Anniversary ( CPE ) Bach

BBC Music magazine free cover disc. CPE Bach chamber works from the BBC Chamber Proms. Trio sonata for flute, violin and continuo, violin sonata in C minor, keyboard sonata in E minor, trio sonata in C. Performers : Rachel Podger violin, Katy Bircher flute, Bojan Cicic violin, Tomasz Pokrzywinski cello, Kristian Bezuidenhout fortepiano. Very fine concert.

Classical Shades Into Romantic

BBC Music magazine cover disc ( now an occasional purchase ! ) Schumann Symphony No 1 "Spring" BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Schubert Symphony No 4 "Tragic" BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena. I already have a version of the Schumann but not the Schubert. The Schumann is live in concert, the Schubert a studio recording and better sound quality.

Not Just Dmitri's Mate

Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes and Symphony No 6. Performers : St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Glinka Choral College Boys Choir. Conducted by Vladimir Lande, chorus master Vasily Grachev. The sixth is a choral symphony and a major 20th century work. The Rhapsody a more throwaway crowd pleaser.

Modern Not Modernist

Henri Dutilleux Symphony No 1 and Symphony No 2 "Le Double". Performers : BBC Philharmonic conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier. Modern but not modernist, very much his own man.

Russian Romanticism

Rachmaninov Preludes, Moments Musicaux. Nikolai Lugansky piano. Filling an unexpected gap in my repertoire with well recorded and exemplary versions.

Anglo Polish Take On Mid Century Music

Andrzej Panufnik Symphonic Works Vol 7. Symphony No 5 ( Sinfonia Di Sfere ), Bassoon Concerto, Love Song, Landscape. Performers : Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Polish radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lukasz Borowicz. Michael von Schonermark bassoon, Sarah van der Kemp mezzo. The bassoon concerto is the most immediately arresting but all pieces very worthwhile ( maybe the Love Song a little slight )Hints of English influence on the Polish core of the music.

Not Just For Christmas

Berlioz L'Enfance du Christ. Performers : Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Robin Ticciati. Soloists Yann Beuron narrator, Veronique Gens Virgin Mary, Stephan Loges Joseph and Alastair Miles father of the family. Two disc set, beautifully played and recorded. Biblical story but not tied to just being played at Christmas !

Bought For The Prokofiev

Shostakovich, violin concerto no 1 and Prokofiev violin concerto no 1. Performers : Berlin Philharmoniker conducted by Simon Rattle. Sarah Chang violin. I already have a recording of the Shostakovich but wanted Prokofiev's fist concerto and there did not seem to be any couplings other than with the Shostakovich or with Prokofiev's second which I also already have. These are good solid performances.

Anglo-Scottish Take On New Music

Sally Beamish : Violin Concerto, Callisto ( concerto for flute and orchestra ), Symphony No 1 Performers : Royal Scottish national Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins, Anthony Marwood violin, Sharon Bezaly flute. Representative selection of the composer's output, all pieces occupying a similar sound world but the different lead instruments creating enough variety. The programmatic aspect of the violin concerto being based on All Quiet On The Western Front not immediately discernible.

Another One For Completists

Schubert Complete Works for Violin and Piano Alina Ibragimova violin, Cedric Tiberghien piano Two cd set comprising the four violin sonatas plus a rondo, a fantasy and a transcription. Another welcome addition to the growing discography of this pair.

He Wrote The Songs

Rachmaninov Songs. Three disc box of Rachmaninov's complete songs curated by Iain Burnside and sung by seven native Russian speakers using the voice types envisaged by Rachmaninov for each song without transpositions. Performers : Evelina Dobraceva soprano, Ekaterina Siurina soprano, Justina Gringyte mezzo-soprano, Daniil Shtoda tenor, Andrei Bondarenko baritone, Rodion Pogossov baritone, Alexander Vinogradov bass, Iain Burnside piano.

Icles Not Atas But It's All Cant

Britten : The Five Canticles. Performers : Principally Mark Padmore tenor and Julius Drake piano. But significant contrbution from Iestyn Davies counter tenor and also Marcus Farnsworth baritone, Lucy Wakeford harp and Richard Watkins horn. Live recording from a concert in Wigmore Hall.

Looking Out For A Hero

Gliere Symphony No 3, Il'ya Muromets. Performers : Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta Programmatic symphony on a possibly mythical hero from medieval Russia. Highly atmospheric even without knowing the programme, though the short ( relative to the rest of the symphony ) scherzo seems to belong to another symphony altogether.

Bach Ascending

Bach Cantatas Volume 28 For Ascension Day. Performers : The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. Lenneke Ruiten soprano, Meg Bragle alto, Andrew Tortise tenor, Dietrich Henschel bass. Not up to owning all 28 volumes but a beautiful representative set to set alongside Herreweghe and Suzuki.

Not Quite Sibelius

Leevi Madetoja Symphonies 1 and 3 and Okon Fuoko Suite. Performers: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Storgards. Early 20th century works, influenced by fellow countryman Sibelius rather than more radical figures. Maybe without that touch of genius but the third symphony is particularly striking, the suite of incidental music for a play somewhat disposable.

Staying True To Oneself

Karl Amadeus Hartmann Symphonies No 1 to 6. Performers : Bamberger Symphoniker conducted by Ingo Metzmacher. Two cd set. Mid-twentieth century symphonies influenced but not dominated by the times and place in which they were written.

Lucky Children To Hear Such Music

Charles Mingus : Let My Children Hear Music Reportedly Mingus's favourite recording. A unified suite with big band forces hanging together as a coherent while. Ideal as an example to anyone who doubts the validity of jazz as an art music.

Here Comes The Kitchen Sink

Schnittke, Symphony No 1. Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam. Ake Lannerholm trombone, Carl-Axel Dominique jazz piano, Ben Kallenberg jazz violin. A real kitchen sink symphony with performance art, jazz improvisation, collage, quotations ( of the most famous kind ) and yes, tubular bells. And four and a half minutes of applause at the end of this live recording.

Aha, It's Aho

Kalevi Aho Symphony No 15. Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk. Concerto for double bass and orchestra. Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaako Kuusisto, soloist Eero Munter. Minea. Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska. Continuing the Scandinavian tradition with a touch of minimalism and a whiff of jazz. Recording handles the balance problems of a double bass concerto well, though some juggling with the volume switch necessary.

Shadows Of War

BBC music magazine cover disc for a WW1 themed edition. Ivor Gurney : A Gloucestershire Rhapsody, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Parry and War Elegy, BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones. Frank Bridge : Oration ( Concerto Elegiaco for cello and orchestra ), BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Richard Hickox. Stephen Isserlis cello. The Gurney works, the Rhapsody is a recorded premiere, are noticeably works in progress never fully realised because of circumstances. But worth hearing. Whereas Oration is one of Bridge's major works and a class above really.

A Society To Be Commended

Attracted to buy the recent edition of BBC Music by the cover disc and not disappointed. Mendelssohn piano quartet in B minor, Schumann piano quartet in E flat and Schumann Marchenbilder. Performers under the auspices of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Juho Pohjonen piano, Erin Keefe violin, Paul Neubauer viola, Narek Hakhnazaryan cello. Life affirming music, beautifully played and recorded.

Nocturnal Impressions

BBC Music magazine cover disc ( sampling an edition that looks slightly interesting after cancelling subscription ) In fact a good recital disc by pianist Vlado Perlemuter. Ravel Miroirs and Faure Nocturnes.