Hvoslef - Chamber Works - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Brian Dykstra - Ragtime Classics 1901-1920 [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/25/2014

The songs on this album are not as well known as other works by these three composers, but this more intimate form of expression often goes straight to the heart and soul of their work. Tchaikovsky wrote songs throughout his life, and it is easy to find autobiographical parallels in his chosen themes of love and longing. Rimsky-Korsakov's songs are characterized by tender lyricism, while Rachmaninov's wordless Vocalise has become one of his most famous melodies. Margarita Gritskova was born in 1987 in St. Petersburg. She is a prizewinner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in Modena, and the Concurso Internacional de Canto 'Villa de Colmenar Viejo' in 2010. She has performed in Carmen under the direction of Mariss Jansons in St. Petersburg, and appeared at world renowned festivals across the globe.

Ketil Hvoslef (b. 1939) is a productive, versatile and undogmatic composer who- well into his seventies- continues to write music at a furious pace. Hvoslef's style is characterized by an economy of means, the accumulation of latent energy, rhythmical ingenuity and, often, an element of humor. InchHvoslef Chamber Works No. VInch is the fifth in a series of nine albums of Ketil Hvoslef's chamber music. The idea to record 38 of Hvoslef's chamber music works was initiated by violinist Ricardo Odriozola and pianist Einar Rottingen, both with backgrounds spanning many years of cooperation with the composer. The recordings daw from the vast pool of performers in Bergen, where the composer lives and works. The musicians are primarily from the Grieg Academy and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.