New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 26th November 2021
Die Zauberflöte from Covent Garden (with Roderick Williams as Papageno and Sabine Devieilhe as the Queen of the Night), Bach's Goldberg Variations from French pianist David Fray, Florence Price's Symphony No. 3 from the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and John Jeter, and Max Reger's piano concerto from Joseph Moog and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrubrucken Kaiserslautern.
Hot on the heels of Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s recording of the work with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Price’s Symphony No. 3 receives another outing from Vienna; premiered in 1940, the piece draws extensively on African-American folk traditions, particularly in the Juba-inspired Scherzo. The Symphony is followed by The Mississippi River (which quotes spirituals including ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen’ and ‘Deep River’), and Ethiopia's Shadow in America from 1932.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Elgar & Bridge: Cello Concertos
Gabriel Schwabe (cello), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Ward
Originally titled ‘Concerto Elegiaco’, Bridge’s Oration was completed in 1930 and (like the Elgar Cello Concerto from a decade earlier) is haunted by the shadow of World War One, incorporating a funeral march and The Last Post. Although the work met with critical acclaim at its eventual premiere in 1936, it virtually disappeared from the repertoire for several decades, receiving its first recording only in 1976.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Reger: Piano Concerto & 6 Intermezzi
Joseph Moog (piano), Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrubrucken Kaiserslautern, Nicholas Milton
Reger described his only surviving piano concerto (written and premiered in 1910) as ‘beastly stuff’ in a tongue-in-cheek inscription to its dedicatee Frieda Kwast-Hodapp, but was in reality very proud of the work and crestfallen when it met with bafflement from critics; the piece was subsequently championed by Rudolf Serkin and more recently Marc-Andre Hamelin, and is coupled here with the Six Intermezzi from ten years earlier.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Moog also has a solo recording out today, focusing on works inspired by the legendary violinist-composer Niccolo Paganini: Brahms's set of variations on the 24th Caprice (composed for Karl Tausig in 1863), and Schumann's two sets of Études Opp. 3 & 10, written in response to hearing Paganini perform in Frankfurt in April 1830.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The French pianist, who describes the Goldbergs as ‘the work of a lifetime’, has an impressive Bach discography under his belt already, including the Partitas Nos. 2, 4 & 6, several keyboard concertos, and the violin sonatas with Renaud Capuçon. Reviewing the latter in 2019, Gramophone declared that ‘Fray’s commitment to articulating Bach’s mercurial patterns, surprising harmonic language and long phrases is wondrous’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Released to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the first publication of the keyboard suites on 14th November 1720, this album from the British harpsichordist, musicologist and conductor also includes world première recordings of Handel's own arrangements of arias from his Floridante, Muzio Scevola and Radamisto, and the Overture to Riccardo Primo.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This second half of the Ragazze’s Bartók series features String Quartets Nos. 3, 5 and 6; Volume 1 was released in 2019, and was praised by BBC Music Magazine for the ‘vitality and assurance’ of the playing and by Gramophone for the ‘real rapport between group members and the score to hand’. The quartet’s Bartók Bound project ran for five years, and included pub quizzes and special multimedia shows for children as well as conventional concerts.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
For her second recording on Pentatone, the Italian soprano explores depictions of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene in oratorios written around the turn of the eighteenth century, including Lulier’s La Nascità del Redentore, Bononcini’s La Converzione di Maddalena, Draghi’s Il Crocefisso per Grazia, Caldara’s Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo, and Perti’s Gesù al Sepolcro.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (DVD)
Mauro Peter (Tamino), Siobhan Stagg (Pamina), Roderick Williams (Papageno), Sabine Devieilhe (Queen of the Night), Mika Kares (Sarastro), Peter Bronder (Monostatos), Darren Jeffery (Speaker of the Temple), Christina Gansch (Papagena); Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Julia Jones
Filmed at Covent Garden in 2017, this strongly-cast revival of David McVicar's popular 2003 production was praised in Opera Today for Williams's 'appealing guilelessness' as the lovelorn birdcatcher and Devieilhe's 'absolutely secure and clean-toned' Queen, whilst BachTrack applauded Swiss tenor Peter's 'supple phrasing and easy top notes' as Tamino and Jones's 'well-paced reading of Mozart’s score'.
Available Format: DVD Video
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Blu-ray)
Mauro Peter (Tamino), Siobhan Stagg (Pamina), Roderick Williams (Papageno), Sabine Devieilhe (Queen of the Night), Mika Kares (Sarastro), Peter Bronder (Monostatos), Darren Jeffery (Speaker of the Temple), Christina Gansch (Papagena); Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Julia Jones
Sound format: LPCM 24-bit Stereo / 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Picture format: 1080i HD
Available Format: Blu-ray
Minkus: Don Quixote (DVD)
Rudolf Nureyev (Basilio), Robert Helpmann (Don Quixote), Ray Powell (Sancho Panza), Lucette Aldous (Kitri/Dulcinea), Colin Peasley (Gamache), Marilyn Rowe (Street Dancer/Queen of the Dryads), Kelvin Coe (Espada); Rudolf Nureyev (choreographer), John Lanchbery
Recorded in Melbourne with the Australian Ballet in 1973, this Don Quixote was described by New York Magazine as 'one of the best ballet films we’ve had to date' and likened to 'a moving painting by a great artist' by The Atlantic Herald. Restored from the original 35mm film, it can be heard here in full surround sound digital stereo for the first time.
Available Format: DVD Video
Minkus: Don Quixote (Blu-ray)
Rudolf Nureyev (Basilio), Robert Helpmann (Don Quixote), Ray Powell (Sancho Panza), Lucette Aldous (Kitri/Dulcinea), Colin Peasley (Gamache), Marilyn Rowe (Street Dancer/Queen of the Dryads), Kelvin Coe (Espada); Rudolf Nureyev (choreographer), John Lanchbery
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / 5.1 Dolby Digital
Picture format: 1080i HD
Available Format: Blu-ray
Recorded between 1987 and 1998 (and released to mark the pianist's sixtieth birthday this week), this set includes the Brahms concertos with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's 'Elvira Madigan' and 'Jeunehomme' concertos with the Hallé and Bryden Thomson, two all-Liszt recitals, Britten's music for solo piano, and two collections of showpieces by virtuoso composer-pianists.
Available Format: 9 CDs
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
