Tags
Language
Tags
March 2024
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
25 26 27 28 29 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6

Franz Halasz - J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas (2024)

Posted By: ciklon5
Franz Halasz - J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas (2024)

Franz Halasz - J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas (2024)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 2:11:37 | 555 Mb
Genre: Classical

Summits of the violin repertory, Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin have always fascinated performers and music lovers alike for their architectural perfection, their spiritual content and the breadth of their emotional palette. It is therefore not surprising that, like so many of Bach’s works, they have been constantly arranged for other instruments. On a purely practical level, there are elements in the writing of these works that seem to suit the guitar particularly well, with its polyphony, melody, dynamics and sound colours that lend themselves particularly well to the complexity of works that seem to go beyond the solo violin. After his transcription for guitar of Bach’s four lute suites (BIS-2285), which BBC Music Magazine described as ‘a remarkable combination of technical ease, musical understanding and emotional directness’, Franz Halász now offers us his own arrangements of the Sonatas and Partitas – fresh performances that combine historically informed practice with modern technique. Halász appears on a number of acclaimed discs for BIS, in wide-ranging repertoire, from Spanish baroque music to the contemporary works of Takemitsu and Gubaidulina, as well as tango and Brazilian music.

Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 5 (2024)

Posted By: ciklon5
Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 5 (2024)

Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 5 (2024)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 65:05 | 316 Mb
Genre: Classical

The fifth volume of Masaaki Suzuki’s series of Bach’s works for organ features one of the most important surviving instruments from Bach’s time, made by the German organ builder Christoph Treutmann the Elder. Widely known for its extraordinary tonal quality, the instrument was built between 1734 and 1737. A recent general restoration preserved all essential structural elements or renewed them while remaining faithful to the originals, making this an ideal instrument for Bach interpreters who wish to come close to the sound world of the Leipzig Thomaskantor. Suzuki now takes up the Orgel-Büchlein (literally, “little organ book”), a collection of 45 short chorale preludes on melodies from the Lutheran hymn book, a project that came into being in connection with Bach’s appointment as organist and chamber musician at the Duke’s court in Weimar in 1708. Presenting chorales for different periods of the church year, this collection serves as a general guide to text-based composition focusing on word-sound relationships and content-specific musical expression. Three Preludes and Fugues complete the second volume dedicated to the Orgel-Büchlein, illustrating the principle of variety and structure historically practised by concert organists in order to demonstrate the tone colours and expressive possibilities of their instrument.

Christian Poltera and Ronald Brautigam - Brahms & Schumann - Works for Cello and Piano (2024)

Posted By: ciklon5
Christian Poltera and Ronald Brautigam - Brahms & Schumann - Works for Cello and Piano (2024)

Christian Poltéra and Ronald Brautigam - Brahms & Schumann - Works for Cello and Piano (2024)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 1:03:20 | 286 Mb
Genre: Classical

Six years after their acclaimed disc devoted to Mendelssohn’s works for cello and piano, Christian Poltera and Ronald Brautigam now tackle the two cello sonatas by Johannes Brahms, two central works in the repertoire, unquestionably the most important since those by Beethoven. The First Cello Sonata was composed between 1862 and 1865 when Brahms was in his thirties. He seemed intent on showcasing the lyricism of an instrument that is often compared to the human voice. Composed 24 years later, the Second Cello Sonata makes greater use of the cello’s range, particularly in the upper register. A common feature of these two sonatas is that the role of the piano is never secondary (Brahms was an excellent pianist) and the dialogue between the two instruments is both inexhaustible and complex. The programme also includes the Funf Stucke im Volkston (Five Pieces in Folk Style) by Robert Schumann, Brahms’s early mentor. Composed in Schumann’s late years, this short cycle reflects the composer’s taste for small, expressive pieces in, as the title suggests, a popular and accessible idiom. These miniatures draw their charm not only from the cello’s marvellous nuances but also from the ‘folk style’.

Martin Stegner, Taneli Turunen, Esko Laine - Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (2023)

Posted By: ciklon5
Martin Stegner, Taneli Turunen, Esko Laine - Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (2023)

Martin Stegner, Taneli Turunen, Esko Laine - Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (2023)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless / MP3 320 kbps | 1:14:51 | 370 / 171 Mb
Genre: Classical

Taneli Turunen studierte Cello und Gesang an der Sibelius-Akademie in Helsinki, danach Cello bei Frans Helmerson in Köln. Er verfolgt eine umfangreiche Konzerttätigkeit als Solist und Kammermusiker, ist Sänger von „Tango Finlandés“ und hat für das schwedische Label „BIS“ aufgenommen.

