The Mexican maestro on the fine art of inspiring an ensemble and her unshakable faith in the power of music.

Berlin Philharmonic principal clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer co-founded the Bürgenstock Festival, which takes place near Lucerne, in 2011, and his Berlin Phil colleagues Emmanuel Pahud and Albrecht Meyer are regular guests. This recording is the third released by Ottensamer and friends as part of the Bürgenstock Festival Edition. As Ottensamer writes in his booklet notes, “The spirit of the Mannheim School, being all about finding new ways of making music and trying to unify all aspects of musicianship, lives on in the mindset of our festival.” Thus New Era pays homage to, via orchestral music featuring solo clarinet, a selection of composers associated with or inspired by the extraordinary music coming out of the Mannheim court of the Elector of Pfalzbayern in the 18th century – music that indeed heralded a new era. Johann Stamitz (1717–1757) was one of the chief instigators of the spirit of relentless musical experimentation and innovation that prevailed at court during this time. His Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in B Flat opens, with Ottensamer performing on a modern clarinet, as he does in the following work, Franz Danzi’s Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon and Orchestra in B Flat, where he is joined by Meyer playing… Continue…

Yoshimoto and the ASO deliver a performance to be remembered and savoured.

This lovely disc from Hyperion completes brilliant young British violinist Jack Liebeck’s survey of the three Bruch concertos with the excellent BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins. At its heart is the Second Violin Concerto which, despite being championed by Perlman and Heifitz, still remains shamefully neglected in the concert hall. Proudly romantic with big singing melodies and death-defying solo passages, it has all the hallmarks of the great 19th century barnstormers and shows that the ever-popular First Concerto was no fluke. Liebeck and his smooth-toned Guadagnini take it on with magnificent aplomb. Originally composed for the Spanish virtuoso Sarasate, the 36-year-old Londoner shows he has golden tone, character to spare and a dazzling technique. The disc’s other three works are equally enjoyable. Bruch considered the Adagio Appassionato one of his best works. Konzertstück started out as the ‘Fourth Concerto’ but Bruch refused to add a third movement. He probably felt that not much needed to be said after its glorious Adagio. Bruch described In Memoriam, a single movement which starts with an ominous tattoo from the timpani, as “a lamentation, a kind of instrumental elegy”. Liebeck, seen in Australia last year with Trio Dali for Musica Viva, gets…

Chimes and gentle winds open A Celestial Map of the Sky – the title track on this disc by British-American composer Tarik O’Regan – before the Hallé, led by Sir Mark Elder, is joined by the choir. The luminous opening soon gives way to powerful, driving intensity, O’Regan setting extracts of poetic texts (by Walt Whitman, Mahmood Jamal and more) that reflect his response to a pair of woodcuts – star charts – by Albrecht Dürer. Haunting vocal meditations are entwined with a glittering, astral score. Jamie Philips conducts the Hallé in the remaining works. O’Regan takes the Adagio of JS Bach’s third Violin Sonata (BWV 1005) as his jumping off point in Latent Manifest. Solo violin is joined by harp and percussion, O’Regan extrapolating Bach’s quadruple-stops into a whorl of vivid orchestral colour and sizzling rhythms. Both Raï and Chaâbi (which was commissioned for the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s 2012 tour) derive from O’Regan’s memories of childhood visits to relatives in Algeria and Morocco. Raï is full of fierce strings, rhythmic drumming and bright momentum from the Hallé, while shifting string textures in Chaâbi create a reflective mood. The finale is Fragments from Heart of Darkness, a dramatic… Continue reading…

Davis' Melbourne Ives cycle reaches its complex conclusion.

The German-born conductor will take up the new position with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in January 2018.

From busker to band leader, meet the young gun turned experienced hand.

Alan Gilbert accuses the "really horrible" President of playing on people’s fears and lying as a political strategy.

William Barton left the audience deeply moved by an experience that had touched them to the core.

Wonderfully played and conducted; the Bergen musicians prove this music is not the sole preserve of the Brits.

Mons Capuçon convinces in three new violin concertos françaises.