Divine Art Records

Label: Divine Art

  • Galina Ustvolskaya – Complete works for Violin and Piano

    Galina Ustvolskaya – Complete works for Violin and Piano

    Unfairly named ‘The Lady with the Hammer’ for her uncompromising use of massive thunderous chords and ostinato rhythms, Ustvolskaya was a pupil of Shostakovich but forged her own unique way into many genres. Recently, artists have concentrated, as here, on bringing out the richness of the works and their innate lyricism. This album includes all of the composer’s music for violin and piano in two major works – the Sonata and the Duet.

    Russian violinist Evgeny Sorkin was a child prodigy and performed for Isaac Stern at the age of 10 and was compared at 16 to David Oistrakh by no less than Yehudi Menuhin. He moved to Australia and balanced teaching at Sydney Conservatory with a busy recital schedule.

    Natalia Andreeva is a Russian pianist who is currently Lecturer in Piano at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her 2015 recording of the complete solo piano music of Galina Ustvolskaya was very well received; she is a pianist of consummate skill who can express the power and lyricism which exist side by side in these works

  • Vyacheslav Artyomov: Symphony In Spe / Latin Hymns

    Vyacheslav Artyomov: Symphony In Spe / Latin Hymns

    Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. His music is deep, ultimately spiritual and brilliantly crafted, with influences from the Russian symphonic tradition colored by Mahler, Scriabin, Honegger and Messiaen to name a few – but melded into a unique voice.

    The Divine Art Artyomov Retrospective (which to date has received wonderful reviews internationally) is a mix of new recordings and former Melodiya and Boheme releases. This is the tenth album, containing 2018 recordings of two majestic and brilliant works. The Symphony In Spe (In Hope) with concertante violin and cello broke new ground in Artyomov’s writing in its use of polydynamic, ever-changing textures while retaining his deep spirituality.

    Latin Hymns presents four sacred texts in the most virtuosic writing for choir and soloist, not only prayers to the Virgin Mary but recreating her persona in music. The performance by Nadezhda Pavlova is simply stunning.

    NOTE: The digital version of the album has the Symphony (which is in one movement) in a single track. On the CD, the Symphony is indexed into 21 continuous tracks.

  • Mdina – Music for Horn

    Mdina – Music for Horn

    Following the release of his debut album in May 2007 the virtuoso horn player Etienne Cutajar, who took up his first orchestral seat at 18, has seen his career develop with important orchestral appointments in Scotland and elsewhere before returning to his native country to become principal horn of the Malta Philharmonic. He has also appeared as chamber soloist in many prestigious venues.

    This album is named for the central work, Mdina, by Maltese composer Jesmond Grixti; this is a work for horn solo and accompanied by two more contemporary pieces: Air für Horn by Jörg Widmann and Cynddaredd-Brenddyd by Heinz Holliger. These works require the highest accuracy and technical ability which Cutajar supplies with aplomb.

    Accompanying these new pieces are three mainstream works: Beethoven’s well known Sonata receives a superb performance, as do the Andante by Richard Strauss and Brahms’s Horn Trio in E flat.

    In these works, Cutajar is joined by esteemed pianist and Royal Academy professor John Reid, and in the Brahms Trio by Carmine Lauri, one of the UK’s principal orchestral violinists, who has led the London Symphony, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and Royal Opera House among others, and has been featured violinist in a host of major feature films.

    “Cutajar impresses with his breath control, rock-solid evenness of tone, and amazing pppppppps. One has to admire Cutajar for his facility and technical prowess.” – Robert Markow (Fanfare)

  • Porgy, Preludes & Paris – Gershwin arrangements for piano duo

    Porgy, Preludes & Paris – Gershwin arrangements for piano duo

    Husband and wife team Robert and Linda Ang Stoodley are an adventurous duo with a very wide range of repertoire from the pops to major classical works which they present to appreciative audiences all around the world, spending much time as recitalists on cruise ships. They are also accomplished arrangers, as demonstrated by the brilliant transcriptions on their recordings.

    Following their well received Divine Art debut album ‘France Revisited’ they present superb new arrangements of George Gershwin works from the serious (Porgy & Bess) to tin pan alley songs, often interwined and merged. Purists may frown but such arrangements, sampling and “medleying” were well known to Gershwin himself.

    This album is not only performed with great virtuosity, it is immensely entertaining too. See Piano-a-Deux performing on YouTube

    “The Stoodleys are fine, often exuberant, pianists well tuned to each other’s phrasing and occasional subtleties.” – Michael Ullman (Fanfare)

  • Artyomov – Star Wind and other works

    Artyomov – Star Wind and other works

    Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. His music is deep, ultimately spiritual and brilliantly crafted, with influences from the Russian symphonic tradition colored by Mahler, Scriabin, Honegger and Messiaen to name a few – but melded into a unique voice.

