Cedille - CDR90000056:
TCHAIKOVSKY STRING QUARTETS

Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No.1 in D major, Op.11;
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No.3 in E-flat minor, Op.30

Vermeer Quartet (Shmuel Ashkenasi & Mathias Tacke violins,
Richard Young viola, Marc Johnson cello)

Total time: 67.15

(but currently unavailable)

Formed at Marlboro in 1969, the revered Vermeer Quartet applies its characteristic energy to Tchaikovsky's much-favoured First Quartet and his seldom-heard Third.

With this CD, the Vermeer Quartet concludes its survey of Tchaikovsky's chamber works for strings, which began with Cedille Records' fine 1994 release of the String Quartet No.2 and the string sextet "Souvenir de Florence", CDR90000017.

Peter J Rabinowitz in International Record Review April 2002: "...when one turns to the Vermeer recordings, it's as if the music has suddenly snapped into focus...the Vermeer performances have more contrast...respect the Classical spirit beneath Tchaikovsky's Romantic surfaces - and they never sacrifice the music's poise. Add to this their more immediate sound and their fuller annotations, and this release (together with their earlier Cedille coupling the Second Quartet and the Souvenir de Florence) provides the current catalogue's most persuasive alternative to the three cycles by the Borodin Quartet."

Cedille - CDR90000057: THE VIRTUOSO HANDEL

Handel: Cantatas - Un' alma innamorata; Chi rapi la pace al core?;
La Lucrezia; Non saria poco; Sventurato godi, o core abbandonato;
Sonata in C for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord

Patrice Michaels soprano, Chicago Baroque Ensemble,
Director - John Mark Rozendaal

Total time: 79.00

(but currently unavailable)

Experience a side of Handel that's rarely heard these days: exquisitely refined vocal and instrumental chamber music, including three cantatas from his early years in Italy. On The Virtuoso Handel, you'll encounter the type of intimate music making that small, privileged audiences of discerning connoisseurs enjoyed during Handel's sojourn in Rome from 1706 to 1709.

Cedille - CDR90000058: JAN VACLAV HUGO VORISEK

Voríšek: Symphony in D major;
Voríšek: Mass in B-flat major

Patrice Michaels soprano, Tami Jamtzi mezzo, William Watson tenor,
Peter van de Graaff bass, Prague Chamber Chorus,
Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Conductor - Paul Freeman

Total time: 60.35

(but currently unavailable)

Combine Schubert's gift of melody with Beethoven's flair for drama and you have the music of their respected friend and colleague - the Bohemian composer Jan Václav Hugo Voríšek. Unlike his better-known contemporaries, Voríšek composed few large-scale works in his tragically short lifetime (1791-1825), but what gems they are. His exquisite Mass in B-flat Major is a perfectly proportioned Classical masterpiece in the tradition of the great masses of Haydn and Mozart. Voríšek's only symphony, the Symphony in D Major, is a work of impressive confidence and command.

John Warrack in International Record Review June 2002: "Freeman's coupling is a valuable rediscovery...the Mass has something of both Haydn and Schubert in it...a striking work, one which well deserves this recording, and it should have more performances."

David Hurwitz for ClassicsToday: "For some time now, the reference recording of this piece has been Charles Mackerras' reading on Hyperion with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Paul Freeman does him one better, having a superior orchestra, more tactile recorded sound, and slightly broader tempos that, combined with punchier accents (especially in the first movement), give the piece an appropriately grander stature. Let's just say that Freeman evidently views the work as closer to Beethoven while Mackerras places it closer to Haydn and Mozart. Cedille gives us more Vorišek, his marvelous Mass in B-flat, which (I believe) receives its CD debut recording here. This piece really is a find. Close in style to the language of Haydn's late masses, it contains numerous original touches, such as the thrilling augmentation of the fugue subject toward the end of the Gloria, an almost violent Crucifixus characterized by syncopated rhythms and jagged interjections from trumpets and drums, a sweetly lyrical second Hosanna following the Benedictus, and a startling ending scored for pianissimo timpani and brass. Its stylistic provenance may be clear, but there's no other mass setting quite like it, and fans of choral music really owe it to themselves to give it a listen. Once again Freeman turns in an excellent performance. This is, in any case, a major release and a very pleasant surprise. Good work, Cedille." Artistic quality:10/Sound quality: 10.

Tall Poppies - TP143: LIFT OFF

Australian Music for Children by John Colborne-Veel; Ross Fiddes;
Graeme Koehne; Martin Wesley-Smith; Colin Brumby; Ian Farr; Andrew Ford;
Miriam Hyde; Julian Yu; Phillip Wilcher; Michael Hannan; Peter Sculthorpe;
Ann Carr-Boyd; Mary Mageau; Eric Gross; Ross Edwards; Carl Vine

Elpis Liossatos piano

Total time: 70.17

(GB pounds 14.50)

An engaging collection of piano music written by Australian composers to appeal to the imaginations of the young. Liossatos is an Australian pianist currently living in Greece, and she brings charm and enthusiasm to these performances. All in all, a delightful introduction to the many compositional styles co-existing in Australia.

