Boulanger

Nothing comes quite as close, musically speaking that is, to reaching at the core of America quite like the ballet Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland (1900-1990). Despite having received his formal musical training in Paris under Nadia Boulanger and living in Brooklyn, he's the composer who captures best the "big sky country" spirit of America, especially in works like Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man, Rodeo and his score for Of Mice and Men.

Albert Alan Owen was born in Wales in 1948 to Welsh and Latvian parents. His family subsequently emigrated to Zimbabwe, where his father worked as a teacher. Here, he grew up profoundly influenced by the local music and culture, as well as American RnB and jazz. It was also during this time that Owen became aware of the violent inequalities of British colonial rule, forging a lifelong commitment to socialism and a hatred of racism.

Of Love and War, partly inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s novel Days and Nights of Love and War, draws parallels between the isolation and pent-up passions of wartime and the experiences of the current pandemic. Much of this repertoire was composed around the time of the First World War, but also embraces broader themes of beginnings and endings, night and day, love and loss.

Die Komponistin Charlotte Sohy – Studentin von Louis Vierne und Vincent d’Indy und befreundet mit den Komponistinnen Nadia Boulanger und Mel Bonis – hinterließ 35 Kompositionen für verschiedene klassische Genres, wovon 15 nun erstmals aufgenommen wurden.

Grażyna BACEWICZ wurde am 5. Februar 1909 in Łódź geboren.

With enchanting works from composers such as Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Ravel, performances from French classical artists including Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Julia Fuchs, and romantic works evocative of French history and culture, French Classical Selections offers an assortment of classical repertoire from and about France. This compilation is the second in a series of country focused selections, including selections from Britain and Germany.

Artists are liminal figures — they cross thresholds and collapse boundaries between past, present, and future. In THE NEW EPOCH, three musicians from the Boston Artists Ensemble interpret works by French composers Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and Lili Boulanger, infusing these pieces with unprecedented freshness and clarity.

Alto Andrea Cagnin is joined by Patricia Pagny for their programme Visages, featuring works from Georges Migot, Jean Jacques Werner, Darius Milhaud, Lili Boulanger, and Arthur Honegger!

Mr Takács now joins forces with veteran violinist Daniel Stepner for Beethoven’s final two Violin Sonatas. I’m not sure whether this is the start of a new cycle or a one off. What I am certain of, however, is that Takács is one of the finest Beethoven interpreters around. He seems to have made the composer something of a speciality. Violinist Daniel Stepner, who studied with Steven Staryk in Chicago and Nadia Boulanger in France, is the Artistic Director of the Aston Magna Festival and Foundation. He is also Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University, where he was first violinist of the Lydian String Quartet from 1987-2016.

Johan Kvandal’s string quartets nos. 1–3 have already been recorded, but here we are also introduced to his other works for this classical ensemble. The Engegård Quartet are ideal interpreters of these often challenging works spanning almost four decades of the composer’s life. Thus they show the artistic development of one of the foremost Norwegian composers of the post-war generation.