| New Releases for July 1999 |
Seaford Music Distribution |
PROPIANO
- PPR224527 (full price):
LISZT
AND BUSONI - PIANO MUSIC
Liszt: Totentanz; La lugubre gondola II; Busoni: Ten Variations on a Prelude by Chopin; Fantasia after J S Bach; Op.28; Berceuse (Elegy No.7).
Ju-Ying Song (piano)
Ju-Ying Song's eagerly awaited follow up to her celebrated recording of the Debussy Etudes for ProPiano (selected as a top contender in the International Piano Quarterly survey). There is little competition in most of this repertoire.
B.B. in 12 September 1998 issue of Billboard - "ProPiano's catalog boasts such gems as Ju-Ying Song's set of Debussy Etudes..."
Martin Cotton in October 1999 BBC Music Magazine - "...the Liszt Totentanz receives a terrific performance, and she also encompasses the dark world of La lugubre gondola and Busoni's Berceuse with sensitivity."
Peter J Rabinowitz in November/December 1999 Fanfare - "It's a provocative assortment of pieces and they all get striking performances. As is evident from her terrifying Totentanz, Song combines a razor-edged technique with a resolute musical concentration...strongly recommended."
Harold Schonberg in November/December 1999 American Record Guide - "A very efficient modern-style pianist plus a fairly unusual repertoire make for an interesting disc."
Martin Anderson in November/December 1999 Fanfare - "First-rate recorded sound. Good notes, as I've said. And blisteringly good playing. Very strongly recommended."
MORRISON
& CO TRUST - MMT2026 (CD single):
GARETH FARR (b. 1968) - TE PAPA
Farr: Te Papa; Te Papa (log drum' n'bass mix); Te Papa (urenui mix).
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Young with Virginia-Marie Stack (mezzo) and Simon O'Neill (tenor)
The latest release from the young New Zealand composer and percussionist, Gareth Farr, and our first CD single. His earlier percussion-based compositions have attracted a wide audience and the gamelan influence is never far away. Te Papa was first performed at the Museum of New Zealand in February 1998.
Andrew Achenbach in November 1999 Gramophone - "Composer and percussionist Gareth Farr (b.1868) is one of the brightest young innovators on the New Zealand musical scene. His giddily festive Te Papa (Maori for 'Our Place') for vocalist, mezzo-soprano, tenor and orchestra serves up an exuberantly varied cultural and stylistic brew, and we also get two further versions of the same piece, the final 'urenui mix' being strongly influenced by contemporary dance music (shades here of Bristolians Roni Size and Massive Attack)."
MORRISON
& CO TRUST - MMT2027 (full price):
KENNETH YOUNG (b. 1955) -
ORCHESTRAL WORKS
Young: Symphony; Virgen de la Esperanza; Dance.
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Young with Patricia Wright (soprano)
Kenneth Young was born in New Zealand in 1955 and was appointed composer-in-residence to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 1993 where he also holds the position of principal tuba. Dance rhythms feature strongly in many of his compositions. The Symphony was completed in 1988 and Virgen followed a tour to Seville with the NZSO in 1992. Very approachable modern compositions.
CEDILLE
- CDR90000043 (full price): THE WORLD OF LULLY
Lully:
Premiere Divertissement; Seconde Divertissement; Plainte de
Cloris;
Galliarde; Armide, Tragedie lyrique; Lully (arr. D'Anglebert):
Pieces de clavecin; Rebel: Le Tombeau de
Monsieur Lully; Marin Marais: Tombeau de Lully
Chicago Baroque Ensemble with Patrice Michaels Bedi (soprano)
A useful collection of vocal and instrumental works by Jean-Baptiste Lully and three of his followers with whom his controversial relationship was of love and loathing. Sparkling performances captured in one of Cedille's customary magnificent recordings.
Tom Moore in July/August 1999 Fanfare - "The CBE's playing is stylish and skilled...Soprano Patrice Michaels Bedi turns in some very fine singing. She sounds thoroughly at home in the language and the musical idiom and her tone is attractively dark, with just the right amount of vibrato...the CBE shows an affinity for the style, and I would welcome further exploration into the still-unknown riches of the later French Baroque."
