SUPRAPHON New Release February 2011 - Gillmore Music

NEW RELEASES
PIANO MUSIC BY AMY BEACH VOL. 3 - THE MATURE YEARS
KIRSTEN JOHNSON (PIANO)
This third disc of Amy Beach’s complete piano music, performed by
Kirsten Johnson, represents her compositional output from 1907 to 1924.
Amy Beach (American, 1867-1944) is one of the great woman composers of
all time. Including the masterful Prelude and Fugue, op. 81, the concert
piece Fantasia Fugata, op. 87, and many beguiling piano miniatures, this is
a disc not to miss. Farewell Autumn and Dancing Leaves, op. 102, are
world première recordings, as are also Lotus Isles (unpublished
manuscript) and Blackbird Hills, op. 83. These forgotten pieces by this
world-renowned composer are now available for the first time. The piano
talents of Kirsten Johnson bring this music to life with technical brilliance,
sympathetic interpretation and musical depth.
Already available:
GMCD 7317 - Piano Music by Amy Beach, Vol. 1, Early Works
GMCD 7329 - Piano Music by Amy Beach, Vol. 2, Turn of the Century
GMCD 7351
PROSPERO’S ISLE - CHAMBER MUSIC BY JAMES FRANCIS BROWN
TAMÁS ANDRÁS, JACK LIEBECK (VIOLINS), SARAH-JANE BRADLEY (VIOLA),
GEMMA ROSEFIELD (CELLO), NICOLA EIMER, KATYA APEKISHEVA (PIANOS)
James Francis Brown has established a reputation as a composer of exciting,
visionary and emotionally rewarding music. His Piano Quartet has become a
popular addition to the repertoire - as testified by the Birmingham Post
review: “Hushed, close-harmony string passages danced and fizzed, while climaxes
broke with torrential force and gleaming string-tone. The great sweep up to Brown’s
sonorous finish was superbly paced and delivered with breathtaking verve.
Enthusiastic applause greeted what would prove to be the high point of the evening.”
The Shakespeare-inspired Prospero’s Isle, described as ‘lyrically suave’ by
Paul Driver in The Times and a ‘unique voice [with] a grand elegiac quality’ by
The Strad, forms the dramatic centre piece of this CD - qualities which are
equally abundant in the Violin Sonata and the String Trio.
This recording reflects the composer’s close association with some of today’s
most talented and celebrated artists on the international scene - most of
whom presented the premieres of these works: Katya Apekisheva, Gemma
Rosefield, Nicola Eimer, Tamás András, Sarah-Jane
Bradley and Classical Brit Award winner Jack Liebeck, deliver stunning performances in music which
makes many emotional and technical demands. This is a tour de force of contemporary virtuosity and
lyrical intensity. GMCD 7354
THE MUSICAL COLOURS OF THE GUITAR
JENS STIBAL (GUITAR)
Stibal is one of the most admired of the younger generation of guitarists
from Germany, and on this outstanding new recording he presents a varied
programme of masterpieces for the classical guitar, founded upon the
recent Spanish school but including popular works by other composers
who felt compelled to write for the instrument. The result is a magnificent
CD, exceptionally well recorded, of virtuoso and sensitive performances of
familiar and unfamiliar pieces, has each item chosen and guaranteed to
impress the discerning listener. The title of the disc - Colours of the Guitar
- encapsulates the nature of the attractive music which fills this very
desirable record admirably.
GMCD 7357
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