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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Leonard Bernstein: Humor in Music
Leonard Bernstein talks, plays the piano, leads his New York Philharmonic and even sings to present his view of 'Humor in Music'. | 
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| |  | Yevgeny Sudbin plays Liszt, Ravel & Saint-Saëns
BIS is proud to present a new disc from star pianist Yevgeny Sudbin who here combines works by Liszt, Ravel and Saint-Saëns under the themes of Love, Delirium and Death. Funérailles is Liszt’s elegy for his Hungarian countrymen who died in the 1849 uprising against Habsburg Rule. Death also appears in Ravel’s depiction of a hanging – Le Gibet (The Gallows) from Gaspard de la Nuit – and closes the programme in Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre. Love is present in the Petrarch Sonnets – originally song settings of poems in which Petrarch immortalises, the object of his unrequited passion – and Ravel’s Ondine – the tale of a water nymph tempting a mortal to join her in the depths of the lake. Delirium is present throughout the disc, especially during the nightmarish portrait of the goblin Scarbo. Yevgeny Sudbin has received considerable critical acclaim for his recordings on BIS. His disc of music by Scriabin was described in BBC Music Magazine as being ‘as terrifyingly changeable and emotionally all-engulfing as the music itself’. “His Liszt is remarkable. The F minor Transcendental Study's brand of miraculous virtuosity, at once tumultuous and limpid, is marvellously captured.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 ***** “in an age of much standardised playing, his performances are vividly personal both in technique and in character...few have carried the richly ornamented vocal lines [of the Petrarch Sonnets] forwards with a more breathless ardour and momentum...then there is Ravel's Gaspard in a performance of rare imaginative resource...This is a record I shall return to for an ever-renewed sense of wonder and fascination.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2013 “The macabre images of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, in which Sudbin’s brilliant technical command is allied to limpid, subtle tonal shading and luminosity of texture, are captured with a haunting chill in this performance, and the Saint-Saëns opens up wondrous vistas of colour and atmosphere. This is a truly great disc, inspired and inspiring.” The Telegraph, 15th February 2013 ***** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Organ Extravaganza!
“Mostly for fans of fairground music, but there is no denying Bowyer has flair.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Saint-Saëns: Orchestral Works
The works on this disc are all early, dating from the first half of the composing life of Saint-Saëns – that is, with the one exception of the Marche du couronnement which the composer wrote for the coronation of Edward VII in 1902. In Spartacus, the composer depicts Alphonse Pagès’s tragedy on the revolt headed by the ill-fated gladiator in 73 BC by use of bold, chromatic notes, followed by a military allegro which integrates them. After a tender theme, the bold notes return, now with a downward turn at the end, probably evoking Spartacus’s defeat, and the concert overture ends with a march that recalls the tender theme. Equally dramatic is Saint-Saëns’s symphonic poem Phaëton. In ancient Greek myths, Phaëton, the son of Helios, is reluctantly given permission to drive his father’s sun chariot. As Phaëton fails to control the chariot, and carries the sun too close to the earth, Zeus intervenes and brings the unfortunate ride – and Phaëton himself – to an abrupt end by means of a thunderbolt. Saint-Saëns’s writing for large-scale orchestra (including contra-bassoon, tuba, two harps, and three timpanists) brings with it a pure, raw energy. The intense state of panic is signalled by a menacing low note on the trombone and further heightened through subsequent imitative entries that crowd in on one another. After Zeus’s massive thunderbolt, the music subsides into a feeling of loss and regret. Saint-Saëns’s other three symphonic poems are also on this disc – Le Rouet d’Omphale, Danse macabre, and La Jeunesse d’Hercule – as well as the ‘Danse bacchanale’ from Samson et Dalila and the ‘Marche militaire française’ from Suite algérienne. The works are performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and its Conductor Laureate, Neeme Järvi, who in the course of his conducting career has amassed a distinguished discography of more than 440 recordings, well over 150 of them for Chandos Records. Järvi is celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday this year, and to mark the anniversary we will release a two-disc set of highlights from his extensive Chandos discography in July. “The Royal Scottish National Orchestra play with consummate elegance for their former music director Neeme Järvi, though their very authentic sound in French music also shows the influence of Stéphane Denève's more recent tenure.” The Guardian, 7th June 2012 **** “Järvi's programme of symphonic poems, bacchanales and barcarolles ranges from the smokily luxuriant to the swashbuckling. An attractive performance of exotic bon-bons from the RSNO.” The Independent, 24th June 2012 **** “This is pure pleasure...a collection of sparkling gems...The RSNO is on top form, with shimmering strings, colourful woodwind and swaggering brass, full of wit, colour and joie de vivre. The recording is also outstanding...giving a wonderful, natural bloom that is perfect for this effervescent music.