London Symphony Orchestra / Simon Rattle JANÁČEK The Cunning Little Vixen - Sinfonietta

THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN - SINFONIETTA

Maia Cabeza FOLK ROOTS

FOLK ROOTS

Navarra String Quartet LOVE AND DEATH

LOVE AND DEATH

Schumann Quartett CHIAROSCURO

CHIAROSCURO

Duo Gazzana FIVE PIECES

FIVE PIECES

Augustin Hadelich BOHEMIAN TALES

                                                              BOHEMIAN TALES

Duo Animé WORKS BY DVORÁK, JANÁCEK, MARTINU, SUK

                               WORKS BY DVORÁK, JANÁCEK, MARTINU, SUK

Magdalena Kožená & Friends SOIRÉE

Soirée captures the atmosphere of informal, domestic music making. Czech star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená offers an intimate and highly personal collection of international songs together with an outstanding group of musical friends, including Sir Simon Rattle, who makes his recording debut as a pianist. The German lied is represented by Brahms (Two Songs, Op. 91 and Five Ophelia Songs, WoO 22) and Strauss (Morgen!), the French chanson by Chausson (Chanson perpétuelle) and Ravel (Chansons madécasses), and 20th-century avant-gardism with Stravinsky’s Three Songs from William Shakespeare. In between these explorations, Kožená revisits her musical roots with a selection of Dvořák songs, arranged by Duncan Ward, as well as Janáček’s Nursery Rhymes.
Soirée is the second release of Magdalena Kožená’s exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, after having presented the baroque cantatas recital album Il giardino dei sospiri in 2019.

Michael Foyle / Maksim Štšura THE GREAT WAR CENTENARY

‘Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and yet cannot remain silent’, wrote Victor Hugo in 1864. Half a century later, his words had never felt more pertinent. Every composer writing during World War I found a unique way, through their music, to describe and protest against the horrors that were tearing civilization apart.

Created in the depth of morbidity, Debussy’s parting musical gift is a subtle, dignified and heroic celebration of youth and joie de vivre. A sense of patriotism in the war years links Debussy with the foremost Moravian composer of the day, Leoš Janáček. Ottorino Respighi was only in his thirties when the war broke out. His 1917 Sonata for violin and piano is a work of Romance written in the time of hate, a reminder that the past and the future remain beacons of hope in desperate times.

Commissioned for this recital programme to reflect on the centenary of The Great War from our own times, Kenneth Hesketh’s Inscrizione, derivata, subtitled ‘A lie to the Dying’, is a quasi-meditation on the dying man, his anxious thoughts and the spasms of his failing heart being weaved conspicuously into a narrative of disquieting melancholy.
Foyle-Štšura Duo Praised for ‘playing of compelling conviction’ (The Daily Telegraph) and ‘astonishing mutual feeling, understanding and responsiveness’ (Seen and Heard International), Foyle-Štšura Duo won the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Duo Competition and the Salieri-Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition in 2015.

Matei Varga EARLY DEPARTURES

Matei Varga artistry has received standing ovations from audiences around the world and superlative reviews from prominent critics. Noting that it is hard to find the right words to describe the beauty of Mr. Varga playing, Corriere della Seras chief critic Paolo Isotta praised the young artist as a true poet of the keyboard, a musician of depth, and a genuine artist. Other critics have found his performances impressive (Gramophone, 2016), magical (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2009), colorful, vivacious [and] engaging (Le Diapason, 2012). Discovered at age 10 by soprano Mariana Nicolesco, he went on to win top prizes at the George Enescu International Piano Competition and the International Maria Canals Piano Competition. Mr. Varga is also a recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant and a runner-up at the Vendome Prize in Lisbon, where he was singled out by Elisabeth Leonskaja who awarded him a special prize. This release features rarely heard and recorded works by Dinu Lipatti and Tudor Dumitrescu, the theme throughout the album being the undercurrent of sadness that all of these pieces possess.

Cathy Krier LEOS JANÁCEK The Piano

"Cathy Krier—born, trained, performing, and recording in Luxembourg—appears to be about 16 in the photos, but her playing reveals a mature, sophisticated artist. So do her interview comments: “… finely nuanced structures in miniature, punctuated by several distinct changes of mood within one piece. Those changes can be abrupt, occasionally giving rise to a certain form of brutality. Janácek’s scores are the only ones I know that contain the indication con durezza , ‘with harshness’.”  

