Classical Essentials

Queer Composers

Discover Weekly

Ralph Vaughan Williams  The Lark Ascending

Elgar, Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85: I. Adagio - Moderato

Road Trip

Appalachian Spring: VII. Variations on a Shaker Hymn. Doppio movimento

Sibelius : Karelia Suite, Pohjola's Daughter, The Bard, Finlandia & Tapiola

Sibelius : Finlandia Op.26

Sarabande

Keyboard Suite No. 4 in D Minor, HWV 437: III. Sarabande (Orch. Hale)

The Reader Soundtrack - 01- The Egg - Nico Muhly

Beethoven: Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, WoO 59, "Für Elise"

Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos and Solo Pieces

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43: XX. Variation 18: Andante cantabile

Beethoven: Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor, WoO 59 "Für Elise"

Beethoven: Für Elise, Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59

J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, BWV 846-869 / Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 846: I. Prelude

J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier I, Prelude & Fugue No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846: I. Prelude

Allá se me ponga el sol à 4

Artur Pizarro performs Francis Poulenc’s Piano Concerto with Bamberger Symphoniker directed by Thomas Rösner, alongside Poulenc’s Sinfonietta and two rare, glittering gems from Charles Koechlin. This release is a coproduction with Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Following the success of Artur Pizarro’s recordings of Rachmaninoff’s Complete Piano Music on Odradek, hailed in Gramophone as “courageous and poetic” and praised by BBC Music Magazine for his “dazzling finger dexterity”, the “poet amongst pianists” returns with Poulenc’s Piano Concerto. The last of Poulenc’s concertos, this work is jaunty and playful whilst exuding an irresistible Romanticism. Poulenc’s Sinfonietta is a full-scale symphony in all but name, its self-deprecating title a reflection of the composer’s sense of humour and the work’s colourful, urbane character. 

Charles Koechlin is best known for his vast orchestral Jungle Book cycle, but was a prolific composer of tone poems on an array of themes. Both Vers la voûte étoilée, Op. 129 and Sur les flots lointains, Op. 130 date from 1933, and both were published posthumously in 1996. Vers la voûte étoilée (‘Towards the vault of stars’) creates a sense of awe and mystery, reflecting Koechlin’s early ambition to become an astronomer. In the elegiac Sur les flots lointains (’On the distant waves’), Koechlin makes use of a melody composed by American composer, Catherine Murphy Urner.

The Bamberger Symphoniker has caught the world’s attention as an orchestra of depth and imagination, its BBC Proms 2019 performance praised in The Times as “stunning… idiomatic, impassioned, blazing with energy and power… virtuosically played, and enthrallingly pictorial.” The orchestra is directed on this album by the prolific and versatile Viennese conductor, Thomas Rösner.

05 - Francis Poulenc Piano Concerto In C - Sharp Minor FP 146 - 1. Allegretto

Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 33
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Gwen Krosnick, soloist
National Music Festival Orchestra
Robert Stiles, conductor

Live performance in Chestertown, MD - June 2018.

Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations: Gwen Krosnick, cellist

4 Lieder, Op. 27, TrV 170: IV. Morgen! (Arr. for Cello and Piano by Julian Riem)

Debussy: Préludes / Book 1, L. 117: 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin

VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin

Gwen Krosnick, cellist, was Visiting Professor at Oberlin Conservatory of music and is on the faculty of Kneisel Hall. She is a Boston-based chamber musician who performs and teaches all around the U.S. Her social media profiles (@gwenswoons) refer to her constant swooning at things like (but not limited to) bass lines (esp. LvB & deceptive cadences), kale & hippie stuff of all walks, very-beautiful Italian food, alignment-focused yoga, Anya (her Australian Shepherd rescue puppy!), saltwater, and all sunsets.