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How The Nature Of The Music Industry Has Changed During The Pandemic

NPR's music correspondent answers questions about the changing nature of the music industry during the pandemic and talks about how some artists are trying to make ends meet.




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MATHIAS, W.: Choral Music - A May Magnificat / Learsongs / Riddles (St. John's Voices, The Gentlemen of St. John's, G. Walker) (8.574162)

William Mathias wrote some of the most imaginative, communicative and joyful choral music of the mid-to late 20th century. These qualities are perhaps most clearly represented in his substantial catalogue of works for choir and, in particular, his settings of sacred texts, notably the invigorating A Babe is Born and the hauntingly beautiful Ave verum corpus, one of his last compositions. This selection also includes the both serious and entertaining sequence of Riddles and the rapt, ecstatic A May Magnificat. More Mathias choral music can be heard on 8.573523.




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LISZT, F.: Later Piano Music (Historical Hungarian Portraits) (Jandó) (Liszt Complete Piano Music, Vol. 54) (8.574059)




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven - Symphonies and Orchestral Music (9.30209)




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PERFECT PIANO - Best Loved Classical Piano Music (8.578180)

The piano is one of the most universal and popular of all instruments, from the grand pianos found in prestigious concert venues to battered uprights providing entertainment in pubs and bars. Early keyboard masters such as J.S. Bach laid the foundations for composers and performers to expand the piano’s expressive range, exemplifi ed in the emotive depths of Beethoven’s sonatas against the lightness of his famous musical gift Für Elise. From the tender romance of Schumann and the power and poignancy of Chopin, to the virtuosity of Liszt, the impressionistic magic of Debussy and the enigmatic beauty of Satie, the piano offers a true abundance of musical riches.




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Lute Duo Music (Two Lutes with Grace - Plectrum Lute Duos of the Late 15th Century) (Lewon, Kieffer) (8.573854)

The plectrum lute duo was one of the most popular ensembles for professional instrumentalists in late 15th-century Western Europe. This recording presents for the first time the bulk of a surviving repertoire that can arguably be considered for the lute duo, performed on two equal plectrum lutes or with a combination of lute and gittern—a smaller member of the lute family. The album, inspired by the Ferrarese virtuoso Pietrobono dal Chitarino (c. 1417–1497), acclaimed in his lifetime as ‘the foremost lutenist in the world’, includes the earliest printed lute duos by Francesco Spinacino and Joan Ambrosio Dalza and the two-voice instrumental works by Johannes Tinctoris. The often highly ornamented instrumental duos are mostly reworkings of songs, some of which are given here in a performance with the singer Grace Newcombe to provide the context for the lute arrangements that follow.




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HANDSOME HARPSICHORD - Best Loved Classical Harpsichord Music (8.578184)

While the keyboards of the piano and harpsichord are similar, their playing techniques are quite different. The strings of the harpsichord are plucked with a quill rather than struck with a hammer, so every nuance of phrasing is down to the subtle touch of the player. There is something special about hearing music on the instrument for which it was originally written, and this programme treats us to dances from England with Byrd and Purcell, Baroque masterpieces by Bach and Handel, and elaborate and descriptive French works by Couperin and Rameau, whose Les Sauvages was inspired by Native American chieftains who danced for king Louis XV.




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BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven - Music from His Middle Compositional Period (9.30206)




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AWESOME ORGAN - Best Loved Classical Organ Music (8.578179)

Mozart referred to the organ as ‘the king of instruments’, and with the breathtaking sound produced by huge cathedral organs glistening with thousands of pipes it is easy to hear why. This introduction takes us from one of the most famous pieces ever written for the organ, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, to Widor’s wedding favourite Toccata from the Symphony No. 5, taking in masterpieces from the distinctive German and French schools of organ composing along the way. This album also features genial and spectacular music by Handel and Pachelbel and the ‘devastating tornado’ of Jehan Alain’s Litanies.




