Brief notes This month’s bite-sized selection features journeys, landscapes and seasons

Luke Bedford Besilvering Holst-sinfonietta et al

Bastille Music BM019

There’s quiet ferocity and unusual beauty to be found in these pieces by the British composer, written from 2002-19. Explorations of texture and timbre are wrought in a variety of chamber combinations, some – like that for bass drum and piano – unexpected and rather captivating. (MB) ★★★★

Peter Boyer Balance of Power Lso/peter Boyer

Naxos 8.559915

Boyer’s broad-brush cinematic works have the orchestral buoyancy of John Williams and the absorbing emotionalism of the late James Horner. The LSO sparkle in items like the rousing Fanfare for Tomorrow, written for President Biden’s inauguration last year.

(MB) ★★★★★

Richard Blackford Mirror of Perfection; Vision of a Garden Philharmonia Orchestra et al Lyrita SRCD.406

Blackford’s 1996 Mirror of Perfection is a big-boned and breathtaking opener, while the more recent Vision of a Garden – based on Peter Johnstone’s ‘ICU Diaries’ written while in hospital with

Covid – sobres with its unhurried intensity. The Philharmonia and Bach Choir are on top form in the latter. (MB) ★★★★

Brahms

Serenades Nos 1 & 2 (arr. nonet) Linos Ensemble Capriccio C5447 Brahms’s Serenades in their chamber versions are a tad underwhelming here due to a feeling of detachment – as if the musicians are playing from a great distance. The performances are attractive enough, and the Linos Ensemble is clearly an experienced band, but it’s all a little sedate. (CS) ★★★

Dowland Lute Solos

Jonas Nordberg (lute) BIS BIS-2627 There’s nothing didactic about Jonas Nordberg’s Dowland – nor does he wallow in the melancholy often associated with the English Renaissance master. Instead, the Swedish lutenist draws us into 21 instrumental pieces with sensitive, rounded, intelligent playing.

(RF) ★★★★

Kancheli • A Tchaikowsky Concerto Classico; Libera Me Ilya Gringolts (violin) et al

CD Accord ACD293

A fair reflection of the Pole’s knotty personality, André Tchaikowsky’s angular and awkward Violin Concerto is superbly played here. With its tolling bells and plangent chant, Kancheli’s Libera Me is mournfulness personified.

( JP) ★★★★

Cheryl E Leonard

Antarctica: Music from the Ice Cheryl E Leonard

Other Minds OM1030

A field trip to Antarctica laid the groundwork for the eight pieces on sound artist and composer Cheryl E Leonard’s latest album, created from location recordings of the ice, wind and water, as well as natural objects she turned into instruments when she returned home. Fascinating. (RF) ★★★★

Morricone

Works arr. cello, flute and piano Luca Pincini (cello), Paolo Zampini (flute), Gilda Buttà (piano)

Da Vinci Classics C00580

Some lovely chamber arrangements of Morricone’s bestknown screen works sit alongside some not-so-familiar concert pieces.

Great to discover the latter, but the combination of sweetly melodic and jarringly avant-garde doesn’t always sit well in one sitting. (MB) ★★★

Krishna Nagaraja

Tales from Norway

Krishna Nagaraja (Hardanger fiddle); Meta4 String Quartet Challenge CC72914 Played by the composer himself, Krishna Nagaraja’s epic A Norwegian Suite for solo Hardanger fiddle is a superb showpiece, while Meta4 performs his equally lively Stringar for string quartet with life-affirming vigour. ( JP) ★★★★★

Max Richter

The New Four Seasons

Elena Urioste (violin); Chineke! Orchestra DG 486 2769

When Max Richter recomposed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons ten years ago, he produced a brilliant and fresh response to the Baroque classic. It’s a stretch to brand this recording as anything wildly ‘new’ simply because it’s played on period instruments, but it’s still a good performance from Elena Urioste and Chineke!. (RF) ★★★

