New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-up - 5th October 2018
Today's new releases include the latest instalment in Adam Fischer's ongoing Mahler symphonies cycle, Richard Strauss's violin concerto and song transcriptions from Arabella Steinbacher, volume four of Sir Andrew Davis's Holst series on Chandos, solo Bach from Hilary Hahn and a box-set celebrating the 120th anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon.
Ádám Fischer’s Dusseldorf Mahler series (now on its fifth volume) has been described as ‘the most idiomatic and exciting cycle of Mahler symphonies since Kubelík and Bernstein’ (Gramophone, reviewing Symphony No. 1 this April) and praised by BBC Music Magazine for its 'textural clarity'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Recorded in concert at the Barbican in June, the LSO’s Shostakovich 8 under their principal guest conductor was described as ‘a fine performance, with the LSO on magnificent form’ (The Times) whilst Classical Source observed that ‘with fluid, unshowy gestures, the Italian conductor let the music tell its own story’.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Richard Strauss: 'Aber der Richtige'
Arabella Steinbacher (violin), WDR Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Foster
Named after one of Strauss’s heroines, Arabella Steinbacher grew up surrounded by his music – her repetiteur father would often rehearse it with singers in the family home, and here she juxtaposes the youthful violin concerto with transcriptions of some of the songs she heard as a child, including Cäcilie, Zueignung, Wiegenlied and Traum durch die Dämmerung.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The fourth instalment of Davis's Holst series (begin by the late Richard Hickox nearly a decade ago) includes the Cotswold Symphony, A Moorside Suite, Indra (a symphonic poem depicting the Hindu god of rain), and Invocation, for which the BBC Philharmonic are joined by former BBC Young Musician of the Year Guy Johnston.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Twenty years after tackling two of Bach’s three partitas and his third (C minor) sonata for unaccompanied violin on her debut solo album at the tender age of 17, Hahn returns to finish the job with this recording of the Sonata No. 1 in G minor, the Sonata No. 2 in A minor, and the first Partita in B minor.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following her Gramophone Award-nominated accounts of the Chopin concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Jun Märkl in 2014, the Argentinian pianist (who took the silver medal at the 2000 Frederic Chopin Competition in Warsaw) turns her attention to the Nocturnes. Her recordings of the Preludes and Waltzes have also been very well received.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following his debut album of music by Spanish and Argentine composers, Leyendas, the French guitarist turns his attention to Bach and the music which he later inspired, including his own transcriptions of the Chaconne from the D minor violin partita, Wachet auf and Jesu bleibet meine Freude, and works by Villa-Lobos, Gounod, Alexandre Tansman, and Dusan Bogdanovic.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Handel: Ode for St Cecilia’s Day
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Ian Bostridge (tenor), Dunedin Consort, John Butt
Butt's Dunedin Consort are joined by the Polish Radio Choir on this live recording from the Misteria Paschalia Festival: Handel's paean to the patron saint of musicians is paired with the Concerto Grosso in A minor HWV 322. The consort's Handel discography includes acclaimed accounts of Esther and Acis and Galatea, and a Gramophone Award-winning Messiah.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Contrabandista
Javier Camarena (tenor), Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo), Les Musiciens du Prince, Gianluca Capuano
The elegant, sweet-voiced Mexican tenor explores the works and repertoire of singer and composer Manuel Garcia (the father of Maria Malibran and Pauline Viardot, whose music Bartoli has championed – she joins Camarena for a duet from Rossini’s Armida). Includes ‘Si, ritrovarla io giuro’ from La cenerentola, which was granted a rare encore when Camarena sang it at The Metropolitan Opera in 2014 after stepping in for Juan Diego Flórez.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Miroir(s)
Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Orchestre national Montpellier, Occitanie Pyrénées Méditerranée, Michael Schønwandt
The French-Danish soprano (who won Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition two years ago) presents a selection of operatic arias dealing with the idea of mirrors and reflections, including Marguerite’s Jewel-Song from Gounod’s Faust, ‘Dis-moi que je suis belle’ from Massenet’s Thaïs, and ‘In quelle trine morbide’ from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Released to celebrate the 120th birthday of the 'yellow label', this beautifully-curated set charts the evolution of Deutsche Gramophone through 120 iconic recordings, supplemented by four newly-commissioned essays exploring distinct periods in the label's history as well as twelve shorter pieces on genre. Also includes the complete Karajan Ring on blu-ray audio.
Available Format: 121 CDs + Blu-ray Audio
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
