Divine Art Records

Genre: Piano

  • Russian Piano Music volume 15: Tchaikovsky

    Russian Piano Music volume 15: Tchaikovsky

    Stefania Argentieri is a young Italian pianist of consummate skill – so necessary to give full expression to the piano music of Tchaikovsky, much of which remains strangely under-appreciated. She has won many awards and has performed at prestigious events in Europe and the USA. She teaches at the Giordano Conservatory in Foggia and is also working as a music editor. Stefania has made recordings with her chamber ensemble. This is her second solo album for Divine Art, following her well-received recording of Prokofiev released in 2020: “outstanding (MusicWeb International); “True command of this daunting repertoire” (The Whole Note).

    This album showcases the spectrum of Tchaikovsky’s art from the pastoral and gentle (extracts from 18 Pieces and The Seasons) to the noble and high-Romantic (the ‘Grand Sonata’) and at a time when modern Russia is blighted by its leaders’ warmongering and aggression, a reminder that the Russian musical art of the past is still as instructive and valuable as ever.

  • J S Bach: “Goldberg” Variations, BWV 988 (Burkard Schliessmann)

    J S Bach: “Goldberg” Variations, BWV 988 (Burkard Schliessmann)

    Burkard Schliessmann is a unique interpreter, never afraid to find a new expression and always searching for the heart of the music and the composer’s inspiration, whether in the Romantic world or that of J.S.Bach. Among other awards, Schliessmann won three silver medals at the Global Music Awards 2017 for his Divine Art Chopin album, and has been awarded the Goethe-Plakette by the city of Frankfurt.

    This recording of the Goldberg Variations was originally released in 2007 (Bayer – SACD only, not digital) and was highly acclaimed: “ambitious and really spectacular” (AllMusic); “thoughtfully simple, always finely worked out” (FonoForum); Critics Choice 2008 (American Record Guide); Recording of the Year (MusicWeb International). Newly remastered in 5.0 Dolby Atmos audio, this brilliant recording is now offered as a hybrid 5-channel SACD/CD and in finest digital audio quality.

     

     

    Please note: the digital albums offered here are two-channel HD stereo. To obtain the 5-channel digital album visit a Dolby Atmos supplier (Apple/Amazon)

     

  • Violetta Fialko – Ciccolini Prizewinner Recital

    Violetta Fialko – Ciccolini Prizewinner Recital

    Violetta Fialko is an exceptionally talented Ukrainian pianist, who has been signed by Divine Art for her commercial recording debut, as winner of the 2021 Ciccolini Prize for Pianists, a new international competition which had to be held ‘virtually’ due to the Covid pandemic. At the time of writing this, Violetta is living in a part of Ukraine which has so far not been desecrated, having been evacuated from her home town. The audio masters arrived from the studio in Kyiv only days before the Russian attack, for which we are thankful, and we do not yet know if the studio still exists. Leaving the war aside, we have a brilliantly talented pianist who has chosen a varied and highly virtuosic program of Russian Romantic classics (though Prokofiev, to give him his due, was born in Ukraine).

    Violetta was born in 1997 into a family of musicians. She began to attend music school at the age of 5, and at 9 entered the Lysenko Specialized Music School in Kyiv, graduating with top honors in 2016 and entering the Kyiv Conservatory. She won many prizes, culminating in the 2021 Ciccolini Prize which has led to this album being made. She worked (until the current war began) as a teacher of piano performance and music theory, and is also a volunteer and program host on the Evangelical Radio station ‘Emmanuel’.

    We commend this album as the debut of a fantastic pianist and also in support of her home country and peace and freedom everywhere.

  • Visions and Ventures

    Visions and Ventures

    Works from three different musical eras seemingly unconnected – but in the mind of Pianist Stephen Beville very linked – hence the album title – as inspired by Visions and Ventures: Bach always a visionary musically and guided by his religious faith; Beethoven venturing into Romanticism with revolutionary ideas and optimism for a better world; Prokofiev caught up in the unrest in pre-revolutionary Russia, sketching pieces to escape the political turmoil – at least in his imagination. The Visions Fugitives come from a composer in his mid-twenties, just graduated and full of musical confidence, and are typically Prokofievian while some contain radical modernist elements. The Beethoven Sonata is likewise the work of a young 26-year old. It is full of playful invention and optimism and is perhaps one his most appealing works.

    Stephen Beville was acclaimed in 2010 as ‘one of the most talented young musicians to emerge from the UK’. (Frankfurter Neue Press). His interpretations have been compared to Arrau, Rubinstein and Ax. Rock-solid technique and virtuosity while avoiding showmanship have informed his playing from student days at the Junior Royal Academy in London from age 11, tutoring from the great Peter Katin, and postgraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in England and the Hochschule für Music in Karlsruhe. He has performed in many international festivals.

    As well as a firm grounding in classical and 20th century repertoire, Stephen Beville is also a busy composer, his works having been performed by several leading new-music ensembles.

