Cedille - CDR90000062: THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK

Robert Kurka: The Good Soldier Schweik (opera in 2 acts)

Jason Collins, Marc Embree, Kelli Harrington
Chicago Opera Theater, Alexander Platt

Total Time: 103.40

(2 discs - GB pounds 27.00)

More than four decades after its 1958 debut in New York, Robert Kurka's hilarious, satirical opera The Good Soldier Schweik returns to active duty with a complete, world-premiere recording on Cedille Records. Written by the American-born composer of Czech descent just before he died, it is based on Jaroslav Hasek's classic Czech novel of the same name. Schweik lampoons World War One era Europe through a musical score infused with dances, marches, ballads, jazz, and Weill-esque cabaret. "Think of a manic hybrid between 'Mahagonny', 'Wozzeck' and 'Catch 22' as staged by the Marx Brothers - that's 'Schweik' " writes the Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein.

Michael Kennedy in 30 June 2002 The Sunday Telegraph: "This recording, conducted by Alexander Platt, is by Chicago Opera Teater. The opera is scored for 16 instruments comprising brass, winds and percussion, and Kurka's style embraces jazz, military marches, folk music and a Stravinskyan neo-classicism...The vocal writing is sometimes in the style of sprechgesang, at others it is folkishly simple and charmingly lyrical. Always it is the witty and brilliant orchestration which gives the music its special character. What a good choice it would be for one of our adventurous small companies such as Music Theatre Wales...Schweik is sung by Jason Collins, who has one of those excellent light tenor voices which America produces for its musicals. His diction is superb and he catches exactly Schweik's mixture of innocence and cunning...Kelli Harrington and Buffy Baggott sing the female roles with relish and Mark Calvert is splendid as a loony chaplain...Two booklets accompany the discs, one containing the libretto and the other colour pictures of last year's Chicago production. The recording is crystal-clear, the instrumental playing virtuosic."

Jed Distler for ClassicsToday: "Although Kurka's main teacher was Darius Milhaud, the latter's urbane polyphony is less evident than the Weill/Brecht modernist model with its declamatory rather than lyrical vocal lines. Kurka's melodic writing also is influenced by American musical theater (Frank Loesser and Richard Rodgers come to mind). He's a rather oblique tunesmith, though the dual influences of jazz and Czech folk music enliven the proceedings considerably. After the New York City Opera premiered Schweik in 1958, the opera gained a cult following during the course of 100 subsequent productions worldwide. The present world premiere recording stems from the Chicago Opera Theater's April 2001 production, and it's a knockout in every way...The excellent cast features tenor Jason Collins in the title role, whose warm voice and impetuous delivery are exactly what Schweik needs. Then you have Kelli Harrington's attractive timbre and keen attention to words, baritone Marc Embree's appropriately chilling Lt. Lukash, and Buffy Baggott throwing herself into the character role of Baroness von Botzenheim. Conductor Alexander Platt elicits sharply etched, incisive, and committed playing from the little orchestra, and the engineering ideally balances singers and instrumentalists. A libretto is provided, but you'll understand the words without it. Thanks to the folks at Cedille, at long last a glaring operatic catalog gap is triumphantly filled."

Cedille - CDR90000061: AFRICAN HERITAGE SYMPHONIC SERIES
VOL. II

Ulysses Kay: Overture to Theater Set (1968);
Roque Cordero: Eight Miniatures for Small Orchestra (1948);
Hale Smith: Ritual and Incantations (1974);
Adolphus Hailstork: An American Port of Call (1985); Epitaph for a Man who Dreamed (1979); George Walker: Lyric for Strings (1941).

Chicago Sinfonietta, Paul Freeman

Total time: 51.02

(GB pounds 14.50)

Not since the LP era of the 1970s has there been anything like Cedille Records' African Heritage Symphonic Series. Volume II in the series features compositions by exceptional Black composers from the 1940s to the 1980s, performed by the Chicago Sinfonietta, conducted by its founder and music director, Dr Paul Freeman. Volume One is CDR90000055.

