CHATEAU (USA) -
C10001: MAHLER - SYMPHONY NO.1 "TITAN" FOR SOLO PIANO

Mahler (transc. Bruno Walter and Okashiro): Symphony No.1

Chitose Okashiro piano

Total time: 55.39

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

Following her outstanding recording of her solo piano transcription of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.6 for ProPiano, here on her first recording for her own Chateau label, she records her solo piano transcription of the Mahler symphony. Her transcription is based on Bruno Walter's transcription for piano four hands.

Peter Burwasser in July/August 2003 Fanfare: "...Okashiro's pianism is so exciting and compelling that after a few moments, after wondering how she will translate sustained string and reed tones to the piano - to mention just a couple of her awesome technical challenges - all is swept along by this truly heroic music-making... Chitose Okashiro, a one-woman band if ever there was one, has given us an auspicious debut for this new label, which should be of great interest to piano fanciers and Mahler fans alike."

Peter Burwasser in November/December 2003 Fanfare The Want List: "Chitose Okashiro compresses a gargantuan symphony into a solo piano rendition, and her audacity pays off with playing that is both ecstatic and paradoxically humble."

NORSK KULTURRAD (Norway) -
NMA2: TO A FRIEND: SONGS BY IRGENS-JENSEN

Ludvig Irgens-Jensen: I blodet Hans Blomde; Bols Vise; Altar; Lutad mot gardet;
9 Songs - Japanischer Fruhling; Das Madchen auf der Brucke*; 2 Songs from Rosenstaden*;
3 songs from Fabler og Barnerim*; Guldskyen*; Besvaergelise*

Solveig Kringelborn soprano; Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra, Lu Jia;
Einar Henning Smebye* piano

Total time: 49.38

(GB pounds 14.50)

Ludvig Irgens-Jensen (1894 - 1969) was one of the leading Scandinavian song composers after Grieg and lived all his life in Oslo. This disc by one of the world's leading sopranos includes songs from all periods of his life and all excepting the cycle Japanischer Fruhling are first recordings.

Ray Tuttle in January/February 2004 Fanfare: "This is an impressive body of work. It appears that Irgens Jensen's style became simpler as time went on.The expressionistic Besvaergelise (from 1918) shows the infuence of Mahler, possibly even Schoenberg...The later songs sound more like Grieg, or what Grieg's songs might have sounded like had he lived into the 1930s. Kringelborn sings these songs with lovely honesty, and all of the performers treat this project like a labor of love. The booklet includes everything a non-Norwegian listener might want to get up to speed. Admirers of Norwegian culture are strongly encouraged to explore this, and anyone who collects art-song recordings will have justifiable bragging rights around the water cooler on Monday morning. Nicely done, all round."

Dagbladet Norway: "...Kringelborn's soprano voice, as magnificent as ever..."

NRK Norway: "Kringelborn's lyrical voice allows these songs about love to glisten like pearls."

New York Times: "Hearing her is like having a bird warm in one's hand"

ATOLL (New Zealand) -
ACD203: TAKU WANA: SONGS BY HELEN FISHER

Helen Fisher: The Enduring Spirit; The Wheel Turns*

April-Marie Neho & Linden Loader mezzos, Jo-Anne Ani Robinson narrator, Sean Kelly bodhran, Robert Ibell cello, Kirstin Eade flute/piccolo, Richard Nunns maori instruments, Nevine String Quartet; *Lesley Graham soprano with Karen Batten flute/piccolo, Robert Ibell cello, Dan Poynton piano

Total time: 70.30

(GB pounds 14.50)

A distinctive and fresh voice in NZ composition, Helen Fisher is one of the few composers successfully melding Maori and European musical elements. Here she creates two beautiful song-cycles, with words by Lauris Edmond and Wi Kuki Kaa. Helen Fisher’s music gently convinces us that a creative marriage between Maori and western cultures is indeed possible. Her sound world is mellow and sensuous, with a natural organic flow driven by a quiet determination.

