Ondine is delighted to present 22-year-old, New York-born violist David Aaron Carpenter’s debut recording. This will be the first of several recordings under a recent agreement between Ondine and the artist. David Aaron Carpenter has been the protégé of several major international musical figures, such as Pinchas Zukerman, Yuri Bashmet and Christoph Eschenbach.
David Aaron Carpenter has recently emerged as one of the world’s most promising young talents, winning, in 2006, the prestigious Walter E. Naumburg Viola Competition and being the 2007 protégé for The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, the youngest in this mentorship programme’s history.
David Aaron Carpenter adapted much of the Elgar Concerto himself, using the well-known and Elgar-sanctioned arrangement by Lionel Tertis as his basis.
Ondine shares in David Aaron Carpenter’s mission to focus attention on the viola as a great solo string instrument in its own right.

虽然拉威尔一生大部分时间都在巴黎度过，但他却出生在法国和西班牙边境的巴斯克地区。这张专辑标志着这位作曲家的归宿，由巴斯克国家管弦乐团演奏了他最伟大的六首管弦乐杰作。从战后讽刺维也纳华尔兹的《圆舞曲（La valse）》开始，这张专辑继续探索他对西班牙的热爱，包括《小丑的 晨歌（Alborada del gracioso）》，其中有吉他般的拨奏、响板、闪烁的弦乐；《西班牙狂想曲（Rapsodie espagnole）》则配器华丽、蕴含无尽的想象力。感人至深的《悼念公主的帕凡舞曲（Pavane pour une infante défunte）》，灵感来自于委拉斯凯兹（Velázquez）的西班牙公主肖像，展示了乐团奢华的声音，而他最著名的作品《波莱罗（Bolero）》则以令人着迷的节奏控制，在涌动的兴奋感中落下帷幕。

Lars Vogt continues his cycle of Beethovens Piano Concertos with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. On this second volume, the recording also includes Beethovens Triple Concerto where Lars Vogt is joined together with his longtime artistic partners Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff. Vogts recordings of chamber music with the trio have gathered astonishing reviews and recording awards, including a Grammy nomination for the recording of Brahms Piano Trios (ODE 1271-2D). Beethovens Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Cello in C major, Op. 56 is a work radiant with joy, described by many as a concerto for piano trio and orchestra. The work, completed in 1803, has standed unrivaled in its genre. Beethovens Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 is a slightly earlier work and it was premiered together with his Symphony No. 2 in a concert in 1804. It has been noted that the theme in the first movement of the concerto is possibly a quotation from Mozarts Piano Concerto No. 24 written in the same key, and the both works do ressemble each other in formal, rhythmic, and thematic aspects. C minor key is also a key in which Beethoven wrote many of his most important works, including the 5th Symphony, the Pathétique Sonata and Piano Sonata, Op. 111. Lars Vogt was appointed the first ever 'Pianist in Residence' by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2003/04 and enjoys a high profile as a soloist and chamber musician. His debut solo recording on Ondine with Bachs Goldberg Variations (ODE 1273-2) was released in August 2015 and has been a major critical success. The albums tracks have also been streamed online over 6 million times. Lars Vogt started his tenure as Music Director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia in September 2015. In June 2017 Lars Vogt was nominated for Gramophone's Artist of the Year 2017 Award.

This is as fine a Sibelius cycle as any available, and the performances of Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7, as well as the Violin Concerto, are uniformly top recommendations. All of the individual discs have been previously reviewed, and my only reservations (incidentally not shared by my colleague Victor Carr Jr, who covered the original release) concern Symphonies Nos. 2 and 6, particularly the latter, which strikes me as just a touch lacking in energy and directness. That doesn't mean the playing isn't very beautiful: indeed, it may be excessively so, and that takes some of the Sibelian edge off of the performance. Still, for the most part these are wonderful interpretations, and if you want a complete Sibelius cycle from top Finnish performers, then this set represents an obvious first choice, alongside Vänskä's very different and equally fine Lahti series on BIS. You simply can't go wrong either way.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com