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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Britten: Piano & Violin Concertos
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| |  | Britten: Violin Concerto & Double Concerto
Long recognized as an outstanding chamber musician, Anthony Marwood has more recently been making waves as a concerto soloist, with two contributions to the Romantic Violin Concerto series and now a disc of Britten with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov. The youthful Violin Concerto, with its mix of anguished lyricism and changeability of mood nods to both Berg (whose own Violin Concerto had made a profound impression on Britten) and Prokofiev but the result is entirely personal. The still earlier Double Concerto, for violin and viola, is impressive above all for its precocious confidence; written when Britten was just eighteen and still a student at the Royal College of Music, it had to wait sixty-five years before receiving its belated premiere in 1997 at the 50th Aldeburgh Festival. Anthony Marwood is joined by star violist Lawrence Power (who makes two appearances in Hyperion’s new releases this month). The viola was Britten’s own instrument and his Lachrymae, inspired by a Dowland song, brings us to the other end of his career, for though it was composed in 1950, it wasn’t orchestrated until 1976, the year of his death. “This latest version is one of the best so far. Anthony Marwood's slightly detached, rhythmically incisive playing suits the dry, distantly neoclassical world of the Concerto perfectly, and Ilan Volkov marshals an equally crisp accompaniment. Nevertheless, the performance of the Double Concerto for violin, viola and strings seems even more remarkable...it [is] made to seem a wonderfully distinctive and characterful work.” The Guardian, 2nd February 2012 **** “Anthony Marwood can hold his bowing arm high...with this bittersweet, sinuously virtuosic account of a work that repays repeated listening and vindicates Britten’s faith in it. He is joined by Lawrence Power for a sumptuous account of the early (1932) Double Concerto...A brilliantly planned, played and recorded release.” Sunday Times, 12th February 2012 “This is a lithe, spiky rhythmical performance, bristling with satire in the Shostakovich style, at speeds well ahead of Britten's own. There is some lack of aural beauty...but every phrase is highly charged...Could this be a more telling depiction of the 1930s than the bittersweet sentiment found on the composer's own recording decades later?” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012 “Has the opening Moderato’s edgy lyricism ever sounded so tantalisingly seductive? Marwood goes on to capture the sinewy vitality of the middle movement and, no less brilliantly, the quixotic moods of the closing Passacaglia...Power’s big tone and bewitching agility give [Lachrymae] a stature that belies its modest duration.” Financial Times, 24th February 2012 **** “This is a highly distinguished recording, very intelligently planned and exceptionally well executed...For me, the greatest revelation on this disc is the Double Concerto...the performance on this disc by Marwood and Lawrence Power reveals it to be an astonishing achievement as a work of art on several levels...Volkov has this style of composition almost in his blood and follows Power admirably [in Lachrymae].” International Record Review, February 2012 “Aided by the alert Ilan Volkov, Anthony Marwood and Lawrence Power form a persuasive partnership...we are left in no doubt about the levels of searing commitment behind Marwood's performance. It's rounded off by Power's deeply thoughtful and refined account of the Lachrymae.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 **** “[Lachrymae is] exquisite, beautifully played here by Lawrence Power...Volkov’s BBC Scottish SO relish the first movement’s spiky, quirky invention and are a superb foil for Anthony Marwood in the central danse macabre [of the Violin Concerto]...It’s a compelling work, and this is a wonderful recording.” The Arts Desk, 17th March 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Beethoven & Britten - Violin Concertos
"Whenever a violin repertory piece needs revitalising, there’s one simple solution. Hire Janine Jansen to play it" THE TIMES Dutch violin star Janine Jansen brings together the great concerto by Beethoven and the rarely heard concerto by Benjamin Britten. "Two of the greatest concertos ever written" Janine Jansen Janine records these concerti with two different orchestras to fully explore two very different sound worlds; the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Beethoven) and the London Symphony Orchestra (Britten). Janine has loved and championed the Britten concerto since she first played it nearly ten years ago, and performed both these concerti with conductor Paavo Järvi many times, both in Europe and the US. The recording of the Beethoven concerto follows the acclaimed Beethoven Symphony cycle form the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi. “I was completely won over… by Jansen's Britten. Passionately intense in the opening movement, suitably malevolent throughout the Prokofiev-inspired Scherzo and heart-achingly poignant in the closing bars of the Passacaglia…” BBC Music Magazine, December 2009 “Her playing is sensationally good, in the Romantic tradition, and she proves an intense, impassioned advocate for Britten’s still neglected work.” Sunday Times, 29th November 2009 **** “Thanks to this brilliant recording, Britten’s concerto emerges with its stature much enhanced...[Jansen] rises to its technical challenges, conveys its passionate intensity without exaggeration and plumbs its moods of innocence, restlessness and despair.” Financial Times, 19th December 2009 *** “Janine Jansen has a rare ability to communicate her thought and feelings about the music while appearing to play in a simple, straightforward manner. The small variations of colour, pressure and emphasis that bring this about transmit a sensation of intense inner life. Whereas others may bring a warmer, more sensuous tone to the Beethoven Concerto... this account turns out to be as absorbing and satisfying as any recent recording. The Britten is very well recorded, too. ...Jansen shows the work's more uncomfortable, angular side. The irregular rhythms and sharp contrasts of the central Vivace are... sharply delineated and, towards the end of the concluding Passacaglia, Jansen builds to a painful degree of intensity and desperation.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Szymanowski & Britten - Violin Concertos
