271 Results for : stravinsky
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Son Et Lumiare
Review of Son et Lumiere by Gordon Lewin, CASS A CD of familiar fare played with brio and confidence by MP, possessed of an enviable technique and a nimble tongue. The Debussy receives virtuoso treatment, with it's lyric poetry well contrasted with the Gallic scamperings of the Solo de Concours. The tone is warm and expressive, tho' sounding a trifle forced in fortissimo - (recording balance?). Poulenc and Saint Saens are played with panache and great assurance, and full opportunity is taken to explore the more virtuosic passages. Legato sections come over with a pleasing freedom of phrasing, as does the first of the Stravinsky Three pieces. From this point on it is flamboyance all the way. W. Josephs' Sonata, one of the most individually melodic and rhythmic works to appear in the clarinet lists of works in recent years, is interpreted in glittering style. The CD ends with impressively virtuosic performances of Caneval of Venezia, and Flight of B. Bee. These two technically demanding classics positively bubble with exuberance held under fine control. A CD of stature from a fine exponent of the instrument. Review of Son et Lumiere June 2002 issue of 'The Clarinet'. ICA International Clarinettists Association Released in 1996, Son et lumiere features an excellent first recording of Wilfred Joseph's attractive Sonata No. 2 for clarinet and piano, and concludes with two virtuosic showpeices. Brittish clarinetist Martin Powell, born in London in 1962, won a scholarship at the age of 16 to study with Georgina Dobree. From 1981-85 he continued his study with Dobree at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won the Geoffrey Hawkes Prize, the John Solomon Wind Soloist Prize, and placed both first and second in the Nicholas Blake Ensemble Prize. He was also awarded the Leslie Martin Scholarship and a major award from the Ian Fleming Trust. His other teachers have included: Bill Ducker, Richard Addison, Guy Deplus, Thea King and David Campbell. A runnerup in the International Clarinet Congress Competition, Powell has performed in Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Spain. He appeared as soloist with the New English Orchestra performing Mozart's Concerto in Salzburg, Seining and London, and in 1999 he was a finalist in the Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist Competition. Pianist Stephen Robbins studied with Hamish Milne and Alexander Kelly at the Royal Academy of Music. He holds a M. Mus. degree from the University of Surrey. The opening selection is a technically polished perormance of Claude Debussy's Premiere Rapsodie. Powell plays with a well focused sound throughout the instrument's range, adding just a hint of vibrato at times. Andre Messager's Solo de concours, written for the Paris Conservatory's 1899 competition, is one of the more frequently performed pieces of this genre. Much of this performance emphasizes technical brilliance. The 'andante' is beautifully played with a nice sense of rubato. The cadenza is performed with exuberance, and the final 'allegro vovo' flies. Both Poulenc's Sonata (1962) and Saint-Saens' Sonata (1921) are given solid performances by clarinetist and pianist alike. Powell plays with fine control and lyricism in the slow movements and remarkable technical facility in the fast movements. Igor Stravinsky's Three Pieces (1919) are given convincing performances, although the brilliant final piece loses much of it's rhythmic drive and vigor because of the excessively fast tempo. The appearance of an inexplicable piano chord at the end of the first line of the second piece is certainly an error in editing the CD. Wilfred Joseph's compelling Sonata No. 2 was composed in 1988 for Martin Powell, who gave it's first performance with pianist Stephen Robbings at the Harrogate International Festival in 1990. Josephs' Sonata No. 1, Op. 148, composed only a few weeks before this work, was also dedicated to Powell. The works of Josephs (born Newcastle, England, 1927, died 1997) include 12 symphonies, 22 concertos, overtures, chamber music, operas, ballets, vocal works, and more than 200 scores for television and film. His Sonata No. 2 (publishedby Lengnick in 1990) for clarinet in A is approximately 12 minutes in length. Powell and Robbings fully capture the charm of this appealing work in this recording. Together they bring out the lyric beauty the opening 'moderato' with it's broad flowing lines, the rhythmic inventiveness of the delightful 'intermezzo,' and the rhythmic drive of the concluding 'vivo leggiero.' Martin Powell's playing is at it's best in this work. His tone is