David was a prolific composer and his output included two symphonies, five violin concertos, a string sextet, quartets, several sets of variations and volumes of studies for violin, choral works and some Lieder. His works had considerable success in his lifetime, and their revival reveals highly attractive music of phenomenal accomplishment. Bearing in mind David’s close affinity with Mendelssohn it is hardly surprising that some of his music has a fairly Mendelssohnian character. This extends to the skilful handling of Classical forms with a rather more Romantic palette, but there is also an amiable individual character at work which produces music rich in wit and sentiment.

Hagai Shaham, a regular of this series and a master of the 19th-century virtuoso idiom, performs these works with his usual panache, ably accompanied by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins.

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‚David’s slow movements are especially appealing … but you can turn almost anywhere here to find unreserved melodic delight … Hagai Shaham’s playing is sweetness itself, and he’s secure in every technical detail … Under Martyn Brabbins‘ alert direction, the BBC Scottish players impart a refreshing clarity to David’s Mendelssohnian orchestral writing, their attentiveness supported in Andrew Keener’s transparent recording … In short, this disc offers an hour of unremitting pleasure which you would be daft to deny yourself‘ (International Record Review)

‚Shaham and the BBC Scottish Symphony (at their most sparkling and sensitive under Martyn Brabbins) play with supreme virtuoso ease throughout … Played like this, these concertos constantly delight with their deft invention. Exemplary sound too‘ (Classic FM Magazine)

‚Sweet melody coupled with passages of virtuosic fire, underpinned with graceful, discreet orchestral writing‘ (The Observer)

‚Hagai Shaham delivers a fastidious and vivacious sympathy to the flow of figures, a real acolyte of an otherwise marginal repertory‘ (American Record Guide, USA)

‚Hagai Shaham pulls off that great virtuoso trick of making the music sound complex, but also making clear that he has every note under his fingers and that he is not sweating it. To non-violinist listeners, the greatest attraction of this music is its lyricism, and Shaham always brings this to the fore, especially in the exquisitely crafted middle movements … Excellent playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, who again demonstrate that they are a force to be reckoned with‘ (MusicWeb.com)

Artykuł DAVID <br />Violin Concerto No 4 & 5 / Andante and Scherzo capriccioso <br />Hagai Shaham<br /> BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra <br />Martyn Brabbins pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

The Violin Concerto No 4 in D minor, Op 31, which Vieuxtemps composed while he was court violinist in St Petersburg, is an heroic work on a substantial scale. It was described by Berlioz—who was perhaps comparing it with his own Harold in Italy for viola and orchestra—as a symphony with violin solo. In fact Vieuxtemps’s writing for the orchestra is as assured and resourceful, and sometimes as imaginative, as his treatment of the violin, though there is no doubt that the solo instrument remains the leading actor in the drama, reaching heights of stratospheric virtuosity throughout. Violin Concerto No 5 in A minor, Op 37, was written a few years later, in 1858–9, at the request of his friend Hubert Léonard, as the test-piece for a competition at the Brussels Conservatory. The work was, therefore, expressly designed to test the capabilities of (very advanced) student players, but it has maintained itself in the repertoire on its own merits and probably surpasses the Fourth Concerto in popularity. Fantasia appassionata, Op 35, was probably written shortly after the Fifth Violin Concerto, in 1860. Unlike the concertos this is more frankly a vehicle for transcendental technical display, but expertly cast in a single movement of several effectively contrasted sections that achieves a balanced form as well as the exhibition of the player’s prowess.

The young virtuoso Viviane Hagner, a former BBC New Generation artist, acclaimed for her highly intelligent musicality and passionate artistry, appears in her Hyperion debut.

Artykuł VIEUXTEMPS <br />Vilolin concertos <br />Viviane Hagner <br />Royal Flemish Philharmonic <br />Martyn Brabbins pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

One cannot accuse Mortelmans of being musically avant-garde or adventurous: he was aware that European classical music was following a new, atonal and even serial path, but right up to his death he was unwilling to abandon his romantic signature. But he perfected his traditional approach and his music is deeply attractive, showing the influence of both Sibelius and Wagner. A selection of his greatest works for orchestra are recorded here. Hyperion regular Martyn Brabbins conducts the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in their first recording for Hyperion.

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‚Mortlemans‘ scoring is full of colour and drama … The music is vividly compelling … Throughout the progamme, the richness of the orchestration readily holds the listener’s attention, especially in such responsive performances from the Royal Flemish Philharmonic under the highly sympathetic Martyn Brabbins, well projected by a splendidly spacious Hyperion recording‘ (Gramophone)

‚Lush, melodic and romantic … The excellent Martyn Brabbins and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic have resurrrected the Wagnerian-Straussian tone poems … As for the grand, rhapsodic ‚Homeric‘ Symphony, it’s epic‘ (The Observer)

Artykuł MORTELMANS <br />Homerische symfonie and other orchestral works <br />Royal Flemish Philharmonic <br />Martyn Brabbins pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

How much better known might Mieczysław Karłowicz have become had he not been struck down in his prime by an avalanche. What works do survive place Karłowicz firmly alongside the ‘progressive neo-Romantics’—with Wagner and Richard Strauss at their head—and his reputation today is largely based on a set of six symphonic poems composed in the last few years of his life. The Violin Concerto dates from the same period. Karłowicz places considerable demands on the soloist as he exploits the instrument’s full potential but, as with Moszkowski’s Concerto, the required virtuosity never seems superfluous.