For his latest recording, the eminent violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman has recorded the concertos Nos. 1 & 2 by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic under the baton of Antoni Wit. The final piece on the album is the violin concerto No. 1, op.35 by Benjamin Britten for which Zimmerman is partnered by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck. Once more Zimmermann excels in the whole technical range of his instrument and shows sensitivity for these unusual works. “…the exquisitely-toned, raptly-poetic Frank Peter Zimmerman” The Independent “Zimmermann makes light of the difficulties, throwing off the fiendish cadenzas (by Pawel Kochanski, the dedicatee of both works) with effortless ease. It is good to see a German fiddler championing Britten’s youthful work (1939-40), played here with the Swedish Radio SO under Manfred Honeck. Zimmermann’s sweet, intense tone is especially compelling in the concluding Passacaglia — prophetic of Britten’s mature style.” Sunday Times, 19th July 2009 **** “[Britten's] Violin Concerto is given a forceful account by Zimmerman and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Zimmermann does particular justice to the shimmering, perfumed colours of [Szymanowski's Violin Concerto] No 1.” The Telegraph, 11th August 2009 *** “Benjamin Britten's violin concerto has never been among his most approachable works, but Zimmermann's cool, lyrical, crystal-clear style suits it perfectly, especially in the final Passacaglia, which gradually acquires a huge, desolate power. [In the two Szymanowsky concertos], Zimmermann perhaps lacks some rhapsodic warmth, but the gloriously exotic sounds of the First Concerto are magnificently realised, and the more folk-inspired Second blossoms idiomatically.” The Observer, 26th July 2009 “The performances are close on definitive. Soloist Frank Peter Zimmermann has the remarkable ability to adapt his tone to each work: he attains a unique level of tragic anguish in the Britten, but the craggy sound he deploys there contrasts sharply with the syrupy decadence he brings to Szymanowski's First and the heavyweight lyricism with which he plays the Second. The orchestral contributions are outstanding, too: the Warsaw Philharmonic under Antoni Wit are match-less in Szymanowski; for the Britten, Manfred Honeck conducts the Swedish Radio Symphony with a searching intensity that matches Zimmermann's own.” The Guardian, 14th August 2009 “…Zimmermann… seems more at home in the Second Concerto, where the ecstatic element is leavened with the folk-influence that Szymanowski adopted later in his life - think Bartók rather than Scriabin. …in the Britten… Zimmermann is again responsive to the music's changing moods, and expresses them with an enormously varied tonal palette, and in the scherzo, with considerable virtuosity. Manfred Honeck steers his orchestra expertly, and the Swedish recording has bite.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2009 **** “…Zimmermann plays with flawless technique, ravishing pose and subtle range of colour. These are readings of strong personality, gutsy temperament and full-throated ardour. The captivating First Concerto is as passionate, sensuous and poetic as one could wish... The Britten is scarcely less impressive...” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2009 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Britten - Violin Concerto and Piano Concerto
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| |  | Britten & Shostakovich: Violin Concertos
After a series of critically acclaimed recordings on ONYX, most recently of the Mendelssohn (ONYX4060) and the Tchaikovsky concertos (ONYX4076), James Ehnes teams up with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and its charismatic music director, Kirill Karabits, in Violin Concertos by Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich. The Britten an early work, was completed in the September of 1939, just as World War II broke out. Britten had already composed 'Our Hunting Fathers' in 1935 (words by W.H Auden), and this work’s ferocious condemnation of political extremism and man’s inhumanity can to some extent be detected in the concerto. The barbarity of the Spanish Civil War (the concerto was written for the young Spanish violinist Antonio Brosa), the rise of Hitler’s Nazis and the persecution of the Jews appalled Britten. Peace and reconciliation was his credo, as exemplified in the later 'War Requiem'. In the scherzo tuba and piccolos present the listener with an image of the horrifying abyss mankind was lurching towards. The first of Shostakovich’s two violin concertos was composed in 1948 for David Oistrakh. It had to wait until 1955 for its premiere due to the ban on ‘serious’ music by the notorious Zhdanov Conference and Party Decree of 1948. Only ‘patriotic’ music was allowed. With Stalin’s death in 1953 Shostakovich was finally able to exert his artistic freedom. It is a truly symphonic work in scale, grand, dramatic and cast in four movements with a huge cadenza placed before the finale. Only in the finale does the sun burst out in a brilliant helter-skelter coda. “it's the way that James Ehnes closes the opening movement [of the Britten] that most impresses, essaying a gossamer thread of such subtlety it becomes almost transparent.” The Independent, 10th May 2013 *** | 