Nicholas Anderson in November 1999 Gramophone - "The World of Lully consists of airs, recits and dances by the composer as well as musical tributes paid him by d'Anglebert, Marais and rebel after his death. The sequence is an attractive one, performed with affection and a good sense of style. Patrice Micaels Bedi has a pleasing voice, though severely limited in its upper regions."
CEDILLE
- CDR90000044 (full price):
DMITRY PAPERNO: LIVE PERFORMANCES
AT WFMT
Haydn: Piano Sonata No.20 in C min., Hob.; Schubert/Liszt: Gretchen am Spinnrade; Barcarolle; Schumann/Liszt: Fruhlingsnacht; Liszt: Sposalizio from Annees de pelerinage; Schumann: Bunte Blatter Op.99/1-8; Tchaikovsky: Dumka, Op.59; Brahms: Intermezzo in C sharp min. Op.117/3; Rachmaninov: Moment Musical in D-flat, Op.16/5; Medtner: Sonata Reminiscenza Op.38/1.
Dmitry Paperno (piano)
Ukrainian-born pianist, Dmitry Paperno's recently published autobiography "Notes of a Moscow Pianist" has excited considerable interest. Exiled to the USA in 1976, he has been resident in Chicago ever since and these recordings made by the Chicago fine arts radio station WFMT between 1980 and 1991 exemplify his sublime piano technique.
Peter J Rabinowitz in September/October 1999 Fanfare - "Issued to celebrate Paperno's 70th birthday, the Cd publishes the last of the usable Paperno material in WFMT's archives...the Medtner serves as an appropriate coda...it's arguably the gem of this already exceptional recital. Certainly, Paperno catches the soul of this sonata to a degree rarely matched. All in all, a significant addition to Paperno's small but consistently distinguished discography. Highest recommendation."
TALL
POPPIES - TP110 (full price): BACH - HARPSICHORD MUSIC
J S Bach: "GOLDBERG VARIATIONS", BWV988
Nicholas Parle (harpsichord)
Nicholas Parle was born in Australia and studied with David Kinsela in Sydney before moving to London in 1985. Since then he has worked as both continuo player and soloist with most of the leading groups in England. In 1989 he was awarded first prize at the Brugge International Harpsichord Competition. On this recording, he pays a splendid-sounding copy of a Dulcken harpsichord made by William Bright of Barraba, NSW, in 1995.
Graham Lock in October 1999 BBC Music Magazine - "Nicholas Parle's impressive reading has a ruminative quality that well suits the light, pellucid tone of his harpsichord."
TALL
POPPIES - TP089 (full price):
PETER SCULTHORPE -
STRING QUARTETS VOLUME ONE
Sculthorpe:
Irkanda IV; Small Town; String Quartet No.6; String Quartet No.7;
String Quartet No.8; String Quartet No.9.
Goldner String Quartet (Dene Olding & Dimitry Hall - violins, Irina Morozova - viola, Julian Smiles - cello)
The first volume in Tall Poppies integral recording of all of Peter Sculthorpe's works for string quartet. Born in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1929, Sculthorpe is Australia's premier composer and has produced a long series of powerful quartets, many written for the Kronos Quartet. The Goldner Quartet was formed in 1995 by members of the Australia Ensemble and this was their first recording.
Duncan Druce in September 1999 Gramophone - "Peter Sculthorpe, 70 this year, has been writing quartets since his student days in Melbourne. These striking works, except No.9 all dating from the 1960s, paint a musical landscape that's often hard and forbidding yet, with its clarity of form and texture, always approachable. Splendid performances - precise and with all the necessary tonal variety."
TALL
POPPIES - TP094 (full price):
DEBUSSY - PIANO
MUSIC VOLUME ONE
Debussy:
6 Images - Series 1 and Series 2; 12 Etudes - Book 1 and Book 2;
Etude retrouvee.
Roy Howat (piano)
This is the first volume in a series of recordings of the complete piano music of Debussy being made by Australian pianist, Roy Howat for Tall Poppies. A former pupil of Vlado Perlemuter, Howat has an intimate knowledge of the composer's manuscripts and he discovered, and published for the first time, the Etude retrouvee included on this disc. These recordings reflect his profound understanding of the music and include many corrections from Debussy's pen and other authentic sources.