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 ***** “The playing is full of character, the music's detail clearly elucidated, the images of Saint-Saens's imagination firmly and atmospherically fixed...All in all this is a disc with plenty to discover and enjoy.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2012 “You can’t imagine these pieces being delivered with more conviction; proof that the relationship between Järvi and the RSNO is as strong as ever.” The Arts Desk, 11th August 2012  BBC Music Magazine
Orchestral Choice - August 2012 |
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| |  | Behzod Abduraimov plays Prokofiev, Liszt & Saint-Saëns
Behzod Abduraimov (piano) “He doesn’t splash. He doesn’t fake. It’s real” (The Daily Telegraph) The debut recording from the superb young pianist, who, at the age of just eighteen, won a sensational victory in the 2009 London International Piano Competition, with an electrifying performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3. Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Behzod Abduraimov is already a mature concert artist who thrills audiences wherever he appears – including an Asian tour with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy, where he was dubbed by the press: “The Western Lang Lang”. An extraordinary combination of youthful passion and an astonishing technique gives his performances an irresistible, life-enhancing energy. His Decca Classics debut album showcases his passionate performance style through the concept of Danses diaboliques, including Horowitz’s incredible version of Saint-Saëns/Liszt Danse macabre – wildly virtuosic pieces, which perfectly capture the white-knuckle ride that is Behzod Abduraimov’s style. “. . . thought arose: could this fresh-faced child be a new Horowitz?” (The Independent) “Abduraimov is a young master, that is clear. With luck, time will bring craftier control of musical structures and dynamic shifts...However, he is already well past the point of being brilliant and nothing more. He’s also a player who feels and thinks, and still seems to enjoy performing — a quality not visible in some other young gymnasts of the keys...There’s a big natural talent at work here.” The Times, 8th June 2012 **** “His Danse Macabre has a neurotic, sinister air...and he tackles Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No 6 with both youthful eagerness and maturity. That maturity is even more evident in Liszt's reflective Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude, whose subtle shifts of timing and emphasis he negotiates with apparently effortless command.” The Independent, 9th June 2012 “an artist not only of extraordinary technical ability, but also one with a terrific musical personality and sensibility. Those qualities come through clearly on this disc...there is no doubt that Abduraimov has the right intellectual and digital equipment...The two contrasting Liszt pieces at the end...glowing testimony of a talent that is already compelling and certainly one to watch.” The Telegraph, 28th June 2012 “his debut disc naturally includes plenty that shows off his virtuosity, but music of greater emotional complexity lies at the heart of his programme. Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata, a complex mix of mood, has kaleidoscopic colour, fierce intensity and, notably in that aching slow-movement waltz, genuine soul.” Sunday Times, 1st July 2012 “Here is a good-themed programme from this 20-year-old Uzbek newcomer of 'demonic dances, God and war, combining technical virtuosity with music fireworks'...The First Mephisto Waltz is fast, accurate and powerful but it won't have you on the edge of your seat...No, but he's a new face on the scene with bags of talent whose future will be well worth watching.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012 “An inventive transcription of Saint-Saens's hackneyed classic allows him to establish immediately his light, transparent touch and immaculately controlled pyrotechnics, while in the middle section he displays a Lisztean grace...La benediction de Dieu is conceived with such refined attention to pace and detail that the poetry is fully released, with the sound possessing a silky sheen.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Yuja Wang: Fantasia
