Cimarosa / Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra - Cimarosa: Overtures, Vol. 4 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Niklas Sivelöv has proved a prolific symphonist over the past ten years or so, with six completed symphonies and a seventh currently in progress. The Symphony No.1 (Nordico) was written in the summer of 2013, during a surge of creativity following the birth of the composer's son on 30th July of that year. The title may be understood both as a reflection of Sivelöv's upbringing in the north of Sweden, and of at least some of his strongest influences, most notably of Sibelius. The music is bursting with energy and momentum, infused with all the verdant colors of the Nordic forest, it's deep blue sky, and - in winter - the all-enveloping snow. The work is in three movements of more or less equal duration, lasting in total around half an hour. The writing is highly virtuosic, making considerable demands upon a standard-sized orchestra, the forces extended only by a large percussion section and - as usual for Sivelöv - a substantial part for his own instrument, the piano.

Violist Georgina Isabel Rossi and pianist Silvie Cheng InchMobili,Inch an overview of Chilean composition featuring viola. Compiling six works by five composers, including five world-premiere recordings, the recording highlights the rich tapestry of influences that have shaped Chilean concert music, from European high modernism to indigenous music of the Andean region. As a soloist, Chilean-American violist Georgina Isabel Rossi has performed with the Orquesta Sinfónica Uncuyo (Mendoza)and the Orquestade Cámara de Chile, and enjoys a varied career on stage in North and South America. Santiago-born, she began her training with her mother, Penelope Knuth, moving to the United States on a Chilean national grant at sixteen to study at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Ms. Rossi is a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, which she joined in 2016. She is a Fellow of the Toronto and Bowdoin Summer Music Festivals, holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Roger Tapping, and a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a student of Karen Dreyfus and Daniel Avshalomov. Lauded for her Inchextraordinarily varied paletteInch (WholeNote Magazine) and Inchpurely magicalInch playing (New York Concert Review), Chinese-Canadian pianist Silvie Cheng made her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2011. Since then, she has premiered over forty works and performed in esteemed concert halls across the globe, from New York's Steinway Hall to Brussels' Flagey Hall, and Montréal's Maison Symphonique to Shanghai's Poly Theatre.

The Art of Fugue is Bach's final composition and one of his most challenging. In this album Phantasm and it's director Laurence Dreyfus showcase all the hidden beauties of the composer's magnum opus, arguably the pinnacle of the fugue genre. Printed in open score, the allows a rendition on viols, as recorded here. Brimming with rich counterpoint and dynamic conversation among the parts, the work can legitimately claim a place within the consort repertoire. Bach manages to paint a finely delineated set of contrasting musical portraits full of revelations and surprises. Far from an academic encyclopaedia of arcane musical techniques, The Art of Fugue thus embarks on a (unfinished) voyage of discovery shared by an inveterate explorer whose thirst for invention knows no bounds. Organist Daniel Hyde performs four movements in this welcome follow-up to Phantasm's acclaimed Well-Tempered Consort series.