SCHOECK - THREE VIOLIN SONATAS       CLAVES  50-2503

Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957) was a Swiss composer, conductor and piano accompanist, born in Brunnen near Lake Lucerne. He studied with Max Reger and became an internationally recognized artist, particularly for his songs and song cycles. He also composed operas and and instrumental works, including two string quartets and several fine concertos for violin. On this new recording, Simone Zgraggen (violin) and Ulrich Koella (piano) give discerning performances that capture the varying moods in these sonatas. Schoeck’s 1905 sonata was almost certainly inspired by hearing the beautiful violinist Stefi Geyer, with whom he fell passionately in love. Schoeck’s profound love for her is also apparent in his 1908/09 sonata (Op 16) with its wonderfully lyrical first movements (the following two movements are in Beethovenian style). Two weeks after meeting Stefi Geyer in 1908, Schoeck wrote an Albumblatt for violin and piano dedicated to her, and they premièred it together during a concert tour of Central Switzerland soon afterwards. Schoeck’s earliest instrumental work that he still acknowledged in later years was his violin sonata in D major (WoO 22), composed it in 1905, a few months after he enrolled at the Zurich Conservatory. Not as personal as some of the songs that he wrote at the time, it still has youthful and melodic charm. Schoeck’s lyrical compositions (he was dubbed ‘the Swiss Schubert’) deserve to be better know and should please anyone who loves late romantic music of the twentieth century.

SZYMANOWSKI - NICOLA BENEDETTI     DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 987 057-7

Violinist Nicola Benedetti from West Kilbride, Ayrshire, won the title of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004 when she was only 16 years old, giving a remarkably mature performance of the first violin concerto by Szymanowski. She went on to sign a £1m six-album recording deal with Universal Classics and this is her debut CD for the Deutsche Grammophon label. She began playing the violin at the age of four and six years later started attending the Yehudi Menuhin School. By the age of eight she was leading the National Children's Orchestra of Scotland and played before the Queen at the opening of the Holyrood parliament building. Her much anticipated album features  recordings made with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by 29 year old phenomenon Daniel Harding, who was recently appointed Principal Guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Music  Director of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. As well as polished performance of the Szymanowski Concerto she plays a new John Tavener work (Fragment for the  Virgin) written especially for her, and music by Saint-Saens (Havanaise for Violin and Orchestra), Chausson, Massenet (Meditiation from Thais) and Brahms (a wonderfully sonorous Wie Melodien zieht es mir). A novel feature of the album is a special backing track of the Meditation from Thais, giving listeners the chance to play along with the LSO. Nicola Benedetti’s website is at www.nicolabenedetti.co.uk

SARABANDE - JONATHAN RICHARDS   DIVINE ART DIVERSIONS DDD 24115

Jonathan Richards was born in 1964 and started learning the guitar at the age of eight. Since graduating from Trinity College, London, he has been active as a guitar teacher, concert performer and recording artist, as well as composing prolifically for the guitar. His extensive repertoire includes much of the standard literature of the instrument, from the baroque works of Bach, Rameau and Weiss, through the classical period exemplified by Sor and Diabelli, and the Romantic output of composers such as Mendelssohn, as well as Spanish and South American music by Albeniz, Barrios, Falla, Granados, Llobet, Mompou and Villa-Lobos. He has also championed new and unusual music, giving world premières of works by Judith Bingham, Terence Croucher, John Franklin and John Williamson. This delightful new album features a selection of Jonathan Richards’ own transcriptions for guitar of works originally written by J S Bach for lute, violin, cello or keyboard. He plays these timeless masterpieces with grace and passion, creating music that takes the listener to a peaceful haven far from the hectic pace of life. The recording was made in the music room at Shute House and recreates the ambience of a country house recital, complete with occasional sounds of songbirds in the garden.

MAGNUS GUTKE - TOUCHE II           NOSAG DM902

Touché II is the result of more than ten year’s work by the classical guitarist Magnus Gutke, who studied in Paris with Alberto Ponce, . The pieces on this adventurous album are all by twentieth century composers and include Sainz de la Maza’s Platero y yo and Antonio José’s Sonata (a work with subtle melody and tonality in its beautiful Pavana triste as well as an explosive finale). The other works are by French composers: Maurice Ohana’s Si le jour paraît... (with its exciting virtuoso second movement) and Henri Sauguet’s elegant Solilioque. Magnus Gutke’s debut record was appropriately called Touché I (Nosag DM901) and came out in 1997. This more Spanish-influenced CD features works by composers such as Francisco Tárrega, Villa-Lobos, Frederico Moreno-Torroba, Fernando Sor, Segovia, Mompou and de Falla. The music throughout is romantic and peaceful, by turns fiery and contemplative. Both titles demonstrate musicianship of a very high standard.