    Stephen’s debut CD ‘Stephen Beville in Karlsruhe’ was given warm reception on its release:
    “Beville is a thoughtful artist, whose accounts of each of the established masterpieces here are well worth hearing.” – Robert Matthew-Walker (Musical Opinion)
    “An intelligent, controlled and searching pair of hands quite capable of imparting power as well as finesse.” – Gary Lemco (Audiophile Audition)

  • Songs of Love

    Songs of Love

    Jenny Q Chai is a phenomenon… a pianist of incredible talent, at home in core repertoire and a champion and noted interpreter of 20th century and contemporary works, as well as working to develop new interactive music score software and teaching in China and the USA. She founded and manages the Face Art Institute, a Shanghai-based body devoted to international exchange of music and musicians and served on the board of Ear to Mind, the contemporary music organization in New York. Her other work as well as her concert schedule is too extensive to be listed here; she is currently based both in Shanghai and in California where she is a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley.
    The New Yorker described Jenny as “A pianist whose dazzling facility is matched by her deep musicality”. On top of all that she also projects a modern and liberated self image.

    Jenny has a special connection with Robert Schumann, whose work she learned from her esteemed first teacher at the Curtis Institute, the late Seymour Lipkin, with whom she studied from the ages of 12 to 19. She has a special love for Kreisleriana which she says never grows old but ’ lives inside of you’. Hence the title, “Songs of Love”.

    This album which presents Kreisleriana together with two movements by Bach and Ives is Jenny’s tribute to Seymour Lipkin who she calls ‘my music grandpa’. It is also a very fine recital by a superbly talented musician who is gathering fans like a rock star.

  • Tom Hicks: Liszt and Ireland Piano Sonatas

    Tom Hicks: Liszt and Ireland Piano Sonatas

    Hailed as an artist of ‘magnificent pianism’, Guernsey-born pianist Tom Hicks has been praised for his ‘gorgeously creative playing’ that ‘transports the listener to another place and time’. Hicks is a gold medallist in numerous national and international competitions and holds degrees and awards from The University of Manchester, The Royal Northern College of Music, Yale University and Northwestern University, where he now lectures. His first disc featuring John Ireland’s Sarnia, ‘Tom Hicks: Ireland and Tchaikovsky’ has been described as ‘brilliantly evocative’ by Colin Clarke in International Piano, and ‘gorgeously creative’ by Scott Noriega in Fanfare.

    In his first recording for Divine Art, Tom presents stellar performances of two major Sonatas – those of Franz Liszt and John Ireland. A generation apart, both are highpoints of the Romantic and post-Romantic era. This playing puts Hicks at the top of the tree for his bold expressiveness and vision.

    On this album Hicks prefaces the Sonatas with shorter, but equally imaginative and expressive pieces: two Preludes by Stanford, Cortège by Rebecca Clarke, and one of the charming waltzes from the ‘Three-Fours’ Suite by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

    Tom Hicks is also a strong supporter of contemporary composers and his new album of music by British composer Camden Reeves, inspired by the harmonies and rhythms of blues music, will be released in the late spring of 2022 (“Blue Sounds”) – Métier MSV 28604)

  • Syncopated Musings

    Syncopated Musings

    Rags, Concert Waltzes and Novelties for the Pianoforte by Scott Joplin and his Collaborators.

    Since the rediscovery of Scott Joplin’s ragtime genius in the 1970s his music has been an important part of the popular/light classical repertoire. Yet though he called himself with some justification “The King of Ragtime Writers” he was not a brilliant pianist; he was actually a trained violinist and cornet player and was lead singer of the Texas Medley Quartette. This wide experience helped to make his piano rags full of interest. All the same, most recordings concentrate on the most familiar works and ignore the many other superb pieces in Joplin’s substantial output. This new album from New York pianist Marilyn Nonken (Professor of Music at New York University’s Steinhardt School) includes some well-known works and some rarities. Rags, concert waltzes and other novelty pieces show brilliance and a well-honed craft.

    Joplin is perhaps the best known of the ragtime piano circle, but he was part of a community of composers. many of whom had short and tragic lives of poverty and ill health. While composing few works that have survived, the four represented here all collaborated with Joplin as joint composers: Louis Chauvin (1882-1908); Scott Hayden (1882-1915), Arthur Marshall (1881-1968) and the odd man out, the white composer Joseph Lamb (1887-1960) of whose work Joplin said ‘That sounds like a good colored rag!’

  • Jonathan Östlund: Imago

    Jonathan Östlund: Imago

    “Östlund’s 2019 double CD Voyages and 2020’s Mistral elevate him to the status of the 21st century’s Debussy.”– Jan Hocek (His Voice)

    Jonathan Östlund (b.1975) is a Swedish composer who has recently been living in Romania and before that London before returning to his home country in 2021. He has manifested an avid interest for music from an early age and has pursued his passion with a BA and MA in Composition at the Luleå Tekniska Universitet, in Sweden. He has studied under the artistic guidance of Prof. Rolf Martinsson, Prof. Jan Sandström and Prof. Sverker Jullander, among others, and has so far completed over 100 works, including several orchestral pieces, a Violin Concerto and a Piano Concerto, and has been awarded many prizes in international competitions.

