MORRISON & CO TRUST - MMT2010:
MICHAEL HOUSTOUN: Elusive Dreams
Piano Music by New Zealand Composers

John Psathas: Waiting for the Aeroplane; Christopher Blake: Ancient journeys; Kenneth Young: Elusive Dreams; Douglas Lilburn: Piano Sonata (1956); Jack Body: Sarajevo; Gareth Farr: Sepuluh jari.

Michael Houstoun (piano)

Total time: 64.23

(GB pounds 14.50)

Recorded live at the 1996 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, Michael Houstoun (finalist in the 1974 Leeds Piano Competition) presents a programme of 20th Century music by New Zealand composers. Celebrated for his regular performances of the complete Piano Sonatas of Beethoven the music here ranges from an evocation of an airport to the Gamelan influence of Gareth Farr.

Christopher Ballantine in November 2000 International Record Review - "what gives this recording potential for international appeal is surely that it consists of little-known piano music by New Zealand composers. It's fresh, diverse, unpredictable; and like so much music from the world's peripheries, it troubles such received classifications, inviting us to rethink them...Michael Houstoun plays so splendidly. Totally in command of his brief, he gives these works the kind of performance that truly illuminates, playing everything with verve, passion and chiselled clarity."

MORRISON & CO TRUST - MMT2030:
STRIKE: NEW ZEALAND PERCUSSION MUSIC

Gareth Farr: Volume Pig; Ross Harris: Ricochet; Miriam Young: Iron Tongues; Don McGlashan: Work Songs; David Downes: Painting with Breath; Murray Hickman: Cube; Trad. Arr. George Upu: Taku Manu E.

Strike (Jeremy Fitzsimmons, Alison Low Choy, Murray Hickman, Tim Whitta)

Total time: 68.42

(GB pounds 14.50)

The New Zealand percussion group, Strike, is a high-energy drumming group whose flexible line-up is drawn from amongst the country's most outstanding percussionists. Founded in 1993, Strike is committed to developing the unique and diverse world of New Zealand percussion music. Many of the works on this disc were commissioned for Strike from New Zealand's leading composers.

Christopher Ballantine in November 2000 International Record Review - "Strike, a New Zealand drumming group with a core of four players, seem willing to work with almost any object that can be made to sound: to the panoply of more familiar percussion instruments they now add hubcaps, brake drums, metal plates, 44-gallon oil drums (plus lids), thin bamboo poles, wind ropes, wind drums, large sticks, steel water pipes, other junk instruments and various drums from the Cook Islands. The booklet notes are informative and the recording is clean and true. But warn your neighbours first: the disc must be played at high volume, or else the softest passages virtually disappear."

LINDBERG LYD - PIANO002:
NIKOLAI MEDTNER: PIANO WORKS

Medtner: 3 Arabesques, Op.7; Piano Sonata, Op.25; 3 Dithyrambs, Op.10; 2 Skazkas, Op.20; Elegies, Op.59.

Gunnar Sama (piano)

Total time: 60.05

(GB pounds 14.50)

The Norwegian pianist Gunnar Sama was born in 1949 and was the first Norwegian to perform the music of Medtner in public. He has specialised in Medtner for the last 25 years and this is also the first recording of Medtner by a Norwegian musician.

The music performed on this disc from the new Norwegian label Lindberg Lyd, spans most of Medtner's productive period and includes pieces from different genres.

Donald Manildi in November 2000 International Record Review - "Medtner collectors should be pleased to note that this disc offers the first ever recordings of the first Elegy and of the first and third Dithyrambs from Op.10. Sama, a Norwegian pianist who studied with Liv Glazer, Robert Riefling and Ryszard Bakst , has Medtner's writing well in hand and displays considerable affinity for both the style and substance of the music...this superbly recorded disc is a significant addition to the Medtner discography"

CEDILLE - CDR90000052:
LISZT FOR TWO

Liszt: Mephisto Waltz for Two Pianos; Six Hungarian Rhapsodies for Piano Four-hands (Nos. 2, 5, 6, 9, 12 & 14 in the solo piano versions).

Georgia and Louise Mangos (pianos)

Total time: 71.25

(but currently unavailable)

Following their hugely successful world-premiere three disc series of the complete Symphonic Poems of Liszt in his versions for two pianos, the Mangos sisters here present the six Hungarian Rhapsodies for which Liszt made versions for piano duet and the Mephisto Waltz in the version for two pianos. The Hungarian Rhapsodies are the same six that Liszt also made into orchestral works.

Fanfare Magazine - "One can only hope that Cedille has further plans for this enormously talented duo".

