INCLUDES WORLD COMMERCIAL RECORDINGS

Vytautas Bacevičius’s life was defined by exile and migration during the turbulent first half of the 20th century, but his impressive catalogue represents a remarkable creative spirit undimmed by adversity. Composed while studying in Paris, the youthful Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 represent Bacevičius’s nostalgia for his native Lithuania in their unselfconscious and spirited use of folk melodies, all of which contribute to their light and celebratory nature. Written not long after his arrival in the United States in 1944, the Third Symphony expresses an early optimism for the composer’s new home in its energetic, positive and confident tone, culminating in a citation of The Stars and Stripes Forever.

INCLUDES WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS

Sentimental, dynamic, exuberant, multi-talented and extremely eclectic, Francisco Mignone, whose Italian background brought a sense of universality to his musical nationalism, was a leading figure in the Brazilian music scene during the 20th century. The Clarinet Concertino and Bassoon Concertino share a nationalist idiom: the dialogues between soloist and orchestra extend into expressive duets with the exciting use of rapid embolada – a Brazilian form of poetry and song. The elegant Guitar Concerto is filled with drama and vitality, while the Violin Concerto was summed up by one critic as ‘the greatest work of this challenging genre in the history of Brazilian music’.

^† WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING

Gustav Mahler arranged Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 ‘Death and the Maiden’ by expanding it into a grand orchestral spectacle. It reveals his admiration for Schubert and serves to intensify the quartet’s journey through life, death and human resilience in this fusion of two great composers’ musical visions. Airat Ichmouratov’s Concerto Grosso No. 3 is subtitled ‘Liechtenstein’ and draws on the country’s breathtaking scenery and music in an expressive and virtuoso orchestral exploration. It was composed specifically for Alexander Gilman and the LGT Young Soloists, one of the most successful touring youth orchestras throughout the world.

Albert Hermann Dietrich is best known through his association with the Schumanns and his friendship with Brahms, but as this recording shows, his contribution to this circle’s artistic activities went further than promoting their works as music director at the small grand-ducal court of Oldenburg. The Symphony in D minor has a strong kinship with Brahms and was one of the most frequently performed new symphonies of its day, while the originality and variety of orchestral colour in the Violin Concerto are impressive enough to have earned it a place in the concert repertory.

Rued Langgaard’s remarkable opera Antikrist confronts the decline and fall of Western civilisation, critiquing modern lifestyles and ways of thinking, which resonates with our times more than ever before. Never performed in the composer’s lifetime, Antikrist blends Romantic and contemporary styles to create a score that is both seductive and opulent, while the lack of a conventional plot creates space for an ironic and sarcastic exposé of contemporary civilisation’s weaknesses. This spectacular Deutsche Oper Berlin production was acclaimed in The New York Times as a ‘riotously colourful, boldly stylised staging [in] a near-breathless swirl’.

Marco Enrico Bossi gained fame as one of the most influential Italian organ virtuosos of his day, and as a composer who helped lay the foundations for a new tradition of instrumental music in a country dominated by opera. Bossi’s First Violin Sonata has cyclical forms and a density of ideas that put it in line with César Franck’s famous sonata, with melodies as expressive as those of Rachmaninov. The Second Violin Sonata recalls a Classical style that refers more to Beethoven and Brahms while displaying the eloquence of Bossi’s personal idiom. Both of these works reveal a composer whose chamber music stands equal to the most renowned works produced in the late 19th century.

The versatility of Catalan songs has seen them much in use in arrangements for violin and piano, with Fritz Kreisler and Joseph Szigeti enthusiastic champions of their virtuoso potential and melodic charm. In addition to arrangements, this programme has plenty of original works for violin including Gaspar Cassadó’s substantial Violin Sonata, Enrique Granados’s fulsome Romanza and Federico Mompou’s rhapsodic Altitud, with Jordi Cervelló’s sparkling ‘test piece’ Prova di violino bringing us well into the 21st century.

INCLUDES A WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING

This album brings together Kodály’s complete organ music with the world premiere recording of Ernő Dohnányi’s only piece for organ, the eloquent Fantasie. Sokola’s intense and compelling Passacaglia holds a special place in the organ repertoire, Wiedermann’s Pastorale dorico was composed during the dark days of the Second World War, and Novák’s attractive Prelude is a study in subdued tonal contrasts. Zoltán Kodály’s organ works have a distinct musical language unlike any other composer, with the imposing Organoedia ad missam lectam being amongst his most important non-choral works from the post-war era, and Epigrams, originally for voice and piano, heard here in a transcription by Gábor Trajtler.

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS

John Corigliano is one of America’s most distinguished composers whose music, as Leonard Slatkin writes, ‘belongs to the world’. Corigliano originally conceived his setting of Bob Dylan songs Mr. Tambourine Man for voice and piano, then orchestrated it (this version can be heard on 8.559331) and some years later transcribed it for chamber forces. The performance heard here is the first recording of this final version. The cycle traces a dramatic journey, from exuberance to premonition, and finally to a vision of the victory of ideas. It is coupled with Vincent Ho’s Gryphon Realms, a virtuosic and mystical work for piano trio, coursing with serpent-like motifs and primal energy.

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS

Grace Williams’ lifelong interest in vocal writing no doubt owed something to her upbringing in Wales. The original works heard here in their premiere recordings span the entirety of her career, ranging from her earliest surviving composition in any genre to 1967’s Fear no more the heat o’ the sun. Williams’ folk song arrangements were often commissions for BBC children’s programmes, and while her craftsmanship is evident irrespective of the song’s country of origin, her stylistic fingerprints are most firmly placed on her understated setting of the beautiful Welsh love song, Cariad Cyntaf.

9.70372*

Grace WILLIAMS
Mari Lwyd (‘Grey Mare’) • To Deat

* Only available for download and streaming

FINAL VOLUME

Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music, two of his greatest orchestral achievements, have become synonymous with mid-18th-century England and with the pomp, ceremony and tradition of British royalty. But is this music necessarily synonymous with Handel? Where did his eclecticism and experimentalism come from? How and why did he conquer the emerging genre of the English oratorio and what were the circumstances that allowed him to become one of opera’s greatest composers? This revealing audio biography is accompanied by musical examples drawn from his orchestral and instrumental music, his cantatas, oratorios, operas and those two famous royal commissions.

Dedicated to spreading awareness of Carnatic (South Indian classical) music throughout the West, Jyotsna Srikanth interprets compositions from revered 15th and 18th-century Carnatic composers. Exhibiting a range of beautiful ragas derived from the traditional Melakarta system, all pieces feature her exceptional fingering technique and the delightful fusion of musical expression and emotion.

The New & Now playlist features all that is new and exciting in the world of classical music, whether it’s new music, new presentations or new performers. With more than 200 new releases each year, and artists from around the world, there is always something new to discover with Naxos.