Stravinsky: Concerto in D for string orchestra 'Basler'

Recording made in 1995.

This recording was highly praised when released and in 2001 was awarded a Grammy.

Stravinsky never had much time for conventions. His teacher Rimsky-Korsakov was similarly maverick, and was at his best when free of the strictures of the symphony and classical form. Stravinsky openly defied the Austro-German way of doing things, and adopted an unpredictable (if at times neo classical) style, and this CD contains some of the smaller works he produced that illustrate is unique, and sometimes quirky style. The two Suites were arranged from the original piano pieces intended for children. The three pieces for string quartet are unlike anything form the period – 1914. No sign of late romanticism here, or of the Second Viennese School. It is an utterly unique and new sound word – icy, different, but very Russian. The Octet sounds superficially like a dissonant wind divertimento by Mozart.

Stravinsky’s opposition to the traditional structures of classical music softened a little towards the end of his life, and the Scherzo a la Russe and the Concerto in D for strings illustrate this well with their less spiky sound, and longer melodic lines. The complete list of pieces is: Tango, Suites for small orchestra, Concerto in D for strings, Concertino, Octet for winds, 3 Pieces for string quartet, Ragtime, Duet for two Bassoons, Fanfare for a New Theatre, and the Scherzo à la Russe for jazz orchestra.

This 2-CD set marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970) and features recordings ranging from boy cellist in 1911 to international conductor 1969 – in both ‘live’ and studio recordings. John Barbirolli was born in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, on 2 December 1899, a Cockney as he proudly boasted. Or, to be accurate, Giovanni Battista Barbirolli was born, son of an Italian émigré violinist and his French wife. English-born with Italo-French parentage – a wonderful pedigree for a musician. And so it proved, for he conducted Elgar, Verdi and Debussy, Vaughan Williams, Puccini and Ravel, with equal sensitivity and perception and intuition. This album of recordings forms a kind of musical biography; and Michael Kennedy’s notes (with many rare photos) trace that life alongside the recordings. A special bonus is the 1947 Austrian Radio recording of two works, Weber’s Euryanthe overture and Delius’s Walk to the Paradise Garden, from the Salzburg Festival concert on 20 August at which he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic. Was this, Michael Kenneday asks, the first time this orchestra had played the Delius? Two rare mementos of the New York period are included in this album. Anthony Collins had long been a friend of Barbirolli (they played in the LSO together) and worked in the USA from 1936 to 1945 and his Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, based on the two comic characters in Twelfth Night, is an example of his overlooked talent. Another composer almost forgotten today is the Czech-born Jaromir Weinberger whose opera Schwanda the Bagpiper enjoyed inter-war popularity. His Christmas for organ and orchestra was composed in 1929. In 1939 he dedicated his Variations and Fugue on an old English tune, ‘Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree’ to Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic.

Includes premiere recordings of MacGregor's arrangements of works by Dowland, Gismonti and Piazzolla.

Sitkovetsky leads us on a tour of the heart of modern Russia in a very special program of transcriptions and arrangements of the music of Stravinsky and Shostakovich. Sitkovetsky's famous arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations went to the top of the Classical charts and revealed new beauty and insight into that famous work. Now, in his tribute to his homecoming, "Dima" presents the music of these two great Russian masters in performances that will thrill the casual listener and the collector alike.