YEHUDI MENUHI - IN MEMORIAM             TAHRA TAH 533

The American violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York of Russian-Jewish parents. He soon became a child prodigy, his performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto at the age of seven bringing him instant fame. His playing was a sublime blend of virtuosity and expression, and throughout the 1940s and 1950s he performed and made recordings of many great classical works. Menuhin’s long career also saw him exploring the worlds of jazz and Indian music, as well as conducting and taking part in important humanitarian work. His greatest pride was the founding of the music school in Stoke D’Abernon that bears his name. This new release in Tahra’s ‘Hommage’ series features J S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin (recorded in Berne at a public concert in 1968) and Mozart’s Concerto for Violin (recorded in the Jesus-Christus Kirche of Berlin in 1951, with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra conducted by Karl Böhm). These typically passionate performances form a true tribute to one of the twentieth century’s finest musicians.

KINGA! PLAYS FLUTE MUSIC           NOSAG RECORDS  NOSAGCD 082

On these remarkable recordings the fine young Hungarian-born flutist Kinga Práda, accompanied by her mother Ilona Jánky at the piano, plays a well-chosen selection of Romantic flute music. The Transylvanian duo explore a wide range of classical repertory with works by George Enescu, Albert Franz Doppler (the popular Hungarian Fantasie), Cesar Franck (Sonate, adapted from his Sonata for violin and piano), the splendidly named Jules Auguste Edouard Demerssemann (a Dutch musician who composed many pieces for the flute) and the American Samuel Barber (Canzone, the composer’s own arrangement of the theme from the second part of his piano concerto). This is delightful music played with great skill and expression.

ILLUMINATIONS - JOSEPH ALESSI       SUMMIT  DCD-367

The brilliant American virtuoso Joseph Alessi, one of the world’s greatest trombonists, plays works that span more than a century of music written for the solo trombone accompanied by a wind band. On this recording he is joined by the excellent University of New Mexico Wind Symphony, conducted by Eric Rombach-Kendall, in performances of three pieces by trombone pioneer and original Sousa Band member Arthur. Pryor (an early arrangement of Blue Bells of Scotland, Fantastic Polka, and the seductive Love's Enchantment). Also featured on this enjoyable album are Illuminations (written specially for Joseph Alessi in 2002 by the contemporary American composer Joseph Turrin), Bolivar (composed by the mysterious Eric Cook), a technically demanding T-bone Concerto (Johan de Meij) and Atlantic Zephyrs, subtitled Novelette (written in 1915 by Michigan-born Gardell Simons).

HANDEL RECORDER SONATAS - PAMELA THORBY/RICHARD EGARR LINN CKD223

Pamela Thorby (recorder) and Richard Egarr (harpsichord and organ) began their musical partnership as students at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, leading to acclaimed recitals at the Purcell Rooms and Wigmore Hall in London. On this first recording together as a duo thay play all six recorder sonatas by Handel sonatas, generally considered some of the finest music in the baroque repertory. They were written in the 1720s, when Handel was at the height of his fame as an opera composer. The recorder was little used in the 19th century, but upon its re-emergence in the 20th, the four sonatas from opus one became the first pieces in the new recorder canon. The autograph manuscripts of all six scores finally became known in the 1970s, when it became possible to view the sonatas as a group, rather than as four plus two, as had previously been the case. The enduring appeal of these pieces lies partly in their unpredictability. Stylistically often vocal, the sonatas feature extremely inventive melodic lines with balanced, strong interplay between melody and bass, making them ideal repertoire for this excellent duo. The disc also includes Handel’s brilliant Harpsichord Suite in E major. Highly recommended.

AARON COPLAND - RARITIES & MASTERPIECES          BRIDGE 9145

Steven Richman and the excellent Harmonie Ensemble/New York perform two Aaron Copland masterpieces - the original version of his Appalachian Spring Suite and the jazz-influenced Music for the Theatre. In 1980, in celebration of his 80th birthday, Copland conducted the Harmonie Ensemble in the Appalachian Spring Suite and worked closely with conductor Richman and the Ensemble on a performance of Music for the Theatre. This album also features three less well-known pieces. ‘Two Ballads for Violin and Piano’ started out as a violin concerto but this never reached fruition. The arrangement is played here by violinist Eugene Drucker accompanied at the piano by Diane Walsh. Drucker, together with violist Lawrence Dutton, also plays Copland’s ‘Elegies for Violin & Viola’, composed in response to the suicide of the poet Hart Crane.  The other work here is the little-known Toscanini transcription of Copland’s ‘El Salón México for solo piano’, receiving its premiere recording. Altogether, this is a most welcome addition to the recorded repertoire and should prove invaluable to all Copland enthusiasts.

