Concord Publication 1020 The Atf Contenders Yf 22 & Yf 23

This is a really great five-CD set. You get all of Bach's concertos except the Brandenburgs - which is a shame because Pinnock's Brandenburgs are terrific. Nonetheless, this remains an absolutely cracking collection of some of Bach's most enjoyable music in excellent performances. In the Harpsichord Concertos Pinnock is himself the soloist and shows why he is such a very well-liked and highly regarded musician. The music springs to life under his fingers (and under his direction) and many of these performances set new and enduring standards when first released in the early 1980s. They have informed much subsequent Bach playing and have worn extremely well themselves, sounding as fresh and involving as they did nearly 30 years ago. He is joined by other fine harpsichordists in the concerti for two, three and four harpsichords, (Kenneth Gilbert, Nicholas Kraemer and Lars Ulrich Mortensen) and the Concerto for Four Harpsichords in particular is an absolute joy.

True Concord’s newest album, A Dream So Bright, features two world premiere recordings of works by Jake Runestad. His EMMY®­-winning choral/orchestral work, Earth Symphony, with poetry of Todd Boss, was commissioned and premiered by True Concord in 2022. Dreams of the Fallen, Runestad’s prize­-winning work for solo piano, chorus & orchestra, features pianist Jeffrey Biegel and includes texts of the poet Brian Turner, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Turner states: When the music lifts to its peak, when the choir sings into the high cathedral of the human experience—the hairs on the back of my neck take notice, my own heart takes notice, and I am moved once again by the fusion of sound and story. “Dreams of the Fallen” is a compassionate, emotionally­ layered, elegant, and poignant work of art that I am proud to be a part of.

True Concord’s newest album, A Dream So Bright, features two world premiere recordings of works by Jake Runestad. His EMMY®­-winning choral/orchestral work, Earth Symphony, with poetry of Todd Boss, was commissioned and premiered by True Concord in 2022. Dreams of the Fallen, Runestad’s prize­-winning work for solo piano, chorus & orchestra, features pianist Jeffrey Biegel and includes texts of the poet Brian Turner, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Turner states: When the music lifts to its peak, when the choir sings into the high cathedral of the human experience—the hairs on the back of my neck take notice, my own heart takes notice, and I am moved once again by the fusion of sound and story. “Dreams of the Fallen” is a compassionate, emotionally­ layered, elegant, and poignant work of art that I am proud to be a part of.

Purcell’s fourth birthday Ode for the Queen, Love’s goddess sure was blind, was the most intimate of the six, scored for just strings and a pair of recorders. The two-section Symphony is one of Purcell’s finest, especially richly scored. The noble, yet wistful, first part is dominated by a six-note falling scale and a ravishing melody (which comes only once in the violins, but three times in the viola), all wrapped in glorious harmony. The triple-time second section at first glance appears lighter in character, but (as with so much of Purcell’s music, which needs to be played to discover its true riches) in practice still has an underlying current of melancholy, heightened at the end as the opening mood returns.

5th in Vencenzo Ricca’s Italian ‘Rome Pro(G)ject’ excellent series of mostly instrumental vintage keyboard driven symphonic Prog albums!

5th in Vencenzo Ricca’s Italian ‘Rome Pro(G)ject’ excellent series of mostly instrumental vintage keyboard driven symphonic Prog albums!