New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 11th November 2022
Among today's new releases, a further delve into the treasure-chests of Italian Baroque repertoire from Adrian Chandler and his La Serenissima band, supplemented perfectly by Rinaldo Alessandrini's Concerto Italiano exploring Monteverdi's late madrigals; some Liszt connections, in the form of the composer's own sacred and sacred-inspired music plus orchestral songs by his oft-forgotten pupil Hans Sommer (with soloists Mojca Erdmann, Anke Vondung, Mauro Peter and Benjamin Appl bringing Sommer's unique style to life); a reflective programme built around a new song-cycle by pianist and composer Huw Watkins, with soprano Ruby Hughes; and Georg Solti's landmark, all-star Das Rheingold receives a glorious new remastering from the sound-engineering wizards at Decca.
Expert Early Music ensemble La Serenissima perform works by Lorenzo Gaetano Zavateri, Giuseppe Sammartini, Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco and Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello alongside works by Vivaldi on this new album of Italian Baroque masterpieces.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Acclaimed Monteverdi expert Rinaldo Alessandrini explores the composer's innovative seventh book of madrigals - concertante works with complex bass-lines and ornamentation that elevate the form to new heights.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Hans Sommer: Orchestral Songs
Mojca Erdmann (soprano), Anke Vondung (mezzo), Mauro Peter (tenor), Benjamin Appl (baritone); Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Guillermo García Calvo
Sommer was a student of Liszt, whose operas were performed and praised by Richard Strauss, but who sank into relative oblivion after his lifetime. This album, commemorating the 100th anniversary of his death, sheds light on a fascinating chapter in music history, and will hopefully contribute to a rekindling of interest in this unsung hero.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Liszt: Legends of the Saints, Vol. 1
Orchester Wiener Akademie, Martin Haselböck, Tomasz Konieczny, Stephanie Houtzeel
Though bearing little resemblance to Liszt’s secular compositions, these sacred works are equally impressive in their beauty and refinement. This recording highlights an aspect of Liszt’s work that is all too often forgotten.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Twentieth-century cello works from Prokofiev and Shostakovich, representing a greta flowering of Soviet composition for the instrument, are complemented by contemporary pianist Evgeny Kissin's cello sonata. The Strad observed that "[t]he emotional directness of the Russian repertoire here is especially well-suited to Schwabe’s lithe, open sound."
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Andrew Wan and Charles Richard-Hamelin continue to deepend their musical partnership, building on their award-winning Beethoven sonatas with the complete violin sonatas of Robert Schumann.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Fretwork return to English consort composer Matthew Locke for a second volume of anniversary recordings - inventive and, in viol-player Richard Boothby's words, filled with a "quixotic, capricious restlessness", Locke's music comes into its own and shows him to be far more than merely a theoretical forerunner of Purcell.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Hailed by The Times as "a brilliantly effective meditation on different shades of grief and loss", Hughes and Watkins's recital is built around Baroque transcriptions, Watkins's own song-cycle Echo, and folksong arrangements, weaving together a programme of melancholy reflections.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Ian Venables: Requiem & Herbert Howells: Anthems for Choir & Orchestra
Choir of Merton College Oxford, Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia, Benjamin Nicholas
The orchestrated version of Ian Venables's Requiem brings new colours to a work already highly successful in its version for choir and organ; the luminous choral writing of Herbert Howells benefits similarly from the sensitive instrumentations of Howard Eckdahl and Jonathan Clinch.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
An album devoted to the beloved Fables of Jean de la Fontaine - two opéra comique reconstructions by Grétry and Dalayrac, sandwiched around Clérambault's six airs that capture the childlike simplicity of the fables.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas, Circe
Camille Allérat (Dido), Renato Dolcini (Aeneas), Julie Roset (Belinda/Second Witch), Anthea Pichanick (Sorceress), Ana Veieira Leite (Second Woman/First Witch); Les Argonautes, Jonas Descotte
Purcell's incidental music to Circe forms a natural pairing with his ever-popular Dido and Aeneas - the appropriately-named ensemble Les Argonautes making their debut on record with an intimate, one-to-a-part approach to works inspired by Classical mythology.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wagner: Das Rheingold
George London (Wotan), Kirsten Flagstad (Fricka), Claire Watson (Freia), Set Svanholm (Loge), Waldemar Kmentt (Froh), Eberhard Wächter (Donner), Paul Kuen (Mime), Jean Madeira (Erda), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich), Walter Kreppel (Fasolt), Kurt Böhme (Fafner); Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti
Newly remastered from the original tapes, Solti's landmark Das Rheingold and the legendary voices of his cast emerge in detail never before heard. An extensive booklet featuring not only the full libretto but session photographs and reproductions of the scores used gives an inside view on these hugely significant recordings.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve (DVD)
Julia Muzychenko, Enkelejda Shkoza, Georgy Vasiliev, Andrei Popov, Alexey Tikhomirov, Anthony Robin Schneider; Chor de Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurter Opern-Und Museumorchester, Sebastian Weigle, Christof Loy
Rimsky-Korsakov's whimsical, fantastical tale (based by the composer on Gogol's short story) is a classic, heartwarming mix of thwarted lovers, magical happenings, and simple honest goodness defeating the malicious plots of devils and demons.
Available Format: DVD Video
David Smith - Head of Digital
