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New Releases
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NI 1722
Joseph Haydn
Symphonies 1-104, Sinfonia Concertante, 'A' & 'B', Violin Concertos in C & G, Overtures La Vera Costanza, Lafedelta premiata.
MP3 Edition
Austro Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Adam Fisher, Conductor
Exceptional value - The complete Haydn Symphonies for less than the price of two full price discs.
To celebrate the bicentennial of Haydn's death Nimbus have released an ultra value MP3 set containing the complete symphonies. This new set will be released in MP3 format at 320 kbps, the highest possible bit rate for MP3 format. Customers will be able to transfer the files directly to their ipod or MP3 player or to play the discs on their computer, most DVD players and the latest generation of in car players.
"The performances by Adam Fischer and his Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra have the edge over Dorati and his band of Hungarian exiles. Fischer's body of strings is appreciably smaller, and his violin and cello soloists sweeter toned, surer in their intonation and more imaginative in their phrasing. In the slow movements the greater refinement of Fischer's soloists and his rather lighter touch are invariably more persuasive."
Gramophone
"The sound is at once warmly atmospheric and intimate, with high contrasts of dynamic and texture. Continuing to use modern, not period instruments, but with limited string vibrato and Viennese oboes and horns standing out distinctively, these are recordings to challenge the long-time supremacy of Dorati's pioneering Decca set. This release completes the Nimbus Haydn Symphony Cycle; fourteen years in the making and comprising 32 compact discs. It is the first Haydn cycle to be recorded in digital sound specifically for CD."
The Penguin Guide
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NI 2522
Copland
Music for the Theatre, Quiet City, Music for Movies, Clarinet Concerto
Orchestra of St Luke's, Dennis Russell Davies - Conductor, William Blount - Clarinet
This is a lovely collection of music from Copland's first 25 years as a professional composer and the style varies from the naughty boy
jazz-inflected Music for the Theater, through the urban blues of Quiet City and some homespun Americana for film, to the more sophisticated
use of jazz in the Clarinet Concerto.
In 1925 the Music for the Theater must have seemed to be
outrageously modern - the bluesy/jazzy feel to much of the work
and the jagged rhythms of the fast music, not to mention the spare
orchestration - for Copland had learned a lot from both pre- and
post-war Stravinsky. But there are some exquisite moments of reflection
in this work - the third movement Interlude is an oasis
of calm between the ribald Dance and Burlesque. For me,
Quiet City is one of the unsung masterpieces of music -
and not just music from America. Starting life as incidental music
to a play which never achieved a production, Copland fashioned
this real gem of a piece, full of urban loneliness, empty city
streets, and a special yearning which I don't often find in Copland's
music. Davies treats the piece as a nostalgic nocturne, not making
the climax into the big moment, but allowing it to grow from the
logical progression of the music. This is a heartfelt and deeply
moving performance.
Music for Movies is a five movement suite made up from music written for three films - The City (1939), Our Town (1940)
(directed by Sam Wood, the man who gave us the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera) and Of Mice and Men (1940) (for which Copland was nominated
for two Oscars) - and is an attractive work, which, as with Music for the Theater, benefits from the use of a smaller orchestra than might normally
be engaged. There's a lot of the wide open space music for which Copland is justly famous, and the second movement, Barley Wagons, is as fine a piece
of Americana as Copland ever produced.
The Clarinet Concerto was written for Benny Goodman, and is in two parts, a gentle and very languorous quasi waltz and a riotous jazz section.
It's a lovely piece and when played straight, that is without trying to jazz up the jazz section by adding extra turns and pulling the rhythm about,
and fortunately Blount understands this and gives a very good performance, reveling in the gentle lyricism of the first half and the wild rhythms
of the second. This is one of the best interpretations of the work I've heard on disk and gives Benny Goodman and Copland a run for their money.