Although Janácek was already a part of her repertoire, Krier spent three months researching his piano music. Then she waited a few weeks “to re-establish a healthy distance between Janácek and myself.” She had intended to record the complete piano works, but she rejected some “mere exercises or sketches” as not worthy of the composer. Her playing is more than just mature; it is phenomenal in both technique and musical understanding. Krier can create atmosphere in a brief span of three or four notes: ominous portent, gaiety, profundity, yearning. She breathes life into Janácek’s music: several of these pieces—the Allegro from the “Paralipomena, Korycanský troják” of the Moravian Dances , the Variations for Zdenka , the rough, awkward 1892 Ej, danaj! —come alive as never before. In her range of tonal color, Krier exceeds even such masters of Czech music as Radoslav Kvapil and Ivo Kahánek; she nearly matches the former’s intensity and the latter’s brilliance.  

Nor are the big “important” pieces immune to Krierization. She leans on the sustaining pedal in “Foreboding,” the first movement of the Sonata. Is it overkill? I don’t think so; this is not just a sonata, it is a recounting of a murder, and dramatic gestures are totally within the pale. Krier’s In the Mists is not as drenched in fog as Kvapil’s memorable account; her gentle sections are beautifully simple, her abrupt changes wild and spellbinding. In her hands, the final Presto is a four-minute summary of everything Janácek. But others have also made as much of these two great works; it is in the smaller pieces, so often played as if just to get through them, that Krier’s vision, imagination, and executive excellence shine most brightly. Disc two ends with the Moravian Folksongs , a piece somewhat removed from Janácek’s usual style; Krier’s daring, imaginative reading sounds odd at first, but she soon convinces us that what she has to say is very worthwhile. It seems thoroughly folk-like, although I am no expert on Moravian culture.  

We are not told what instrument is being played; it has a lovely, consistent tone. The recording was made in early 2013 at Philharmonie Luxembourg; the acoustic is warm and the recording first rate. Krier was 27 or 28 at the time. I find it somewhat distasteful (and certainly misleading) that she is being marketed as a sweet young thing; this is a master pianist at work. Her own website does portray her as an adult. This marvelous recital prompts the question: can Krier do as well with the music of other composers? Her debut recording, from 2007, includes music by Scarlatti, Haydn, Chopin, Alexander Müllenbach (a Luxembourg contemporary), and Dutilleux. Once again Krier’s playing displays extraordinary technical fluency and her written comments mature comprehension. Her Dutilleux Sonata is lucid and coherent; her Haydn F-Minor Variations has all the elements but does not quite jell. That disc would evoke a “promising young artist” conclusion. Everyone should have Janácek piano music in his or her library; Krier’s is the set to have." (FANFARE / James H. North)

Viola Wilmsen / Kimiko Imani OBOE & PIANO

What types of musical character do we associate with the oboe? We imagine long, lyrical phrases, mournful, fragile melodies, agile musicianship, and a folk-like character. During my time as principal oboist in the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, it felt as if I died “a thousand deaths” every evening until the main character on stage had finally breathed his/her last sigh and the sobbing oboe had sung its plaintive melody to the end. On the other hand, have you ever heard an oboe sonority that is fierce, conquering or threatening? 

The 20th century produced a number for works for oboe and piano in which the woodwind instrument adopts an almost “furious” character. In this program we would like to demonstrate the oboe’s variety of tone colour and great versatility. Our basic idea is centered on the oboe as a “singing voice”, with its tremendous ability to phrase long cantilenas: hence, this program is closely associated with the human voice. We have selected three works originally written for oboe, along with two brief vocal works we have arranged for the instrument. Unpretentious works from the youth of a composer such as Martinů stand alongside dramatic late works such as Pavel Haas’s Suite, which he originally conceived for voice but later arranged for oboe. Here we combine the original sources of inspiration –Moravian folk songs – with a series of works heavily influenced by Moravian folk music: the Suites by Pavel Haas and Klement Slavický, as well as Leoš Janáček’s opera Jenufa. 

Oboists are increasingly performing Klement Slavický’s Suite in view of its many qualities: a series of technical challenges, a pastoral, quasi-improvised first movement, and attractive bravura passages in the Scherzo as well as in the fourth movement.……….. With the exception of Leoš Janáček, all the composers on this CD were of Jewish faith, and shared the bitter experience of having been forced to flee their homeland or at least to give up their profession. Perhaps in times such as ours, when nationalism and racism are on the rise, these musicians’ destinies can inspire serious reflection and serve as a warning to us all. (Viola Wilmsen)

Terezie Fialová SILHOUETTES

Terezie Fialová is one of the most prominent Czech solo piano players. Despite her age, she has been a partner to many Czech and international soloists (J. Bárta, V. Hudeček, C. Chapelle, H. Milne, J. Mráček,  J. Špaček, R. Patočka  etc). 

