Reinventing Guitar - Smaro, Gregoridou

DE 3398

013491339825

Ilya Oblomov

Fanfare, Jan-Feb 2010

… [part] of this collection focuses on the 20th century with pieces by Antonio José (1933), Yorges Kertsopoulos (1952), and two (1969) compositions by Smaro Gregoriadou herself. Somewhat like other 20th-century guitar works I’ve heard, they separate themselves by use of more brilliant sonority than usual (metallonylon strings), and ethnic musical figures from the Balkan area. They are interesting in their own way, but not as familiar to me as the works of Scarlatti and Bach. Heartily recommended to classical guitar fans is this exciting approach to Bach, or Scarlatti, or modern Balkan regional music.

http://www.fanfarearchive.com/articles/atop/33_3/3333700.zz4_REINVENTING.html

Spirit of Chimes – Chamber Music of Zhou Long

DE 3397

013491339726

Point, January 2010

For the avant-garde music lover on your list, check out Spirit of Chimes, featuring the chamber music of Chinese composer Zhou Long. Long’s music weaves traditional Chinese music with brilliant, unpredictable melodies that are intriguing and exciting.

http://dianne-bates.com/_wsn/page3.html

WRUV Reviews, January 9, 2010

Contemporary works which combine Asian instruments with Western instruments and compositional forms. Tracks 1-4 based on traditional works, tracks 5-8  have strong Western classical influences.

http://reviews.wruv.org/2010/01/spirit-of-chimes-chamber-music-of-zhou-long/

Bach: Flute Sonatas

DE 3402

013491340227

CoolCleveland.com, January 6, 2010

Many times, when listening to the luscious notes produced by flutist Joshua Smith, I’ve likened him to the Pied Piper of legend. And why not? Those sensuous, silken, seductive sounds would entice anyone to follow along. Not just children, but of course, they’d most likely be just as entranced as adults would be. This CD is just more proof of that statement – as if any was needed.

Whether playing by himself, collaborating with the renowned harpsichordist Jory Vinikour or as part of the world-class Cleveland Orchestra, where he’s principal flute, Mr. Smith’s every note demonstrates intelligence, care and a superb musicality. This CD (from Delos) features four sonatas for flute and harpsichord plus one partita for solo flute – all from the pen of the prodigious Johann Sebastian Bach, or at least mostly. There is some reason to believe that perhaps a son or two might have contributed a few notes here and there.

This is a wonderfully uplifting CD. I daresay it would be a marvelous recuperative agent for stressful commutes or other tension-producing events in your life. Just listening to this happy and joyous music will lift you above the mundane rough-edged everyday happenings and smooth your way to peacefulness.

There is a special joy to be found when two equals engage in a complementary endeavor such as this one. They chase each other up and down the scales and in and around the complicated melodies in such a way that you’ll want to participate, too. They make it sound SO easy, but of course, it’s entirely the opposite.
Although vastly different from each other, the four sonatas are nonetheless sprightly and capricious in nature, but the Partita (in A minor, BWV 1013) will make you stop whatever you’re doing and just listen for the sheer beauty of what you’re hearing. Be sure to listen for the little ritards here and there which take it to a new level of expression. Mr. Smith is noted among other musicians for his special attention to dynamics as well as his innate lyricism. This CD will demonstrate those qualities plus myriad others. Enjoy them all.

(Added local note: The CD was recorded at Cleveland’s First Baptist Church on Fairmount Boulevard.)

http://www.coolcleveland.com/index.php/Newsletter/Kelly010610

Handel: Complete Harpsichord Suites

DE 3394

013491339429

John von Rhein

Chicago Tribune, January 7, 2010

This winning album somehow eluded me when I was compiling my Tribune list of top 10 favorite classical releases of 2009. The Chicago-born, Paris-based harpsichordist has done a lot of work on Handel opera productions in Europe, and his sensitivity to the lyricism, as well as the bravura elements in the composer’s keyboard music, proves he has greatly benefited from the experience.

Vinikour brings wonderful rhythmic elan and flexibility to the faster dance movements, avoiding the heavily accented downbeats that can make Handel feel clunky. The recording vividly captures the sound of the harpsichord, a 2001 copy of a German harpsichord made in 1739 of the sort Handel would have been familiar with.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0107-classicaljan07,0,4559100.story

Tour Dates

Jan.25 (Mon.) Indian Wells Valley (CA) Concert Association

Jan.28 (Thurs.) Athenaeum, La Jolla, CA

Jan.31 (Sun.) 92nd Street Y, NYC (Guitar Marathon)

Feb.1-5 University of Connecticut

Feb.6 (Sat.) 92nd Street Y, NYC

Feb.21 (Sun.) Zankel Music Center, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs

Paul Galbraith is also playing at the Guitar Marathon on Jan.31 in NYC

Secluded Orchid
Spirit of Chimes
Wu Kui
Taiping Drum
Partita

Cho-Liang Lin, violin
Hai-Ye Ni, cello
Helen Huang, piano

Zhou Long’s latest Delos album is as beautiful and exotic as its title suggests. As in his previous Delos recordings, such as The Flowing Stream (DE 3233) and Tales from the Cave (DE 3335) his unique creations bring together the aesthetic concepts and musical elements of East and West.

