New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 28th January 2022
Today's new releases include two appearances by the Kammerorchester Basel, in the latest instalment in Giovanni Antonini's Haydn cycle and Elsa Dreisig's trio-themed Mozart album; also out this week are the debut album of French gambist Lucile Boulanger with solo works by Bach and his pupil Abel, a distinctly Godfather-ish staging of Moniuszko's tragedy Halka, and the DVD and Blu-ray release of Daniel Barenboim's New Year Concert from Vienna with the Wiener Philharmoniker.
The eleventh volume of Antonini's HAYDN2032 project - which is due for completion in time for the composer's tercentenary - centres on the French capital: the album opens with two of the 'Paris' symphonies (Nos. 82 and 87), followed by Symphony No. 2 (the first to be published in France) and No. 24 (the first to be performed there).
A boxed set of the first ten instalments in the series is also released today.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Martin Suckling: The Tuning
Marta Fontanals-Simmons (mezzo), Christopher Glynn (piano), Aurora Orchestra, Martin Suckling
The title-work on this collection of chamber music and songs by the young Scottish composer (described by The Herald as 'probably the most important figure in Scotland's music since James MacMillan') is a song-cycle setting five nocturnal poems by Michael Donaghy; the album also includes the string quintet Emily's Electrical Absence, Nocturne for solo violin and cello, and Her Lullaby for solo cello.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following their recording of Vaughan Williams's early Suite for Four Hands on One Pianoforte and Herbert Murrill's transcription of Walton's Symphony No. 1, Arnold and Matthews team up again for Archibald Jacob's 1924 arrangement of the 1920 version of Vaughan Williams's London Symphony, plus Elizabeth Maconchy's unpublished Preludio, Fugato e Finale, and a new arrangement of Finzi's Eclogue for piano and organ.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For her debut recording, the French gambist (who was described by BBC Music Magazine as 'the Jacqueline du Pré of the viola da gamba') juxtaposes her own transcriptions of pieces for various instruments by JS Bach with music by his pupil Carl Friedrich Abel, who became a superb gambist himself and composed a number of significant works for the instrument alongside his busy performing career.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Following her debut operatic recording Miroir(s) (on which the French-Danish soprano explored different composers' depictions of the same characters), Dreisig presents snapshots of the trios of female-voiced roles in the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas: Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Despina in Così fan tutte, Susanna, the Countess and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Also includes arias from Idomeneo, Lucio Silla and La clemenza di Tito.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
J.S. Bach: Sonatas, Fantasias & Improvisations
Toshiyuki Shibata (flute), Anthony Romaniuk (harpsichord)
Shibata and Romaniuk, both steeped in improvisatory traditions from jazz to folk music, bring some of this mindset to the works of JS Bach for flute and harpsichord. Extemporisation is placed at the heart of ornamentation, of continuo realisation and even – as they put it – of "entire passages opened up for 'jamming'".
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Perhaps better known for his sacred music, in particular the monumental Patarag, Ekmalian was heavily influenced by the Russian Romantic tradition. Above all, his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov instilled in Ekmalian a desire to blend that European harmonic richness with the lyricism of the folksong of his native Armenia. Mikael Ayrapetyan presents an album of world premiere recordings of piano works by Ekmalian, many of them deeply rooted in this folk tradition.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The B-A-C-H motif is often encountered in music written in homage to the great JS Bach - as fugal subject or merely as inspiration. Simon Johnson's programme of works around this theme features not only Bach himself but Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Reger and Karg-Elert, serving not just as a showcase for the majestic instrument on which he performs at London's St Paul's Cathedral but as a smorgasbord of works penned in honour of Bach.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Moniuszko: Halka (DVD)
Corinne Winters (Halka), Tomasz Konieczny (Janusz), Piotr Beczala (Jontek), Alexey Tikhomirov (Stolnik), Natalia Kawałek (Zofia), Łukasz Jakobski (Dziemba); ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Łukasz Borowicz, Mariusz Treliński
This production of 'Poland's national opera' was filmed at the Theater an der Wien in late 2019, with The Opera Critic praising the 'compelling realism and credibility' of the central performances and in particular the 'unflinching commitment' of Winters (the only non-Polish singer of the three principals) in the title-role; Salzberg Nachrichten also hailed her 'phenomenal soprano and demonic presence' as the village-girl who is seduced then abandoned by a rich landowner, and gate-crashes his wedding with tragic consequences.
Available Format: DVD Video
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
