Classical Symphonies

This CD brings together repertoire that is not often performed. The Cappella Coloniensis made this recording in the 80s staying true to historical performance practice, defining the large symphonic sound by the seek, clear sound from original instruments.

The Silver Violin

“Benedetti’s latest album has lots to commend it...Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony provide full-blooded backing. Extracts from two Shostakovich film scores are indecently enjoyable” --The Arts Desk, 27th October 2012

“her broadly romantic approach and genuine affection for this Hollywood-inspired concerto shine out...Benedetti is joined by star accordionist Ksenija Sidorova in a show-stopping performance which will have you on your feet! The warm acoustic of the Decca recording comes in appropriate widescreen sound.” --Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

Lutosławski: Orchestral Works 1

“Gardner makes the most of the taut rhythmic energy in the music...all the colours of this showpiece [the Concerto for Orchestra] are brightly painted, with a virtuosity which is never empty, but always has direction and purpose, and a sense of real enjoyment.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 ****

“On this evidence, Edward Gardner and the BBC SO are a dream team, pressing the claims of a composer who has been neglected since his death in 1994...This performance sets a seal on a disc that leaves one eager for its successors” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2010

Berlioz: Harold In Italy; Paganini: Sonata Per La Grand Viola

“Carpenter rises to all the challenges with great dexterity, preserving fine tone and pure intonation in the most (for the viola player) alarming situations...the performance of Harold, too, has much to recommend it - a fine-toned soloist, rhythmic, well-balanced orchestral playing and clear, bright recording. There are some especially imaginative touches of tone-painting” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2011

Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 3, Sinfonia Concertante

“These musicians have all the hallmarks of excellence and it's impossible not to be drawn to their empathy with the rhythmic vivacity and finer sensibilities of the music.” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2009

“The First Concerto's opening tutti sets the overall tone of this disc with bright and light phrasing. Renaud Capuçon's… vibrato is tight, never becoming sickly, and he spins an elegantly effortless line in the slow movement, with a wide variety of tone colour.” --BBC Music Magazine, August 2009 ***

Villa-Lobos: Complete Works for Solo Guitar

Finally this collection offers a complete set of Villa-Lobos solo guitar music performed by Anders Miolin who brings his own beautiful sound to this enormous undertaking. Anders Miolin is an unflinching virtuoso of great sensitivity. I have no hesitation in recommending his contribution to this magnificent box set as worthy of addition to the great tradition of Villa-Lobos performers which includes, inter alia, Segovia, Bream, Williams, Yepes, Santos, Fernandez, Fisk and Zanon. --CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE (GRAHAM WADE), England

Panufnik: Heroic Overture, Sinfonias, Landscape

“The Tampere Philharmonic under John Storgårds deliver a rhythmically propulsive and dramatically epic performance… Throughout the disc, the Tampere brass sound has the swank and punch of a big band, while the string-playing is fastidiously nuanced…” --Gramophone Magazine, November 2007

“This is a fine and often moving entry in the Panufnik catalogue... This handsomely presented premium price anthology drawn from Panufnik’s orchestral music is recorded with integrity and performed with devout brilliance.” --MusicWeb International

Zelenka: Sonatas

“it's the group's nuance that's transfixing. When textures become sparse, delivery intensifies; when the line expands, the tempo stretches; when counterpoint thickens, articulation is leavened. The players are audibly intelligent, at once humorous and illuminating. Non-interventionist engineering shows that less can be more when the artists are first-rate.” --BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 *****

“There is highly capable playing, with expert tuning, smooth lines, and techniques apparently taxed only by the quickfire repeated notes in Sonata No. 6. The sound is also wonderfully clear and well balanced.” --Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012

Bach: Cello Suites Nos. 1, 4 & 5 transcribed for viola

“Rysanov really claims the music for his lush-toned 1780 Guadagnini viola in a manner that few can rival...He gives a spring to the dance rhythms that sounds spontaneous, irresistibly so...No admirer of great viola playing should forgo the pleasures of Rysanov’s playing.” --Sunday Times, 22nd August 2010 ****

“Rysanov eschews both puritan authenticity and inappropriate Romantic emoting. His phrasing pays due acknowledgement to the suites' dance roots.” --BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 *****

Pinto: Piano Music

Born in London in 1785, Pinto was one of the boldest and most innovative composers of his time. His harmonies and idiomatic writing for the piano often seem to anticipate the Romantic school, yet his music has only gradually become known in the last forty years. On his death at the age of only twenty, his teacher Johann Peter Salomon remarked ‘if he had lived and been able to resist the allurements of society, England would have had the honour of producing a second Mozart’.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 27 & 20

“The conducting is intelligently alive, in quality reminiscent of Benjamin Britten...Pires enters into the prevailing mood, her artistry as thougthful as yore...Pires shows that expressive sensitivity isn't confined to a slow tempo...Reduced forces might have enhanced the concerto's intimate character. It's a small point. These absorbing, penetrating performances deserve the widest currency.” --Gramophone Magazine, January 2013

Uuno Klami: Northern Lights, Kalevala Suite & Cheremissian Fantasy

This new release is outstanding in every way. The Helsinki Philharmonic knows this music as well as anyone, and in any event is a first-class ensemble no matter what the repertoire. John Storgards leads vibrant interpretations, with Samuli Peltonen an impressive cello soloist. The sonics are superbly lifelike, with plenty of detail and a wide dynamic range. Highly recommended. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com, March 2010,

Disc of the Month, Artistic Quality 10 / Sound Quality 10