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Nikolay Medvedev’s Fusions
In this recording on SOMM Records, Russian pianist Nikolay Medvedev (b. 1986) takes three composers, the Ukrainian Nikolai Kapustin and the Americans George Gershwin and Earl Wild, and presents us with a powerful and flowing examination of that wonderful fusion
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The Early Quartets of Charles Wood
Irish composer Charles Wood (1866–1926) wrote six string quartets, all of which were unpublished at his death. Oxford University Press issued his complete quartets, along with the Variations on an Irish Folk Tune, in 1929, as a tribute to the
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The Mid-Century Clarinet Concerto
In this new recording on SOMM (SOMMCD 0722), clarinettist Peter Cigleris brings us three 20th-century clarinet concertos, all dating from 1948, one by Denis ApIvor (1916–2004), one by Freda Swain (1902–1985), and the last by Gerald Finzi (1901–1956). Despite coming
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The Excitement of Live Recording: Sir Thomas Beecham
In its latest issue in its series The Beecham Collection, SOMM Recordings puts together 3 works well-known through their studio recordings, but these live recordings bring something new and vital to what you know of his work. Sir Thomas Beecham
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National Pride: Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances
In 1878 and 1886, Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) created his Slavonic Dances, Opp. 46 and 72. In this series of 16 dances, Dvořák picked up on the idea from Johannes Brahms‘ Hungarian Dances. Dvořák originally wrote this for piano four-hands, and,
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British Song with Stephen Dodgson
British composer and BBC Radio 3 broadcaster Stephen Dodgson (1924–2013) taught at the Royal College of Music from 1956 until his retirement in 1982. As a composer, he wrote across many different genres, from opera and large-scale orchestral music to
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From Yesterday to Today: The Music of Papagena
The all-female a cappella vocal quintet Papagena was formed in 2015, and is made up of sopranos Elizabeth Drury, Imogen Ram-Prasad, and Suzzie Vango; mezzo-soprano Shivani Rattan; and alto Sarah Tenant-Flowers. Each of the members brings a speciality to the
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Creating Your Own Schubertiade: George Fu’s Solitude with Schubert
Rising young American pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu releases his third album, Solitude with Schubert, in the form of an evening of Franz Schubert (1797–1828). Just as in Schubert’s time, when the eponymous ‘Schubertiade’ hosted by the composer for his friends
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