| | | Scheduled for release on 3 June 2013. Order it now and we will deliver it as soon as it is available. |
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| |  | Britten: Violin Concerto & Piano Concerto
The prolific nature of Benjamin Britten’s operatic and vocal output makes it is all too easy to forget that prior to the phenomenal success of Peter Grimes in 1945, he was primarily known as a composer of vividly orchestrated instrumental music. Tying in with the 100-year anniversary in 2013 of the composer’s birth, we here present two such works, performed by the BBC Philharmonic under Edward Gardner. Tasmin Little and Howard Shelley are the soloists in the Violin Concerto and Piano Concerto, respectively. These concertos reflect two very different sides to the composer’s character. The Violin Concerto, which Britten completed in 1939, is essentially tragic and weighty in tone, perhaps reflecting his growing concern with the escalation of war-related hostilities. On the other hand, the Piano Concerto, written the previous year, is generally lighter and brighter, more transparent and simpler in style. On this disc we have recorded the Piano Concerto in Britten’s familiar revision of 1945, but we also include the original third movement, ‘Recitative and Aria’, which Britten replaced with a new and extended movement entitled ‘Impromptu’. Howard Shelley writes of the decision Britten made to revise the concerto: ‘Why he found it necessary to replace the slow movement, I cannot quite understand – as far as I am concerned both options are masterpieces, and with this in mind we have also recorded the original version, which is fantastical and fabulous, jazzy and endlessly dramatic.’ The Violin Concerto was the first composition Britten completed after arriving in the US in 1939. Our soloist, Tasmin Little, writes of the work: ‘One of the miracles of the piece is the way that the structure is conceived as an ongoing journey. Britten does not conform to the usual pattern of the classical concerto... rather the shape of the work emerges organically as each thought leads invariably to the next. A favourite moment of mine is near the end of the first movement where the violins play the opening melody and I weave in and around them with delicate pizzicato.’ “A rapturous disc” Financial Times, 18th May 2013 “This is a desirable Chandos release of two marvellous Britten concertos that deserve to be far better known. The playing from soloists Shelley and Little is exemplary. They are accompanied by the outstanding BBC Philharmonic under Edward Gardner’s sensitively controlled baton.” MusicWeb International, 20th May 2013 |
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| |  | Britten: Violin Concerto Op. 15
Benjamin Britten, whose centenary we celebrate this year, channeled his rejection of war and hatred of fascism in his Violin Concerto, The work, a landmark of the repertoire, is unbridled in its lyricism and constitutes a poignant commentary on the devastating violence of his time. Nearly 70 years after the Holocaust, with same concerns as Britten, composer Jonathan Berger has also turned to a violin concerto. 'Jiyeh', a town on the Lebanese coast, 27 km south of Beirut and 10km north of Sidon, is built on the ancient city of Porphyreon, where a whale was purported to have returned Jonah to the shore. It is also the site of a major oil spill in 2006 caused by rocket fire on the third day of the military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Jonathan Berger became obsessed by patterns on satellite pictures of the spill which in turn inspired his violin concerto written for, and premiered by, Livia Sohn in 2007. |
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| |  | Britten: Violin ConcertoThe Royal Festival Hall, London-7th April 1967
Winner of the 2012 German Record Critics' Award for Best Historical Recording “Hair-shirt production values from this company ensure that terrific concerts such as this have a continuing and richly deserved afterlife” MusicWeb International, December 2011 “Wiłkomirska’s radiant performance is typical of her supremely agile, subtly inflected and lyrical playing style...Rowicki’s account of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony is remarkable too...a thrilling performance that seems to relish living dangerously and that bristles with dark, propulsive energy from start to finish. The impact of the playing is helped by the superb sound of the recording – [… this disc is] an extraordinary success from a technical point of view as well.” International Record Review, June 2012 “stereo results […] rival those that the ‘majors’ were achieving with a budget of thousands! This particular concert […] also includes a highly combustible Tchaikovsky Fourth and the thrilling ‘Mazur’ from The Haunted Manor by Moniuszko.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “Wanda Wiłkomirska is a distinguished advocate of the Britten Violin Concerto, and was clearly on top form at a Royal Festival Hall performance in 1967, […proving] movingly persuasive in the work’s many lyrical passages” The Strad, July 2012 “[The performances] are, in a word, riveting … [Wiłkomirska’s] performance of the very difficult Britten concerto is simply awe-inspiring. I was struck dumb by her increasingly arching upward phrases, at times almost making her violin sound as if she were trying to break into the ionosphere … I was absolutely mesmerized by Wiłkomirska’s performance and I think you will be, too...[T]his is a heck of a great disc and I recommend it highly.” Fanfare, January/February 2013 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Britten & Walton: Violin Concertos
Sergej Azizian (violin) Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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