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New Recording Contract with DORIAN Sono Luminus
Michael Lewin is now recording for Dorian Records.
Their first release together, “If I Were a Bird,” is
a collection of 20 solo piano pieces spanning three centuries inspired
by Birds. It was recorded at Skywalker Sound in California, and
will be released in 69 countries on March 22, 2010, distributed
by Naxos.
Program:
Rameau • “The Gathering of the Birds”
J. Hofmann • “Woodbird’s Delight”
Griffes • “White Peacock”
MacDowell • “To a Humming-Bird”
Messaien • “The Dove”
Grieg • “Little Bird”
Granados • “Maiden and the Nightingale”
A. Jensen • “Little Wood-Bird”
Leschetizky • “The Two Larks”
Ravel • “Sad Birds”
Glinka-Balakirev • “The Lark”
Schumann • “The Prophet Bird”
C. Scott • “Water Wagtail”
Daquin • “The Cuckoo”
Saint-Saens- arr.Siloti • “The Swan”
Alabieff-Liszt • “The Nightingale”
D. Guion • “Turkey in the Straw”
Henselt • “If I Were a Bird”
W. Niemann • “Chinese Nightingale”
Stravinsky-Agosti • “Firebird Suite.”
The CD was Produced by Victor and Marina Ledin
of Encore Consultants, and Engineered by Leslie Ann Jones and Dann
Thompson. Editing, Mixing and Mastering by Brandie Lane and Daniel
Merceruio of Dorian Sono Luminus.
Preview and download Michael Lewin recordings
on iTunes!
Lewin's recordings can now be
purchased on iTunes by following this link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-lewin/id3322281
Listen to Michael Lewin in a Live
WGBH Radio Podcast! (from April 6, 2009)
Note: you will
need to scroll down the list of available podcasts to listen to
this performance - it's a little more than half-way down.
Program:
Saint-Saens
-Siloti • "The Swan"
Guion-Lewin (arr.) •
"Turkey in the Straw"
Ababieff-Liszt •
"Le
Rossignol"
Liszt •
Mephisto-Waltz No.1
Michael Lewin Celebrates the Music of Charles
Griffes in New York and London: June, 2009
Mr. Lewin, who has recorded the complete piano
works of Charles Griffes on two Naxos CD's, and championed his
music, played some special all-Griffes concerts in June. On June
19, he performed a recital covering a wide selection of solo music
at Bargemusic, NY. He was also joined on this concert by flutist
Gary Schocker for the Poem, and by baritone Robert Honeysucker
for the "John Masefield" Songs and the Song of the Dagger.
Read the review here.
On June 25, the pianist made his London debut at the Wigmore Hall
in London, in a Gala concert entitled "Michael Lewin and Friends
Celebrate the Music of Charles T. Griffes". For this concert,
which introduced much of the music of Griffes to London audiences
for the first time, Mr. Lewin was joined by flautist Adam Walker,
soprano Angela Bic, baritone Robert Honeysucker, and pianist Charles
Owen (with whom he played the "Symphonische Phantasie" for
two pianos.) Solo piano works included the 3 Tone Pictures, Scherzo,
White Peacock, 3 Preludes, Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, Prelude
in b minor, Piece in E Major and the Piano Sonata. Donna K. Anderson,
the biographer and foremost authority on the composer gave a pre-concert
lecture and created an elaborate programme book. Read the review here.
The following evening, Lewin played a recital in the famous Codrington
Library of All Souls College at Oxford University, a program which
included a considerable amount of Griffes along with the Haydn
f minor Variations and F Major Sonata and various works of Franz
Liszt.
News Archive
Fall 2007 CD release:
 |
Photo: Lucy Cobos |
Fall 2007 saw the worldwide release of the new
CD by the Lewin-Muresanu Duo, which features
the violin sonatas of William Bolcolm.
50 Performances of Rhapsody in Blue
Michael Lewin's Oct. 14/15 2006 performances
of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Miami Symphony under Eduardo
Marturet mark 50 acclaimed performances of this work. In the United
States he has played it with orchestras including the Boston Pops,
Indianapolis Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Middletown Symphony,
Colorado Springs Symphony, Cape Ann Symphony and the Miami Symphony.