Her debut performance with and orchestra was at the age of twelve. Until the age of twenty, she pursued a career of a violin player in an international merit parallel to her piano career. Terezie is a Academy for performing Arts Prague  (I. Klánský) and Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (N. Schmidt) graduate.

She steadily performs on significant international festivals (Prague, Munich, Basel, Hamburg, Sarajevo, Paris, Madrid,  Ankara, Istanbul, New York, Washington and many others) and is a member of Eben trio, with which she has won the international competition in Lausanne. She participated in Verbier Festival Academy 2013 in Switzerland as the only Czech piano player. Successful debut at international festival of chamber music in American Newport (2014) was described as "stunning performance and very bright future" by critics. She is The Yamaha Artist of the Czech Republic.

Lyris Quartet INTIMATE LETTERS

Leoš Janáček’s Second String Quartet, Intimate Letters, inspires four complementary new works by Billy Childs, Bruce Broughton, Peter Knell and Kurt Rohde in an inventive new recording by the “radiant” (Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles-based ensemble. On September 30, ARS will release The Lyris Quartet’s Intimate Letters, an inspired new project anchored by the Second String Quartet of Leoš Janáček, “Intimate Letters”. Janáček’s Intimate Letters holds a special place in the repertoire of the Los Angeles-based Lyris Quartet; having been the first work that the group performed publicly and one they return to most often. So it is fitting that the piece serve as catalyst for the ensemble’s first recording. Often referred to as the composer’s “manifesto on love”, Intimate Letters was inspired by Janáček’s near obsessive devotion to his longtime muse Kamila Stösslová (a married woman 38 years his junior) to whom he wrote more than 700 love letters over 11 years.

The Lyris Quartet – Alyssa Park (violin), Shalini Vijayan (violin), Luke Maurer (Viola) and Timothy Loo (cello) – are known as faithful champions of new music and are the resident ensemble of the celebrated new-music series Jacaranda in Santa Monica. The Quartet chose to present Janáček’s storied quartet together with four new works inspired by the piece and commissioned for the Lyris by distinguished Los Angeles composers Bruce Broughton, Billy Childs, Peter Knell, and Kurt Rohde.

To ensure the recording breathes original life into Janáček’s masterpiece the Lyris brought this cross-genre and and multi-media roster of composers - together, asking each to write a work in response to the original Intimate Letters. The result is a dazzling homage to Janáček’s most ardent quartet.

Julie Sevilla-Fraysse / Antoine De Grolée FOLKLORE

A French cellist born in 1988, Julie is among today’s young soloists and recently performed the Concerto by Saint-Saëns with the Antwerp-based orchestra deFilharmonie at the Flagey concert hall in Brussels and L. Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in B-flat major with the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia In 2013 she was the laureate of the Fondation Natexis Banque Populaire and performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations at the Festival des Rencontres de Violoncelle de Bélaye broadcast on France Musique.Passionate about chamber music, Julie has performed alongside artists such as Emmanuelle Bertrand, Augustin Dumay and Gérard Caussé in the Flagey concert hall and in trio with Régis Pasquier and Abdel Rahman El Bacha. Julie was notably part of the Werther trio until 2010, with which she performed at the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron. The trio won the Prix de la Presse at the International Chamber Music Competition of Lyon in 2011. She was also a guest at the Chamber Music Festival of Rome and at the Festival des Violons de Légende à Beaulieu-sur-Mer in 2013 and at the Schiermonnikoog Chamber Music Festival in the Netherlands in 2014.Julie studied at the Conservatoire de Nice then at the Académie Rainier III de Monaco in the class of Frédéric Audibert. At the age of 17 she integrated the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the class of Roland Pidoux, then the Juilliard School of New York. Julie has just recorded her first album on the theme of Central Europe on the Klarthe label. It includes Zoltan Kodaly’s Cello Sonata and will be released in 2016.She obtained a grant from the Princess Grace of Monaco Foundation to take part in the International Cello Competition of the Naumburg Foundation that will take place in October in New York.