Bob Briggs, MusicWeb-international
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NI 2523
Vivaldi Violin Concertos Volume 2
Shlomo Mintz Violin and Conductor, Israel Chamber Orchestra
If Arcangelo Corelli was 'the father of the violin' the Vivaldi must at the very least be considered a very prominent uncle. The first two discs of this
set are of the twelve concertos Vivaldi wrote for a pupil at the Pio Ospedale dalla Pietà, Anna Maria. Vivaldi commenced work at the Pietà in 1703, and,
while following the Concerto Grosso formula largely set by Corelli and others of the previous generation, certainly provided his employers with top-notch
material. The solo parts are technically demanding, without quite the extremes or variety of special effects which some of the later concertos seem to invite,
but expressive middle movements such as the alternating Largo and Presto tempi of RV 248 certainly presage Vivaldi's later work.
Shlomo Mintz plays with a pure, full, round, well-projected tone which matches with and sings over the ensemble of the Israel Chamber Orchestra very
well indeed. This string band has plenty of bounce, and Mintz brings out sensitivity of phrasing in both the slow central sections and the less overtly
expressive outer movements. Rhythm and harmony are both enriched with a well balanced and discreetly played harpsichord to the right of the main body of
strings. The acoustic of the Eglise Du Liban suits the music and doesn't stand in the way of detail and articulation. They are superbly played and recorded,
and will stand up well to close scrutiny as they will to the accompaniment of a glass of nice port and a good book on a peaceful night.
Dominy Clements, MusicWeb-International
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NI 2528
Samuel Barber
The Complete Solo Piano Music
John Browning, Piano
Barber's piano music covers his whole career and the styles of the pieces employ almost as many different languages. Take his masterpiece for the
instrument - the Sonata. Commissioned by Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the League of Composers it is a
tersely and cogently argued work. It employed twelve note techniques, but never loses sight of tonality. It was premièred by Vladimir Horowitz. It's a
tour de force of piano writing and is a ferociously difficult work both to play and to listen to. It gives little respite to both performer and
listener and needs repeated hearings to get to grips with its language. Browning plays this complex work to the manner born.
The next biggest piece is the set of four Excursions - Barber's first major piano work. They are based on old American songs and musical vernacular. These
are delightful pieces, unpretentious and easy-going and Browning is totally at home with them, making them sing and bringing out a little nostalgia as
well. Delicious stuff! The late Ballade is a hot-house affair which owes more than a little to the highly flavoured music of Scriabin and the composer packs
a lot into a short playing time.
There's little that can be said of this recital except that is essential listening and the performances are as committed as one could hope for. Browning's
was a major talent which was heard all too infrequently outside the USA so we must be grateful for his recordings. This is well worth having on the shelf
both as a reminder of a great pianist and as an example of some of the most refined piano music to come out of America in the 20th century.
Bob Briggs, MusicWeb-International
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NI 2529
Kreisler Violin Music
Oscar Shumsky, Violin. Milton Kaye & William Wolfran, Piano
Oscar Shumsky as heard in the present set ranks in a league of his own. Hailed by David Oistrakh as "one of the world's greatest violinists", Shumsky studied
with the famed pedagogue Leopold Auer until the late 1920s. He then continued his studies with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute until 1938. He has been
regarded as arguably "the greatest violin talent ever to enter Curtis." He developed a generous and firm tone, faultless intonation and a facility with technical
skills. To these can be added a certain 'musical sizzle' that later contributed to his signature 'Shumsky Sound'. He enjoyed enormous esteem among discriminating
music lovers and professionals alike. His cycles of Bach Sonatas and Partitas and Mozart Violin Sonatas remained highly treasured by connoisseurs. One can
readily pinpoint and appreciate the qualities that mark Shumsky out as, arguably, the greatest violinist of the 20th century: strong technique, warm tone, and
sterling musicianship. These are skilfully articulated on his 1715 'Duke of Cambridge' Stradivari.