resonant and well focused, the rhythm precise, and his high register playing is excellent. The work is characterized by long phrases, perpetual motion effects, and a scarcity of rests all handled expertly by Powell. Powell exhibits a fine sense of hubato and virtuostic technical ability in Giampieri's brilliant Il Carnevale di Venezia. The concluding work, The Fight of the Bumble Bee, Transcribed by H.Wl Davis, is played at breakneck speed and displays Powell's remarkable technical facility. While the recorded sound is somewhat bright,the instruments are nicely balanced and the overall quality is good. Program notes are included. Martin Powell is a remarkable clarinetist and I recommend this recording. Review in the Australian Clarinet and Saxophone, Volume 5, Number 1 March 2002 Son et Lumiere Music Concertante MCCD1 Martin Powell - Clarinet Stephen Robbings- Piano The literal translation of this disc's title, Son et Lumiere, is sound and light. Martin Powell set out to break the barriers of both when he considered tempos for the recording. This is not to say that his metronome is permanently calibrated 10 notches above the rest of the world, for he is very good at sustaining interest and line at a slower pace, but he is not reserved when it comes to unleashing his formidable technique through liquidity of tonque and fingers. He is an artist of extremes, often striving toward the limits of dynamic range, tempo ( both slow and fast) and at one or two places, towards extremes of good taste - if such a thing can indeed be measured. For all these reasons I have grown to enjoy this disc, honouring it with repeated listening. The repertoire is a satisfying and mostly familiar compilation, including the Sonatas of Poulenc and Saint-Saens, the Premiere Rhapsodie and Solo de Concours from Debussy and Messager, Stravinsky's Three Pieces and the inherently flamboyant Il Carnevale di Venezia of Giampieri. Concluding the recording is Rimsky-Korsakoff's Flight of the Bumble Bee. A special treat on this disc is the inclusion of Wilfred Joseph's Calrinet Sonata No 2 Op. 149. Josephs' first sonata was written for Martin Powell in 1988. Like Brahms, Josephs loved the sound of the clarinet so much that he began work on a second sonata immediately. Sonata No.2 was prepiered in 1990. The first movement is beautifully enigmatic exquisite lyrical lines that interrupt a recurring darkness. The interplay between Powell and pianist Robbings is excellent. Powell displays some delicate articulation in the buoyant and playful second movement and movement three is infectious and charming. There is on intriguing addition to the performance of Stravinsky's Three Pieces for clarinet solo. Early in the second piece is a random and oddly placed piano chord which had me on the reverse button a number of times. A devilish image comes to mind of someone accidentally leaning on the keyboard during Powell's best take. Not for a second should this oddity overshadow Powell's playing, which is brimming with skill and character, a statement that could be made about his performance in general. He exhibits sensitive softer playing in the Debussy, Poulenc, Saint-Saiens and particularly the Josephs. At the other end, a strident tone was sometimes the result of pusing for mazimum contrast. This desire to push for extremes is exactly why this disc is appealing. The communication between the p- Shop: odax
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Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, Fireworks
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Eighty-Two Feet of Water
"Love the bass guitar and it will reveal it's secrets to you." George Washington Carver said that, or something like it. Joel T Johnson played bass for years in pit orchestras, progressive rock bands, jazz bands, philharmonic orchestras and for blues and country artists. He traveled the Country and parts of the world collecting sights and thinking up stories along the way. He loved the bass guitar and it indeed told him it's secrets. But the paradigm of popular music has always relied on the bass as the draft horse to carry the heavy load: the pulse and substance of the musical groove. How to break from this limiting box, he often wondered. While playing for others, Joel worked hard to develop his own singing voice, a deep, powerful instrument that defies comparison with any other recorded singer. Wide in both dynamic range, pitch and style it is a story-telling siren worthy conveying his stories and emotions, subtle and profound. The Album: Johnson knew he would have to develop some pretty ground-breaking playing techniques to bring the bass front and center in a meaningful and enduring way. He