Hi-Res Highlights,
Hi-Res Highlights - January 2018
January highlights include two of our recent Recordings of the Week which really benefit from the additional clarity of the hi-res format, plus three previously unrecorded sets of incidental music by Vaughan Williams, Kodály from JoAnn Falletta and Buffalo Philharmonic, and reissues of landmark recordings by Leonard Bernstein and André Tchaikowksy.
Mariss Jansons conducts Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Varèse
Symphonie-Orchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons
Three live recordings made in Munich between 2009 and 2015: the original 1922 version of Varèse’s Amériques, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony. Released as part of BR Klassik’s tribute to the conductor’s 75th birthday, which fell on 14th January.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
One of the final recordings which the orchestra made with their chief conductor, who died in May. Their previous recordings of Smetana have been described as ‘big-boned though never ponderous’ (BBC Music Magazine on an earlier Má Vlast) and extraordinarily moving’ (The Guardian on The Bartered Bride).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Grieg: Piano Concerto & Incidental Music to 'Peer Gynt'
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choirs, Edward Gardner
Grieg’s atmospheric evocation of mountains, forests, deserts and high seas (not to mention the uncanny sonorities of Håkon Høgemo’s Hardanger fiddle!) spring to life even more vividly in hi-res, and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s spacious, detailed approach to the Piano Concerto benefits in equal measure.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Stravinsky: Chant Funèbre & Le Sacre du printemps
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Sophie Koch (mezzo), Riccardo Chailly
Another recent Recording of the Week which is well worth experiencing in hi-res is the world premiere recording of Chant funèbre, written as an elegy for Stravinsky’s teacher Glazunov and thought lost until a couple of years ago. The clarity which Chailly brings to The Rite, impressive enough in standard sound, is further enhanced here.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Vaughan Williams: Beyond my Dream
Heather Lowe (mezzo), The Joyful Company of Singers, Britten Sinfonia, Alan Tongue
His Overture for Aristophanes’s The Wasps is one of his best-know works, but the three sets of the incidental music which Vaughan Williams wrote in 1911 for Gilbert Murray’s translations of Euripides’s The Bacchae, Electra, and Iphigenia in Tauris have never previously been recorded, and receive hugely persuasive performances here.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Concerto is supplemented by exuberant, vivid accounts of the Dances of Galanta, Dances of Marosszek, Variations on ‘The Peacock’ from Falletta and her Buffalo forces, who have impressive form in Hungarian repertoire – their 2010 album of Dohnányi was described as ‘a real tonic’ by International Record Review and their Bartók praised by The Guardian for its ‘energy and colour’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Beyer explores works which were transcribed by or attributed to JS Bach, including his arrangement of a lute suite by Silvius Leopold Weiss, a violin sonata which is now thought to be the work of Johann Georg Pisendel, and another by Johann Gottlieb Goldberg which was published under Bach’s name in the nineteenth century.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Moreau and Kadouch present Poulenc’s Cello Sonata and Jules Delsart’s transcription (sanctioned by the composer) of the César Franck Violin Sonata alongside three rarities: Rita Strohl’s ‘Sonate Dramatique’ Titus et Bérénice, Fernand de La Tombelle’s Andante espressivo, and Poulenc’s previously unrecorded Souvenirs from 1944.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Strauss: Scenes for Salome and Five Lieder
Montserrat Caballé (soprano), Orchestre National de France, Leonard Bernstein
A stand-out among the many riches from Bernstein’s back catalogue which are reappearing to mark the centenary of his birth this August, this 1977 recording of Caballé in the final bloodcurdling scene of Salome also includes Zueignung, Wiegenlied, Morgen, Ich liebe dich and Cäcilie and excerpts from Boito’s Mefistofele.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Ravel’s tour de force was part of the programme which the Polish pianist performed at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1956, sparking his rise to stardom; this newly remastered recording is taken from his debut LP, made shortly afterwards and described as ‘a performance of epic proportions’ by MusicWeb International.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
David Smith - Head of Digital