Carl Vine Piano Sonatas

Xiaoya Liu (piano) Dynamic CDS7931 Australian composer Carl Vine’s four captivating piano sonatas are typified by driving rhythms, rich chord clusters and passages of scurrying, contrapuntal complexity. Xiaoya Liu’s strong and delineated performances capture the works’ energetic momentum and highlight their extremes of dynamic and mood. First rate. (CS) ★★★★★

Vivaldi The Four Seasons

Keziah Thomas (harp) Convivium CR072 These arrangements of the Seasons for solo harp are partially successful. Slower movements have a magical, shimmering quality, but the bristling tremolando of the faster passages lacks drama – hampered by plucked semiquavers, which simply can’t match the speed of the bow. Still, an interesting experiment. (CS) ★★

Xiaogang Ye Sichuan Image Noriko Ogawa (piano); RSNO et al BIS BIS-2303

Sichuan Image is pretty much just that – a lush, filmic orchestral picture which, aside from occasionally threatening to morph into Saint-saëns or Debussy, goes nowhere in particular. The Concerto of Life is of a similar character, and equally luxuriant. (JP) ★★★

Alone Together Works by Ellen Reid, Nina Young et al

Johannes Moser (cello)

Platoon PLAT13407

Using cutting-edge technology, Johannes Moser has produced multi-layered arrangements of Grieg’s Holberg Suite and Barber’s Adagio on his solo instrument, plus six new works for electric cello. The result is a warm wash of cinemastyle surround sound – but the uniformity of tone gives it a hint of artificiality. (CS) ★★★

The Canticle of the Sun Works by Stanford, Wood and Beach

Charles Wood Singers/david Hill Regent REGCD567

If the opening Stanford is a little underwhelming, the substantial

Amy Beach work that gives this disc its title is given a splendidly powerful performance, and the Charles Wood Singers also do their namesake composer proud. ( JP) ★★★★

Estonian Piano Trios Works by Eller, Lemba, Arvo Pärt et al

Mari Poll (violin), Henry-david Varema (cello), Mihkel Poll (piano)

Dux DUX1809

An engagingly played recital that takes us from the Mendelssohn-like good humour and Romantic charm of, respectively, Lemba and Eller in the early-20th century to reflective works by Pärt and Maimets from recent years. ( JP) ★★★★

From Vienna to Hollywood

Works by Kreisler and Korngold Hegel Quartet Ars Produktion ARS 38 345 This musical tribute to Jewish emigrées Kreisler and Korngold is a triumph. The former’s String Quartet is thrillingly immediate, while the latter’s Third Quartet ranges from wispy textures to violent outbursts – all held in check by an impeccable sense of ensemble. (CS) ★★★★★

Hildegard Portraits Works by Hildegard, Laura Moody et al Voice SOMM Recordings SOMMCD 0652 The Sibyl of the Rhine inspires an atmospheric album from the Voice trio, in which Hildegard’s music is interwoven with the seven movements of Laura Moody’s striking Hildegard Portraits suite exploring her personality and life. Other arrangements of and responses to Hildegard complete an interesting picture. (RF) ★★★★

In The Footsteps Of Rumi

Songs by Ghalia Benali and

Kiya Tabassian

Ghalia Benali (vocals); Constantinople Glossa GCD924502

Constantinople is an ensemble that brings together western European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern traditions, and its latest recording is an intoxicating hour of music inspired by the 13th-century Persian poet and mystic Rumi. There’s a wonderfully spontaneous feel to the hour-long programme. (RF) ★★★★

La Zingarella Works by Brahms, Bizet, Dvorˇák, Lehár et al

Isabel Bayrakdarian (soprano)

Avie AV2506

The paths trodden by Bayrakdarian on this thrilling musical journey are far-reaching and take us from Central Europe to South America. In mostly new arrangements for voice, piano and fiddle, this is a hearty (and fiery) selection, the soprano our passionate guide. (MB) ★★★★★ Reviewers: Michael Beek (MB), Rebecca Franks (RF), Jeremy Pound ( JP), Charlotte Smith (CS)