The title piece, “Spirit of Chimes,” was inspired by the sounds of the earliest surviving musical instruments from ancient China — bells, chime stones, and Jiahu bone flutes (ca. 7000 BC) – which are also the world’s oldest extant playable instruments.

The other works on the program have similarly fascinating associations. In “Secluded Orchid,” the seemingly free-floating music — “delicate, refined, and unhurried” — was inspired by a piece for the qin, a Chinese string instrument. “Wu Kui,” a folk dance from northeast China, expresses the dancers’ joy in work and life.  “Taiping Drum” takes its inspiration from a popular form of song and dance among the Han people.

The three brilliant artists who have joined together in interpreting this music are stellar names in today’s musical scene. Cho-Liang Lin, whose career has spanned the globe for 25 years, has appeared as soloist with every major orchestra, and made his musical presence felt in a variety of musical genres. Hai-Ye Ni is principal cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has already won many honors as a soloist. At age 26, pianist Helen Huang, who began her impressive international career as a teenager, is a seasoned virtuoso.

Zhou Long has dedicated this recording to the memory of Delos founder Amelia Haygood.

Audiophile Audition and Allmusic reviews

Piazzolla: Four Seasons of Buenos Aires; Fugata; Troilo: Contrabajeando; Iturralde: Suite Hellenique; Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

John Sunier
Audiophile Audition, October 06, 2009
DE 3387
Rating: 5 stars

There are now saxophone quartets or quintets all over the world, and it’s one of my personal favorite chamber ensembles. The Italian Sax Quartet was founded in 1982 and has performed worldwide, making a U.S. tour annually. They’ve recorded a previous CD for Delos, and their soprano saxist Federico Mondelci, has done another Delos album with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra of Piazzolla tango arrangements. They differ from the typical sax quartet in having a fifth member, their piano accompanist Paolo Zannini, on most of these tracks, adding a fuller orchestration to the selections.

The 22-minute Piazzolla suite here has its four movements in common with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Its complete title - Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas - refers in the last word to the roots of tango, the port city of Buenos Aires. This is one of the most successful of the composer’s efforts to bridge classical and tango music traditions. Although there were no saxophones in the typical tango ensemble, it sounds almost as if Piazzolla had the instruments in mind when he wrote this work, it fits them so perfectly.

Iturralde was a saxophonist as a child prodigy. He created jazz flamenco in the 1960s, and in his Hellenic Suite fuses Greek folk and jazz elements. Its sections boast 7/8 time in one, a jazz waltz in another, and a movement titled Funky. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue has been heard in many different versions, but this may be the first for sax quartet. Again, it works beautifully, the mental association of the instruments with the Jazz Age creating a perfect mood for delivering Gershwin’s catchy rhythms and melodies. Sonics are excellent, though I must admit I’ve been spoiled now by hearing several sax quartet albums in SACD surround.

HYPERLINK http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=6470

James Manheim
Allmusic.com, October 2009

Saxophone quartets have flourished along with brass quintets as concert presenters seek high-quality ensembles that don’t cost a fortune. The Italian Saxophone Quartet hasn’t been one of the better-known entrants in the field, but this release from the U.S., where the group has frequently toured, serves notice of a talent that’s well above average. The showpiece is the group Cuatros estaciones porteñas, or Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, by Astor Piazzolla. Not composed as a set, these works make no reference to the Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi, but they have been heavily exposed due to the perceived similarity in conception. The arrangement here, apparently by the members of the Italian Saxophone Quartet themselves, is among the most successful of the versions of these pieces for classical concert instruments (the group avoids jazz inflections in the Argentine works, although they shift gears at the end with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and rarely recorded Rialto Ripples). In general, the saxophone, though rarely used in this context, is a strong instrument for Piazzolla due to the component of noise in its sound, and Piazzolla’s tangos benefit from the quality the composer called “mud.” Better still, the performers do an uncannily good job of evoking the sound of Piazzolla’s bandoneón in duets. The alto saxophone of Marco Gerboni sounds like a free reed instrument until the group switches to works originally composed in other media. There he and the rest of the group revert to more conventionally clean wind harmonies. The piano of Paolo Zannini is effectively used to impart rhythmic energy while staying in the background, just as in the original pieces. When the program departs from tango it’s less distinctive, although the Suite hellénique of Spanish composer Pedro Iturralde, apparently the only work on the program composed for saxophone quartet, is a useful addition to the repertory with its jazz and flamenco elements. The disc as a whole is recommended to anyone who enjoys wind or brass ensemble music, and especially to presenters, who ought to acquaint themselves with this group.

