Passacaglia Motovilov

Writing in a style that was essentially Romantic, if modified by his study of Classical composers, the Swedish composer Stenhammar enjoyed a successful career also as a pianist and then, primarily, as a conductor. As a leading composer of his generation in Sweden, Stenhammar contributed to a variety of genres. Two symphonies and two piano concertos, in addition to a number of less substantial works, are still in today’s repertoire. The Interlude from his important cantata Sången is a frequent concert item.

Born in 1885, Alban Berg was one of the most significant composers of the Second Viennese School, whose output proved tremendously influential in the development of music in the twentieth century. He was a student of Schoenberg, who found that his juvenile compositions were almost exclusively written for voice; his natural ability to write lyrical melodic lines (even in later life while following the restrictions of twelve-tone serialism) probably remained the most outstanding quality of his style. His Op. 1 Piano Sonata was the fulfilment of a task set by Schoenberg to write non-vocal music. The Passacaglia, written between the sonata and World War I was only completed in short-score, and may have been intended to form part of a larger work.

In Passacaglia, violinist Pavel Berman and pianist Maria Meerovitch perform two violin sonatas characterised by their contrasting passacaglia finales: Respighi’s Violin Sonata in B minor and Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata in G, Op. 134. Shostakovich’s work was composed for the legendary David Oistrakh, who once owned the violin now played by Berman: a Stradivarius made in Cremona in 1702.

Nicolò is one of the few guitarists in the world to perform on both six-string and ten-string guitars, as well as on theorbo. His wide-ranging repertoire includes the extraordinary music of the Franco-Andalusian composer Maurice Ohana. He has given lecture-recitals on the music of Ohana at different institutions and festivals, including the Mediterranean Guitar Festival, Arizona State University, Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, San Francisco Conservatory, and the University of Surrey for the launch of the International Guitar Research Centre. His CD of Ohana’s complete works for solo guitar (Soundset Recordings), presenting the world première recording of Estelas, was awarded the 5-stars “Disco del mese” review by Seicorde, the major Italian classical guitar magazine, and it was described as “un disco di altissimo valore.”