In Europe he has played it with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra,
the Thessaloniki State Orchestra of Greece and the Youth Orchestra
of the Americas in Italy. Conductors with whom he has collaborated
on it include Keith Lockhart, William Henry Curry, Thomas Conlin,
Carmon DeLeone, Yaacov Bergman, Dmitri Toufexis, Yoichi Udagawa,
Eduardo Marturet and Carlos Miguel Prieto. Mr. Lewin also plays
Gershwin's Concerto in F and his rarely performed Second Rhapsody.
European Concerts
In the fall of 2005, Michael Lewin performed
Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” in Greece with
the Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra under Dimitri Toufexis. The
concerts were held in the Thessaloniki Megaron and the Athens Megaron.
He also made two different trips to Italy. In October, he gave
a recital and master class with violinist Irina Muresanu in Trieste,
at the United World College of the Adriatic.
In July of this year, he appears with the Youth
Orchestra of the Americas under Carlos Prieto at the Musica Riva
Festival on Lake Garda.
Lewin-Muresanu Duo Recordings
The Lewin-Muresanu Duo received a 2006 Copland
Foundation Recording Grant to record the Four Violin Sonatas of
William Bolcom for Centaur Records. The CD will be released in
the fall of 2007. The Boston Globe praised their live
performances of these works, saying “their playing was marked
by passion and tremendous rhythmic vitality”, with
“almost telepathic rapport.” The Duo also recently
recorded
“Kreutzette”, by Andy Vores. (www.andyvores.com).
They commissioned and premiered this work, meant to be played with
the Beethoven “Kreutzer” Sonata. Gramofone Magazine praised
the performance, saying “the Lewin-Muersanu Duo keep the
work light and speculative.”
Buy Michael Lewin’s Centaur Recordings
on sale directly from Centaur
Centaur Records is offering Michael Lewin’s
three recordings for that label at a special sale price of $16
each. The recordings are: “Michael Lewin plays Liszt," “A
Russian Piano Recital," and “Bamboula! Piano Music of
Louis Moreau Gottschalk." Go to www.centaurrecords.com for
more information.
Summer 2004
Mr. Lewin makes his first tour of the Czech Republic
in July, performing recitals in Prague, Nové Mesto, at
the Cesky Krumlov International Piano Festival, and in Jihlava
at the Vysocina Festival, as well as giving a master class for
the European Piano Teachers Association. He performs twice in
Puerto Rico this summer: a solo recital in San Juan in June,
and an all-Schumann program in Ponce in August. In June, the
Lewin-Muresanu Duo recorded Kreutzette, by Andy Vores, for an
all-Vores disc. They had commissioned and premiered this work
last season. Mr. Lewin makes his debut with the North Carolina
Symphony under William Henry Curry on July 20 and 24, performing
Gershwin's Second Rhapsody and the Gottschalk Grand Tarantelle.
2003-04 Season Highlights
Michael Lewin's international concerts
this season include his first trip to the Czech Republic in
July performing three Festival recitals, in Mexico with the Orquesta
Sinfonica de Guadalajara playing Liszt's Totentantz (Dance of Death),
as well as Canadian concerts. Other orchestral engagements include
Rhapsody in Blue three times with the Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart
in Symphony Hall; Totentantz with Ian Hobson conducting the Liszt
Festival Orchestra at the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana;
and a pair of Haydn Concertos both with the Boston Virtuosi under
Paul Dulude as well as in Puerto Rico with Henry Hutchinson conducting.
He will also appear often in recital with violinist Irina Muresanu
as the new Lewin-Muresanu Duo.
BAMBOULA! Receives 2002 Top 10 CD Pick
Michael Lewin's sixth recording, Bamboula!
Piano Music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk has been winning rave
reviews. It was selected by the Boston Herald's Keith Powers as
a 2002 Top 10 CD release. Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe raved
"Lewin has the chops and the charm for these pieces."
