Olga Georgievskaya, who made her critically acclaimed Odradek debut with Chaconnes & Songs, returns with Moments, a selection of concise but deeply-felt pieces by Rachmaninov and Liszt, alongside world-premiere recordings of her own transcriptions of two Dargomyzhsky songs, and her Chaconne on Themes of Purcell, based on the famous ‘Dido's Lament’ from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

As Olga Georgievskaya puts it in her Artist Statement, a feature of Odradek booklets: “Each work in this programme is unique and in its own way represents an unusual style in the art of the piano.” Of Rachmaninov’s Moments Musicaux, she says: “These brief yet evocative pieces capture a range of experiences: they unfold before the listener as a vivid, picturesque soundscape, enchant with their eloquence and expressiveness, invite us to a calm philosophical reflection, or thrill the listener with their grandeur.” Of Liszt, she describes the ‘Vallée d’Obermann’ and ‘Après une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata’ as “two of the most significant pieces from the first two volumes of his cycle Années de Pèlerinage. Compared to traditional variations, Liszt's transformation of a single motif throughout these works showcases an astonishing range of possibilities, changing beyond recognition and evolving into diverse and contrasting imaginative worlds.”

As for her own creative contribution to this programme, Olga Georgievskaya has transcribed two songs by Dargomyzhsky, the first resulting in “a delicate and striking miniature”, the second revealing “the profound emotional intensity of the Romantic hero”, while her exploration of Purcell’s famous aria has its foundations in the monumental build-up of the famous ground bass. 

09 - Olga Georgievskaya - Chaconne on Themes of Purcell

The album title Kýma refers to the Greek word for ‘wave’, encapsulating the concept of continuous movement, in both sound and water, and representing the flow of musical energy from performers to listener.

The pieces featured on the album reflect diverse musical languages and styles, yet are interconnected by their Neoclassical elements. Kýma opens with the wonderful Sonata by Poulenc, a work characterised by its bittersweet charm, wit and irony.
The Sonata by Swiss composer, critic and painter Peter Mieg is rich in inventiveness and melody, offering a unique take on the flute, and revealing his deep affinity for the instrument while exploring new sonic possibilities.


Kyma - 07 - Constantinos Y. Stylianou - Sonata for Flute and Piano - I. h= 108

VOYAGES Brahms Opp. 116,117,118 & 119 - 18 - 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119 - No. 2. Intermezzo. Andantino un poco agitato

Visions and Ecstasies: Classical and folk music of Ireland is an exploration of Irish music and poetry that marks the debut album of Irish-American soprano Francesca Federico ÓMurchú, hailed by Opera News as having a voice of “such strong presence and beauty of tone that she left one longing for more.” 
Visions and Ecstasies highlights Irish music-making from its roots as an aurally-transmitted art form, honouring the melodic and linguistic complexities that illustrate both the beauty and the brutality of the country’s collective experience through centuries. 
The album combines art songs by Joan Trimble, Roger Quilter, Peter Warlock, Rebecca Clarke and Andrew Synott, alongside Irish folk songs sung in their original language. The album aims to articulate the linguistic and cultural links between these two seemingly disparate genres, and provide a snapshot of Ireland’s incredibly rich cultural heritage.
Francesca’s study of this repertoire began when she was selected as a Fulbright scholar to Ireland, and completed an arts residency at the Irish World Academy in Limerick under the mentorship of Irish folk legend Iarla Ó Lionáird, who first suggested she record an album of this unique music. She is joined by violinists Laura Lutzke and Ben Russell, cellist Clarice Jensen and pianist Dan Franklin Smith.

Visions and Ecstasies - Classical & Folk Songs of Ireland - 10 - Peter Warlock - The Lover Mourns for the Loss of Love

Simon Gaudenz conducts the Jenaer Philharmonie in the culmination of their series of recordings of the complete Mahler Symphonies, interspersed with world-premiere recordings of pieces by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini that reflect each symphony and pay homage to Mahler’s soundworld. This fifth volume features Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 as well as his last, incomplete Symphony No. 10, as well as works by Scartazzini that bookend and illuminate both Mahler’s last musical gasp, and the spectrum of Mahler’s symphonic output.

Mahler’s symphonies represent an extraordinary body of work, and it is fascinating to hear them contrasted and commented upon by a new piece specially created to shed light on or pay tribute to that symphony. Since 2018, Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini has been Composer-in-Residence with the Jenaer Philharmonie, in which role he has been writing these new companion pieces to each of Mahler’s symphonies, which are being performed in Jena as a cycle in chronological order. 

This collaboration over a period of seven years is remarkable in many respects. Now that the end of the cycle has been reached, there are ten new works, each of which can be performed individually or in groups before the Mahler symphonies, but also as full-length concert works. Scartazzini has been passionately committed to the task from the beginning, especially as Mahler's music is particularly close to his heart: "I have a deep love for the work of Gustav Mahler; his symphonies have been my musical companions for many years, and every time I hear them again I am moved by the sheer abundance of inspiration and emotionality," he wrote at the start of the cycle. 

The title of Scartazzini’s Torso reflects the incomplete nature of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony, and it offers both introduction and conclusion to the remaining movement of Mahler’s work. The other Scartazzini pieces on this recording are paired with Mahler’s symphonies, drawing upon key themes from those works in a way that tells the story of their progression, using exceptional colouristic effects – including, in Spiriti, the ‘Nicophone’, a new metal instrument whose immense colour spectrum ranges from long-reverberating metallic tones to sounds reminiscent of those from early electronic studios. The delicate, fragile sounds form a deliberate contrast to the powerful first movement of Mahler’s Third.

Mahler & Scartazzini Complete Symphonies, Vol. 5 - 08 - A. Scartazzini - Epitaph

Fred Thomas - piano
Recorded at the Royal Academy of Music, 2015
Engineered by Alex Bonney
Mixed by Alex Bonney and Fred Thomas

3. Corrente - Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830

Fred Thomas - Bach

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