Label: BIS 1145
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MATE SAULE - CHORAL MUSIC - 3 Poems by Czeslaw Milosz; Zemgale; Mate Saule; Litene; Dona Nobis Pacem. Latvian Radio Choir; S. Klava; K. Putnins; A. Kalejs (conds.) Peteris Vasks is a musical cult figure in his native Latvia, but his music has been gaining internationally attention in recent years. Like Arvo Part and John Tavener, his music has a distinctly spiritual dimension. The works here span a quarter of a century output.

Label: BIS 1176
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Concerto No.1 for piano and orchestra, Op.17; Concerto No.3 for clarinet and orchestra, Op.21; Concerto No.7 for oboe and orchestra, Op.37; Beatus parvo for choir and orchestra, Op.117
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra/Owain Arwel Hughes
Noriko Ogawa, piano; Martin Frost, clarinet; Gordon Hunt, oboe
Danish National Opera Choir
The prolific Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) has been a major concern of BIS’ for quite some time now. In all Bis has released 12 CDs dedicated to him and in particular to his orchestral works, including the complete cycle of 13 symphonies (re-released in a 6-CD box, BIS-CD-843/46). In his catalogue there are 21 works for solo instrument(s) and orchestra, and with this disc Bis has recorded a total of 11 of these works. The three concertos on the present CD are all part of the series that Holmboe initially called ‘chamber concertos’, reverting to the more conventional title ‘concertos’ mid-way. But still, the format is smaller than a full-blown, romantic concerto - both in terms of scoring (the Piano Concerto is scored for piano, strings and timpani only) and in duration. Written over a period of six years (1939-1945) the concertos for piano, clarinet and oboe show the various influences (Bartòk, neo-classicism etc) that the composer integrated in his own music - music that The New Grove Dictionary of Music describes as being of ‘a rare continuity and quality of thought.’

Label: BIS 1304
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1. Fugue, Op. 12, sur le thème du Carillon des Heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons; Prélude, Adagio et Choral Varié, Op.4, sur le thème de Veni Creator; Prélude sur l´Introït de l´Épiphanie, Op. 13; Prélude et fugue sur le nom d´Alain, Op.7; Scherzo, Op. 2; Méditation, op. posth.; Suite, Op.5: Prélude; Suites, Op.5: Sicilienne & Toccata

Hans Fagius, organ

Label: BIS 1349
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FINNISH HYMNS 2: Lahti Symphony Orchestra; O. Vanska, cond. Selections: Early You Prepared the Way, Lord; Come Jesus, Great Giver of Grace; Help Me, O Jesus, The Earth is the Lord's; O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden; Rejoice in the Goodness of the Lord; Spirit of Truth; Marching Through the Desert; Praise God in the Highest; God Who Loves the Children; Thank God and the Lamb for the Covenant; Lord, You Fill the Firmament with Blooms; O Jesus, Let Me Return to You; Spread your Wings, Oh Lord; I Remember the Day I Was Found by the Lord; Lobe den Herrn; When I See My Saviour. This is the second disc released (BIS 1149 – Finnish Hymns 1) devoted to orchestral arrangements of popular Finnish hymns. Many of these will be familiar to people of Christian, most specifically, Lutheran background. Osmo Vanska conducts the Lahti Symphony Orchestra with all his customary panache.

Label: BIS 1596
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VAGN HOLMBOE (1909 – 1996) – KAIROS
Kairos (String Sinfonias I-IV; 1957 – 1962), Op. 73
Sinfonia IV, Op. 73d (1962)

Camerata Wales/Owain Arwel Hughes
Of all the different arts, music is the one most closely associated with the concepts of time and duration – concepts which every composer must consider carefully. The great Danish symphonist Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) certainly did so, and in his explanation of the title of the present work touched upon a central point: ‘Kairos means time in a psychological sense; that is, that passing of time which we experience – as opposed to kronos, which signifies time that can be divided into seconds and minutes’. The duration of a performance, or a specific passage, is easily measured, but how the passing of time is perceived by the listener is a different matter, and it is this qualitative difference that Holmboe wished to explore. The work is unusual, not to say unique, in that it in fact consists of four individual works. The four Sinfonias for string orchestra may be performed separately but can also be combined into a single work, in which the four movements of Sinfonia IV are used to frame and separate the first three, single-movement sinfonias. (The present disc also includes the four movements of Sinfonia No. 4 in sequence – after the complete Kairos – and thus offers the possibility of hearing the works independently as well as combined.) Holmboe’s symphonies are generally agreed to form an important chapter in 20th-century music, something that Owain Arwel Hughes has contributed to through his acclaimed cycle on BIS, recorded with the Danish Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. The present works for string orchestra he has chosen to record with Camerata Wales, the chamber orchestra that he himself founded in 2005. The team has previously released a disc of British favorites for chamber orchestra to great acclaim, for instance in BBC Music Magazine, whose reviewer praised ‘the high quality of the playing’ and described the performances as ‘warm, subtly nuanced’, ‘lively, characterful’ and ‘highly engaging’.

