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Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - February 2022
Personal favourites from February's releases include a kaleidoscope of African piano music (featuring music by Ayo Bankole, J.H. Kwabena Nketia, Christian Onyeji, Fred Onovwerosuoke, David Earl, Nabil Benabdeljalil and Akin Euba) from Rebeca Omordia, Italian baroque rarities from Ian Bostridge and Cappella Neapolitana, a musical journey from Prague to Budapest from Laura van der Heijden and Jâms Coleman, and a celebration of women composers of the Belle Époque from Laetitia Grimaldi and Ammiel Bushakevitz.
This brilliantly curated and executed programme from the Nigerian-Romanian pianist is a real ear-opener, featuring works by seven African composers and encompassing a dazzling range of styles and pianistic techniques along the way. Christian Onyeji's Igbo Dance (translating traditional drumming techniques onto the keyboard) stands out, as do Nabil Benabdeljalil's Nocturnes and En attente du printemps, in which Omordia is joined by Algerian-born percussionist Abdelkader Saadoun to hypnotic effect.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This joyous recording swirls into life with a gloriously free-wheeling account of a short prelude (clocking in at less than a minute) by Vivaldi, and the improvisatory energy and gleeful abandon never lets up over the course of the next hour, with some especially arresting, nigh-on percussive continuo contributions in the finale of the first Vivaldi concerto and breathtaking fireworks from Langlois de Swarte in the cadenza of the Locatelli.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Van der Heijden and Coleman are spirited and illuminating tour-guides on this musical journey 'from Prague To Budapest', bringing just the right blend of muscularity and lyricism to the sonatas by Kodály and Janáček, with plenty of grit in the sound and metaphorical dirt under the fingernails in the former's finale. Of the shorter works, Vítězslava Kaprálová's song Navzdy (published after her death at just 25, and adapted here by Van der Heijden) stands out for its shimmering beauty.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This lovely recital of songs by female composers of the Belle Époque is studded with gems, from the irrepressible sensuality of Cécile Chaminade's 'Nice la belle' to Augusta Holmès's uncanny 'Les lavandières' (where two ghostly washerwomen give Liszt’s 'drei Zigeuner' a run for their money in the spine-chilling stakes). Don't be put off by some slight rawness up top from Grimaldi in the early stretches, as thereafter her lightish but richly-coloured soprano falls comfortably on the ear and her way with words is always engaged and engaging.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Italian opera may not be Bostridge's usual stomping-ground - and he's at his most compelling when the emphasis is on torment rather than love - but his ever-incisive word-painting pays real dividends throughout this programme of baroque rarities, as does the contrast between his slightly astringent tone and the full-blooded playing of Cappella Neapolitana. The numb horror of Vivaldi's 'Gelido in ogni vena' (echoes of Winter from The Four Seasons here) registers keenly, especially when set aside Vinci's very different setting of the same text.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
Jodie Devos (soprano), Adèle Charvet (mezzo), Maitrise de Radio France, Le Concert De La Loge, Julien Chauvin
This is a really special account of the Stabat Mater on several fronts: I love the sometimes unexpected interplay between soloists and the fresh, agile voices of the Maîtrise de Radio France (who excel themselves in 'Quis est homo' and 'Fac, ut portem Christi moetem', both taken at quite a lick), and Devos's fragile, flickering soprano offsets Charvet's more opulent sound quite beautifully.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Saint-Saëns: Phryné
Florie Valiquette (Phryné), Cyrille Dubois (Nicias), Thomas Dolié (Dicéphile), Anais Constans (Lampito), Francois Rougier (Cynalopex), Partick Bolliere (Agoragine/Un Heraut), Orchestre de l'Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Choeur du Concert Spirituel, Herve Niquet
On the strength of this exuberant recording, it's easy to see why Saint-Saëns's 1893 opéra-comique about a courtesan's bid to expose the hypocrisy of an apparently puritanical elder statesman enjoyed such popularity during the composer's lifetime, and all the more surprising that the piece hasn't maintained a foothold in the repertoire. Valiquette is utterly beguiling as the eponymous heroine, whether playing to the gallery with insouciant pyrotechnics or sharing sweet nothings with Dubois's ardent Nicias in the tender love-duet at the beginning of Act II.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