Tim Parry in February 2001 International Record Review - "As we would expect of Liszt, these are not hack arrangements, but imaginative and resourceful recastings... and Liszt manages to write for fourhands with all the flair and virtuosity that he brings to the solo versions.
- the ensemble and combined virtuosity are impressive, and this partnership seems greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, the infectious spirit of these performances overcomes the lack of polish, and the rawness of the playing adds to the authentic gypsy character."

TALL POPPIES - TP124:
JAN SEDIVKA: 80th Birthday Celebration

Larry Sitsky: Concerto No.1 for Violin, Orchestra & Female Voices; Violin Concerto No.3.

Jan Sedivka (violin) with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Vanco Cavarski and Christopher Lyndon Gee (conductors) and Tasmanian Opera Company Chorus & Lyric Singers

Total time: 73.08

(GB pounds 14.50)

Composer and pianist, Larry Sitsky, was born in China of Russian-Jewish parents, travelled to Australia in 1951 and settled in Sydney. His first violin concerto was written for his friend Jan Sedivka. Sedivka is widely recognised as one of Australia's leading violinists and teachers. Educated in Czechoslovakia, he moved to Australia in 1961 and celebrated his 80th birthday in 1998.

TALL POPPIES - TP129:
AUSTRALIAN CELLO

Keith Humble: 5 Short Pieces in Two Parts; Bozidar Kos: Evocations; Don Banks: 3 Studies for cello & piano; Sequence for solo cello; Gillian Whitehead: The Journey of Matuku Moana.

Georg Pedersen (cello) with David Bollard (piano)

Total time: 71.47

(GB pounds 14.50)

Danish cellist, Georg Pedersen, studied with Paul Tortelier and Gregor Piatigorsky and has worked with many Danish, Australian and new Zealand composers and is now based at Sydney University.

This disc presents first recordings of these contemporary works by leading Australian composers for both solo cello and cello with piano.

KIWI PACIFIC - CDSLD99:
AOTEAROA: Orchestral Music of Douglas Lilburn

Lilburn: Overture - Aotearoa; Allegro for Strings; Concert Overture in D; Four Canzonas; Festival Overture; Introduction and Allegro for Strings; Diversions for Strings

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conductor John Hopkins; Ithaca College Festival Orchestra, conductor Grant Cooper

Total time: 71.17

(GB pounds 14.50)

This latest release from Kiwi Pacific joins their earlier recordings of music by New Zealand's foremost composer, Douglas Lilburn. All of the music on this disc was composed between 1939 and 1950 and have the distinctive rich voice for which he has become renowned.

Rob Barnett for Classical Music on the Web - "The Aotearoa Overture is candidly, even proudly, Sibelian. The material and the method bears closest resemblance to the lucidly limned string and wind figures from the Finn's Sixth Symphony. It is irresistible and for all its monothematicism is neatly put together; a fit travelling companion for Moeran's Overture to a Masque and Copland's Outdoor Overture. The 1968 recording stands up very well. The gravely-toned command of the brass and the pert woodwind playing stand out.

The Festival Overture's nervy ostinati lean to Sibelius's Third Symphony this time but the rictus of Walton's First Symphony is an unmistakably imperious influence. Did I also detect the goose-shiver of an East Anglian squall five years before the Grimes premiere?

A very fine disc with music by a freshly inspired lyrico-dramatic talent whose music deserves to travel."

KIWI PACIFIC - CDSLC248:
INIA TE WIATA: A Popular Recital

Negro Spirituals; West Indian Spirituals & Folk Tunes;
Classical Songs and Ballads by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Lehmann, Rasbach, Schubert, Schumann and Flanders & Swann

Inia Te Wiata (bass) with Maurice Till and Ernest Lush (pianos)

Total time: 69.42

(GB pounds 14.50)

The world-renowned bass, Inia Te Wiata, was born in 1915 and died in 1971. Although mainly known in the opera houses of Europe, he also had a wide recital repertoire and this discs collects together many of the non-operatic recordings made in New Zealand in the 1960s and in London in 1955. His finely textured bass voice was able to inhabit a wide range of musical repertoire from art song to negro spiritual.

Tully Potter in Summer 2001 Classical Record Collector - "New Zealand was lucky to produce two such strong basses as Oscar Natzka (1912 - 1951) and Inia Te Wiata (1915 - 1971) within three years of each other. He, Te Wiata, was a pleasant modest man who paid due respect to the influence of Natzka; he was also a magnificent singer. Four spirituals, and eight West Indian spirituals come from a New Zealand LP and are marvellous...Here is a most enjoyable disc."

