New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 29th October 2021
Today's new releases include Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta from Susanna Mälkki and the Helsinki Phillharmonic, Chopin Nocturnes from Stephen Hough, Beethoven's first three Op. 18 quartets from the Chiaroscuro Quartet, and Handel arias with instrumental obbligatos from La Nuova Musica, with soloists including Iestyn Davies and Lucy Crowe.
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki
This is Mälkki's third Bartók recording with the Finnish orchestra, following much-praised accounts of The Wooden Prince and The Miraculous Mandarin in 2019 and an enormously atmospheric Bluebeard's Castle (which was an Editor's Choice in Gramophone and was hailed by Opera Magazine as 'a thrilling addition to the work’s already big discography') earlier this year.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following an acclaimed survey of Haydn's Op. 76 quartets (praised in BBC Music Magazine for its 'perfect sound balance and rich, vibrant textures' and in Gramophone for 'the understated poise and intelligence of the playing'), the Chiaroscuros turn to Beethoven's Op. 18, published just a few years later and demonstrating the influence of the older composer.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Although the Piano Sonata No. 2 featured on Hough's Vida Breve earlier this year, this is the British pianist's first all-Chopin recording since his Gramophone Award-nominated set of the Complete Waltzes a decade ago (which prompted The Guardian to observe that 'few other pianists around today play Chopin with as much understanding and poised mastery'). Hough describes the Nocturnes as 'some of the finest operatic arias ever written'.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Lucy Crowe, Christine Rice and Iestyn Davies are joined by violinist Thomas Gould, oboist Leo Duarte and bassoonist Joe Qiu for a programme of arias with obbligato instruments, including 'Sta nell'Ircana pietrosa tana' (from Alcina), 'Se in fiorito ameno prato' (from Giulio Cesare), 'Venti turbini' and 'Or la tromba' (from Rinaldo), and 'Pena tiranna' (from Amadigi).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following accounts of Symphonies Nos. 40 and 41 which were praised as 'music-making of the highest standard' by Gramophone and applauded for their 'churning drama, color, and excitement' in Fanfare, the Hanover orchestra and their Principal Conductor continue their Mozart series with the 'Prague' Symphony and its successor. Reviewing the recording last weekend, The Sunday Times declared that 'these performances make one listen with refreshed ears. Outstanding.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Art of English Horn
Dominik Wollenweber (cor anglais), Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
Hailed by the late Claudio Abbado as 'the best player of all time', Wollenweber has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1993 and here steps into the spotlight with a programme of excerpts from works with prominent solos for his instrument, including Sibelius's The Swan of Tuonela, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Dvořák's 'New World' Symphony; the album also includes Françaix's Quartet for English Horn, Violin, Viola and Cello, and JS Bach's Concerto in G major (after BWV249).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This is the third instalment of the Ehnes Quartet's Beethoven series, recorded during lockdown at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings last summer (with producer Simon Kiln joining proceedings via Skype!) after travel restrictions prevented the group from flying to the UK for the project as planned; the first volume prompted Gramophone's Rob Cowan to declare that 'it’s many a year since I’ve heard string quartet-playing that’s more sheerly beautiful than this'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
With guest singers including tenor Zachary Wilder and countertenors Valer Barna-Sabadus and Vincenzo Capezzuto, Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata explore the musical history of Naples from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, taking in traditional folk-songs and dances as well as music by Cristoforo Caresana (whose Christmas cantata 'Per la Nascita di Nostro Signore' forms the album's centrepiece), Luigi Rossi, Giovanni Legrenzi, Sigismondo d'India, and Andrea Falconieri.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A year on from their debut album Here We Are (which was a Presto Recording of the Year in 2020), The Hermes Experiment presents a programme of works commissioned by the ensemble (including pieces by Philip Venables, Olivia Chaney and Ayanna Witter-Johnson) and new arrangements of music by composers including Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Helen Grime, and Barbara Strozzi. Look out for Paul's podcast with members of the group next month...
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Britten & Canteloube: Songs with Orchestra
Mari Eriksmoen (soprano), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
The Norwegian lyric soprano (who spent a year at the Conservatoire National Superieur in Paris and 'has always felt at home when singing in French') joins the Bergen orchestra for a selection of Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne, and two French-language cycles by Britten: Les illuminations (on texts by Arthur Rimbaud) and the early Quatre Chansons françaises, written when the composer was just 14 but not premiered until four years after his death.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Gesualdo Six mark the 500th anniversary of the composer's death with a programme which includes his Nymphes des bois (written in memory of Johannes Ockeghem), Illibata Dei Virgo Nutrix and Virgo prudentissima as well as works by Antoine Brumel, Jean Lhéritier, Pierre de la Rue, Heinrich Isaac, Jean Mouton, and Adrian Willaert. The album was described as '[an] impeccably performed recital' in The Guardian last week.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