    This new album follows the distinctive format of previous programs in that it features orchestral, vocal, choral, instrumental and chamber music. Östlund’s primary inspiration is nature which is brought out fully in beautiful Impressionist works such as L’eau de l’oubli and La nuit étoilee. He is also fascinated by the art of composing fantasies and paraphrases on classics and several are included here. A large team of soloists (several of whom also gave the world premieres of these works) were gathered in various locations, often having to work through lockdowns, to record this album. Östlund’s music is very accessible and tonal and often full of wit and humor, and is always atmospheric.

  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Works, Paraphrases and Transcriptions, volume 1

    Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Works, Paraphrases and Transcriptions, volume 1

    Saint-Saëns excelled as a composer, conductor, pianist and organist – his composition output is enormous, reaching over 160 titles of which many are substantial – operas, ballets, symphonies – yet today much of his work remains neglected and he is known by a few works only: the Organ Symphony, Samson et Dalila, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals. His original piano pieces are generally light ‘salon’ works but are nonetheless delightful and well formed. His major contribution to the piano works is the equally neglected body of transcriptions (of his own works and those of others) where he was sadly eclipsed by the more outgoing and promotion-minded Franz Liszt. This album and its companion include a number of first recordings, introducing a large body of keyboard gems to a new audience. Volume 1 is divided into two sections: transcriptions from Opera and Ballet, and pieces inspired by specific places.

    Antony Gray is a London-based Australian pianist and teacher with numerous acclaimed recordings to his name on ABC and other labels including a 3CD set of Bach transcriptions and a 5-disc set containing the entire piano output of Poulenc. He has premiered many new pieces written for him and has often appeared on radio in the UK and Australia.

    Find volume 2 here

  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Works, Paraphrases and Transcriptions, volume 2

    Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Works, Paraphrases and Transcriptions, volume 2

    Saint-Saëns excelled as a composer, conductor, pianist and organist – his composition output is enormous, reaching over 160 titles of which many are substantial – operas, ballets, symphonies – yet today much of his work remains neglected and he is known by a few works only: the Organ Symphony, Samson et Dalila, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals. His original piano pieces are generally light ‘salon’ works but are nonetheless delightful and well formed. His major contribution to the piano works is the equally neglected body of transcriptions (of his own works and those of others) where he was sadly eclipsed by the more outgoing and promotion-minded Franz Liszt. This album and its companion include a number of first recordings, introducing a large body of keyboard gems to a new audience. Volume 2 is divided into two sections: transcriptions from Cantata and Oratorio and original ‘occasional pieces’, transcriptions of two works by Luis de Milan and the Douze Transcriptions (of which there 13!) of works by J. S. Bach.

    Antony Gray is a London-based Australian pianist and teacher with numerous acclaimed recordings to his name on ABC and other labels including a 3CD set of Bach transcriptions and a 5-disc set containing the entire piano output of Poulenc. He has premiered many new pieces written for him and has often appeared on radio in the UK and Australia.

    Find volume 1 here

  • Metamorphoses

    Metamorphoses

    Alfonso Soldano is professor of piano performance at the Giordano Conservatory in Foggia, Italy, following similar posts at Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome and in Trani. He was a favorite student of Ciccolini and is renowned for his virtuosity. He was awarded the International Gold Medal for ‘Best Italian Artist’ in 2013 and has won many other competitions, and is also a busy writer and transcriber. His previous recordings for Divine Art, of the music of Rachmaninoff, Bortkiewicz and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, received glowing reviews. He has performed and given masterclasses all around Italy, and in Germany, Switzerland and Romania, and post-Covid is planning a wider international concert schedule, hoping to tour the USA.

    His Rachmaninoff is especially magical. He has transcribed 15 of the composer’s romantic songs for solo piano in three books of ‘Romances’ which he performs here with works by Debussy which Soldano has also transcribed. The album is a glorious, sumptuous immersion in late Romantic and Impressionist music which will appeal equally to classical experts and the wider general public. It is a collection of sheer beauty.

  • Seria Ludo – Piano music by Graham Lynch

    Seria Ludo – Piano music by Graham Lynch

    English composer Graham Lynch (b. 1957) is a master of his craft, a composer whose writing is exceptionally detailed, with specific articulations and layerings; not designed for show, but for better expressing the subject matter of his works, many of which are highly impressionist. Much of his work also refers to the baroque French composers such as Couperin, a particular subject of Lynch’s study. The two suites from the White Book series are based on artwork by Sir Christopher Le Brun and other major artists. The music here ranges from a work derived and inspired by the baroque keyboard works of Couperin, through pictoral suites to the flamenco-tango Ay!

    The music is played by two American pianists: White Book 2 is performed by Albert Kim who gave the US premiere in 2018. He was a Carnegie Hall Rising Star and has performed widely throughout the US and China, currently Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Central Missouri.

    The rest of the program is presented by Paul Sánchez, a Fulbright Fellow (2005-2007) and New Piano Collective artist whose concerts and recordings have amassed generous praise: “one of the most beautiful discs in my collection..” – Fanfare; one of his discs reached No. 1 on the Billboard Traditional Album chart.