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Presto News - 24th March 2008Mel Bonis |
 "I had never believed that a woman could write something such. She knows all the clever tricks of the composer's trade" - said Saint-Saëns after hearing the First Piano Quartet of the French composer Mel Bonis. His words give a fascinating glimpse into French society at the time (around 1900) where women composers found it hard to even be recognised, let alone encouraged.  Mel Bonis After being one of the first women to study at the Conservatoire National de Musique (after the personal intervention of César Franck) she was not short of high profile friends. She shared a composition class with Claude Debussy and the performance of the Piano Quartet mentioned above included Pierre Monteux on viola and Louis Feuillard on cello. As well as Saint-Saëns, the private audience consisted of Gounod and most of the major Parisian music scene. She was certainly well thought of by her contemporaries, but for many years her primary duties lay as a wife and mother (to 9 children) and as a result, her legacy and surviving output have been severely compromised. I imagine this is a fairly typical story throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the women composers who displayed considerable talent and skill have left only a splattering of what they would have done had they been born men. I thought I'd tell you all this today as a new recording has just been released of Mel Bonis' two Piano Quartets on MDG. I've put quite a substantial excerpt below (7 minutes) so you can judge for yourself, but I think it is quite beautiful - lovely melodies, quite evocative, and some really imaginative harmonic progressions. I suppose a cross between Fauré and Franck with maybe a bit of Brahms thrown in. Anyway, I've really enjoyed listening to it and am off to Paris now to hunt down the sheet music!
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 Mel Bonis - Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 2Mozart Piano Quartet
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Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
listen: Moderato from Piano Quartet No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 69New Releases24th March 2008 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Frank Martin - TriptychonJuliane Banse (soprano) & Muriel Cantoreggi (violin), German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Christoph PoppenSwiss composer Frank Martin’s exceptional symphonic works are finally given the recordings they deserve on this debut ECM album by the new German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under Christoph Poppen. Violinist Muriel Cantoreggi soars over two string orchestras on the radiant Polyptique and answers the beautiful soprano of Juliane Banse on the moving Maria-Tripytchon. |
 Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 1Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Piotr Anderszewski (piano and direction)“Here is an artist who truly recreates the music every time he plays; there's no sense of routine, nor of large-scale distortion, simply a liking for pointing up detail, shifting emphases and subtly pushing boundaries." Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 at the Barbican Centre - Daily Telegraph, November 2003 |
 Philip Glass - Songs and Poems for solo celloWendy Sutter (cello), David Cossin (percussion) & Philip Glass (piano)Two world premiere recordings of pieces for cello by Philip Glass are paired on this debut solo recording by the American Wendy Sutter. The first, Songs and Poems for solo cello, composed for her last year, emphasises the singing quality of the instrument (here she plays on the renowned “ex Vatican Stradivarius”) while Tissues, written originally for Godfrey Reggio’s celebrated film Naqoyqatsi but not used in the final cut, also features percussionist David Cossin and Glass himself on piano. |
 Claire Jones - Touching GoldClaire Jones (harp)This is the debut album by Claire Jones, who has been appointed the official Royal Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales. A real mixture here from Handel to Gershwin to John Williams, and all superbly played. |
 4 new Dutton Epoch releasesTons of terrific tunes! Dutton Epoch’s March 2008 titles present further glorious discoveries from British music written in the first half of the twentieth century, presented here in world premiere recordings. Including works by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Sir Edward German, Sir George Dyson and Mantague Philips. |
 10 new Gemini releasesEMI's popular 2CD series continues with some more excellent re-issues. Included is the Giulini Missa Solemnis, Michel Béroff playing the Prokofiev Piano Concertos and Lutoszlawski conducting his own works. |
 10 new Classics for Pleasure releasesAnother batch of bargain priced re-issues including discs by Rattle, Karajan, Barenboim and Sir Colin Davis. |
 Strauss, R: Arabella - DVDGundula Janowitz, Edita Gruberova, Bernd Weikl and Rene Kollo, Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg SoltiThe only film version available of this opera, the celebrated director Otto Schenk’s intimate film of Strauss’s comedy of manners, set in mid-19th century Vienna. Schenk’s beautiful staging uses traditional sets and costumes, making this a classic, historic and faithful account. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 22nd March 2008 |
Building a Library - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring |
 First ChoiceJunge Deutsche Philharmonie, Péter Eötvös (coupled with Mavra, with the Göteborgs Symfoniker) |
CD of the Week |
 Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38-41Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras |
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