Divine Art Records

Label: Divine Art

  • Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 3

    Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 3

    Acknowledged without reservation as the greatest composer working in England in the 18th century, Georg Frideric Handel is revered worldwide as a master composer. His Harpsichord Suites are among the finest instrumental works of the period, we are privileged to present exquisite performances by Gilbert Rowland, one of Europe’s foremost harpsichordists. The first two volumes received very positive press reviews and this third and final installment will not disappoint in the splendid playing and excellent instrument.

    More details for Volume One and Volume Two.

  • Schubert Piano Masterworks, vols 1-3 (discount set)

    Schubert Piano Masterworks, vols 1-3 (discount set)

    ANTHONY GOLDSTONE

    All three volumes of the Schubert Piano Masterworks;

    Superb recordings, critically acclaimed, by one the foremost Schubert interpreters, and all with a 25% discount if you buy all three together.
    (Digital downloads include all the booklets in PDF format)

    Explore the volumes:

  • Cantilena II – flute and piano

    Cantilena II – flute and piano

    The flute and piano duo Cantilena, made up of flautist Odinn Baldvinsson and pianist Patricia Romero, are based in the UK and are establishing a fine reputation since the release of their debut CD (also eponymous), for a wide range of repertoire, mainly Romantic, both popular and less well known. So on this superb album, we have the beautiful Concertino of Chaminade, and Dutilleux’s Sonatine, both quite well known; the Suite by Widor is a little known piece by a composer more famed for his organ music and is very much in the French Romantic mould: also exquisite is the rare Sonata by Georgian composer Taktakishvili; finally Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango – a very well known piece but amazingly this is its first ever recording in the version for flute and piano.

  • J S Bach: Keyboard Concertos

    J S Bach: Keyboard Concertos

    The Bach Keyboard Concertos are cornerstones of the baroque repertoire, for performance both on modern instruments as here, or on ‘authentic period’ fortepianos, harpsichords or clavichords. Maltese pianist Lucia Micallef is lauded wherever she performs for crisp, articulate phrasing and nuance and this shows through clearly in this beautifully balanced and lively performance. The EUCO under Brian Schembri shine and support perfectly. Among the hundreds of recordings made of these works, this one has a freshness that will make it stand out for a very long time.

  • From the British Isles – music for flute and piano

    From the British Isles – music for flute and piano

    The third in a series of albums by this leading flute and piano duo (and their seventh recording for Divine Art) in which we welcome back some iconic recordings previously issued by ASV (and long unavailable) together with some new recordings; this 2 CD set at mid price has several major works by British and Irish composers, from the early 18th to the late 20th century. As ever the duo demonstrate both remarkable virtuosity and also super musicality and depth in these mainly ‘Romantic’ works. The set is provided in luxury packaging at no extra cost, with detailed notes on the music. From the funfilled quirky and jazz-inflected Sonata by Malcolm Arnold through more ‘serious’ pieces by Leighton and Mathias, back to the late baroque sonata of John Ranish, this program is a perfect compilation of lyrical music for flute and piano.

  • Masque: Music for Organ by Carson Cooman

    Masque: Music for Organ by Carson Cooman

    Erik Simmons has recorded a second programme of fine organ music by Carson Cooman, Composer in Residence at Harvard University’s Memorial Church and one of America’s most prolific composers, writing in a variety of approachable musical styles, innovative but within traditional tonal boundaries. The previous album ‘Litany’ received rave reviews, one critic called it a ‘benchmark recording”, and this new CD will appeal very much to organ enthusiasts.

    The album is recorded on the sounds of the wonderful Marcussen organ of the Laurenskerk, in Rotterdam using the Hauptwerk system which gives full rein to the wide tonal range of the instrument, while avoiding the excessive reverberation which can spoil many organ recordings. The sound here is crisp and clear allowing full enjoyment of the music and the instrument.

