Classical Editor: Rob Barnett   Music Webmaster Len Mullenger: Len@musicweb-international.com

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CURRENT CLASSICAL REVIEWS see below allow time to load PREVIOUS CLASSICAL CD REVIEWS Editor Rob Barnett   Search Previous Reviews  FILM MUSIC CD REVIEWS Editor Ian Lace BUY your CDs on-line and benefit this site COMPETITION WIN a CHANDOS CD  New each month!

Current Reviews New entries are indicated by a rotating symbol. Full list of reviewers and contributors here Click Here Click Here Click Here Reviews for March 2001 February reviews January reviews April reviews see compilation of ATHENE reviews here

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PART 1

[Part 1 New]  [Part 2 A-B] [Part 3 C-L] [Part 4 M-R]  [Part 5 S-Y] [Part 6 Misc]

Also New:
IAN PACE in interview with Marc Bridle
Arthur Butterworth Writes: A little Haydn? Good! - recollections of the start of his career
Andrew Downes: Composer profile by David Wright
Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Composer profile by David Wright
Aviation in Music by Phil Scowcroft: New extended article
GASTRONOMY AND MUSIC: The Cafe Orchestra in Fact and Fiction  by Philip Scowcroft
Roads and Road Transport in Music (in four parts) by Philip Scowcroft
Phil Scowcroft's Garlands of British Light Music Composers: Another 60 Garlands have been added
Also just added the following pages by Phil: Major British Light Music Composers - single composer articles:John Ansell, The John Addisons, Hugo Anson, Herbert Bedford, George Howard Clutsam, Eric Coates, Eric Coates(2), Frederic Curzon, Brian Easdale, Harry Farjeon, Percy Fletcher, Hugh Fraser-Simson, Nicholas Gatty, Victor Hely-Hutchinson, Theodore Holland, Maurice Johnstone, Albert W Ketèlbey, James Lyon, Walton O'Donnell, Montague Phillips, W H Reed, Arthur Wood, Haydn Wood ,Thomas Wood, Leslie Woodgate.
EMI GREAT RECORDINGS OF THE CENTURY The latest releases (reviews to follow)
On-Line help sites: How do I do this, Where do I find this. Some free, some not


Did you know you could help sponsor a new recording for as little as £10 - a symphony for £25? Read on  such as this one: GRAHAM WHETTAM  Sinfonia Intrepida   BBCSO/Sir Charles Mackerras.   Redcliffe Recordings RR016 (44' 11'') [PC]

RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH

CRUSELL (1775 - 1838) Concertos for Clarinet and orchestra, op.11 in Bb, op. 5 in F minor, and op.1 in Eb Kari Kriiku, clarinet, Finnish Radio Symphony/Sakari Oramo Ondine ODE 965-2 [63:57] [GP-J]

I was hooked right from Kriiku's first entry, which happens about 12 seconds into the first concerto. Whichever way you look at it, he is an amazing performer....These are truly stunning performances, and Kriiku is superbly supported by Oramo and the excellent Finnish RSO. NOT TO BE MISSED!

NIELSEN Violin Concerto, Op.33 BRUCH Violin Concerto, Op.26 Nikolaj Znaider, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Lawrence Foster EMI CDC5 569062, [65.12] Full Price [MB]

The coupling is an unusual one but what impresses is the delight in hearing a young violinist so clearly looking back to the past to capture that sound and strength of tone which I had thought almost a thing of the past. This performance is at once haunting, sublime and effortless. It is a triumph.

SHOSTAKOVICH Dmitry (1906-1975) Violin Concerto no. 1 ; Violin Concerto no. 2 YSAYE
Amitie op 29 for two violins and orchestra David Oistrakh (violin) with Igor Oistrakh in the Ysaye.  Orchestras in order Philharmonia: Rozhdestvensky USSR State SymphonyOrchestra/ Svetlanov LPO, Sargent.   BBC Records. BBCL 4060-2 (ADD) [78.18] [DW]

The exciting music is almost too hot to handle. This is great stuff, really. Even the final cadenza sizzles with musical heat. The final minutes are breathtaking! Music of confidence and triumph. If you don't respond to this, you need professional help!

