New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-up - 5th May 2017
The Emerson quartet celebrate their fortieth anniversary with chaconnes and fantasias from Britten and Purcell, while vocal highlights include Diana Damrau singing Meyerbeer, Carolyn Sampson singing Bach, Couperin from Katherine Watson and Anna Dennis, and on DVD Plácido Domingo in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera from the Royal Opera House.
JS Bach: Cantatas for Soprano
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Freiburger Barockorchester, Petra Müllejans
From the ravishing duets for soprano and oboe of the Wedding Cantata (BWV202) to the penitential strains of BWV199 (Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut) and the call to faith of BWV152 (Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn), the radiant voice of Carolyn Sampson and the virtuosos of the Freiburger Barockorchester do full justice to Bach's inventiveness.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Lars Vogt continues his Ondine recordings with a new cycle of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos. Conducting the Royal Nothern Sinfonia from the keyboard, he shows the brilliance and the beauty of these two majestic works of the classic piano concerto literature.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Meyerbeer: Grand Opera
Diana Damrau (soprano), Orchestre et Choeur de l'Opéra National de Lyon, Emmanuel Villaume
Giacomo Meyerbeer, the master of Parisian grand opéra, was hugely successful in his time and a major influence on Verdi and Wagner. With her brilliant coloratura, lyricism and dramatic power, Diana Damrau rises triumphantly to the vocal and expressive challenges of arias from ten of his operas. Two of the arias receive their world premiere recording with this album.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Celebrating its fortieth anniversary, the Emerson String Quartet releases a disc pairing the music of Britten and Purcell. Exclusively featuring repertoire never before recorded by the quartet, the album comprises Britten’s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 3 as well as a selection of chaconnes and fantasias from Purcell, including Chacony in G Minor, Z 730 and Fantazia No. 11 in G Major, Z 742.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This new series documents the evolution of George Antheil's musical style, moved from shockingly avant-garde works towards a fundamentally tonal idiom. The war-inspired Fourth Symphony and joyous Fifth represent this compositional shift. Also here is the premiere recording of Over the Plains, memorable for its allusions to cowboy music and offering some unexpectedly dramatic and atmospheric twists along the way.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
L’Apothéose de Lully was Couperin’s hommage to his great musical predecessor and depicts the elder composer’s elevation to Mount Parnassus. The Leçons de ténèbres were written for performance in Holy Week and demand vocal artistry of the highest order.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (DVD)
Plácido Domingo (Gustavus), Piero Cappuccilli (Anckarström), Katia Ricciarelli (Amelia), Elizabeth Bainbridge (Ulrica), Reri Grist (Oscar), Royal Opera House, Claudio Abbado
Illicit love, suspicion, and supernatural portents of doom lead to a shocking drama at a masked ball in 1790s Sweden. Plácido Domingo stars as King Gustavus III, while Katia Ricciarelli is his beloved Amelia, married to his closest friend, Anckarström, sung by Piero Cappuccilli. Claudio Abbado conducts Otto Schenk's classic production for The Royal Opera. This recording is preserved in its original Standard Definition and 4:3 picture format.
Available Format: DVD Video
James Longstaffe - Head of Retail
