New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 16th November 2018
Today’s new releases include the first instalment of a complete Schumann songs series from Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber on Sony, the second volume of Daniel Harding’s promising Mahler cycle with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra on Harmonia Mundi, and the DVD and Blu-ray release of Sir David McVicar’s production of Norma from the Metropolitan Opera last year, starring Sondra Radvanovsky and Joyce DiDonato as the Druid priestess and acolyte who are both in thrall to Joseph Calleja’s Roman proconsul.
The second instalment in Harding’s Mahler cycle was recently praised in The Times for the conductor’s ‘forensic precision and an impeccable regard for nuances of phrasing’ and in Gramophone for its ‘vivid and immediate recorded sound’ and ‘authentically live, cumulative impact’.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Released to mark the 150th anniversary of Rossini’s death (which fell earlier this week), this tribute from the orchestra of an opera-house with a long-standing association with his work includes overtures from popular comic operas such as La cenerentola, Il barbiere di Siviglia and L’Italiana in Algeri as well as from lesser-known opera seria including Mathilde di Shabran and Le Siège de Corinthe.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Lutoslawski & Dutilleux: Cello Concertos
Johannes Moser (cello), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Thomas Søndergård
Following impressive recordings of the Dvořák, Lalo and Elgar concertos, the German-Canadian cellist’s fourth album on Pentatone couples two works which were premiered in 1970: Henri Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain and Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For the sixth instalment in their series of composer portraits (previous volumes were dedicated to Shostakovich, Bruckner, Ravel, Mahler and Stravinsky), the Spanish conductor and his Luxembourg orchestra focus on Debussy’s evocation of land- and sea-scapes; as well as La mer, the album includes Six Epigraphes antiques (orchestrated by Rudolf Escher) and Colin Matthews’s atmospheric orchestration of Images Book 1.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Elgar & Finzi: Violin Concertos
Ning Feng (violin), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto
For his second concerto recording on Channel, the Chinese violinist tackles two early twentieth-century British works: Elgar’s hugely popular concerto of 1909, and Gerald Finzi’s far less frequently-recorded concerto from the mid-1920s, which languished unperformed for over seventy years after its premiere under Sir Malcolm Sargent.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The first volume of a projected complete Schumann song series from the great German baritone and his long-standing recital-partner includes the Sechs Gesänge Op. 107, Drei Gesänge Op. 83, Zwölf Gedichte Op. 35, and an especially compelling account of ‘Die beiden Grenadiere’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Zelenka: Missa Sancti Josephi
Julia Lezhneva, Daniel Taylor, Tilman Lichdi, Jonathan Sells; Barockorchester Stuttgart, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius
Bernius and his Stuttgart forces have already proved themselves marvellous advocates of the Czech baroque composer, with a discography including the Missa Dei Patris, Missa Dei Filii and Missa Votiva; now they turn to the ‘St Joseph’ Mass of 1732, based on a new reconstruction of the damaged autograph manuscript by Carus-Verlag.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For their fourth album coupling Renaissance masterpieces with new works and special commissions, the superb British vocal ensemble take the Incarnation as their theme, with a programme which includes Byrd’s O magnum mysterium, Tallis’s Videte miraculum, James MacMillan’s Nova! Nova!, and John Rutter’s Suzi’s Carol, dedicated to ORA’s founder Suzi Digby.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus
Laura Aikin, Christian Elsner, Nikolai Schukoff, Elisabeth Kulman; NDR Radiophilharmonie, Lawrence Foster
With new dialogue penned by the tenor Nikolai Schukoff (who takes the role of Eisenstein), this is a sparkling Fledermaus featuring several singers usually associated with heavier repertoire – including tenor Christian Elsner (a noted Parsifal, Loge and Mime) as Alfred and Elisabeth Kulman (a commanding Fricka on Simon Rattle’s Rheingold) in the trouser-role of Prince Orlofsky.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bellini: Norma (DVD)
Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja; Metropolitan Opera, Carlo Rizzi, Sir David McVicar
Filmed live in 2017 at the Metropolitan Opera, David McVicar’s new staging of Bellini’s most popular work offers a traditional alternative to the Royal Opera’s recent contemporary take on the piece - The Telegraph described the production as ‘a solid, unpretentious piece of work that will bear revival’, and praised Radvanovsky’s ‘admirably paced and sturdily projected’ heroine and DiDonato’s ‘warmly expressive and sensitively musical’ Adalgisa.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Bellini: Norma (Blu-ray)
Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Carlo Rizzi, Sir David McVicar
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.66:1
Available Format: Blu-ray
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
