As ever, Anthony Goldstone as both pianist and, in some cases, arranger, has produced a startlingly original and vibrant program. Here, music originally written for concert or operatic performance is presented in little known transcriptions, all but one in fact here receiving their first recording. An important and rare addition to the Tchaikovsky canon. Volume 2 contains transcriptions of music from Tchaikovsky’s ballets.
Label: Divine Art
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Hans Gál – The Complete Piano Duos
The music of Austrian composer Hans Gál is being rediscovered and appreciated more and more for its infectious tunefulness and verve, and bears close comparison with the music of Dvorak and the other mid European late Romantics. Here is the first and only recording of his works for piano duo : the album was previously released on Olympia but only weeks before that label’s demise, so it will be new to almost everyone.
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Madrigali: Fire and Roses
An intensely beautiful programme, delectably performed. Paul Mealor’s choir gives a stunning performance of original 16th century madrigals and some modern counterparts, including the fabulous Madrigali of Morten Lauridsen. Of Mealor, we have the awesomely beautiful ‘Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal’ cycle, of which the first movement was personally chosen by Prince William and Kate Middleton (now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) as the musical centerpiece of the April royal wedding service (re-set to the words of ‘Ubi Caritas’).
This is the original version, conducted by the composer, and thus 100% authentic.
Paul Mealor’s work is also available as a download-only single, Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal (DDS 29002). It was also featured in the soundtrack of the award-winning documentary “Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen” (DVD 003).
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Terzetti: Trios for Flute, Viola and Harp
This disc contains beautifully atmospheric 20th century works for flute, viola and harp, from the well known Zodiac Trio of Mathias, to the lesser-known gem by Dubois. Three of Britain’s foremost soloists join to provide a memorable program.
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Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
This special digital-only EP release contains a very special piece of music: Paul Mealor’s short choral cycle Now sleeps the crimson petal; adapted, as ‘Ubi Caritas’ for the 2011 Royal Wedding; its four poems set with such skill as to make this one of the most astonishingly superb choral works of our age. The EP is also a ‘taster’ for the full album Madrigali: Fire and Roses which also features ancient madrigals and a brilliant extended work, Madrigali, by American composer Morten Lauridsen, available in both CD and download: DDA25094.
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J S Bach – 4 Klavierkonzerte
Bach’s Concertos for keyboard and chamber orchestra are rightly acknowledged as masterpieces of the genre, and among the first truly great concertos of the Baroque/Early Classical period. They are performed with a wide variety of instrumentation, and here Peter Seivewright plays a modern Steinway Model D grand piano, accompanied by a baroque size ensemble, also using modern instruments, but in the authentic one-to-a-part style. The continuo here is provided, again authentically, by the Spanish guitar, which gives a warmer sound than the more common harpsichord.
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Russian Piano Music Vol. 8 – Mussorgsky
An individual and strongly gifted composer, Mussorgsky was a self-taught amateur who became one of Russia’s foremost 19th century musical figures, tragically dying young. This CD contains ‘alternative’ versions of many pieces to those most commonly heard – including the manuscript version of ‘Pictures’ avoiding the many substantial errors contained in the first edition and perpetuated – and three even earlier drafts, together with unusual versions of some works. Once again Anthony Goldstone provides a phenomenal performance.
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Rainlight – Evocations of Water for Piano Solo
From the gentle to the torrential, water in nature affects, blesses (and afflicts) us in many ways, and composers have been drawn to this theme time and again. Here one of the world’s brightest young pianists, in his first CD for us, pulls together a stunning programme representing little raindrops and fountains to oceans and stormy tempests, and including five very fine and atmospheric new pieces by British-Australian composer Alicia Grant.
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Delicias – Spanish Delights for Piano Duo
Spain, with its location at the southern tip of western Europe, and its exotic history, has developed a unique music tradition, more aligned, through the influence of the Islamic Moorish period, with the middle east than with the more northern parts of Europe. This cultural uniqueness has attracted hosts of non-Spanish composers to write ‘Spanish’ pieces many of which have become staples of the repertoire. This programme includes some favourites – but in unfamiliar guise – and some wonderful and little known gems too. Full of zest, fire and ‘soul’. Several premiere recordings.
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Russian Piano Music, Vol. 7 – Prokofiev
This album is taken from live performances in England between 2000 and 2005 by Russian pianist Sergei Dukachev and includes the Second and Seventh Sonatas, Visions Fugitives, and extracts from the composer’s piano transcription of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Dukachev is gaining an enthusiastic following in the UK as well as in his native Russia, and the brilliance of these concert performances demonstrates why.
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Russian Piano Music, vol. 6 – Rachmaninov
Our acclaimed series continues with one of the acknowledged masters of Romantic music, Sergei Rachmaninov. This album is taken from live performances in England between 1999 and 2005 by Russian pianist Sergei Dukachev and includes some favourite Preludes and Etudes, the Second Sonata and the relatively rarely-heard Variations. Dukachev is gaining an enthusiastic following in the UK as well as in his native Russia, and the brilliance of these concert performances demonstrates why.
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Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 1
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, and eight of those are presented here by Gilbert Rowland, one of Europe’s foremost harpsichordists.
These two well-filled discs are a real bargain for such accomplished performances.
More details for Volume Two and Volume Three.