Ulysses Arts is delighted to be working with leading US-based contemporary classical music label Ablaze Records to manage digital distribution of its extensive catalogue of orchestral, choral and chamber music recordings. The partnership starts with a series of re-releases of Ablaze recordings on 24 September and 1 October 2021, then Othmar Schoeck's song cycle Das stille Leuchten, on 8 October, with mezzo-soprano Clara O'Brien and pianist James Douglass.

James Ross, Ulysses Arts' director, comments: 'Ablaze Records is one of the world's most innovative classical label, whose catalogue is a treasury of contemporary composers' works. Ablaze's mission aligns strongly with our wish to present classical music as a living, evolving art-form and to support today's composers to create a new generation of great works for us to perform and hear. We are looking forward hugely to helping Ablaze to widen its digital reach to listeners on a huge range of digital platforms, and to help the composers it records to maximise their visibility worldwide.'

New Release: 7 January 2022: Douglas Knehans, Cloud Ossuary

24 September 2021 Releases

Released in October 2021

Releasing in November and December 2021

Ulysses Arts releases clarinettist Poppy Beddoe's solo version of J.S. Bach's great Chaconne in D Minor on 1 October 2021 on Apple Music/iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, HDtracks and all major digital service providers. This is a pre-release for Poppy's forthcoming solo album Solliloquy in November 2021.

Poppy comments about her arrangement of Bach's music:

'This original clarinet transcription of Bach's Chaconne was born during the UK's first 2020 lockdown. Facing several months alone with no prospect of playing music with others, Poppy devised a collection of solo clarinet music which could be performed as a recital once live performance re-started. Inspiration came initially from playing daily to her parents over Zoom, especially when her father was ill. The Chaconne is the ultimate music of solitude and reflection, which traslates perfectly to the clarinet.'

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Solliloquy will intersperse music from J.S. Bach's Partita in D Minor, originally for solo violin, with works by Berio, Hildegard von Bingen, Messiaen, Malcolm Arnold and Gershwin.

Russian-born pianist Nikita Lukinov releases Debussy's La Cathédrale engloutie (Préludes Book One), his debut recording, with Ulysses Arts on 24 September 2021. Nikita comments about his recording:

'I have chosen for my debut recording Debussy's impressionistic canvas of a monumental underwater cathedral, revealing a magical story about how it rises above the water and sinks back into a mysterious underwater world with dignity. The amazing Fazioli piano helped me to evoke the stone coldness of the music's imagination and sound palette.'

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'The thought has always amazed me: my teacher's teacher was a pupil of a Chopin pupil! George Mathias - Chopin's student - taught Isidor Phillip, who in turn was Phyllis Sellick's teacher in Paris.   My connection with Chopin's music is deep: his unique emotional span and his exceptional way of writing for the piano is unavoidable for us pianists. I could live my life playing and teaching his music: in reality, that is what I have done up to now  - with the exception of the rest of the repertoire that you can listen to on my other recordings or concerts, of course.


The works I have had the privilege of recording for this Ulysses Arts Chopin album include the  Piano Sonata Op. 58 No. 3 in B Minor of 1844, composed during a period that was particularly dramatic in Chopin's life. It included the death of his friend Jan Matusysnsky of tuberculosis, tension in his relationship and eventual separation from George Sand, and the moral and physical decline of his own health.

The pieces on this album represent great challenges in the pianist’s repertoire: all of them are great intellectual and emotional journeys, and the result of a long process of distillation. I would like to thank the unconditional support given to me by Nelly and Bertrand Soux from Caracas, to fulfi l the dream of any pianist respect the performance and recording of these masterpieces by Frederic Chopin.'

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The playing of Venezuelan pianist Clara Rodriguez stands out for the sheer beauty of her tone
production, high expressiveness and considerable digital clarity combined with stylistic acumen.
She has built an enviable international reputation for her innovative programme planning, juxtaposing standard repertoire with works by South American composers and has premièred over thirty works. At sixteen she took part in a competition judged by Michael Gough Matthews and Barbara Boissard, directors of The Royal College of Music: she was awarded the Teresa Carreño Scholarship which enabled her to study there with Phyllis Sellick, graduating from the Performers’ Course and Postgraduate course. The recipient of many prizes and awards such as the Scarlatti Prize, Mozart Prize and Percy Buck Award, she was also a finalist in the Chappell Prize. With the Royal College of Music orchestras and the Repertoire Philharmonic Orchestra she performed concertos by Mozart, de Falla, Ravel and Gershwin.

In Caracas, at seventeen, she made her debut playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K.595 with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra conducted by José Antonio Abreu. Pianist Guiomar Narváez (Venezuela) was Clara Rodriguez’s first piano teacher in Caracas. She has also received tuition from Paul Badura-Skoda (Austria), Niel Immelman (U.K.), Irina Zaritskaya (Russia) and Regina Smendzianka (Poland).

Clara Rodriguez’s career as a solo pianist has taken her to perform in Belgium, Denmark, Egypt,
Finland, France, India, Italy, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, the USA, and Venezuela. In London, she is a
popular performer who regularly plays in recitals and as soloist with orchestra, including at the
Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. James’s Piccadilly,
St John’s Smith Square, Leighton House and Bolívar Hall.

In Venezuela she regularly plays concertos with the Simón Bolivar Orchestra, the Filarmónica
Nacional and the Orquesta Municipal de Caracas. As an invitee for the Grandes Virtuosos del
Piano, she played Reynaldo Hahn’s Piano Concerto; other participants included Paul Badura-
Skoda and Chick Corea. Clara Rodriguez has played concerts with British clarinettist Michael Collins, The Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment and with Stephen Bryant, concertmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Clara Rodriguez is often interviewed by the BBC; her recordings feature regularly on BBC radio
and networks worldwide. She has founded and directed three music festivals; has devised words and music programmes and is also a piano music editor. As a teacher she is a professor at the junior department of The Royal College of Music.

