New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 26th May 2023
This sixth instalment of Noseda's Shostakovich series with the LSO couples Symphony No. 6 (written in 1939 and inspired by what the composer described as 'moods of spring, joy and youth') and the final symphony from 1970/71, shot through with quotations from Rossini, Glinka and Wagner. The recordings were made at the Barbican in October 2019 (No. 6) and February 2023 (No. 15); reviewing the latter concert, BachTrack observed that 'Noseda plumbed the depths of this score. Balance was ideal and the pace always felt right'.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Childhood Tales
Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Domingo Hindoyan
Isata Kanneh-Mason's third solo album for Decca celebrates what she describes as 'a time when one’s love of music is at its most uncomplicated', and comprises Mozart's Variations on ‘Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman', Debussy's Children's Corner, Schumann's Kinderszenen and Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Tune; for the latter work, she's joined by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and their Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This is the Polish-German conductor's first purely orchestral Schubert recording, following a 2015 album of Lieder (with tenor Christian Elsner) in orchestrations by Reger and Webern; the Dresdner Philharmonie's General Manager Frauke Roth announced that the new recording 'shows him once again as an outstanding interpreter of Romantic repertoire and presents the special tonal and musical qualities of our orchestra'.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Drawing on Norse mythology and centring on the power-struggle between Loki and Odin, Adolphe Adam's penultimate ballet shares much common ground with Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, and was premiered in Paris in 1852 (the year in which Wagner completed his libretto for the cycle); it receives its first-ever complete recording here, using a new edition copied from Adam’s original manuscript score held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
This hour-long work from Senegalese composer and kora-player Seckou Keita was conceived in collaboration with Davide Mantovani and fuses traditional African music with symphonic elements: Keita remarks that 'I don't know if I'm a folk musician, a jazz or a world one - forget about categories!'. He's joined by fellow kora-player Suntou Susso and cellist Abel Selaocoe, who won the Newcomer Prize at this year's BBC Music Magazine Awards.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This 'battle of the bows' features concertos by composers whom Siranossian and Marcon describe as ''the Four Musketeers' of the violin in Venice during the first half of the eighteenth century': Vivaldi, Veracini, Tartini and Locatelli. The French violinist's 'diabolical virtuosity and rich, expressive palette' were praised by The Sunday Times in 2020, when she released an all-Tartini album with the same conductor and ensemble.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The first disc here is given over to the two composers' piano quintets, composed in 1879 and 1917/18 respectively; Franck's quintet was dedicated to his 'good friend Camille Saint-Saëns' (who was the pianist at the premiere), whilst Vierne's work was written as an elegy to his teenage son, who had been killed in the First World War. The second disc features Franck's Violin Sonata and the early Trio concertante in F sharp minor, composed when he was still a student at the Conservatoire de Paris.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The American countertenor's debut solo recording celebrates spirituals and the music of Black composers, taking its title from a song by Florence Price; the programme includes arrangements of 'Deep River', 'There is a Balm in Gilead', 'Steal Away, 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen', and 'Bright Sparkles in the Churchyard'. Mobley's discography to date has included solo appearances on Bach's St Matthew Passion and Magnificat in E flat (both with Sir John Eliot Gardiner) and Nico Muhly's Britten-inspired Lorne Ys My Likinge with tenor Nicholas Phan.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This intriguing recital of nineteenth-century female monodramas comprises Zingarelli's Ero, Donizetti's Saffo, Rossini's Giovanna d'Arco, Wagner's Les Adieux de Marie Stuart, Viardot's Scène d'Hermione (on a text by Racine), Mel Bonis's Salomé (for solo piano), and Respighi's Shelley setting Aretusa. The Donizetti receives its world premiere recording, and the Zingarelli and Respighi their first recordings in the voice and piano versions.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo
Marc Mauillon (Orfeo), Luciana Mancini (Euridice), Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Jordi Savall
This performance of Monteverdi's first opera took place at Versailles in the summer of 2021 and stars a number of singers who regularly collaborate with Savall, including Raffaele Pé, Marianne Beate Kielland, Sara Mingardo and Furio Zanasi (the latter two appeared on his 2002 recording of the work, taken from a production in Barcelona).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Handel: Theodora (DVD)
Julia Bullock (Theodora), Joyce DiDonato (Irene), Jakub Józef Orliński (Didymus), Ed Lyon (Septimius), Gyula Orendt (Valens); Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Harry Bicket, Katie Mitchell
Set in a contemporary dystopia, Mitchell's staging of Handel's oratorio depicts Theodora, Irene and their fellow Christians as members of an underground resistance movement, operating out of the kitchens of the corrupt 'Roman' embassy; The Arts Desk described it as 'one of her most vivid and focused reimaginings', whilst Opera Today deemed it 'a compelling drama, which draws us into the characters' psychologies and decisions'. (Contains scenes of sexual violence and terrorism).
Available Format: DVD Video
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
