Used Bin Troll Tweets CCCC.

Ethelbert Nevin

[March 2025.]

Johann Sebastian BACH: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 (1740-45, 1748-50). Filippo Gorini (pno). Alpha 755 (2 CDs) (www.outhere-music.com).

Gorini lovingly shows – as if there ever had been a doubt – that this summa of Bach is one of the most emotionally powerful works ever. YES.

Bernhard LANG: Monadologie XXXVI “Chopin” (2007-20). Daan Vandewalle (pno). Antarctica Records AR 075 (1 CD) (www.antarctica-records.eu).

A dozen etudes brazenly culled from Chopin’s, in Lang’s chopped repetitive mode. Couldn’t Lang hire interns for such uneven assemblies? NO.

Christopher GUNNING: Symphony No. 8 (2015); Symphony No. 9 (2016). BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Kenneth Woods (cond.). Signum Classics SIGCD949 (1 CD) (www.signumrecords.com).

Easily palatable symphonies in a suggestive, evolved tonality characteristic of film and TV scores. Yet uncommonly modest and likable. MAYBE.

“Préludes Tableaux.” Johannes MOTSCHMANN: Var. comps. Jehan ALAIN: Choral cistercien (1934). Arvo PÄRT: Für Alina (1976). Arnold SCHOENBERG: Sehr Langsam, No. 6, from Sech Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19. (1913). Frédéric CHOPIN: Prelude in B minor, Op. 28, No. 6 (1835-39). George BENJAMIN: Spell from Piano Figures (2004). Johann Sebastian BACH: Prelude in B-flat minor, BWV 867 (1722). Alexander SCRIABIN: Prelude in B-flat major, Op. 11, No. 21 (1888-96). Johannes Motschmann (pno). Neue Meister Music 0303481NM (1 CD) (www.neue-meister-music.com).

Motschmann incorporated AI for his pieces. However, there are no evident winners, despite the reassuring presence of established morsels. NO.

Brad WARNAAR: Cornet Concerto (2017-19)¹. Chick COREA: Concerto for Trombone (2000; orch. and compl. John DICKSON)². Jennifer HIGDON: Low Brass Concerto (2017)³. José Sibaja¹ (cornet), Joseph Alessi², Paul Jenkins³, Derek W. Hawkes³ (trb), Steven Brown³ (bass trb), Gilbert Long³ (tuba), Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero (cond.). Naxos 8.559895 (1 CD) (www.naxos.com).

Three varied, spry and unpretentious concerti highlight brass instruments: wise cornet, versatile trombone and moody low brass quartet. YES.

Friedrich WITT: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major (1804); Symphony No. 2 in D major (1804); Symphony No. 3 in F major (1807). Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens (cond.). cpo 555 611–2 (1 CD) (www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/home).

Docile and elegant symphonies from an unknown whose efforts (Symphony No. 14) had been reasonably misattributed as youthful Beethoven. MAYBE.