Welcome to the Decca Music Group
news for June 2002. Select one of the headlines below to take a look at
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In the studio
Cecilia Bartoli, Russell Watson and Andrea Bocelli triumph at the Classical Brit Awards
Nelson Freire: Chopin - his Decca debut
Sarah Brightman - Encore
Win signed Juan Diego Flórez CDs
Russell Watson beamed up into space
In the studio
There are lots of new recordings taking place this month including Viktoria Mullova and Sir John Eliot Gardiner recording Beethoven & Mendelssohn Violin Concertos in Watford, UK and Akiko Suwanai recording Sibelius Violin Concerto in Birmingham, UK.
Also, Alfred Brendel is in Dundee, UK recording
Mozart Piano Sonata in D major K311, Piano Sonata in F major
K533/K494, Sonata in A minor K310 and Fantasy in D minor K397; and
Jean-Yves Thibaudet is completing his recording of Satie's complete
solo piano works.
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Cecilia Bartoli, Russell Watson and Andrea Bocelli triumph at the Classical Brit Awards
Russell Watson took two major honours at the third annual Classical Brit Awards held recently at London's Royal Albert Hall. His album Encore was named as Rover Album Of The Year - he won in the same category last year for The Voice. Encore was also named Best-Selling Classical Album.
Cecilia Bartoli, who led the nominations with three, was named Female Artist of the Year and Andrea Bocelli was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award and was the guest of honour at the Classical Brits.
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Nelson Freire: Chopin - his Decca debut |
by C Bryce Morrison
Nelson Freire, the legendary Brazilian pianist, is a
living paradox. His musical pedigree is impeccable yet his public appearances
are few and far between. A public figure, he fights shy of publicity quietly
withdrawing from the limelight and the adulation surrounding the very mention
of his name into a private and reclusive world. Scarcely less mercurial than
his friend and musical partner Martha Argerich, he would probably say that he
loves playing the piano but dislikes being a pianist. He claims he has never
actively sought a career. Aristocratically, he has let others come to him
rather than knock on doors or pay court to those in power.
Few careers have commenced in more auspicious style. A
prodigy of prodigies Nelson Freire was born in 1944 in Boa Esperanza and his
precosity was such that his parents felt compelled to leave their spacious
country house for a small flat in Rio where more sophisticated instruction was
available. Freire's early teachers shook their heads in disbelief at his
facility, at a young artist as much in his element at the keyboard as a fish in
water or a bird in the air.In 1956
aged 12 he entered and won the inaugeral Rio De Janeiro International Piano
Competition, the youngest of 80 or so competitors, winning the unqualified
admiration of his jurors including Guiomar Novaes (always high on his list of
piano gods and goddesses).
His subsequent intensive and international career included
a performance of Tchaikovsky's Second Concerto in Germany in 1966 , a Wigmore
Hall debut in 1968, Bartoks First Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
under Pierre Boulez and four performances of Rachmaninov's Fourth Concerto with
the New York Philharmonic in 1969, a New York debut recital at Hunter College
in 1971 and further New York and London recitals in 1975 and 1977. Yet despite or because of such early success Freire has
remained an elusive figure, hard to pin down or define. He dislikes travel and,
more particularly, flying. And doubtless reacting to the pace and exposure of
his early life he has sought out life away from the keyboard. For him, lengthy
sabbaticals and sojourns in the beautiful and dramatic countryside of his
native Brazil are a necessity rather than a luxury. Without such freedom he
feels his playing could become mechanical.
Nelson Freire devotes his Decca debut album to Chopin, a composer
close to his and virtually all pianist's hearts. His choice of repertoire was
determined by a desire for both old and new. He recorded the B minor Sonata in
1969 but now looks forward to revisiting it. On the other hand, several of the
opus 25 and Trois Nouvelles Etudes represent a new and stimulating challenge.
Initially asked to record all the Chopin Nocturnes, he fought shy deciding they
could wait, together with more Chopin, for a future occasion. Chopin, he
confesses, is at the very heart of Brazil's love of music. In Rio, where he has
spent a large part of his life, people still remember Rubinstein's all-Chopin
recitals. It is also significant that the legendary Guiomar Novaes, who Freire
played for, played virtually the complete works of Chopin. Villa-Lobos,
Brazil's greatest composer, wrote a piece entitled 'Hommage a Chopin' and there
is even a statue of Chopin facing the Sugar Loaf mountain.
