Audio

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

Reflections
Shostakovich String Quartet No 5 in B flat Op 92
Shostakovich arr Judith van Driel & David Faber Six of 24 Preludes Op 34
Bacewicz String Quartet No 4

Rubicon Classics RCD1099 | rubiconclassics.com

“The music we play is never old or new, but always relevant and present.” After focusing on Haydn and Brahms, Amsterdam’s Dudok Quartet turn east to pair Polish Grażyna Bacewicz and Russian Dimitri Shostakovich quartets (Nos 4 and 5 respectively) with the quartet’s own arrangements of some of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes Op 34. These composers lived and worked in a time and social environment of repression and control but, although both these quartets were written in 1951, they display contrasting moods. Shostakovich demands intense physical, emotional and intellectual stamina from the players, while the Bacewicz offers an abundance of virtuosic fun and rhythmic exuberance, reflecting her original and independent spirit. Release date: 25 November

Itamar Zorman violin
Ieva Jokubaviciute piano §
Kwan Yi piano ¶
Julia Thompson tambourine *

Violin Odyssey

Moshe Zorman Wanderings (1994) §
Joseph Achron (arr. Jascha Heifetz ) Children’s Suite, Op. 57 (c. 1925) ¶
Dora Pejačevic Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 43, “Slavonic Sonata” (1917) §
Silvestre Revueltas El afilador (1924) & Tierra p’a las macetas (1924) §
Grazyna Bacewicz Oberek No. 1 (1949) §
Gao Ping Questioning the Mountains (2008) §
Gareth Farr Wakatipu (2009)
Ali Osman Afromood (2010) ¶ *
Erwin Schulhoff Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 (1927) ¶
William Grant STILL Summerland (1935) §

FHR119 | firsthandrecords.com

Conceived during the pandemic, Itamar Zorman’s debut recital disc on First Hand Records represents a virtual voyage around the world – from New Zealand to the United States by way of Sudan, China, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Israel and Mexico. With fellow-BBT artist pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, as well as fellow-pianist Kwan Yi and guest tambourine player Julia Thompson (on Osman’s Afromood), Zorman offers a unique 20th- and 21st-century snapshot of works for violin and piano.

Annelien Van Wauwe clarinet
NDR Radiophilharmonie
Andrew Manze conductor 

Flow
Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major, K.622
Wim Henderickx Sutra

Pentatone Classics PTC 5186 973 | www.pentatonemusic.com

For Flow, her second solo disc for Pentatone, Annelien Van Wauwe pairs two concertos composed specifically for the basset clarinet.  Perhaps the most famous concertos for this instrument, Mozart’s great late masterpiece is here partnered by a concerto specially commissioned in part with Annelien Van Wauwe’s BBT Award: Wim Henderickz’s Sutra. For Annelien music and yoga are the two pillars of her life as a musician and teacher. With this in mind, Henderickx has written his four-movement Sutra based around yoga for her, in which she not only plays but also chants. She gives the public world premiere in Glasgow on 31 March 2022 with the BBC Scottish Symphony and Martyn Brabbins, with the CD (recorded with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and Andrew Manze) released the following day.

Johann Sebastian Bach The Art of Fugue
Filippo Gorini piano

Alpha Classics Alpha 775 | alpha-classics.com

Launching a major project with this studio recording of Bach’s final masterpiece – The Art of Fugue – breaking off where Bach himself stopped composing, Italian pianist Filippo Gorini follows his two Beethoven CDs on Alpha Classics. Gorini’s BBT-supported project, The Art of Fugue Explored, will encompass videos, interviewing the likes of Alfred Brendel, Mitsuko Uchida, Frank Gehry, Alexanders Poluzin and Sokurov, and Peter Sellars and a film, creating a holistic view of this multi-faceted masterpiece over the coming years. It starts right here…