New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 13th August 2021
Today's new releases include the Chopin Nocturnes from Jan Lisiecki, Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie from Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Louise Farrenc's violin sonatas from Daniele Orlando and Linda Di Carlo, and Francis Pott's mammoth 'Passion Symphony' Christus from Tom Winpenny at the organ of St Albans Cathedral.
Jurowski’s 2017 recording of Eine Alpensinfonie with the London Philharmonic Orchestra was praised by BBC Music Magazine as ‘ideally paced and beautifully balanced…up there among the best’, whilst Gramophone applauded the ‘remarkable level of detail’ which he revealed in the score; this live recording with his German orchestra was made at the Konzerthaus Berlin in February 2019.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The Canadian pianist has a long-standing affinity with Chopin’s music, having made his first recordings of the concertos in his early teens; Gramophone described his interpretations of the Études in 2013 as ‘given as naturally as breathing yet recreated from an entirely novel perspective’. Read our interview with Jan about Chopin’s special relationship with the Nocturne and his own commitment to ‘following my own path’ in this repertoire here.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Piano Concertos Vol. 3
Anne-Marie McDermott (piano), Odense Symfoniorkester, Sebastian Lang-Lessing
This third volume of the American pianist’s acclaimed Mozart series features Piano Concertos Nos. 14 and 27; reviewing the first instalment back in 2019, Fanfare’s critic pronounced that ‘in a lifetime of listening, this is, hands down, the finest recording of Mozart piano concertos I’ve ever heard’, whilst International Piano described McDermott’s interpretations of Nos. 15 and 16 as ‘lively, well-executed accounts that bring these disarmingly tricky scores marvellously to life’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
As well as the two violin sonatas (composed in 1848 and 1850 respectively), this album includes the Variations Concertantes sur une Mélodie Suisse which Robert Schumann described as ‘so sure in outline, so logical in development … that one must fall under their charm’; both pianist and violinist have form with the French composer’s music, having recorded the two piano quintets together as members of the Quintetto Bottesini almost a decade ago.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Though the Italian composer had a fine international reputation as a keyboard-virtuoso, few of his compositions for the instrument (which some scholars have estimated to run into three figures) were published during his lifetime; the six sonatas featured here are notable exceptions, and were all published in London in the 1750s, sharing stylistic qualities with those by Domenico Scarlatti and the young Haydn.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Recorded in the presence of the composer, this is the first studio account of Pott’s two-hour Passion Symphony, premiered at Westminster Cathedral in 1991 and described by Gramophone as ‘an inspired work on a grand scale that gradually reveals its greatness’. The recording was made on the organ of St Albans Cathedral and is supplemented by three shorter works: Surrexit Hodie, the Chorale Prelude on Schmucke dich, O liebe Seele, and the improvisation on Adeste, Fideles.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Behzad Abdi: Hafez
Mohammad Motamendi, Hossein Alishapour, Babak Sabouri, Eshaq Anvar, Mohommad Zakerhossien, Ali Zandevakili, Haleh Seyfizadeh; Credo Chamber Choir, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Vladimir Sirenko
Centring on the life of the fourteenth-century Persian poet and mystic, Hafez is the second puppet-opera by Iranian composer Behzad Abdi, and was premiered in 2013; like its predecessor Rumi (described by Abdi as ‘Iran’s first national opera’), the score fuses Western classical elements with the Iranian modal system dastgāh.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler (DVD)
Wolfgang Koch (Mathis), Kurt Streit (Albrecht von Brandenburg), Manuela Uhl (Ursula), Franz Grundheber (Riedinger); Slovak Philharmonic Choir, Wiener Symphoniker, Bertrand de Billy, Keith Warner
Filmed at the Theater an der Wien in 2012, Warner’s production was praised as ‘full of telling detail’ in The Guardian yesterday, with Andrew Clements also observing that Hindemith’s score is ‘superbly conducted by Bertrand de Billy, making the most of the opera’s visionary moments, and doing his best with its occasional longueurs’. The CD version will be released on 3rd September.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler (Blu-ray)
Wolfgang Koch (Mathis), Kurt Streit (Albrecht von Brandenburg), Manuela Uhl (Ursula), Franz Grundheber (Riedinger), Slovak Philharmonic Choir Wiener Symphoniker, Bertrand de Billy, Keith Warner
Picture format: 16:9
Sound format: PCM stereo
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
