New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 1st May 2020
Today's new releases include the complete Beethoven piano concertos from Stephen Hough, Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a Vasks world premiere from Maxim Rysanov and Sinfonietta Rīga, Book One of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier from Trevor Pinnock, and Verdi's Attila with Ildebrando D'Arcangelo and Liudmyla Monastyrska from Munich.
These recordings were made in Helsinki last June shortly after Hough, Lintu and his Finnish orchestra’s live performances of the complete concertos over the course of two concerts; the recordings use Jonathan Del Mar’s edition of the scores, and Hough supplies his own cadenza for Piano Concerto No. 2.
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This is the first recording of Vasks’s Viola Concerto, written for and premiered by Rysanov at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in 2016; reviewing the first performance, The Guardian observed that ‘Rysanov’s grappling with the almost Bachian rigour and virtuosity of the two cadenzas commanded the attention’.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Discovery of Passion
Dmitry Sinkovsky (violin, counter-tenor), Dorothee Oberlinger (recorder), Ensemble 1700, Jeremy Joseph (harpsichord), Luca Pianca (lute)
The multi-tasking Russian (described by The Sydney Morning Herald as ‘a passionate and adventurous musician with a slightly overwhelming array of talents’) and German recorder-player team up for a programme of songs and arias by Monteverdi, Spadi, Rognoni and Uccellini, and instrumental works by Rossi, Frescobaldi, Merula, Bassano, Fontana and Vitali.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Prokofiev: Suites from The Gambler & The Tale of the Stone Flower
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Dima Slobodeniouk
As well as the suite from Prokofiev’s first opera The Gambler, this album features a fusion of two sets of excerpts which the composer compiled from the score of his final ballet whilst waiting for official permission to be given for the premiere, comprising The Mistress of the Copper Mountain, the Gypsy Fantasy and Wedding Suite. The programme is rounded off by the early Autumnal Sketch.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The British harpsichordist and conductor’s fascination with ‘the 48’ began at the tender age of 12, but he’s waited half a century before committing his thoughts to the microphone; Pinnock’s previous recordings of Bach have met with widespread acclaim, his accounts of the Partitas and Brandenburg Concertos winning the Instrumental category at the Gramophone Awards in 2001 and 2008 respectively.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Glass & Stravinsky: Violin Concertos
David Nebel (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Baltic Sea Philharmonic, Kristjan Järvi
Premiered by Paul Zukofsky in New York in 1987, the Glass concerto was one of the composer’s first large-scale works, and only last year it was transcribed for flute by composer-flautist James Strauss with Glass’s co-operation; the young Swiss violinist David Nebel is joined by the London Symphony Orchestra for the Glass and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic for the Stravinsky on his debut recording.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Schoenberg: Erwartung & Pelleas und Melisande
Sara Jakubiak (soprano), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
Nearly four years on from their ‘rich, seductive and sensuous’ Gurrelieder, the Norwegian orchestra and their music director turn to two pieces which Schoenberg composed while on hiatus from that work – both of which use the forest as a metaphor for the subconscious. Reviewing the recording yesterday The Guardian observed that Gardner ‘makes sure the shape of the huge musical structure is never compromised, and there’s no lack of tonal weight when required’.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The British-American dramatic coloratura soprano makes her solo recording debut with this all-Rachmaninov programme centring on the Op. 38 songs; you can read Katherine's interview with Julia about her affinity and family connections with the composer here.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Little and Lane complete their acclaimed series of British violin sonatas (which they began in 2013) with works by York Bowen, John Ireland, William Alwyn, Eric Coates, and the world premiere recording of James Francis Brown’s The Hart’s Grace, composed for Little and the Hertfordshire Festival of Music four years ago. Gramophone described the previous instalment as a set of ‘splendid, sensitive, insightful interpretations by two great advocates of British music’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Verdi: Attila
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Attila), Liudmyla Monastyrska (Odabella), Stefano La Colla (Foresto), George Petean (Ezio); Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Ivan Repušić
Recorded in concert last October, this is the third instalment of the Munich orchestra’s survey of Verdi’s early operas with their Croatian music director, following an excellent Luisa Miller (with Marina Rebeka in the title-role) and an ‘urgent, red-blooded’ (Opera Magazine) Due Foscari. Reviewing D’Arcangelo’s performance of the title-role on a 2016 DVD from Bologna, BBC Music Magazine observed that the Italian bass-baritone ‘exudes psychological angst and vocal authority’ as the barbarian chief.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Moniuszko: Straszny dwór (The Haunted Manor)
Tomasz Konieczny (Miecznik), Małgorzata Walewska (Cześnikowa), Edyta Piasecka (Halka), Monika Ledzion- Porczyńsk (Jadwiga), Arnold Rutkowski (Stefan); Grzegorz Nowak, Orchestra of the 18th Century
Following recent recordings of Halka and Flis, the Frederick Chopin Institute continue flying the flag for Moniuszko’s neglected operas with this first-ever period-instrument recording of a work that’s considered his masterpiece: the patriotic four-acter The Haunted Manor from 1864, excerpts from which have featured on recital albums by Polish singers including Mariusz Kwiecień, Piotr Beczała and Aleksandra Kurzak.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