Label: BIS 1703
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VALENTIN SILVESTROV (*1937) – SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 & 5
Symphony No. 4 for brass instruments and strings (1976)
Symphony No. 5 (1980 – 82)

Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Internationally, Lahti Symphony Orchestra is closely associated with the numerous Sibelius recordings released on BIS, conducted by their long-time chief conductor Osmo Vänskä. These recordings have received an overwhelming international welcome among reviewers, but also among record-buyers: as of August 2009 more than one million Lahti discs released by BIS have been sold! As many already know, the orchestra does not only play works by Sibelius – its recordings of music by contemporary Finnish composers such as Rautavaara, Kalevi Aho and Joonas Kokkonen have all met with critical acclaim. Led by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, its present chief conductor, the orchestra now takes a step eastwards, and performs two symphonies by the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Having as a student absorbed the music of Webern, Scriabin and the new Polish school, in the 1970s Silvestrov moved away from avant-garde techniques and became increasingly involved with the idiom of 19th-century song: ‘It seems to me that music is song in spite of everything, even when it is unable to sing in a literal sense. Not a philosophy, not a system of beliefs, but the song of the world about itself, and at the same time a musical testament to existence.’ To date, Silvestrov has composed seven symphonies, of which the Fourth (1976) and the Fifth (1980–82) are both dominated by a longing for a beauty that used to be, but is no longer within reach. Considered by some to be his masterpiece, Symphony No. 5 has for instance been described as ‘an epilogue or coda inspired by the music of late Romantic composers such as Gustav Mahler.’

Label: BIS 177
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CHRISTMAS MUSIC - JULMUSIK: Christmas carols sung in Swedish for mixed choir by VOGLER: Hosianna, Son of David for mixed choir; HANDEL: Daughter of Sion for children's choir; LEISRING: G÷r porten h÷gà for mixed choir; LILJEFORS: NSr det lider mot jul for mixed choir; OLSSON: Advent for mixed choir; GRUBER: The Holy Night for mixed choir; WIDEEN: Ps krubbans strs for mixed choir; SCHEIN: VSrldens FrSlsare, kom hSr for mixed choir; OSSIANDER: VSrldens FrSlsare kom hSr for mixed choir; LOTSCHER: -ra vare Gud i h÷jden for mixed choir; VULPIUS: Det Sr en ros utsprungen for mixed choir; PRAETORIUS: Av himlens h÷jdà for mixed choir; Det Sr en ros utsprungen for mixed choir; ECCARD: Av Himlens h÷jd..fur mixed choir; OTHMAYR: Av Himlens h÷jdà for mixed choir; J.S. BACH: Av himlens h÷jd for mixed choir; FORSTER: Av himlens h÷jdà for mixed choir; NIELSEN: FÜrunderligt och mèrkligt for mixed choir; RIEDEL: Tre gammalb÷hmiska julvisor for mixed choir; Organ Music by REGER: Suite im alten Stil, Op.93 for orchestra; PEPPING: Three Variations on 'Vom Himmel hoch' for organ; and DUPRE: Variations on a 'Nodl', Op.20 for organ. Malmo Chamber Choir conducted by Dan-Olof Stenlund; Hans Fagius playing the organ of Harnosand Cathedral, Sweden.

Label: BIS 210
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ANTONIO VIVALDI: Concerto in D 'Il Cardellino'; GIUSEPPE SAMMARTINI: Concerto in F; GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN: Suite in A minor. Clas Pehrsson, recorder; Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble; Anders Ohrwall, harpsichord.

Label: BIS 348
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THE WINTER TROMBONE: ANTONIO VIVALDI: 'Inverno' (Winter) from 'The Four Seasons', Op. 8 No. 4; DARIUS MILHAUD: Concertino d'hiver for trombone & strings; LARS-ERIK LARSSON: Concertino for trombone & strings, Op. 45 No. 7; GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN: Concerto in C minor; ROLAND PONTINEN: Bla Vinter (Blue Winter)(1987). Christian Lindberg, trombone; New Stockholm Chamber Orchestra conducted by Okko Kamu.

Label: BIS 533
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CHRISTMAS MUSIC
GEORG JOSEPH VOGLER: Hosianna for male choir & organ
RUBEN LILJEFORS: Nar det lider mot jul for male choir
GUSTAF NORDQVIST: Jul, jul, strîlande jul for male choir
ANONYMOUS: Bereden vag for Herran for solo soprano; Christmas songs for male choir: Hodie Christus natus est (Lat); O Come, All Ye Faithful (GB); Coventry Carol (GB); A la nanita nana (E); La Marche des rois (F); Quelle est cette odeur agreable?(F)
GUNNAR WENNERBERG: Psalm 24 for baritone & organ
ALICE TEGNER: Betlehelms stjarna for vocal quartet & male choir
CARL NIELSEN: Forunderligt at sige for male choir
JEAN SIBELIUS: Giv mig ej glans, Op.1 No.4, for baritone & organ
TOMAS LUIS DE VITTORIA: Ave Maria for male choir (Lat)
FRANZ BIEBL: Ave Maria for male choir (Lat)
PETER CORNELIUS: Die Konige for baritone & male choir
FRANZ GRUBER: Stille Nacht for soprano & male choir
LOWELL MASON: Joy to the World for male choir
GEOFFREY SHAW: How far is it to Bethlehem? for tenor & male choir
ADOLPHE ADAM: Cantique de Nodl for baritone & organ

Ophei Drangar conducted by Robert Sund

Bengt Forsberg, organ

Christina Hogman, soprano

Peter Mattei, baritone

Label: BIS 572
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Symphony No. 4, 'Sinfonia Sacra', Op. 29 (1942; rev. 1945); Symphony No. 5, Op. 35 (1944). The Jutland Opera Choir; Aarhus Symphony Orchestra/ Owain Arwel Hughes.

Label: BIS 573
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Symphony No. 6, Op. 43 (1947); Symphony No. 7 in one movement, Op. 50 (1950). Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Owain Arwel Hugues.

Label: BIS 605
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Symphony No. 1, Op. 4; Symphony No. 3, 'Sinfonia rustica', Op. 25; Symphony No. 10, Op. 105. Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.

Label: BIS 613
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SOUNDS OF ST. PETERSBERG: Brass Quintets Nos. 1-4. Stockholm Chamber Brass.

Label: BIS 618
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Symphony No. 8, Op. 56. Sinfonia Boreale (1951); Symphony No. 9, Op. 95 (1967/68, rev. 1969). Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.