Signum Classics Archive
ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics
ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics SIGCD468, 62:22 (10/1/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Two lovely contemporary violin concertos. This is a highly desirable recording from Signum Classics. It offers two violin concertos by American composers Roy Harris and John Adams. The Adams is fairly well known but the Harris concerto is a real find. Both men grew up in rural circumstances, Harris being born in a log cabin in Oklahoma. His music always has an ‘American’ feel to it, sometimes sounding a bit ‘Copland-esque’, but Harris has a unique voice with rural roots, and splendid orchestration. The Harris Violin Concerto was written in 1949, but did not get a first performance until 1984. The BBC Symphony gives the piece an exuberant and dynamic reading. Ms. Cohen is a rising star among violinists, and one can find ample evidence of that in her performance here. ‘ The John Adams Violin Concerto was composed in 1993, and Adams described the work as having a ‘hypermelody’, in which the soloist plays longs phrases without stop for the duration of the 35 minute piece. It’s a taxing piece for both the […]
TAVENER: Missa Wellensis; The Lord’s Prayer; Love bade me welcome & others – Wells Cathedral Choir/ Matthew Owens – Signum Classics
A must-have for Tavener fans. TAVENER: Missa Wellensis; The Lord’s Prayer; Love bade me welcome; Preces and Responses (Part One); I will lift up mine eyes (Psalm 121); Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis (Collegium Regale); Preces and Responses (Part Two); Song for Athene; Prayer for the healing of the sick; They are all gone into the world of light – Wells Cathedral Choir/ Matthew Owens – Signum Classics SIGCD442, 73:43 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: After John Tavener suffered a heart attack in 2007 that brought him near death; his next three years were a torturous trek of pain, depression, and loss of spiritual acumen. But in 2010, despite still being taunted by pain, he experienced a revitalization of sorts, producing over the next three years until his demise, works that were tauter, concentrated, and heavily invested in spiritual austerity. Conductor Matthew Owens suggested to the composer a Latin setting of the mass, and he obliged with great enthusiasm. This double-choir setting, in tribute to Tomas Luis de Victoria, is a staunch reaffirmation of Tavener’a basic religiosity, which had morphed into a confused universalism in his final years. It is a spectacular work of great propensity anchored in blocks of choral sound, […]
LOUIS ANDRIESSEN: Anaïs Nin; De Staat – Cristina Zavalloni, voice/ Synergy Vocals/ London Sinfonietta/ David Atherton – Signum Classics
A strange choice for a monodrama, and a touch exploitative. The music, unfortunately, doesn’t save it.
KHACHATURIAN: Concerto-Rhapsody in B-flat minor; Sonata-Monologue; LYAPUNOV: Violin Concerto in D minor – Hideko Udagawa, v./ Royal Philharmonic Orch./ Alan Buribayev – Signum Classics
Violinist Hideko Udagawa has built an enviable reputation, with some specialization in the Russian romantics.
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor; No. 27 in B-flat Major; 8 Variations on Sarti’s “Come un agnello” – Alessio Bax, p./ Southbank Sinfonia/ Simon Over – Signum Classics
Piano virtuoso makes a startling and intimate impression at once in two of Mozart’s mature piano concertos, and Bax adds a brilliant set of variations as an encore.
Alessio Bax plays BRAHMS – Four Ballades; 8 Klavierstuecke; Variations on a Theme of Paganini; Hungarian Dance No. 5 – Alessio Bax, p. – Signum Classics
Alessio Bax, who participated in “Through Brahms” at Menlo, now proffers an explosively poetic cycle of Brahms pieces to dazzle us with masterly colors.
The Julian Bliss Septet – A Tribute to Benny Goodman – Signum Classics
Julian Bliss: from boy prodigy to Bach to Benny.
“In Seven Days” = THOMAS ADES: In Seven Days; CONLON NANCARROW : Studies No. 6 & 7 – Signum Classics CD+DVD
The always interesting Ades in a fascinating multi-media work.