Brilliant Org

Sakamoto - For Mr Lawrence, Piano Music - Jeroen van Veen (2019) {Brilliant Classics 95389}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/48kHz - Official Digital Download -> 843 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 821 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2019 Brilliant Classics | 95389
Classical / Chamber Music / Contemporary Classical / Piano

A comprehensive collection of Sakamoto’s instrumental songs and film music from a master of Minimalist piano. Famed worldwide as a film composer, Ryiuchi Sakamoto began his career as a pianist, creating patterns, phrases and innovative arrangements before joining his first commercial electronic pop band in 1978, the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Around the same time, he worked on his first solo album, the Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto (1978), which blends up-to-date electronic techniques with an old-fashioned gift for good tunes. Riot in Lagos brought him fame beyond Japan, and he went on to work with many top producers of pop, dance and electro.

Wenzeslaus Thomas Matiegka - Complete Music for Solo Guitar - Giulio Tampalini (2019) {Brilliant Classics 95084}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 2.28 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.16 Gb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2019 Brilliant Classics | 95084
Classical / First Viennese School / Guitar

Wenzeslaus Matiegka (1773-1830) was born in a small town in Bohemia, at that time part of the Habsburg Monarchy. He studied music with Abbé Gelinek and showed an extraordinary talent for the fortepiano, while at the same time studying law. He became a legal employee at the court of Count Kinsky, an early sponsor of Beethoven. Later he moved to Vienna and became a well known composer, teacher, fortepianist and guitarist. He was highly respected by Beethoven and above all Schubert, who wrote several works for the guitar as well.

A dazzling display of vocal virtuosity, by the stunning coloratura soprano Maria Laura Martorana. Nicola Porpora was a celebrated vocal teacher, as well as a highly respected composer, of mainly vocal works (operas, cantatas). Among his pupils were Haydn, Alessandro Scarlatti and Pergolesi. His profound knowledge of the voice and its possibilities resulted in compositions of the highest challenge to the performer. The title 'Il Volcano', one of the Cantatas recorded on this disc, gives a clear indication as to the explosive content of the music - and Maria Laura Martorana possesses all the qualities required for an effective performance of this music: effortless and brilliant vocal technique, capable of the most daunting vocal acrobatics, and a passionate and dramatic temper, conveying the strong emotions expressed in these Baroque Cantatas.

Though Tchaikovsky had an obvious penchant for writing astounding melodies for the cello (the soaring 5/4 waltz from the Sixth Symphony, or the brooding opening of the A minor Piano Trio for example), he wrote surprisingly little repertoire for the instrument on its own. No concerto exists; the closest cellists have is the popular and charming Variations on a Rococo Theme. Four other short works – two of which are transcriptions by the composer himself – make up the remainder of Tchaikovsky's cello works.

Many of Liszt’s works were transcribed for other instruments; both by the composer himself and other musicians. These hauntingly beautiful pieces for cello and piano were originally written for piano solo or the voice. They are from the final period of his life and are the product of his old age and his quest for spirituality. Far from the virtuoso brilliance of his earlier works, their intense and romantic melodies express melancholy and desolation, the sparse textures and harmonic instability daringly looking forward to the twentieth century.