Deep dives into contemporary violin repertoire, recent trombone works, and not-so-recent concertos for lute, as well as an album-length survey of preludes and chamber arrangements of beloved Stephen Sondheim touchstones.
New Releases Apr. 8: Instrument Spotlights
Philippe Quint (Photo: John Gress)
Multi-Grammy nominated violinist Philippe Quint’s presents the world premiere recording of works written for him by three trailblazing women: Lera Auerbach, Errollyn Wallen, and celebrated Soviet-born composer Lora Kvint, the violinist’s mother, with whom he collaborates here for the first time. The concertos by Auerbach and Wallen feature the Royal Scottish National Orchestra led by conductor Andrew Litton, who also joins Quint as a pianist for Kvint’s work and a bonus track, Florence Price’s Adoration.
“The title, Milestones, perfectly captures the essence of this recording – a celebration of 30 years since my professional debut, 40 years of life in music, and the joy of bringing new compositions into the world,” says Quint. “But these milestone moments aren’t mine alone. They’re shared by the three composers as well. For Errollyn, it’s her first Violin Concerto; for Lera, it’s her first large symphonic work commercially recorded; and for my mom, it’s her first major composition for violin.”
After being the king of court instruments in the seventeenth century, a symbol of refined entertainment, the lute was gradually abandoned in the following century. A small group of virtuosos and composers nevertheless refused to accept this predicted decline: these musicians moved the epicenter of its influence to the courts of Vienna, Bayreuth and Dresden, adapting the codes and forms of the gallant style to the lute, which for the first time integrated the orchestra in its own right. Miguel Rincón and Il Pomo d’Oro bring together concertos by Carl Kohaut (1726–84), Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688–1758), and Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht (1722-94), and a trio by Bernhard Joachim Hagen (d.1787), also recorded here for the first time. These splendid, inventive and virtuoso works reveal the richness of timbre and expression of an instrument that, at the crossroads of the Baroque, the Sturm und Drang and the gallant style, was in its last throes. Most works are new to the WFMT library and the concerto by Kleinknecht is a world premiere recording.
Award-winning violin-piano duo, Opus Two (violinist William Terwilliger and pianist Andrew Cooperstock) presents world-premiere recordings of highlights from Stephen Sondheim’s exceptional Broadway shows in arrangements by Eric Stern, a longtime collaborator of the late composer. These include “Broadway Baby” from Follies, “Every Day a Little Death” from A Little Night Music with cellist Beth Vanderborgh, “Finishing the Hat” from Sunday in the Park with George with baritone Andrew Garland, a Sweeney Todd medley, and more.
Eric Stern reminisces about his work with Sondheim: “I was one of the many lucky ones who got to work with Sondheim and experience close hand his genius, collaborative nature, and inherent kindness.” Stern added “my last conversation with him was about the A Little Night Music Suite which you’ll find on this album. We were all extremely grateful for his enthusiastic endorsement of the arrangement and performance, muted only by our sorrow that the rest were written after his passing.
Born in Belfast and brought up in Greater Manchester, trombonist Peter Moore came to international attention in 2008 when, aged 12, he became the youngest ever winner of BBC Young Musician. Appointed Co-Principal Trombone of the London Symphony Orchestra aged just 18, he departed after ten years to focus on his solo career. As a recording artist, Moore is has already been featured in concertos by Jonathan Dove, Edward Gregson, and Dani Howard with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Concert, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras. His latest album, accompanied by Tredegar Band, celebrates Moore’s life-long association with the Brass Band movement, with a diverse program that centers Gordon Langford’s Rhapsody for Trombone and the world premiere recording of Simon Dobson’s SHIFT, a concerto written for Peter Moore. Other selections pay tribute to Moore’s influences such as Annie Laurie by Arthur Pryor, a soloist with the Souza band, and I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You, a huge hit for Tommy Dorsey.
On his new album Canadian virtuoso pianist Jan Lisiecki brings the diverse sounds of the prelude to life, illustrating the genre’s potential to be more than just a curtain-raiser to something else. Frédéric Chopin’s extraordinary 24 Preludes Op. 28 are inspiration and centerpiece of this recording. For Lisiecki, Chopin was a “master of the short form” who “brought the prelude out of the shadows and into the spotlight”. Chopin’s pieces are complemented and contrasted with selected preludes by other composers from across three centuries, each representing a pinnacle of achievement in the genre – from Bach, Messiaen, Rachmaninoff to Górecki. Lisiecki seeks “to showcase the broad possibilities of the humble prelude” that takes “the audience on a musical expedition” through these kaleidoscopic miniatures.