    The Divine Art Artyomov Retrospective (which to date has received wonderful reviews internationally) is a mix of new recordings and former Melodiya releases. This is the ninth instalment, which comprises six works for varying chamber ensembles, and while embodying the composer’s overall wide ranging compositional style, spirituality and mysticism, these pieces express this in a more intimate, lyrical style than his massive symphonic works. ‘Scenes’ was originally written as a ballet score for a film, but as the movie was banned by the Soviet authorities and never shown, the work now stands in its own right as a balletic suite.

    Some of Russia’s finest soloists and chamber players contributed to this album:
    Star Wind:
    Mikhail Tsinman, violin; Alexander Rudin, cello; Konstantin Yefimov, flute; Andrei Kuznetsov, French horn; Anatoly Sheludiakov, piano;
    Alexander Suvorov, glockenspiel; Murad Annamamedov, conductor
    Variations: Nestling Antsali:
    Alexander Korneyev, flute; Vyacheslav Artyomov, piano
    Moonlight Dreams:
    Nelly Lee, soprano; Alexander Golyshev, alto flute; Vladimir Tonkha, cello; Dmitri Alexeyev, piano
    Romantic Capriccio:
    Igor Makarov, French horn; Yuri Smirnov, piano;
    Alikhanova String Quartet (Yevgenia Alikhanova & Valentina Alykova violins, Tatiana Kokhanovskaya, viola, Olga Agranovich, cello)
    Mattinate:
    Iana Besiadinskaya, soprano; Zarius Shikhmurzayeva, violin; Vladimir Pakulichev, flute; Nikolai Komolyatov, guitar
    Scenes:
    Mikhail Tsinman, violin; Igor Abramov, clarinet; Nikolai Gorbunov, bass; Anatoly Sheludiakov, piano; Valeriy Polivanov & Alexander Suvorov, percussion; Murad Annamamedov, conductor

  • Jonathan Östlund : Voyages (Download album)

    Jonathan Östlund : Voyages (Download album)

    Jonathan Östlund is a composer from Sweden who has pursued his passion for music with a BA and MA in Composition at the LTU, in Sweden. He has so far completed more than 100 works, including several orchestral pieces, a Piano Concerto and a Violin Concerto, and has been awarded many prizes in international competitions.

    ‘Voyages’, his second release under Divine Art (after ‘Lunaris’, in 2016), is a double album (issued in digital form only), featuring vocal, instrumental and chamber music, as on ‘Lunaris’, while in addition also featuring two orchestral recordings and works for organ. This new album with a focus on nature, enigmatic atmospheres and introspective journeys, is presented by top international soloists, some of whom have given the world premieres of these works.

    Östlund writes music with natural poetic melodies and highly sophisticated harmonies, blending tradition with contemporary expression.

    This album can also be obtained as a double CD (two tracks omitted in order to fit on 2 discs) HERE

  • Carson Cooman organ music – volumes 1-14 (discount set)

    Carson Cooman organ music – volumes 1-14 (discount set)

    From quiet liturgical pieces and hymns to awe-inspiring symphonies, the varied and inspired compositions of Carson Cooman make him the foremost American composer of today specializing in music for the grand organ. Each of the albums has been recorded using the Hauptwerk system to bring to life the sound of a number of sublime instruments in true clarity without the excessive resonance and echo often a part of organ recordings. The performer in each case is Erik Simmons, who over several years has become extremely familiar with Cooman’s work and is the ideal interpreter.

    For track information and reviews on each volume check the links on the catalog numbers below. The entire set of fourteen albums, if purchased here, offers a 25% saving on the individual titles. You can also find Carson Cooman’s orchestral vocal and chamber music and his recordings of works by other composers (just use the composer and artist index to find his pages).

    Digital downloads include all booklets in PDF format.

