Divine Art Records

Period: Contemporary

  • Sea Dream – Carson Cooman Organ Music volume 9

    Sea Dream – Carson Cooman Organ Music volume 9

    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 includes several works written to honor fellow musicians and the fine Organ Symphony No. 2, a work of restraint and mainly pastoral mood.

    Erik Simmons is a superb organist, making his ninth Cooman organ album for Divine Art. He is playing the main and transept organs of Laurenskerk,  Rotterdam, recorded through the Hauptwerk system.

    This is volume 9 of this highly praised series. Volumes 10 and 11 have been recorded and are scheduled for release in 2019.

  • Artyomov: Requiem

    Artyomov: Requiem

    Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. Since the fall of the Soviet regime his music has travelled the world to great acclaim. It 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 Requiem, together with his massive Symphony cycles, was the work which brought enormous acclaim to Artyomov both in Russia and in the USA. It was the first Requiem to be written by a Russian after the 1917 Revolution and the first to be performed in the former USSR. Dedicated ‘to the Martyrs of Long-Suffering Russia’ it is a true masterpiece in which several parts of the mass are given treatments very different from the ‘norm’. Exciting, moving and bristling with power and passion, this is a Requiem to stand alongside the established great Requiems of the past. The performers are those who gave the Moscow premiere, and give a stunning performance.
    Soloists: Yelena Brilova, Inna Polianskaya & Lyubov Sharnina (Sopranos); Alexei Martynov (tenor); Mikhail Lanskoi (baritone); Andrei Azovsky (treble);
    Oleg Yanchenko (organ); Sveshnikov Boy’s Chorus; Kaunas State Chorus.

  • Artyomov: A Symphony of Elegies, etc.

    Artyomov: A Symphony of Elegies, etc.

    Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. After the fall of the Soviet regime his music has travelled the world to great acclaim. It 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. It continues with the Symphony of Elegies – a total contrast to his other massive and intense symphonies, being ethereal, generally very quiet and evoking a sense of timelessness.
    The album is completed by two more major works – ‘Awakening’ for violin duo, and ‘Incantations’ featuring the heavenly voice of the late Lydia Davydova with four percussionists. (note that on early Melodiya recordings, this work was described as ‘invocations’). An album full of really inspired masterpieces.

  • Women of History – organ music by Carlotta Ferrari

    Women of History – organ music by Carlotta Ferrari

    The five compositions on this album are inspired by the lives and works of five women from history. Carlotta Ferrari has composed numerous pieces inspired by historical figures as well as pieces inspired by literature and works of art. Several of these directions are brought together in the five compositions on this album, which celebrate three religious figures, an artist, and a writer. In Ferrari’s distinctive modal style, she creates expressive musical portraits of these women.

    Beautifully performed by Carson Cooman, this album features the exquisite sounds of the Main Organ (Marcussen & Son, 1973) of the Laurenskerk, Rotterdam, captured through the Hauptwerk system.

  • Zephyr (Carson Cooman Organ Music vol. 8)

    Zephyr (Carson Cooman Organ Music vol. 8)

    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. The music in this program, most of which was composed in 2016 and 2017, is varied and consists of a delightful mix of secular concert works and liturgically based pieces.

    Erik Simmons is a fine organist, making his eighth Cooman organ album for Divine Art. He is presenting the fine sounds of the Rosales organ of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, recorded through the Hauptwerk system.

    This is volume 8 of this highly praised series, which now extends to 13 volumes in all.

  • Artyomov: The Way to Olympus and other works

    Artyomov: The Way to Olympus and other works

    Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. After the fall of the Soviet regime his music has travelled the world to great acclaim. It 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 continues with the magisterial symphony The Way to Olympus, chamber orchestral works and Preludes to Sonnets, Artyomov’s only solo piano work.

    Recorded at the height of achievement of the major Soviet orchestras, conducted by major figures including the universally acclaimed Rozhdestvensky.

  • Rawsthorne and Other Rarities

    Rawsthorne and Other Rarities

    In one sense this is a sequel to the recent release ‘A Garland for John McCabe’ (DDA 25166) – originally intended as a 2nd disc in that set, but it grew to be a full album in its own right, and is also dedicated to McCabe with first recordings of works by McCabe’s fellow composers. Just as importantly it is a feast of fine music by British and American composers, all (except one very short track) recorded for the first time, including principally music by Alan Rawsthorne – the early and jolly String Quartet in B minor, the Chamber Cantata, and the piano version of the remarkable ‘Practical Cats’.

