Bath Compact Discs
Situated in the beautiful Georgian city of Bath, our shop has been established as one of the leading classical recorded music retailers in the U.K. since 1982.
Thursday, 18 September 2014
The winners of the 2014 Gramophone Awards are announced!
As well as the category winners announced late last month, special awards have been presented at a ceremony in London last night to Sir Neville Marriner, Sir James Galway, violinist Leonidas Kavakos and Riccardo Chailly, with the Scottish Delphian Records being named 'Record Label of the Year'.
Riccardo Chailly's recording for Decca of the Brahms Symphonies was named Recording of the Year - a deserved winner, this superb set also includes other orchestral works, overtures and the popular Haydn Variations.
BRAHMS: THE SYMPHONIES
Gewandhausorchester
Riccardo Chailly
The Lifetime Achievement Awards was given to Sir James Galway, and a timely new compilation from RCA celebrates this legendary flute player's work.
THE ESSENTIAL JAMES GALWAY
A special award for Outstanding Achievement was presented to Sir Neville Marriner, who also celebrates his 90th birthday this year.
NEVILLE MARRINER
The Argo Years
Artist of the Year is voted for by the public and this year was awarded to the Greek Violinist Leonidas Kavakos; his recordings of the Brahms Violin Concerto and Brahms Violin Sonatas for Decca have been highlights this year. Last year's winner, Alison Balsom, presented the award.
LEONIDAS KAVAKOS
Brahms Violin Concerto
Young Artist of the Year was presented to the Nightingale String Quartet. Their two recordings for Da Capo of the String Quartets by Rued Langgaard have received universal praise.
NIGHTINGALE STRING QUARTET
Langgaard String Quartets Vol. 1
NIGHTINGALE STRING QUARTET
Langgaard String Quartets Vol. 2
For the main category winners all on special offer please see our 'Monthly Offers' icon on our homepage.
Thursday, 21 August 2014
It
has been a while since a recording has changed my perspective on a great
masterwork, but a new recording by the period instrument orchestra ‘Les Siecles’
does just that. They are performing two great ballet scores by Stravinsky,
the ‘Rite of Spring’ and ‘Petrushka’.
‘Les
Siecles’ are an orchestra on a mission to present music in a refreshing and new
way, selecting instruments from the period to create the most authentic
performance possible. Their aim, to get back to the sounds that may have
accompanied the dancers on that famous premiere night in Paris of the ‘Rite’. This is the only recording of the ‘Rite’ on period
instruments and the results are stunning, revealing much of the score hitherto
unheard in my previous listening. The gut strings have a different timbre,
altering the balance and shifting it towards the woodwind. Whilst listening to
this recording I became far more aware of how revolutionary this score must
have been back in 1913. The wind writing is exposed and sounds like a
beautifully barbaric free-for-all. The opening of the work is now so familiar to us - a lone bassoon playing in a high register, sounding like a fish out of water, a familiar instrument in unfamiliar territory. The bassoonist of Les Siecles uses an instrument that predates the modifications of the modern bassoon, making life a little more difficult for the player!
The
complex layers of rhythm and texture in Petrushka are also given a different
quality. The decision to use an Erard piano really adds a sparkle to the score. Once again the strings are less prominent revealing Stravinsky
delicate scoring. Really recommended!!
Jason Hatton, August 2014
Saturday, 12 July 2014
"BRAZIL" – QUATOUR EBENE
Fun in the sun! I should tango!
It is hot. I am hot and at the moment
under-cheered. With the door shut it is stifling, yet with the door open, in wanders the noise of
the street, exhaust fumes and even more heat. On the CD player is the album
Brazil by Quatour Ebene with chums Bernard Lavilliers, Stacey Kent and the
Brazil Choir and String Orchestra. It is the quartet's latest recording and is
the second of their ‘fusion’ projects. This one is firmly camped in the rhythms
and atmosphere of South America, samba, bossa nova and the tango.
