New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 9th June 2023
This third instalment of Wilson's survey of Eric Coates's orchestral music features the Cinderella fantasy, the 1944 suite The Three Elizabeths (composed nearly a decade before Elizabeth II's coronation and also depicting the late Queen Mother) and the Three Men Suite from 1935. Shorter works include the famous Dambusters' March, the waltz Sweet Seventeen (inspired by the composer's first date with his wife Phyllis), and the Television March - commissioned by the BBC for the resumption of television broadcasting in 1946.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following their recording of Kurt Weill's Symphony No. 2 and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 (which was nominated for an International Classical Music Award last year), the Dutch orchestra and their Chief Conductor turn to the music of one of Shani's favourite composers. A protege of Daniel Barenboim and Zubin Mehta, the young Israeli is set to succeed Valery Gergiev at the helm of the Munich Philharmonic in 2026.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Debussy: C'est l'extase & La mer
Vannina Santoni (soprano), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Franck
This is the world premiere recording of C'est l'extase, Robin Holloway's orchestration of ten Debussy songs including the Ariettes Oubliées (bound into a single unbroken sequence with brief orchestral interludes and an epilogue); the work was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for Renée Fleming in 2012. The soloist here is French soprano Vannina Santoni, who sang a vivid Mélisande on François-Xavier Roth's award-winning recording of Pelléas last year.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Both works by the Icelandic composer receive their world premiere recordings here. ARCHORA was first performed at the BBC Proms last year and was selected as one of The Guardian's Classical Highlights of 2022, with Andrew Clements describing it as an 'immensely impressive study in sonority'; the three-movement AIŌN was co-commissioned by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2018 and was 'inspired by the abstract metaphor of being able to move freely in time'.
Available Formats: Blu-ray Audio + CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Saint-Georges: Violin Concertos, Opp. 2 and 7
Fumika Mohri (violin), Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, Michael Halász
To coincide with the UK release of Stephen Williams's biopic Chevalier (starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the French-Creole virtuoso violinist, composer, athlete and swordsman), Naxos present this recording of four of his violin concertos - all published in Paris during the 1770s. Saint-Georges performed the Op. 2 concertos for his solo debut with the Concert des Amateurs, conducted by the composer François-Joseph Gossec.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Recorded at the Castell de Cardona ('a magical acoustic in which both resonance and clarity coexist'), this account of The Art of Fugue concludes with the so-called 'Deathbed Chorale' Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich hiermit - which the Spanish quartet have appended to provide 'a moment of reflection and an opportunity to give thanks for the privilege of being able to experience this music'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This collection of works for bassoon and string quartet/quintet features world premiere recordings of Wynton Marsalis's Meelaan, Helena Winkleman's Gott-Fa - Two Scenes, and Marcelo Nisinman's Rui's Tango (which as the title implies was composed for Lopes). The programme also includes Swiss-born Classical composer Édouard Du Puy's Bassoon Quintet, and arrangements of Saint-Saëns's Bassoon Sonata & Piazzolla's Tango Étude No. 3.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Italian pianist's 2021 recording of the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses met with widespread critical acclaim, with Gramophone declaring that 'her masterful authority immediately captures your attention' and BBC Music Magazine noting that 'formidable technical ability is matched by the architectural sense, harmonic sensibility and coloristic range this sprawling music demands'. This sequel open with the eponymous 'Six Pensées poétiques', and also includes the Deux légendes, Liebesträume and Caprices-Valses.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The title-work here is a new 45-minute song-cycle by Mehldau, setting poetry by Blake, Yeats, Shakespeare, Brecht, Goethe, Auden and Cummings (expect some strong language in the latter...) and blurring the boundaries between classical and jazz. The programme also includes Cole Porter's Evr'y Time we say Goodbye and Night and Day, David Mann's In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Jack Strachey's These Foolish Things, and Schubert's Nacht und Träume.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Legrenzi: La Morte del Cor Penitente
Raffaele Giordani (tenor), Cristina Fanelli (soprano), Hana Blažíková (soprano), Ensemble Masques, Olivier Fortin
Born just outside Bergamo in 1626, Giovanni Legrenzi spent the later part of his career in Venice and was eventually appointed maestro di cappella at San Marco in 1685, after narrowly missing out on the position in the wake of Cavalli's death nine years earlier. Thought to have been composed in 1671, La morte del cor penitente is one of his three surviving oratorios, and centres on the spiritual development of the Sinner under the guidance of Hope and Penitence (both personified by sopranos).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The San Francisco-based Baroque ensemble makes its debut on Avie with this first instalment of a projected series of Bach's major choral works, recorded live at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley on the composer's birthday last year. Reviewing the group's 2022 recording of cantatas with countertenor Reginald Mobley and soprano Sherezade Panthaki, Early Music America entreated: 'to the excellent musicians of the Cantata Collective: send more Bach, please!'. For the next five years, it looks like they'll be happy to oblige...
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