ATOLL (New Zealand) -
ACD403: CHRISTOPHER BLAKE - THE ISLANDS

Christopher Blake: Symphony - The Islands (1996); We All Fall Down (1996)*;
Echelles de Glace (1992)**; The Furnace Of Pihanga (1999)*

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Lucas Vis, Marc Taddei*, Philip Walsh**

Total time: 71.16

(GB pounds 14.50)

Christopher Blake was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1949. He studied music and engineering at Canterbury University and has a post graduate degree in composition from the University of Southampton, England. He has been general manager of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, manager of Concert FM and foundation Chief Executive of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Christopher Blake has undertaken commissions for all the major music organisations in New Zealand and a wide variety of performers. This is the first recording of his epic symphony "The Islands" plus the three dramatic tone poems.

Ian Dando in 20 December 2003 New Zealand Listener (Best of 2003): "Blake's three shorter tone poems are lesser foothills to this massive 43-minute symphony. He's a naturally expansive thinker, and that makes him an ideal symphonist. The best entry point is the simpler slow movement; be patient with the outer two, though. Here, Blake's sophisticated thematic discourse will take you two or three hearings to get right inside them. Do that, and you have a masterpiece on your hands - one of the greatest symphonic landscapes since Lilburn's Symphony No.2 of 1951."

ATOLL (New Zealand) -
ACD603: BONBONS FOR ORGAN 2

Woods: New Zealand National Anthem Woods;
Paul Spicer: Kiwi Fireworks (Variations on God defend New Zealand);
Bach: Concerto No 1 in G major; Jules Grison: Toccata in F;
Three Dances by Susato, Setchell and Khachaturian; Satie: Gymnopedie;
Sousa: The Liberty Bell; Walton: Popular Song from 'Façade';
Joseph Callaerts: Toccata in E minor Op. 29 No. 1; Saint-Saens: Elephant;
Langlais: Cats; Sibelius: Finlandia; Humoresque L'Organo Primitivo;
Lefebure-Wely: Sortie in Bb major

Martin Setchell Rieger organ of Christchurch Town Hall

Total time: 73.00

(GB pounds 14.50)

This follow-up to Martin Setchell's highly successful Bonbons for Organ is every bit as good as its predecessor. The conversational programme notes and Al Nisbet's cartoons make the whole a most attractive package and the recording of the organ is first class. Quite apart from Setchell's apparently effortless virtuosity, the star of this CD is the wonderful Rieger organ.

TALL POPPIES (Australia) -
TP165: DEBUSSY PIANO MUSIC VOL.4

Debussy: Danse bohemienne; Intermede; Reverie; Mazurka; Danse; Ballade; Valse romantique; 2 Arabesques; Suite bergamasque; Nocturne; Children's corner

Roy Howat piano

Total time: 73.04

(GB pounds 14.50)

This is the fourth and final CD in the series of the complete piano music of Claude Debussy recorded by Roy Howat. Of great interest to those interested in French music is the world premiere recording of a recently-discovered work Intermede, unearthed in the US in 2001. Roy Howat completes this project with his customary understated style honouring the composer's intentions and, for this CD, he has recorded on one of the innovative Australian Stuart & Sons pianos.

Gwyn Parry-Jones for Classical Music Web: "This is a truly distinguished set of Debussy recordings, worthy, in my view, to take their place amongst the very finest on disc. Not only do they throw much new light on very celebrated music, they also contain much which is hard to find recorded anywhere else. Above all, there is sensitivity and vibrant imagination, allied to a transcendental technique always at the service of the music. The recording is so good that I didn't even notice it – believe me, that is a sincere compliment, particularly where piano recordings are concerned! These discs are yet another indication of the great music-making with which Australia abounds these days."