Ray Tuttle in May/June 2002 Fanfare: "This highly worthwhile collection includes music by four African-American composers. (Roque Cordero's ethnic background is African-Panamanian). No patronizing here: Freeman and Cedille let the music speak for itself, and speak it certainly does. Paul Freeman and the Chicago Sinfonietta play these unfamiliar works with polish and with sincere genuineness of purpose. If only all composers had it so good....As always, Cedille's engineering is spectacular, with plenty of spacial realism and warmth. "

Morrison Music Trust - MMT2045/46: SIMON BOCCANEGRA

Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Opera in three acts)

New Zealand Festival Production 2000

Nuccia Focile soprano, Paul Charles Clarke tenor, Gordon Hawkins baritone,
Martin Snell baritone, Vladimir Vaneev bass, Yaron Windmüller bass,
Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Marco Guidarini

Total time: 139.00

(2 discs - GB pounds 29.00)

Listen to an extract

Verdi's sombre and powerful operatic masterpiece, with its themes of love, hate, treachery and reconciliation, is brought to life in this production from the 2000 New Zealand Festival. This live recording captures all the excitement and drama of Simon Boccanegra. The international cast includes American baritone Gordon Hawkins in the title role, soprano Nuccia Focile as Amelia, bass Vladimir Vaneev as Fiesco and British tenor Paul Charles Clarke as Gabriele.

Morrison Music Trust - MMT2038: CANCIONES ESPANOLAS

Montsalvatge: Cinco Canciones Negras;
Obradors: 6 songs from Canciones Clásicas Españolas;
Guridi: Seis Canciones Castellanas;
Rodrigo: Cuatro Canciones Sefardíes;
Granados: 5 songs from Tonadillas.

Deborah Wai Kapohe soprano with David Harper piano

Total time: 62.08

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

Already recognised as an outstanding talent in New Zealand, the young soprano Deborah Wai Kapohe was born in Winton in Southland. Here, with pianist David Harper, she brings her exceptional vocal talents to a programme of classical Spanish songs. When Deborah Wai Kapohe and David Harper first began their artistic collaboration they discovered a common passion for the rich and colourful language of Spain and its vast repertoire of classical songs. It was natural, then, that for their first recording together they should chose to showcase the seemingly effortless fluency of Deborah's gorgeous soprano voice in a captivating programme of Spanish art songs.

Tall Poppies - TP136: PETER SCULTHORPE - MUSIC FOR CELLO

Sculthorpe: Sonata for Cello Alone; Requiem, for 'cello alone; Djilile, for cello and piano; Tailitnama Song, for cello and piano; Threnody, for solo cello; Into the Dreaming, for cello alone; Parting, for cello and piano; Tailitnama Song, for cello solo; From Saibai, for cello and piano

David Pereira cello with Ian Munro piano

Total time: 68.50

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

The cello has been a major expressive tool for Peter Sculthorpe throughout his career. Parting was originally conceived in 1947 and waited 48 years for its emergence in this form. The 1959 Sonata has lain dormant since its premiere, but the music became the Sonata for Viola and Percussion. From Saibai was premiered by David Pereira and Ian Munro in Wales, and David Pereira has championed the famous Requiem, originally written for Nathan Waks. David Pereira has given a gutsy passionate performance in all these works, and Ian Munro shows the many musicianly qualities that he will bring to his forthcoming recording of the complete piano works of Sculthorpe.

Julian Haylock in October 2002 International Record Review: "Peter Sculthorpe passionately declares, 'The cello is one of my favourite musical instruments. I love its sound, its range, its shape and the repertoire that composers have created for it'. It (Threnody for solo cello) is a piece of almost unbearable intensity brought mesmerizingly to life on this recording by the work's premiere performer, David Pereira. This atmospherically recorded collection was originally presented to Peter Sculthorpe in 1999 on the occasion of his 70th birthday: a wonderful gift for a very special composer."