    Clare Wilkinson is receiving rave reviews for her work and is a mezzo with beautiful tone; veteran baritone Mark Rowlinson is the fine reciter of ‘Cats’. John Turner, one of the leading recorder players of today and former member of many world-renowned early-music ensembles, and pianist Peter Lawson, another highly regarded performer who has played with most top British orchestras and has a long and distinguished recording and teaching career, are joined by keyboard maestro Harvey Davies and the very fine Solem Quartet.

  • Schächer & Willscher – Organ works

    Schächer & Willscher – Organ works

    This recording features music by two German composers: Raimund Schächer (b.1960) and Andreas Willscher (b.1955). Each composer is represented by three varied, yet characteristic, pieces. Raimund Schächer’s years of work as an editor of late medieval and early Renaissance keyboard music show in the free modality and early-influenced forms of his compositions. Andreas Willscher’s deep interest in French romanticism and eclectic musical interests (drawing on both classical and non-classical sources) are displayed in his pieces.

    Carson Cooman (b.1982) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms—ranging from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents. As an active concert organist, Cooman specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Over 300 new works have been composed for him by composers from around the world, and his organ performances can be heard on a number of recordings of which this is his third for Divine Art.

    The recording was made on the Mathias Orgelbau instrument of 1997/2006 in the Pfarrkirche St. Peter-und-Paul, Görlitz, Germany, in a live performance using the Hauptwerk system.

  • Vyacheslav Artyomov: Sola Fide

    Vyacheslav Artyomov: Sola Fide

    Vyacheslav Artyomov is considered by many to be Russia’s greatest living composer. After the fall of the Soviet regime his music has travelled the world to great acclaim. It 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.

    Following the critical acclaim of his first two Divine Art albums, this program includes his Concerto for Chamber Orchestra ‘Tempo Costante’ and two suites from the ballet ‘Sola Fide’ (‘Only by Faith’) which is based on the novel The Road to Calvary by Aleksey Tolstoy; it shares an ethos and much music with Artyomov’s celebrated Requiem hence the choral elements found in the ballet score.

    These premiere recordings herald a series of another 8 albums of music by Artyomov.

  • Owl Night – Carson Cooman Organ Music vol. 7

    Owl Night – Carson Cooman Organ Music vol. 7

    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. The music in this programme, all composed in 2016 and 2017, is varied and consists of concert pieces (though suitable for church use) as opposed to explicitly liturgical works.

    Erik Simmons is a fine organist, making his seventh Cooman organ album for Divine Art. He is playing the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Abbey of Saint-Etienne, Caen, France in a live performance recorded through the Hauptwerk system.

    This is volume 7 of this highly praised series. Volumes 8-13 are now also available.

  • Nan Schwartz & Brenton Broadstock – Orchestral Music

    Nan Schwartz & Brenton Broadstock – Orchestral Music

    As a woman composer who has carved an enviable reputation inside the crucible of the Hollywood Film Music business, Nan Schwartz nonetheless remains an enigma to orchestras and concert music audiences around the world. This apparent anomaly can, in part, be ascribed to the imbalance in respect to opportunities for women composers generally, but given that Nan is a Grammy winner, 5-time Grammy nominee and seven-time Emmy nominee, it remains perplexing that the classical music world has taken so long to recognize her indisputable genius.

    This album beautifully directed by the eminent Australian conductor, Kevin Purcell, brings to light through these premiere recordings the extraordinary music of this iconic, contemporary, American composer.

    The album further includes the premiere recording of a new Concerto for orchestra composed as a paean to Miles Davis’s 1959 iconic Jazz album, ‘Kind of Blue’, by leading Australian composer, Brenton Broadstock.

    BOOKLET IN ENGLISH, JAPANESE AND TRADITIONAL CHINESE

  • A Garland for John McCabe

    A Garland for John McCabe

    John McCabe was almost a legend in his own lifetime, acknowledged as one of the foremost British composers of our time and also as a brilliant pianist who championed the work of many contemporary composers. Following his recent death, 19 composers wrote pieces in tribute for an ensemble of clarinet, recorder, viola and piano (and variations of the mix) which are now collected into this album which is lovingly dedicated to John’s memory and also to his widow Monica, who was a tireless support and who now works to promote his musical legacy. We are grateful for her contributions to this project.

    Leading instrumentalists include Linda Merrick (clarinet) who is Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music; Alistair Vennart (viola) whose career is blooming both as soloist and founder member of the Solem Quartet; John Turner, one of the leading recorder players of today and former member of many world-renowned early-music ensembles, and pianist Peter Lawson, another highly regarded performer who has played with most top British orchestras and a long and distinguished recording and teaching career.