TALL POPPIES (Australia) -
TP162: PATRICIA POLLETT - STILL LIFE

Elena Kats-Chernin: Still Life I-VI; Peter Sculthorpe: Threnody:
Robert Davidson: Lento; Andrew Ford: Swansong; Stephen Cronin: Flux;
Nigel Sabin: Postcards from France; Gerard Brophy: The Room of the Saints;
Paul Stanhope: Dawn Lament; Betty Beath: From a Quiet Place.

Patricia Pollett viola with Stephen Emmerson & Colin Spiers pianos,
Daryl Pratt darabuka, Philippa Robinson clarinet

Total time: 72.00

(GB pounds 14.50)

This is the third solo viola CD released by Tall Poppies. Patricia Pollett is widely regarded as one of Australia's most talented musicians, and the violist who has done the most to encourage composers to write for the instrument. Almost all the works presented in Still Life were written especially for Pollett, who brings a palpable expressive emotion to her work. The disc is titled after Elena Kats-Chernin's six-part Still Life - an intimate series of studies for viola and piano.

The Strad November 2003: "Nine Australian composers here prove that it is still possible to write interesting music in a relatively conservative vein. The viola is often allotted what Rivka Golani calls 'elegy music' and there is a fair amount of it on this release; but, after all, singing in its mellow middle register is what the instrument does best. The connecting link is Patricia Pollett, an outstanding player who has already recorded a disc of viola music by her compatriots. Most of these pieces were written specially for her and the performances, recorded at three venues over a four-year span, all have an air of being definitive."

MORRISON TRUST RECORDS (New Zealand) -
MMT2039: SYRINX - FRENCH MUSIC FOR FLUTE & PIANO

Debussy (arr Lenski): Bilitis; Syrinx; Gaubert: Divertissement Grec;
Jacques Charpentier: Pour Syrinx; Ravel (arr. Samazeuilh): Menuet Antique;
Jules Mouquet: Sonata ‘La Flûte de Pan’; Roussel: Joueurs de Flute.

Bridget Douglas flute and Rachel Thomson piano

Total time: 61.54

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

The flute in its various forms is one of the oldest instruments known to mankind, and this recital of early 20th century French music by two of New Zealand’s foremost young chamber musicians features works inspired by subjects from Greek, Roman and Indian mythology.

Rod Biss in 31 August 2003 Sunday Star-Times: "On this new release featuring Bridget Douglas, principal flute in the NZSO, and New Zealand pianist Rachel Thomson, ...everything is given affectionate performances that make the music as approachable as your favourite French paintings of the same period...Together they give valuable performances of an interesting repertoire that you won't find in the major CD catalogues. Flautists will welcome it unreservedly - other (non-French, non-flautist) listeners may feel that there is too much on one disc of the same (ever-beautiful) sound. But we can always ration ourselves to just a few tracks at each sitting, can't we?"

Ian Dando in 20 December 2003 New Zealand Listener (Best of 2003): "NZSO principal flutist Bridget Douglas and pianist Rachel Thomson avoid the name sonatas of Bach, Prokofiev and Poulenc in favour of the rewarding Gallic fringes of Gaubert, Debussy, Roussel, Ravel, Mouquet and Jacques Charpentier (a pupil of Messiaen). Douglas's mellow tone in low registers is magical for Debussy's Bilitis and Syrinx; the flamboyance in Mouquet's Sonata allows her to open out without harshness and with impeccable breath control. All works are sensuous and undemanding - the perfect dinner by candlelight companion."

MORRISON TRUST RECORDS (New Zealand) -
MMT2047: JOHN PSATHAS - FRAGMENTS

John Psathas: Fragment (percussion version & piano duet version);
Happy Tachyons; Piano Quintet; Jettatura; Matre’s Dance.

Stephen Gosling piano, New Zealand String Quartet;
Jeremy Fitzsimons percussion

Total time: 47.06

(GB pounds 14.50)

Like an injection of adrenalin direct to the heart of New Zealand classical music comes a new album of chamber music by John Psathas, one of New Zealand's leading contemporary composers, featuring Jeremy Fitzsimons, Stephen Gosling and the New Zealand String Quartet.

