|
|
|
ID: SIGCD258
CDs: 1
Type: CD
|
Subcollection: Bassoon
A seductive and fascinating disc for fans of contemporary music, this collection of works for Bassoon with choir and orchestra feature works by British composer Stephen Frost and Norwegian composer Kjell Mørk Karlsen.
The disc’s title work Parapraxis, for solo bassoon and choir, melds together a mix of sacred latin text and secular English poetry, pushing and playing with the illusory ‘boundary’ that seems to exist between the two. The other two works - Frost’s Bassoon Concerto and Karlsen’s Serenata - are beguiling and stimulating pieces that show off the talents of Norwegian bassoonist Sigyn Birkeland and the Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra.
In demand as a soloist, Sigyn Birkeland has been Principal Bassoon in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra since 1992. She continues to champion the instrument by commissioning, performing and recording new works for the instrument in a variety of unique ensembles and settings. |
| 18.00 eur Buy |
|
ID: ACDBB030-2
CDs: 1
Type: SACD
|
Subcollection: Oboe
In this album, the Belgian oboist Joris Van den Hauwe performs a number of French compositions for oboe from the 19th and 20th centuries.
This recording includes some of the most important works of French music for oboe and piano. Some were written for student examinations at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Paris. Others were dedicated to former teachers, for example, Camille Saint-Saëns's Sonata to ‘Monsieur Louis Bass, hautbois- Premier Solo de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire et de l'Opera' (tracks 11, 12 and 13). The ‘Sarabande et Allegro' by Gabriel Grovlez (tracks 14 and 15) and the ‘Fantaisie Pastorale' by Eugène Bozza (track 7) were both dedicated to the then highly acclaimed oboist Louis Bleuzet (1874-1941), also a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. Grovlez noted in his score: ‘A mon Ami Louis Bleuzet, Professeur au Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris'. The link between composers and performers was apparently very strong; these works are among the jewels of chamber music.
The oboe sonata (1947) by Henri Dutillieux (tracks 4, 5 and 6) is a jewel, as well, though the composer, born in 1916, thought otherwise. He disavowed this composition, along with other early works. Dutillieux dedicated this sonata to Monsieur Pierre Bayeux, also a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. Francis Poulenc dedicated his two sonatas on this album (tracks 1, 2 and 3 and 16, 17 and 18) to Sergei Prokofiev and Manuel de Falla. It is a conscious departure from a program following a timeline of the dates of the compositions. The reason for this is to present the music on the album as though in a concert, in a musical progression. The album begins, for example, with the most recent work. |
| 18.00 eur Buy |
|
ID: CC2016
CDs: 1
Type: CD
|
Subcollection: Piano
The 24-page CD booklet has a 6,000 word programme note in English including interviews with Roderick Swanston (on Geoffrey Bush), Barbara Thompson (on Green), Roger Lord (on Madeleine Dring) and Richard Stoker (on his Miniatures). There are biographies of the composers and many photographs.
Has melody always been with us? Will it continue to flourish? Yes, and yes. The practise of creating pitched sounds is a universal human phenomenon, and the pentatonic scale has been found in many cultures all over the world. In the West it was present in some of the earliest examples of notated music, such as Gregorian Chant, and is with us today.
The melodies in Lalliet’s Terzetto, for example, are not universal - they are clearly a product of European culture in the 19th Century. But whatever form it takes, the existence of melody itself is universal. It seems likely that melody was linked to communication long before opera was invented; the pre-verbal vocalising of a baby could be said to be a kind of melody, and right from the start comes the idea that melody not just an abstract thing that we happen to like, but that it is linked with an emotional or physical state, and with the communication of that state. Melody is very fundamental to us, relating to our physiology, not just to our sense of beauty.
The history of melody has had, as it were, its ups and downs. In the classical period, a long melodic line was not considered flexible enough for symphonic development - all you could do was repeat it or make variations of it - and it was often replaced by a short motif that could be worked on. However, by the 19th Century, when the earliest piece on this CD was written (the Lalliet), melody was in its hayday. The scientist Hermann Helmholtz asserted that it was 'the incarnation of motion in music', the critic Eduard Hanslick saw in it 'the archetypal configuration of beauty', and Wagner asserted that there was no reason that a melody need ever end. In practice even Wagner ended his melodies eventually, but this was felt to be a choice and not a necessity. Surprisingly, the best example of an ‘unending’ melody on this CD comes from Wagner’s antithesis, Francis Poulenc, in the slow movement of his Trio.
In the 20th Century, melody suffered an eclipse from the followers of the Second Viennese School. This wasn't their original intention; Webern, for example, said he was looking for 'absolute melody', but this was at the expense of something you could hum, and advances in instrumental techniques, synthesisers and computers encouraged later composers to pursue ends other than melodic ones.