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ZÁDOR, E.: Sinfonia Technica / Music for Clarinet and Strings / Trombone Concerto (Sólyomi, Fejér, Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Smolij) (8.574108)

The music of Eugene Zádor is both warmly expressive and colourful. The composer took great delight in writing for overlooked solo instruments, as his Trombone Concerto, garnished with elements of Hungarian folklore, clearly shows. The easy-going, gypsy-influenced Music for Clarinet and Strings is a beautifully proportioned quasi-concerto. The Sinfonia Technica, composed much earlier when he was living in Vienna, and something of a one-off, is an enchanting and exuberantly orchestrated example of ‘industrial music’.




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Wind Band Music - MASLANKA, D. / PERRINE, A. / WALCZYK, K. (Freedom from Fear) (University of Kansas Wind Ensemble, Popiel) (8.574169)

Contemporary American music for wind band continues to offer a rich combination of colour and variety. David Maslanka was one of the most prolific and admired of all wind band composers, and in Liberation he utilises plainchant in a moving exploration of death, the afterlife and the continuance of hope. Inspired by Walt Whitman, Aaron Perrine’s In the Open Air, In the Silent Lines creates a rich sense of space, while Kevin Walczyk’s moving Symphony No. 5: Freedom from Fear – Images from the Shoreline is unified by its themes of adoption, segregation and immigration.




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WEINBERG, M.: Clarinet Music - Clarinet Concerto / Clarinet Sonata / Chamber Symphony No. 4 (Oberaigner, Schöch, Michail Jurowski) (8.574192)

Mieczysław Weinberg was familiar with the clarinet from his youth, given its prominent place in klezmer bands and theatre ensembles, and he wrote three works specifically for the instrument. In the Clarinet Concerto he draws a wide range of textures from the accompanying strings, over which the soloist explores the clarinet’s extremes of register in virtuosic fashion. Despite having been written when Weinberg was still in his mid-twenties, the Clarinet Sonata is a mature work with Romantic and folkloric elements. His last completed work was the Chamber Symphony No. 4, an impassioned piece with a wrenching chorale theme and role for obbligato clarinet.




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EŠENVALDS, Ē.: Choral Music (Translations) (Portland State Chamber Choir, Sperry) (8.574124)

The multi-award-winning Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds’ 21st-century choral sound is both exquisite and angular, and in this album he explores ideas of ‘translation’, legend and the divine. With his expanded tonality and employment of shimmering singing handbells in Translation, and the angelic use of the viola and cello in In paradisum he creates music of ravishing refinement. In Legend of the Walled-In Woman Ešenvalds transcribes and employs an authentic Albanian folk song.




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BROUWER, L.: Guitar Music, Vol. 5 - Danzas Rituales y Festivas, Vol. 2 / Guitar Sonatas Nos. 3, 4, 5 (P.M. González) (8.574016)

Leo Brouwer is universally acclaimed as an innovative composer, and this fifth volume of his complete guitar works contains some of his longest and most ambitious pieces. Danzas Rituales y Festivas Vol. 2 covers the gamut of virtuosic techniques and includes a movement dedicated to Pedro Mateo González, while Brouwer considers the Sonata del Pensador to be ‘one of my most valuable pieces’. Rich in Cuban rhythms, introspection and astonishing virtuosity, Brouwer’s work is the result of a lifetime of musical exploration alongside a passion for music of the past.




