Classical Music Discoveries

Cellist Ani Aznavoorian and pianist Marta Aznavoorian, each a renowned soloist and chamber musician in her own right, together celebrate the sounds of their ancestral homeland on Gems from Armenia. The album marks the Chicago-raised sisters’ recording debut as the Aznavoorian Duo. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Gems from Armenia (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Katy Solomon from Morahana Arts and Media.

The project began as a nine-month exploration of the Sibelius symphonies to mark Mäkelä’s inaugural season with the Oslo Philharmonic as Chief Conductor but, with Covid cancellations, turned into a completely immersive recording project. With the orchestral season disrupted, Mäkelä and the orchestra devoted much of the Spring of 2021 to playing nothing but the music of Sibelius. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Sibelius: Complete Symphonies (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Katy Solomon from Morahana Arts and Media.

Aureliano in Palmira is an operatic dramma serio in two acts written by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto in which the librettist was credited only by the initials "G. F. R." The libretto has generally been attributed to Felice Romani, but sometimes to the otherwise unknown Gian Francesco Romanelli. It has been suggested that the latter name may have resulted from a confusion of Romani with Luigi Romanelli, La Scala's house poet prior to Romani's appointment to the post. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com

Born in 1925 in Sacramento, California, to Polish immigrants, Slenczynska gave her concert debut at the age of four (just as the world entered the Great Depression), performed on television aged five, and at six made her European concert debut in Berlin. 92 years later, the extraordinary pianist still performs to audiences around the world. ‘MY LIFE IN MUSIC’ TRACKLIST:Rachmaninoff: 6 Romances, Op. 38: 3. DaisiesRachmaninoff: 13 Preludes, Op. 32: No. 5 in G Major. ModeratoBarber: Nocturne 'Homage to John Field', Op. 33Barber: Fresh from West Chester: II. Let's Sit It Out, I'd Rather WatchChopin: Grand valse brillante in E-Flat Major, Op. 18 (Ed. Paderewski) - currently not availableChopin: Berceuse in D-Flat Major, Op. 57Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 65: 6. Wedding Day at TroldhaugenDebussy: Préludes / Book 1, L. 117: 8. The Girl with the Flaxen HairChopin: 12 Études, Op. 10: No. 3 in E Major (Ed. Paderewski)Chopin: Fantaisie in F Minor, Op. 49Chopin: 24 Préludes, Op. 28: No. 3 in G Major (Ed. Paderewski)J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C-Sharp Major, BWV 84Purchase the music (without talk) at:http://www.Ruth Slenczynska (classicalsavings.com).storeYour purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Katy Solomon from Morahana Arts and Media.

Rossini wrote L'italiana in Algeri when he was 21. Rossini stated that he composed the opera in 18 days, though other sources claim that it took him 27 days. Rossini entrusted the composition of the recitatives as well as the aria "Le femmine d'Italia" to an unknown collaborator. The opera is notable for Rossini's mixing of opera seria style with opera buffa. The overture is widely recorded and performed today, known for its distinct opening of slow, quiet pizzicato basses, leading to a sudden loud burst of sound from the full orchestra. This "surprise" reflects Rossini's early admiration for Joseph Haydn, whose Symphony No. 94 in G major, "The Surprise Symphony", is so named for the same shocking and semi-comic effect. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Rossini: The Italian Girl in Algiers (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com

Night: it can be dreamy or comforting, but sometimes it’s frightening, full of dark secrets. So it’s no great surprise that the long hours of darkness, often spent awake, have inspired so many composers to write some of their most touching works: Chopin’s dreamy Nocturnes, for example, Schumann’s dainty “Nachtstücke” or Ravel’s spine­chilling cycle “Gaspard de la nuit”, populated by sinister figures and dark premonitions. In his piano recital at the Imperial Hall at the Würzburg Residence, the young Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, brings the spirits of the night, both good and evil, to life; in his hands, Ravel’s goblin “Scarbo” dances and the water sprite “Ondine” swims through the waves, dangerously seductive. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Night Music (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Katy Solomon from Morahana Arts and Media.

L'equivoco stravagante (The Curious Misunderstanding) is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Gaetano Gasbarri. It was Rossini's first attempt at writing a full two-act opera.L'equivoco stravagante was first performed at the Teatro del Corso, Bologna, on 26 October 1811. It was only performed three times before the police closed the production down, possibly because the text touched on the subject of army desertion. The music of the overture was subsequently lost. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Rossini: The Curious Misunderstanding (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com

Pulitzer Prize-nominated composer, performer, and writer Kate Soper releases The Understanding of All Things, a portrait album featuring frequent Wet Ink Ensemble collaborator Sam Pluta, on New Focus Recordings. The Understanding of All Things features Soper performing as vocalist, pianist, and electronics composer in three of her works: the title track for voice and fixed media; The Fragments of Parmenides for voice, piano, and fixed media; and So Dawn Chromatically Descends to Day for voice and piano. These works are interleaved with two improvisations with Sam Pluta on live electronics: Dialogue I for voice and live electronics and Dialogue II for voice, piano, and live electronics. Drew Daniel of experimental electronic music duo Matmos contributes an introductory essay in the booklet, and the cover features a work by Providence-based artist Toby Sisson. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Kate Soper - The Understanding of All Things (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Katy Solomon from Morahana Arts and Media.

