Coming Soon,
Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason's first duo album and other forthcoming highlights
Tempting prospects for late autumn and winter include Barber and Rachmaninov's cello sonatas from Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, scenes and arias by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Mysliveček from Cecilia Bartoli, eighteenth-century Italian fireworks from Croatian violinist Bojan Čičić and his Illyria Ensemble, and the final instalment of Ádám Fischer's acclaimed Mahler cycle from Düsseldorf.
The siblings’ first duo album together is built around the cello sonatas of Rachmaninov and Barber, and also features transcriptions of songs by both composers, including Rachmaninov’s ‘It cannot be’ and ‘How fair this spot’ and Barber’s ‘Sure on this shining night’, ‘With rue my heart is laden’ and ‘a Slumber Song of the Madonna’. The pair performed both sonatas at last year’s BBC Proms, with BachTrack observing that ‘the sibling closeness shone through, and despite those two huge ‘solo’ parts [in the Rachmaninov], they played as one’.
Released 5th November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Recorded in 2013, this collection of Classical arias and scenas includes Mozart’s ‘Bella mia fiamma, addio’, ‘Ah, lo previdi’, ‘L'amerò, sarò costante’ and ‘Ch’io mi scordi di te?’ (with Maxim Vengerov featuring on the latter two works), Haydn’s Scena di Berenice, Beethoven’s ‘Ah, perfido!’, and ‘Se mai senti’ from Mysliveček’s La clemenza di Tito.
Released 19th November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The final instalment of the elder Fischer’s superb Mahler cycle from Düsseldorf was recorded in concert last March, immediately before lockdown restrictions were introduced: as Fischer reflects in the booklet-note, ‘the orchestra was playing in full line-up in front of a full house for the last time for a long while… The mood was ominous: we all felt something was amiss’. The series has met with considerable critical acclaim, with Symphony No. 1 winning the Orchestral category at the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Awards and No. 3 an Opus Klassik Award that same year.
Released 5th November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This quartet of orchestral works inspired by Finnish epic poetry comprises Leevi Madetoja’s symphonic poem Kullervo (premiered in 1913), Uuno Klami’s Stravinsky-inspired Kalevala Suite (written in 1933 and revised a decade later), Tuano Pylkkänen’s Kullervo's Expedition from 1942, and Lemminkäinen in Tuonela from Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite, given here in the 1897 edition rather than the more commonly-heard revision from 1939.
Released 3rd December.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Released just in time for Bonfire Night, Pyrotechnia includes virtuoso fireworks aplenty in the shape of Vivaldi’s Violin Concertos ‘fatto per Maestro Pisendel’ and ‘per Signora Anna Maria’, Tartini’s ‘Rondinella vaga e bella’, and Locatelli’s Violin Concerto Op. 3 No. 12 Il laberinto armónico. This is Čičić’s second concerto recording with his Illyria Consort, following an album exploring the music of Giovanni Giornovich, which prompted MusicWeb International to describe him as ‘a highly compelling and convincing soloist throughout, playing both with passion and real exhilaration’.
Released 29th October.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The fifth volume of Alard’s Bach series (which was described as ‘a project to watch with anticipation’ by Gramophone when it launched in 2018) focuses on Bach’s time in Weimar between 1708 and 1717 and includes the Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565, the Toccata and Fugue in C minor BWV 564, and the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582. As on previous instalments, Alard moves between organ, pedal harpsichord and clavichord throughout the programme.
Released 12th November.
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Sergey Akhunov: Songs and Poems
Dmitry Sinkovsky (countertenor), Julia Lezhneva, Olesya Petrova (soprano), La Voce Strumentale
The multi-talented Sinkovsky sings and directs on this programme of vocal and instrumental music by his compatriot Sergey Akhunov (b. 1967), including six settings of poetry by ee cummings, songs from Chinese Travelogue (on texts by Olga Sedakova), and two works for strings: Cherubic Chant and The Imprint. Music by Akhunov has featured on recent recordings from violist Maxim Rysanov and accordionist Ksenija Sidorova.
Released 5th November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
The Russian soprano’s first solo recording in five years features arias from Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Manon Lescaut, Verdi’s Aida and Don Carlo, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos,and Wagner’s Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Tristan und Isolde.
Released 3rd November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Five years on from their recording of Schwanengesang (which was applauded by The Guardian for the bass-baritone’s ‘quicksilver changes of timbre’ and described by Gramophone as ‘interpretation grows in emotional urgency as it progresses’), Rutherford and Asti embark on Schubert’s bleak Winter Journey. An eminent Wagnerian, Rutherford’s career highlights to date include Hans Sachs at Bayreuth and Wotan in Oper Frankfurt’s Ring Cycle.
Released 3rd December.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