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Podcast: Ludwig van Beethoven. Music from his late compositional period. (Apr 24, 2020)

BEETHOVEN, L. van: Celebrate Beethoven – Music from His Late Compositional Period (c.1815–1827) 9.30207 Raymond Bisha introduces the latest release in the Naxos Beethoven anniversary digital album series. Ranging from a solo piano to the huge resources required for his final symphony, the programme comprises ten works that define the last ten years of Beethoven’s creative life, exemplifying his ever more technically c ...more




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Podcast: Black History Month. Some musical notes. (Feb 14, 2020)

The guest host of this podcast is Ashley Jackson. She is an accomplished musician, who has studied the music of both Margaret Bonds and Florence Price, who composed and worked during the civil rights movement in the United States. In this podcast, Dr Jackson gives us both an historical and a personal perspective on how the struggles of these composers, and those of her grandmother, helped make possible what she does today. Harpist Ashley Jack ...more




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EŠENVALDS, E.: Choral Music (Translations) (Portland State Chamber Choir, Sperry) (8.574124)


Review by Malcolm Riley
Gramophone, May 2020




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DEBARGUE, Lucas: To Music (Documentary, 2017) (NTSC) (2.110639)




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DEBARGUE, Lucas: To Music (Documentary, 2017) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0101V)




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Orchestral Music - TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I. / STRAUSS, R. / STRAVINSKY, I. / SHOSTAKOVICH, D. (City of Birmingham Symphony, Nelsons) (9-CD Box Set) (C987199)




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MUSIC FOR BOOK LOVERS - Classical Music for Reading (8.578359)

An ideal special edition for book lovers. Nestle into your favourite reading spot and experience how this music speaks volumes as the perfect accompaniment to your page-turning. Bookmarking movements in sound with chapters of narrative makes for a perfect couplet and a personal imprint!




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Orchestral Music - DUTILLEUX, H. / HINDEMITH, P. / KABALEVSKY, D. (Modern Times Edition) (Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic, Steffens)(10-CD Box Set) (C7337)




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KAPUSTIN, N.: Saxophone Chamber Music (E. Blumina, P. Bruns, Clair-Obscur Saxophone Quartet) (C5369)




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BRAUNFELS, W.: Piano Music - Variations, Op. 46 / Little Pieces, Op. 24 / Bagatelles, Op. 5 (T. Blome, H. Groschopp) (C5361)




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BERNSTEIN, L.: Mass (Dyk, Vienna State Opera Children's Choir, Company of Music, Wiener Singakademie, Vienna Radio Symphony, D.R. Davies) (C5370)




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GODOWSKY, L.: Piano Music, Vol. 14 (Scherbakov) - 53 Studies on the Chopin Études, Vol. 1 (8.225372)

Leopold Godowsky wrote his first Studies on the Chopin Études when he was barely 23 years old, and the complete cycle took some 20 years to finish. It remains one of the most extraordinary and technically demanding of all such works. It offered Godowsky—one of the greatest virtuosi of his age, but a haphazard teacher—an opportunity to resolve his innovative theories of keyboard technique. His exploration of developing the left hand in these studies remains revolutionary, and his ambition of ‘furthering the art of pianoforte playing’, triumphantly vindicated.




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Chamber Music (Clarinet Quintet) - SCHIFF, D. / ROGERSON, C. / COLEMAN, V. (Clarinet Quintets for Our Time) (Shifrin, Dover Quartet, Harlem Quartet) (DE3576)




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Guitar Concertos (Italian) - BOCCADORO, C. / GIULIANI, M. / SOLLIMA, G. / VIVALDI, A. (Segre, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Boccadoro) (DE3546)




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YE, Xiaogang: Chamber Music (December Chrysanthemum) (Les Temps Modernes) (DE3559)




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OFFENBACH, J.: Mari à la porte (Le) [Operetta] (Placa, Ogii, Mezzaro, F. Benitez, Fiorentino Maggio Musicale Orchestra, V. Galli) (CDS7844)




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OFFENBACH, J.: Mari à la porte (Le) [Operetta] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (NTSC) (DYN-37844)




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OFFENBACH, J.: Mari à la porte (Le) [Operetta] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (Blu-ray, HD) (DYN-57844)




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MALVEZZI, C. / MARENZIO, L. / CACCINI, G. / BARDI, G. de' / PERI, J.: Pellegrina (La) (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (NTSC) (DYN-37856)




