Coming Soon,
Rattle conducts Bernstein and other forthcoming highlights
One of the most exciting prospects for the impending Bernstein centenary comes courtesy of Simon Rattle, Krystian Zimerman and the Berliner Philharmoniker and was recorded a matter of weeks ago! There are also enticing new concept-albums from Alice Sara Ott and Hélène Grimaud, one of Jiří Belohlávek’s final recordings with the Czech Philharmonic, and a mammoth new Bach boxed set to commemorate the 333rd anniversary of his birth.
Bernstein: Symphony No. 2 'The Age of Anxiety'
Krystian Zimerman (piano), Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
This recording was made live in concert in Berlin only last month, with the Financial Times declaring: ‘It is impossible to imagine a more consummate account. Zimerman’s pianism was extraordinary’. The Polish pianist was a huge favourite of Bernstein; they performed the work together during the 1980s, and Zimerman promised the composer that he’d perform it on his 100th birthday.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Released to mark the ninetieth anniversary of Janáček’s death next month, this recording also pays tribute to the late Jiří Belohlávek: like the recent Má Vlast (released on Decca in January), it was one of the last recordings which the conductor made with his beloved Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and also includes the Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba, and the rare ‘dramatic ballad’ The Fiddler’s Child.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
As well as Stenhammar’s mighty Second Symphony (informed by a self-taught crash-course in counterpoint which the composer undertook in the early 1910s), this recording also includes the incidental music for Strindberg’s Ett drömspel (A Dream Play) in the 1970 concert-version by fellow Swedish composer Hilding Rosenberg. Lindberg’s 2014 recording of Stenhammar’s Serenade was described by Gramophone as ‘a marvellous disc’.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Arvo Pärt: Music for Violin
Viktoria Mullova (violin), Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
Mullova (who has programmed Pärt’s music regularly over the past few years and met with the composer on numerous occasions to discuss her interpretations) performs some of his best-known works here, including Fratres, Spiegel im Spiegel, two excerpts from Tabula Rasa, and Darf ich…. The composer was present at the recording-sessions.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Grimaud conceived this album as a means of ‘exploring memory as a state of consciousness common to us all, and discovering paths and features of that meditation, suggested by music’; the programme includes music by Debussy, Satie, Chopin, Silvestrov, and her friend and collaborator Nitin Sawhney.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
As the title suggests, Ott’s album has a distinctly nocturnal (and Gallic) flavour, with Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit as the centrepiece; also includes Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque and Rêverie, Satie’s Trois Gymnopédies, and Ravel’s Pavane pour une infant défunte. Look out for our interview with Alice Sara Ott about the project over the coming weeks.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bach 333 - The New Complete Edition
Deluxe individually-numbered limited edition box set (English-language edition)
Totalling over 280 hours of music and featuring 750 performers, this supremely authoritative 222-disc collection includes seven world premiere recordings and ten hours of new recordings as well as benchmark performances from musicians including Masaaki Suzuki, Christopher Hogwood, Alfred Brendel, Marie-Claire Alain, Pablo Casals, Wanda Landowska, Arthur Grumiaux and Zuzana Růžičková.
Available Format: 222 CDs + DVD Video
Momento immobile: Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini
Venera Gimadieva (soprano), The Hallè, Gianluca Marciano
The Russian soprano (who’s had huge success recently in the title-roles of Lucia di Lammermoor and La traviata and as the Queen of Shemakha in Rimsky Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or) makes her solo recording debut with a programme of arias from operas including I Capuleti e Montecchi, La sonnambula, Linda di Chamounix, Guillaume Tell and Rossini’s Otello.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The American countertenor (whose previous recording credits include Jake Heggie’s Great Scott and the Metropolitan Opera’s baroque pasticcio The Enchanted Island) makes his solo album debut with an eclectic programme of music by Handel and Philip Glass – the title-role in Glass’s Akhnaten and Handel’s Giulio Cesare have figured prominently in his stage repertoire over the past couple of seasons.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The veteran tenor-turned-baritone joins forces with the Spanish classical guitarist for a programme of boleros, pasadobles and popular ballads including Adios Granada, Sabor a Mí, La morena de mi copla, Gracias a la vida, Historia de un Amor and Dos Cruces.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