Interestingly, the first record Freire ever made was of music by Chopin. At the
age of 12, after winning the first Rio de Janeiro International Piano
Competition, he was invited to record some of the Chopin central to his success
in the competition. His Third Sonata is among his crowning masterpieces,a
florid as the Second Sonata is terse. Here, the first movement is kalaidoscopic
yet unified, free yet disciplined while the Scherzo, in extreme contrast to its
grim Mephistophelian counterpart in the Second Sonata; 'vivacious, charming,
light as a hairbell.' The third and fourth movements too replace a funeral
march and nightmare finale with an idyllic Barcarolle seemingly lost in its own
reverie, and an equestrion presto that throw down the gauntlet at all
prospective pianists.
Such richly varied marvels are tailor-made for a pianist
of Nelson Freire's gifts, which include a capacity to resolve extreme
difficulties(the Chopin Etudes remain the pianist's Parnassus) with an ease
bordering on nonchalence but also, and more importantly, with an elegance and
poetry inseparable from Chopin's own patrician genius. Happy to return to the
studios after a lengthy break(his last record was made in the 70s) Nelson
Freire looks ahead to a long and fruitful association with Decca, to possible
discs of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Debussy and, remembering his latin origins,
to Spanish and Brazilian music.
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Sarah Brightman: Encore |
Sarah Brightman: Encore, is a collection of unforgettable performances of popular hits from famous Broadway shows including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Sunset Boulevard, Evita, Song And Dance, Aspects of Love and Whistle Down The Wind.
The tracklisting includes many of the songs which made her famous.
Encore also contains four never-before-released tracks. The album has already been released in the USA, where it stormed to the top of the Classical Crossover chart.
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Win signed Juan Diego Flórez CDs |
Juan Diego makes a triumphant return to La Scala, Milan later this month to star in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Seviglia. To mark this occasion, we're giving away 10 autographed copies of Juan Diego's stunning debut album
All you have to do is send us an email to "webmaster@deccaclassics.com" with the subject line "Florez CD" and the answer to the following question:
"Where was Juan Diego Flórez born"
**tip** you can find the answer at www.deccaclassics.com/juandiegoflorez
Juan Diego Flórez appears at La Scala on 20, 22, 24, 26, 28,
June
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Russell Watson beamed into space |
Well, almost... Russell joins the crew of Star Trek: Enterprise, by contributing his vocals to the theme of the top-rated TV series. The soundtrack is now available - go to soundtracks for more information.
In this exclusive interview, composer Dennis McCarthy explains the difficult background to the recording sessions which resulted in an emotionally-charged performance from all involved.
”When I first screened the opening episode of Enterprise,
what struck me was the sense of adventure that it had, a sort of "the
right stuff" attitude toward space exploration as well as a sense of awe
and wonder as the crew of the NX-O1 Enterprise begin their first journey to the
stars on a desperate mission to save a Klingon warrior and return him to his
home-world, while at the same time becoming involved in a "temporal cold
war" that could affect the entire future history of mankind.
The first idea I came up with was the very
Americana-flavoured theme for our Captain, Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), that
is heard throughout the score, as well as a sinister percussive motif for the
villains of peace, the Suliban.
I composed about 55 minutes of original score for the
episode, as well as several pieces of "source music" for an alien
planet our heroes visit.
The first day of recording was a joy.We had pretty much the same orchestra that I've
been using since 1987 for Star Trek and the players gave it their all. By the
end of the day we had recorded the music for the first half of the show and
went home very happy.
The next morning I was awakened by a good friend who
called me up and told me to turn on the TV; it was September 11th, 2001 and the
attacks on the World Trade Center were underway. I watched in horror as the
first tower fell and my heart filled with sorrow.
The recording session that day was set to start at
10:00am. I was asked if I wanted to postpone it until a later date, but the
musicians and myself felt we needed to move ahead despite the tragic events
that were still unfolding. It was without question the hardest recording
session of my entire career, but the musicians turned in magnificent
per-formances despite the tragedy we had just witnessed.
I wish to dedicate this album to those who we lost on
9/11/01 and to those men and women who rose to the challenge and showed us that
the human spirit will prevail no matter what.”
Dennis McCarthy.
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