This set could readily have been named "Homage to Fritz Kreisler". Here is a near complete collection of Kreisler's musical output for the string
instrument. Always an imaginative colourist, Shumsky's secure technique was firmly rooted in the Russian School of Auer and Zimbalist. In the full-bodied
Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta or in the arrangement of Tartini's "Devil's Trill Sonata", Shumsky presents a broader view of the music without sacrificing the
finer points.
This four disc collection is a tribute from one great violinist to another. It is no discredit to Kaye or Wolfram that the focus remains overwhelmingly
on Shumsky throughout. Again and again these recordings assert his right to stand in the "Hall of Fame" alongside so many other violin legends.
Patrick P.L. Lam, MusicWeb-International
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NI 2533
Mozart The Complete String Quartets Volume 2
The American String Quartet
Performed on a 'matched' set of Stradivarius instruments, loaned by the Smithsonian Institution and known as the Herbert R. Axelrod Stradivarius
Quartet. Having four Stradivarius instruments is by no means a guarantee of excellence in sonics or music-making, a concern which is entirely diffused
in the marvellously warm and expressive playing on these recordings.
The American Quartet have a sensitivity of phrasing and lightness of articulation which preserves the magical transparency of Mozart's music, and yet
their warmly expressive vibrato and dynamic thrust do not run shy of projecting the humour and humanity of these gems of chamber music making. Not only
are the instruments well matched, but the players really do form that sense of unbreakable unity which is essential to this music. There are no weak
links, no quirky eccentricities which make any one player stand out - the character of the playing is in the service of the character of the music, and
it is this high standard of 'inhabiting' the score and playing the music with as much apparent ease as breathing that will bring me back to these
recordings on a regular basis.
If you are looking for a beautifully recorded set of Mozart string quartets played with an almost absolute absence of flaws or intrusive 'interpretation'
then these recordings by the American Quartet will be right up your street. Having them played on four Stradivari is almost an incidental bonus, but
should be an added attraction for collectors.
Dominy Clements, MusicWeb-international on Volume 1 NI 2508/10
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NI 2536
Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Guitar Concerto No. 1, Guitar Quintet
Elliot Fisk - Guitar, Czech philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Richard Kapp - Conductor, The Shanghai String Quartet
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco settled in California in the 1940s. Like many another musician cast adrift by the fascism that held sway in Europe from the 1930s to
the mid-1940s he found a niche in the artistic life of the States. Hollywood embraced his music for films although none of the great films featured his
work - he did however score several of the Lassie films. He moved in the same stratosphere as Heifetz and Piatigorsky; indeed the former commissioned his The
Prophets Violin Concerto (No. 2 of 3) and then went on to record it for RCA.
The first concerto was written partly in Mussolini's Italy and partly in America. If the middle of the three movements of the op. 99 First Concerto
sometimes drifts close to Tatiana's Letter Song it is delectable sentimental stuff. The flanking movements are sanguine and proud. They will certainly
appeal to anyone who likes Rodrigo's Aranjuez. It's a lovely concerto and well worth tracking down in this very generously timed disc.
Rob Barnett, MusicWeb-International
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NI 2537
Mozart
The Complete Piano Works for four Hands
Misha & Cipa Dichter
The wonder of the works on this recording is that they capture every part of Mozart's quirky, intriguing personality, as if her were telling the story of his
life through these pieces. The genre was one that Mozart continued to explore throughout his life, and every piece in this amazing set captures a different mood,
emotion or style. What remains at the centre of these pieces is Mozart's irrepressible genius and if you listen carefully to the fiendishly tricky passages
and intricate interplay between the parts, you can hear Mozart chuckling to himself. These are works of love, and in these exceptional performances, the love,
especially Mozart's love for the piano, shines through.
