Browse by Label: BIS (SWEDEN)

Artist:	AHO, KALEVI
Title:	Contrabassoon/Tuba Concertos
Label:	BIS (SWEDEN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	BIS 1574CD

"Two unusual solo instruments are the focus of this all-Aho disc. Indeed, in the case of the contrabassoon (or double bassoon), Kalevi Aho's work is one of the very few concertos that exists. It is also by far the most demanding and extensive. In fact, the solo part became playable only after recent developments of the instrument itself, extending its compass upwards. While composers have treated the tuba slightly more generously, there was certainly room for another concerto in the repertoire when Aho composed it in 2001. Both instruments are sometimes treated as the buffoons of the symphony orchestra, and are often called in by composers for comic effect. But Kalevi Aho underlines the great capacity of the two for cantabile singing, a quality that he has endeavored to bring out in their respective concertos. A recent release of Aho works was described in Gramophone as 'a superb coupling of two strongly communicative contemporary works.'"

Artist:	BERIO/IANNIS XENAKIS/MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE, LUCIANO
Title:	Dedicated to Christian Lindberg
Label:	BIS (SWEDEN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	BIS 1638CD

"Starting with the disc The Virtuoso Trombone recorded in 1983, Christian Lindberg has been the main protagonist of some 35 discs on the BIS label. But the present disc is surely destined to count as one of the most important. It brings together three of more than 80 concertos that have been dedicated to Christian Lindberg during his unparalleled career. One of the first of these was actually 'Troorkh' (the title derived from trombone + orkhestra) by Xenakis, the result of an encounter in 1985 between the budding trombone soloist and the firmly established and highly regarded composer. Lindberg asked Xenakis for a concerto and got an emphatic 'No' for an answer -- only to receive the score 6 years later. (In order to perform the demanding work, Lindberg then had to undertake a rigorous stamina-building program lasting two years!). Berio's 'Solo' was the result of a collaboration between the composer and Lindberg which included a role especially written for Lindberg in the opera 'Cronaca del Luogo.' 'Solo' and 'Troorkh' are two of the works that Christian Lindberg has performed most frequently all over the world, but this is the first time he commits his interpretations of them to disc. The last piece on the program is 'Yet Another Set To' by Mark-Anthony Turnage, a work that fully exploits Lindberg's unique talents, requiring both virtuoso precision, the freedom of jazz delivery and a range of sounds from extrovert projection to intimate lyricism. Written in Turnage's highly personal and yet accessible idiom it is a work which Lindberg himself describes as 'one of the most electrifying works I have played'. Lindberg is partnered by the Oslo Philharmonic in fine shape, conducted by Peter Rundel, who collaborated with Lindberg in the first performance of the revised version of Turnage's concerto performed here." Hybrid SACD/CD release.

Artist:	LIGETI, GYORGY
Title:	The Complete Piano Music
Label:	BIS (SWEDEN)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$38.00
Catalog #:	BIS 1683/4CD

"This release coincides with the passing away of György Ligeti. It consists of his complete music for piano and includes previously unrecorded works, making it the only comprehensive survey so far of a genre in which this great figure of 20th century music was active until the very last years of his life. On it Fredrik Ullén, who in Gramophone has been described as 'a pianist as stylish as he is scintillating,' combines newly recorded material with two discs (from 1996 and 1998) which at the time of their release received a number of distinctions as well as the highest possible praise by the reviewers. 'To hear Ullén fly through Die Zauberlehrling is to understand the meaning of a great over competent performance. Small wonder Ligeti trusts the man!' and 'a superb reference recording!' was the verdict for BIS-CD-783 in Fanfare and in Fono Forum. The follow-up was greeted no less enthusiastically: 'Ullén continues his series as he began it: imbued with the finest touch and rhythmic exactitude' (Diapason) and 'This is a very fine disc' (Repertoire). To this material has been added the two Études of book three composed after the release of the previous discs, as well as the world premiere recordings 'L'arrache-Coeur' (composed in 1994 and originally intended as 'Étude no. 14') and 'Four Early Piano Pieces,' from 1941 and thus among the earliest preserved Ligeti pieces."

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