also knew that meant temporarily banishing the guitar from most of his musical landscape to allow peoples' ears to fully enjoy the non-traditional voice of the bass guitar as he played it. Only three tracks on the entire album feature any guitar at all! This pot is boiling with many ingredients, eclectic and traditional alike. The resulting soup and goes down like comfort food on a rainy day. Through his effects there is a collection of groove driven, song-centered pieces that contain both power and nuance. The masterful arrangements include blues harmonica, string sections, killer drums, eclectic percussion, fiddle, banjo, nylon string and steel string acoustic guitar, electric slide guitar, native American flute and even a 'Wilhelm scream'. The songs: It's not enough to have a bass guitar pounding out blues, rock and ballads like you've never heard. Great songs are where the rubber meets the road. Joel T Johnson's notes, words and performance weave together riveting stories across a backdrop of Americana that will bring cinematic pictures to your imagination more vivid than any music video. • "Eighty-two Feet of Water" begins with the sounds of a shipwreck. It is post World War I, a man survives to watch all his shipmates drown and spends the rest of his life running from the haunting sea. This no-nonsense no-guitar riff rocker, with larger-than-life drums and kick-ass bass, doesn't relent any more than the sailor's nightmares and the music even kicks up a notch when he finds a solution to his torment. • "Rain Don't Follow the Plow." An innovative claw hammer/thumb bass technique sounds at once like old back-porch blues and a fresh sound, as if you were in 1930 hearing the blues for the first time. Johnson plays a ripping solo while grinding out droning monk-like Tuvan tone singing. The song tells the tale of a nineteenth century farmer watching helplessly as his farm turns to dust, he regrets believing the government's crackpot theory about the climate. By the song's end it has imperceptibly morphed into a rocker. • "Sugar on the Snow." We know right away that this song turns a corner musically when we here nylon string guitar and strings paint a picture of an icy winter landscape. A man walks across the ice after a fight with his wife. Both the tale and the music unfold with page-turning excitement. With nearly 'Sergeant Pepper's' level production, the instrumentation reaches it's climax as the story does. By the end of the song it's hard to believe your journey along with this music album has taken you so far in just three songs. And you've just begun. • "Clay Jones is Dead" Somewhere in backwoods America a young girls marriage enrages a jealous old beau, but it's okay: "justice been done, need to wake the sheriff." The upright bass, drum and Hammond organ somehow strike a harmony between a hip jazz riff and an old timey ballad as this tale of revenge unfolds to it's surprise conclusion. • "Blood from a Stone" sounds like a rippin' blues classic you'd somehow forgotten about. Screaming blues harp and intense SVR/Hendrix-like chords hit from the starting gate. Then you remember reading in the liners notes that this song contains no guitar! • "Actually, That Is a Banana In My Pocket (but I'm always glad to see you)" is a break-neck, jaw-dropping instrumental that tells it's own story through an evolution of styles and bass guitar techniques that will have you hunting for the Youtube video so you can figure out how the heck he's doing that. • "The Barn" uses a World music vibe of exotic instrumentation and percussion like frame drums and Native Amercian flutes as well as traditional and distorted bass guitar to help tell a tale of the mortality of a old barn and other things. • "What'd You Say to My Old Lady?" '...that made that poor girl cry?' Another tune that has a brand new and innovative approach to blues sounding like it's been done that way for fifty years and the master tapes were simply buried under a dusty stack of National Geographics. The buzz saw bass solo-yes Virginia, that's a bass-has the tubes in Joel T Johnson's amp glowing red hot! And how many blues tunes feature a dynamic and lyrical drum solo? • "Loser's Treason" Is a sad yet hopeful tale of picking up the pieces after betrayal and the infinite capacity of real friendship. Spotless and spot-on production and a simple but beautiful bass line frame a simple idea that friendship is more powerful than the careless actions that attempt to tear it apart. • "Rice Crispies and Gin" Turn off the lights to listen to this thoroughly creepy tune... or maybe don't! This semi-a cappella droner successfully stalks the line between country and avant garde. Perhaps the