Anthony Rudel (author of the bests selling novel, 'Imagining Don Giovanni')
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NI 2540
Stephen Hough
'My Favourite Things'
Virtuoso Encores and Transcriptions
All of the pieces on this disc were written by pianist-composers rather than composer-pianists, the majority prominent at the turn of the century. And
they are somehow part and parcel of a 19th century tradition, a love of encores, of the teasing and delectable. They could also be considered an overspill
from several great pianists' careers, lavishly extending both style and technique. They are written for those who, as Horowitz would have said, can
differentiate between technique and mechanics, who can extend mere facility to magic effect, moulding and varying their sonority to make it glow and
sparkle like the finest jewellery. Here then is living proof that "serious" music is not always so serious, that style, freshness and vitality need not be
confused with levity or frivolity.
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NI 2714
Benny Goodman
Big Band 1957 - 1964
After the release of the film The Benny Goodman Story in 1956, there was a temporary resurgence of interest in Big Band music and Benny received many
invitations to tour again. He had of course worked regularly with small groups up to that time, but this was for Benny a great opportunity, because most
of the other Big Bands had folded and he was able to secure the services of the very best musicians around. This set of recordings from the Yale University
Archives amply demonstrates what they achieved.
Many things had improved since the 1930s' recordings we are all used to. The recording techniques are better and the rhythm sections really swing, as
opposed to the plodding they did on the earlier recordings. The instruments were better and the musicians themselves more disciplined and
experienced. Zoot Sims, for example, provides some really classy tenor solos and all the various pianists are first class. Sir Roland Hanna, Russ Freeman,
John Bunch and Pete Jolly are all great soloists as well as wonderful accompanists. It does not stop there however. The excellent sleeve-notes by Loren
Schoenburg provide not only useful background to the music, but very detailed personnel lists for each session. They read like a "Who's Who" of the best
in the business!
On CD1 there are vocals by Jimmy Rushing of Count Basie fame and Ethel Ennis. Both give first-class performances. There also some fine baritone solos from
Gene Allen, but just as you would expect, it is the leader who shades it every time, Benny's gift for improvisation and his beautiful tone are a joy to
listen to. Both Stompin' at the Savoy and Flying Home have fine solos from Zoot, who is instantly recognisable.
CD2 contains material recorded between 1958 and 1964, most of it not
from the classic Goodman library. It is likely that a lot of this
music was not played again by the band, because audiences wanted
to hear all the classic BG charts, which seems a shame because it
is very enjoyable. Bob Wilber solos on tenor on some of these tracks,
which is unusual in itself because he usually played alto as well
as being an excellent clarinettist. BG's playing on Autumn Nocturne
is exceptional, even for a master of the instrument.
This CD is a must for Big Band fans because it shows just how great the latter-day BG bands were and that his own virtuosity was undiminished.
Don Mather, MusicWeb-International
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NI 2716
The American Jazz Orchestra, Benny Carter
Central City Sketches
World Premier Recording
John Lewis was the musical director and chief conductor of the American Jazz Orchestra, a band expressly organised to preserve great big band music and played by musicians many who had experienced it first hand. Leafing through the personnel we encounter such names as trumpeters John Eckert and Virgil Jones, trombonists Jimmy Knepper and Britt Woodman, tenor players Loren Schoenberg and Lew Tabackin, pianist Dick Katz - along with several appearances from John Lewis himself, guitarist Remo Palmier, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Mel Lewis. That's one solid, solid rhythm section.
Benny Carter had supported the AJO from its inception and in February 1987 he and the band got together to play his own arrangements. This album is the result. At its centre sits the first recording of Carter's Central City Sketches, which are surrounded by standards, many written by Carter himself. The six sketches are unpretentious, subtle and engaging. The opening, Central City Blues, is a slow tempo Kansas City number with a laid back Carter trumpet solo. As many will know he was a first class trumpet player. There's a wistful flute introduction (by Tabackin) to People, the third movement and this is followed by a Basie-type swinger in the shape of Promenade with its airy Dick Katz piano solo. I see that Gary Giddins, well-known critic, writer and artistic director of the AJO, calls Carter's playing 'sinuous' - just the word I've always associated with it. Its deft, darting but superbly snake-like course is perhaps best appreciated in Remember.