RARE GOOSSENS             OBOE CLASSICS CC2005

These are all recordings not available elsewhere, and they show Goossens in rare form. Hear, for example, his ability to float a phrase in Pierné's Aubade. Léon Goossens was born in Liverpool in 1897, the son of violinist and opera conductor Eugène Goossens, and brother of the conductor and composer also called Eugène. After war service, during which he was wounded, he became acclaimed internationally as the finest oboist of his day. Many notable English composers wrote pieces specially for him, including Bax, Bliss, Britten, Elgar and Vaughan Williams. Goossens’ refined playing and brilliant technique can be heard to great effect on these early recordings. The performances range from a 1925 pre-electric recording of Charles Colin’s Concertino, to a 1947 reworking of Scarlatti themes. There is a reissue of the wonderful 1927 Bax Quintet (written for Goossens), and a several charming miniatures such as the Londonderry Air and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan’. ‘...a fine after-dinner wine of a recording, worth listening to at leisure, without interruption, so as to marvel over the extraordinary facility and exquisite taste of one of the finest instrumentalists of any age’ - Fanfare.

PAULSSON - A DATE WITH A SOPRANO SAXOPHONE     CAPRICE  CAP 21668 SACD

This ground-breaking album featuring Anders Paulsson is a pioneering effort to promote the soprano saxophone as a classical solo instrument. A sensual and poetic relationship between the musician and his instrument, performed on these recordings with great feeling, breaks traditional boundaries and challenges convention. The works included are from many different time periods and often technically demanding, some with electronic sections, and others more lyrical and folk-music flavoured. Anders Paulsson has played and blazed new trails for the this instrument for more than 16 years, having started his playing career with the tenor saxophone. The wide range of music on this adventurous SACD is by Anders Paulsson (Lullaby), Paul Bonneau, Claude Debussy (Syrinx), Benjamin Britten (Six Metamorphoses), Luciano Berio, Fredrik Högberg, Sven-Erik Bäck, Johann Sebastian Bach, Nils Lindberg, Eugene Bozza, Niklas Breman and James Horner (Hymn to the Sea).

QUIET ON THE SET - JAMES GALWAY           RCA RED SEAL  82876579102

This latest album by one of the world's finest flute players, James Galway, is subtitled James Galway At The Movies and features attractive arrangements of a wide range of popular film themes. Among the 13 compositions are James Horner's Braveheart, Ennio Morricone's Cinema Paradiso, Rachel Portman's Emma, John Williams' Far And Away, Alan Silvestri's Forrest Gump, Thomas Newman's The Horse Whisperer and Luis Bacalov's Il Postino. Susprisingly, the CD does not feature any music from the third Lord Of The Rings film, Return Of The King, in which James ‘superflute’ Galway was one of the soloists featured in Howard Shore's score. On this recording he is joined by the excellent London Mozart Players, conducted by Thomas Kochan

WILLIAM PRIMROSE - THE EARLY RECORDINGS         PEARL GEM 0207

This fascinating album gathers together the early recordings, including those on violin, made by the finest British viola virtuoso of the Twentieth Century. Born in Glasgow in 1904, William Primrose earned an enviable international reputation and his first viola recordings ushered in a new era for the instrument. Some of the tracks featured on this CD are rare or unpublished and it is tantalising to wonder whether Primrose might have otherwise gone on to become one of the great violinists if he had not changed instruments. One of his undoubted achievements was to change the way we hear and appreciate the beautiful sonorities of the viola, which profoundly influenced the present generation of virtuosi. Violin tracks include Bach Sonata No. 2 and Purcell's Golden Sonata, and viola tracks include works by Schubert (Ave Maria), Paganini (Two Caprices, arranged by primrose) and Tchaikovsky (None but the weary heart). Among the other artists featured are Gerald Moore, Isolde Menges and Sidonie Goossens.

SOLOVISION - JENNIFER FRAUTSCHI         ARTEK AR-OO16-2

On this exceptional CD the rising star Jennifer Frautschi performs five works for the violin by Fritz Kreisler (Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice), Eugène Ysaÿe (Sonata for Solo Violin in E minor), Béla Bartók (Sonata for Solo Violin), Mario Davidovsky (Synchronisms No. 9 for violin and electronic sounds) and John Harbison (Four Songs of Solitude). Born in Pasadena, California, Jennifer Frautschi started playing the violin at the age of three and has since won numerous prizes, including the 1999 Avery Fisher Career Grant and first prizes in the Washington and Irving Klein International Competitions. She will give her New York City recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in April 2004 and will later debut in ten major concert halls in Europe, including Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, La Cite de la Musique in Paris and the Konzerthaus in Vienna. This is Jennifer Frautschi second album for Artek, her first recording for the label of works by Stravinsky and Ravel having received ecstatic reviews. ‘Crystal clear - committed and well played, with good sound to match’ - Fanfare Magazine.