reason this is one of Joel T Johnson's most requested tunes is the edge-of-your-seat story and matching surprise musical ending. Once again, Johnson brings innovation to town by accomplishing all this using only bass guitar, upright bass and his own voice. • "The Cider Miller's Daughter" If you're still wonderfully creeped-out from "Rice Crispies and Gin" this sweet tune gently puts all your stuffing back where it was. Fiddle, banjo and spoons keep the porch swing swaying gently and, one more time, in a way that sounds it could have been a country song many years ago It's that classic: boy meets girl, boy attempts to use his record collection to get a few intimate slow dances out of girl, girl really just wants to dance fast and stomp, story that has you longing for your youth and a simpler time when it was okay to be a little foolish. The Recording: A three-year-old PC laptop, less than five hundred dollars total in microphones, and a semi-finished pool house, would anyone be bragging about such limited recording tools if the results weren't extraordinary? Extensive use of room mics and natural reverb makes the ground breaking album open sounding not muted and lifeless like so many home-brew projects. Influences: The Blue Nile, Thomas Dolby, Junior Wells, Johnny Cash, Igor Stravinsky, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Primus, Rush, Yes, Genesis, John Lee Hooker, Jeff Buckley, Danny Gatton, Joe Jackson, Tony Levin, Pat Methany, Howlin' Wolf, Mew, Joe Bonamassa.- Shop: odax
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Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Nothern Sinfonia, Thomas Zehetmair (Dir) / Nothern Sinfonia, Thomas Zehetmair (Violine, Dir)- Shop: odax
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Fire & Ice
Pianist, Rebecca-Sen Chan was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She played her first public recital at the age of six when her remarkable talent was already in evidence. Wrote the Daily Times (British Columbia) "Piano competition sensation...many pianists would envy her tone control. Bravo!.....fingers of steel!'' Before taking residency in the United States Rebecca-Sen Chan attained top prizes in competitions attracting the interest of artists worldwide. She was sponsored by the Nickel Foundation of Canada to further her career to study with Soulimna Stravinsky. At the Interlochen Centre for the Arts, she was the recipient of the Van Cliburn Award. Ms. Chan's performances at the Banff Centre and the Aspen Music Festival were well received with invitations to return in subsequent years. As a master student of the famed British pianist, Clive Lythgoe, she was promptly engaged in a series of solo recitals and concerto appearances. Her orchestral debut with the members of the Cleveland Orchestra playing the Liszt E Flat Major concerto was a huge success which led to specially featured performances on WCLV-FM, Cleveland's fine arts station as well as other stations on the east coast and CBC of Canada. Interlochen's classical music station IPR played her new album " Fire and Ice" during the 2008 summer festival. As a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Rebecca-Sen Chan has continued to distinguish herself in recitals and concerto appearances. She had the deep honour of working with American concert pianist, Elena Guirola Hitchcock, who passed on the legacy of her teacher, Egon Petri. Her West Coast recital debut at Stanford University was generously promoted by Adolph Baller of the Alma Trio. She was then immediately engaged to perform the Mozart K453 concerto in San Francisco marking her West Coast concerto debut. Teaching the art of practice, discipline, love of music and mentoring young talent has been an important part of being a performing artist. She continues to work with students in master classes and as a guest lecturer. ''Fire and Ice'' marks her first of a series of albums.- Shop: odax
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Vox Balaenae