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra & Pekka Huusisto and BBC Schottish Symphony Orchestra - Pictured Within; Jaakko Kuusisto

Posted By: ciklon5
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra & Pekka Huusisto and BBC Schottish Symphony Orchestra - Pictured Within; Jaakko Kuusisto

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra & Pekka Huusisto and BBC Schottish Symphony Orchestra - Pictured Within; Jaakko Kuusisto
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 1:06:25 | 246 Mb
Genre: Classical

This disc is a double tribute. The first work, Pictured Within, is a collective effort conceived as a major project to mark the 60th birthday of conductor Martyn Brabbins, whose reputation in new music and British music is beyond reproach. Following the pattern of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Pictured Within is a series of 14 variations on a theme, each of which takes up the character of the equivalent variation in Elgar’s work, the difference being that here 14 different composers have each contributed a variation in tribute to Brabbins. Also on the SACD is Jaakko Kuusisto’s Symphony, a fitting tribute to the composer, conductor and violinist who passed away in 2022. Illness left Jaakko no time to complete his work, so it fell to his brother Pekka – who conducts here – and Jari Eskola to finish it. The result is a powerful piece, full of familiar themes and melodies derived from Jaakko’s existing compositions, to which are added autobiographical extra-musical elements. The moving conclusion is a collage of fragmented phrases inspired by the signals emitted by lighthouses and ships, as if Kuusisto’s spirit had been sent out to sea.

Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton - But I Like to Sing... (2023)

Posted By: ciklon5
Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton - But I Like to Sing... (2023)

Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton - But I Like to Sing… (2023)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless / MP3 320 kbps | 1:08:29 | 232 / 157 Mb
Genre: Classical / Label: BIS

After many acclaimed releases on BIS, most recently ‘Sounds and Sweet Airs – A Shakespeare Songbook’ (BIS-2653), Carolyn Sampson’s latest recital with Joseph Middleton lives up to its name: it is an eloquent testimony to the English soprano’s love of her art. This programme artfully blends well-known and lesser-known lieder by German and Austrian masters such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf with French songs by Gounod, Poulenc and Franck, as well as works by Anglo-Saxon composers such as Hubert Parry, Samuel Barber and Ivor Gurney. Female composers are not forgotten, with rarely-performed songs by Rita Strohl based on slightly risqué poems by Pierre Louÿs, music by Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Kaija Saariaho – who has recently passed away – and Deborah Pritchard, whose song presented here was composed especially for Sampson. And while Leonard Bernstein’s comically cheeky song ‘I hate music’, appears to be a call not to let music take itself too seriously, Errollyn Wallen’s ‘Peace on Earth’, which concludes the album, invokes calm and encourages us to find peace, a message that seems more relevant today than ever.

John Neschling - Respighi: Orchestral Works (2023)

Posted By: ciklon5
John Neschling - Respighi: Orchestral Works (2023)

John Neschling - Respighi: Orchestral Works (2023)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless / MP3 320 kbps | 7:55:25 | 1.8 / 1.06 Gb
Genre: Classical / Label: BIS

This 7 collection includes recordings made by Brazilian-born conductor John Neschling of the orchestral works of Ottorino Respighi, alongside Puccini the best-known Italian composer of the first half of the twentieth century. Widely praised by the press, including BBC Music Magazine, which described them as ‘the finest-ever survey of the composer’s orchestral output undertaken by a single conductor’, these recordings reveal Respighi’s extraordinary range. His transcriptions of works from the baroque period bear witness to his great musical refinement and are an example of the way in which people dared to adapt to current tastes at the beginning of the 20th century.

Hiyoli Togawa - Children! (2023)

Posted By: ciklon5
Hiyoli Togawa - Children! (2023)

Hiyoli Togawa - Children! (2023)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 1:17:13 | 307 Mb
Genre: Classical / Label: BIS

After Songs of Solitude (BIS2553), a project designed by Hiyoli Togawa at a time when Covid forced people across the world into isolation (released in March 2021), the Japanese-Australian violist now presents another themed album focusing on the situation of children. During the pandemic, she kept thinking of the many children who do not have a loving home and were forced to stay at home, and so were exposed helplessly to violence, hunger and poverty. As with her previous disc, she commissioned works on the theme of childhood from composers around the world. Thirteen of them, from Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, answered the call and embarked on a journey into childhood. The result is a collection of lullabies, childhood memories and adventures. Playful, wild, silent, funny, serious or dreamy, these works are musical pleas for the rights of children around the world. Hiyoli Togawa combines them with the Allemandes from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Suites for solo cello. Each of these Allemandes presents a new character, opening a very special dance universe. They invite us to surrender ourselves to the genuine and undisguised joy of playing and perhaps, almost, to lose ourselves in it – to find ourselves.