Anthony Burton in November 2002 BBC Music Magazine: "Sculthorpe describes the cello as 'one of my favourite instruments'; and that much is obvious from the melodic warmth and vivid colouring of the pieces for cello, with and without piano, collected on this disc...in general they provide a glowing representation of David Pereira's burnished tone, and his and Ian Munro's ardent advocacy of a major and highly individual creative figure." ******

Tall Poppies - TP142: THERE CAME A WIND LIKE A BUGLE
Chamber Music by Nigel Butterley

Butterley: The White-throated Warbler; Child in Nature; Arioso Comment on a Popular Song Il Gubbo; The wind stirs gently; Frogs; Evanston Song; The True Samaritan; Of Wood; Uttering Joyous Leaves; There came a Wind like a Bugle

Gerald English tenor; David Pereira cello; Ian Shanahan recorder;
Nigel Butterley and Ian Munro pianos; The Contemporary Singers and others

Total time: 62.37

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

A collection of chamber works, written over a 30 year period by one of Australia's finest composers, Nigel Butterley. Included is the famous short work for recorder and harpsichord "The White-throated Warbler" in its first recording on CD. Veteran tenor Gerald English is also featured in two short song cycles. Butterley is well-known for his choral writing, and this CD includes two works, the early "The True Samaritan" sung by the Contemporary Singers conducted by Antony Walker, and "There came a Wind like a Bugle" sung by the Song Company conducted by Roland Peelman.

Tall Poppies - TP160: LANDSCAPE'S CREATURES

Raffaele Marcellino: Logos; Nicholas Routley: Sicut Lilium;
Stephen Adams: memory pieces; Paul Stanhope: Geography Songs.

Sydney Chamber Choir, director - Nicholas Routley

Total time: 63.49

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

A collection of recent Australian choral music, mostly by younger composers. It's good to see that choral writing is alive and well in Australia. Each work makes a strong statement, each with a variety of choral techniques and styles. "Logos" is a dramatic work written by the 2001 winner of the Paul Lowin Award for a Song cycle. The choir's director has contributed a short work in which the choir is accompanied by a solo vibraphone (Tim Paillas). "Memory Pieces" is a long piece based on a short piece of stream-of-consciousness prose by Ania Walwicz - it is a beguiling work. The title of this CD comes from Stanhope's work, which he conducts in this recording. It is a setting of poems of Michael Dransfield.

ProPiano - PPR224534: GODOWSKY SONATA IN E MINOR

Leopold Godowsky: Piano Sonata in E minor

Adam Aleksander piano

Total time: 47.00

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

Because of the immense challenges found in Godowsky's Sonata in E minor, the composer was the work's sole public interpreter during his lifetime and he premiered it in Berlin in January 1911. As in all his piano works, the Sonata manifests his phenomenal command of and eternal fascination with keyboard polyphony. Resident in the USA, critic's have hailed Adam Aleksander's playing as having rare finesse, phenomenal technique, gorgeous sonority and nimble fingers, generous of feeling, mood and tonal resources.

Jeremy Siepmann in BBC Music Magazine June 2002 - "It's sheer bad luck that Aleksander's highly impressive account should arrive hard on the heels of Hamelin's...but that shouldn't be allowed to detract from its quality. He is a masterly pianist, well up to the work's formidable pianistic and interpretive challenges, and he's given an excellent recording - vibrant, close, but not clinically so, and with none of that all-too-common suggestion of a large, empty hall. Both sensitive and commanding, he combines a wide colouristic palette with a powerful grasp of structure and a keen ear for Godowsky's compulsive polyphony..." *****/*****

Atoll - ACD801: OSCAR NATZKA - GREAT RECORDINGS 1939-1950

Songs and arias by Weiss, German, Mussorgsky, Kern,
Mozart, Hahn, Petrie, Bantock, Hewitt, Coward, Chaliapin,
Warlock, Murray, Moss, Nicolai, Handel, Kaihau and Trad.

Oscar Natzka bass, with various accompaniments

Total time: 77.00

(GB pounds 14.50)

A 77 minute selection of Oscar Natzka's finest recordings on one CD, including some private recordings; all tracks are drawn from the outstandingly successful 4-CD set "Oscar Natzka: The Definitive Collection" first released in September 2000 by Atoll and the National Library of New Zealand (ACD400 Vol.1 and ACD500 Vol.2).

