Today brings further instalments of three superb symphonic cycles from German orchestras: Andris Nelsons’s Bruckner series with the Gewandhausorchester, Andrew Manze’s Mendelssohn with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, and Ádám Fischer’s Mahler from Düsseldorf. There’s also Schumann from the Elias Quartet, rare Rossini from the Bad Wildbad Festival, a comprehensive collection of songs by Medtner from Iain Burnside and a crack team of young Russophone singers, and the ‘other’ New Year’s Concert, from Berlin – with Joyce DiDonato a distinguished guest for a selection of Strauss’s orchestral songs, usually the province of sopranos.
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 and Prelude from Wagner's Lohengrin
Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons
Following a Third Symphony which was described as ‘direct, clear-sighted and spacious’ (Gramophone) and ‘consistently superb’ (The Guardian), Nelsons’s Bruckner series with the Gewandhausorchester continues with the composer’s most popular symphony; the Lohengrin Prelude whetted the Presto appetite for Nelsons’s London performance of the opera later this year!
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Marek Janowski conducts Hindemith
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Marek Janowski
Janowski and his Cologne orchestra perform three works from the 1930s and 40s: the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber , the suite from the ballet Nobilissima Visione, and the Concert Music for Strings and Brass (also known as the ‘Boston Symphony’).
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
NDR Radiophilharmonie, Andrew Manze
Volume One of Manze’s Mendelssohn cycle (the First and ‘Scottish’ symphonies) was recently awarded a Schallplattenkritik Prize, and described as ‘close to ideal’ by Gramophone; this second instalment of the ‘Italian’ and ‘Reformation’ symphonies is equally fresh and vital.
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Ádám Fischer
The elder Fischer's Mahler Four has received regular outings in the Presto office over the past few months: the series is shaping up to rival his brother Iván's cycle from Budapest, and if anything this account of No. 1 is the finest instalment yet. The symphony was the first work by Mahler which Fischer heard live in concert, and the continuing affection he feels for the score is tangible.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Schumann: Quartets Nos. 2 & 3
Elias Quartet
The former BBC New Generation Artists have already established their Schumann credentials with a 'highly assured’ (BBC Music Magazine) recording of the Piano Quintet on Onyx and an equally well-received account of the First String Quartet on Wigmore Hall Live.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Debussy: Préludes Book 2
Maurizio Pollini (piano)
Pollini's recording of Book One of the Préludes was described by BBC Music Magazine as 'superb piano-playing – controlled and never ugly'; almost two decades later, he takes on Book Two, with his son Daniele joining him for the suite for two pianos En blanc et noir.
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Medtner: Songs
Ekaterina Siurina (soprano), Justina Gringyte (mezzo), Oleksiy Palchykov, Robin Tritschler (tenors), Rodion Pogossov (baritone), Nikolay Didenko (bass), Iain Burnside (piano)
Following the huge success of his Rachmaninov song project on Delphian ('sung gloriously, with palpable heart and soul' - Gramophone), Iain Burnside (plus three of the same singers) returns to champion fifty songs by his contemporary Nikolai Medtner, including powerful and evocative settings of texts by Pushkin and Goethe.
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Rossini: Ricciardo e Zoraide
Alessandra Marianelli, Silvia Beltrami, Maxim Mironov; Virtuosi Brunensis, José Miguel Pérez-Sierra
Rossini’s 1818 opera seria (set at the time of the Crusades) receives its second commercial recording courtesy of the Bad Wildbad Festival, who mounted a rare staging of the work in 2013. Italian soprano Alessandra Marianelli excels as the Nubian princess Zoraide, one of the many roles which Rossini wrote for his wife and muse Isabelle Colbran.
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
