New Releases

On the penultimate disc in his series of the complete keyboard concertos by C.P.E. Bach, Miklós Spányi completes the set of six concertos (Sei Concerti, Wq 43/1-6) begun on Volume 17. Bach finished working on the set in 1771, but had already advertised its coming publication. In a bid to reach as many potential subscribers as possible, he marketed the works as ‘easy’, and also included optional parts for wind instruments: two horns in all the fast movements, replaced by flutes in the slow movements. Bach’s aim was to make the works appealing to both players and listeners, and the result is a set of highly attractive pieces, with approachable melodies and dance rhythms but also displaying a new freedom with regard to conventional concerto form. With the expert support of the Hungarian period band Concerto Armonico, Miklós Spányi performs the solo parts of Wq 43/5 and 43/6 on a harpsichord, a copy of an instrument from 1745. Inspired by the English harpsichords that were imported in great number to Northern Germany during Bach’s time, this instrument has been fitted with a so-called ‘swell device’, enabling the performer to achieve dynamic shadings and crescendo-diminuendo effects consistent with the instructions in Bach’s scores. Some seven years after the Sei Concerti, Bach composed the concertos in G major (Wq 44) and D major (Wq 45) – two works which, although composed in the same year, are strikingly different in character, evidence of Bach’s continuing desire to give each new work a distinctive identity. This has led Miklós Spányi to choose to perform the Wq 44 concerto on a fortepiano from 1798, by the English maker Broadwood, returning to the harpsichord for the final work on the disc.

This landmark series is nearly at its end in this antepenultimate recording. The three cantatas on this recording come from the first half of the 1730s and clearly show Bach’s affinity for instrumental colour and expressive melodies rich in syncopation and suspensions.

All three works are choral cantatas based on well-known hymns and are therefore more choral in style.

Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 are poles apart in their musical style and make a highly interesting pairing for this new release. Symphony No. 1 is rooted in the symphonic tradition and has a particular tunefulness reminiscent of Tchaikovsky, whereas Symphony No. 4 is highly original and introverted, often being seen as modern and ‘cubist’ by listeners in the 1890s.

The Minnesota Orchestra and its music director Osmo Vänskä were highly praised for their previous release of Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5 (BISSACD1986), being called ‘a fine start to what may be the benchmark cycle for the 21st century’ by Gramophone, and nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

Vänskä has really enhanced the quality of the Minnesota Orchestra since he took the position of musical director in 2003. He has since had his tenure extended many times and continues to carve an international reputation for the ensemble.

This release has advertising planned in Gramophone magazine as part of a ‘new orchestral features on BIS’.

With a flourishing international concert career and an acclaimed discography, Freddy Kempf has become firmly established among the top pianists of today. His very first disc, at the age of 22, was a Schumann recital that made reviewers around the world sit up and take notice.

Kempf now returns to Schumann, with these three solo piano works. The Études symphoniques is one of Schumann’s most imposing piano works and is played here in its 1852 version, with the additional five variations (later published by Brahms) and the third and ninth études from the 1837 edition. This really gives the listener an opportunity to hear this work in all its glory.

IRR said of Kemp’s most recent release on BIS (BISSACD1940) ‘Kempf is consistently imaginative, attentive to details, technically adroit and emotionally committed’.

Chronologically, this programme of music for wind ensemble is framed by Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde, a ballet score from 1923, and the composer Anders Emilsson’s Salute the band, commissioned for the 2006 centenary of the Swedish Wind Ensemble.

Ronald Brautigam has been described as ‘an absolutely instinctive Mozartian… with melodic playing of consummate beauty’ (International Record Review), supported by the period orchestra Die Kölner Akademie in a partnership which more than one reviewer has termed ‘ideal’.

The Concerto in A major is one of only three piano concertos in which Mozart uses clarinets, resulting in an especially magical slow movement. Mozart described it as one of his most select compositions ‘which I keep just for myself and an élite circle of music lovers’.

The Concerto in D minor for Violin, Piano and Strings is not one of Mendelssohn’s most well-known works; composed when he was 14, its first two public performances were given 134 years apart. The Octet is one of Mendelssohn’s most popular pieces and is expertly executed here in a clean and well-spaced recording.

Founded in 1975 the Australian Chamber Orchestra is internationally acclaimed as ‘ the best chamber orchestra on earth’ The Times

A popular programme of works including the orchestral suite for the film score of Lieutenant Kijé. The original film score contains two songs which are often performed by solo saxophone and orchestra but are recorded here in their original (but seldom heard) version for baritone voice.

With acclaimed previous recordings of music by Prokofiev, as well as Stravinsky, Mendelssohn and most recently Rachmaninov, Andrew Litton and his Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra are a tried-and-tested team in this repertoire. They make the most of the enormous palette of colours and moods provided by these three scores.

The orchestra has toured extensively in the UK at the beginning of the year, and Litton has appeared on several radio programmes including a Radio 3 documentary and in-Tune.

The seventh and penultimate disc in London Baroque’s highly acclaimed survey of the Trio Sonata genre through the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries, lets us sample the developments in Italy which led to the genres decline and eventual demise.

This disc features Domenico Gallo’s trio sonata that inspired Stravinsky to compose Pulcinella (it was mistakenly believed for some time that Pergolesi composed this work).

Martyn Brabbins is at the forefront of contemporary music: well renowned and high profile, he conducted at the opening Night of the Proms 2012.

The three orchestral pieces presented here are a masterclass in orchestral colour and sound. Each piece was composed a decade apart and they give a good overall sense of Pickard’s development. Booklet notes are detailed and informative (by the composer).