Though a pupil of the great orchestrator Rimsky-Korsakov, and in turn a teacher to the likes of Rachmaninov, Glière, and Scriabin, Anton Arensky himself is a composer often forgotten when contemplating the Russian greats. Productive in many genres, it is perhaps in his chamber music that this unduly neglected composer truly shines. His writing has much of the same textural sophistication and melodic beauty as his close friend, Tchaikovsky. In fact, the theme on which the Second Quartet's Variations are based is drawn from a Tchaikovsky quartet. Performing Arensky's First and Second string quartets, along with the Piano Quintet, is the Ying Quartet. This ensemble's playing is characterized by a surprisingly precise, consistent uniformity of sound and exactness of articulation, making it seem as if a single instrument were playing as opposed to four independent parts. All aspects of their technical execution are polished and refined, which only enhances their equally enjoyable musical effusiveness, rich, deep tone, and understanding of Arensky's scores that casts them in the best possible light.
Adam Golka's third album for FHR begins a wonderful journey in which he records all of Beethovens 32 Piano Sonatas. This first volume, released in Beethovens 250th anniversary year, includes one of the composers most celebrated works, the Pathétique Sonata in C minor, alongside the contrasting Sonatas, Op. 10.
Guitarist and Producer Adam Hawley has burst on to the scene as a celebrated and innovative artist, composer and band leader. Handpicked by Maurice White (founder of Earth, Wind, & Fire) he first debuted on the legend’s label Kalimba Music. In all, Adam’s four albums and work as a producer has spawned an incredible Fourteen Billboard #1 Hits. In it’s first week, the 3rd record “Escape” was the #1 Selling Album in the Nation, outselling every other contemporary jazz album as per Nielsen. The debut single went on to become the Billboard and Smooth Jazz Network Song of the Year for 2020. He followed this up with the 4th album “Risin' Up;” it’s title track again reached the top of the Billboard charts in late '21. 2022 was particularly successful including four more #1's, culminating with 2022 song of the year. “Unstoppable” marks the 6th album to enter the catalogue and should prove to be robust.
For the third installment in Adam Fischer's Mahler cycle on CAvi-music, he leads the Düsseldorf Symphony in a straightforward and polished presentation of the Symphony No. 1 in D major, assembled from several concert recordings in February 2017. This 2018 release offers a nearly flawless version of one of Mahler's most popular symphonies, and Fischer prudently avoids any anachronistic associations with the symphony's earlier form as a symphonic poem.
The music of Michal Spisak was much more recognizable and available to a wide audience during the composers lifetime than nowadays. This album contains three compositions of this artist: the Piano Sui t e (a piece with a transparent texture in which Spisak clearly refers to the Baroque tradition), Sonata for violin and piano (for a change, very rich, diverse texture, full of violin dyad passages, varied in terms of harmony and sound colour) and Concerto for two pianos (very spectacular work, extremely diverse, as far as the sound is concerned; highly demanding for the pianists). The aforementioned pieces are a cross-section of the compositional techniques typical of Michl Spisaks musical language; they also introduce a whole range of neoclassical features confirming the composers stylistic affiliation.
Adam Fischer writes: In the Düsseldorf Tonhalle in late February and early March 2020, we gave Mahler’s Sixth Symphony in three live concert performances which we recorded for this album. This date in the calendar had special significance: the first lockdown period due to the Corona pandemic set in immediately thereafter. The orchestra was playing in full line-up in front of a full house for the last time for a long while. The mood was ominous: we all felt something was amiss, and the next day everything had to be cancelled. We strongly associate those circumstances with our work on the Sixth, and with the foreboding we felt of a catastrophe that has since ruined the livelihoods of many musician colleagues and deprived us all of a meaningful period in our lives.
Adam Faith, born Terry Nelhams in Acton, London, on June 23, 1940, was second only to Cliff Richard as Britain's teenage idol in the early Sixties. His first ambition was to be a film editor and after school he worked as a messenger boy at Rank Screen Services. But caught up in the skiffle craze, he became vocalist with the Worried Men, a group formed by workmates at Rank, until after a year, Jack Good, the scholarly ombudsman of English rock'n'roll, suggested that Nelhams go solo as Adam Faith.
NoBusiness presents a new set of recordings by the Adam Caine Quartet recorded April 29, 2018 by Tom Tedesco at Tedesco Studio, mixed by Nolan Thies at the Bunker Studio and mastered by Kevin Blackler.