Hailed as “one of a kind, a banjoist who specializes in classical music and regularly knocks socks off left and right doing so,” John Bullard has released a new recording, 24 Preludes for Solo Banjo, Volume One, Books 1 & 2 Nos. I-XII was produced by multiple Juno Award and Grammy-winning David Travers-Smith. Bullard commissioned composer Adam Larrabee to write 24 Preludes which Larrabee says he wrote in a style that is “predominantly early 20th-century, at times almost neo-classical and inspired by works of J.S. Bach, Chopin, and Shostakovich that follow the long-standing tradition of writing pieces in all the major and minor keys to showcase an instrument’s versatility.” He continues, “I have tried to make each prelude feature a different form, performance technique, timbre, or rhythmic style. There is an all-pizzicato or muted piece, one featuring natural harmonics or “chimes,” a Bulgarian ratchenitsa, a Basque zortico, a passacaglia, a jazz “stride piano” style cakewalk, a theme and variations, a Brazilian choro in the style of the great Villa-Lobos, and Russian march ala Prokofiev. It has been a wonderful experience to feature the banjo in these diverse styles and create new repertoire for this beautifully unique and versatile instrument.” Available through iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Amazon, and other major streaming services, the recording can also be purchased at JohnBullard.com. Purchase the music (without talk) at:24 Preludes for Solo Banjo, Volume One, Books 1 & 2 Nos. I-XII (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Crossover Media Music Promotion (Zachary Swanson).

Lisa Batiashvili’s new album, released on May 29, 2020, takes the listener across the world with eleven carefully chosen pieces that represent the most important cities in her life, as well as a suite based on Charlie Chaplin’s own music for City Lights and other films of his, extending last year’s celebration of the 130th anniversary of the iconic artist’s birth.The music ranges from J.S. Bach and Johann Strauss to Michel Legrand and Astor Piazzolla, bringing together diverse genres, including classical, jazz, gypsy, tango, and film music.Ms. Batiashvili is joined in this project by composer-arranger Nikoloz Rachveli, Katie Melua, Till Brönner, Miloš Karadaglić and Maximilian Hornung. Player.FM Podcast of the Day - Feb. 27, 2022 Purchase the music (without talk) at:City Lights (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Katy Solomon from Morahana Arts and Media.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov is known for performances of 19th and 20th-century virtuoso repertory and hardly at all for Bach. Thus one might expect from his album Bach: The Art of Life a certain old-school Romantic quality and even music that is a bit over the top. The album is all that and more. The title is a bit unclear; the interview-format notes quote Trifonov references to Bach's personal life, but also to various scientific phenomena, but one may dispense with those and get down to the music, which doubtless showcases Trifonov's formidable technical skills. With Bach, it is not about keyboard-clattering speed but about the subtlety of inflection, and the variety brought to the little selections from the Bach's Anna Magdalena Book, pieces that almost everyone who has touched a keyboard has played, is extraordinary. Trifonov also includes a group of pieces by Bach's sons, and he does unusually well at finding what critic Harold Bloom called the anxiety of influence in these, their J.S. Bachian quality even in a stylistic world that had fundamentally changed. However, none of these really prepares the listener for the album's centerpiece, The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, which is divided between the two CDs in the physical version. It is as imposing as the rest of the album is light, and listeners will either love the contrast (Trifonov fans are sure to fall into this category) or find it jarring. Listen to the "Contrapunctus 6 ("in stylo Francese")" for an idea of the outlandish personalities Trifonov gives each fugue here. Even those who find it a bit much will have to concede the skill involved in fully realizing each idea. Instead of breaking off at the end of the unfinished final fugue, Trifonov furnishes his own completion, and it's actually one of the more convincing tries on the market. Listeners will have their own opinions about this release, but it is absolutely never boring, and its commercial success suggests that Trifonov's legions are increasing in number. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Bach - The Art of Life (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com This album is broadcasted with the permission of Katy Solomon from Morahana Arts and Media.

The Day the Earth Stood Still stands as one of the earliest and greatest examples of film exploring the mystery and fear of alien contact, using it as an allegory for our mistrust of one another. With its flying saucer, all-powerful robot, and unnervingly calm humanoid alien, much of this movie feels surreal, and that unsettled feeling is encouraged by near-perfect music by Bernard Herrmann, underscoring its action. Purchase the music (without talk) at:Herrmann: The Day the Earth Stood Still (classicalsavings.com)Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock#ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive#LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans#CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin#CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain#ClassicalMusicLivesOn#Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you!http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com