Albéniz: | Triana (from Iberia, book 2) | Chopin: | Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 | Dukas: | The Sorcerer's Apprentice arranged by Victor Staub | Gluck: | Orfeo ed Euridice: Mélodie arranged by Sgambati | Horovitz: | Variations On A Theme From Bizet's Carmen | Rachmaninov: | Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 6 in A minor Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 4 in B minor Elegie, Op. 3 No. 1 Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 5 in E flat minor | Saint-Saëns: | Danse macabre, Op. 40 arranged by Franz Liszt & Vladimir Horowitz | Scarlatti, D: | Keyboard Sonata K455 in G major | Schubert: | Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118 arranged by Franz Liszt | Scriabin: | Prelude, Op. 11 No. 11 in B major Prelude, Op. 13 No. 6 in B minor Prelude, Op. 11 No. 12 in G sharp minor Étude Op. 8 No. 9 in G sharp minor Poème in F sharp major, Op. 32 No. 1 | Strauss, J, II: | Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214 arranged by György Cziffra |
The Yuja Wang album that everyone has been waiting for wows with musical miniatures that are short, sweet, and huge in impact. These encore pieces by Scriabin, Gluck, Rachmaninov, Chopin and others will enthrall Yuja Wang’s fans with challenging technical demands and the bravura precision of her execution. The variety of styles – which includes neo-Classical, Impressionist, Romantic, jazz - in addition to the quality of the arrangements of pieces that are adaptations, provides a welcome and yet unique listening experience. “Time and again Wang shows us why she’s become the world’s darling, whether shading dynamics poetically in a morsel of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, clarifying the multiple layers in Albéniz’s Triana, or romping with the preposterous glitter of Horowitz’s Carmen Variations.” The Times, 23rd March 2012 **** “A disc of encores needs a compelling executant to justify itself, but this young pianist’s technique is quietly transcendent, her musicianship zestful and profound. The sequence itself is satisfying.” Sunday Times, 1st April 2012 “In the Saint-Saens-Horowitz Danse macabre Wang storms the heights and her playing is of an unquenchable virtuosity. She herself declares all these pieces to be among her most cherished encores, and she has been superbly recorded in them.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012 “No point trying to fault anything: the lightness and flexibility of her touch takes the breath away, and her sound is at every moment transparently controlled, each piece displaying insight and affection...Given that these bonnes bouches were never designed to be consumed in bulk, this young virtuoso has pulled off a remarkable feat.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 ***** BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Choice - June 2012 |
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| |  | Magical Music Box
and excerpts from the John Lanchbery ballet Tales of Beatrix Potter
Bringing magic and music together in a fun, interactive collection this compilation encourages children to explore their imaginations, expand their minds with fun facts and stories and listen to some of the world’s greatest Classical Music. The collection features Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Flight of the Bumble Bee and many other well-loved favourites. Children will be invited to see how sorcerers, magical toys, wondrous heroes and fantastical creatures come to life in Classical Music. A fully illustrated 32 page booklet presents a mystical journey through magical music encouraging the young ready to hear, see and recreate as much as possible. The text is designed to be read either by an older child of 5 or 6 or with an adult for the younger children. The writer is Sarah Breeden noted for the fun and informative programmes she has written for the BBC Children’s Proms. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | La Dalbade France 1888Digipak CD format – 80 page colour booklet
Yves Rechsteiner (organ & transcriptions) The organ of La Dalbade, recently restored and never recorded, now stands out as one of the greatest representatives of French romantic organ building. Yves Rechsteiner, distinguished in the first volume of this collection (Cintegabelle/Rameau – Alpha650), has devoted himself once again to a transcription exercise (brilliantly reviving a long tradition) of major romantic symphonic pieces. Composed on purpose for this recording, the transcriptions enable the instrument to reveal sounds as no other work would. The romantic « Correspondences » come to their full meaning here and enable us to rediscover some very familiar pieces… | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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