As an artist in The Dominic Seligman Agency, Clara Rodriguez has played a series of recitals at
Arundells, home of former British Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath. In 2015 Clara Rodriguez was awarded the “Classical Music Act” LUKAS Prize. She has been made an honorary member of the Chelsea Arts Club and named “Woman of the Year” by the main newspapers and magazines of Venezuela. Clara Rodriguez’s catalogue of six recording with Nimbus Alliance Records include the Piano Music of Teresa Carreño, Ernesto Lecuona, Moisés Moleiro, Federico Ruiz plus the albums
‘Venezuela’ and ‘Americas Without Frontiers’. Many composers have written music especially for
her, including Federico Ruiz’s Piano Concerto No.2, which she has played in Caracas and London.

'El período en que fueron compuestas las obras de éste CD fue dramático en la vida de Chopin; la pérdida de su amigo Jan Matusysnky por tuberculosis, la tensión y eventual ruptura de su relación con George Sand así como el declive moral que su propia enfermedad le proporcionaba.

Hoy se consideran éstas obras como la cima del repertorio pianístico y aunque Chopin exploró a lo largo de su vida las posibilidades técnicas y expresivas del piano, centrando su genio creativo en ese sólo instrumento, es imposible pensar que sus otras composiciones, inclusive las tempranas, son menos importantes. Creó así un riquísimo universo de incomparable diversidad de sonidos y emociones a través de toda su creación.

¿Por qué grabar Chopin? porque sin ninguna duda, Chopin es el alma del piano y ha sabido meterse en el alma de los pianístas con sus infi nitas difi cultades pero de reultados de elevadísima factura verdaderamente artística.

Con mi mas grande agradecidecimiento a Nelly y Bertrand Soux por haberme brindado el apoyo y el estímulo para que llevase a cabo éste trabajo.'

Clara Rodríguez se ha ganado una reputación internacional envidiable por su innovadora planificación de programas de concierto en donde, yuxtapone el repertorio clásico europeo y norteamericano con obras de compositores sudamericanos. La BBC la ha descrito como “La campeona de la música venezolana en el mundo” y se le considera constantemente como Embajadora de la música de Latinoamérica. Sus interpretaciones destacan por su expresividad, sensibilidad, entusiasmo, visión y por mostrar una considerable claridad digital y perspicacia estilística.

A los dieciséis años estaba en su séptimo año de estudios de piano con la Profesora Guiomar Narváez en el Conservatorio Juan José Landaeta de Caracas cuando participó en un concurso nacional cuyo jurado estaba conformado por los directores del Royal College of Music de Londres, Michael Gough Matthews y Barbara Boissard quienes le otorgaron la “Beca Teresa Carreño” del CONAC la cual le permitió viajar a Londres para estudiar en el Royal College of Music con la pianista Phyllis Sellick graduándose del Curso de Intérpretes y un Postgrado.

Mientras estuvo en el RCM, recibió numerosos premios y reconocimientos tales como el Premio Scarlatti, el Premio Mozart y el Premio Percy Buck, como finalista en el Premio Chappell; Otras distinciones en concursos desembocaron en invitaciones a ser solista con orquestas
del Royal College Of Music en los que interpretó a Mozart, de Falla, Ravel y Gershwin. Clara Rodríguez también ha estudiado con Niel Immelman (Reino Unido) Paul Badura-Skoda (Austria) e Irina Zaritskaya (Russia).

En Caracas, a los diecisiete años debutó interpretando el Concierto para piano K595 No 27 de
Mozart con la Orquesta Simón Bolívar bajo la batuta de José Antonio Abreu; desde entonces,
la carrera de Clara Rodríguez como pianista solista la ha llevado a realizar giras por Bélgica,
Dinamarca, Egipto, Finlandia, Francia, India, Italia, España, Siria, Túnez, Estados Unidos y Venezuela.

En Londres, es una artista muy apreciada que toca con gran éxito en el Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, Leighton House, Bolívar Hall, St. James’s Piccadilly St. John’s Smith Square. Clara Rodriguez toca asiduamente conciertos con la Orquesta Simón Bolívar, la Filarmónica nacional y la orquesta Municipal de Caracas.Como invitada al Festival de Grandes Pianistas de Caracas, tocó el Concierto en Mi mayor de Reynaldo Hahn; Chick Corea y Paul Badura-Skoda también participaron en dicho festival.

Clara Rodríguez se ha presentado junto a la Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment y el
clarinetista Michael Collins, quien también la ha dirigido en Conciertos de Mozart. Clara Rodríguez
ha también tocado conciertos junto a el violinista Stephen Bryant, primer violín de la Orquesta
de la BBC. Clara Rodríguez ha tocado una serie de diez recitales en la casa del ex-primer ministro
británico, Sir Edward Heath, en Salisbury. Ha sido galardonada con el premio LUKAS del Reino
Unido como “Artista Clásico del año” en el 2015. También ha sido nombrada miembro honorario del Chelsea Arts Club de Londres.

La obra de Clara Rodríguez con relación a la música venezolana se extiende al estreno internacional de un número considerable de composiciones de contemporáneos, incluyendo el Segundo Concierto para Piano y Orquesta de Federico Ruiz -dedicado a Clara- así como la grabación de cientos de piezas en CDs así como su publicación y edición en varias casas importantes del Reino Unido.

