New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 20th September 2019
Today’s new releases include a live recording of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts from John Nelson and the Philharmonia Orchestra (made at St Paul’s Cathedral on the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death this March), the world premiere recording of Puccini’s first opera Le Willis in its original one-act version conducted by Sir Mark Elder on Opera Rara, Falla from Pablo Heras-Casado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Vivaldi’s only surviving oratorio from Jordi Savall, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations.
Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem)
Michael Spyres (tenor) Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus, London Philharmonic Choir, John Nelson
Download version
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Puccini: Le Willis
Ermonela Jaho (Anna), Arsen Soghomonyan (Roberto), Brian Mulligan (Guglielmo) Opera Rara Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder
Following her success as Leoncavallo’s Zazà for Opera Rara three years ago, the Albanian soprano Jaho tackles a far more vengeful abandoned woman, Anna in Puccini’s early supernatural opera, given here in the original one-act version which the young composer submitted for a competition held by the music publisher Sonzogno in 1883. Read Katherine's in-depth interview with her about the role here.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Spanish conductor has recorded relatively little music by his compatriots, but this double-bill of two Falla ballets (both inspired by the composer’s friendship with husband-and-wife dramatists Gregorio Martínez Sierra and María Lejárraga) proves to be well worth waiting for; the recording marks the centenary of the premiere of El Sombrero de Tres Picos, which was first performed on 22nd July 1919 with choreography by Diaghilev and sets by Picasso.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans
Marianne Beate Kielland (Judith), Rachel Redmond (Vagaus), Marina de Liso (Holopherne); La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall
Recorded in concert at the Philharmonie de Paris last October, this performance of Vivaldi’s sole surviving oratorio was praised in ResMusica for the ‘sonorous fullness’ of Le Concert des Nations and the ‘impressive vehemence’ of Scottish soprano Rachel Redmond as the eunuch Vagaus. Includes a complete libretto and translations in six languages.
Available Format: 2 SACDs
The German tenor’s limbering up to debut heftier roles including Lohengrin and Florestan in 2020, but Mozart still features prominently in his repertoire (he's currently appearing at Covent Garden as Don Ottavio); this new album includes arias from roles which he’s already recorded in full (including Tamino, which he sang on René Jacobs’s multi-award-winning Zauberflöte in 2010) as well as Tito, Idomeneo, Belmonte, and Ozia in La Betulia liberata.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The young British a cappella ensemble (consisting of half of the Lay Clerks of St George’s Chapel Windsor) make their debut on Signum with a programme of British and Irish folksongs, including My love is like a red, red rose, The lark in the clear air, Down by the Salley Gardens, Danny Boy, and Dance to your daddy.
Available Format: CD
Jourdain and his acclaimed French early music ensemble present a programme of secular and sacred Venetian music composed between 1600 and 1750, including Cavalli’s Salve regina, Caldara’s Crucifixus, Giovanni Gabrieli’s Exaudi me Domine, excerpts from Monteverdi’’s Selve morale e spirituale, and music by Lotti, Legrenzi, Marini, and Merula.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For his third solo recording, the young American pianist (who won First Prize at the Géza Anda Competition in 2015) interleaves Mompou's Paisajes, Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 13 and Book One of Albéniz's Iberia with keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, who spent much of his career in Spain; the album was described as 'invigoratingly played' in last week's Sunday Times.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
