New Releases

This extensive collection brings together the complete string quartets of Czech composers Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Leoš Janáček and Bohuslav Martinů.

Those by Dvořák chart the evolution of his style, from his interest in Wagnerian music in the years prior to 1870 – String Quartet in D major – to the folk‐infused works of his later life, such as the String Quartet in G major Op.106, and show the influence of his time in the United States, with the String Quartet in F Op.96 ‘American’. The quartets of Smetana have a distinctive neo‐classical flavour while those of Janáček show strong links to his operatic works. Prolific composer Bohuslav Martinů composed six quartets, of which two were mislaid during the war. One of these, his fifth string quartet, is widely considered to be one of the most pivotal works in the composer’s oeuvre, written in 1938, a year of much upheaval in Martinů’s life. Many of the quartets in the collection hold an emotional dimension, all of which are exquisitely brought to life by the Stamitz Quartet.

Established in 1985, the Stamitz Quartet quickly became known as leading interpreters of Czech repertory. Winners of the 1986 National Broadcasting Union Competition in Salzburg, the Quartet’s rise to fame was meteoric; they have since participated in tours throughout Europe and America and undertaken a variety of recording projects, of which this collection is one.

Recorded between 1987 and 1993.

Contains extensive liner notes on each piece.

Bernando Pasquini was a musician of considerable reputation in 17th‐century Rome. Having held various organist posts throughout the city, he struck gold in 1666 when he was made organist and director of music to Prince Gianbattista Borghese. In 1706 he, along with his contemporaries and fellow musicians, Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti, was made a member of the Arcadia, a movement bgun by Queen Christine of Sweden. Keyboard music in Italy in the 1600s was to undergo a radical change, with an introduction to Rationalism and simplicity; Pasquini himself is known to have been particularly enamoured with the works of Palestrina and Frescobaldi. Aside from his skills as a performer and composer, Pasquini was also an immensely gifted teacher. Each of the sonatas for two basso continuo instruments bears the hallmarks of the partimento teaching technique, which involves a kind of dialogue between teacher and student. The sonatas include the fashionable styles of keyboard music of the time, such as the Allegro da concerto, Adagio, Fugue, Corrente and Gavotte. The recording boasts two multi‐awardwinning organists. The first, Luca Scandali, was educated at the Conservatory ‘G. Rossini’ of Pesaro in his native Italy and has performed in festivals all over Europe. He is

currently Professor of Organ and Composition for Organ at the Conservatory ‘F. Morlacchi’ of Perugia. The second, Swiss organist, Hadrien Jourdan, studied at the Conservatory of Geneva and regularly participates in festivals and recordings throughout Europe.

Recorded in 2012. Organs: Pietro Nacchini, 1757; Gaetano Callido, 1785. Harpsichord: copy after Ignazio Mucciardi, 1789, by Giulio Fratini & Pierpaolo Pallotti, 2012. Contains liner notes on the works and biographies of the artists.

Boris Blacher’s oratorio, Der Großinquisitor, was only half finished in 1943. Having found himself in truly dire straits – forced to withdraw from musical life thanks to his inclusion on the Nazi register of Jews in music, and hit by a particularly nasty relapse of tuberculosis – it took the friendship and hospitality of his pupil, Gottfried von Einem, to help him regain his health and confidence, and finish the oratorio.

The text is based on Dostoyevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, illustrating Jesus’s return to earth in 16th‐century Seville. The depiction of the heretics burned to the glory of God could not be a clearer reflection of the fate of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis. Distinct from the other works in Blacher’s oeuvre thanks to its seriousness and tonal harmony, Der Großinquisitor also contains elements that are typical of the composer’s style, such as terse rhythms and seemingly aimless melodic lines.

The role of the Inquisitor is sung by German bass‐baritone, Siegmund Nimsgern, who has enjoyed an international career as an opera singer, performing with the Royal Opera (London), Metropolitan Opera (New York) and the Vienna State Opera, among others. Alongside him is the Rundfunkchor Leipzig and Dresdner Philharmonie, conducted by Herbert Kegel.

Recorded in May 1986 at the Lukaskirche in Dresden.

Contains liner notes on the work.

Sung texts includes in booklet.

Caspar Kummer is a composer of unjustly little renown. Held in high esteem by his contemporaries, relatively little information can be found on his life in the leading music dictionaries of today, a fact that stands in stark contrast to his compositional excellence as well as his virtuosity as a flautist. Though Kummer rose to the position of Kapellmeister in the castle chapel of an important German duke in his later years, his creative output failed to reach a similar level of renown after his death in 1870.

