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New Release Round-Up - 16th August 2024
16th Aug 2024by Katherine Cooper
Brett Dean's Rooms of Elsinore, music for oboe and cor anglais by Ruth Gipps, Edvard Grieg and Clara Schumann's piano concertos from Alexandra Dariescu, and Verdi's Macbeth from last year's Salzburg Festival (starring Asmik Grigorian, Vladislav Sulimsky and Jonathan Tetelman).
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George Li on Movements
15th Aug 2024by Katherine Cooper
The American pianist discusses his new album Movements, released on Warner last month and featuring Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze, Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, and Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka.
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Steve Davislim (1967-2024)
13th Aug 2024by Katherine Cooper
The Australian lyric tenor, whose discography included acclaimed recordings of rarities by Frank Martin and Bohuslav Martinů, has died aged 57.
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Frank Martin: Le vin herbé
Sandrine Piau (Iseut), Steve Davislim (Tristan), Jutta Böhnert (Branghien), Hildegard Wiedemann (Iseut aux Blanches Mains), Ulrike Bartsch (La Mère d'Iseult), Joachim Buhrmann (Kaherdin), Jonathan E. de la Paz Zaens (King Mark) & Roland Hartmann (Le Duc Hoël & Un Vieillard) RIAS Kammerchor & Scharoun Ensemble, Daniel Reuss
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New Release Round-Up - 9th August 2024
9th Aug 2024by Katherine Cooper
Shostakovich from the Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus Mäkelä, Karl Jenkins's new saxophone concerto for Jess Gillam, a third helping of Beethoven from the Sitkovetsky Trio, and Bliss from the Black Dyke Band and John Wilson.
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Catriona Morison on Mahler, music education and mental health in the music industry
6th Aug 2024by Katherine Cooper
Ahead of her performance of Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen at the Edinburgh Festival tonight, the Scottish mezzo talks about navigating the 'overwhelming' impact of winning Cardiff Singer of the World in 2017, and her new album Echoes (with Katharina Konradi and Ammiel Bushakevitz).
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Aigul Akhmetshina on 'Fifty Shades of Carmen'
5th Aug 2024by Katherine Cooper
The Bashkir mezzo talks about tapping into Carmen's vulnerability in Damiano Michieletto's recent production at Covent Garden, how she recharges between performances of such an emotionally-demanding role - and why she wishes casting-directors would give her more opportunities to quite literally wear the trousers...
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New Release Round-Up - 2nd August 2024
2nd Aug 2024by Katherine Cooper
Roberto Gerhard's ballet Don Quixote from Juanjo Mena & the BBC Philharmonic, Great American Songbook classics from Susan Bullock & Richard Sisson, a second helping of Vivaldi double concertos from La Serenissima, and Ailbhe McDonagh's The Irish Seasons.
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Anna Clyne on SHORTHAND and Augmented Orchestra
30th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
Ahead of the world premiere of her new work The Gorgeous Nothings at the BBC Proms tonight, the British composer discusses the Augmented Orchestra technology involved in the piece - and her forthcoming album SHORTHAND, out on Sony next month and featuring Avi Avital, Yo-Yo Ma and The Knights.
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Aigul Akhmetshina's debut album on Decca
26th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
The Bashkortostan-born mezzo turns in finely-characterised snapshots of Carmen, Rosina, Cenerentola, Charlotte and Romeo, with a multi-hued voice that glows from top to bottom and atmospheric support from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on top form under Daniele Rustioni.
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New Release Round-Up - 26th July 2024
26th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
A collection of chamber works by the Australian-born composer Jane Stanley, Paganini and The Butterfly Lovers Concerto from Chloe Chua, Smetana's complete operas on Supraphon, and (on DVD/Blu-ray) Wagner's Götterdämmerung from Christian Thielemann and Dmitri Tcherniakov in Berlin.
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April Cantelo (1928-2024)
22nd Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
The English soprano, who created the role of Helena in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, has died aged 96.
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Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Alfred Deller (Oberon), Jennifer Vyvyan (Tytania), Leonide Massine II (Puck), Kevin Platts (Cobweb), Robert McCutcheon (Mustardseed), Barry Ferguson (Moth), Michael Bauer (Peaseblossom), George Maran (Lysander), Thomas Hemsley (Demetrius), Marjorie Thomas (Hermia), April Cantelo (Helena), Forbes Robinson (Theseus), Johanna Peters (Hippolyta), Owen Brannigan (Bottom), Norman Lumsden (Quince), Peter Pears (Flute), David Kelly (Snug), Edward Byles (Snout), Joseph Ward (Starveling) London Symphony Orchestra, Choirs of Downside & Emanuel Schools, Benjamin Britten
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The Past & I: 100 Years of Thomas Hardy
19th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
Two substantial elegies for Hardy and his first wife Emma by up-and-coming composer Arthur Keegan bookend this mesmerising recital from mezzo Lotte Betts-Dean, guitarist James Girling and the Ligeti Quartet, which also includes Keegan's arrangements of Hardy settings by Imogen Holst, Benjamin Britten and others.
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New Release Round-Up - 19th July 2024
19th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
Bruckner and Bates from Manfred Honeck in Pittsburgh, a fourth volume of Weinberg from the Arcadia Quartet, a second helping of African Pianism from Rebeca Omordia, and a recital of Schumann, Ravel & Prokofiev from Tchaikovsky Competition silver medallist George Li.
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Aziz Shokhakimov on Prokofiev (and Strasbourg)
16th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
Now firmly settled in his role as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the young Uzbek conductor reflects on the challenges and rewards involved in building a relationship with a new orchestra - and their recent recording of Prokofiev (released last month on Warner Classics last month).
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Eric Coates from John Wilson and the BBC Philharmonic
12th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
Replete with memorable melodies and piquant orchestral detail, this delightful series of Coates's orchestral works continues today with a fourth instalment including a zany symphonic fantasy on Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the dance-inspired Four Centuries Suite.
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New Release Round-Up - 12th July 2024
12th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
Schumann and Loewe from Konstantin Krimmel & Ammiel Bushakevitz, Schoenberg and Fauré from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra & Paavo Järvi, Brahms's complete symphonies from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe & Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the Wiener Philharmoniker's recent Sommernachtskonzert from Schönbrunn Palace.
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Kirill Gerstein on Music in Time of War
8th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
The Russian-American pianist discusses his new album of music which Debussy and Komitas composed in the wake of the outbreak of World War One and the Armenian genocide respectively - exploring why music written in dark times so often contains 'an incredible amount of exuberance, kaleidoscopic colour and life-affirmation'.
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New Release Round-Up - 5th July 2024
5th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
An Irish album from Daniel Hope & friends, Janáček's The Excursions of Mr. Brouček from Prague, Stanford's Te Deum & Elegiac Ode from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and folk-inspired works by Suk, Smetana, Coleridge-Taylor & Frank Martin from the Neave Trio.
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Jakub Józef Orliński on Gluck's Orfeo
4th Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
The Polish countertenor discusses recording 'one of the signature-roles' for his voice-type, how going to hell and back in two contrasting productions of the opera informed his interpretation in the studio, and why acting as co-artistic director on the recording taught him to 'read the room'...
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Meyerbeer's Le prophète from Mark Elder and the London Symphony Orchestra
2nd Jul 2024by Katherine Cooper
This weird and wonderful opera about a Flanders innkeeper who is radicalised into religious extremism really catches fire on a live recording from last year's Aix-en-Provence Festival, with the London Symphony Orchestra on barnstorming form and American tenor John Osborn at the top of his game in the demanding title-role.