New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 3rd December 2021
Today's releases include an album of music inspired by the Kalevala from the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Dima Slobodeniouk, a second recording of Bach's solo sonatas and partitas from James Ehnes, Rameau's Platée from William Christie (starring Marcel Beekman, Jeanine De Bique and Cyril Auvity), and Schubert's Winterreise from James Rutherford and Eugene Asti.
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.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This fifth instalment in Salvi's Auber series features the overtures and entr'actes from two operas on libretti by Eugène Scribe, both premiered in Paris: Zanetta, ou Jouer avec le feu from 1840 and Zerline, ou La corbeille d'oranges from 1851. Reviewing previous volumes, Fanfare observed that 'the performances sparkle, never lapsing into heavy-handedness or routine', whilst MusicWeb International hailed Salvi as 'a fine advocate for the composer'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Thomas Larcher: Symphony No. 2 'Kenotaph'
Andrè Schuen (baritone), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Premiered by the Wiener Philharmoniker in 2016 (and originally conceived as a concerto for orchestra), Larcher's Symphony No. 2 was written as an elegy for the refugees who have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, with the composer describing the work as 'helpless cry of despair'. It receives its world premiere recording here, alongside the song-cycle Die Nacht der Verlorenen from 2008, setting fragments by the Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-73).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Like his superb set of the Ysaÿe solo sonatas (released on Onyx in April), Ehnes’s second recording of the Bach solo sonatas and partitas was made in the dead of night at his home studio in Florida during lockdown; he first recorded these works for Analekta back in 2001, prompting BBC Music Magazine to describe his playing as ‘dazzling secure and fearlessly focused’.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
Augustin Dumay (violin), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Jonathan Fournel (piano)
Another violinist returns to a cornerstone of the repertoire here - Dumay first recorded the Mendelssohn concerto back in 1988, when he was partnered by the London Symphony Orchestra and Emil Tchakarov. This new recording also features the composer's Violin Sonata in F (unpublished at the time of his death) and a selection of Songs without Words, arranged for violin and piano by David Walter.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Made in the presence of the composer during performances at War Memorial Opera House, this is the first audio recording of Liebermann's score to the late Liam Scarlett's ballet adaptation of Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece, which was premiered in London in 2016. Liebermann has likened the work to 'a two-and-a-half-hour symphony', and observed that 'in a way the monster's music should be more beautiful than anyone else's.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Transatlantic
Stathis Karapanos, Chen Reiss (soprano), Marie-Pierre Langlame, Noah Bendix-Balgey; The Berlin Academy of American Music, Garrett Keast
Featuring music by American-born composers as well as those who developed strong ties with the US, this programme includes Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks and 'No word from Tom' from The Rake's Progress, Takemitsu's Moby Dick-inspired Toward the Sea II, Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite, Craig Urquhart's Lamentation, and Avner Dorman's Four Songs for soprano, flute, percussion, violin & piano.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder & Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
Elina Garanča (mezzo), Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann
The Latvian mezzo’s account of Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder at last year’s Salzburg Festival (where the cycle was coupled with Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3) was praised by BachTrack for her combination of ‘purity and lightness in the upper register’ and ‘operatic declamatory weight’; the Mahler was recorded in the same venue this summer, and live-streamed by medici.tv.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Unearthed from the London Philharmonic Orchestra archives, these live recordings were made in 1986; as well as the final scene from Salome, Norman sings Cäcilie, Wiegenlied, Zueignung, Meinem Kinde and Ruhe, meine Seele. The programme also features the suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and the Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, 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 an ‘interpretation [which] 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.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rameau: Platée
Marcel Beekman (Platée), Jeanine De Bique (La Folie), Cyril Auvity (Thespis/Mercure), Marc Mauillon (Momus/Cithéron), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Jupiter); Les Arts Florissants, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, William Christie
This live recording of Rameau's only comedy (written to celebrate the wedding of Louis, Dauphin of France, in 1745) was made at the empty Theater an der Wien last December, after a scheduled run was cancelled due to lockdown restrictions; reviewing the streamed performance, British Theatre Guide declared that Dutch tenor Beekman 'is clearly in the role of his life as Platée' and that 'Christie leads Les Arts Florissants with vigour while maintaining perfect balance with the singers'.
(The production - described as ‘a candy-coloured baroque dream’ by Salzburger Nachrichten - was also issued on DVD and Blu-ray this summer).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mondonville: Titon et l'Aurore (DVD)
Reinoud van Mechelen (Titan), Gwendoline Blondeel (L'Aurore), Emmanuelle De Negri (Pales), Marc Mauillon (Eole), Julie Roset (Amour), Renato Dolcini (Promethee); Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
Several of the same singers also appear in this 2021 performance of Mondonville's 1753 pastorale héroïque centring on the love-affair between the goddess L’Aurore and the shepherd Titon; filmed at the Opéra Comique (again without a live audience), puppeteer Basil Twist's production was described as 'a triumphal feast for the senses' by BachTrack, who also praised van Mechelen's 'seductive timbre' as the amorous swain and de Negri's 'impressive vocal mastery' as his divine beloved.
Available Format: DVD Video
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
