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New Release Round-Up - 3rd June 2022
3rd Jun 2022
Bolcom rags from Marc-André Hamelin, Hahn from Pavel Kolesnikov, Schumann from Pablo Heras-Casado, and the world premiere recording of Handel's pasticcio Caio Fabriccio from London Early Opera.
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Presto Editor's Choices - May 2022
2nd Jun 2022
Starkly beautiful Purcell, Strozzi, Eccles and Park from Helen Charlston and Toby Carr, plus a vivid, vulnerable Violetta from Lisette Oropesa on Pentatone's new Traviata, and punch-packing Rachmaninov from Steven Osborne on Hyperion.
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Jakub Józef Orliński on Farewells
30th May 2022
The Polish countertenor discusses his new album of songs by his compatriots, why he thinks his native language is 'a big, beautiful playground' for singers, and how his friendship with pianist Michał Biel began with 'a story of rejection!'.
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Farewells
Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor), Michał Biel (piano)
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Sopranista from Samuel Mariño
27th May 2022
The young Venezuelan's silvery timbre and stratospheric high notes provide thrills aplenty in arias by Mozart, Saint-Georges, Cimarosa and Gluck - most of them composed for soprano castratos.
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New Release Round-Up - 27th May 2022
27th May 2022
Rameau from György Vashegyi, Lisette Oropesa in La traviata, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor from the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, and a box-set of the complete Vaughan Williams symphonies with Richard Hickox & Sir Andrew Davis.
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Golda Schultz on This Be Her Verse
26th May 2022
The South African soprano discusses her debut solo recording - a 'love-letter to women in music' featuring songs by Clara Schumann, Emilie Mayer, Rebecca Clarke and Nadia Boulanger, plus a new commission by composer Kathleen Tagg and librettist Lila Palmer.
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This Be Her Verse
Golda Schultz (soprano), Jonathan Ware (piano)
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Anne Howells (1941-2022)
25th May 2022
The British mezzo Anne Howells, a fine Octavian who also created roles in operas by Nicholas Maw and Mark-Anthony Turnage, has died aged 81.
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Birtwistle: Gawain
Marie Angel (Morgan le Fay), Anne Howells (Lady de Hautdesert), Francois Le Roux (Gawain), John Tomlinson (The Green Knight/Bertilak de Hautdesert), Penelope Walmsley-Clark (Guinevere), Richard Greager (Arthur), Omar Ebrahim (The Fool), Alan Ewing (Agravain), John Marsden (Ywain), Kevin Smith (Bishop Baldwin) The Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Elgar Howarth
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New Release Round-Up - 20th May 2022
20th May 2022
Mendelssohn, Schubert and Mozart from Riccardo Chailly, Schubert's 'Fair Maid of the Mill' from Nicky Spence & Christopher Glynn, a Parisian recital from flautist Ana de la Vega, and John Williams's Cello Concerto from Yo-Yo Ma (with the composer conducting).
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Laurence Equilbey on Lucio Silla
17th May 2022
The French conductor discusses her new recording of Mozart's early opera on Erato, starring Alessandro Liberatore as the eponymous dictator and Franco Fagioli in the castrato role of Cecilio.
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Teresa Berganza (1933-2022)
15th May 2022
The Spanish mezzo, who excelled as Rossini's three great comic heroines and redefined the role of Carmen, has died aged 89.
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New Release Round-Up - 13th May 2022
13th May 2022
Brahms from Herbert Blomstedt, Bach from René Jacobs, Mozart from Federico Colli, and Lupo from Fretwork.
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Farewells from Jakub Józef Orliński & Michał Biel
6th May 2022
The Polish countertenor and pianist fly the flag for their native country in a beguiling recital of songs by Karel Szymanowski, Henryk Czyż, Stanisław Moniuszko, Mieczysław Karłowicz, and Tadeusz Baird.
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Farewells
Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor), Michał Biel (piano)
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New Release Round-Up - 6th May 2022
6th May 2022
Strauss from Andris Nelsons, Vivaldi & Bach from Concerto Italiano and Rinaldo Alessandrini, Rachmaninov from Steven Osborne, and Schoenberg from the Gringolts Quartet.
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Dylan Perez on Samuel Barber
5th May 2022
The American pianist discusses recording his compatriot's complete songs on Resonus, with a line-up of singers including Mary Bevan, Fleur Barron, Jess Dandy, and his husband Nicky Spence.
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Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs
Dylan Perez (piano), Samantha Clarke, Soraya Mafi, Louise Kemény, Mary Bevan (sopranos), Fleur Barron (mezzo), Jess Dandy (contralto), Nicky Spence (tenor), Dominic Sedgwick, Julien Van Mellaerts (baritones), William Thomas (bass) Navarra String Quartet
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Presto Editor's Choices - April 2022
3rd May 2022
South African soprano Golda Schultz emerges as a compelling story-teller on her debut recording of songs by five female composers, whilst Véronique Gens and Sandrine Piau pay vivid tribute to two French baroque divas of an earlier generation.
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Weber's Der Freischütz from René Jacobs
29th Apr 2022
The Belgian conductor's restoration of the original libretto's prologue lends a wonderful symmetry and coherence to Weber's supernatural Singspiel, whilst German actor Max Urlacher is properly spine-chilling in the expanded role of the demon Samiel.
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New Release Round-Up - 29th April 2022
29th Apr 2022
Dora Pejačević from Peter Donohoe and Sakari Oramo, eighteenth-century operatic heroines from Patricia Petibon, Heinz Holliger's 'dream-opera' Lunea, and a Dante-inspired recital from Mirco Palazzi and Marco Scolastra.
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Annelien Van Wauwe on FLOW
27th Apr 2022
The Belgian clarinettist discusses her recent recording of the Mozart concerto and a new yoga-inspired commission by Wim Henderickx - and explains how her own daily yoga-practice has transformed her approach to making music.
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Olga Neuwirth's Orlando
22nd Apr 2022
The Austrian composer's Virginia Woolf-inspired opera delights in blurring boundaries of all kinds, with an astonishing central performance from mezzo Kate Lindsey in the shape-shifting title-role.
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Neuwirth: Orlando (DVD)
Kate Lindsey (Orlando), Anna Clementi (Narrator), Eric Jurenas (Guardian Angel), Justin Vivian Bond (Orlando’s Child), Leigh Melrose (Greene/Shelmerdine), Constance Hauman (Queen/Purity/Friend of Orlando’s Child), Agneta Eichenholz (Sasha/Chastity) Wiener Staatsoper, Matthias Pintscher, Polly Graham
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New Release Round-Up - 22nd April 2022
22nd Apr 2022
Rossini from Florian Sempey, Rameau from Marc Minkowski, vintage Vaughan Williams from Sir Adrian Boult, and Schubert from Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson.
