August 16, 2017
AVIE RECORDS UNVEILS RELEASES FOR 2017-18

As AVIE Records anticipates the 2017-18 season, the label continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with a schedule of new releases that denote numerous celebrations of their own. Dozens of award-winning and best-selling artists return to the label, offering a variety of recordings that range from the 16th century to the present day. (Scroll down for a chronological list of releases.)

Antonio Meneses’ 11th recording for AVIE is a double commemoration: the 35th anniversary of his winning First Prize and the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition and his 60th birthday. The new release, out in August 2017, includes Antonio’s first recordings of three cornerstones of the cello concertante repertoire: Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1, Schumann’s Cello Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Claudio Cruz conducts the Royal Northern Sinfonia, rounding out the partnership that made Antonio’s Grammy Award-nominated recording of Elgar’s and Gál’s Cello Concertos.

Elizabeth Hainen, Principal Harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and one of classical music’s great harp ambassadors, releases her third album for AVIE in September 2017. Home: Works for Solo Harp paints a personal portrait with pieces Elizabeth enjoys playing in the privacy of her own home. The varied and appealing selection includes popular favourites such as Partitas and Preludes by J. S. Bach, Debussy’s Claire de lune, and a special arrangement of Sting’s St. Agnes and the Burning Train by Elizabeth’s vibraphone-playing husband David DePeters.

In October 2017, superstar violinist Anne Akiko Meyers releases her 35th studio album and her second for AVIE. Fantasia reflects Anne’s wide-ranging advocacy and passions: the premiere recording of the title track, Rautavaara’s final work which Anne commissioned; Szymanowski’s sensuous Violin Concerto No. 1, and Ravel’s virtuoso showpiece Tzigane. Kristjan Järvi conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra. Anne plans an equally imaginative release for April 2018: a reprise of Ravel’s Tzigane, this time in its original version with the prepared-piano-esque lutheal; world-premiere recordings of new works by Jakub Ciupisnski, a New York City-based Polish composer whose work Anne has championed, including The Wreck of Umbria for solo violin and taped electronic accompaniment; and two modern classics in new arrangements for violin and orchestra – Morten Lauridsen’s choral masterpiece O Magnum Mysterium orchestrated by the composer at Anne’s behest, and Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel orchestrated by Charles Coleman.

William Lyons, director of Grammy Award-nominated The Dufay Collective, showcases his Renaissance wind band The City Musick in the October 2017 release The Topping Tooters of the Town: Music of the London Waits 1580 – 1650. The London Waits were highly skilled and valued musicians in Elizabethan and Jacobean society. They were an aural emblem of the city, employed for civic ceremonies and public events, the theatre and dances, and in liturgical services. The Topping Tooters of the Town celebrates the diversity and glorious sound of a Waits band at its best.

With The Gate of Glory, The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and director Stephen Darlington offer the fifth volume in their critically acclaimed series of music from the Eton Choirbook, the vast collection of English sacred music from the early Renaissance. The diversity of styles is particularly striking in this November 2017 release, ranging from the balance of harmony and counterpoint in John Browne’s O regina mundi, to the elegance and simplicity of Fayrfax’s setting of the Magnificat.

Esteemed pianist Charles Owen returns with his fourth release for AVIE, this time with his regular duo partner Katya Apekisheva. The all-Rachmaninov recording includes the composer’s Suites Nos. 1 and 2 for two pianos, and Six Morceaux, Op. 11 for piano duo. With commercial release scheduled for November 2017, pre-release copies will be available in October for Charles’ and Katya’s second annual London Piano Festival at King’s Place.

The new year gets off to an auspicious start with the January 2018 release of Rachel Barton Pine’s fourth for AVIE, featuring Violin Concertos of Elgar and Bruch, with Andrew Litton conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Also in January 2018, AVIE continues to champion the works of Hans Gál with the world-premiere recording of his Concertino for Cello and String Orchestra, performed by Matthew Sharp with Kenneth Woods conducting the English Symphony Orchestra.