VOX BALAENAE The musical project: The spells generated from the Sea are really multiple: the scents of the waves, the colours of the sea bottom, the rainbows created by the waves, the voices of the marine animals and so on. The miracles of nature have always fascinated man: poets, writers, painters, sculptors have all tried, in their own arts, to recall and reproduce the majesty of the sea. Yet the musician has always made more than the other artists: through the ethereal language of music he has often tried to ravish and imitate the voice of the sea. Games of sounds, cries and voices have been reproduced in an evocative musical journey entitled Vox Balaenae: the listener is driven into a surreal and suggestive world in which all kinds of musical expressions are melted in a unique performance following a complex process of interaction. Vox Balaenae opens a new frontier in the world of contemporary art, breaking with the traditional representative patterns: a journey in which acoustic and electronic vibrations are melted and impressed on the disc to be infinitely reproduced for people living thousands of kilometers far from the charming places of the Sorrentine Coastline, the very place where live recordings have been made in suggestive grottos and gorges. In the Vox Balaenae universe listening, feeling and meditating change into a symphony of the senses where innovation and creativity are interwoven in a continuous dialogue among modern concepts, knowledge and techniques. In other words there is the transposition of the traditional live concert into a "sensorial disc". Vox Balaenae, a project wholly planned and cured by Alessandro Crosta and Nadia Testa, borrows it's title from the homonymous aquatic and evocative work composed in 1971 by George Crumb, an American composer now considered one of the best representatives of the musique d'avanguard. Inspired to a recording of the voices of whales, the first track imitates and transfigures the sounds of nature, which are musically ri-elaborated. The American composer, still living, has wisely reproduced the voice of the whale and all the sounds of the sea and it's creatures (such as dolphins, gulls and so on) by using classical instruments (such as the piano, the flute, the cello and the crotales) in an experimental way thanks to it's innovative techniques of amplification and technical exploration. Among the following tracks there are Vermont Counterpoint by S. Reich, and some reproductions of marine sounds lively recorded by Alessandro Crosta ad Nadia Testa. The musical journey starts from contemporary music to go back to the beginning of the XXth century with Debussy, whose music is proposed in a modernized polyphonic version: "The future as a mirror of the past". Tracks are preceded by the listening of natural samples recorded on the sea of Sorrento (natural set of the disc) which, insinuating in each gorge, succeeds in emanating voices of an uncontaminated nature, unique in the world. The Artists: Alessandro Crosta, Flutist Alessandro Crosta, polyflutist and composer, is a young Italian versatile and innovative musician. His repertoire goes from the traditional literature for flute to the contemporary music as well as the electronic one. In his performances he exhibits in a vast range of roles: he has played as a soloist flute with a lot of European Orchestras (Orchestra dei Professori del Teatro S. Carlo - Napoli, Orchestra Arcenciel - Zurich, Minsk Orchestra - Belarus, Plovdiv Orchestra - Bulgaria, Orchestra Craiova - Romania), he has toured with the Italian pianist Nadia Testa as well as with the Belgian "Le Vraie Note Trio", and he has worked with several composers like Roland Moser (Switzerland), Wolfgang Rhim (Germany) and Arnoldo Antunas (Brazil). He has been on concert tours to Italy, the USA, Israel, Spain, France, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Malta, Tunisia, Bahamas, Greece, Turkey, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Grenada, Ucraine, the UK, Argentina, Croatia, Uruguay, British Virgin Islands, Reunion, Denmark, Switzerland, Senegal, Cyprus, Libya, Tenerife, Funchal, Antigua and Barbados. Several CD recordings show his inclusive musical interests. As a flute-collector, he usually makes exhibition-concerts showing and playing his instruments (about 40 ca. Ancient and modern flutes from the XVIIth to the XXth century). Playing ancient flutes he succeeds in reproducing sound now forgotten, while playing modern flutes he is able to create new sounds and unexpected atmospheres. Nowadays he is composing a new kind of music with electroacoustic techniques applied to Flutes. He took the first degree with full marks at the 'D. Cimarosa' Conservatory of Avellino (Italy) with Nicola Caiazza and the master summa cum laude at IMP "G. Braga" of Teramo (Italy). After perfecting his technique with Conrad Klemm, he moved to Switzerland where in 2005 he took the 'Konzert Diplom' at the Musikhochschule of Winterthur-Zurich with Matthias Ziegler. As a concert flutist Alessandro Crosta has won about 21 musical competitions and scholarships and has made many recordings for the Italian television broadcast RAI. Since 2000 he has been the Artistic Director of 'Gli Anniversari della Musica International Festival" of Avellino (Italy). He has published several books such as "Bellini, Verdi e Cimarosa", "Muzio Clementi", "Sergej Prokofiev", "Antonin