Sus grabaciones comerciales en sellos como ASV, Meridian y Universal han recibido un gran
reconocimiento de la crítica y son escuchados en las estaciones de radio que van de la BBC, toda
Europa y América. Actualmente trabaja con Nimbus Records en cuyo catálogo se encuentran seis
de sus álbumes cuyos títulos comprenden la música para piano de Teresa Carreño, Ernesto Lecuona, Moisés Moleiro, Federico Ruiz, el álbum “Venezuela” que contiene una colección de danzas de 18 compositores y su más reciente CD “Americas Without Frontiers” el cual presenta música de países como Haití, Cuba, Colombia, Estados Unidos, Venezuela, Argentina y Brasil. Otros CDs grandemente apreciados por el público y la crítica incluyen “El Cuarteto con Clara Rodríguez” y “Chopin, late Works”. Clara Rodríguez es profesora del Departamento Juvenil del Royal College of Music.

Album Details:

Piano Sonata Op. 58 No. 3
Mazurka Op. 63 No. 2
Barcarolle Op. 60
Nocturne Op. 62 No. 1
Mazurka Op. 24 No. 4
Ballade Op. 52 No. 4
Polonaise-Fantaisie Op. 61

Producer: Simon Weir; Engineer: Morgan Roberts
Digital release artwork and booklet design: Hannah Whale - Fruition Creative Concepts

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Ulysses Arts releases recordings by Bulgarian pianist Alexander Tchobanov on 16 April (Scriabin Études) and 21 May (Rachmaninov, Sonata No. 2 - third movement).

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'Tchobanov's colors and voicing were superb, creating that ineffable aura of Russian sadness we love so much. There is a major virtuoso there'.

The New York Concert Review
Carnegie Weill Recital Hall solo debut recital

Alexander Tchobanov performs as a concert pianist, chamber musician, and music pedagogue.  Originally from Plovdiv in Bulgaria, he was a top prize winner and finalist in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, The American Prize, Sixth Odin International Competition, Kings Peak International Competition and Los Angeles Spotlight Competition.

Alexander's concerts have been broadcast live on radio stations across the United States including  WGBH Boston, NPR, and WXEL South Florida. He has also made numerous recordings for  Bulgarian National TV and Radio.

Concert venues include New York's Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, WMP Hall, Paul Hall at the Julliard School, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Los Angeles, Jordan Hall Boston, Harriet Himmel Theatre (West Palm Beach), Kaisersaal and Auesperg Palace (Vienna), Schloss Halbturn Palace, Balabanov House in Bulgaria, Madinat Theatre Dubai and Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. He has received critical acclaim in newspapers including  the Yakima Herald, Palm Beach Post, Trud, Gulf News and Al-Bayan.

Alexander Tchobanov completed his Masters Degree at Rutgers University, where he was awarded an assistantship with Susan Starr. In addition, he won a Fellowship at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, studying with Jerome Lowenthal (Juilliard School). He was also a guest artist at the CME Vienna Concerto Fest, Steinway Piano Festival and North American Contemporary Music Festival. Alexander was a recipient of scholarships by the Leni FeBland Foundation in California. Alexander's mentors include Lars Vogt, Robert Levin, Midori, André de Groote, Min Kwon, John Perry and members of the Takacs Quartet. He has earned full-scholarships from the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University, where he trained with Roberta Rust, and the Idyllwild Arts Academy. 

 He has taught at Rutgers University, Lynn University, and Brighton College. In 2012, he joined the faculty of Seasons Music Festival Academy (Yakima, USA), giving masterclasses, solo concerts and chamber music collaborations. Currently, Alexander is Head of Keyboard Studies at The British School-Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi, where his students have been finalists and winners of numerous national and international competitions.

Richard Craig launches the first two single of his complete Telemann Fantasias for Solo Flute on Ulysses Arts, with No. 11 in G Major on 7 May and No. 9 in E Major on 4 June 2021.

Telemann's inspiration for Fantasia No. 11 came from a 1739 visit to Pszczyna in Poland where he heard fiddlers and bagpipers: 'One would hardly believe the inventiveness with which they improvise when the dancers pause for breath'.  Richard Craig writes: 'I imagined a similar scene and relished the challenge of recreating the vivacity of folk musicians and dancers in the twists and turns of my ornamentation.'

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Richard writes about his work and career:

'In my various guises as a new music performer, collaborator, improviser/composer I have played alongside musicians such as Rohan de Saram, Roberto Fabbriciani, Barry Guy, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies and new music groups ELISION, Musikfabrik, Klangforum Wien, and the RTÉ Orchestra. Closer to home, I have been a guest musician with most of the UK’s new music groups: Welsh ensemble Uproar, and London-based Riot Ensemble, Ensemble Octandre, Explore ensemble, and in Scotland the Hebrides Ensemble and Red Note. I was a founding member of the Spanish group SMASH and Manchester-based Distractfold Ensemble.

Exploring solo performance has been and continues to be an important journey for me. It has led me to develop a distinctive approach to the flute; to re-invigorate older music, as well as exploring improvised and notated contemporary works.

My own compositions are often a series of smaller works under a collective title: the first being Amp/Al for flute/s and feedback (2012-15) and the most recent being Hortulus Animae (2015 – 2019) for flute/s and fixed media. Composing and improvisation are linked to my interests in the visual arts and I also use video and photography in my work.

Alongside my work as a performer, I am also a teacher. I give masterclasses and lead workshops and seminars in chamber music, ensemble performance and flute playing. I was a Visiting Fellow in Performance at theUniversity of Aberdeen 2010–12. In 2015 I was appointed as a lecturer and Head of Performance at Bangor University, Wales, a post I held until 2019; during this time I was also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield from 2014 to 2019. Outside of academia, I have been invited to teach on courses such as theEstalagem da Ponta do sol residency in Madeira, and also the Distat Terra Academy in Argentina. I received my PhD from Middlesex University in 2020. As a writer I have contributed to publications for Örat, and the Orpheus Institute.

