Arvo Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel

In this album called “Hope”, created during lockdown, violinist Daniel Hope presents a highly personal, yet distinctive collection of timeless classics by Schubert, Elgar and Pärt, several beloved traditional songs in stunning new instrumental versions and a brand-new arrangement of the inspiring and spiritual Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez. “Music has a tremendous power,” says Daniel Hope. “This album is my attempt to send out a ray of hope and to provide people, myself included, with a sense of support and perhaps even consolation.” Well-known favourites from Hope’s childhood such as Amazing Grace and Danny Boy are as integral to this album as Schubert’s Die Nacht and “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Several different periods are illuminated in this way, and the same is true of the most disparate styles and musical contexts. Daniel Hope is joined by the Zürcher Kammerorchester as well as prestigious singers like the vocal ensemble Amarcord, baritone Thomas Hampson and jazz-singer Colin Rich.

Kuniko - Cantus (2013) {Linn Records ‎CKD 432}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 178 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 123 Mb
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© 2013 Linn Records ‎| CKD 432
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Minimalism / Percussion

Kuniko Kato, who goes by the single name Kuniko, is an emerging Japanese marimba and vibraphone virtuosa who stirred up considerable attention with her 2011 release kuniko plays reich. Cantus, which is curiously named, expands on the transcription ideas developed for the earlier release. Kuniko sets out to expand the sonic vocabulary of her percussion instruments through the use of various mallets and strike techniques. This is an extremely intriguing idea, for latter-day developments in minimalist music have involved experiments with extending its range without losing its basic aesthetic.

Lisa Batiashvili's debut album for Deutsche Grammophon "Echoes of Time" is a matter of the heart - an unusual, very individual and fascinating program by one of the most appreciated young soloists of our days. Lisa focuses her program on composers whose lives and work have been heavily influenced by the political happenings and oppressions in former Soviet Union - like Lisa herself, who went into German exile with her family during the political upheaval in Georgia in 1991.

Just 26 years old, Nicola Benedetti has been making chart-topping recordings for 10 years. This album celebrates the best of those recordings, and her other successes – from winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2004, to her 2012 best-selling album ‘The Silver Violin’, the highest charting classical instrumental album in the UK of the last two decades. A collection of great violin music – from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending to the Tchaikovsky and Bruch violin concertos and Arvo Part’s Spiegel Im Spiegel. Featuring brand new recordings – Brahms’ invigorating Hungarian Dance no. 5, Monti’s ever-popular Czardas, and Chopin’s emotional Nocturne in C# minor. The album includes Nicola performing with leading orchestras and conductors, as well as some of her favorite chamber players.

Michael Collins has been recording for Chandos what one might call thematic ‘mood’ albums; virtuosity has been covered and here is lyricism. Burgmüller’s Duo is a single movement, but tripartite piece, dating from 1834. It assuredly lives up to the disc billing, being profusely lyric, but in its central panel cleverly evokes the operatic by means of declamatory piano statements above which the clarinet spins vocalised curlicues of decidedly virtuosic pretension. It hardly aspires to anything especially deep, but makes for a good palette refreshing opener.

Iskandar Widjaja just doesn’t line up with the image of a musician on the classical music scene. As the ambassador of a new generation he simply can’t be pigeonholed as representing this or that genre. He connects worlds: as soloist with internationally renowned ensembles – from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Munich, Warsaw and Shanghai Philharmonics to the Hong Kong Sinfonietta – and equally as a performer at mass-media events like Miss World or Miss Earth, the Milan EXPO or Paris Fashion Week. He has long been a TV star in East Asia with regular television appearances, commercial advertising contracts and “trending topic” status on Twitter. In his new project Mercy, Iskandar Widjaja presents a broad musical spectrum with a closely interwoven thematic structure, summing up his achievement to date and opening a new phase of his life.