Dvorak", "Luigi Boccherini", "Mozart e Schumann", "Grieg, Leoncavallo, Pleyel e Sibelius", "Puccini e Casella" and the first volume of the "Quaderni musicali del flauto traverso" dedicated to the piéce of Albert Roussel "Joueur de flutes". Now he teaches flute at the Italian Secondary Music School. Nadia Testa, Pianist Born in Avellino, Nadia studied piano with Carlo Alessandro Lapegna and graduated with full marks and praise at the 'D. Cimarosa' Conservatory of Avellino in 1983. At the age of 18 she made her international debut with orchestra in Switzerland, where she played Mozart Concertos with the Symphonic Orchestra of Sannio. Then she specialized in piano with Vincenzo Vitale, Franco Medori e Carlo Bruno. Later Nadia won a scholarship to study as a soloist with Aldo Ciccolini at the Biella Music Academy, where she took the degree in 1987. At the same time she has been a finalist in several national and international Competitions. After studying as a lyric singer as well as Psychology at "La Sapienza" University of Rome, in 2005 Nadia received her degree in the discipline of Art, Music and Show Performance at the "Braga" IMP of Teramo (Italy) summa cum laude. As a soloist pianist she has made many concerts in Italy (Bologna, Torino, Bergamo, Milano, Messina, Firenze, Pisa, La Spezia, Udine, Salerno, Sorrento, Napoli, Aosta, Siracusa, and Caltanissetta) and abroad (Belgium, Switzerland, Israel, Egypt, Brasil, South Africa, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Malta, Greace, Argentina and Uruguay). She has been a founder member and the President of the "Associazione Igor Stravinsky of Avellino since 1997. As an accompanist pianist Nadia has partnered a wide range of soloists, both instrumentalists and singers. Since 1998 she has been playing in duo with the Italian flutist Alessandro Crosta, making performances in various international festival. Their international debut was at the A. Scarlatti Auditorium during the "Festival for Bach Celebrations" of Naples in 2000, since then the duo has been regularly invited to play in many countries of Europe, North Africa and the USA, and has performed throughout the UK to critical acclaim. Their repertoire goes from the XVIIth to the XXth century music, including the contemporary one. From 1998 to 2003 she accompanied the flutist Conrad Klemm during his Italian master classes and made several recordings for the Italian television broadcast RAI. In 2000 Nadia founded the flexible chamber group Stravinsky Ensemble (piano, flute, strings and singers), one of the most appreciated ensemble in Southern- Shop: odax
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Theatre
This début CD of the Miranda Trio covers three centuries of music from three different countries - Russia (the former Soviet Republic), Argentina and France - and includes pieces by well-known and lesser known composers. But here, of course, it is obvious that music has little to do with borders, centuries or names. Going from France to Argentina might seem like a huge leap, yet both Angel E. Lasala and Astor Piazzolla had links with France and Russia. Lasala was an admirer of Mussorgsky. During his younger years, Piazzolla studied piano under a pupil of Rachmaninov, later he would take lessons from the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Inspired by such composers as Bach, Ravel and Stravinsky, on the one hand, and by jazz on the other, Astor Piazzolla gives new shape to the Argentinean tango and calls his music the Tango Nuovo, or new tango. Here was a composer who considered his music more the listening kind than the dancing kind. Little is known about Angel E. Lasala. We do know, however, that he favoured the combination of flute, harp and voice, which might speak to the great love he had for his wife, the soprano Zulema Castello. The Poemas Norteños are thought to be among his favourite songs. Lasala was born in Buenos Aires and began his career as a concert pianist. Later, after Athos Palma took him under his wing, his interest began to shift toward composing. This developed in a wide range of forms: chamber music, symphonic, religious and theatrical. His work has a distinct character, especially because he managed to fuse inspiration from Argentinean and American music into a single style. A bit of research has revealed something else: Lasala has the same music publisher as Piazzolla. That in itself is an indication of the importance and reputation of his music in Argentina. The poem Viens!Une flûte invisible soupire by Victor Hugo has inspired a number of composers. The first to set the poem to music was Camille Saint-Saëns. His duettino titled Viens! Was written for two voices with piano