My solo discs INWARD (2011) and VALE (2017) were released on the Métier label: they document my work with composers Esaias Järnegard, Richard Barrett, John Croft, Malin Bång, Brice Pauset, Evan Johnson and Fabrice Fitch. Other recordings of note include the composer John Croft’s monograph disc Seirenes in 2019 (First Hand Records), and two discs with Another Timbre, performing the works of Jürg Frey and Magnus Granberg. I have recorded several albums and live broadcasts for the BBC, WDR Cologne, YLE Finland, Radio France, Radio Nacional de España, Swedish Radio, ARTE, Métier, Another Timbre, FHR, Icelandic RUV, as well as curated releases of repertoire, and my own compositions. In 2021, I will be releasing a re-interpretation of the Telemann Fantasias on the Ulysses Arts label, and composer Oliver Seale’s portrait disc with Scottish label, Delphian.

I studied flute at the RSAMD (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) with Sheena Gordon and later with Richard Blake. After graduating with honours, I continued my studies at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, France, with Mario Caroli with support from a Dewar Award and the Scottish International Educational Trust. As well as working with the full range of flutes from contra to piccolo, I play on two Rudall Carte wooden flutes from the early and mid-20th century, restored for me by Arthur Haswell. One of these instruments was originally commissioned by renowned Italian teacher and soloist Alberto Veggetti (1874 – 1948).

I currently live in Edinburgh where I run my own flute studio.'

'To go directly to the matter in hand: the playing on this disc is sensational.'
Johan Svensson, Nutida Musik

'Pushing the instrument to its technical and expressive limits ... a tour de force.'
Tim Ashley, The Guardian

The birthdays of Brahms (1833-1897) and Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) fall on 7th May. The 127th day of the year also marks the night of the première of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in 1824, the foundation of the Council of Europe in 1948 – and the day of the recording session leading to this album, in Vienna, on a Bösendorfer Concert Grand 280VC with Armenian pianist and Bösendorfer Artist Nareh Arghamanyan in 2019. Nareh, acclaimed for her ‘sensual narrative tone’, ‘precise stylistic approach’ and ‘dazzling technique’, juxtaposes two vignettes of the Romantic piano repertoire: Brahms Opus 117 and Tchaikovsky’s Opus 37.
 
Above the music of the first of Brahms’ Intermezzi Op. 117 of 1892, he quotes the opening of Johann Gottfried Herder’s German setting of Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament; he described the third, in C-sharp Minor, which allegedly was inspired by Henry Longfellow’s Victor Galbraith, as ‘the lullaby of all my sorrows’. Clara Schumann, arguably their covert dedicatee, confided to her diary that these compositions are ‘a true source of enjoyment, everything, poetry, passion, rapture, intimacy, full of the most marvellous effects … in these pieces at least I feel musical life stir once again in my soul.’

Tchaikovsky was working on Swan Lake, when he accepted a commission in 1875 from Nikolay Bernard, publisher of music periodical Nouvellist to compose twelve miniatures, each describing a different month of the year. The Seasons have become Tchaikovsky’s best-known piano works – Troika (November) was a favourite encore of Rachmaninoff's.

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Pianist Nareh Arghamanyan has received critical acclaim for her ‘sensual narrative tone’, ‘dazzling technique’, ‘charismatic stage presence’ and has been described as ‘a major talent’ (Harris Goldsmith, Musical America). Nareh has received more than twenty awards, including First Prize at the 2008 Concours Musical International de Montréal. Nareh’s concerto repertoire includes more than 30 works and she has performed with leading orchestras and in solo recitals in major concert venues across the world.

Aged fifteen, Nareh became the youngest ever student at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, studying with Heinz Medjimorec and Avedis Kouyoumdjian, and with Arie Vardi at the Hannover Academy of Music. Only five degrees of separation: Nareh’s first teacher was Alexander Gurgenov at The Tchaikovsky Music School in Yerevan, Armenia. Gurgenov was a pupil of Alexander Edelmann, whose teacher Heinrich Neuhaus was taught by Felix Blumenfeld, who studied composition with Tchaikovsky.

Nareh Arghamanyan’s discography includes a Rachmaninoff solo album with Pentatone, the Piano Concertos of Liszt, Prokofiev (No. 3) and the Khachaturian Piano Concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Alain Altinoglu, and the first recording of Franz Danzi’s Piano Concerto with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and Howard Griffiths, released by Sony Classical. Nareh also enjoys transcribing orchestral and instrumental works for solo piano, including music by J.S. Bach, Khachaturian, Komitas, Piazolla, Rachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, Tarrega and Tchaikovsky.

Nareh is a passionate teacher, keen to pass on her musical heritage to younger generations. And she engages strongly in supporting benevolent causes and frequently performs for charitable projects including support for children with leukemia, assisting orphanages and disaster zone victims, for which she has raised more than 200,000 euros.

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Irlandiani, featuring Baroque 'cellist Carina Drury with Nathaniel Mander (harpsichord), Poppy Walshaw ('cello continuo), Aileen Henry (harp) and Eimear McGeown (Irish flute), releases digitally on 23 April 2021, released by Penny Fiddle Records, distributed by Ulysses Arts.

Irandiani is a testament to the musical richness of 18th Century Ireland, and the connections between Baroque music and folk traditions, explored in works by Bocchi, Geminiani, Turlough O'Carolan, Burk Thomoth, and traditional melodies from the Neal 'Collection of the Music Celebrated Irish Tunes'.

