SHOSTAKOVICH - VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS. 1 & 2     WARNER 2564 62546-2

Dmitri Shostakovich was working on this wonderful Violin Concerto No. 1 in 1948 when Stalin’s cultural apparatchik made a speech denouncing him along with Prokofiev and others, charging them with ‘formalism’. Shostakovich therefore put away the concerto until a more propitious time, which was shortly after Stalin’s death. In the mid-1950s, he completed two of his most acclaimed works: the great Tenth Symphony and this first Violin Concerto. Although there are similarities, the inward-looking, introspective Concerto in A minor, is very different from the outward looking, expansive symphony. Its first movement, called ‘Nocturne’, is supremely beautiful and meditative. The second is an amazing Scherzo and the third a complex movement containing thematic references to the Tenth Symphony. The fourth movement, entitled ‘Burlesca’, is an exciting whirlwind of dance-like themes. This concerto, together with Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and the Romance from The Gadfly, is performed here by Daniel Hope with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maxim Shostakovich - the composer’s eldest son, for whom he wrote his second piano concerto. Born in 1974, the British violinist Daniel Hope has won many awards, including the Classical Brit Award for Young British Classical Performer in 2004, and became the youngest ever member of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio. His music-making has explored a wide variety of musical ideas, including jazz and Indian music, and he actively commissions works by young composers. ‘The future of the contemporary violin is indeed safe in his hands’ - BBC Music Magazine.

HARTY - PIANO CONCERTO         NAXOS 8.557731

The composer Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty was born the son of a church organist in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, in 1879. Hamilton played viola, piano and organ as a child, and followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a church organist from the age of 12. After moving to London in 1901 he worked as accompanist to an impressive range of soloists, including John McCormack, Joseph Szigeti, Fritz Kreisler and the soprano Agnes Nicholls, whom he later married. As well as being one of the leading accompanists of his day, Harty was also a fine conductor and an accomplished composer of works such as An Irish Symphony, the tone poems With the Wild Geese and The Children of Lir, his Violin Concerto, and a setting of Ode to a Nightingale for soprano and orchestra. He was permanent conductor of the Halle Orchestra from 1920 until 1933, during which time it became one of the country’s premier orchestras. He was knighted in 1925 and died on February 19, 1941, since when his compositions have been unfairly neglected. The Ulster Orchestra under the direction of Takuo Yuasa perform Harty’s Piano Concerto in B minor (with the excellent soloist Peter Donohoe), Fantasy Scene, and Comedy Overture. The Romantic Piano Concerto is reminiscent of Rachmaninov and was composed at Fiesole in Italy in 1922 before being first performed the following year. A Comedy Overture was one of Harty’s most popular early works and Fantasy Scenes (From an Eastern Romance) paints the conventional ‘Arabian Nights’ picture in four movements: The Laughing Juggler, A Dancer’s Reverie, Lonely in Moonlight and In the Slave Market.  This new release from Naxos is particularly welcome and should bring Harty’s impressive music to a wider audience.

MUSIC OF ELLIOTT CARTER, VOL. 7     BRIDGE 9184

Born in New York City in 1908, Elliott Carter became interested in music in high school and was encouraged by Charles Ives. He later studied with Walter Piston at Harvard University and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris before returning to New York to devote his time to composing and teaching. He is widely recognised today as one of the great innovators of 20th century music, with challenging works such as the Variations for Orchestra, Symphony of Three Orchestras, and his many fine concertos and string quartets. Carter received his first of his two Pulitzer Prizes for his contributions to the string quartet tradition. Stravinsky greatly admired his orchestral works, such as the Double Concerto for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras (1961) and Piano Concerto (1967), and Aaron Copland called him ‘one of America's most distinguished creative artists’. Carter has been awarded the Gold Medal for Music by the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Medal of Arts, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and honorary degrees from many universities. This latest edition in the excellent Bridge series celebrates his centenary by featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra in premiere recordings of four Carter compositions from the past six years. Conducted by Oliver Knussen, these remarkable works reveal a composer still at the peak of his powers. The magnificent Dialogues for piano and chamber orchestra was a BBC Radio 3 commission for the outstanding young British pianist Nicolas Hodges and is written for piano solo and chamber orchestra. Boston Concerto is based on a William Carlos Williams poem, ‘Rain’, chosen to convey the composer’s love for his wife Helen. The Cello Concerto, played by Carter specialist Fred Sherry, is scored for a large orchestra. The light-hearted 12 minute ASKO Concerto was commissioned by the Asko Ensemble of Amsterdam and the recording here is of its first performance public in the Concertgebouw in 2000. Bridge also recently issued Volume Six of this series, featuring Rolf Schulte’s performance of Carter’s Violin Concerto (BRIDGE 9177).

HALFFTER - SINFONIETTA/GUITAR CONCERTO         ESSAY CD1092

Ernesto Halffter was one of Spain’s leading 20th-century composers and is best known for his Sinfonietta, which typically combines the various influences on Spanish composers at that time (1927). Halffter was much influenced by Manuel de Falla, with whom he co-author his cantata Atlantida, and was also a friend of and collaborator with Dali, Garcia Lorca, Alberti, Bunuel and others of the ‘Generation of 1927’. His works also reveal the influence neo-classicism as well as of Stravinsky, Ravel (with whom he studied) and French composers such as Milhaud, Poulenc and Honegger. Ernesto Halffter was born in Madrid in 1905 and composed his first piano music at the age thirteen. He later took composition lessons with Manuel de Falla in Granada. Halffter’s Sinfonietta quickly won him international acclaim and his career subsequently combined composing, conducting and teaching (he was professor to the Spanish Institute in Lisbon). Ernesto Halffter was among the talented Spanish artists of his generation and this excellent CD brings together two of his most enduring works. Richard Kapp conducts the Philharmonia Virtuosi in a concert performance of the impressive Sinfonietta and the outstanding American guitarist Eliot Fisk joins them as soloist in an earlier (1987) concert recording of the graceful Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, first played at Town Hall in New York in 1969. Fisk’s technique is dazzling and the orchestra performs with great vivacity throughout. Highly recommended.