Atoll - ACD202: VIOLA AOTEAROA

Martin Lodge: Pacific Rock for Solo Viola;
Douglas Lilburn: Three Songs for Baritone and Viola;
Martin Riseley: Duo Capriccio for Violin and Viola;
Leonie Holmes: Recitative II for Viola and Percussion;
Anthony Watson: Sonata for Solo Viola (1969);
Anthony Ritchie: Viola Concerto (1994).

Timothy Deighton viola, with Paul Whelan baritone, Martin Riseley violin,
Dan C. Armstrong percussion, Penn's Woods Festival Orchestra, conductor Grant Cooper

Total time: 66.39

(GB pounds 14.50)

The US based New Zealand violist, Timothy Deighton, gives virtuoso presentations of modern viola repertoire by New Zealand composers including three previously unrecorded works."

Lindberg Lyd - 2L2: HENRYK WIENIAWSKI - MUSIC FOR VIOLIN & PIANO

Wieniawski: Polonaise Brillante; Souvenir de Poznan;Kujowiak;
Gigue; Sielanka; Piesn Polska; Obertas;
Dudziarz; Reverie; Le Carnaval Russe.

Piotr Janowski violin and Wolfgang Plagge piano

Total time: 51.45

(GB pounds 14.50)

During a recital in Christiania in June 1876, Henryk Wieniawski performed Grieg's Sonata in F with grieg himself playing the piano part. Grieg wrote " yesterday, when I played with Mr Wieniawski, everybody seemingly wanted to tear down the house in ecstasy!" We hope that you will catch a fragment of the same atmosphere when Piotr Janowski interprets Wieniawski's own repertoire.

Tully Potter in The Strad Magazine, April 2002: "Whereas Spohr tended to avoid strokes that involved bouncing the bow, Wieniawski revelled in them – and so does Polish violinist Piotr Janowski in the most exhilarating, refreshing Wieniawski playing I have heard in a long time. Born in 1951, Janowski won the Wieniawski Competition when he was 16 and evidently has the style in his bones. He is now based in Norway, hence his collaboration with the superb pianist Wolfgang Plagge and this enterprising small Norwegian CD label. Janowski has a lovely tone and a good cantilena, but in this music it is his technical bravura, his ease in harmonics, his feeling for the Polish rhythms – especially the mazurka – and his natural rubato that count. I cannot wait for volume 2, which I hope will bring a full version of Souvenir de Moscou."

Bergen Digital Studio - BD7040: ANTONIO BIBALO

Bibalo: Concerto da camera 2 for Harpsichord, Violin and Strings;
Concerto Allegorico for Violin and Orchestra.

Einar Steen-Nøkleberg harpsichord, Ørnulf Boye Hansen violin,
Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ari Rasilainen,
Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg State Philharmony, Arkadi Steinloukht

Total time: 50.24

(GB pounds 14.50)

Antonio Bibalo was born in 1922 in Trieste, Italy, but has lived in Norway since 1956 and is considered a Norwegian composer. The two concertante works performed here were composed in 1974 and 1957. His music is neither conservative nor ultra modern and he uses a structural language which resembles that of earlier music but which sounds contemporary.

Vest-Norsk - VNP2001-0056: EDVARD GREIG & GEIRR TVEITT
PIANO MUSIC

Grieg: Slåtter, Op.72; Tveitt: 50 Folk tunes from Hardanger, Op.150.

Torgeir Kinne Solsvik piano

Total time: 133.05

(2 discs - GB pounds 27.00)

Recent releases from the Naxos and BIS labels have excited a great deal of interest in the music of Geirr Tveitt and this is the first time that the complete set of the 50 folk tunes from Hardanger, in their solo piano version, has been packaged together with Grieg's great work also drawing on Norwegian folk melodies. The young pianist Torgeir Kinne Solsvik, like Leif Ove Andsnes, comes from Norway's western fjord region and was also taught by professor Jiri Hlinka.