PROPIANO - PPR224532:
Ryuichi Sakamoto (b. 1952): Piano Works

Sakamoto: Tong Poo*; Intermezzo; Sonatine; River (1982); Energy Flow; Chanson; Just for Me (1981); Choral No.1& No.2; Bachata; Grasshoppers (1979); Opus; Lorenz and Watson Suites for Piano (1970); La Dispersion, La Limite, Le Sable (1976).

Chitose Okashiro (piano), with Ju-Ying Song (piano)*

Total time: 63.00

(GB pounds 14.50)

Listen to an extract

Ryuichi Sakamoto - "The fine pianist Chitose Okashiro is releasing a CD devoted to my works, so I am impatient to hear the result. This is, of course, the first attempt to survey my works from my student days to the present time. I myself have never tried such an anthology. Okashiro is a much better pianist than I am, so what more can I ask? This CD will mark a milestone for me, enabling me to ponder my past 25 years and my next steps. I'd like to express my gratitude to Okashiro and producer Ricard de La Rosa for having tackled this demanding task so thoughtfully."

Art Lange in January/February 2001 Fanfare - "Ryuichi Sakamoto (b. 1952) no doubt has a larger international audience following his career as pop musician than his dabblings in classical music...All of the music is well played by Okashiro, which strongly suggests that she deserves a hearing in more standard repertoire. Not the pop trifles I expected, Sakamoto's piano music is effectively lyrical and well crafted,though it hardly says much about his own creative abilities. As such, it stands as a curiosity. So, just how curious are you?"

KIWI PACIFIC

Newly available again in the UK, here is a reminder of some earlier releases from Kiwi Pacific:

CDSLD100 - DOUGLAS LILBURN: A SONG OF ISLANDS
Drysdale Overture; A Song of Islands; Suite for Orchestra; A Birthday Offering; Prodigal Country
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, David Griffiths, John Hopkins, Sir Charles Groves and Orpheus Choir of Wellington
(GB pounds 14.50)

Rob Barnett for Classical Music on the Web - "Prodigal Country is the longest work on the disc at 17.45. It is a setting of words by NZ poets Allen Curnow and Robin Hyde alongside Whitman's 'Song of Myself'. Full texts are printed in the booklet. From a few months after the start of the Second World War it is a return to the ambience of Vaughan Williams (Whitman was much favoured by VW) and Sibelius (all those intense high violin tremolandi). Groves and his forces plunge into the work with verve and fervour.

Marginally to be preferred over Continuum's disc. While the strongest Lilburn is to be found in the three symphonies and the piano music this is ameritorious collection for the Lilburn listener who wonders what lies in the further recesses. By no means a barrel-scraping exercise and much pleasure is to be had by those in sympathy with the works of Sibelius and RVW from Drysdale, Song of Islands, Birthday Offering and Prodigal Country. "

CDSLD96/97 - PUCCINI: MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Rosina Buckman, Nellie Walker, Tudor Davies, Frederick Ranalow, The Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, Eugene Goossens (recorded 1924)
(GB pounds 22.50)

CDSLD90 - DOUGLAS LILBURN:
Symphony No.1 (1948); Symphony No.2 (1951); Symphony No.3 (1960)
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins, Ashley Heenan
(GB pounds 14.50)

CDSLD88 - DAVID FARQUHAR:
String Quartet - New Zealand String Quartet; Magpies and Other Birds - Jones & Co; Suite for Guitar - John Mills; In Despite of Death - David Griffiths (baritone) with Terence Denis; Echoes and Reflections - New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, John Matheson
(GB pounds 14.50)

CDSLD82 - SOUTHERN VOICES:
International Opera Singers of New Zealand
Frances Alda; Rosina Buckman, Denis Dowling; Oscar Natzka; Inia Te Wiata; Bryan Drake; Noel Mangin; Heather Begg; Peter Baillie; Donald McIntyre; Anson Austin; Barry Mora; Patricia Payne; Rodney Macann; Malvina Major; Kiri Te Kanawa; Richard Greager; Patrick Power; Keith Lewis
(GB pounds 14.50)

CDSLC223 - VOYAGES: Music for the New Zealand pavilion at Expo '92
Featuring Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Howard Morrison, Expo Maori Entertainers
If This Were Not Now. . . ; Voyages; New Zealand Forest Atmosphere; Rangi and Papa; Pacific Rhythm; Aue Te Iwi E/ Haeremai; E Nga Iwi; Ma Wai Ra; Te Atairangi Kaahu; Pokarekare Ana; Tukua Ahau; Theatre Three Soundtrack
(GB pounds 14.50)