New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 10th August 2018
Today’s new releases include the complete Bernstein symphonies from Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, a celebration of Penderecki’s 85th birthday from Anne-Sophie Mutter, a Gothic melodrama by the English nineteenth-century composer Edward J. Loder, and a double-bill of Italian one-act operas by Donizetti and Mayr.
Released in anticipation of Penderecki’s 85th birthday this November, this double album features four works dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter: the Violin Sonata No. 2 (which she premiered in 2000), the baroque-influenced La follia for unaccompanied violin, the Violin Concerto No. 2 ‘Metamorphosen’ (1995), and the Duo concertante for violin and double bass (written for Mutter and Roman Patkoló, who appeared on her recent Trout Quintet recording).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Bernstein: The 3 Symphonies
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sir Antonio Pappano
Bernstein was Honorary President of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra from 1983 until his death in 1990, and now they mark his impending centenary with their first recording of his symphonies, with soloists including Dame Josephine Barstow, Nadine Sierra, Beatrice Rana and Marie-Nicole Lemieux. You can read our exclusive interview with Pappano about the project here.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Piano Quartets
Daniel Barenboim (piano), Michael Barenboim (violin), Yiulia Deyneka (viola), Kian Soltani (cello)
Barenboim is joined by his son Michael (the leader of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra), Yulia Deyneka (the principal viola of the Berlin Staatskapelle), and the young Austrian cellist Kian Soltani (a former principal cellist of WEDO) in these live recordings, made at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin; No. 2 was recorded at the venue’s inauguration concert in the spring of 2017.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Launched in 2014 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Strauss’s birth, this series has been praised by Gramophone for its ‘wonderful lyrical generosity’ (Eine Alpensinfonie) and ‘natural and compelling sense of pacing’ (Aus Italien and Tod und Verklärung). This final volume features two works from the mid-1890s, recorded in Frankfurt in March of this year.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Søren Nils Eichberg: Symphony No. 3 & Morpheus
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Concert Choir, Robert Spano, Joshua Weilerstein
The German-Danish composer (b.1973) was appointed composer-in-residence with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in 2010, and both works here were written especially for the orchestra: the concerto for orchestra Morpheus (2013) and the Third Symphony (2014/15), which draws upon Chinese and Hebrew poetry, the philosophy of Archimedes, and sounds recorded by NASA’s ‘Voyager’ probe.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Loder: Raymond & Agnes
Majella Cullagh, Mark Milhofer, Andrew Greenan, Carolyn Dobbin, Quentin Hayes, Alessandro Fisher, Alexander Robin Baker; Retrospect Opera Chorus, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Richard Bonynge
Premiered in Manchester in 1855, this English Romantic opera is based on an episode from Matthew Lewis’s infamous Gothic novel The Monk (1796), and has been described as ‘the English equivalent to early Verdi’ (Opera Magazine). We’ll be speaking to Mr Bonynge about the work next week, so watch this space!
Available Format: 2 CDs
Two little-known but charming Italian one-acters by master and student: Donizetti’s first opera (composed in 1816 when he was just 19, and written at top speed in a mere fortnight!) and his teacher Mayr’s 1798 ‘farsa’, also written at the very beginning of his career. Though Mayr’s opera was widely produced in his own lifetime, the Donizetti wasn’t premiered until 1960.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer
George London (Dutchman), Josef Greindl, Leonie Rysanek, Fritz Uhl, Res Fischer, Georg Paskuda; Bayreuther Festspiele, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Recorded live at the Bayreuth Festival in 1959, this Dutchman features stand-out performances from Rysanek as Senta and London as the eponymous anti-hero: The New York Times opined that ‘Though Rysanek’s singing is not flawless, her clarion tone and elegant lyricism are overwhelming’, and had nothing but praise for London’s ‘luxurious voice’ and ‘eerily calm intensity’.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Leonard Bernstein at Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (DVD)
Teaching, Performing, Lectures and Master Course
Filmed in 1988, these three hour-long programmes focus on Bernstein’s mission to create ‘another Tanglewood’ in Salzau, Northern Germany: includes the documentary The Birth of an Orchestra, extensive rehearsal-footage of The Rite of Spring, the International Conductors Competition, and a complete performance of the Schumann Piano Concerto with Bernstein’s great friend (and founder of the Festival), the German pianist and conductor Justus Frantz.
Available Format: 3 DVD Videos
Leonard Bernstein at Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Blu-ray)
Teaching, Performing, Lectures and Master Course
Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region: B/2
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
