New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 3rd June 2022
Today's new releases include William Bolcom's complete piano rags from Marc-André Hamelin, Hahn from Pavel Kolesnikov, the Schumann symphonies from Pablo Heras-Casado and the Münchner Philharmoniker, and the world premiere recording of Handel's pasticcio Caio Fabriccio from London Early Opera and Bridget Cunningham, starring Fleur Barron, Morgan Pearse, Jess Dandy and Helen Charlston.
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 7 'Sinfonia Antartica' & Symphony No. 9
Hallé Orchestra, Sopranos and Altos of the Hallé Choir, Mark Elder, Matthew Hamilton
To tie in with the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, the Hallé complete their Vaughan Williams cycle with the Sinfonia Antartica (which they premiered under Sir John Barbirolli in 1953) and Ninth Symphony, premiered just four months before Vaughan Williams's death in 1958. Also includes Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 and The Lark Ascending (with the Hallé's former leader Lyn Fletcher as soloist).
A boxed set of the complete cycle is also released today.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Heras-Casado's recordings of the Schumann concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester (and soloists Jean-Guihen Queyras, Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov) were praised for their 'textural clarity and propulsive rhythmic incisiveness' (BBC Music Magazine) and 'visceral rawness' (The Scotsman). Now he tackles the four symphonies with the Münchner Philharmoniker, following their exhilharating account of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra back in 2018.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The young Italian conductor makes his debut on Linn with a triptych of Respighi works exploring the idea of journeys: the early 'botanical voyage' Pini di Roma, the lesser-known Impressioni brasiliane (inspired by the composer's trip to Brazil in 1927), and the late ballet Belkis, regina di Saba, which depicts the queen's trek across the desert to meet her beloved King Solomon.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For the fourth release on their own label, the Cleveland Orchestra and their Music Director present three of Richard Strauss’s early tone poems: Macbeth, Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, recorded live at Severance Music Center in autumn 2021. Reviewing the inaugural release on the label (which featured Strauss's Aus Italien), Fanfare declared that 'Welser-Möst is captured at his peak', whilst Gramophone opined that 'the orchestra has never sounded finer on disc'.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Weilerstein joined Barnatan for his 2019 recording of the Triple Concerto, and the pair have been regular recital-partners for many years: reviewing a live concert of Falla and Rachmaninov last year, BachTrack noted that 'their exceptional understanding of each other’s intentions was abundantly clear'. The two also recorded the Rachmaninov and Chopin sonatas in 2015, prompting Gramophone to observe that 'it's hard to imagine many cellist-pianist duos more mutually fond of risk-taking'.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This is the final instalment of the Ehnes Quartet's Beethoven series, recorded whilst the group were 'very much a bubble' during lockdown and with producer Simon Kiln joining the sessions via Skype from the UK; reviewing the first release in the set, Gramophone's Rob Cowan declared that 'it's been many a year since I’ve heard string quartet-playing that’s more sheerly beautiful than this, whilst BBC Music Magazine applauded their 'ringing tonal opulence and fastidious balance' in Opp. 127 & 131.
Read our 2021 interview with James Ehnes about the project here.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Greek-Albanian violinist's debut on Linn centres on Bach's Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 in D minor, and also includes the Passacaglia from Biber's Rosary Sonatas, Lera Auerbach's Lonely Suite: Ballet for a Lonely Violinist, excerpts from György Kurtág's Signs, Games and Messages, Alfred Schnittke's Fugue for Solo Violin, and Helena Winkelman's Ciaccona for Violin Solo (which receives its world premiere recording here).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following his wide-praised recordings of Bach, Couperin, Beethoven, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, Kolesnikov's seventh project for Hyperion focuses on the solo piano music of Venezuelan-born French composer Reynaldo Hahn, perhaps best known today for his mélodies. The programme includes substantial excerpts from Le Rossignol éperdu (his most substantial work for piano, published in 1913) and six of the Premières valses, composed in the mid-1890s.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
William Bolcom's fascination with rag began in the late 1960s, when he encountered the music of Scott Joplin for the first time: his own first composition in the genre, Glad Rag, quotes from Joplin's opera Treemonisha. Other highlights from this collection include Lost Lady (described by Bolcom as a 'lament for a failed marriage'), Raggin’ Rudi (a tribute to his friendship with Max Morath), and Graceful Ghost (written as a memorial to his father, who died in 1970).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Klaviertrio Hannover present the world premiere recordings of three piano trios by the German composer (1812-83), discovered by the ensemble's pianist Katharina Sellheim and edited by the group from the original manuscripts for this project. A pupil of Carl Loewe, Mayer devoted herself to composition relatively late in life, and also served as co-director of the Opera Academy in Berlin.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Lieder: Berg, Schumann, Wolf, Shostakovich, Brahms
Matthias Goerne (bass-baritone), Daniil Trifonov (piano)
Following acclaimed collaborations with Jan Lisiecki and Seong-Jin Cho, Goerne teams up with a third outstanding pianist from Deutsche Grammophon's roster for a programme which includes Schumann's Dichterliebe, Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge, Wolf's Drei Michelangelo-Lieder, and excerpts from Shostakovich's Suite on Verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Ravel: Cantates pour le Prix de Rome
Véronique Gens, Vannina Santoni (sopranos), Sophie Koch, Janina Baechle (mezzos), Julien Behr, Michael Spyres (tenors), Jacques Imbrailo (baritone), Choeur et Orchestre National Des Pays de La Loire, Pascal Rophé
Ravel made five consecutive attempts to win the Paris Conservatoire's prestigious Grand Prix de Rome but never managed to secure the top spot, thanks in part to the jury's rather conservative preferences. This collection features the three cantatas which he submitted (Myrrha from 1901, Alcyone from 1902, and Alyssa from 1903), plus five shorter settings for choir and orchestra: L'aurore, La nuit, Les Bayadères, Matinée de Provence, and Tout est lumière.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following Gramophone Award-nominated recordings of Winterreise (described by The Observer as 'inward, poised, heartbreaking') and Schwangengesang (deemed a 'landmark' account by Limelight Magazine), Finley and Drake join forces once again for Die schöne Müllerin, recorded at Henry Wood Hall last February.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Handel: Caio Fabriccio
Fleur Barron (Pirro), Morgan Pearse (Caio Fabbricio), Anna Gorbachyova-Ogilviel (Volusio), Helen Charlston (Turio), Miriam Allan (Sestia), Jess Dandy (Cinea), Hannah Poulsom (Bircenna); London Early Opera, Bridget Cunningham
First performed in London in 1733 and based on an earlier opera by Johann Adolf Hasse, Handel's pasticcio incorporates arias by Neapolitan composers including Francesco Corselli, Tomaso Albinoni, Leonardo Vinci and Leonardo Leo, with Handel supplying his own dramatic recitatives. London Early Opera gave the modern premiere of the work at St George's Hanover Square last week, featuring several of the singers on this recording.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
