Stefan Poradowski was a man of many talents — including a talent for survival. This Polish composer was deported by the Nazis in 1939,. He lived through the war and returned to become Vice-Rector of the Polish State Music Academy. Poradowski was also a renowned violinist and organist. And he was a respected artist and […]
CD Review
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James Lee III — Fantastic Voyages
I had not heard James Lee III’s music before I received this release. And shame on me. This gifted African-American composer has a rare talent for melody and orchestration. And he has a musical imagination that’s well-served by those talents. Lee writes, “I want to compose music to reach to the inner soul of the […]
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Adrian Butterfield consistently delivers with Leclair sonatas
Jean-Marie Leclair published twelve sonatas in his Opus 5 collection. This release presents sonatas 5 through 8 of the set. I reviewed the previous installment in this series, which included sonatas 1-3. In many ways, this release follows through with the standards set by that release. Violin Adrian Butterfield shows remarkable musicality and technique with […]
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Simone Lamsma recovers Rautavaara’s Lost Landscapes
This release features works written in the final years of Rautavaara’s life. In 2004 a ruptured blood vessel brought him near to death — and six months in the ICU. That experience changed the composer’s creative output. It affected the types of music he wrote and their emotional centers. Violinist Simone Lamsma plays a selection […]
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Niklay Shugaev excels with underrated 20th Century cello works
The three works have one thing in common. They’re all works for cello and orchestra, composed by Italians in the mid-20th Century. And that’s about all they have in common. Gian Malipiero’s work is a full-blown cello concerto. Giorgio Ghedini’s is a neo-classical composition for two cellos (and orchestra). Alfredo Cansala’s is an unassuming Notturne e […]
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Naxos launches Claudio Santoro Symphonic Series
How familiar are you with classical music outside Europe? I thought I was pretty well-versed. I could even name some composers from Brazil — like Heitor Villa-Lobos. But I wasn’t at all familiar with his contemporary, Claudio Santoro. And that’s some oversight. Over the course of his life, Santoro served about every musical role in […]
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Classics of American Romanticism Worth Revisiting
When did American classical music begin? Sooner than you might think. Long before Aaron Copland — and even Charles Ives — composers were looking to create a national voice. George Frederick Bristow and William Henry Fry were two such pioneers. Fry was the first native-born American to compose symphonic works. His 1854 Niagra Symphony is […]
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Johann Wilms Piano Concertos Rescued from Obscurity
Not much remains of the legacy of Johann Wilhelm Wilms (1772–1847). He was a major figure in Amsterdam, admired both as a composer and a pianist. He premiered the concertos of his contemporaries, Mozart and Beethoven, to great acclaim. He was a professor at the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Instituut voor Wetenschappen. He judged composition contests and […]
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Early George Enescu Chamber Works Satisfy
This release presents two chamber works by George Enescu. Both Tte Piano Quartet No. 1, and the Piano Trio come from early in his career. Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major is representative of Enescu’s music at the time. It has rich, post-Romantic harmonies. And the melodies share some characteristics with Romanian folk music. […]