Saimaa Sinfonietta, Erkki Lasonpalo - Aho: Concertante Works for Recorder, Saxophone and Accordion (2023)

Posted By: ciklon5
Saimaa Sinfonietta, Erkki Lasonpalo - Aho: Concertante Works for Recorder, Saxophone and Accordion (2023)

Saimaa Sinfonietta, Erkki Lasonpalo - Aho: Concertante Works for Recorder, Saxophone and Accordion (2023)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless +Booklet | 1:11:16 | 289 Mb
Genre: Classical / Label: BIS

Concertante works featuring the recorder, tenor saxophone and accordion are few and far between. Stimulated by daring soloists, the prolific Finnish composer Kalevi Aho has composed such works, contributing in his own way to the development of an original and attractive repertoire. The Concerto for Recorder requires the soloist to play four types of recorder, from bass to sopranino. The work explores extended techniques and also does not shy away from flashbacks to the golden age of the instrument.

Dan Laurin, Anna Paradiso, Domen Marinčič - Sonates et Suites (2016)

Posted By: tirexiss
Dan Laurin, Anna Paradiso, Domen Marinčič - Sonates et Suites (2016)

Dan Laurin, Anna Paradiso, Domen Marinčič - Sonates et Suites (2016)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers + Digital Booklet | 85:25 | 523 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | Catalog: BIS-SACD-2185

Since 1987, Dan Laurin has released some thirty titles on BIS. On his latest disc, Sonates et Suites he has chosen to visit France at an exciting point in time. In the early 18th century, when all of the sonatas and suites included here were composed, the system of censorship that ensured that nothing was printed without royal permission was beginning to crumble, at least in the field of music.

Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 4 (2023)

Posted By: ciklon5
Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 4 (2023)

Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 4 (2023)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 1:07:19 | 295 Mb
Genre: Classical / Label: BIS

The fourth volume of Masaaki Suzuki’s Bach works for organ series features one of the most important surviving instruments of Bach’s time, made by the German organ builder Christoph Treutmann the Elder. Widely known for its extraordinary tonal quality, the instrument was built between 1734 and 1737. A recent general restoration preserved all essential structural elements or renewed them, remaining faithful to the originals, making it an ideal instrument for Bach interpreters who wish to come close to the sound ideas of the Leipzig Thomaskantor.

Symfoniorkestern Norrköping, Leif Segerstam - Hans Rott: Symphonie in E major (1993)

Posted By: tirexiss
Symfoniorkestern Norrköping, Leif Segerstam - Hans Rott: Symphonie in E major (1993)

Symfoniorkestern Norrköping, Leif Segerstam - Hans Rott: Symphonie in E major (1993)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 64:07 | 327 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | Catalog: BIS-CD-563

Hans Rott was a friend of Gustav Mahler's and Hugo Wolf's in their conservatory days, and his career was to end sadly, like Wolf's, in madness probably brought on by syphilis. While traveling by rail to take up a job as a choral director, his mind gave way and he claimed that Brahms had rigged the train to explode. He never reported for work, obviously.

Christian Poltéra - Christian Poltéra plays Frank Martin (2007)

Posted By: tirexiss
Christian Poltéra - Christian Poltéra plays Frank Martin (2007)

Christian Poltéra - Christian Poltéra plays Frank Martin (2007)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 65:32 | 258 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | Catalog: BIS-CD-1637

The young Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra released three remarkable discs of Swiss modernist music in 2007. First came Othmar Schoeck's concerto and sonata for cello plus four song transcriptions for cello and piano. Then came Arthur Honegger's concerto and sonata for cello plus two sonatines. And last there was this one, Frank Martin's concerto and ballade for cello and 8 Preludes for orchestra.

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)

Posted By: tirexiss
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)
EAC | APE (image+.cue, log) | Digital Booklet | 03:20:39 | 1,01 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | Catalog: 1721/22

Listening to this irresistibly joyful and magnificently musical set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites, one is immediately struck by two thoughts. First, Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have been wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, Bach himself was wasting his time writing his melancholy church music when he could have been composing infinitely more cheerful secular music. While Suzuki and his crew have turned in superlatively performed, if spectacularly severe recording of the cantatas, they sound just as virtuosic and vastly more comfortable here.

Helsinki Chamber Choir, Nils Schweckendiek - Reconnaissance (2023)

Posted By: ciklon5
Helsinki Chamber Choir, Nils Schweckendiek - Reconnaissance (2023)

Helsinki Chamber Choir, Nils Schweckendiek - Reconnaissance (2023)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 1:21:17 | 331 Mb
Genre: Classical / Label: BIS

This recording presents Kaija Saariaho’s works for choir, a cappella and with electronics, and displays her virtuosity in the treatment of texts, which she endows with the full range of verbal expression. At least one of these works is also a discographic premières.