0 Chopin: Cello Music

“Brantelid's performance with the vivacious violinist Vilde Frang is entrancing. They draw us in to an engaging narrative and enjoy the play in the finale...an impressive cellist and definitely one to watch.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2010 ****

“The Danish cellist Andreas Brantelid is only 23, but, with his Armenian pianist, he reveals astonishing maturity, bringing youthful freshness and vigour to a work championed on disc by Rostropovich and du Pré” nday Times, 7th March 2010 ****

“[Brantelid’s] interpretations...reveal a stylistic insight, elegance and emotional power to match his striking technical aplomb. This is an imaginative and fruitful combination of young talents on a disc that will be relished long after the bicentenary year is over.” --The Telegraph, 26th January 2010 *****

“Brantelid’s ability to reach the emotional core of a work is as evident here as on his previous disc, particularly in the Sonata...The overall sound is warm, technically perfect, and imbued with a youthful enthusiasm that is underpinned by interpretational maturity.” --Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 15th January 2010

Detail: Chopin: Cello Music

0 Chopin: Piano Works

'You will be hard pressed to find playing of such super-fine precision and sensitivity. This is undoubtedly one of the most crystalline and exclusive Chopin recitals I have heard for some time. Such pianism forbids even whispered comparisons' --Gramophone

'One of the finest pianists of our time' --CDReview

'The performances are illuminating and perceptive in a grippingly intellectual way' --The Scotsman

'Demidenko's free-flowing virtuosity in such comparitive rarities as the Allegro de concert and Tarantella carries all before it, perfectly offset by the delightful polonaises and a sublime rendering of the Berceuse' --BBC Music Magazine

Detail: Chopin: Piano Works

0 The Romantic Double-Bass: Bottesini, Chopin & Rachmaninov

Say double bass and people will probably think of jazz music. In spite of pioneering composers like Bottesini and active present-day players like Dutch Hans Roelofsen and Rudolf Senn the double-bass does not have a serious image in classical music. Maybe Saint-Saëns’ Carnaval des animaux has something to do with this.

Back in the nineteenth century there were several virtuoso performers on this instrument who also wrote music for it. Bottesini being the best-known of them. His virtuoso pieces seem to stretch the instrument with its intrinsic slowness to its limits. The first CD with recordings from 1988 gives some examples of these typical showpieces.

On the second CD Hans Roelofsen gives newly recorded performances of two sonatas by Chopin and Rachmaninov which were originally written for cello with piano accompaniment. These transcriptions show how versatile the double bass really is. It works surprisingly well: this is the truly romantic double bass.

Detail: The Romantic Double-Bass: Bottesini, Chopin & Rachmaninov