Album Details

Lorenzo Bocchi, Sonata IX in C major and Sonata X in D major

Francesco Geminiani,  Sonata Op. 5 No. 3 in C major and Sonata Op. 5 No. 6 in A minor

Lorenzo Bocchi,  Plea Rarkeh na Rourkough

Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) , Carolan’s Concerto

Traditional, arr. Neal: A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes (1724):
Thomas Burke
 Limbrick’s Lamentation
Ye Clarge’s Lamentation

Turlough O’Carolan - Captain O’Kane

Neal: A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes (1724) – Capten Magan

Turlough O’Carolan – Sí Bheag, Sí Mhor

Burk Thomoth (fl. 1739-1750) 12 Irish and 12 Scotch Airs with Variations – Slaunt Ri Plulib

Burk Thomoth (fl. 1739-1750) 12 Irish and 12 Scotch Airs with Variations – The Major

Turlough O’Carolan – Carolan’s Farewell to Music

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Carina Drury

Nathaniel Mander

Eimear McGeown

Poppy Walshaw

Aileen Henry

'Superbly engaging and highly virtuoso performances ... bravura, expressiveness and collegiality.' Planet Hugill

''The playlist is excellent and the musical story fascinating.'
Andrew Benson Wilson

Released by Penny Fiddle Records, with digital distribution by Ulysses Arts
Producer and recording engineer: Simon Fox-Gal
Mastering engineer: John Croft
UPC 5056495471370

Ulysses Arts is delighted to release Latvian pianist Anton Rosputko's debut album, Chopin's Masterpieces, on 30 April 2021. The album features three of Chopin's greatest solo piano works - his Ballade No. 4, and Sonatas No. 2 and No. 3.

Anton describes his thoughts behind the album:

‘If somebody asked me about the main challenge during recording and playing Chopin’s 4th Ballade and the 2nd and 3rd Piano Sonatas, my answer without hesitation would be: to offer something new in this music, so long been an inseparable part of the culture of classical music lovers for generations, while staying sincere and far from artificial decisions foreign to my genuine view of the works.

These pieces are a seduction for a pianist, a desirable professional and artistic challenge that cannot be resisted, even if there are already hundreds if not thousands recordings of the same music. We all know that there are dozens of piano compositions that have received so many performances that often we want to restrain ourselves from listening to them. The 2nd and the 3rd Chopin’s Piano Sonatas appear frequently in recitals (the 2nd especially, not to mention outside-of-concert performances of the 3rd movement, the Funeral March), and the 4th Ballade is the most played of the Ballades. However for me the beauty and possibilities of these works are never exhausted, whether listening or playing them. I have been contemplating the reason: a possible answer lies in Chopin’s raw emotions – as raw and true as can be, and the absence of “concert stage effects” – emotions which already evoke so much trust in a listener. This is especially relevant for the 4th Ballade. The introversion of this music remains shocking despite its open outbursts of emotion that culminate in the desperate coda.

Chopin composed several works that were meant to provide a charming and brilliant cherry on the top of his concert programmes, with virtuosity proclaimed openly by the use of term ‘Brilliante’ in their titles. In the works recorded here however, virtuosity is truly nothing but the server of a function – a speed necessary for a certain expression, as in the apocalyptic kaleidoscope of the 4th Ballade’s coda, or the whirling runs in 2nd Sonata’s ‘Presto’. The 3rd Sonata’s Finale is close to Chopin’s concert rondos, but far from their intent to please the audience merely with entertainment, and equally far from declaring self-satisfaction, even in its joyfully glowing B Major conclusion.

These works are true masterpieces, on which I have tried to work with sustained artistic attention and respect towards the music itself, and I am delighted to present my personal rendition of them to you.’

Anton Rosputko

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About Anton Rosputko

Anton Rosputko was born in Jūrmala, Latvia, in 1993. Interntional awards include 1st Prize, Gradus ad Parnassum Competition, Kaunas, Lithuania; Third Open Russian Competition in Kaliningrad, 2nd Prize, Virtuosi per musica di pianoforte, Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic), 3rd Prize; Schumer Prize in Enschede (Netherlands), 2nd Prize (2007) and 1st Prize (2010) at the Jūrmala International Competition. His main mentors have been Tatyana Pavlyuchenko, Jānis Maļeckis, Pavel Gililov and Boris Petrushansky.
 
Anton Rosputko received a Latvian Ministry of Culture prize in 2005, 2006 and 2008, as well as a Latvian 'Recognition Award' in 2009. In 2012 he received the Hübel Foundation Scholarship. He is a prize-winner of the Mozarteum International Summer Academy (Salzburg, Austria, 2009), including performing in the Salzburg Festival.

Anton has also taken part in masterclasses with Armen Babakhanian, Arkadiy Sevidov, Pavel Gililov, Sergej Maltsev, Anatol Ugorski, Peter Tacács, Jacques Rouvier, Matti Raekallio, Siegfried Mauser, Wolfgang Manz, Boris Petrushansky and Denis Proshayev.
 
Anton Rosputko was a participant of the Kaunas Festival in Lithuania in 2006 and 2010. As a soloist with orchestra he has performed with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Normunds Vaicis, Sinfonia Concertante Orchestra with Andris Vecumnieks, Kaunas City Orchestra and Modestas Pitrenas, Liepāja Symphony, and Amber Sound Orchestra with Tadeusz Wojciechowski. Anton Rosputko has performed widely in Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Venues include the Great Hall and the Vienna Hall of the Mozarteum Foundation, Solitär Hall of the Mozarteum University, Great Concert Hall of the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, Great Hall of the University of Music and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Theatre Leipzig, Concert Hall of Kaliningrad Philharmoniс Society, Great Hall of Kaunas State Philharmonic Society; the Small Guild, Riga House of Moscow, Great Hall of Latvian National Opera and Dzintari Concert Hall.

www.antonrosputko.com

Ulysses Arts freut sich, das Debütalbum von Anton Rosputko, “Chopin's Masterpieces“, am Freitag, 30. April, zu veröffentlichen. Anton beschreibt sein Album:

„Wenn mich jemand über die Hauptherausforderung beim Aufnehmen und Spielen von Chopins 4.Ballade und der 2. und 3.Sonate fragen würde, wäre meine unverzügliche Antwort so: etwas neues in dieser Musik anbieten, die so lange ein fester Teil der Kultur von mehreren Generationen der Liebhaber von der klassischen Musik gewesen ist, und dabei ehrlich und weit von künstlichen Entscheidungen bleiben, die meiner natürlichen Beziehung zu diesen Werken fremd sind.