Ian Dando in 20 December 2003 New Zealand Listener (Best of 2003): "Recent lunch conversation. Me: 'Psathas seems the best of our young composers.' Conductor: 'Delete young and I'd agree.' Exaggeration or not, this Wellingtonian is on a roll nationally and overseas. Everything is top drawer in this disc of mostly piano-percussion works. They follow on logically from his excellent Rhythm Spike, which won the NZ Classical CD of the year in 2000. One concern for his future: I hope he broadens out beyond his frequent piano-percussion combo. Other local composers are following him."

Rod Biss in 11 January 2004 Sunday Star Times Pick of 2003: "Some of New Zealands's finest performers playing music by Psathas that is often exciting, welcoming to the listener, and in Piano Quintet, exploratory as well."

MORRISON TRUST RECORDS (New Zealand) -
MMT2049: BRASS AOTEAROA

Philip Sparke: The Land of the Long White Cloud Aotearoa;
Gareth Farr: Waipiro; Tawhirimatea; George Hespe: The Three Musketeers;
Ross Harris: Bremner Aria; Dwayne Bloomfield: Behold the Narrows From the Hill.

National Youth Brass Band of New Zealand, Nigel Weeks

Total time: 60.50

(GB pounds 14.50)

The National Youth Brass Band is a group of some of New Zealand’s finest young brass and percussion players. The traditional brass band is the musical backbone of New Zealand and has been established for more than 150 years. In this recital the National Youth Brass Band play works especially commissioned for their 'ANZAC' Tour to the UK.

KIWI PACIFIC (New Zealand) -
CDSLD111: EDWIN CARR - ORCHESTRAL WORKS

Edwin Carr: Piano Concerto No.2* (1986); The End of the Golden Weather** (1996); Seven Elizabethan Lyrics (1980); Auckland 71: Ode

Sally Mays piano, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon*;
Schola Polyphonica, Wellington Orpheus Choir, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Marc Taddei**; Edwin Carr

Total time: 59.30

(GB pounds 14.50)

Edwin Carr was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1926 and died in 2003. He was educated at Dunedin and Auckland University before studying with Benjamin Frankel at the Guildhall School of Music. After many years teaching in Australia, her returned to New Zealand in 1984. The Piano Concerto was commissioned for Sally Mays by the Australia Arts Council and all of these works date from his later composing period.

Ian Dando in 1 November 2003 New Zealand Listener: "Carr must have been touched when Kiwi Pacific sent him an advance copy of this CD a week before he died this year at his home on Waiheke Island. His main models were the French ballet writers and Russians, especially Stravinsky. The spiky wit and rhythmic brio in his Piano Concerto No.2 (the key work on this CD) breathes the spirit of Prokofiev in its outer movements...this CD gets the green light from me, his piano concerto especially."

Ian Dando in 20 December 2003 New Zealand Listener (Best of 2003): "Frankly, this and the John Ritchie CD (MMT2040) don't stretch my imagination as deeply as the Farquhar (CDSLD112), Psathas (MMT2047) and Blake (ACD403) issues. But they're a good cross-section from two of our seniorcomposers. This one was completed just before Carr's death on Waheke Island this year. What gets it into the top 10 is his major work Piano Concerto No.2. Its springy Prokofievian wit and transparent orchestral scoring give it immediate appeal. End of the Golden Weather and Seven Elizabethan Lyrics are melodically endearing, if glibly so in the latter."

KIWI PACIFIC (New Zealand) -
CDSLD112: DAVID FARQUHAR - HALF A CENTURY OF SONG

David Farquhar: Eight Blake Songs; Three Scots Ballads;
Three Medieval Carols; Writing on the Sand; Three Cilla McQueen songs;
Five songs of e e cummings.

