Hi-Res Highlights,
Hi-Res Highlights - February 2018
This month’s hi-res highlights include one of our recent Recordings of the Week (Murray’s Perahia’s towering account of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, which James praised for its ‘clarity and conviction’ earlier this month), an unorthodox Haydn programme from the London Symphony Orchestra and their new Music Director, and the second instalments of two extremely promising symphonic cycles: Thomas Dausgaard’s Brahms with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Andris Nelsons’s Bruckner from Leipzig.
The first volume of Nelsons's projected Bruckner cycle from Leipzig (Symphony No. 3) impressed us immensely in the Presto office, and was described as ‘direct, clear-sighted and spacious’ (Gramophone) and ‘consistently superb’ (The Guardian). Now the series continues with the 'Romantic' Symphony, coupled with the Act One Prelude from Wagner's Lohengrin - both of which glow even more brightly in hi-res.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Dausgaard brings remarkable clarity and impetus to Brahms's Second Symphony, with the intricacies of the inner string-parts in particular coming across in all their glory! Gramophone recently described the recording as 'a refresher course for those who think they know the work better than they actually do.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Two world premiere recordings, both given by the ensembles which gave the first-ever performances of each work: the International Contemporary Ensemble premiered Pulse in 2015, whilst the Colin Currie Group (formed in 2006 to celebrate the composer’s seventieth birthday) perform Quartet, for two pianos and two vibraphones.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Perahia first performed Beethoven's mighty Hammerklavier Sonata when he was in his twenties but then took a forty-year break from performing it in public, which ended only shortly before this recording was made; in his recent review of the album, my colleague James opined that 'the benefits of such a prolonged gestation period are immediately audible...his attention to the balancing of the different voices is a model of transparency'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Lully: Alceste
Judith Van Wanroij, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro; Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques
Following their acclaimed recordings of his Bellérophon, Armide, Amadis, Phaëton and Persée, Rousset and his musicians give stylish advocacy to Lully’s 1674 'tragédie en musique', based on Euripides’s Alcestis; reviewing the live performance at Versailles last December, Early Music Review praised the ‘finesse and fervour’ of the playing, whilst Gramophone observed that Rousset's 'pacing and inflecting of the music seems unerring'.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Così fan tutte
Margaret Price, Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Schreier, Wolfgang Brendel, Reri Grist, Theo Adam; Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Recorded live at the Bavarian State Opera in February 1978, the stellar cast prompted the conductor to enthuse to management that ‘With soloists such as these, we can sell out the house!’; Brigitte Fassbaender’s sultry Dorabella and Margaret Price’s luminous Fiordiligi are a match made in heaven, and the ensembles really sparkle.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Just one of the many highlights from Sony’s new collection of the American quartet made for Epic Recordings during the late 1950s and early 60s, these recordings of Mendelssohn from 1964 had only been previously available on vinyl.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Birgit Nilsson, Fritz Uhl, Arnold van Mill, Tom Krause, Regina Resnik; Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti
Presented on three CDs and one blu-ray audio (the latter featuring the extensive rehearsal excerpts included in the original vinyl issue), this re-issue of Solti’s only studio recording of Tristan comes with a deluxe hardback book including an essay by the producer John Culshaw as well as full texts and translations.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wagner: Parsifal
René Kollo, Christa Ludwig, Zoltan Kelemen, Gottlob Frick, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Hotter; Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti
Recorded just over a decade later, Solti’s Parsifal receives similar luxury treatment; Gramophone had especial praise for Christa Ludwig’s anti-heroine (‘the most securely and warmly sung Kundry on any version’), whilst the Penguin Guide declared that ‘Solti's singing cast could hardly be stronger, every one of them pointing words with fine, illuminating care for detail’.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
David Smith - Head of Digital
