Oleg Solokov

Rudi Stephan was a promising German composer whose life, like that of George Butterworth, was snuffed out in the heat of battle during "The War to End All Wars." Behind him, Stephan left a tiny output of 33 works, and of these, Music for Orchestra 1912 has proven by far the best known, receiving a decent amount of exposure in the concert halls of German-speaking lands since its 1912 premiere. None of Stephan's music has been recorded with any great frequency, and Chandos' deluxe Super Audio CD Rudi Stephen: Orchestral Works enters the field practically on its own.

Donizetti's opera "Poliuto", based on the play "Polyeucte" by the French composer Pierre Corneille, is now one of the rarest works in the classical opera repertoire. However, this live recording, recorded in the Vienna Konzerthaus in 1986, impresses her with an impressive cast: star tenor José Carreras in the role of Poliuto is accompanied by Italian soprano Katia Ricciarelli as Paolina, who is an absolutely equal star in this recording. The choir of the Wiener Sängerakademie sings, accompanied by the Wiener Symphoniker under the direction of Oleg Caetani.

Eagerly anticipated album by Georgia’s Giya Kancheli (“the most important composer to have emerged from the former Soviet Union since the death of Shostakovich.” – Time Magazine), released in the year of his 70th birthday. This disc features one of Kancheli’s most ardent champions, the great violinist Gidon Kremer., who plays in duo with his old comrade, Russian pianist Oleg Maisenberg on the 26 minute 'Time… and again”, and leads the Kremerata Baltica on “V & V” for violin, taped voice, and string orchestra.

August Winding was the son of a musical clergyman whose great interest was in collecting folk-songs. He was his son's first music teacher. Later, he studied in Hamburg, Vienna and Paris where he became acquainted with Chopin and Kalkbrenner. The composer Carl Reinecke, who was court composer in Copenhagen in 1846-48, also taught Winding. He was very close to Niels W. Gade and also studied with him. He established himself as a formidable pianist especially in the works of Mozart and Beethoven. He taught at the Conservatory in Copenhagen and through his marriage to Clara, the daughter of J.P.E. Hartmann, he became a member of this musical family. In fact, the other composer on this CD, Emil Hartmann was his brother-in-law.

Emil von Sauer's piano works mark the twilight of an era in which the composer-pianist was still in fashion. Sauer, Godowsky, Rachmaninoff, Busoni and Paderewski were just a few of the reigning titans who frequently played their own compositions on the concert stage. The music of most of these composers has unfortunately fallen out of vogue today. However, turn of the century audiences enthusiastically applauded, demanded even, these works, if not during the actual programmed recital then afterwards as encores. Sauer was born in Hamburg and died in Vienna. His first piano lessons were from his mother.

Emil von Sauer's piano works mark the twilight of an era in which the composer pianist was still in fashion. Sauer, Godowsky, Hofmann, Rachmaninoff, Rosenthal, Busoni and Paderewski were just a few of the reigning titans who frequently played their own compositions on the concert stage. The music of most of these composers has unfortunately fallen out of vogue today. However, turn of the century audiences enthusiastically applauded, demanded even, these works, if not during the actual programmed recital then afterwards as encores. Sauer was born in Hamburg. He studied with Nicholas Rubinstein in Moscow and for two years with Liszt in Weimar.

The fourth New Series album from the St Petersburg-based composer Alexander Knaifel may be his most wide-ranging to date, voyaging from the sacred to the secular and back again via several inspired detours. It includes two Prayers to the Holy Spirit, movingly performed by the Lege Artis Choir. Tatiana Melentieva sings Bliss, based on Alexander Pushkin’s poem, and the great Russian poet is cross-referenced with St Ephraim the Syrian in O Lord of All My Life (A Poem and a Prayer) sung by Piotr Migunov.