The music on this collection, constructed around his favourite instrument, goes some way towards doing the composer some justice. There are a number of noticeable highlights here. Von Dir! is a fascinating attempt – on the performers’ part – at ‘making an instrument speak’: the original vocal part is interpreted by a lyrical and otherworldly clarinet, which is in constant dialogue with the complementary flute. The challenging Adagio and Variations, meanwhile, requires a mastery of the basset horn (an instrument that, interestingly, was rather out of fashion for much of Kummer’s life), pushing the instrument to the upper edge of its range. The final Trio leaves us with a suggestion of the greater stylistic variety within Kummer’s work, leaning towards the Romantic rather than the dominant Classical style of the rest of the collection.

This exploration of a relatively unknown composer is undertaken by an ensemble who are appearing here for the first time on Brilliant Classics: the Italian Classical Consort, led by multi‐instrumentalist Luigi Magistrelli. Even more fittingly, they specialise in performances of the much neglected Classical and Romantic repertoire, and they are known for their concerts and masterclasses the world over.

The French violinist and composer Jean‐ Baptiste Cartier once said: ‘If God wanted to speak to man through music, he would do so through the works of Haydn; if he wished to listen to music himself, he would choose the works of Boccherini.’ Often considered the finest Italian composer of the Classical era, Luigi Boccherini was not party to the Viennese school of music which was in vogue at the time, and therefore his compositions retain that unmistakable Italian flair, but with modest and subtle brilliance.

His Stabat Mater – written in 1781 and scored for small forces of just soprano and strings – exudes elegance and beauty. While bearing the influence of the Stabat Mater of Pergolesi from 45 years earlier, Boccherini’s composition often delves into the realms of the operatic, thanks to arias such as the passionate and dramatic ‘Quis est homo’ and the agile ‘Cujus animam gementem’.

The Stabat Mater is sung by Italian soprano Barbara Vignudelli, international performer and prizewinner, widely acclaimed for her interpretations of both sacred music and opera. She is joined by the musicians of the Orchestra da Camera ‘Benedetto Marcello’, which is directed by Flavio Emilio Scogna.

Contains notes on the composer and the music.

Sung text included in booklet.

Perhaps best known for writing the waltz on which Beethoven based his Diabelli Variations, Anton Diabelli was also an established composer and musician in his own right. Resident in Vienna in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Diabelli was a good friend of Franz Schubert.

Thanks to the emergence of an educated middle class, there was less and less dependence on religious or royal patronage. Diabelli’s sonatas for guitar, widely considered to be masterpieces of the guitar repertoire, reflect Viennese musical taste at this time. They were his only foray into sonata form, and document the evolution of the composer’s style. The first sonata includes so‐called ‘Italianisms’ while the second has a distinctly Schubertian flavour, no doubt due to his close friendship with the composer. The third sonata shows a more revolutionary take on the principles of sonata form where many of the ideas are challenged. The second part of the first movement contains such drama and skill in the development of the themes that it is considered one of the finest passages in the guitar sonata repertoire.

Acclaimed Italian guitarist Claudio Giuliani trained at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. He has published transcriptions of 82 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, and has previously recorded 30 sonatas by Domenico Cimarosa for Brilliant Classics in 2011.

Mozart excelled in all areas of composition, and his horn concertos – despite making up a very modest part of his total output – still reside among the finest achievements in the horn literature. The composer became acquainted with the mellow sonorities of the instrument from an early age, courtesy of his friend Joseph Leutgeb, who had been employed by the Hofkapelle in Salzburg. It was not until the remaining 10 years of his life, however, that Mozart finally set to work on his six concertos for horn.

Apart from K370b/371, which represents the composer’s first attempt at writing a horn concerto and whose musical content differs markedly from that of the later ones – there are no ‘hunting effects’ in the rondo and the first movement is more declamatory in style than lyrical – it seems that all of the works were composed for Leutgeb, who was often a target of Mozart’s mockery and teasing. Though the numerous points of harmonic, melodic and structural correspondence between the pieces suggest that Mozart did not take this genre especially seriously, the works still delight the listener for their gaiety, lightness of touch and warmth of orchestration. It is therefore a shame that only three of the six pieces remain complete, a resulting combination of more pressing work, lost manuscripts and the composer’s untimely death. Jeurissen, the soloist on this recording and principal horn player of the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, has taken it upon himself, based on analyses of similar passages in other works by Mozart, to work up all of these fragments into playable, practical versions. The results are laudable, and Jeurissen’s passion for the works is evident from his highly accomplished, charismatic playing.

