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NIMBUS RELEASES MAX KOWALSKI ENGLISH AND GERMAN SONG ALBUM - 2 SEPTEMBER 2022

31/5/2022

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Nimbus Records releases 'Max Kowalski: A Song Recital in German and English', on 2 September 2022, with baritone Simon Wallfisch, soprano Camille Butcher and Edward Rushton, piano

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Max Kowalski (1882-1956) was a German composer, singer- and copyright lawyer - resident in the United Kingdom from 1939. He is the composer of the 'other' setting of Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire, written in 1912-13, alongside Arnold Schoenberg's more famous version from the same time. Kowalski became a prolific composer of Lieder of diverse influences, including from Japanese, Chinese, Danish, Arabic and French literature in addition to German.

Kowalski's music was published and performed widely in Germany until 1934 when, in common with other Jewish musicians, anti-Semitic Nazi-era laws destroyed his artistic life. Performances of Kowalski's work were then possible only in the private gatherings of the Jewish Kulturbund, in whose Frankfürt concerts he participated. In 1938, he was imprisoned in Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Released in 1939, and following the suicide of his wife, Anna, who had been imprisoned three times, he managed to emigrate with his daughter to London before World War Two began. In London, he first worked as a piano tuner and synagogal cantor, then established himself as a singing teacher. He continued to compose, but until now, none of his later songs in English have been published.

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Full album details, download and streaming details will be published here.

EPK and pre-release listening links are available for press use.

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NIMBUS RELEASES BRAHMS PIANO VARIATIONS DOUBLE ALBUM BY VLADIMIR FELTSMAN - 2 SEPTEMBER 2022

31/5/2022

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Vladimir Feltsman, born in 1952, is a Russian-American pianist of Lithuanian Jewish descent, noted for his devotion to the music of J.S. Bach. His father, composer Oscar Feltsman, was known in the Soviet Union for popular songs and musical comedies. Feltsman first performed with the Moscow Philharmonic aged eleven and studied at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky and the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Conservatories. In 1971, he won the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition in Paris, followed by tours in the former Soviet Union, Europe and Japan.
 
In 1979, out of growing discontent with Soviet dictatorship and rigid governmental control of the arts, Feltsman applied for an exit visa from the USSR. He was banned from performing in public immediately. It was only after eight years of struggle and artistic exile that he was granted permission to leave. Arriving in the United States in August 1987, Feltsman was greeted warmly at the White House: one month later, he performed his first concert in North America for President Ronald Reagan. On 11 November 1987, Feltsman's Carnegie Hall début established him as a major pianist in America. During his early years in the West, he was promoted as a Russian Romantic firebrand, yet his début recital consisted of works by Schubert, Schumann and Messiaen. By the mid-1990s, he devoted himself to Bach, offering expressively shaped and thoughtfully ornamented performances on modern piano. Then he returned to the standard repertory, including Haydn, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, in the big-toned, blockbuster-style that many had anticipated when he first arrived in the USA. He is a master of reinventing himself.
       


'Quite simply an amazing pianist!' The New York Times

'One of the supreme Bach keyboard exponents of our time!' Chicago Tribune

More recording details, download and streaming links will be posted here prior to release.
EPK and private pre-release listening links will be available for press use.


VLADIMIR FELTSMAN ON APPLE MUSIC

FOLLOW VLADIMIR FELTSMAN ON SPOTIFY

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THOMAS DE HARTMANN NEW ALBUM FROM NIMBUS RECORDS ON 3 JUNE 2022 - LVIV NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, ELAN SICROFF AND TIAN HUI NG

18/4/2022

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On 3 June 2022, Nimbus Records releases a new album of Thomas de Hartmann's orchestral music: Symphonie-Poème No. 3, Piano Concerto and Scherzo fantastique, performed by the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine and pianist Elan Sicroff, conducted by Tian Hui Ng (NI.6429).

Elan Sicroff has been the world's leading performer-advocate of Hartmann's music for almost fourty years. A pupil of Hartmann's widow, Olga, in the late 1970s, Sicroff has recorded many of his works, including the seven-volume Thomas de Hartmann Project, which he initiated in 2006. This now includes a large amout of Hartmann's orchestral, chamber and piano works, and songs.

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Click above to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music
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The Thomas de Hartmann project - Nimbus Records and Elan Sicroff
Gramophone Magazine, April 2021


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        Remy Franck, Pizzicato Magazine, 31 May 2022                                          Maureen Buja, Interlude HK, 26 June 2022

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LYRITA RELEASES BRITISH PIANO CONCERTOS - FIRST RECORDINGS OF ADDISON, ARTHUR BENJAMIN, MACONCHY, SEARLE, RUBBRA, GEOFFREY BUSH - ON 1 APRIL 2022, with Simon Callaghan, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins

24/3/2022

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Lyrita Records releases British Piano Concertos - music by John Addison, Arthur Benjamin, Elizabeth Maconchy, Humphrey Searle, Edmund Rubbra and Geoffrey Bush composed between 1927 and 1959, performed by soloist Simon Callaghan and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Martyn Brabbins, on 1 April 2022 (SRCD.407).
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Download with booklet on iTunes: click above
ALBUM DETAILS

John Addison, Wellington Suite: for two horns, piano, timpani, percussion and strings

Tim Thorpe and Meilyr Hughes, horns
Arthur Benjamin, Concertino for Piano and Orchestra
Elizabeth Maconchy, Concertino No. 2 for Piano and Strings
Humphrey Searle, Concertante for Piano, Percussion and Strings, Op. 24
Edmund Rubbra, Nature's Song: Tone Poem for Orchestra, Organ and Piano
Geoffrey Bush, A Little Concerto on Themes of Thomas Arne


Small concertos for piano and chamber orchestra were a feature of British composition in the first half of the 20th century. Often written for a special occasion, many such works dissapeared into oblivion thereafter: Lyrita's new British Piano Concertos album, whose music was researched by piano soloist Simon Callaghan, seeks to re-establish these exciting and vibrant works into the repertoire.