HYPERLINK http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=43:193081

Delos
Handel: Harpsichord Suites (1720)

James Manheim
Allmusic.com, September 2009
DE 3394
013491339429
Performance: 4 stars
Sound: 4 stars
 
Harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, American-born and French-trained, enters a fairly crowded field with this set of Handel’s suites for harpsichord and emerges with a strong showing. He avoids the bouncy quality that can work well in Handel in general but isn’t quite suited to these suites. Although their movements bear the titles of French dances, they aren’t like Couperin’s suites or even those of Bach; they reach back to the German generation that Handel knew in his youth, with a rather severe quality that does not preclude either occasional flashes of humor or technical brilliance. Vinikour strikes an accurate balance, adding intricate but natural-sounding ornamentation and staying alert to unexpected details while keeping to a serious tone overall. Try out the Suite in F sharp minor, HWV 431, on the second disc; the music has an operatic quality. Other pieces are evocative of German organ music; each suite has a slightly different personality. The conclusion of the program with the big Chaconne in G major, HWV 435, emphasizes the serious and virtuosic elements, as does the use of a modern copy of a 1739 Gräbner harpsichord from Dresden, a muscular instrument with an extended bass range. These pieces were dubbed the “Great” suites at one time, and that’s how they come out in Vinikour’s reading: without the catchy quality that one thinks of as Handelian, but with something else in its place, a rigorous, brilliant quality that’s an important underpinning of his style.
 
HYPERLINK “http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=43:184617~T1″http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=43:184617~T1

Magazine: JAZZ & TZAZ
(Greece)
October 2009
Issue #199, Page 56

RECORDS REVIEWS

Writer: Thomas Tamvakos

Title: SMARO GREGORIADOU: Reinventing Guitar! (Delos)

In my previous written references about the talented musician Smaro Gregoriadou, I had already stressed how positively would contribute to her artistic prevalence her impending cd edition Reinventing Guitar! released by the world famous California recording label Delos. The quality of the final outcome, nevertheless, goes far beyond any expected target. Reinventing Guitar! is a reference recording of multiple importance and intentions. I personally enlist it in the group of such guitar editions that change the flow of the history of the instrument, as far as musical composition and interpretation are concerned.

First, it is the originality at a universal level that dominates. By using instruments and tunings that occur for the first time in discography, made by the guitarist, composer, researcher and maker George Kertsopoulos and representing Kertsopoulos Aesthetics, Smaro Gregoriadou expands in a unique way the sounding horizon of the guitar and achieves the desirable proximity in the interpretation of early repertoire, such as D. Scarlatti’s Harpsichord Sonata L23 and J. S. Bach’s Baroque Lute Suite BWV995 in g minor based on the authentic Brussels manuscript. Both arranged by Smaro Gregoriadou, these compositions find a new triumphant determination, with main characteristics the excellence in performance and the almost “pagan” delight of hearing. The straight comparison with colossi of guitaristic art in the same repertoire (P. Galbraith, L. Orlandini, J. Williams) only positively can count for Smaro Gregoriadou.

From 18th c. the great artist approaches the rather underestimated Spaniard Antonio José. The Sonata for guitar of 1933 is maybe his greatest work and the interpretation of Smaro Gregoriadou is straightly analogue to this quality and undoubtedly superior of the one given by Frank Bungkarten.

From this formidable recording Greek creation could not be missing. It is represented by two masterly works. The first, Some Colour’s Rhythms by G. Kertsopoulos, although of short duration (4 min) reflects the whole spectrum of the philosophical and scientific research of the composer. The second, Balkan Dances by Smaro Gregoriadou, confirms her great ability to transform in a masterly way traditional musical motives into modern forms, offering to her audience wonderful aspects of personal interpretation; which, in combination with the generally exquisite production, establishes Reinventing Guitar! as the recording master work of the decade.

Thomas Tamvakos, writer/researcher/archivist/critic - Emeritus Member of Greek Composers Union

www.tamvakosarchive.blogspot.com

http://www.eem.org.gr/members_detail_g.asp?id=210

J.S.Bach – Trio sonatas for flute, violin and piano

Raffaele Trevisani, flute
Piet Koornhof, violin
Paola Girardi, pianoforte

Delos DDD

Trevisani, Koornhof and Girardi bring the structural and expressive elements of these works to a new level in this recording, creating a rare balance between a modern and traditional aesthetic.

The trio sonata, which is characterized by three contrapuntal lines, each one allocated to a single performer, is one of the finest expressions of baroque art.  Pioneered by Arcangelo Corelli, a master of Baroque composition - indeed the era’s most influential composer - Corelli’s collection of trio sonatas has become the standard against which works in the same genre are measured.

J.S.Bach’s trio sonatas were written according to the Italian model. For this recording, the members of the ensemble chose a transcription for flute, violin and pianoforte which accentuates the instruments’ diverse timbres and in turn the three melodic parts. In line with an established performance practice in which the pianoforte is favored over the harpsichord for its expressive power, Trevisani, Koornhof and Girardi chose the more modern instrument.

The result is a tribute to the Eisenbach composer, a tribute which is a measure of the music’s enchanting power. It is this quality which can elicit the kind of fine phrasing and articulation recorded here and enables these performers to showcase musical sensibilities which, at least in this repertory, have next to no rivals.

Filippo Staiano

Falaut Magazine