Tall Poppies - TP153: ACOUSLYTIC
ROGER DEAN

Acousmatic and electroacoustic works

Roger Dean: Jungle Jongleur; Acouslytic; Dust; Automotive; Fissuring Silence;
Hope; Electric Tomato; Lowering the Sky; Percy's Centrifuge;
FrogWordMirror; Sono Va; Silent Nuraghi; Wobbling the Humors

Roger Dean, Hazel Smith, AustraLYSIS

Total time: 62.37

(GB pounds 14.50)

Acousmatic and electroacoustic works from this dynamic duo. Dean's music and Smith's words create a unique sound world that challenges, inspires and intrigues.

Roger Thomas in May 2002 International Record Review: "They (Australia) also got the excellent Roger Dean, and have had since he left the UK in 1989. His avante-garde/improvising group/pool Lysis metamorphosed en route into austraLYSIS, with Acouslytic being the latest in a substantial catalogue of CD issues. Dean was always something of a purist, and these acousmatic compositions have an imperturbable, slightly monolithic quality which will make them essential listening for devotees bu perhaps too abstract (or abstracted) for the merely curious."

Tall Poppies - TP154: THE INNER LINE
Music for Piano 4 Hands

Andrew Schultz: 12 Variations;
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op.23; 5 Waltzes from Op.39;
Schubert: Four Landler, D814; Fantasie in F min., D940

Stephen Emmerson & Bernard Lanskey piano

Total time: 60.17

(GB pounds 14.50)

Popular works for piano 4 hands by Brahms and Schubert are here combined with a work by the young Australian composer, Andrew Schultz. Commissioned in 1997 by the piano duo of Stephen Emmerson and Bernard Lanskey, it makes no specific reference to Schubert or Brahms but the expression indication at the beginning of the work gives a telling clue to its character.

ProPiano - PPR224533:
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO FILM MUSIC

Sakamoto (arr. Sakamoto & Okashiro): A Tribute to N.J.P;
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence; The Sheltering Sky;
The Last Emperor; High Heels

Chitose Okashiro piano

Total time: 53.17

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

Chitose Okashiro follows her best selling earlier recording for ProPiano of piano music by Sakomoto, PPR224532, with this disc of arrangements (by both the pianist and the composer) of music from his film scores for solo piano. These works are generally representative of Sakamoto's later, more popular and lighter style.

ProPiano - PPR224528: JIANG WEN-YE
PIANO WORKS IN JAPAN

Jiang Wen-Ye: Maggio Suite; One versus Six; A Puppet Theatre;
Five Sketches; Formosan Dance; Three Dances; Bagatelles

Ju Ying Song piano

Total time: 61.54

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

J Y Song's latest recording for ProPiano features music by the composer Jiang Wen-Ye. He was of Chinese descent, born in Taiwan, but had Japanese nationality and lived from 1910 to 1983. His music combines elements of Chinese, Japanese and native Taiwanese folk music with the styles of European impressionism, primitivism, nationalism and neo-classicism.

Lindberg Lyd - PIANO003: STEFFEN HORN

Antonio Bibalo: Hommage to de Falla, Schoenberg and Bartok;
Janacek: Piano Sonata 1.X.1905 "From the Street";
Liszt: Two Ballades;
Clementi: Piano Sonata Op.26/2

Steffen Horn piano

Total time: 57.15

(GB pounds 14.50)

The young Norwegian pianist Steffen Horn was born in 1976 and studied with Jiri Hlinka in Oslo. As well as works from the established piano repertoire, his recital includes music by the Italian born composer Antonio Bibalo who became a Norwegian citizen in 1967. The recital was recorded in the Sofienberg Church.

Sonor - SONCD6001: LAUDATE

Cathedral Music by Tye, Ludwig Nielsen, Howells, Nystedt, Rutter,
Vaughan Williams, Richard Shepard, Bryan Kelly, Egil Hovland,
Balfour Gardiner, Mendelssohn, Bairstow and Ireland.

Trondheim Cathedral Choir, Conductor - Bjørn Moe, with Øyvind Kåre Pettersen organ

Total time: 60.35

(GB pounds 14.50)

Trondheim Cathedral Choir represents an almost 900 year tradition of boy singers in the cathedral and is the leading boys choir in Norway. The concert choir consists of 45 boys and 20 men and gives many concerts at home and abroad with a mixed repertoire of British, Norwegian and European music.

Atoll - ACD102: RAVEL and PROKOFIEV

Ravel: Piano Concerto in D for the left hand;
Prokofiev: Selection from Romeo & Juliet

Michael Houstoun piano, Auckland Philharmonia,
Conductor - Miguel Harth-Bedoya

Total time: 62.43

(GB pounds 14.50)

Michael Houstoun was born in Timaru, New Zealand in 1952. These thrilling performances were recorded at the opening concert of the Orchestra's 2001 series in the acoustically outstanding Auckland Town Hall.

Morrison & Co Trust - MMT2035:
MICHAEL HOUSTOUN - PIANO CONCERTOS

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 in C, Op.26;
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat, Op.73 "Emperor"*

Michael Houstoun piano, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Conductors - James Judd; Janos Furst*

Total time: 66.25

(GB pounds 14.50)

Michael Houstoun was born in Timaru, New Zealand in 1952 and here performs two major works of the piano concerto repertoire with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The performances were recorded at concerts in Wellington in May 2000 and November 1995.