Diese Werke sind eine Verführung für Pianisten, eine gewünschte professionelle und künstlerische Herausforderung, der man nicht widerstehen kann, auch wenn es schon Hunderte, wenn nicht Tausende Aufnahmen derselben Musik gibt. Wir wissen alle, dass es Dutzende von Klavierkompositionen gibt, die so viele Aufführungen erlebt haben, dass wir oft uns davon distanzieren wollen, sie zu hören. Die 2. und die 3. Sonaten Chopins erscheinen in Solokonzerten häufig (besonders die 2., ganz zu schweigen von nicht-Konzertaufführungen des 3.Satzes, „Marche funèbre”), und die 4.Ballade ist von allen die am meisten gespielte. Jedoch sind für mich die Schönheit und das Potenzial dieser Werke nie erschöpft, egal, ob ich sie höre oder spiele. Ich habe über Ursachen nachgedacht: eine mögliche Antwort liegt in Chopins rohen Emotionen – so roh und wahrhaft wie es sein kann, ohne „Konzertbühneneffekte“ – Emotionen, die so viel Vertrauen beim Zuhörer hervorrufen. Das ist besonders für die 4.Ballade relevant. Diese Musik ist unglaublich introvertiert, auch wenn sie ab und zu emotionelle Aufschwünge bekommt, die in der verzweifelten Coda ihren Höhepunkt haben.

Chopin komponierte einige Werke, die dafür gedacht waren, ein charmantes und brillantes Sahnehäubschen für seine Konzertprogramme zu schaffen, mit der Virtuosität, die öffentlich mit dem Begriff „Brilliante“ in ihren Titeln angekündigt wurde. Jedoch macht in den hier aufgenommenen Werken Virtuosität wirklich nichts anderes als eine Funktion – die für bestimmten Ausdruck notwendige Geschwindigkeit, wie im apokalyptischen Kaleidoskop der Coda in der 4.Ballade, oder in den wirbelnden Läufen im „Presto“ der 2.Sonate. Das Finale der 3.Sonate ist Сhopins Konzertrondos nahe, aber weit von ihrem Ziel,, das Publikum lediglich mit Unterhaltung zu befriedigen, und genauso weit davon, Selbstbewusstsein zu erklären, sogar in seinem froh glänzenden Schlussteil im H-Dur.

Diese Stücke sind echte Meisterwerke, während der Arbeit an welchen ich versuchte, mit ständiger künstlerischen Aufmerksamkeit und Respekt gegenüber der Musik selbst zu bleiben, und ich freue mich, meine persönliche Interpretation von ihnen für Sie zu präsentieren.”

Ulysses Arts launched Silent Sirens, an album of music composed and performed by Stephen Horne, on 9 July 2021. One of the world's leading silent film performers, Stephen Horne is pianist in residence at the British Film Institute at London's Southbank Centre.

Silent Sirens is on all main streaming and download services including Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, YouTube, Qobuz and HDtracks.

Stephen Horne comments: 'I have been a silent film pianist and composer for over thirty years. What began as an intriguing musical sideline developed gradually into a full-time nomadic career, accompanying more than a thousand films in more than twenty countries. During that time I developed hundreds of musical themes and it has long been my ambition to record an album, incorporating some of these into musical pieces.
 
The tracks on this album are intended to stand alone from the films by which they were initially inspired. However, most of these films have two things in common. Firstly, they share a certain haunting quality, leaving unanswered questions to reverberate in the viewer’s mind long after ‘The End’. Secondly, at least for me, the strongest impression is made by the films’ leading women – the actresses and their roles. Combining these two elements suggested the theme of Silent Sirens.
 
While the music of Silent Sirens stands on its own, in general terms inspiration has come from The First Born, The Manxman, Varieté, The Informer, Tonka of the Gallows, Menilmontant, Stella Dallas, L'Hirondelle et La Mésange and Visages d’Enfants. For those who are interested, some of the titles are taken directly from the films’ inter-titles. A couple of the pieces are purely personal, with no connection to any film.'

Read Stephen Horne's interview about his album in Silent London.

STEPHEN HORNE SINGLE RELEASES

DOWNLOAD SILENT SIRENS ON QOBUZ IN HIGH DEFINITION SOUND WITH DIGITAL BOOKLET

DOWNLOAD SILENT SIRENS ON ITUNES OR STREAM ON APPLE MUSIC

Featured in Apple Music's New in Classical and Classical Concentration playlists

Follow Stephen Horne on Spotify

Follow Stephen Horne on Deezer

Follow Stephen Horne on YouTube

Embers

While the Pandemic persists in making regular concerts impossible, the Louth Contemporary Music Society continues its work in the studio. Last autumn’s CD release Meadow, featuring music by Linda Catlin Smith, won praise from leading critics on both sides of the Atlantic, including Alex Ross in The New Yorker. Now comes a follow-up, Embers - three world première recordings again devoted to music for strings – instruments that, in their intimacy, seem to touch our moment.

In Samuel Beckett's radio play Embers, the main character stands at the sea shore, sifting through fragments of memory and story that are still living embers, hot to the touch. So it is in this recording, in which music by distinguished Irish composer Raymond Deane supports robustly an important quartet by one of the great masters of our age, Valentin Silvestrov.