Vladimir Martynov (born in 1946) is one of the leading composers of Russian Avant Garde after WW II. His ethno‐musicological studies into the folk music of Russia, his philosophical and religious ideas and his great knowledge of Renaissance polyphony as well as Orthodox Chant all inspired his compositions, landmarks of Russian minimalism and neospirituality (comparable with Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli).

His Lamentations of Jeremiah are an expression of despair over the destruction of Jerusalem, or, in general, over the destruction of all ecological, ethical and aesthetical values of our time. At the same time it also presents a prayer of hope, the hope that despair will lead to construction and creation.

The work was written for the Sirin Choir, conducted by Andrei Kotov, whose interpretation we hear on this recording. Vladimir Martynov (b. 1946) is one of the leading composers of the Russian avantgarde, an experimentalist of serial, minimalist and electronic music. His interest in folk music and religious musicology led him to write several works on Christian themes after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Lamentations of Jeremiah depicts the destruction of Jerusalem, as expressed through the testimony of the prophet Jeremiah. Each of the twenty‐two verses is preceded by a corresponding letter from the Hebrew alphabet, and for the basic melodic material Martynov drew on the influences of Byzantine Octoechos, Gregorian chant, and ancient Russian and Balkan chants. Fragments of the work were premiered in Moscow in 1992, and the piece was performed in its entirety for the first time in 1993 at the December Soirées, where it attracted the attention of renowned stage director Anatoli Vassiliev. Vassiliev bestowed his dramatic wisdom on the performers, the Sirin Choir, combining the singing with movement and turning the work into a theatrical piece. The Lamentations later won the Golden Mask, the highest accolade in Russian theatre. The acclaimed Sirin Choir specialises in early Russian chant and consists of graduates from the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Institute. The choir has toured Europe and has won awards in numerous international competitions, in addition to its regular performances for television and radio.

An original concept: the Orgelbüchlein BWV 599‐644 performed alternating the organ chorale with the same choral sung by a choir.

Bach wrote the chorales in the Orgelbüchlein as educational material, to teach how to treat a chorale in polyphonic writing, but as in most of his works, the didactic element is far surpassed by the spiritual content of these miniature masterworks. The alternation of the organ and sung chorale provides a fascinating insight into Bach different treatment of the same melody.

New recording with excellent performances by one of Italy’s most famous harpsichordists, Francesco Cera, and the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera conducted by early music specialist Diego Fasolis.

For many, Johann Sebastian Bach is ‘the’ composer of the Baroque period, a master of harmony, counterpoint and genre. During his lifetime he was particularly renowned as a virtuoso organist, and his compositions for the instrument have formed the core repertory of any aspiring organist ever since. The content of the Orgelbüchlein – a selection of chorale preludes composed while Bach held the post of Ducal Organist at Weimar – includes several pieces that are considered to be among Sebastian’s finest works. There is evidence that they were written for ‘teaching the various ways of treating a chorale, and the use of the pedal’, but they also have a definite spirituality – the dedication reads: ‘To God Almighty in praise, to everyman for instruction’. The compositions divide into groups intended for use throughout the liturgical year, from Advent to Pentecost. Italian organist and harpsichordist Francesco Cera is a renowned interpreter of 17thcentury keyboard music. He has performed on historical organs throughout Europe, and has recorded four of J.S. Bach’s concertos for harpsichord as well as Domenico Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas, which he has also performed at the Flanders Festival. He is joined on the recording by the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, directed by Diego Fasolis.

George Frideric Handel, widely considered one of the foremost composers of his generation, became the pride of Britain despite the fact that he was German‐born.

Famed for his large‐scale vocal works, he was the inventor of the English oratorio, a genre that brought him much success.

Jephtha was Handel’s final oratorio, written in 1751 while the composer was suffering badly from his failing eyesight. Based on the tale of Jephtha from the Book of Judges, the title character makes a promise to God that, in the event that he should triumph over the Ammonites, he will sacrifice the first living creature he meets. Unluckily this proves to be his beloved daughter, Iphis.

As in the Renaissance version of the story, Iphis is saved by an angel who decrees that, instead of dying, Iphis will dedicate her life to God in the Temple.

In the title role is renowned British lyric tenor John Mark Ainsley, who continues to enjoy an active international career. German soprano Christiane Oelze plays the doomed Iphis, while contralto Catherine Denley takes on the role of her cautious mother, Storgè.