Divine Art Records

Genre: Piano

  • At the Heart of the Piano

    At the Heart of the Piano

    A special 3-CD / triple digital album of great Romantic works by one of the world’s most accomplished pianists specialising in works of that era. These stunning performances of Busoni’s Chaconne (after J S Bach) and Berg’s Sonata are receiving their first release; the other tracks were previously issued (on CD only, not digitally ) by Bayer and have been newly remastered.

    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.

    On their initial release these recordings attracted great accolades: American Record Guide said : “The best pianist I know at entering the world and expressing the awareness of the German romantics. There is something personal and unique about Schliessmann’s Schumann. It does not sound like anyone else’s. He is better than any other pianist I have heard.”

    High Performance Review said of his Scriabin: “This is the most imaginative playing one has heard yet – on the level of Richter, Michelangeli, Wild, Gould – the highest order of artistry.”

  • Il Maestro e lo Scolare

    Il Maestro e lo Scolare

    For the first time, here is an album full of piano duets written expressly for teacher and student, from the first in the genre, Haydn’s Il Maestro e lo Scolare, through many well known composers of the 19th and 20th centuries up to the current decade.

    Very few of these works have attained any sort of public awareness apart from Stravinsky’s Easy Pieces, but though written deliberately with one ‘easy’ part for the learner, the pieces are thoroughly delightful, tuneful and never simplistic: indeed they display all the hallmarks of Romantic, Impressionist (and in two cases jazz-inspired) music-making of high quality and all make for extremely entertaining and pleasant listening.

    Antony Gray is a London-based pianist and teacher with acclaimed recordings to his name. His work with students of all ages, those that wish to pursue advanced training and even those who do not, produces a wonderful rapport which shines through in these recordings. Over 50 of Gray’s students are represented on the album.

  • 1847: Liszt in Istanbul

    1847: Liszt in Istanbul

    In 1847 Franz Liszt visited Istanbul (then Constantinople) and performed several recitals on an Erard piano specially shipped for him to play. He spent a month there and gave several concerts including two in the Sultan’s palace. He was fêted and praised highly; at that time the city was a hub of Western culture and a frequent destination of Italian and French opera companies, so Liszt’s operatic transcriptions found a receptive audience.

    Turkish-American pianist Zeynep Ucbasaran created a selection of works from Liszt’s program which were broadcast throughout Europe in 2011 and performed live to great acclaim. Now this recital is committed to a recording which celebrates not only great music but also what was Liszt’s final year as a virtuoso performer.

    Zeynep Ucbasaran began music studies in Istanbul at the age of four, then in Hungary and Germany before moving to the USA to obtain her degrees in Piano Performance. She has won multiple awards and performed in many parts of the world. She naturally has an affinity with the musical culture and heritage of her native Turkey.

  • La Mer bleue

    La Mer bleue

    This album is built around Messiaen, birdsong and impressionism. First we have book 1 of Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux, together with two newly written interludes and a postlude for two violins, transferring the song to the strings. Messiaen’s work is a journey towards sunlight, colour and company, from mountain to coastline, together with three feathered songsters.

    English composer David Gorton is best known for his uncompromising modernity but in his Ondine, he has produced a work much more accessible and although not specifically based on birdsong, it has many resonances with the Messiaen, and is an ideal partner to the earlier work; this is its first recording.

    With Szymanowski we reach the mainstream of 20th century writing, Romanticism hardening in light of the Great War and the October Revolution. This work, one of his greatest, is imbued with passion, longing, and in the words of Sorabji, ”an elevated ecstasy of expression”.

    Roderick Chadwick, as both soloist and collaborator, has performed some of the most challenging works for piano; his recent Stockhausen disc was highly praised. He is a particular expert on Messiaen and in 2018 co-authored and published a book on the Catalogue d’oiseaux.

  • The 3-Piano Project

    The 3-Piano Project

    While music for two pianos is encountered frequently, larger groups of pianos are rare, so this is an excellent opportunity to explore new and recent music for three pianos by composers from Turkey, Brazil, Spain and Italy. While exploring modern techniques the music is predominantly tonal, and remarkably light and clear-textured much of the time, though never facile or shallow. The composers have used the three keyboards to explore richer melodic lines and counterpoints while avoiding the temptation to create overwhelming walls of sound. The piece by Dallapicolla in particular is open-textured and quite traditional, predating his adoption of serialism. The album includes the world premiere recording of Saygun’s major work ‘Poem’.

    The three pianists are also international – Ucbasaran and Gallo now both live and teach in the USA and Chavaldas works in Spain. They met when students at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. They all have highly praised recordings and concert appearances to their credit and came together for this special album of unique works.

  • Liszt to Milhaud – A Journey with Piano Four Hands

    Liszt to Milhaud – A Journey with Piano Four Hands

    The Divine Art label has long been associated with music for piano duo – whether at two pianos or one – through the sterling and brilliant work of Goldstone and Clemmow and more recently Piano-à-Deux. The label is delighted to welcome a new duo with this program which contains several very popular and well-loved miniatures and transcriptions, bookended by major works from Liszt and Milhaud. They need no introduction save to say that from the dances, to the jazz-inflected pieces, each work is a joy to hear.

