New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 13th July 2018
Highlights from today's releases include period-instrument Beethoven from Trio Goya, a Rameau extravaganza appearing in its original version for the first time on record, and a long-forgotten opera by Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner - described by Robert Schumann as the Germany's most promising operatic composer of his generation.
Reviewing a recent performance of Beethoven’s first three piano trios by this period-instrument ensemble at Wigmore Hall, Early Music Today declared that ‘Trio Goya sent us home spinning on the delights and laughter of early Beethoven’. These recordings were made at Snape Maltings last November, and constitute the trio’s first release since their debut disc of Haydn in 2010, which was praised in Gramophone for its ‘vigour and sensitivity’.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The principals of the Milanese opera-house perform the Octets by Stravinsky, Peter Eötvös and Alessio Elia (born 1979), and two works which were composed just last year: Japanese-born Canadian composer Rita Ueda’s Gargoyles in Love, and by heart by the Lithuanian Albertas Navickas. The ensemble was formed in 1990 by Riccardo Muti (who has often performed with them himself as a pianist).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Recorded between 1919 and 1923, this collection brings together some of Rachmaninov’s earliest studio work: following sessions with Thomas Edison shortly after he relocated to America, he transferred to Victor in 1920. As well as a substantial selection of his own compositions (such as the Polka de V.R, and excerpts from the Preludes and Morceaux de Salon) the album includes music by Chopin, Mendelssohn, Daquin, Tchaikovsky and Debussy.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Performed on the Klais organ of the Philharmonic Hall of the Gasteig in Munich, this is the world premiere recording of Albrecht’s own transcription of Liszt’s work for organ; his previous projects have included arrangements of other large-scale orchestral works such as Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Holst’s The Planets, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at the Exhibition, Rachmaninov’s Isle of the Dead, and three movements from Stravinsky’s Petrushka.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
It’s been rather eclipsed by this year’s focus on the Bernstein and Debussy anniversaries, but 2018 marks 150 years since the death of Rossini; Italian pianist Alessandro Marangoni is commemorating the occasion with the first-ever complete set of Péchés de vieillesse, including 20 world premiere recordings along the way. Further volumes will follow in September and November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rameau: Le Temple de la Gloire
Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Gabrielle Philiponet, Aaron Sheehan; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, Nicholas McGegan
Composed in honour of Louis XV and to commemorate the Battle of Fontenoy, Rameau’s 1745 opera-ballet sets a libretto by Voltaire; the dramatis personae include Bacchus, Envy, Apollo, two mythical kings, and a full complement of nymphs and shepherds. Conductor Nicholas McGegan describes the score as ‘extravagant, spectacular beyond description’, utilising ‘the whole kitchen sink of the orchestra, deliberately exotic and jangly’.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Lindpaintner: Il vespro siciliano
Matija Meic, César Arrieta, Danilo Formaggia, Silvia Dalla Benetta; Virtuosi Brunensis, Federico Longo
Predating Verdi’s far better-known opera on the same subject by just over a decade, this four-act grand opera was heavily influenced by Meyerbeer, and is sung here in Italian rather than the original German. Lindpainter (1791-1856) composed over 20 operas, most of which are now only rarely performed, and was much admired by composers including Schumann, Mendelssohn and Spohr.
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Musgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
Ashley Putnam, Carlos Serrano, Jake Gardner; Virginia Opera, Peter Mark
Commissioned by Scottish Opera and premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 1977, the first of Musgrave’s four historical operas was first performed in the United States by Virginia Opera the following year; this recording was originally issued in 1989. Unlike Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, it focuses on Mary’s relationships with her half-brother, her husband Lord Darnley, and her lover the earl of Bothwell rather than with Elizabeth I.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Birgit Nilsson, Wolfgang Windgassen, Grace Hoffmann, Erik Sædén, Josef Greindl; Bayreuth Festival, Wolfgang Sawallisch
The first official release of the great Swedish soprano’s Bayreuth debut as Isolde in July 1958 sees her partnering Wolfgang Windgassen, with whom she would go on to record a legendary Tristan under Karl Böhm eight years later. Though Wieland Wagner was initially hesitant to offer her the role, Nilsson went on to become the Festival’s reigning Isolde for over a decade.
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Reviewing this release last week, The Guardian praised ‘the orchestra’s chamber-music-like attention to detail and exquisite ensemble’ in the Mendelssohn; the concert took place at last year’s Festival, and The Spectator’s Michael Tanner declared at the time that Chailly’s account of the Manfred ‘makes a case for the piece that would surely have stunned the composer’.
Available Format: DVD Video
Picture formats: NTSC 16:9, Full HD
Sound formats: DTS HD Master Audio, PCM Stereo
Region code: 0
Available Format: Blu-ray
Our dedicated Naxos New Release Brochure returns this week, where you can browse, read about, and listen to excerpts of all the exciting Naxos releases out this month. Highlights include folk song arrangements from the Elora Singers, Rossini's Le Comte Ory from Malmö and world premiere recordings of music by Eugene Zádor, Leonardo Balada, Stephen Dodgson and Messiaen organ music.
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