The opener, Deane’s Marthiya, is named after a form of Middle Eastern lament. It was composed in the wake of the 2003 Iraq invasion. The music’s 'atmosphere of mourning', Deane writes, is 'not unrelated to the devastation wreaked on Iraq since 2003, and to the wider carnage inflicted upon the Arab and Islamic world'.

Deane’s other contribution is the title track, written thirty years earlier but with the same recognisable voice. Though perhaps more questioning than elegiac, Embers is music again on the edge of tears. Ideas, bits of tune, come and go, and recur, very much as things come and go, and come back once more, like in Beckett's play. To quote the composer: 'The piece obsessively turns over musical fragments which seem to have some remote but uncertain origin.'

Silvestrov’s music gives voice to the sense we may all feel of being bereft, left behind by what was once a social culture of sympathy and togetherness. Listening to his Third String Quartet, composed in 2011, we seem to be watching from the dock as a great ocean liner slowly slides away, taking with it our hopes and our dreams. Something of this feeling of being on the sidelines of history may come from the composer’s inheritance as a Ukrainian. Ireland, he notes, is not so far away: 'I believe there is some Irish accent, and some simple melodies, that permeate the whole work and may sound as symbols of this wonderful country, in whose destiny and historical legacy I perceive a close spiritual affinity to Ukraine, my homeland.'

All three works are captured in intense, poignant performances by leading ensembles: Crash (Marthiya) and the Carducci Quartet (Embers; Silvestrov, String Quartet No.3).

Embers releases on 5 March 2021 on CD, iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz and all main digital service providers. It is the world première recording of Silvestrov, String Quartet No.3,  Deane's Marthiya and of the string quartet (original) version of Deane's Embers, which has been released previously in its subsequent string orchestra version by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in 2016.

LOUTH CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PROFILE

Richard Fairman: 'Louth - Ireland's Hidden Gem of a Festival'
The Financial Times

EMBERS REVIEWS

'Rallying After The Silence', Brendan Finan, The Journal of Music

'Engaging and affecting, it’s a grower ... immaculately produced and designed ... When lockdown eases, I’m Louthward bound.' Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk

'A program of great coherence. ... Superb release from a label we here on our side of the big lake wish to know a lot more soon.' Frédéric Cardin, Pan M 360

'Haunting, unsettling evocations of the past', Michael Devlin, The Irish Times

1. Purcell: The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation

2. J. S. Bach: Non sa che sia dolore, BWV 209

3. Handel: Guardian Angels, from The Triumph of Time & Truth, HWV 71

4. Mozart: Ah’ lo Previdi - ah t’invola agl’occhi miei, K 272

5. Finzi: Dies Natalis [1]

Margaret Marshall comments: ‘I’m thrilled that Songbird has been released digitally. I retired from professional singing fifteen years ago and never imagined I would be releasing ‘new’ music. But thanks to wonderfully supportive friends, here it is! Alongside music by Purcell, J.S. Bach, Handel and Mozart – composers and works I loved to sing – is Finzi’s beautiful Dies Natalis, best known for tenors but also a wonderful sing for sopranos.’
 
Miss Marshall shares her experience of singing these works on her new website www.margaretmarshallsongbird.com

Margaret Marshall is one of the finest discoveries of recent years. A perfect technique carries this radiant voice, more varied in colour than some of her world-famous colleagues, full of life and energy, of exquisite expression where the vocalisation pours forth inner enchantment and surpasses technical virtuosity.[2]

[1] 1 and 4: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mosche Atzmon and Hanns-Martin Schneidt; 2: Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Hans Zender; 3. NDR Elbphilharmonie Orkester; Günther Weissenborn: 5. Mainz Chamber Orchestra, Günter Kehr

[2] J.S. Bach, Easter Oratorio, Kurt Redel (conductor), Le Monde, 20 April 1976

REVIEWS AND FEATURES

Graham Rickson in The Arts Desk

Planet Hugill

'I urge all devotees of fine singing to enjoy this previously unheard testimony to the enduring appeal of Margaret Marshall’s lovely voice.'
Ralph Moore, MusicWeb International

Francisco Salazar in OperaWire

Francesca Wilson, Meet The Artist

Press and radio inquiries to Ulysses Arts via our 'Contact Us' details below.

Ulysses Arts launches Franco-Belgian pianist Antoine Préat's first solo album, Polyphony, on 15 January 2021, with music by J.S. Bach, Chopin and Scriabin. Polyphony follows Antoine's debut recording of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No.31, Op.110, released by Ulysses Arts in June 2020.

J.S. Bach, Toccata in C Minor, BWV 911
Chopin, Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61
Scriabin, Sonate-Fantaisie, Op. 19

Antoine comments: 'Born into a Baroque-fanatic family in Paris, I grew up immersed in the sound of the 'cello and harpsichord. I have always been intrigued by polyphonic music, with deep emotion contained within a perfectly assembled puzzle. I started this theme with Beethoven’s Op.110; my debut album of Bach, Chopin and Scriabin continues this exploration of intricate polyphony in the solo piano repertoire.’

Antoine Préat

Described by Radio France as ‘one of the most gifted pianists of the younger generation’ and as ‘a young artist with a distinctive voice’, Franco-Belgian pianist Antoine Préat is establishing himself as a soloist and chamber musician. 

Since his orchestral debut at 17, playing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the Orchestra of Alicante, Antoine has performed with The Tonerl Chamber Orchestra, Sainsbury Soloists, Academy Festival Orchestra, London Student Orchestra and Resonate Chamber Ensemble.  

Winner of Making Music's Philip and Dorothy Green Award 2020, and recently appointed City Music Foundation Artist 2020, Antoine performs regularly in Europe and the United States in halls such as the Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, Wigmore Hall, Thayer Hall, Paris Beaux Arts Museum and Frederyk Chopin Institute. His performances have been broadcast by the BBC, Scala Radio and France Musique.