Their choice of repertoire for this
recording runs from Piazzolla to Stevie Wonder, Sting to Chaplin, taking in
lesser-known Brazilian composers along the way and a collaboration with the
extraordinary Bernard Lavilliers – a ruggedly handsome, smokey-voiced French singer/songwriter,
ex-steel worker, boxer, ex-con, traveller and sometime reporter with a
fascination for the music of South America and Africa.
Now, I love this album. I’m not usually a
big fan of classical musicians adventuring beyond their customary boundaries and
comfort zones – it just never sounds all that convincing. I don’t cringe very easily but
classical-jazz/samba/rock crossovers will usually have me blushing and
wondering where to put myself before realising that it’s the CD that needs to
be put somewhere else, out of its-and my-misery. But this… the first track I heard was their
take on Libertango – not a piece that is under represented in the world of
recorded music. After an enigmatic introduction the cello begins with the
familiar ostinato rhythm, crisp and unwavering, which is passed between
instruments throughout. One of the reasons I think that this works so well is
the quality of the sound that the quartet produces. It doesn’t have the over
refined aura which could mark them out as 'classicos' on a rather self-conscious
holiday. It has a wonderful edginess, bordering on but never tipping over into abrasiveness. You can believe that you are listening to string players who have
never left Brazil and are steeped in the culture.
Something else that sets this recording
apart is the outstanding quality and inventiveness of the arranging. Brave
choices that push at the harmonic structure of the pieces but don’t undermine
the original versions; a keen awareness of how string instruments blend with
one another and as part of a larger group, and always managing to sound fresh
and spontaneous, almost improvised. The two voices are both husky and sultry.
Both accomplished and evocative of times and places beyond the tawdry here and
now of a Friday afternoon. Both of whom you will gladly let take up residence in
your soul to provide the soundtrack for a landscape to which you can transport
yourself when the world encroaches…
The sheer joy of life that these young men
and their collaborators exhibit is the main reason that I love this CD. This is
joyful music, reveling in the heat and intense feeling and rhythms of South
America. At the beginning I said that I was hot and cheer-lite - I am still hot but I can imagine the heat to
be the heat of a Brazilian beach after dark with its compelling beats and
seductive voices. I’m off home now to put this CD on again and pour myself a
caiparinha and let the abundant cheer wash over and through me. I suggest you
do the same.
Blog: Matthew Greswell
Wednesday, 11 June 2014
Martha Argerich and
friends – Live from Lugano 2013
Martha Argerich, and a very long list of friends are back in
another release from Warner Classics, recorded at the Lugano Festival in 2013.
One of the most interesting features of this series is the inclusion of rare
repertoire; this issue is no exception and includes an intense performance of
Respighi’s violin sonata from 1917. Other highlights include the Shostakovich Cello
Sonata and a glittering performance of the ‘Carnival of the Animals’ (Note the
humourous, badly played scales in the ‘pianistes’). The pianist/arranger Carlo
Maria Griguoli has made several contributions to previous volumes, and this time he presents a terrific arrangement
of Offenbach ‘Gaite Parisienne’. When all is said and done, this is most
entertaining and thoroughly rewarding.
Highly recommended.
Argerich is joined by Renaud and Gautier Capucon, Gabriela Montero, Mischa Maisky, Lilya
Zilberstein amongst others, and although mostly chamber music recitals, the set
does include a performance of Beethoven’s first Piano Concerto with Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under Hubert Soudant.
“With Martha at the keys, Beethoven’s First Piano
Concerto sparkles and winks, with friendly assistance from the Dutch conductor
Hubert Soudant and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana... But as usual the
special treats come in the lighter items, when hair is let down and feet stomp.” (The
Times)
Jason Hatton (Bath CDs)
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
The
2014 BBC Music Magazine Awards – The Winners!
This
year’s award winners were announced on 8th April, and it was no surprise
to find Alisa Weilerstein’s moving recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with
Daniel Barenboim named ‘Record of the Year’.