Donald Vroon, writing in American Record Guide, enthused "Here
it sparkles. Sound and articulation are wonderful, and the flow
is utterly natural. Lewin need take second place to no one in this
piece." And Leonne Lewis in Clavier Magazine wrote: "The
recording is outstanding from start to finish; and Lewin's playing
is fresh and alive, blazing with energy and rhythmic precision...
This C.D. by Lewin will keep you smiling!"
November '02 Recital Tours Great Success
Michael Lewin's recitals in
November took him to Canada, New England and South Carolina. All
concerts met with standing ovations, immediate re-engagements and
glowing reivews. The program was: Prokofiev Sonata No.3, Scriabin
Sonata-Fantasy No.2, Beethoven "Waldstein" Sonata, Brahms
B minor Rhapsody and Intermezzos Op.119 Nos.1&3 and the Ginastera
Piano Sonata No. 1.
Read the reviews!
Recording News
Michael Lewin has three new compact disc releases
on the Naxos label, performing piano music of Domenico Scarlatti
and Charles Tomlinson Griffes.
The Griffes, in two volumes, encompasses the complete Griffes piano
music. This project marks the first time this important body of
American piano music has ever been recorded in its entirety, and
contains a number of first recordings. It is available worldwide
at stores on the Naxos American Classics series, by calling Naxos
at 1-800-75-NAXOS or via their website -- www.naxosusa.com.
American Record Guide said of this recording: "Michael
Lewin, a crackerjack pianist with a larger-than-life command of
these ferociously complex works, turns in pristinely detailed, passionate,
big-boned readings of affective and intonational precision. Lewin
belongs to a new pianistic elite… he sculpts them with a kind of
visceral intensity and unimpeachable authority." Volume 1 was
recorded in Los Angeles and Volume 2 was done in Canada. Mr. Lewin
wrote the liner notes.
Also now available are Nineteen Sonatas by the Baroque composer
Domenico Scarlatti on Naxos 8.553067. These sparkling performances
are Vol.2 in the new Naxos project to record the complete keyboard
Sonatas for the first time on the piano, using various pianists.
The disc was selected and used by WGBH-FM Boston for their October
week-long fund-raising drive. Clavier Magazine calls it "a
splendid recording. Mr. Lewin's crisply articulated performances
are remarkable for their unabashed vigor. He emphasizes and gives
voice to their festive, even wild character, making no apologies
either for their exuberance or rhythmic vivacity… authoritative
pianism."
In the February 2000 issue of England's Gramophone Magazine,
Bryce Morrison raves:
"Volume 2 in its complete Scarlatti sonata cycle is played
by Michael Lewin, an American pianist as dexterous and assured as
he is audacious. Here there is no sense of 'studio' caution but
only of liberating and daring music-making, live and on the wing.
Not even the most persistent lover of Scarlatti on the harpsichord
could accuse Michael Lewin of heaviness, of an absence of the necessary
glitter, panache and stylistic awareness."
Orchestral News
Michael Lewin will perform the world premiere
of the David Kocsis Piano Concerto,"For the New Millenium"
(1999), in January in Georgia with the Macon Symphony under the
direction of Adrian Gnam. The premiere takes place on Jan.22, 2000
in Macon, Georgia with a repeat performance on January 23rd in Griffin,
Georgia. Mr. Lewin will also perform Franck's Symphonic Variations
on the program. Mr. Lewin has often performed the Kocsis Preludes
for Piano, which were dedicated to him, in earlier seasons. For
more information on this exciting event, please visit the concert's
website at www.organdesigns.com.
Mr. Lewin's current concert season includes performances of a wide
variety of piano concertos. In addition to the Kocsis, he will perform
Bartok Piano Concerto No.3 (Walla Walla Symphony, Wa.), Brahms No.1
(Pioneer Valley Symphony, Ma.), Beethoven Choral Fantasy (Charal
Symphony Society, New York City), Loeffler "A Pagan Poem"
along with the Franck Symphonic Variations (Newton Symphony, Ma.),
Grieg Concerto (Western Piedmont Symphony, North Carolina), and
the Tchaikovsky Concerto (George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic.)
Additionally, the composer Robert Chumbley is writing a piano concerto
for Michael Lewin, for which a commissioning consortium of world
premiere performances is now being discussed. |