Martyn Brabbins again leads the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, this time in support of Tasmin Little, whose twenty or so recordings and innumerable worldwide concert appearances have won for her an enviable reputation as one of today’s leading violinists. This is her first recording for Hyperion.

Artykuł MOSZKOWSKI, KARLOWICZ <br />Violin Concertos <br />Tasmin Little <br />BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra <br />Martyn Brabbins pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

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PICK OF THE MONTH (CONCERTO) (The Strad)
TOP RECOMMENDATION (ORCHESTRAL) (BBC Music Magazine)

‚This third volume in Hyperion’s Romantic Violin Concerto series may make you wonder why Hubay’s Third Concerto has escaped the attention of virtually every fiddle player from Heifetz to Hahn. If, like me, you’re a sucker for lashings of blistering virtuosity, strong, well-contrasted melodic content, and a substantial orchestral contribution, I promise that you will not be disappointed‘ (BBC Music Magazine)

‚This essentially fun record could have gone for nothing without the superb playing of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the redoubtable Martyn Brabbins, Andrew Keener’s top-notch production values and, most especially, the jaw-dropping virtuosity of Hagai Shaham. Whatever Hubay throws at him, Shaham negotiates it with apparently nonchalant ease and invariably spotless intonation‘ (The Strad)

‚These last two of Hubay’s four violin concertos make a most attractive addition to Hyperion’s emergent series of Romantic violin concertos … The Israeli soloist Hagai Shaham has the advantage of having been taught by one of Hubay’s pupils, Ilona Feher. Not only does he relish the Hungarian inflections in a winningly idiomatic way, he plays with an ethereal purity in the many passages of stratospheric melody. As so often, Martyn Brabbins proves a most sympathetic partner, drawing committed playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, helped by beautifully balanced, cleanly focused recording‘ (Gramophone)

‚Shaham, who has no competition in these two works, plays them with great stylistic authority, providing all the dash the showy but never meretricious parts require‘ (Fanfare, USA)

‚Hagai Shaham offers a deftly turned, heartfelt performance … The orchestral contribution is a winning ace‘ (International Record Review)

‚an outstanding violinist‘ (The Guardian)

‚glowing, flamboyant renditions‘ (Classic FM Magazine)

‚Shaham’s combination of grace, wit, and ardency, well supported by Brabbins, shows Hubay’s lightweight romanticism in its best light‘ (Irish Times)

‚Le violoniste israélien Hagai Shaham … en propose une vision pleine de panache au style exemplaire‘ (Diapason, France)

‚Hagai Shaham plays like a major virtuoso … and genuinely seems to be enjoying himself with this beautifully crafted music … Hubay was a composer of substance, and this disc makes a very strong case for him. Do try to hear it‘ (ClassicsToday.com)

‚Hagai Shaham plays like a foremost virtuoso, performing with total equanimity, managing the most difficult passages, which flow from his instrument with ease, and backed by an orchestra on top form‘ (Hi-Fi Plus)

‚The Hungarian’s Third Violin Concerto is a masterly exercise in the vein of Mendelssohn, complete with passages of astonishing virtuoso display, which the soloist Hagai Shaham accomplishes m suitably florid style. The 11 Hungarian Variations and the „Antique“ Fourth Concerto make similarly exciting listening‘ (The Independent)

Artykuł HUBAY <br />Violin Concertos 3 & 4 <br />Hagai Shaham <br />BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra <br />Martyn Brabbins pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

‚irresistible‘ (The Independent)

‚Martin Roscoe’s performances with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins make strong advocacy for these two 19th century charmers‘ (The Times)

‚Both works are immediately attractive and good-hearted, stuffed full of engaging musical ideas satisfyingly exploited in craftsmanship of a high order … I enjoyed – am still enjoying – this disc enormously‘ (International Record Review)

‚Needless to say, the performances and recording are immaculate‘ (Classic FM Magazine)

‚You can’t fault the magic wand of Martyn Brabbins, the sincere advocacy of the superlative Martin Roscoe nor the spirited and sensitive playing of the BBC Scottish band‘ (BBC Music Magazine)

‚Roscoe, The BBC SSO and Brabbins play these attractive works with devotion and panache‘ (Sunday Times)

‚This release has everything a Romantic piano concerto could wish for … the interplay between Roscoe and Brabbins lifts the music way above the dusted life it had for years‘ (Pianist)
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Music in Germany in the later 19th century found itself divided into two camps; the modernists, led by Liszt and Wagner, and the traditionalists who took Brahms as their model and who upheld the values of the classical period and Beethoven in particular. Fuchs and Kiel are very much in the later camp and both spent their lives in academic posts, as so often befits such establishment figures. They each wrote only one piano concerto and, as one might expect, these are not vehicles for empty virtuoso display but rather ’symphonic‘ concertos, both written in the traditional three movements, the first of which is a weighty sonata form allegro. The influence of Beethoven can be heard in each and the later Fuchs piece also shows a debt to Brahms. Interestingly Kiel taught Stanford while he studied in Germany and indeed these composers are very much the German equivalent of Stanford or Parry.
Martin Roscoe, who did such a fine job with the similar Brull concertos (CDA67069), is our soloist and Martyn Brabbins and the BBCSSO give their usual inspired accompaniment.

Both works are premiere recordings.

Artykuł FUCHS, KIEL <br />The Romantic Piano Concerto Vol 31. <br />Martin Roscoe, Martin Roscoe <br />BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra <br />Martyn Brabbins pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.