But there are plenty of other delights in store. There are two versions, somewhat different, of Doozy, the number made famous in Carter's Further Definitions album. There is also another mobile, snaking Carter solo in When Lights Are Low. Virgil Jones takes a broad toned trumpet solo here as well. Those who want to experience the roller-coasting delights of Carter's sax ensemble writing should be directed to Lonesome Nights where in a long chorus one feels the sheer exhilaration of his voicing and rhythmic patterns.
I can also recommend the interview between Carter and Giddins, which is reprinted in the extensive booklet notes. Great stuff all round.
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb-International
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NI 2717
Lionel Hampton
Mostly Blues
Lionel Hampton laid down these nine tracks, the products of two sessions in March and April 1988, with two quintets. Guitarist Joe Beck and pianist Booby Scott remained constant but there were changes in the bass and drums. Ted Macero was the producer for both sessions and he and his engineers ensured a fine aural ride.
There are three Blues and six standards in the running order and there are plenty of opportunities for Hampton and Scott in particular to stretch out at leisure. Scott is an especially adept performer and his bluesy solo on the opening track bisects Hamp's own solos. Someday My Prince Will Come can still cause some problems for improvisers due to its metre - and here the band switches from 3/4 to 4/4 for the ride-out - which makes it even more interesting. Hampton shows us something of his range here, going from filigree intimacy to the relaxed but driving intensity of his blues chorus; relaxed intensity here not resulting in contradiction but zestful drama.
Limehouse Blues gets a funky makeover with another good guitar and an even better piano solo. Gone with the Wind melodically speaking goes around the houses until the final statement of the tune, in a way that not even that master of the baroque tease, Erroll Garner, would have envisaged. As you'd probably expect Walkin' Uptown is one of those up-tempo finger-popping, twelve-bar evergreens.
This is not to be written off as yet another latter-day Hampton session. The arrangements are buoyant, varied and sometimes unusual and the solos are often high class.
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb-International
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NI 2718
Eastern Rebellion
Mosaic
These tracks are getting on for twenty years old now so their reappearance in Nimbus's select Jazz livery is welcome news. The band took its name from Ireland's Easter Rebellion - the attraction was phonetic not political. It's a quartet of equals and the result is eleven tracks that constitute a good blowing session. No new corners are exposed and no barriers are necessarily pushed but that's not necessarily the point.
Sunflower is a case in point - Freddie Hubbard's tune being the subject of considerable ensemble finesse. John's Blues is a straight down the line blues with a number of good, extended choruses especially by the most consistently inventive and impressive musician, Cedar Walton, whose reputation has long been matched by accomplishment. His loose-limbed stride patterns inventively animate I'll let you know whilst his own tune, Mosaic, so familiar from Art Blakey's Messengers, is taken with brisk fluency. His single note articulation and then complex chording in My Old Flame are especially convincing as well. One for Kel is a feature for the bassist - and its composer - David Williams who gets two minutes to stretch out. I prefer him here; in the quartet he has been over recorded.
Fans of Lerner and Loewe will like to know that I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face is given a swinging and affirmative arrangement. Billy Higgins's own feature, a drum solo called Shoulders, has fine terraced dynamics as befits such a fine musician and is thoughtfully brief. Tenorist Ralph Moore essays his own song Josephine which sounds harmonically speaking a near cousin of Just The Way You Look Tonight.
An enjoyable session.
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb-International
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NI 5847
Joseph Haydn
Six Keyboard Works
Played on Historic Fortepianos by Richard Lester
Richard Lester was described by both the Daily Telegraph and The Times as 'one of our leading players' and as 'one of the greatest early music performers of this or any other time.' Lester's recording of the complete cycle of more than 600 Scarlatti sonatas also releases on nimbus has won international acclaim.