    These are sparkling performances of well known pieces and form a light counterpoint to the artists’ new 3-piano album of contemporary works. The pianists met when both students at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. Zeynep Ucbarasan is from Turkey but moved to the USA for her postgraduate studies and now lives in California. Her previous recordings and concert appearances have drawn unalloyed praise. Sergio Gallo is a Steinway artist who specialises in music of the Romantic period. He has made several acclaimed recordings for Eroica and is currently recording for Naxos and Quartz. He has won many awards and currently is professor of Piano Performance at the Georgia State University in Atlanta.

  • Reminiscences of Brazil

    Reminiscences of Brazil

    The debut Divine Art album from American pianist Justin Badgerow is a program of exotic dance rhythms, sensual textures and colors from four Brazilian composers together with the exquisite Saudades do Brasil of Milhaud. Highly influenced by traditional and indigenous music and the landscapes of Brazil, this is music of infectious delight, and includes both well known works from Villa-Lobos and sparkling miniatures from Mignone, Gondim and Guarnieri.

    Justin Badgerow obtained a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Colorado after earning Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Universities of Texas and Central Florida. He serves on various important committees and boards and is currently Associate Professor of Music at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. A champion of Latin-American music, he has performed as a soloist throughout the USA and in Mexico, Brazil and South Africa. He has also enjoyed much success in chamber music collaborations.

    In this, his first solo recording, he demonstrates a close affinity with the music, imbuing every track with outstanding musicianship.

  • Schubert: “Unauthorised” Piano Duos, vols 1-3 (discount set)

    Schubert: “Unauthorised” Piano Duos, vols 1-3 (discount set)

    The critically acclaimed series of piano duo transcriptions of music by Schubert by his friends, colleagues, pupils and contemporaries – a fascinating insight into early 19th century transcription practice and performances of the usual brilliantly high standard by the awesome Goldstone and Clemmow.

    See individual CD for full track listings and reviews. This bundle includes the following albums and all three booklets are included in the digital versions:

    Volume 1 (DDA 25026)
    Volume 2 (DDA 25039)
    Volume 3 (DDA 25125)

  • Russian Piano Music vol. 14 – Prokofiev

    Russian Piano Music vol. 14 – Prokofiev

    This is the second album in the Russian Piano series devoted to Prokofiev and includes his first and sixth Sonatas and other works demonstrating his wide ranging soundworld. His eclecticism has enabled him as a very ‘serious’ composer of post-Romantic, neo-tonal works – often modernistic and at times aggressive – to be appreciated by a wider general audience than many of his contemporaries.

    Stefania Argentieri is a young Italian pianist of consummate skill, necessary to give full expression to the music of Prokofiev. 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 and this is her first solo album, no doubt one of many for someone who has the brightest of futures.

  • Russian Piano Music vol. 13 – Sergei Rachmaninov

    Russian Piano Music vol. 13 – Sergei Rachmaninov

    The major work in this second album of Rachmaninov’s works in the Russian Piano series is the First Sonata, a pinnacle of high late Romanticism. Less well known are the Moments Musicaux but they too are masterful pieces.

    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 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 Bortkiewicz and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, received glowing reviews. His Rachmaninov (Rachmaninoff for the American readers!) is equally magical.

  • Scarlatti and Clementi: Keyboard Sonatas

    Scarlatti and Clementi: Keyboard Sonatas

    John McCabe (1939-2015) was renowned as both a pianist (a Haydn specialist and supporter of many contemporary composers) and as a composer in his own right of very fine music in several genres.

    This double album was created from two vinyl LPs issued by Hyperion in 1981 and shows McCabe as a first-class interpreter of the baroque and early classical sonata styles, here brought together.

    Domenico Scarlatti, an exact contemporary of Handel and JS Bach though living a few years longer, is probably the most renowned and certainly the most prolific of composers of the (usually single movement) keyboard sonata, more traditionally played on harpsichord. A hundred years later, pre-eminent among others, Clementi developed the classical piano sonata, introducing sustain and other dynamic effects available to the fortepiano, being produced by his family company among others. Both sets of works also translate very well to the modern concert grand.

  • Diana Boyle plays Bach

    Diana Boyle plays Bach

    Diana Boyle is a fine pianist who records little but prepares each recording with years of thought, consideration and meditation on the music. Her interpretations are individual and thought-provoking, often delicate, not always conforming to the norm which pianists of lesser talent will follow, but looking to breathe new life and spirit into classic masterpieces. Her previous Divine Art albums have been very popular and highly praised.

    Like all of Diana Boyle’s work these new recordings are very carefully prepared and well crafted performances which do not fear to display real feeling and depth, not at all like the all too common ‘mechanical’ performances of Baroque music. The works themselves are not all among Bach’s best known, but all display his total mastery of the art of composition.