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MALVEZZI, C. / MARENZIO, L. / CACCINI, G. / BARDI, G. de' / PERI, J.: Pellegrina (La) (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (Blu-ray, HD) (DYN-57856)




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DONIZETTI, G.: Elisir d'amore (L') [Opera] (Dalla Benetta, R. Hernández, Esposito, Salerno, Bergamo Musica Festival Chorus and Orchestra, De Marchi) (CDS577)




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LEONCAVALLO, R.: Pagliacci [Opera] (Sepe, Villari, Cecconi, Fiorentino Maggio Musicale Chorus and Orchestra, Galli) (CDS7863)




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LEONCAVALLO, R.: Pagliacci [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (NTSC) (DYN-37863)




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LEONCAVALLO, R.: Pagliacci [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (Blu-ray, HD) (DYN-57863)




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SPONTINI, G.: Fernando Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique [Opera] (Schmunck, Voulgaridou, Fiorentino Maggio Musicale Chorus and Orchestra, Tingaud) (CDS7868.03)




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SPONTINI, G.: Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (NTSC) (DYN-37868)




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SPONTINI, G.: Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique [Opera] (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2019) (Blu-ray, HD) (DYN-57868)




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CHINA Folk Music of China, Vol. 1: Folk Songs of Qinghai and Gansu (NXW76088-2)

This series explores China’s rich and diverse musical heritage. The songs featured in this recording are folk songs of the five minority ethnic groups of Qinghai and Gansu provinces—Tu, Bonan, Dongxiang, Yugur and Salar. As with Chinese traditional visual arts, the song titles explain their mood and origin.




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CHINA Folk Music of China, Vol. 2: Folk Songs of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang (NXW76089-2)

This series explores China’s rich and diverse musical heritage. The songs featured in this recording are folk songs of five minority ethnic groups of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang—Mongol, Daur, Oroqen, Evenki and Hezhen. As with Chinese traditional visual arts, the song titles explain their mood and origin.




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CHINA Folk Music of China, Vol. 3: Folk Songs of Yunnan (NXW76090-2)

This series explores China’s rich and diverse musical heritage. The songs featured in this recording are folk songs of three of the minority ethnic groups of Yunnan province—Wa, Blang, and De’ang. As with Chinese traditional visual arts, the song titles explain their mood and origin.




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CHINA Folk Music of China, Vol. 4: Folk Songs of Guangxi (NXW76091-2)

This series explores China’s rich and diverse musical heritage. The songs featured in this recording are folk songs of four of the minority ethnic groups of Guangxi province—Zhuang, Bouyei, Mulao, Maonan. As with Chinese traditional visual arts, the song titles explain their mood and origin.




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CHINA Folk Music of China, Vol. 5: Aboriginal Folk Songs of Taiwan (NXW76092-2)

This album features folk songs of the Austronesian aboriginal ethnic groups of Taiwan—Amis, Atayal, Saisiyat, Tsou, Paiwan, Rukai, Bunun, Seediq and Truku. As with Chinese traditional visual arts, the song titles explain their mood and origin.




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Chamber Music (Viola da gamba) - MARAIS, M. / FORQUERAY, A. (J. and K. Karpeta, Birula, Niedźwiecka, Raczyński) (CDAccordACD259)




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MONIUSZKO, S.: Choral Music (inaczej śpiewany) (Choirs of the Choral Academy Project - Singing Poland, NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, Frankow-Zelazny) (CDAccordACD265)




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Violin Music (Danish) - ALSTED, B. / CHRISTENSEN, S. / FUZZY / KONDRUP, E.V. / NØRHOLM, I. / OLSEN, M. (Educate·S) (C. Balling, B.B. Pihl) (8.226614)




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MARGOLA, F.: Chamber Music - Concertos for Soloist and Orchestra (Convervatorio Arrigo Boito di Parma Orchestra) (TC901390)