VERDI (1813-1901) Messa solenne (Messa di Gloria). Qui tollis. Tantum ergo in F. Laudate pueri. Tantum ergo in G. Pater noster. Ave Maria. Libera me (Messa per Rossini, 1869 version). Elisabetta Scano, Cristina Gallardo-Domâs (sopranos); Juan Diego Flórez, Kenneth Tarver (tenors); Eldar Aliev, Michele Pertusi (basses); Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Milano Giuseppe Verdi/Riccardo Chailly. Decca 467 280-2 [DDD] [69'09] [CC]

The Verdi celebrations have elicited a host of welcome issues from the majors. Riccardo Chailly here makes a notable contribution by turning his attention to another side of this most operatically based of composers: the lesser-known liturgical music. Decca in fact include no fewer than five World Première recordings on this release

FANFARES FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM  Fanfares by: Christopher BLAKE Auckland!, Eve de CASTRO ROBINSON Other echoes, John RIMMER Vulcan, Juliet PALMER Secret Arnold, John PSATHAS Luminous, Lisa MERIDAN-SKIPP firecracker, John ELMSLY Resound!, Dorothy BUCHANAN Peace, Chris CREE BROWN Y2K Pacemaker, Philip DADSON MAYA, David HAMILTON Zarya. Auckland Philharmonia/Miguel Harth-Bedoya, James Sedares, Nicholas Braithwaite, Kazufumi Yamashita, Samuel Wong, Edvard Tchivzhel, Vladimir Verbitsky, Yip Wing-Sie, Anthony Halstead
rec Auckland Town Hall, 1999-2000 Atoll ACD 100 [56.07]

Your first reaction on reading the heading above might well be to click that mouse button and quickly move on to the next review. But hold fast! Here is an extraordinary CD that will doubtless rate as one of my records of the year and deserves a hearing from anyone with the slightest interest in contemporary music.

English String Miniatures Volume 2 Frank Bridge  'Sally in our Alley'; 'Cherry Ripe' & 'Sir Roger de Coverley' Sir Edward Elgar  Sospiri Haydn Wood  Fantasy-Concerto John Ireland  The Holy Boy Ralph Vaughan Williams  Charterhouse Suite (c.1923) Frederick Delius  Air & Dance (c. 1920) Peter Warlock  Serenade for the 60^th birthday of Frederick Delius (1922) Geoffrey Bush  Consort Music (1989) Rec. 21/22 March 2000 English Northern Philharmonia David Lloyd-Jones Naxos 8.555068 [69.21] [JF]

When you are jaded with the complexities of Boulez, bored by the repetitiveness of Reich and overwhelmed by the massive constructions of Mahler and Bruckner, turn to English String Miniatures - Volume 2 on Naxos. This is a stunning CD. Never be put off simply by the fact that it is described as 'miniatures'. The works on this disk are all miniature masterpieces and deserve to be firmly entrenched in the orchestral repertoire - and not necessarily just as 'encores.'

WAGNER Die Walkure Astrid Varnay (Soprano), Helen Traubel (Soprano), Kerstin Thorborg (Mezzo), Lauritz Melchior (Tenor), Freidrich Schorr (Baritone), Alexander Kipnis (Bass)
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra Conducted by Eric Leinsdorf Broadcast performance from 6^th December 1941 Restoration by K&A Productions Ltd. Naxos Historical 8.110058-60 (175.38) [TD]

It's the eve of Pearl Harbour and an unknown Astrid Varnay is a last minute replacement for Lotte Lehmann in this truly Historical broadcast from the Met

[Part 1 New]  [Part 2 A-B] [Part 3 C-L]
[Part 4 M-R]  [Part 5 S-Y] [Part 6 Misc]

Classical Editor: Rob Barnett,  Reviewers: Rob Barnett, Ian Lace, Len Mullenger, and:  Richard Adams, Colin Anderson, Arthur Baker, Terry Barfoot,  Peter Bates, Marc Bridle, Arthur Butterworth, Colin Clarke, Paul Conway, Gary Dalkin, Andy Daly, Tony Duggan, Harry Downey,  Christopher Fifield, Lewis Foreman, Simon Foster, Christopher Howell, Stephen Lloyd, John Phillips, Ailís Ní Ríain, Humphrey Smith, Philip Scowcroft, Colin Scott-Sutherland, Andrew Seivewright, Christopher Thomas, Richard Whitehouse, Peter Grahame Woolf, David Wright. A complete list of contributors can be seen here

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