The top of the month means a new edition of Sunday Classical: New Releases. Tune into WRTI on Oct. 4 from 3-6 p.m. to hear Classical Host Mark Pinto play highlights from a selection of new albums. This month features guitar duo Bluvenduo in transcriptions of famous keyboard works; the Esmé Quartet in works by the Mendelssohns and Korean-American composer Juri Seo; conductor Gerard Schwarz leading the Buffalo Philharmonic, and featuring his son, cellist Julian Schwarz; and much more.
Transcriptions for 2 Guitars
Bluvenduo
Canadian Sebastian Robles and China’s Zhanxiang Shi met as students in San Francisco, where they formed their now prizewinning guitar duo. Here they take on an ambitious program of their own transcriptions of works originally for keyboard: Franz Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A major, Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Cesar Franck’s Prelude, fugue et variation, and three preludes by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Paganini
Joshua Bell (violin, conductor), Simon Mulligan (piano), Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Violinist and conductor Joshua Bell embarks on his 15th season as the much-lauded Music Director of England’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with an all-Paganini program. Bell returns to a piece he first performed at the age of 13, Paganini’s technically demanding Violin Concerto No. 1. Bell calls it an “extraordinarily operatic” concerto, “full of wit, charm, and drama.” Rounding out the album are the lyrical and expressive Cantabile, in a new arrangement for violin and chamber orchestra, and the bravura Carnival of Venice variations for violin and piano.
Stranger Sainton
Dmitry Smirnov (violin), Magdelana Hoffmann (harp), Basel Chamber Orchestra, Victor Jacob (conductor)
The instrument itself is the star of this musical journey through Romantic violin repertoire. Russian violinist Dmitry Smirnov reveals the full expressive range of the Guarneri del Gesù “Sainton Betti”, an instrument once played by 19th century French violinist Prosper Sainton. Pieces by Sainton himself as well as Paganini, Berlioz and Richard Strauss appear alongside an elegant theme-and-variations by Rossini for violin and harp based on one of his own opera arias.
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Motets, BWV 225-230
Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann (conductor)
Renowned for their intricate counterpoint, emotional depth, and virtuosic eight-part vocal demands, Bach’s motets rank among the most impressive works in the choral repertoire. Utilizing historically informed performance practice, they’re presented here by the Gaechinger Cantorey, a German ensemble hailed for their Bach recordings.
Manuel de Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos, El Amor Brujo, Homenajes, La Vida Breve, Fantasia Baetica
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Domingo Hindoyan (conductor)
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and their chief conductor Domingo Hindoyan mark the 150th anniversary of Manuel de Falla, arguably Spain’s greatest composer. Beloved music from the ballets The Three-Cornered Hat and El Amor Brujo join the lesser-known Homenajes, Falla’s musical tribute to several influential composers and teachers, and a new orchestration of Fantasia Baetica, originally a solo piano work written for Arthur Rubinstein.
Nui
Esmé Quartet
There are several reference points for this album’s Korean title, which means ‘sister’. Four Korean women and close friends formed the prizewinning Esmé Quartet (though their violist is now a Belgian-American man). They offer string quartets by siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, with the latter’s String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 written in the aftermath of his sister’s untimely death. The Esmé also play an emotionally-connected new work by Korean-American Juri Seo inspired by a traditional Korean song whose title translates as “Mother, Sister.”
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 & Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3
Rafał Blechacz (piano), Dresdner Philharmoniker, Kent Nagano (conductor)
Acclaimed Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz has come some distance since his triumph at the 2005 International Chopin Competition. His new release explores the key of C minor which, he explains, connotes a sound world “full of depth, darkness, drama, and strength.” Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24, one of only two he wrote in a minor key, is paired with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Beethoven’s 32 Variations in C minor, a solo work, completes the program.
Mujer Fatal
Aigul Akhmetshina (mezzo-soprano), Antonio Pappano (piano)
Bashkir mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina has enjoyed a rapid rise to international stardom after history-making performances as the youngest-ever Carmen at the Met and England’s Royal Opera. In this recital album with pianist and former Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano, she reimagines the ‘femme fatale’ through songs by Bizet, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Britten, Weill, Bernstein, Gershwin, and the title selection, newly composed for Akhmetshina by Russian-American Elena Roussanova.
Verdi
Lise Davidsen (soprano), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner (conductor)
One of today’s leading dramatic sopranos, possessing a “one-in-a-million voice,” Norway’s Lise Davidsen plumbs the depths of the emotional worlds of five remarkable women from Verdi’s operas in scenes from Macbeth, Un ballo in Maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlo, and Aida. Davidsen’s performances also reveal Verdi’s extraordinary understanding of character and drama.
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection'
Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Hanna-Elisabeth Müller (soprano), Orchestre National de France, Chœur de Radio France, Cristian Măcelaru (conductor)
With music director Cristian Măcelaru, the National Orchestra of France offers a fresh take on Gustav Mahler’s monumental, emotionally powerful symphony exploring the themes of life, death, and spiritual rebirth. Two outstanding soloists, mezzo Karen Cargill and soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, along with the Choir of Radio France embark on this passionate musical journey which culminates in profound serenity.
Homage to Heifetz
María Dueñas (violin), Itamar Golan (piano), Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel (conductor)
Award-winning Spanish violinist María Dueñas pays tribute to legendary Lithuanian-born violinist Jascha Heifetz, whom Dueñas claims as a role model and “a constant source of inspiration”. Heifetz’s early 1950s recordings of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole and Korngold’s Violin Concerto inspired Dueñas to create her own interpretations of these popular works, heard alongside miniatures by Debussy and Ponce.
Beethoven & the Italians
Münchener Kammerorchester, Enrico Onofri (conductor)
Conductor Enrico Onofri and the Munich Chamber Orchestra argue that Beethoven’s great symphonies breathe the same theatrical and dramatic air as the Italian operas of the day. This intriguing program lets listeners experience Beethoven’s Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Symphonies in the context of opera overtures by Cherubini, Spontini, and Rossini, with a full-fledged symphony by Cherubini thrown in for good measure.
Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 3 'Eroica' and Leonore Overture No. 3
Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Emanuel Ax (piano), Antoine Tamestit (viola)
Stellar artists, friends, and frequent collaborators, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma, and Emanuel Ax bring a “plus one” to the latest installment in their acclaimed “Beethoven for Three” recordings series. Violist Antoine Tamestit joins the trio in pianist-composer Shai Wosner’s revealing chamber transcriptions of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony and Leonore Overture No. 3. Wosner’s transcriptions hearken to the 19th century tradition of disseminating symphonic works through intimate chamber arrangements.
Machaut
Chanticleer
French composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut served both church and state in a long and prestigious career in which he became the central figure of the so-called ars nova style in late medieval music. The award-winning American vocal ensemble Chanticleer illuminates the secular and sacred sides of Machaut’s output in renditions of several songs and his Messe de Nostre Dame.
Arthur Foote: The Complete Cello Works
Julian Schwarz (cello), Marika Bournaki (piano), Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz (conductor)
A member of the “Boston Six,” a group of late 19th/early 20th century American composers based in and around New England who sought to develop a distinctly American classical idiom, Arthur Foote was the only adherent to have been entirely trained in the United States. This album brings together his complete compositions for cello, including the Cello Sonata and Cello Concerto, revealing Foote’s refined sense of melody and lush harmonic language. As soloist in this unjustly neglected music is the Juilliard-trained Julian Schwarz, son of conductor Gerard Schwarz.
