TCHAIKOVSKY / KISSINE
Piano Trios Gidon Kremer (violin) Giedre Dirvanauskaite (cello) Khatia Buniatishvili (piano) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 1/Jun/2011 ] "Gidon Kremer's dazzling trio here offers two contrasting approaches to the Piano Trio, both offering unexpected pleasures." The Independent, 22nd April 2011 **** |
FRANCK / TICKMAYER / KANCHELI
Hymns and Prayers Gidon Kremer (violin) / Khatia Buniatishvili (piano) / The Kremerata Baltica [ ECM New Series / CD - released 20/Sep/2010 ] "Hymns and Prayers combines three works from disparate eras whose moods fit together in a pleasingly astringent manner...The modern pieces are separated by César Franck's "Piano Quintet in F-minor", the lachrymose tone of which works surprisingly... |
GIYA KANCHELI
In l'istesso tempo Gidon Kremer (violin) / Oleg Maisenberg (piano) / The Kremerata Baltica. The Bridge Ensemble [ ECM New Series / CD - released 23/Apr/2005 ] Five Stars (Chamber choice of the Month) BBC Music Mag (April 2005) |
FRIEDRICH CERHA
Concerto for Cello and orchestra (with Schreker-Kammersymphonie) Heinrich Schiff (cello) / Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra / Peter EAtvAs, conductor [ ECM New Series / CD - released 31/Jan/2008 ] Cellist Heinrich Schiff delivers a transcendent performance of a cello concerto dedicated to him "in friendship" by Austria's great composer Friedrich Cerha (born 1926). Cerha's special combination of stylistic conviction and expressive diversity,... |
GYORGY KURTAG
Kurtag: Zwiegesprache Heinz Holliger (oboe/cor anglais/piano), Marie-Lise Schüpbach (cor anglais/oboe), Ernesto Molinari (bass clarinet/ contrabass clarinet), Sarah Wegener [ ECM New Series / CD - released 19/Jul/2019 ] explores his interpretative gifts as a performer rather than his full range as a composer, its focus on the dialogues between his own music and that of György Kurtág makes for a beautifully rounded double portrait - Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List |
JOHANN LUDWIG TREPULKA / NORBERT von HANNENHEIM
Piano Sonatas Herbert Henck (piano) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 26/May/2007 ] In this new recording Herbert Henck plays music by two little known twelve-note composers, one a pupil of Josef Matthias Hauer, the other a Schoenberg pupil. The works date from the 1920s, but they sound almost diametrically opposed. |
VICTORIA / PALESTRINA
In Paradisum: Music of Victoria and Palestrina The Hilliard Ensemble [ ECM New Series / CD - released 1/Jan/2000 ] "In Paradisum" combines music from three sources: the Officium Defunctorum of Victoria, polyphony by Palestrina and Gregorian chant from a 17th century manuscript. Placing the work of the Spanish and Italian religious composers in a historically... |
J.S. BACH
Motetten The Hilliard Ensemble [ ECM New Series / CD - released 26/May/2007 ] "With just one singer assigned to each part, the Hilliard Ensemble take a minimalist approach to these extraordinary works...this disc is a natural successor to the Hilliard's previous excursions into pre-baroque music, supremely musical and... |
STEPHEN HARTKE
Tituli / Cathedral in the Thrashing Rain Hilliard Ensemble, with Lynn Vartan & Javier Diaz (percussion) [ Ecm New Series / CD - released 20/Jun/2005 ] "Beautiful craftsmanship is [Hartke's] hallmark but not his limitation: the imaginative drive is fresh, partly in being so playful, though he can also be solemn." - New York Times |
WOLFGANG RIHM
Et Lux Huelgas Ensemble & Minguet Quartett, Paul van Nevel [ ECM New Series / CD - released 1/May/2015 ] "Tropes waft in from across the ages: this music treads the line of tangibility, with sudden rushes of anger or fondness and the messy half-memories that come with grief...van Nevel doubles the vocal parts to create broad, generous textures that soun |
VLADIMIR GODAR
Mater Iva BittovAI (voice) MiloAI Valent (violin, viola) / Chamber orchestra Solamente Naturali / Bratislava conservatory choir / Marek AÂ tryncl [ ECM New Series / CD - released 10/Apr/2008 ] "This is easily one of the highlights of the classical year, and I urge you to acquire this disc." (AudAud.com Five Stars) |
KNAIFEL
Blazhenstva Ivan Monighetti (piano, cello, conductor), Tatiana Melentieva (soprano), Piotr Migunov (bass) [ ECM New Series / CD ] |
HENRY PURCELL
Purcell: Fantazias John Holloway (violin), Monika Baer (viola), Renate Steinmann (viola), Martin Zeller (violoncello) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 22/Sep/2023 ] Henry Purcell's "fantazias" are regarded as some of the finest and most intricately wrought examples of the fantasia, due to their profound embrace of counterpoint and great command of the polyphonal techniques of the time. Composed in the summer of... |
BIBER / MUFFAT
Violin Works (Includes Sonata Victori der Christen) John Holloway (violin) Aloysia Assenbaum (organ) Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 23/Apr/2005 ] Holloway's ECM recordings have received the highest critical praise. |
LECLAIR
Trio Sonatas John Holloway (violin) Jaap ter Linden (cello) Lars Ulrik Mortensen (cembalo) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 1/Jan/2009 ] "Revelatory performances of these Italian violin sonatas with a strong French accent." Editor's Choice - Gramophone April 2009 |
VERACINI
Violin Sonatas John Holloway (violin) Jaap ter Linden (cello) Lars Ulrik Mortensen (cembalo) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 18/Mar/2006 ] "In not trying to charm, Holloway and friends render Veracini an utter delight. On their terms, of course." Editor’s Choice – Gramophone Magazine (April 2006) |
JOSQUIN / VICTORIA
Secret History - Sacred Music John Potter, Anna Maria Friman (vocals) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 25/Aug/2017 ] "Anna Maria Friman lends her pure soprano to some of Josquin's motets, reworked as vocal duets, and the linking passages of chant or of solo vihuela give this pared-back disc a flowing, almost improvisatory feel." The Guardian |
AMBROSE FIELD
Being Dufay John Potter (tenor) / Ambrose Field (live and studio electronics) [ ECM New Series / CD - released 1/Mar/2009 ] British tenor John Potter and fellow countryman Ambrose Field, composer of electronic/digital music, offer a striking juxtaposition of Renaissance music and present-day technology: In seven interconnected pieces, vocal fragments from the songs and... |
JORG WIDMANN
Elegie Jorg Widmann (clarinet) Heinz Holliger (piano) / Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Christoph Poppen [ ECM New Series / CD - released 1/Jun/2011 ] "These concentrated miniatures of almost Webern-like brevity showcase Widmann's virtuosity as well as his comprehensive understanding of his instrument's capabilities." The Guardian, 21st April 2011 *** |
ERKKI-SVEN TUUR
Symphony No. 6 'Strata' / Noesis: Concerto for clarinet, violin and orchestra Jörg Widmann (clarinet) / Carolin Widmann (violin) / Nordic Symphony Orchestra / Anu Tali [ ECM New Series / CD - released 17/Nov/2010 ] "The craftsmanship [of Strata] is obvious, and the textures it generates are often striking...[Noésis is] an exercise in fusion, beginning with the solo instruments as distinct musical entities, and gradually bringing them into a closer relationship.... |