Hi-Res Highlights,
Hi-Res Highlights - July 2017
It's been two years since we launched our Hi-Res download offering - and our catalogue now includes over 9,500 albums, both old and new. You can browse through our full Hi-Res selection here.
This month sees several recordings of works by Mahler and Strauss - two of the latter's great anti-heroines (in legendary performances from the 1960s) feature, as do a selection of his lieder and some less frequently-heard instrumental pieces, and there's also the white-hot opening instalment of a new Mahler symphony cycle from Minnesota.
Hi-Res New Releases
Alice Coote's rich mezzo voice breathes life and even a hint of rawness into Mahler's emotionally powerful Kindertotenlieder, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Rückert-Lieder, with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Marc Albrecht accompanying.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Curtis- and Juilliard-trained South Korean Yekwon Sunwoo, winner of this year's Van Cliburn International Competition, performs a selection of the pieces that propelled him to victory, including rarely-heard pieces by Grainger and Marc-André Hamelin.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The wind writing of Richard Strauss is showcased by this album, with Alexei Ogrintchouk the soloist and Andris Nelsons directing the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Oboe Concerto, while Ogrintchouk himself takes the wheel for the Sonatina No. 2 and the youthful Serenade for wind ensemble.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Francesco Geminiani's reputation as a violinist in his own lifetime was such that his contemporaries dubbed him 'The Madman', in awe of his rhythmic virtuosity. Gottfried von der Goltz performs his Art of Playing on the Violin, a distillation of both his compositional skill and his thoughts on performance practice.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Osmo Vänskä kicks off his exciting new Mahler cycle with the Minnesota Orchestra - an enticing prospect in the wake of his recently completed Sibelius set, which received plaudits galore - with a performance of the famous Fifth Symphony that is by turns stormy, boisterous and lyrical.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A decade after his acclaimed Well-Tempered Clavier, Vladimir Ashkenazy (who turned 80 just over a week ago) resumes his Bach pilgrimage with a thoughtful, poised account of the six French Suites.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rising star Louise Alder - fresh from a performance at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition that saw her scoop the Audience Prize - makes her recital debut on disc with this collection of Richard Strauss lieder, accompanied by Joseph Middleton.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Recent Hi-Res Re-issues
The greatest performances of yesteryear, newly remastered and re-released in Hi-Res.
The legendary Birgit Nilsson brings Strauss's Salome to life in all her unsettling complexity in this performance with the Vienna Philharmonic under Georg Solti.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Another Strauss heroine that Nilsson made her own - the tragic Elektra, trapped in a bewildering web of murder and revenge that eventually destroys her and her family. Regina Resnik, Marie Collier and Tom Krause co-star, with Solti once again at the helm of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Russian-American pianist Ania Dorfmann's lightness of touch never ceases to delight the ear - as this recital demonstrates. Ravel's Sonatine and Mendelssohn's Spinner's Song both flow with impossible-seeming dexterity.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
David Smith - Head of Digital