Charles Timbrell (author of the book French Pianism) in Gramophone's International Piano Quarterly - "In short, imagination and eleganze characterize the playing and everywhere we are allowed to hear what Debussy seems to have wanted us to hear."
TALL
POPPIES - TP126 (full price):
ROSS EDWARDS (b.
1943): RAFT SONG AT SUNRISE
Edwards:
Dance Mantras and Ab estatis foribus, for choir;
Raft Song at Sunrise for shakuhachi; Laikan for chamber ensemble;
Binyang for clarinet & percussion; Enyato II for viola;
Ecstatic Dances for flutes.
Sydney Chamber Choir;
Australia Ensemble; Peter Jenkins (clarinet);
Michael Askill, Rebecca Lagos and Daryl Pratt (percussion);
Riley Lee (shakuhachi); Patricia Pollett (viola); Geoffrey
Collins (flutes)
This is the second volume of chamber music by Ross Edwards from Tall Poppies. One of Australia's most distinguished composers, Edwards lives and works in Sydney, NSW. His distinctive sound world extends beyond the confines of Western art music and he interfuses shapes and patterns from nature with a variety of musical resources which reflect and celebrate Australia's cultural diversity.
Andrew Achenbach in November 1999 Gramophone - "On the evidence of this beautifully performed and extremely well-produced Tall Poppies anthology, Sydney-based Ross Edwards (b. 1944) is a composer of impressive resource and uncommonly fertile imagination, writing with equal facility for vocal or instrumental forces, no matter how exotic (Raft Song at Sunrise is a hypnotic meditation for the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute). Australia's indigenous folk culture, wildlife and landscape all have their place in htis stimulating cocktail, too. A most attractive collection."
AURORA
- NCDB4932 (full price): ARNE NORDHEIM - THE TEMPEST
Nordheim: Suite from the Ballet "The Tempest"
South German Radio Symphony Choir and Orchestra conducted by Charles Darden with Susan Campbell (soprano), Christopher Keyte (baritone), Maasaki Yamamoto (trombone), Enrique Santiago (viola) and Alfred Gemeinhardt (Cello)
Unavailable for a long time, this recording of the leading contemporary Norwegian composer's music has now been attractively packaged and re-issued. Born in Larvik in 1931, his artistic personality is best described as romantic and lyrical. His ballet The Tempest (Stormen), based on Shakespeare's play and choreographed by Glen Tetley, was written in 1979 and premiered by Ballet Rambert.
NEW RELEASES FROM NORWAY
AURORA - ACD5000 (full price): BJORN KRUSE - SONG FOR WINTER
Kruse:
Song for Winter; Pour Over Me Like Rain; Elements;
The Lady With the Ermine; Wind-Hymn for the Dead.
Norwegian Soloists' Choir; Oslo Cathedral Choir, NRK Studio Choir
HEMERA
- HCD2930 (full price): IVAR LUNDE JR. - ZODIAC
Lunde:
Alternations; Trio; Three Signs of the Zodiac; Designs;
Frivolities; Piano Sonata No.5.
Nanette Gomory Lunde
(harpsichord), Jerry Young (tuba),
Barbara Young (piano), Donald Patterson (piano),
Wisconsin Woodwind Quintet
THEMA
- TH198-2 (full price): MOTHER'S SONGS
Agathe
Grondahl: A Child in Springtime; Mother's Songs;
Grieg: Children's Songs;
David Monrad Johansen: 10 Norwegian Nursery Rhymes;
Ludvig Irgens Jensen: Fables and Nursery Rhymes.
Ashild Skiri Refsdal (soprano) with Gunnar Flagstad (piano)
CON
SPIRITO - CS003: TONER FRA NORDEN: 
Choral Songs from the North
Songs by Alfven, Lindberg, Sandstrom, Madetoja, Mantyjarvi, Salmenhaara, Sigurbjornsson, Ragnarsson, Agerby, Lewkovich, Anderssen, Tveit, Habbestad and Nystedt.
Con Spirito Chamber Choir directed by Helge Birkeland
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