Albéniz: Córdoba (from Chants d’Espagne Op. 232)

In describing ¡España!, Mischa Maisky has stated, “I’ve included Spanish music in my programmes for many years and have been waiting for a chance to record these pieces.” This is his first album with his daughter, the gifted pianist Lily Maisky. Mischa Maisky, “the genius of the cello” (Melómano, Madrid), says that “Emotionally speaking, I feel very close to this music. Wherever I play Granados, Falla and Albéniz onstage, the response is always hugely enthusiastic.”

From the mid 1970’s until his death, Cuban born Jorge Bolet emerged as one of the world’s truly great pianists and one of the last representatives, along with the likes of Cherkassky, Horowitz and Earl Wild, of the great Romantic tradition of pianism. His pedigree was marvellous - a student of Godowsky-disciple David Saperton at the Curtis Institute, there he was also able to play for Godowsky himself and Josef Hofmann. He won the Naumburg competition in 1937 and looked set for a great career, but the war interrupted the flow of things and he struggled through the 1950s & 60s, mainly playing in the USA and not quite making the international ‘big-time’. His big break came with an RCA contract and the release on LP of a stunning live Carnegie Hall concert in 1974. Shortly after, he was signed to Decca and went on to make many award winning discs. But what of the early years? There’s not much, but here, for the first time on CD, we have the four LPs he made in the 1950s. His very first disc was of Latin-American repertoire that he was never to record again. Here also is the first ever recording of Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto in a performance that is still up there with the best.

These almost unknown discs are sure to fascinate, and fill an important gap in the mystery of Bolet’s early career.

2CDs for price of 1

This comprehensive collection includes works for two guitars, solo guitar, flute and guitar and violin and guitar.

Supremely talented guitarist Xuefei Yang’s second disc for EMI Classics, 40 Degrees North, comprises guitar music from Spain and China.

Xuefei Yang was not only the first guitarist in China to enter music school and later to graduate from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with a Bachelor of Arts degree, but she was also the first Chinese guitarist to study classical guitar in the West.

The disc is so titled because the capital cities of both countries lie near latitude 40 degrees north. As Yang says: “To me, this parallel has come to symbolize the connection I feel to the music of both countries.”

The Spanish repertoire includes original solo guitar compositions (such as Tárrega’s Carnival of Venice) as well as arrangements of pieces written for piano or two guitars (Albéniz’s Seguidillas). Many of these works appear in new arrangements by Yang herself.

Since China has no established guitar repertoire of its own, the Chinese pieces on this recording originate either from arrangements of traditional Chinese pieces (including two traditional Chinese folk songs arranged for guitar by Gerald Garcia), or new compositions based on Chinese themes (such as Welsh composer Stephen Goss’s Chinese Garden, written especially for Yang).

Also included on this recording is Butterfly Lovers, originally written as a violin concerto using Western orchestral instruments and arguably the best known piece of Chinese music.

The American-Spanish guitarist Stephen Marchionda lends new colours to these much loved compositions. Stephen Marchionda resides in Barcelona and is a proven expert in the field of Spanish music. This is his second release on MDG, his first being Scarlatti Sonatas arranged for guitar, MDG9031587.

To follow his critically-acclaimed album Sonidos Latinos, award-winning guitarist David Russell explores the music of Isaac Albéniz. Albéniz’s influence on the future of Spanish music was very profound, and transcriptions of his music have become an important part of the repertoire of the classical guitar.

David Russell is recognised worldwide for his mastery of the Spanish guitar repertoire. His new CD features distinctive works by the composer Isaac Albéniz, including movements from the critically-acclaimed “Doce Piezas Caracteristicas” and the picturesque “Cantos de España” to enchanting Gypsy-inspired dances like the “Zambra Granadina”. Suite Española No. 1 of 1886 is among the earliest of Albéniz's characteristic compositions. Albéniz composed the seven musical postcards of his Recuerdos de Viaje ("Souvenirs of a Journey") in Madrid in 1886-1887 in the styles of traditional Spanish dances. Rumores de la Caleta ("Murmurs of La Caleta"), which refers to the popular beach in the historic centre of the ancient city of Cádiz, is modeled on the malagueña, a gently swaying dance that originated in Málaga.

Winner of the 2005 Grammy® Award for Best Instrumental Soloist, Scottish-born guitarist David Russell is internationally renowned for his superb musicianship and inspired artistry. Russell has appeared regularly at prestigious halls in main cities, such as New York, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Madrid, Toronto or Rome. Since 1995, he has recorded exclusively for Telarc International, with whom he has recorded 16 CDs, among them the Grammy® award winning Aire Latino. Named a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Music in London in 1997 (where he is now also Visiting Professor), Russell has also won the Medal of Honour from the Conservatory of the Balearics, along with numerous international competitions, including the Andrés Segovia Competition, the José Ramírez Competition and Spain's prestigious Francisco Tárrega Competition. He has had a street named after him in Es Migjorn, the town in Minorca where he grew up, and after winning the Grammy®

Award, he received the Silver Medal of Nigrán, the town in Northern Spain where he lives. Both of David Russell’s last two Telarc albums, Sonidos Latinos and For David were awarded Editor’s Choices in Gramophone.