Music by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-George, has received a strong revival in the past decade. A new album from Romuald Grimbert-Barré combines concertos of Saint-George with a new work by Thierry Pécou illustrating aspects of the earlier composer's dramatic life during the royal and revolutionary eras in France, and his Caribbean heritage. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Grimbert-Barré.
Details available at the Aparté Music website.
Photo credit: Marc de Pierrefeu.
Prolific contemporary composer Reena Esmail has written a harp and percussion concerto in which Yolanda Kondonassis plays all the instruments. Called "Terra Infirma," it is a response to the recent Los Angeles fires in which Esmail was displaced. It has elements of poetry, choreography, and drama besides music. The album also has two other pieces by the composer and soloist. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Kondonassis.
ASU associate professor of piano Cathal Breslin has released a new solo album with the complete ballades of Chopin. It's called Stories and Soundscapes and also features music of John Field and Linda Buckley. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Breslin.
For more details or to purchase Cathal Breslin's album, visit bluegriffin.com.
Reynaldo Hahn has always been celebrated for his songs but his chamber music was neglected until the 21st century. The Tchalik family of musicians is now the first ensemble to record all his major chamber music with strings and piano. Some pieces on this second volume have never previously been recorded, including the unfinished piano trio.
KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Louise and Marc Tchalik.
Details: alkonostclassic.com
Alessandro Scarlatti wrote hundreds of cantatas for the soprano voice in the Baroque era. A small percentage use a string ensemble; some of those are featured on a new album by Francesca Aspromonte titled "Vieni, o Notte" (Come, oh Night) with the ensemble Arsenale Sonoro directed by Boris Begelman. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Aspromonte on First Take.
Violinist Clarissa Bevilacqua takes Mozart as a starting point on her new album, "Mozartiana." It features composers inspired by him, often incorporating fragments of his music into their own. Some are historical like F.X. Mozart (Wolfgang's son), Beethoven, and Hindemith, but there are also pieces newly written for the album. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Bevilacqua.
Edward Elgar felt his dramatic depiction of a man on his deathbed followed by the soul in the afterlife was his greatest music up to that point. It was controversial for being explicitly Catholic in England which still looked with suspicion on the religion in 1900. A new recording features the Huddersfield Choral Society which first recorded the complete piece in 1945 and whose story has parallels with the recent film "The Choral," in which a fictional amateur choir produces Elgar's masterpiece during WWI. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with the conductor of the album, Martyn Brabbins.
Harpsichordist Gabriel Smallwood has recorded pieces by the young J.S. Bach alongside less famous composers found in manuscripts that Bach would have known while growing up. The album "Juvenilia" gives a seldom-seen picture of how Bach developed his own musical voice. Michael Keelan talked with Smallwood on First Take.
For more details, visit https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/juvenilia
Eugène Ysaÿe was one of the most prominent violinists in Europe during the Impressionist era of the late 19th to early 20th century. His original music is in that style but also uses the demanding techniques of virtuoso showpieces.
A new album from violinist and Royal College of Music professor Natalia Lomeiko features the accompanied works of Ysaÿe, just as dramatic and impressive as his familiar solo sonatas. Michael Keelan talked with her on First Take.
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