Coming Soon,
Robin Ticciati's Brahms and other forthcoming highlights
A classy leaving-present from one of today’s great conductor-orchestra partnerships as Robin Ticcati says goodbye to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, plus the final instalment of another outstanding collaboration as Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien complete their ingeniously-programmed and immaculately performed survey of Mozart’s violin sonatas. There’s also a high-voltage debut disc of French, Italian and Russian opera arias from dramatic mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili, the third volume of Andris Nelsons’s Bruckner cycle with the Gewandhausorchester, and a complex and thought-provoking new Così fan tutte from Covent Garden which features one of the most beguilingly-sung house debuts in recent memory…
Ticciati bids farewell to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with a Brahms cycle which has won plaudits for its 'inner orchestral clarity' (The Arts Desk) and 'sustained intensity' (Musical Criticism). Katherine will be speaking to him early next week about his approach to the symphonies, so watch this space for more details...
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
First up is their recording of the Fourth Symphony (released 16th February), but April brings the third instalment of the Nelsons's Gewandhaus Brucker cycle - the Seventh Symphony, composed in part as an elegy to the ailing Wagner and fittingly supplemented here by the Funeral March from his Siegfried.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Mahler: Wunderhorn-Lieder and Symphony No. 10
Michael Volle (bass-baritone), Münchner Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann
A rare opportunity to hear Thielemann (generally more of a Wagner and Bruckner man) conducting Mahler, this concert was recorded live on the centenary of the composer’s death; Michael Volle (currently taking London by storm as Jokanaan in Covent Garden’s Salome) contributes eight Wunderhorn songs, including Urlicht.
Available Format: CD
Taking a break from their series of Bach's secular cantatas, Suzuki and his Japanese forces tackle Beethoven's choral Everest; their recent recording of the Mozart Great Mass in C minor won a Gramophone Award last year, so expectations are already running high for this set. Watch out for David's interview with Suzuki about the project in the coming weeks.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3
Yevgeny Sudbin (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
The Russian pianist concludes his masterly survey of Rachmaninov's works for piano and orchestra with the composer's two most popular concertos; previous instalments were described as 'exhilarating, barnstorming, spine-tingling’ (BBC Music Magazine) and 'rich in detail and immaculately executed’ (Gramophone).
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The final volume of an enthralling series which has won accolades galore for Ibragimova and Tiberghien’s ‘exquisite playing’ (The Observer), ‘charm and character’ (Gramophone) and ‘intelligence of interpretation’ (MusicWeb International). We can't wait to see where this match made in heaven will go next...
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This Fischer-Dieskau protégé and former BBC New Generation Artist is fast becoming one of the most insightful lieder interpreters around; following the extremely well-received Heimat (which also featured songs by Brahms), he brings his 'burnished, oaky beauty' (Gramophone) to bear on songs including Nachtigall, Minnelied, two Serenades, and Vor dem Fenster.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Anita Rachvelishvili
Anita Rachvelishvili (mezzo), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Giacomo Sagripanti
The powerhouse Georgian mezzo makes her solo recording debut with snapshots of her signature-roles including Carmen, Dalila, Azucena and Santuzza, plus a foretaste of Eboli (which she debuts in 2019) and a rarity by her compatriot Dimitri Arakishvili: The Queen of Tamar’s cavatina from The Legend of Shota Rustaveli.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Così fan tutte (DVD)
Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel Behle, Alessio Arduini, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Sabina Puertolas; Royal Opera House, Semyon Bychkov, Jan Philipp Gloger
Gloger’s convoluted contemporary staging (which has the women wise up to the men’s little game halfway through the action) may not be to all tastes and Bychkov is an idiosyncratic Mozartian, but this is worth catching for Daniel Behle’s outstandingly sung Ferrando, which my colleague Katherine told me was one of the most spellbinding Covent Garden debuts she’s ever heard.
Available Format: DVD Video
Mozart: Così fan tutte (Blu-ray)
Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel Behle, Alessio Arduini, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Sabina Puertolas; Royal Opera House, Semyon Bychkov, Jan Philipp Gloger
Gloger’s convoluted contemporary staging (which has the women wise up to the men’s little game halfway through the action) may not be to all tastes and Bychkov is an idiosyncratic Mozartian, but this is worth catching for Daniel Behle’s outstandingly sung Ferrando, which my colleague Katherine told me was one of the most spellbinding Covent Garden debuts she’s ever heard.
Available Format: DVD Video
The popular British baritone (who embarked on an intensive journey through Schubert’s three great song-cycles to mark his fiftieth birthday) performs Winterreise in a new English translation by Jeremy Sams; English versions of Die schöne Mullerin and Schwanengesang will follow from other singers over the next year or so.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
