Label: BIS 103
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THE NORWEGIAN FLUTE: SPARRE OLSEN: Serenade, Op. 45; Poem for flute & piano; ANNE-MARIE ORBECK: Pastorale & Allegro; FINN MORTENSEN: Sonata for solo flute, Op. 6; OISTEIN SOMMERFELDT: Vsrlster for solo flute, Op. 44; EIVIND GROVEN: Solstemning for flute & piano; SVERRE BERGH: Pan for flute solo. Per Oien, flute; The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra; Geir Henning Braaten, piano.

Label: BIS 1454
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Il tramonto (The Sunset) (1918) for mezzo-soprano and string quartet; String Quartet in D minor (1909); Quartetto dorico (1924)

Stella Doufexis, mezzo-soprano; New Hellenic Quartet
To judge by concert programs from around the world, Respighi is something of a classical ‘one-hit wonder’. The Pines (and the Fountains) of Rome is played time and again, but most other works are rarely heard. If they had been performed more often, our opinion of Respighi as a composer would probably be quite different. The string quartets are a case in point: expertly put together by a composer who himself was a string player, they are far removed from his flamboyant, often grandiloquent symphonic writing. Here, instead, the cool, subtly and tastefully enunciated discourse of the four instruments reminds us that ‘deafening thought can also be found in a whisper’, to quote the liner notes by Philippos Tsalahouris. The two string quartets on this disc are separated by some 15 years, the Quartet in D minor being an early work composed during Respighi’s stay in Germany as a student. The Quartetto dorico, on the other hand, is a work of the mature composer, written more or less at the same time as the Pines of Rome. At the same time, it is a new departure in Respighi’s music, as a result of his discovery of the compositional possibilities offered by the old Gregorian modes. This disc also marks the first recording on BIS of mezzo-soprano Stella Doufexis, who joins the New Hellenic Quartet in the ‘lyrical poem’ Il Tramonto (The Sunset) for mezzo-soprano and string quartet, a setting of the Italian version of a poem by Shelley. The New Hellenic Quartet will be known for their dedicated advocacy of the music of their countryman Nikos Skalkottas. This has resulted in two discs on BIS, about which the critic in American Record Guide wrote of 'the New Hellenic Quartet's passionate and brilliant performances' and their 'downright heroic' playing.

Label: BIS 1597
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Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra, Op. 61; Sonata for Cello and Piano; Six Song transcriptions (for cello and piano)

Christian Poltera, cello; Julius Drake, piano
Malmo Symphony Orchestra/Tuomas Ollila
His great talent has earned the young cellist Christian Poltéra a place in no less than three schemes designed to raise the profiles of up-and-coming musicians, namely the BBC New Generation Artist scheme, the Borletti-Buitoni Award and the ECHO Rising Star program. This has given him the opportunity of meeting concert audiences all over Europe, and now – in a three-disc series on BIS – he will be reaching even further a field. On these three discs, Poltéra, a native of Switzerland, has chosen to perform cello works by three Swiss composers, namely Othmar Schoeck, Arthur Honegger and Frank Martin. Each disc will consist of a concerto coupled with various chamber works, in which Poltéra is joined by illustrious musicians such as Christian Tetzlaff and Kathryn Stott. In each case the orchestral scores are entrusted to the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and conductor Tuomas Ollila. Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957), the first composer in the series, wrote a large number of songs and vocal works. But he also had a special relationship with the cello, as testified by his habit of running through sketches for his works with his brother – an amateur cellist – performing the vocal line. It is therefore fitting that Christian Poltéra has chosen to include six songs by Schoeck in his program, performing them with pianist Julius Drake, who has made Lieder a main concern of his career. The concerto which opens the program also betrays Schoeck’s preoccupation with the human voice: while the cello’s bold opening statement in the first movement is demonstrably instrumental in conception, the solo instrument is soon ‘singing’ long melodic lines. Some ten years after completing the concerto, the composer revisited the same territory in a sonata which was to become his final work. (In fact, he passed away before being able to complete the projected fourth movement of it.) The Sonata and the Concerto are close stylistically, and echoes of the concerto can be found in the later work – the coda of the sonata’s first movement, for example, quotes almost directly from the first movement of the concerto.

Label: BIS 1725
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John Dowland (1563-1626): Disdain me still; Lend your ears to my sorrow; Come, heavy sleep; Preludium; The Earl of Essex, his Galliard; A shepherd in a shade; By a fountain where I lay; Away with these self-loving lads; Lachrimæ; Tarleton’s Riserrectione; If that a sinner’s sighs; A Fantasie; Toss not my soul; In darkness let me dwell
Henry Purcell (1659-1695): She loves and she confesses too; They tell us that you mighty powers above; Trumpet Tune called the Cibell; Echo Dance of the Furies; Ritornello ‘The Grove’; Fly swift, ye hours; Oh lead me to some peaceful gloom; What a sad fate is mine; Lilliburlero. A New Irish Tune; A New Scotch Tune; Hornpipe; A New Ground; From silent shades or Bess of Bedlam; Music for a while

