Gabriel Fauré: Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50 (Arr. for Piano)

Cellist Péter Somodari and pianist Nicolas Costantinou present Hedra, an album that takes the listener through key repertoire for cello and piano, from sonatas by Beethoven and Debussy and individual pieces by Fauré to a world-premiere recording of the Cello Sonata No. 1 by contemporary Greek Cypriot composer Contantinou Y. Stylianou. 

The word ‘hedra’ (Greek: ἕδρα) refers to any side or face of a three-dimensional geometric shape. Any given face is not only connected to its neighbours, but together they contribute to and are part of the final shape. Similarly, every musical masterpiece is interconnected with those that follow, as it inevitably contributed to their formation, and this is reflected in the relationship between the works gathered together on this release. Beethoven pioneered the modern cello sonata, and from first to last his five cello sonatas chart a huge development in the genre. The Fourth, as recorded on this album, spans dark chromaticism, improvisatory freedom and extrovert exuberance in a manner that paved the way for later composers. 

Fauré’s amiable Sicilienne was composed as part of the incidental music for Molière's play, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, while his Élégie was originally conceived as the slow movement of an abandoned cello sonata. The Élégie was described by composer Patrick Castillo as honouring “grief as a multifaceted thing”, relating it to this album’s theme. Written late in his life while he struggled with illness and the impact of the First World War, Debussy’s Cello Sonata is founded on principles inherited from Beethoven and his contemporaries; Debussy said that his sonatas were composed “in the old supple forms (without the bombast of modern sonatas)”, and that the Cello Sonata is “almost Classical in the best sense of the word”.  

Stylianou’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major is a further continuation of the question of the sonata form and whether it is still relevant today. The work was composed during spring 2020 and in the words of the composer: “I decided to channel all the fear and frustration of the pandemic in creating a work that deals with those aforementioned questions but in a personal way. It would be impossible to avoid feelings of that period seeping into the work, but at the same time, I wanted it to be a creation in pursuit of inner balance, which is after all what the sonata form is meant to be. Whatever the opposition of two musical ideas (or more) might be, in the end, it must find a resolution of some sort.”

Péter Somodari and Nicolas Costantinou have been performing together since their student days. Currently serving as the principal cellist of both the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Péter Somodari has collaborated with such artists as Leonidas Kavakos, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Alexei Lubimov, Truls Mørk, Miklós Perényi, Boris Pergamenschikow, Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann, composer György Kurtág, and the Toyota Orchestra. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna

A regular collaborator with Odradek Records, Steinway Artist Nicolas Costantinou has a doctorate from the Royal College of Music in London and is renowned for impressing audiences with his daring selection of repertoire old and new. Costantinou has previously recorded the music of Constantinos Y. Stylianou on the Odradek releases Metavasis and Past Forward. Stylianou studied and now lives in London, and his music has been performed by the Philharmonia, Bruckner Symphony Orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra and the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, in prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, St David's Hall in Cardiff, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, ORF concert hall in Vienna, Megaron Concert Hall in Athens, the UNESCO Headquarters and the Cathédrale Saint-Louis des Invalides in Paris.

Gabriel Faure - Sicilienne, Op. 78

Live recording of the Austin Chamber Music Center - Adult Academy Fall Concert, December 2023 at  First Unitarian Church, Austin, TX.

4. Franz Schubert - Serenade D.957 - No.4 Ständchen

Antonio Vivaldi:Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer), mvt. Presto (Storm)

🎹 Gentle Echoes – Soothing Piano & Dreamy Instrumentals (Jaded Sounds Records)

Gentle Echoes is a tranquil journey through the art of piano music, blending the intimacy of solo piano, the warmth of lo-fi piano textures, and the ethereal beauty of dreamy, whimsical string arrangements. 🌙🎶 Released under Jaded Sounds Records, this collection captures emotion in its purest form — soft, reflective, and timeless.

Each composition drifts effortlessly between tenderness and imagination — the sound of quiet mornings, starry evenings, and moments of calm between thoughts. With gentle melodies and cinematic grace, Gentle Echoes invites listeners into a world where every note feels like a breath of peace. ☁️🕯️

Blossom Tree Winds

La Gioconda  Dance Of The Hours  - Amilcare Ponchielli, By The Long Island Youth Orchestra

V018-Antonio Vivaldi –  The Four Seasons, Op. 8 - Concerto No. 3 in F Major, RV 293,  (Autumn) I. Ballo e canto de villanelli Allegro

Sultasto. Virtuose Musik aus Barock, Klassik und Romantik. Mit Gerhard Koschel (Akkordeon) und Gerald Meißner (Violine).

Sultasto. Virtuose Musik aus Barock, Klassik und Romantik

Salut d'Amour, Op.12 (Edward Elgar)

Johannes Brahms - Hungarian Dance Nº 1 In G Minor

Odradek Records is a democratic classical cooperative, non-profit and artist-controlled label and concert association, promoting new artists and fresh repertoire.

Entrance to our roster is through anonymous demo.

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Odradek Records is not just a new record label. Odradek Records is the first wedge of a larger project, proposing a new way to produce and enjoy classical music. We think that the current model undermines the true essence and significance of music. We think that a model centered on just a few big names, the great concert halls, a limited repertoire that is necessarily restricted by the bonds of popularity--a model that makes its selection of new young performers from the anti-musical system of competitions, the success of which is often obtained through extravagant histrionics rather than the correctness or subtlety of interpretation--and finally, a model that is subject to the exploitation of the marketplace, and which obliges the majority of musicians to pay enormous sums to record CDs, for which the profits then go largely to the record company, thus depriving many very worthy but not wealthy musicians from the possibility of recording--is not only a model that is far from art, but is a model that even itself is in crisis. 

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Gabriel Faure - Sicilienne, Op. 78

Odradek Records

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