New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 29th May 2020
Today’s new releases include Massenet's Thaïs from Sir Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (with Canadian soprano Erin Wall in the title-role), opera arias by Verdi, Puccini and others from Aleksandra Kurzak, the world premiere recording of Sir James MacMillan's Viola Concerto, and music from the court of Versailles from Jean Rondeau and Thomas Dunford.
The French harpsichordist and lutenist present a programme of music from the court at Versailles during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, featuring works by Rameau, Marais, François Couperin, Lambert, Forqueray, Charpentier and D’Anglebert; their guests include mezzo Lea Desandre and baritone Marc Mauillon.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
MacMillan: Symphony No. 4 & Viola Concerto
Lawrence Power (viola), BBC Philharmonic, Martyn Brabbins
Performed by its dedicatee, this is the world premiere recording of MacMillan’s Viola Concerto, written in 2013 and described by The Observer as ‘a major contribution to the repertory, full of musical debate’; it’s paired here with the Fourth Symphony, which was composed as a sixtieth-birthday tribute to the conductor Donald Runnicles and quotes music by the Scottish Renaissance composer Robert Carver.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Hot on the heels of their recording of Vasks’s Viola Concerto and the String Symphony ‘Voices’ with Maxim Rysanov and Sinfonietta Rīga at the beginning of the month, BIS cross the Baltic Sea for the Violin Concerto Distant Light, written for Gidon Kremer in the mid-90s and now one of the composer’s most popular works. It’s followed here by the buoyant Summer Dances for two violins, and the large-scale Piano Quartet from 2001.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Ohlsson and the Takács join forces for two great early twentieth-century piano quintets: Amy Beach’s work in F sharp minor from 1907, and Elgar’s late essay in the genre from a decade later. Reviewing a live performance of the programme at Wigmore Hall last May, The Spectator welcomed the prospect of this recording, describing the Beach as ‘a masterpiece’ and observing that ‘the quartet has never sounded better’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bavouzet takes a break from his ongoing acclaimed Mozart sonatas series to explore music by Beethoven’s friends and correspondents Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Muzio Clementi, Jan Ladislav Dussek, and Joseph Wölfl. An appendix of ‘musical illustrations’ teases out the connections between the four works on the album and Beethoven’s own piano sonatas.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Parry's valedictory masterpiece is preceded here by Stanford's evergreen Three Motets Op. 38 and eight-part Magnificat in B flat, Alan Gray's Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in F minor, and Charles Wood's Nunc dimittis in B flat.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Penderecki: St Luke Passion
Sarah Wegener (soprano), Lucas Meachem (baritone), Matthew Rose (bass), Slawomir Holland (speaker), Krakow Philharmonic Choir, Warsaw Boys' Choir Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano
This account of the St Luke Passion was recorded live in the presence of the composer (who died in March) at the opening concert of the 2018 Salzburg Festival, which has a long-standing relationship with his music – Penderecki conducted the premiere of his Magnificat there in 1974, and his opera The Black Mask also received its first performance there in 1986. The Passion, which draws heavily on Bach’s settings, was premiered in 1966 and was one of Penderecki’s first large-scale successes.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Having made her name in light lyric and coloratura roles, the Polish soprano moves into more dramatic repertoire on her first solo album on Sony, which includes arias from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Ernani and I Vespri Siciliani, Puccini’s Tosca, Turandot and Madama Butterfly, Dvořák’s Rusalka, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and her compatriot Moniuszko’s Halka.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Massenet: Thaïs
Erin Wall (Thaïs), Joshua Hopkins (Athanaël), Andrew Staples (Nicias), Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
This is the first complete opera recording from Davis and his Toronto forces, but conductor and leading lady have a long-standing shared history with this work; reviewing their 2011 performance at the Edinburgh Festival, The Guardian praised the ‘extraordinary ease and sumptuousness of [Wall’s] tone’ and the ‘hovering, ecstatic quality in her singing’ as well as the ‘passionate grandeur’ of Davis’s interpretation.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The great American pianist was personally involved with the curation of this 35-disc set, which is now released as a memorial tribute following his death in February; on revisiting the featured recordings, he observed that ‘even the ones I would not play that way now still may have redeeming aspects, and some of them I actually enjoyed quite a lot’. The repertoire includes substantial selections of Chopin, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Messiaen and Takemitsu.
Available Format: 35 CDs
Released to mark the quartet’s fiftieth anniversary this year, this 70-disc set includes DVDs of Schubert and a live concert from St Petersburg, the first-ever release of Roman Haubenstock-Ramati’s String Quartet No. 1, and the group’s two great Beethoven cycles, dating from the late 1970s and late 1980s respectively. Guest soloists include Sabine Meyer, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder, and Philippe Entremont.
Available Format: 62 CDs + 8 DVDs
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