NEW TUNES FOR THE BIG BASSOON - SUSAN NIGRO               CRYSTAL CD843

This impressive CD by the contrabassoon player Susan Nigro is her third solo album and features music written for her by five interesting American composers. The works explore all the beguiling facets of the contrabassoon and Susan Nigro plays her usual consummate ease and virtuosity, accompanied on the piano by Mark Lindblad. The music is by Barton Cummings (Concertino for Contrabassoon and Arioso), Timothy Grassel (Reminiscences), P. Kellaceh Waddle (Broken Icicle Twilight and Severe Thunderstorm Warning), Edward McKenna (Bagatelle), Ann Marie Kurrasch (Ponderings from the Pond) and Graham Powning (Sonata). Susan Nigro lives in Chicago and plays regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. ‘Nigro is a veritable Paganini of the contrabassoon’ - Fanfare. ‘Her musicality simply glows’ - American Record Guide.

EN SONATE - SONIA WIEDER-ATHERTON       RCA RED SEAL 82876552732

This double album features the fine French cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton performing a series of varied and sometimes little-known sonatas, together with Imogen Cooper (piano), Raphaël Oleg (violin) and Francoise Rivalland (zarb). The composers are Schubert (Litanei), Liszt, Rachmaninov, Gliere (8 Duets for violin and violoncello), Zoltan Kodaly, Maurice Ravel and George Aperghis. Born in San Francisco,  Sonia Wieder-Atherton began playing the cello at the age of nine. After meeting Mstislav Rostropovitch, who subsequently guided her progress, she studied at the Paris Conservatory and at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. She is now a film music composer as well as a soloist with leading orchestras, in solo recitals, and in chamber music. ‘Her style is captivating since it combines audacity, purity and mastery’ - Natalia Shakovskia.

VAUDEVILLE ACCORDION CLASSICS               BRIDGE 9138A/B

The Italian-American virtuoso Guido Deiro was a great populariser of the accordion in the early 20th century and was the first accordionist to perform on the Vaudeville stage (1910). He was also the first piano accordionist to make sound recordings (Edison Wax Cylinders, 1911) and became a top attraction at vaudeville houses throughout America and abroad. In 1913, he met and fell in love with the young Mae West while they were both performing in a vaudeville show in Detroit. The couple secretly married and Henry Doktorski's sleeve notes detail their torrid relationship, with early photographs provided by Deiro's son, Count Guido Deiro. On this unique 2-CD set, Henry Doktorski gives dashing and dexterous performances of Deiro's music, with 27 delightful compositions that include Pink Slippers Valse, Hand Grenade Throwers March, Deiro Rag, Lola Fox Trot, Valse Pirouette and The Accordion Girl Waltz. This welcome release is a deliciously diverting glimpse into a world that has long disappeared.

THE FROBERGER EDITION, VOL. 3 - BOB VAN ASPEREN     AEOLUS AE-10064

On this remarkable double CD Bob van Asperen plays a series of suites for harpsichord by the Johann Jacob Froberger. Born in Stuttgart in 1661, Froberger was a choir-boy in Vienna before becoming an organist at the court there. He subsequently moved to Rome, where he studied with Frescobaldi, and later became one of the most highly regarded organists of his day. His compositions, all written for the keyboard, are of great historical importance, and the Aeolus label is to be congratulated for bringing us this latest volume in an outstanding edition of his works.

LES ELEMENS - PALLADIAN ENSEMBLE     LINN CKD 221

The startlingly dissonant opening to Les Elemens was a most shocking and original sound to the audiences of its time (the late 1730s). Amazingly, it was written by 71 year old Jean-Fery Rebel, who had enjoyed a long and productive career as one of Louis XIV’s favoured musicians. He wrote many successful instrumental works, of which this is the most famous. The composer’s introduction explains that it starts with ‘Chaos itself, that confusion which reigned among the Elements before the moment when, subject to immutable laws, they assumed their prescribed places within the natural order’. The suite which follows is filled with imaginative touches, as when the violin and bass portray Earth while the flute - in this case, recorder - imitates the flow of Water over the top. This beguiling album also features fine chamber music by his friend and contemporary at court, Marin Marais. The brilliant Palladian Ensemble consists of Pamela Thorby (recorders), Rodolfo Richter (violin), Susanne Heinrich (bass viol) and William Carter (guitar, lute, theorbo).