Peter Russell, Barry Mora & David Griffiths baritones, Pepe Becker soprano,
Margaret Nielsen, Terence Denis, Christine Griffiths & David Farquhar piano,
Anna Broadbent violin

Total time: 72.24

(GB pounds 14.50)

David Farquhar was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1929 of Scots ancestry and studied music composition in England. The poems for these song cycles come from a wide range of sources and were composed between 1947 and 1995.

Ian Dando in 1 November 2003 New Zealand Listener: "I'm not the only one who finds Wellington's David Farquhar the most elusive of our senior composers. So where's the real Farquhar? Right here, actually, in these six song cycles - this is where his true heart seems to be. The Cilla McQueen Cycle and Three Scots Ballads are to me the twin peaks of these song cycles. Farquhar has that knack of hitting the overall mood of a poem right on target. His fine detail in word painting has that subtlety luring you to revisit these cycles time and again. On the strength of this CD, I'd say he's probably the best songwriter in the country. Strongly recommended."

Ian Dando in 20 December 2003 New Zealand Listener (Best of 2003): "This collection of six song cyclesis where Farquhar's true heart is. Depiction of mood and fine detail in word painting are unfailingly sensitive across a wide range of texts from Blake to e e cummings - you won't find a more finely wrought songwriter in the country. It brings to the fore a composer unjustly overshadowed by Lilburn in past years. "

EURIDICE (Norway) -
EUCD21: BAROQUE ORGAN FROM RØROS

Works for organ by William Byrd, Thomas Tomkins, John Bull, Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Balbastre, Handel, F C Prosch, Johann Kaspar Kerll & Anon

Stephen Hicks baroque organ of Røros Church, Norway

Total time: 74.23

(GB pounds 14.50)

Built as a large cupboard organ without facade by an unknown builder c.1742, the organ played on this disc was moved to the current Røros Church in 1784 and was fully restored in 1995. Stephen Hicks is the organist at Røros and was born in 1949. He studied with Nadia Boulanger, Marcel Dupre and Ralph Downes.

VEST-NORSK (Norway) -
VNP2002-0057: HANSAKVARTETTEN

Ketil Hvoslef (b. 1939): Clarinet Quintet;
Sverre Bergh (1915 - 1980): Epigrammes over a theme by Rikard Nordraak;
Kenneth Sivertsen (b. 1961): String Quartet

The Hansa Quartet (Ricardo Odriozola & Anne-Helga Martinsen violins,
Helga Steen viola, Walter Heim cello) with Lars Kristian Brynildsen clarinet

Total time: 66.19

(GB pounds 14.50)

Three generations of Norwegian composers are represented on this recording - and three approaches to the string quartet. Ketil Hvoslef is the son of composer Harald Saeverud and Kenneth Sivertsen is better known for his music which encompasses jazz, rock and popular song. The Hansa Quartet was founded in 1989 and they are all members of the Bergen Symphony Orchestra.

VEST-NORSK (Norway) -
VNP2002-0058: SCHUBERT - PIANO MUSIC

Schubert: Piano Sonata in B flat, D960;
Moments musicaux D780

Audan Kayser piano

Total time: 64.06

(GB pounds 14.50)

Resident pianist at Grieg's house at Troldhaugen, outside Bergen, Audan Kayser is a native of Bergen and his recording of the Grieg concerto is the best selling classical record ever in Norway. Here he gives powerful and poetic readings of Schubert's masterpieces.

ALBEDO (Norway) -
ALBCD022: BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN - CHAMBER MUSIC

Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Intercommunicazione for cello & piano;
Capriccio for piano; Sonata for solo violin; Four short studies for solo cello

Peter Sheppard Skaerved violin, Friedrich Gauwerky cello,
Ian Pace piano

Total time: 70.10

(GB pounds 14.50)

Bernd Alois Zimmermann was born in 1918 and died in 1970 and was one of the most characteristic of post-war German composers. He was greatly influenced by Stravinsky and Milhaud during his early years but developed a strong personal musical language. These gritty works are authoratively performed by some of the most familiar artists on the British contemporary music scene.