accompaniment. That piece was published in 1856, the same year the poem was printed (as part of Les Contemplations). Saint-Saëns returned to the poem in 1885, the year of Hugo's death, and composed a second version for voice, flute and piano, titling it Une flûte Invisible. By resetting the poem nearly thirty years later, he may have been bidding a discreet farewell to it's author. Among the other composers who set this poem to music were Léo Delibes (Eglogue, 1863), George Bizet (Après l'hiver, 1866), Bemjamin Godard (Viens!, 1872), Gabiel Pierné (Les Trois Chansons, 1890) and André Caplet (Viens!Une flute invisible soupire, 1900). What drew so many composers to this poem? Could an invisible flute hold such appeal to their imaginations? France is a flute-loving country. Jacques Ibert wrote his Entr'acte for flute in 1935. Debussy said of Iber: "His art is exceptional in it's intelligence, classic sobriety and esprit and 'fantasie dans la sensibilité'". Stylistic classification of works by Ibert is virtually impossible. The composer himself once remarked, " All stylistic tendencies are fine, as long as they are used to create music." Maurice Ravel originally wrote his Cinq mélodies populaires grecque for piano and voice. With Ravel's consent, the renowned French harpist Carlos Salzedo edited the piano score for the harp. The songs were written between 1904 and 1906 to original lyrics that were translated into French by Michel Calvaradossi. Ravel had a great interest in folk music and combined the classical with the contemporary. The completely different states of mind that arise in this piece relate, for instance, to a marriage proposal, macho behaviour and dancing for joy. Remarkably, during the period that this beautiful succession of songs was published, Ravel competed annually in the Prix de Rome (1900-1905) without ever winning. In 1900 and in 1905 the great composer wasn't even admitted to the final round, despite his prominence by 1905. The only living composer on this CD, Belarusian-born Sergey Beltiukov, possess a Neo-romantic, yet exceptionally individual style. He occupies a very special place among the great composers, not merely as the father of the flutist Dasha, but also because his composition was written specially for the Miranda Trio. Beltiukov, a member of the Union of Composers to tell a fascinating story within three minutes. The poem on which the composition is based, The Theatre, is by Bella Akhmadulina, one of Russia's most celebrated contemporary female poets. The Lark by Mikhail Glinka is an old Russian favourite. Originally it was a song on which Mili Balakirev wrote variations, which were later arranged for harp by Xenia Erdeli. It is a virtuoso piece, at times it seems that more than two hands are playing. Besides being a hero to the Russian people, Glinka is the founder of the Russian National Opera. Like many of his contemporaries, he studied in Italy. Most composers of this era shed their roots, but Glinka developed a genuinely classic Russian musical language and had many followers, for instance the magical Group of Five. Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov was renowned during his lifetime. He conducted (being the first to perform the Matthäus by Bach in Russia) and played a major role within the music scene. He was the director of the Moscow Conservatory and held several positions at the Bolshoi Theatre. Ippolitov-Ivanov studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and the master's influence greatly affected his style. During eleven years in Georgia, where he worked as the director of the Tbilisi Opera, he collected music from that region. Interests in oriental music, particularly the music of ethnic minorities from the former Russian republic, are to be found within his oeuvre. His works were written in a late-romantic idiom and have been profoundly influenced by the Caucasian folk music that he had studied meticulously. Ippolitov's love for the Orient is clearly expressed in the Five songs from Japanese poetry (for soprano and harp) and the Three songs from the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore (for soprano, flute and harp).- Shop: odax
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Visions
The name for this album by DUO Stephanie and Saar was inspired by Olivier Messiaen's monumental two-piano work 'Visions de l'Amen', performed by DUO in Baltimore and Banff in October of 2006. Amen du désir, the centerpiece of this work, describes love in it's heavenly and earthly manifestations. The other works on the CD by Schubert, Debussy, Janácek and Stravinsky are all special sound worlds or 'visions'.- Shop: odax
- Price: 27.16 EUR excl. shipping
