Steen

Legendary Brazilian singing star Joyce Moreno is beyond amazed by Danish pianist and composer Steen Rasmussen's musical fluency and close relationship to Brazilian music: 'He knows it inside and out and plays it with respect and a deep understanding of all aspects of the art form.' Steen's Red Bossa Trio consists of Fredrik Damsgaard, with his tastefully insightful bass playing, and one of Brazil's most respected drummers, Celso De Almeida, who expertly and elegantly spices up the music just as it should be with an authentic ability to underplay things while being funky at the same time

A frequent collaborator with both the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Jac van Steen, David Matthews’ new recording explores both the natural world and the symphonic idea, the second of which has, in his words, “obsessed me since I started composing at the age of 16”.

The great thing about this band is that it's all about the music. it's not about who gets to solo and who's the star and all that stuff. It's about playing together. It's about the groove!

Einar Steen-Nøkleberg (* 25. April 1944 in Østre Toten, Fylke Oppland, Norwegen) ist ein norwegischer Pianist.

Their collaboration started back in 2002 and since then the musicians have demonstrated their outstanding professional mastery and complete unanimity in emotional and stylistic rendition of music. Alexander Zagorinsky is a representative of Natalia Shakhovskaya's Moscow school and former concertmaster of the group of cellos of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. The musician's extensive repertoire includes music of four centuries. In the opinion of authoritative sources, Norwegian pianist Einar Steen-Nøkleberg is the best interpreter of Grieg's music who combines his solo career with active teaching.

Frank Martin’s Violin Concerto must be counted one of the finest 20th century works in the genre. It’s a very beautiful, lyrical work. The opening orchestral tutti alone instantly establishes an unforgettable, magical atmosphere, an amalgam of impressionism, jazz, modal harmony, and a touch of 12-tone technique. There was an old Decca recording with Wolfgang Schneiderhan (recently reissued on DG), which was quite good, but this version is in another league. Not only does Michael Erxleben essay the solo part with a wholly winning combination of shapely phrasing and rhythmic suppleness (Schneiderhan was a touch foursquare), but the Winterthur orchestra under Jac van Steen plays Martin’s austere but evocative score with real character. The balance between solo and ensemble also is perfectly judged, allowing a vivid interplay between the two and support for the soloist that, however gentle, never lacks for color and impact.

While no organists music bench would be respectable without dog-eared copies of the Suite gothique (especially its concluding, Toccata, no mere knock-off of Widors showier counterpart) and C minor Toccata, there are vanishingly few albums dedicated to the organ music of Léon Boëllmann (1862-1897), making this Brilliant Classics reissue of Piet van der Steens album all the more enticing a proposition to organ buffs. A short-lived contemporary of Louis Vierne, Boëllmann composed in most classical genres, notably chamber music, but it is his output for organ that has assured him immortality, for its hand-in-glove harmony with the instruments of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll that represented the high-point of French organ building in the Gothic style, never knowingly underequipped. Boëllmann wrote accordingly, to take advantage of the new French organs with their prodigious array of registral colours and dynamic variation. Beyond the imperishable but ubiquitous Suite Gothique, the album offers discoveries galore, in the pomp and circumstance of the little-known Fantaisie, the perfumed refinements of the selection from his liturgically focused Heures mystiques, the quietradiance of the G major Offertoire and the ingenious Carillon from the Douze pièces. The Prelude pastoral opening the Deuxième Suite is a real charmer, and deserves to stimulate a Boëllmann renaissance along with much else here. It was recorded in 1977 by Piet van der Steen along with most of the shorter pieces on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Augustinuskerk in Amsterdam (first issued as an LP by the Cantilena label), whereas the Suite Gothique and Heures Mystiques excerpts date from 2002, on the Schyven organ of the Church of Ss Peter and Paul in Oostend.