  • Beyond the River God: Music for Harpsichord

    Beyond the River God: Music for Harpsichord

    A selection of works by the greatest harpsichord composer of all — François Couperin, and from contemporary British composer Graham Lynch, who is a very worthy successor with music that is expressive, descriptive, deep and exceptionally rich, showing that the harpsichord is capable of real expression.

    The Lynch pieces are receiving their first recordings. Established virtuoso Assi Karttunen is from Finland and this is her first album for Divine Art, and a showcase for her amazing talent at the keyboard.

  • Handel’s Recorder

    Handel’s Recorder

    Three of Australia’s leading early-music specialists recorded this album in collaboration with Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It contains four of Handel’s famed recorder sonatas in the early John Walsh edition, in exemplary performances.

    The major and most unusual work on the album is the John Walsh edition from the 1740s of the Music for the Royal Fireworks in a chamber version, arranged here for recorder and viola da gamba with harpsichord continuo. It was one of many variations of the work which were popular before the full orchestral version became the ‘norm’ at a much later date. While of short duration this is a program that is complete and has full integrity as a concert program.

  • Bach: Keyboard Works

    Bach: Keyboard Works

    This album was awarded a silver medal in the Global Music Awards 2018 for ‘Outstanding Achievement’.

    It is always good to welcome to our company a musician of the stature of Burkard Schliessmann, and also to present our first multichannel SACD in luxury packaging.

    This album demonstrates once again the sheer genius of Bach but also the individual and highly considered interpretative style of the performer. Schliessmann is not a purist demanding rigid tempi and ‘traditional’ baroque styling but recognises the inner soul of the music and brings it to life in a new way – thus this recording will be welcomed as a new approach even to those who know the works very well.

    Also a special inclusion on the disc is BWV 906, which Bach left as a Fantasia and an unfinished Fugue. The Fugue was completed by Busoni who also inserted the Adagio, BWV 968, which was arranged for piano either by one of Bach’s sons or by the publisher Altnickol. It makes for a highly rewarding complete work.

  • David Ellis: Concert Music

    David Ellis: Concert Music

    David Ellis has been a major figure in British music for longer than he cares to remember – a doyen of the ‘industry’ as conductor, composer, record producer and for many years head of music for BBC North. This is a super anthology of orchestral works recorded at different times by various Manchester orchestras; the style is in the best tradition of modern-approachable-impressionistic, post-Romantic if one needs a label, but the excellent music can stand without being pigeon-holed.

  • Three Generations of Mazurkas

    Three Generations of Mazurkas

    The mazurka is a traditional Polish folk dance in triple time (three beats to the bar). In the very early 1800s. Maria Szymanowska was the first composer to write formal Mazurkas for the piano. They are very short, quite simple and incredibly varied and tuneful. Only a decade or so later, Chopin developed the mazurka into an art-music form and his Opus. 7 and 17 sets are perhaps the best known. While other composers also took up the form, the most notable transformation of the mazurka was by the third Polish composer, Szymanowski, who created a full-blown Romantic style far removed from the simple original. The bright, sunny and cheerful expressiveness of the folk dance is brought out brilliantly by the young virtuoso Russian pianist Alexander Kostritsa and the album is both highly tuneful entertainment and also an insight into how a style can evolve.

  • Rimsky-Korsakov for Piano Duo

    Rimsky-Korsakov for Piano Duo

    After more than thirty years Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow can lay claim to be regarded as one of the world’s foremost piano duos, displaying stunning precision in their ensemble and remarkable musicality. Following their critically acclaimed Divine Art CDs containing transcriptions of works by Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Schubert and Chopin, they present music by Russian Romantic and exoticist Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – in the case of his most famous work, Scheherazade, and the little Neapolitan Song (which he unwittingly stole from composer Luigi Denza thinking it was a traditional folk song), the transcriptions are by the composer himself. Antar was transcribed by his wife Nadezhda Purgold, a skilled composer herself who also arranged Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet (DDA 25020).