CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE WEB - CD REVIEWS http://www.musicweb.uk.net/ THE DECEMBER EDITION Rob Barnett - Classical Editor The site goes from strength to new strength. Have you noticed that we now have a daily review page for CDs and live concerts? In the run-up to Christmas we offer more than a hundred new reviews covering the familiar and unfamiliar. Among the reviews are the following highlights:- PAUL CONWAY's review of the new Beamish orchestral disc; IAN LACE's reviews of a clutch of Honegger discs and a book review. GERALD FENECH's Victor Bendix symphonies review.; reviews of four discs of CRI's neglected catalogue of American classical music, the MARCO POLO discs of symphonies by ALFRED HILL and the complete orchestral works of IGOR MARKEVICH plus BMG's two 10 disc Mravinsky volumes (many offered at 4.99). ... and major discoveries: two orchestral discs of music by British composer WILL TODD and British song composer IAN VENABLES, KEELING Hidden Streams, JEAN GUILLOU in Paris and on CD - extensive review, comparative reviews of Nielsen Symphony No 2 with the launch of the new cycle from Bostock and the Royal Liverpool Phil, other rarities include OHANA, PIERUCCI, PIZZETTI, VAN ROSSUM, SCELSI, SKALKOTTAS, SMIT, STOKER, and Donald SWANN's Isles of Greece (yes, of Flanders and Swann!) as well as our review of Collegium's first recording in years - the successful ILLUMINA We are offering for the first time on-line subscription to the Malcolm Arnold Society. If this is successful the offer will be extended to other composer societies. Also this month we offer biographies of Joseph Holbrooke, Sir Michael Tippett and Matyas Seiber. Do you have any requests for further composer profiles? Be sure also to visit our site around christmas time when we plan to have a bumper release of reviews ready for you to read over the christmas and new year break. (that batch should include reviews of the RUBBRA Symphonies on CHANDOS; HOLMBOE symphonies (BIS), SOWERBY on CEDILLE, FREITAS BRANCO symphonies and concertos on PORTUSOM, GLAZUNOV cycle (NAXOS), the complete (to date) AMERICAN CLASSICS series on NAXOS - and much, much more) YOU WILL LOOK IN VAIN FOR THIS DEPTH AND SPREAD OF COVERAGE ELSEWHERE. ........ SEEN&HEARD is our live concert and exhibition review site. The SEEN&HEARD team are currently away at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival Recent reviews Chausson Centenary Philippe Graffin (violin), Jeremy Menuhin (piano) and the Chilingirian Quartet. Wigmore Hall, 16 November 1999 Gluck Alceste (Paris version, 1776) starring Anne Sophie van Otter, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. The Barbican, 26 October and Radio 3, 13 November Cornelius Cardew: Treatise (excerpt) Morton Feldman: Why Patterns Music Projects/London (Richard Bernas) BMIC at The Warehouse. Thursday 11 November 1999 Artur Pizarro (piano) Copland, Gershwin, Griffes & Barber Wigmore Hall, 12 November 1999 Mauricio Kagel Music of the Bizarre South Bank Centre 13 Oct. & 2 Nov. '99.London Sinfonietta cond. Oliver Knussen and Reinbert de Leeuw, with soloists. Musica Transalpina Celebration of Italian Music at the Royal College of Organists Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (5 & 6 November) and Francesco Cera (11 November) St Andrew's Church, Holborn. DVORAK CHAMBER MUSIC at Queen Elizabeth Hall 7 November 1999 Florestan Trio, Members of Vellinger Quartet etc., Helene Wold & Hilary Summers (singers) with Eugene Asti (piano) John Corigliano: A Dylan Thomas Trilogy Royal Festival Hall, London, Saturday 6 November 1999, Patrick Burrowes,treble John Daszak, tenor William Dazeley, baritone BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra Leonard Slatkin, conductor City of London Sinfonia (Richard Hickox, conductor) at the Barbican, November 6th 1999: Nicholson stramash; Osborne oboe concerto (Nicholas Daniel); Berkeley cello concerto; Tavener the protecting veil (Steven Isserlis) BMIC at The Warehouse (the cutting edge) Thursday 4th November 1999 Opus 20, director Scott Stroman: Cashian, Keeling and Hameeniemi Galina Ustvolskaya and the Piano FIBONACCI at St John's, Smith Square, November 2nd 1999 Len Mullenger Webmaster for Music on the Web (UK) www.musicweb.uk.net