    Volume 1: ‘Litany’ – DDA 25116
    Volume 2: ‘Masque’ – DDA 25127
    Volume 3: ‘Preludio’ – DDA 21229 (double album)
    Volume 4: ‘Hymnus’ – DDA 25147
    Volume 5: ‘Exordium’ – DDA 25154
    Volume 6: ‘The Cloak with the Stars’ – DDA 25159
    Volume 7: ‘Owl Night’ – DDA 25163
    Volume 8: ‘Zephyr’ – DDA 25177
    Volume 9: ‘Sea Dream’ – DDA 25181
    Volume 10: ‘Jubilee’ – DDA 25185
    Volume 11: ‘Portals’ – DDA 25195
    Volume 12: ‘How Great our Joy!’ – DDA 25196
    Volume 13: ‘Eternal City’ – DDA 25200
    Volume 14: ‘Antiphonies’ – DDA 25218

  • “Jubilee” – Carson Cooman organ music vol. 10

    “Jubilee” – Carson Cooman organ music vol. 10

    Carson Cooman is many things musical – organist and Composer in Residence at the Memorial Church, Harvard University; writer, critic and consultant, concert organist, and above all a highly prolific composer of music in a wide variety of genres, from orchestral to song.

    His organ compositions come in many styles, from liturgical models, to more gritty and substantial pieces such as his organ symphonies and preludes and fugues. This album contains a mix of liturgical and secular works of great variety and individuality.

    Erik Simmons is a superb organist, making his tenth Cooman organ album for Divine Art. He is playing the wonderful ‘Sun Organ’ of St. Peter & Paul, Görlitz, recorded through the Hauptwerk system.

    This is volume 10 of this highly praised series, which now extends to vol. 12 (vol. 13 to be released in June 2020). Click composer name above or in the composer index to access all volumes and the discounted complete set (1-12)

  • ‘To the Northeast’ – Choral music by John Buckley

    ‘To the Northeast’ – Choral music by John Buckley

    John Buckley is one of a group of highly talented and inspired composers from Ireland who have embraced today’s need for music which is rich and diverse, complex but accessible too. His considerable output includes chamber and vocal works as well as his exceptional choral music of which we have a selection here. From folk song adaptations to classic text settings and a range of serious, pastoral and witty pieces, the new album ‘To the Northeast’ is one that stands out from the crowd and is truly memorable.

    Also from Dublin, Mornington Singers are superbly conducted by Orla Flanagan, and provide a performance which in each work is totally in tune with the text and the setting. Most songs are in English, though the Five Two-Part songs for children are sung in Gaelic Irish.

  • Vyacheslav Artyomov: In Memoriam and other works

    Vyacheslav Artyomov: In Memoriam and other works

    Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. His music is deep, ultimately spiritual and brilliantly crafted, with influences from the Russian symphonic tradition colored by Mahler, Scriabin, Honegger and Messiaen to name a few – but melded into a unique voice. The Divine Art Artyomov Retrospective is a mix of new recordings and former Melodiya releases. This is the eighth instalment, containing three orchestral works, with an over-arching sorrowful cast – remembering, like his Requiem, the suffering of the Russian peoples under Soviet rule (and for In Memoriam, a tribute to the composer’s mother), and all typifying Artyomov’s true genius as a truly individual composer who can make thoroughly modern music listenable and demanding further regular hearings.

    Three fine orchestras and conductors, and superb soloists, provide a rich and satisfying program of substantial modern orchestral music.

  • Galuppi Piano Sonatas, volume 4

    Galuppi Piano Sonatas, volume 4

    Peter Seivewright was amongst the first musicians to seriously research (in 1994) the 100 keyboard sonatas by Venetian composer Galuppi, also famed as a pioneer of opera buffa. While others have since come to appreciate and record the fine variety and novelty of these works, for many personal and career reasons, Seivewright’s series was held up after volume 3 was released in 2004 but is now back on track with this intermediate album which includes also the G major Piano Concerto. Many of the sonatas have had to be reconstructed from single movement manuscripts. They show amazing diversity, from single-movement works to two- and three-movement pieces, and from traditional baroque style to a Romanticism prescient of Schumann. Seivewright strongly believes that the works were specifically written for the pianoforte rather than harpsichord due to their frequent need for sostenuto and other factors.

    Peter Seivewright studied at Oxford then at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has performed extensively as recitalist and concerto soloist and has taught in colleges around the world, from Scotland to Trinidad to Afghanistan and most recently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
    Find Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3

  • Gershwin and Ravel: Music for Piano Duo

    Gershwin and Ravel: Music for Piano Duo

    With over forty CDs to their credit and a busy concert schedule stretching back more than thirty years, the British piano duo of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow was firmly established as a leading force. Their recordings are not only brilliant performances but usually innovatively programmed, leading to rave reviews for every album. Sadly Goldstone died in January 2017 but their legacy lives on.

    This album was originally released in 2007 (dda 25057) but withdrawn due to complex issues regarding one track. Now available again (without that track!) this is a superb rendition of music inspired by jazz and popular idioms, including the original piano duo versions (not transcriptions) of several of the pieces. The combination of these two great composers and one of the world’s best-ever duos makes for a stunning recital album.