at Kew Palace. Built in 1740, this harpsichord is one of Shudi’s earliest and most lavish instruments. It is perhaps the only harpsichord whose quills are taken from the ravens of the Tower of London. Julian Perkins also plays on an original Kirckman harpsichord, generously loaned to the Royal Academy of Music by the Beare family.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s series on AVIE marks its eighth release with this new recording of works derived from the Jewish tradition. The young principal cello of the orchestra, Jonathan Aasgaard gives fine performances of two seminal works from this genre – Bloch’s Hebraic Rhapsody Schelomo and Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. David Diamond’s Kaddish has been eagerly taken up by many cellists including Janos Starker. The CD is completed by two premiere recordings: Gerard Schwarz’ In Memoriam and Jonathan Aasgaard’s own arrangement for cello and strings of Bloch’s Prayer from the suite From Jewish Life.

Of his Perspectives series of recordings for AVIE, Andreas Haefliger says, “In creative programming, I have always seen an opportunity for illuminating the individuality of works by placing them in tonal, dramatic and historic relief. Thus, through the sequence of a recital program, repertoire that has long been familiar to us is put into a new perspective. This series is a document of my concert activity and aims at bringing the recital experience to the living room.”

This recital offers the perspective of a great Schubert Sonata that despite its originality also shows its indebtedness to Beethoven. The two popular Beethoven Sonatas have features that resonated deeply with Schubert, who adored the older composer and persistently used his works as models.

Previous releases in this series Perspectives 1 (AV 0041) which contrasts Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert with Thomas Adès, and Perspectives 2 (AV 2082) which juxtaposes Beethoven, Brahms and Bartók.

On his second recording for Avie, Rudens Turku partners with outstanding young cellist, Wen-Sin Yang. The result is a dynamic collection of rarely heard works written specifically for violin and cello. A survey published in 1929 describes the Kodály duo as a composition “based on perfect equality; each is the natural complement of the other, and everything is made to subserve a single principle, that of obtaining the ideal tone colour and form in an ensemble made up of two contrasting and yet parallel elements.” A perfect description of all the works on this disc. The program featured on this recording culminates with a theme and variations on the internationally popular tune “God save the King,” 5 brilliant virtuosic takes on the British National Anthem.

The magnificent Norman cathedral on the rock, part of the World Heritage site shared by Durham University and Durham Cathedral, was the setting for the world premiere of Jon Lord’s “Durham Concerto” commissioned by the University to commemorate its 175th anniversary. The 1,000 strong audience rose spontaneously to its feet as the final climax reflected Sir Walter Scott’s vision, which is engraved on “Prebends Bridge: “Grey Towers of Durham/Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles/ Half church of God, half castle ‘gainst the Scot”. The work emotionally evokes the sense of history, scholarship, place and community evident in Durham – an unbroken line from St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, Europe’s leading scholar of the 7th and 8th centuries, to the modern day university. Jon Lord, known to all for “Smoke On The Water” and as the driving force behind Deep Purple, was classically trained and has returned to his roots. Durham Concerto cements his position as a leading contemporary composer. Each of its six movements in this hour long piece reflects a different aspect of a day in Durham. The serene “The Cathedral At Dawn” has undertones of Vaughan Williams in its expansiveness, while “Ragas and Galas” celebrates town and gown, using Bernsteinian rhythms and interruptions of “Gaudeamus Igitur”. Northumbrian pipes, played by its world’s leading exponent, Kathryn Tickell, give a true sense of North-East wilderness and melancholy to “The Road From Lindisfarne”, reflecting the pilgrimage by the Cuthbert Community, carrying St Cuthbert’s body and the Lindisfarne gospels, one of the world’s great treasures, to found Durham Cathedral in the 11th century. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under Mischa Damev perform the work along with an array of world class soloists: violinist Ruth Palmer who won the Young British Performer award at the 2008 Classical Brit Awards, cellist Matthew Barley, Kathryn Tickell on the Northumbrian pipes, and, of course, Jon Lord on his original Hammond organ, one of the very few occasions that such an evocative instrument has been used in an orchestral setting. Jon Lord’s “Durham Concerto” is a contemporary classic.