VIOTTI - THE COMPLETE VIOLIN CONCERTOS     DYNAMIC CDS498/1-10

Giovanni Battista Viotti was born in 1755 in Fontanetto da Po, Piedmont, Italy. He must have been an outstanding young violinist because by the age of eleven he joined the court of Prince Alfonso dal Pozzo della Cisterna in Turin. Alfonso financed his training and one of his teachers was Giulio Gaetano Pugnani. Viotti made his first concert tour abroad with Pugnani in 1780 then moved to Paris, where he made a strong impression as a musician and entered the service of Marie-Antoinette. The Revolution in 1792 caused him to seek refuge in London, where he played at concerts in which Haydn was involved during his  visits to London in the 1790s. Political exile from London took Viotti to Germany and on his return to London at the beginning of the new century he occupied himself with the wine trade, rarely playing in public. In 1819 he was appointed director of the Paris Opéra, a position he relinquished two years later, when he returned to London, dying there in 1824. His career as a performer was short, but his influence on violin-playing was considerable, inspiring a new generation of players such as Rode, Kreutzer and Baillot. Viotti’s orchestral music consists principally of his violin concertos, written in a style that develops from the compositions of the early 1780s to the romantic lyricism of the later concertos. This magnificent 10-CD box set is the culmination of a fifteen-year-long project by Dynamic, featuring all 29 of Viotti’s elegant and imaginative Violin Concertos. In many cases these are world première recordings of works that are virtually unknown. Franco Mezzana is the soloist and also conducts the Viotti Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra da Camera Milano Classica. This is an indispensable collection of music that provides a fascinating link between 18th-century violin tradition and the imminent Paganini revolution.

C P E BACH - HARPSICHORD CONCERTOS     CARUS  83.184

The prolific composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) was the fifth child and third son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was a pioneer of the sonata-symphony form and Mozart said of him, ‘He is the parent and we are the children’. Although he died in obscurity, he subsequently had enormous influence with his book ‘The True Manner of Keyboard Performance’, which is a standard treatise on keyboard playing to this day. As a composer C. P. E. Bach was extremely versatile. Almost all the genres of music of his time are to be found in his œuvre. In his choice of musical instruments he greatly favoured keyboard instruments, especially the clavichord, writing at least 50 concertos for harpsichord and orchestra, as well as 13 sonatinas and four compositions for two keyboard instruments and orchestra. The outstanding, internationally acclaimed harpsichordist Rien Voskuilen has chosen three concertos for this recording. He is accompanied here by L’arpa festante, one of the finest early music ensembles in Germany. The group play original instruments and the wide musical experience of the musicians together with their virtuosity produces a unique sound - colourful, rich in nuances, sensitive and expressive.

FEURMANN IN CONCERT       CELLO CLASSICS CC1013

Emanuel (‘Munio’) Feuermann was born in Kolomea, Galicia (then part of the Austrian Empire, now part of the Soviet Union) on 22 November 1902 and died in New York City aged only 39 and at the height of his powers. At the time of his tragically early death, he was recognised by Pablo Casals and many others as one of the finest cellists of the twentieth century.  This new release features Feuermann playing the Saint-Saëns Concerto No.1 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, originally broadcast live in 1939. This is the only recording of the work by Feuermann and has survived incomplete. It has been re-mastered for this enhanced CD and completed with the help of cellist Steven Isserlis (playing the same Stradivarius cello used by Feuermann) and some exceptionally clever technical wizardry. Also included as an encore is the only recording of unaccompanied Bach that Feuermann ever made, as well as previously un-heard takes of works by Bach and Fauré. An unusual feature of this CD, accessible by playing the disc on a computer, is unique film footage of the great cellist in a short film made in 1939, with two popular works from his repertoire: Dvorak’s Rondo and Popper’s Spinning Song. This is essential listening for admirers of a remarkable virtuoso and anyone interested in the history of cello music.

LES SAISONS AMUSANTES - VIVALDI/CHEDEVILLE       LINN CKD 070

Nicolas Chédeville (1705-82) ingeniously adapted Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons to create a new seasonal cycle of six concertos. They are arranged from various movements of the original but only ‘Spring’ is used in its entirety. ‘Summer is omitted completely and the outer movements of ‘Autumn’ embrace the central largo from ‘Winter’. The remaining material is borrowed from other concertos and simplified, with solo parts arranged for violin, recorder, the wheezing hurdy-gurdy and the musette (a variety of bagpipe). The inventiveness of this delightful novelty should appeal to anyone overexposed to to the standard Four Seasons. The Palladian Ensemble are Pamela Thorby (recorders), Rodolfo Richter (violin), Susanne Heinrich (viola da gamba) and William Carter (archlute, theorbo, guitar), with guest musicians Richard Egarr (harpsichord, organ), Nigel Eaton (hurdy-gurdy) and Jean-Pierre Rasle (baroque musette). This acclaimed period-instrument group’s sparkling performance on this recording is irresistible. ‘The Palladian Ensemble and their guests make the most of their opportunities with verve, virtuosity and varied instrumental colour’ - Gramophone.