Emma Kirkby, soprano; Jakob Lindberg, lute

Sometime around 1600, John Dowland received a pavane composed by his patron Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, in honour of ‘the English Orpheus’. A hundred years later a collection of songs by Henry Purcell was published posthumously with the title Orpheus Britannicus. And although more than three centuries have passed since then, the mythical comparison still rings true. To quote Emma Kirkby’s own liner notes to the present disc, these giants in the history of English song ‘share the quality of arresting any listener with a directness and grace that takes our breath away still today, aligning us with the men, animals, plants and stones that were said to weep or dance, or both, when Orpheus sang to his instrument.’ Together with the lutenist Jakob Lindberg, Emma Kirkby has devised a programme which takes in a wide spectrum of emotions: from the pastoral joyfulness of By a fountain and that distillate of melancholy which is In darkness let me dwell, we are led via the desperation and drama of Bess of Bedlam to the conviction expressed in Music for a while that music has the power to vanquish even death. Interspersing the songs are lute solos, including Dowland’s immortal Lachrimae, but also Lindberg’s own transcriptions of Purcell pieces such as The Cibell and the Echo Dance of the Furies from Dido and Aeneas, performed on Lindberg’s unique four-hundred year old instrument. Kirkby and Lindberg are musical partners of long standing, with earlier collaborations on BIS including Musique and Sweet Poetrie, a survey of the lute song across Europe around the year 1600. ‘A grand tour conducted by a pair of ideal guides’ was how the reviewer in Gramophone described that disc, while his colleague in International Record Review found that the ‘undeniably glorious performances’ made the disc ‘a journey well worth making’. While the journey on the present disc is one in time rather than space, the performances are as glorious as ever, and Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg remain the best guides imaginable.

Label: BIS 22
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ORTIZ: Recercada primera; Quinta pars; Recerdaca segunda; MORLEY: Lamento; Fancy; La Girandola; La Sampogna; DOWLAND: Resolution; RAUL/NEWSIDLER: Ach Elslein; BALLARD: Prelude; Allemande; Courante; Rocantins for lute; ROBINSON: The Queens Good Night; Passamezo Galyard; A Plaine Song; A Toy; ABEL: Sonata in G for viola da gamba solo; Sonata in G; D'HERVELOIS: Suite en La for viola da gamba & b.c.; GIBBONS: Fancy; TELEMANN: Sonata in Canon in G. Bengt Ericson, viola da gambe; Rolf LaFleur, lute.

Label: BIS 390
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MUSIC FROM THE TIME OF CHRISTIAN IV - Instrumental Ensemble & Lute Solo - Music by OROLOGIO: Intrada I, V, XIX & XXI for brass ensemble; BORCHGREVINCK: Paduana; Calliard for viols & lute; GISTOU: Paduana; Galliard for viols & lute; GREEBE: Paduana; Galliard for viols & lute; ORN: Pavana for viols & lute; HUET: Fantasia for lute solo; DOWLAND: A Fantasie for lute; King of Denmarks Galiard for viols & lute; Mr. Dowland's Midnight for lute; Preludium for lute; BRADE: Paduana; Galliard for viols & lute; SIMPSON: Pasameza for viols & lute; SCHOP: Lachrimµ Pavan for viols & lute; FOUCART: Courante I-III for viols & lute; & ANONYMOUS: Graff van Mannsfeldts dans; Polnisch Tantz I & II; Ciel turchino Gagliardo; Passamezzo-Saltarello for lute solo. Jakob Lindberg, lute; The Dowland Consort; Royal Danish Brass.

Label: BIS 409
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THE COMPLETE ORGAN WORKS, VOLUME 1: L'Ascension (1934); Le Banquet Celeste (1926/28?); Apparition de l'Eglise Eternelle (1932); Diptyque (1930). Hans-Ola Ericsson playing the 1987 Gronlund Organ of Lulea Cathedral, Sweden.

Label: BIS 410
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THE COMPLETE ORGAN WORKS, VOLUME 2: La Nativite du Seigneur, 9 meditations for organ. Hans-Ola Ericsson playing the 1987 Gronlund Organ of Lulea Cathedral, Sweden.

Label: BIS 441
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THE COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC, VOLUME 3: Messe de la Pentecote; Livre d'orgue. Hans-Ola Ericsson playing the 1987 Gronlund Organ of Lulea Cathedral, Sweden.

Label: BIS 442
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THE COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC, VOLUME 4: Les Corps glorieux; Verset pour la fete de la Dedicace. Hans-Ola Ericsson playing the 1987 Gronlund Organ of Lulea Cathedral, Sweden.

Label: BIS 464
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THE COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC, VOLUME 5: Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinite. Hans-Ola Ericsson playing the 1987 Gronlund Organ of Lulea Cathedral, Sweden.

Label: BIS 491/2
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THE COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC, VOL. 6: Livre du Saint Sacrement; Also included: Bird-calls of the birds imitated by Messiaen in his organ music. Hans-Ola Ericsson playing the 1987 Gr÷nlund Organ of Lules Cathedral, Sweden. (2 CDs)

Label: BIS 594/6
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Catalogue des oiseaux; La Fauvette des jardins; Petits Esquisses d'oiseaux. Carl-Axel Dominique, piano. (3 CDs)

Label: BIS 85
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Sonata in E, Op. 38; Fantasia Crosmatica, Op. 45 No. 1; Sestetto, Op. 45 No. 2; Berceuse, Op. 45 No. 3; 10 Variations on 'Ave Maria Stella', Op. 42; Prelude & Fugue in D sharp minor, Op. 56; Prelude & Fugue in F sharp minor, Op. 52. Hans Fagius playing the organ of Gustav Vasa Church, Stockholm, Nederlulea Church, Gammelstad and the Katarina Church, Stockholm, Sweden.

Label: BIS 86
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Harawi, Songs of Love & Death; Poemes pour Mi, Book I. Dorothy Dorow, soprano; Carl-Axel Dominique, piano; Jacqueline Delman, soprano; Lucia Negro, piano.