Performance highlights include festivals such as the Nohant Chopin Festival, Lisztomanias, Chopin à Bagatelle, Les Concerts d’Esther, Marathon Chopin, Les Nuits du Piano in Paris, IMS Prussia Cove, Encuentro de Santander. An avid chamber musician, Antoine was the youngest artist invited to join the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris, directed by Jérôme Pernoo, with whom he gave a concert series at the Salle Cortot sponsored by Deutsche Gramophone. He has been a finalist or prizewinner in numerous competitions such as the Ettlingen Competition for Young Pianists, Concours International de la Ville de Gagny, Concours international d’Ile de France and received an honour prize at the New York Début Piano Competition.

Having completed his postgraduate course with honours at the Ecole Normale de Paris with Ludmilla Berlinskaia and Guigla Katsrava, Antoine continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Tatiana Sarkissova and Christopher Elton, receiving a Master of Arts and the DipRam, its highest qualification.

To enrich his understanding of the instrument and its repertoire, Antoine began to study fortepiano and period instruments with Carole Cerasi at the Royal Academy and has also been guided from artists such as Andreas Staier, Tobias Koch, Philippe Cassard, Alberta Alexandrescu, Robert Levin, Jerome Lowenthal, Richard Goode, Imogen Cooper and Stephen Hough.

Antoine is supported by The City Music Foundation, Talent Unlimited, Hattori Foundation and Making Music.

... et maintenant en français:

- Beethoven Sonate op°110 en La Majeur
Single de promotion sorti le 19 Juin 2020, playlisté par Apple Music, recueillant plus de 50,000 écoutes
- Bach Toccata en Do mineur BWV911, Chopin Polonaise Fantaisie op°65, Scriabin Sonate n°2 op°19 sorti le 15 Janvier 2021, playlisté par Spotify dans “Classical New Releases”

Vidéo de promotion: https://youtu.be/VWMMPV8-JR8

L’album

'Mon premier album, enregistré à Londres au courant de cette tumultueuse année 2020, se focalise sur l’évolution de l’écriture polyphonique au fil des différentes époques. Vouant une affection particulière à J.S Bach, je souhaitais souligner son influence sur le processus de composition de ses successeurs. Si Bach lui-même fut influencé par ses prédécesseurs, tels que Buxtehude ou Kerll.

il demeure la figure ‘phare’ de la période baroque et de l’écriture polyphonique (que ce soit sous forme de fugue, de choral, d’aria ou de sonate). Toutes les pièces de cet album jouent aussi sur la liberté de la forme musicale: une Toccata comprenant un choral et deux fugues, une Sonate de Beethoven avec ses multiples fugues et arias, la Polonaise-Fantaisie, alternant marche patriotique,
choral et mélodie accompagnées, et la Sonate de Scriabin en deux mouvements.)

Dans ses dernières années, Beethoven se tourne à nouveau vers la musique de Bach et de Haendel, qu’il avait toujours beaucoup admirés. Cette influence est très présente dans ses œuvres dites “de la troisième période” (qui fut d’ailleurs sa dernière), au cours de laquelle il composa certaines de ses œuvres les plus acclamées : la Hammerklavier, les trois dernières sonates pour piano, le quatuor op°131, la Grosse Fugue op°133, Die Weihe des Hauses op°124.

Beethoven, éclatant la forme classique et ouvrant grand la porte à ses successeurs romantiques, insuffle un souffle nouveau à la forme fuguée et à la polyphonie complexe du XVIIIème siècle. Frédéric Chopin est souvent considéré (à tort selon moi) comme le “romantique” par excellence, le
symbole du rubato à outrance interprété avec une mièvrerie mal placée. Il était très important pour moi d’établir un parallèle entre l’oeuvre de Chopin celle de Bach car non seulement Chopin portait une véritable adoration à son vénérable prédécesseur, mais leurs oeoeuvres ne sont pas si éloignées les unes des autres bien qu’appartenant à un style et une époque différents. Si l’on étudie avec attention les compositions de Chopin, on constate que ce qui peut à première vue être qualifié de “mélodie accompagnée” se révèle souvent bien plus complexe et polyphonique qu’il n’y parait (les accompagnements notamment comprennent bien souvent un contrepoint développé en plusieurs lignes mélodiques). Enfin, le rubato dont on parle tant chez Chopin me rappelle la notion d’ ‘élan’ et de respiration en musique Baroque, et ne devrait pas conduire à ce qualificatif de “sentimentalisme” (simplement parce qu’il s’agit la de musique dite ‘romantique’, si la respiration n’est pas naturelle, l’interpretation ne l’est pas plus).

Alexandre Scriabin est le seul compositeur présent qui ne se soit pas réclamé de Bach de son vivant. C’est ce qui me semblait si intéressant: Scriabin, si inspiré au début de sa vie par Chopin, reflète souvent l’influence que Bach a eu sur la musique ‘classique’ à travers sa manière de composer, son sens de l’architecture, de la structure et de la complexité des voix intérieures de certaines de ses partitions.

Quelques mots

Ayant étudié le clavecin et la musique baroque dès mon enfance, ce thème me tient vraiment à coœur, et je suis ravi d’avoir pu l’explorer à travers ce premier disque. Je tiens à preciser que ce disque devait également sortir en magasin, mais la deuxième journée d’enregistrement (Bach, Chopin, Scriabin) ayant été décalée de plusieurs mois à cause du COVID-19, et le piano premièrement utilisé ayant été endommagé, j’ai dû séparer la sonate de Beethoven et le reste de l’album.'

Antoine Préat, janvier 2021