In searching for enticing music to record with reduced orchestral forces during COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions, SimonCallaghan was thrilled to uncover this treasury of music: short concertos written for entertainment, but of a quality deserving their revival, and which will bring joy and intrigue to listeners.

The music includes the innocent pastiche of Geoffrey Bush’s tribute to Thomas Arne, Rubbra’s student essay, the ‘Blues’ of Arthur Benjamin, the serial language of Humphrey Searle, intense drama from Elizabeth Maconchy, and the bold humour of film composer John Addison.

Except for Benjamin's Concertino, recorded once only, in 1959, this is the first recording for all the works on this album.


Download in HD sound on QOBUZ
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Review of British Piano Concertos - Nick Boston, Classical Notes - Gscene Magazine, March 2022


EPK and private Soundcloud links are available for press use.

'Simon Callaghan has done us proud in his promotion of this music. Martyn Brabbins and the Welsh orchestra, no strangers to British music of this period, play with style and sensitivity. For any lover of twentieth-century British music, this disc is a must-buy.'
Gary Higginson, MusicWeb International

'An amazing disc, six works which have managed to fall under the radar,
here revived in stylish and brilliant fashion.'
Planet Hugill




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AUGUSTA READ THOMAS, BELL ILLUMINATIONS RELEASED BY NIMBUS RECORDS ON 1 APRIL 2022

2/3/2022

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Augusta Read Thomas. Photo by Anthony Barlich.
Nimbus Records releases American composer Augusta Read Thomas' latest album, Bell Illumnations, on 1 April 2022. Described by The New Yorker as 'a true virtuoso composer' and the creator of 'music that conjures' in The Huffington Post, according to ASCAP, Augusta Read Thomas is the one of USA's most performed composers.
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Bell Illuminations presents three major works for the first time, prefaced by a short miniature. While previous works by Augusta Read Thomas have been inspired by bells - Carillon Sky, Resounding Earth, Bells Ring Summer, Ripple Effects - Bell Illuminations is her first album to be centred around this longstanding preoccupation.

'Thomas’ music, mixing tonality and atonality, is hopeful and inspiring. ... For those interested in exploring contemporary music, Bell Illuminations by Augusta Read Thomas is an excellent way to start.' Louis Harris, Third Coast Review

'Thomas has created a spirited work that immediately charmed me.'
M.L. Rantala, The Hyde Park Herald




BELL ILLUMINATIONS: ALBUM DETAILS

Crescat Scientia; Vita Excolatur: for carillon of 72 bells, four players - eight hands and two feet
Joey Brink, with Joseph Min, Emily Kim and João Francisco Shida, carillonists

Upon Wings of Words (Emily Dickinson): soprano and string quartet 
NEXUS Chamber Music: Co-Artistic Directors Brian Hong, violinist and Alexander Hersh, ‘cello, with Kristina Bachrach, soprano; Jordan Bak, viola; Benjamin Baker, violin

Bebop Riddle: for solo marimba 
John Corkill, percussionist

Ring Out ,Wild Bells, To The Wild Sky (from Tennyson, In Memoriam): solo soprano, chorus, and orchestra 
The Choral Arts Society of Washington; Carmen Pelton, soprano; Norman Scribner, conductor

Enchanted Invocation: solo vibraphone and five crotales
John Corkill, percussionist

Sonorous Earth: for bells from around the world (four players) and orchestra 
Third Coast Percussion; Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra; Scott Speck, conductor



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Augusta Read Thomas comments on Sonorous Earth, and the inspiration bells have given her in devising this album:

'Sonorous Earth is conceived as a cultural statement celebrating interdependence and commonality across all cultures, and as a musical statement celebrating the extraordinary beauty and diversity of expression inherent in bell sounds.

Scored for four percussionists playing bells from a wide variety of cultures and historical periods, Sonorous Earth can be heard and imagined as a United-Nations-of-Resonances.

Everything that we are made of, everything that we know and love, is made from the stars.

We - like all metals - are stardust. Metals are exceptionally resonant sound sources, rich with vibrational possibilities. As such, artisans across time and earth have been inspired to sculpt metals into musical instruments. More than three hundred pieces of metal are incorporated into the instrumentation of Sonorous Earth.

Probing into bells' rich meanings and characteristics as carriers of history, ethnicity, societal and cultural connotations is a joy and wonder. Bells can be used to celebrate grand occasions, hold sacrificial rites, keep a record of events, give the correct time, celebrate births and weddings, mark funerals, caution a community, enhance any number of religious ceremonies, and are even hung around the necks of animals. As carriers of history and culture, bells, of numerous shapes, sizes, types, decorative patterns, weights, functions, and cultural connotations, enrapture and inspire.'

Bells are central to Augusta Read Thomas' music; bells permeate her music. For over 25 years, in every work for orchestra, and in many for smaller ensembles, she has been composing music frequently using percussion consisting of bell sounds (pitched metal percussion and all the mallet percussion instruments) many of which have their origins in other than Western musical cultures. This makes Sonorous Earth an extreme extension of work she has been doing for decades.


'I like music that is alive and jumps off the page and
out of the instrument as if something big is at stake.'

Augusta Read Thomas

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Excerpt from Augusta Read Thomas, Sonorous Earth
Scores and parts for Bebop Riddle,Enchanted Invocation and Sonorous Earth are available from Nimbus Music Publishing.


Download Bell Illuminations:

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