The
awards are unique in the Classical world in that the winners are voted for by
the public; they vote on twenty one shortlisted recordings which have been
chosen by an expert jury. These shortlisted recordings represent the best of
all the many recordings reviewed by the magazine during the year.
The
recordings chosen are indeed a good representation of the best of last year’s
releases. All the winners had universally good reviews, not just from BBC
Music, and were significant highlights of 2013 here at the shop.
We
have the winners on special offer until the end of June 2014:
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Kaufmann and Finley in two new recordings of Schubert's Winterreise.
After a long winter that seemed like it
would never end, we all look forward to the spring. So winter as a subject for
a spring blog may seem a little unseasonal and just a tad retrospective, and if you
take Schubert's 'Winter Journey' literally, you
might be right. However it is more often viewed as a beautiful yet tragic metaphor for an
inner journey of self-discovery, concluding with 'Der leiermann' (the
hurdy-gurdy man), a symbol of inexorable
misery and dejection. This last song is asymmetrical, giving it an unfinished
quality, its drone perfectly encapsulating a mood of utter futility; here there is no light, it is all darkness,
devoid of hope. We have to remember this is a work by a young composer barely
in his thirties at the height of his powers. By any standards this work is a
magnificent achievement.
There are currently many versions on disc
of 'Winterreise', and these two new recordings join the pantheon of great
interpretations. Tenor Jonas Kaufmann’s recent forays into Wagner and Late Romantic
opera have given his voice a ferocity and dramatic intensity, so his reading of Schubert's cycle is full of 'heart-on-sleeve' passion and drama, aided in no small way by Helmut Deutsch at
the piano. It is important to mention the pianist as they are as much part of
the interpretation as the singer; in Schubert's songs the piano provides the
background and comments on the text, with the music demanding more of a partnership
than just a singer/accompanist relationship.
The baritone voice of Gerald Finley gives
the work a darker hue, finding the introspective aspect of the cycle. Perhaps
this is more of a soliloquy, a confession of
dark thoughts. Finley has a wonderful hushed quality to his voice in the
final song. We are left feeling at the end of the cycle that the
winter may be over but this is a troubled soul in need of absolution.
Jason Hatton
3rd March 2014
Schubert: Winterreise D911
Thursday, 13 February 2014
“A countertenor voice in its prime.”
So says The Daily Telegraph in a recent review of Iestyn
Davies’ new album of Handel Oratorio arias for the Vivat label, entitled ‘Your
Tuneful Voice’. If you have been impressed by his sublime countertenor voice,
you will love this new collection. We even have a free signed photo from Iestyn
Davies when you order this new album.
'Your Tuneful Voice’ is an outstanding programme of arias from
Handel oratorios including the lyrical ‘O sacred oracles of truth’ (from
Belshazzar), the exquisite ‘Tune your harps’ (Esther), with its vocal and oboe
duet set over a delicate bed of pizzicato strings, ‘Eternal source of light’
(featuring supreme trumpet playing from Crispian Steele-Perkins), the melodious
‘Your tuneful voice’, and a virtuoso performance of the warlike ‘Mighty love
now calls to arm’. Rarities include two arias from The Triumph of Time and
Truth: ‘On the valleys, dark and cheerless’, and an especial jewel, ‘Mortals
think that Time is sleeping’, with its gentle, inexorably tick-tocking
orchestral accompaniment.
Iestyn is also joined in two duets by soprano Carolyn Sampson: the ecstatic ‘Welcome as the dawn of day’ (from Solomon) and the ghostly ‘Who calls my parting soul from death’ (Esther). The orchestral accompaniment from The King’s Consort is full of varied colours: the disc also includes the vividly characterised overture to Jephtha, and the bucolic overture to Samson, featuring splendid natural horn playing.
The disc was recorded in the wonderful acoustic of The Menuhin Hall, bringing great clarity to the sound. The album includes a 36 page booklet with an authoritative liner note by renowned Handel scholar Professor Donald Burrows, together with full texts and translations.
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