Meanwhile other developments, such as the incorporation of folk music, or the 'Socialist Realism' of composers such as Shostakovitch, as well as the rise of popular music as a separate genre, ensured the survival of melody. On this CD the operatic melodies of Casimir-Théophile Lalliet (circa 1870), the Romantic urges of Francis Poulenc (1928), the heartfelt melancholy of Geoffrey Bush (1952), the chirpy tunes of Richard Stoker (1963), the mediaeval references of Madeleine Dring (1971), and the sinuous lines of Barbara Thompson (2006), demonstrate that melody is alive and well.
It may also be that it is in the nature of the oboe and bassoon to play tunes, to connect to the human voice, and this has encouraged these composers to be more 'melodic' when writing for these instruments. Today's advanced instrumental techniques enable both oboe and bassoon players to make music of extraordinary complexity, but I can't help feeling that when our remote ancestors first punched finger holes in a wooden tube, it was a melody they had in mind.
© 2006 Jeremy Polmear |
| 21.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
|
ID: PTC5186154
CDs: 1
Type: SACD
|
Subcollection: Bassoon
Multichannel Hybrid SACD - DSD |
| 21.00 eur Buy |
|
ID: NMCD059
CDs: 1
Type: CD
|
Collection: Bassoon Collection
Subcollection: Bassoon
Bainbridge's Grawemeyer Award-winning Ad ora incerta (At an uncertain hour), is a deeply-felt symphonic setting of four poems by Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi. It is coupled with Four Primo Levi Settings. |
| 22.00 eur Buy |
|
ID: CC2014
CDs: 2
Type: CD
|
Subcollection: Bassoon
The 24-page CD booklet has a 6,000 word programme note in English containing the interview below, plus a detailed track-by-track description, including interviews with Gordon Langford about his arrangements and David Matthews about Toccatas and Pastorals. There are many photographs.
Jeremy Polmear talks to Catherine Smith about The Sheba Sound:
The Sheba Sound was founded in 1975 by Catherine Smith, and ran for an impressive 22 years. I asked her how it came about. "I was a freelance oboist working in London, and, to be honest, I felt that life was getting a bit repetitive. I needed a challenge, I needed to break out of the orchestral rut. I love making experiments, and exploring new areas of life.
"My starting point for the new group was two oboes, bassoon and harpsichord to play trio sonatas. I approached the oboist Deirdre Lind and the bassoonist Deirdre Dundas-Grant because they had both played in the BBC Concert Orchestra, and therefore had experience in playing all kinds of music. Neil Black [a prominent London oboist] suggested I contact the harpsichordist Harold Lester, who not only played early music with Alfred Deller, but contemporary music with Cathy Berberian and the London Sinfonietta. Our horizons were limitless. The name of the group reflects this - 'Sheba', in reference to the best-known baroque piece for two oboes, 'The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba' by Handel, - and 'Sound', being the kind of name you wouldn't use in strictly classical circles. All future members of the group shared this eclectic experience of musical styles. I am particularly grateful to the first members, who made financial sacrifices until we had established ourselves.
"As I wanted the group to be unique in every respect, I decided that we would play, if possible, unpublished Baroque music, so I spent hours and hours in libraries looking for interesting scores. Harold Lester brought his extensive knowledge of early harpsichord music, and arranged some of it; and I also wanted a more jazzy arranger. Brian Kay of the King's Singers suggested Gordon Langford, who had written beautifully for them; he wrote a Folk Song Suite for us [Kaleidoscope CD, tracks 15 -19], the first of many arrangements. Our subsequent commissions were not only contemporary serious music, but also jazz and rock.
"I decided that our presentation was very important. Our dresses were glamourous, shot silk, in bright reds, and the men had cummerbunds to match. Each work was introduced by a member of the group, which was unusual at that time. We commissioned special music stands from the furniture department of the Royal College of Art, and draped the funiture on the platform in red velvet.
"We played all over the UK, in concert halls, at music clubs and festivals, and we did regular London concerts at the Wigmore Hall. One was recorded, and is the source of several tracks on these CDs. We often worked with well-known actors such as Gabriel Woolf [The Bassoon Song, Kaleidoscope CD, track 7], Derek Jacobi, Nicolas Parsons and Spike Milligan, on whose TV programmes we appeared. We did lots of Children's Concerts too, at which the greatest success was a special story, 'The Key to the Zoo', written by humourist Miles Kington, with music by Stephen Oliver. In the story we each became an animal character, with an appropriate hat.
"We toured abroad too, especially in Germany, Italy and Arabia. In Italy they preferred to have a singer with the group, and we took people such as the contralto Margaret Cable and the tenor Christopher Underwood. We also played in Holland, and on TV in Flanders. We broadcast in the UK too - on the BBC music channel Radio 3, but I was also on the talk channel Radio 4, on 'Woman's Hour'. At the time I had three children under eight as well as my career - quite a new thing back in 1975 - and this created quite a lot of interest among the listeners, who then wanted to know what our music sounded like. This led to the BBC financing a recording, many of whose tracks appear here." |
| 29.00 eur Buy |
|
|
