BIS
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Beal’s symphonic take on his popular TV tunes is a thriller, but the delightful shorter works featuring flautist Sharon Bezaly ultimately steal the show. —
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Lars Karlsson: Seven Songs and Clarinet Concerto
Christoffer Sundqvist & Gabriel Suovanen
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, John Storgårds
There’s a vital difference between being rooted in a tradition and immersing yourself in it, which is where I find Karlsson’s Seven Songs troubling…There is impressive clarity in the handling... —
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A Pleasing Melancholy: Works by Dowland & Others
James Akers (lute), Emma Kirkby (soprano)
Chelys Consort of Viols
Kirkby, with her half-a-century’s experience in this repertoire, lends perceptive insights both to the poetic texts and the musical settings. Words are beautifully etched with a dark, inky tone... —
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Although playing modern instruments, the musicians take full account of 18th century performance practices, shaping and colouring phrases by bow pressure rather than sustaining them with vibrato.... —
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Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan alight on the swirling gusts clearing the ground in the spectacular imagery of the opening chorus [of Phoebus and Pan]…The tenor Nicholas Phan really comes of... —
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Xiaogang Ye: Sichuan Image
Xue Yang (erhu, zhonghu), Yue Li (di, xiao), Lei Wang (sheng), Yang Jiang (pipa), Noriko Ogawa (piano), Royal Scottish National Orchestra, José Serebrier
Sichuan Image is pretty much just that – a lush, f i lmic orchestral picture which, aside from occasionally threatening to morph into Saint-Saëns or Debussy, goes nowhere in particular. The... —
Purchase product
CD
$18.00 -
Berio: Coro & Voices of London (Version for 8 Voices)
The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Grete Pedersen
[Coro] t’s a mighty tour de force, particularly with Surround sound, but it doesn’t bluster. Cries Of London is far from lightweight, but it comes as a gentle anticlimax to the main piece and... —
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Josef Mysliveček: Complete Music for Keyboard
Clare Hammond (piano)
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
The music of Josef Myslivecek (1737-81) is exquisitely crafted and offers bracing freshness, nowhere more than in the First Concerto. The score states ‘cembalo’, probably meaning fortepiano,... —
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Evocation (1941) is the highlight here. The gently undulating introductory pages set the tone for the soloist’s wistful main theme… Zorman offers committed advocacy here and in the Violin Concerto... —
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Allan Pettersson: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Symphony No. 17 (fragment)
Ulf Wallin (violin)
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Christian Lindberg
Lindberg moulds the structure [of the Violin Concerto] convincingly, driving the music forwards without overwhelming his soloist…Thoroughly engrossing, [the Symphony’s] sudden finish is dismaying... —