Composer Elena Ruehr, professor at the Massachussets Institute of Technology and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, brings a magnum opus to her third AVIE release: a two-album set of her six string quartets which are shared between the Borromeo and the Cypress String Quartets (February 2018).

Following acclaimed albums devoted to Benjamin Britten, English lute songs and German lieder, tenor Nicholas Phan’s diversity is on display in three seminal song cycles inspired by the French literary giants Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud: Britten’s Les illuminations, Debussy’s Ariettes oubilées and Fauré’s La bonne chanson. With accompaniments by pianist Myra Huang, the San Francisco-based Telegraph Quartet and Brooklyn, New York-based orchestra The Knights, the April 2018 release will coincide with Phan’s recital in the San Francisco Performances series performing the Fauré and the Debussy.

These and other great recordings which will be released throughout the 2017-18 season continue to bolster AVIE’s award-winning catalog which has been praised as “adventurous” (The New York Times), “enterprising” (Gramophone), and “admirable” (The Sunday Times – London).

* * * * *

See below for a chronological listing of AVIE’s 2017-18 release schedule.

For further information, image or interview requests, contact Melanne Mueller, melanne@avierecords.com, +44 (0) 7788 662 461 or +1 917 907 2785  

RELEASE SCHEDULE 2017-18
Information correct as of 15 August 2017, subject to change

AUGUST 2017
SAINT-SAENS Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33
SCHUMANN Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129
TCHAIKOVSKY Variations on a Rococo Theme
Antonio Meneses, cello
Claudio Cruz
Royal Northern Sinfonia
AV 2373

SEPTEMBER 2017
HOME:
Works for Solo Harp by Bach, Couperin, Debussy, Glass, Grandjany, Handel, Rameau, Sherman, Sting
Elizabeth Hainen, harp
David DePeters, vibraphone
AV 2378

OCTOBER 2017
FANTASIA:
RAUTAVAARA Fantasia *
RAVEL Tzigane
SZYMANOWSKI Concerto No. 1
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Kristjan Järvi
Philharmonia Orchestra
* world premiere recording
AV 2385

TOPPING TOOTERS OF THE TOWN:
Music of the London Waits 1580-1650
Music by Adson, Allison, Dowland, Haussmann, Holborne, Morley, Philips, Playford, Ravenscroft, Stubbs
The City Musick
William Lyons, director
AV 2364

NOVEMBER 2017
THE GATE OF GLORY:
Music from the Eton Choirbook, Vol. 5
Works by Browne, Fayrfax, Hacombplaynt, Kellyk, Lambe
Stephen Darlington
The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
AV 2376

RACHMANINOFF
Two Piano Suites Six Morceaux, Op. 11
Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva, piano
AV 2381 

JANUARY 2018
BRUCH, ELGAR
Violin Concertos
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Andrew Litton
BBC Symphony Orchestra
AV 2375

HANS GÁL
Concertino for Cello and String Orchestra
Works for solo cello
Matthew Sharp, cello
Kenneth Woods
English Symphony Orchestra
AV 2380

FEBRUARY 2018
ELENA RUEHR
Six String Quartets
Borromeo String Quartet, Cypress String Quartet
AV 2379 (2 CDs)

APRIL 2018
BRITTEN Les Illuminations
DEBUSSY Ariettes oubliées
FAURÉ La bonne chanson
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Myra Huang, piano
Telegraph Quartet
The Knights
AV 2382

CIUPISNSKI
The Wreck of Umbria for solo violin and taped electronic accompaniment
Edo Lullaby
LAURIDSEN O Magnum Mysterium (new version for violin and orchestra)
PÄRT Spiegel im Spiegel (new orch. Charles Coleman) RAVEL Tzigane (version with lutheal)
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Kristjan Järvi
Philharmonia Orchestra
AV 2386

Related Link
Back to List
Back to Top