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NI 6100
Beethoven Late String Quartets
The Wihan Quartet
These are richly rewarding readings of Beethoven's late quartets..... The group makes a meaty, full sound, and their vision of each work carries with it the insight of long, deep mutual experience.... achingly intense and beautifully controlled. We're promised the middle and early quartets before the year is out. I can't wait.
The Sunday Times
These are excellent: their fiery interpretations do full justice to Beethoven's final masterpieces.
The Independent
Interpretative insight, ensemble expertise and fine dynamic shading come together most convincingly.
Gramophone
The Wihan is an impressive group. These are technically highly assured performances..the Wihans get to the heart of the matter..experiencing these works live by a top quartet is one of the great musical experiences.
MusicWeb
Beautiful clarity....the Wihan's capacity for lightness of touch well suits Op127...the Presto (Op131) is played with splendid vigour.
International Record Review
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NI 6103
Teresa Carreno Piano Music
Performed by Clara Rodriguez
"Scorching repertoire from a really great Pianist."
Irving Wardle, The Times, London
"These pieces by Teresa Carreno have a tendancy to leap between extreme registers and Clara Rodriguez performs them with agility; leaving the listner quite possible thinking more than two hands are at the piano."
Halenaka Bednar, London Net Classical
"The Venezuelan Teresa Carreno was, with Clara Schuman, the most celebrated female pianist of the 19th century. Most of these works are self-evidently morceaux for the salon, but superior specimens of the genre, requiring a pianism above the ordinary and showing a complete technical command. Clara Rodriguez is a sympathetic and enthusiastic interpreter; her touch is sure and agile. She invests all this highly agreeable music with vibrant life. This recording is superb."
Pianist Magazine, Selected Discs, London
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NI 6104
Moises Moleiro Piano Music
Performed by Clara Rodriguez
"Moises Moleiro's music is defined with enthusiasm and considerable grace by Clara Rodriguez. She has a highly articulate touch and fine control of dynamics that are a pleasure to hear. This CD is as vibrant and colourful as anyone could wish."
CD Review London
"Clara Rodriguez plays the music from South America like no other pianist, with a marvellous sense of phrasing, poetry and sparkling dynamism. This music belongs to her."
Arioso International, France
Pictures of the planes is a hauntingly beautiful and highly expressive
piece reminiscent of the contrast of the dry and rainy seasons of
the Venezuelan planes. The Joropod takes the name and the form of
the Venezuelan national dance.
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NI 6105
Beethoven Early String Quartets
The Wihan Quartet
The Wihan Quartet, formed in 1985, are heirs to the great Czech musical Tradition. The Quartet's outstanding reputation for the interpretation of its native Czech heritage and of many classical, romantic and modern masterpieces of the string quartet repertoire is widely acknowledged.
From October 2007 to March 2008, the Wihan gave the first ever series of all the Beethoven Quartets in Prague, and these landmark concerts were recorded for this series of CDs. The cycle was repeated in the UK at Blackheath Halls during May and June of 2008.
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NI 7957
Giuseppe Di Stefano
Sings Verdi and Puccini
This new Nimbus issue of two CDs features extended extracts from the best of the recordings made by Giuseppe Di Stefano (1921-2008) between 1950 and 1956. It also features some of the finest singers and conductors of the 1950s; chief among these is Maria Callas. These discs serve to commemorate her greatness almost as much as that of Di Stefano.
I for one was not familiar with the extracts from the 1950 "La Bohème" made in very distinguished company. It proves to be one of the most moving and accomplished interpretations I have ever heard - especially the searing closing scene.
The benchmark "Tosca" is too well known and its manifest virtues too often praised to make it necessary for me to rehearse them once more. This is the definitive recording and nothing else has ever rivalled or ever will rival it. The "Rigoletto" has almost the same status. I would imagine that anyone who does not already possess these recordings will acquire them on the strength of these extracts.
The set comes an informative note by Alan Bilgora. The transfers by Nimbus are impeccable; there always was a hint of overloading in the originals but with performances of this quality one doesn't give that a thought.
Ralph Moore MusicWeb-International
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