New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 18th August 2023
Following their recordings of Tasso, the Dante Symphony and the abandoned opera Sardanapalo, Karabits and the Weimar orchestra turn to a work which is closely associated with the city: the Faust Symphony was premiered in Weimar in September 1857, for the inauguration of the Goethe–Schiller Monument which stands in front of the Court Theater. It's followed here by another Goethe-inspired work, the Mephisto Waltz No. 3 (orchestrated by Liszt's disciple Alfred Reisenauer and Karabits himself).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Remembering Tebaldi
Melody Moore (soprano), Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, Lawrence Foster
Recorded last year to mark the centenary of the great Italian soprano's birth, Moore's tribute to Tebaldi is divided into sections documenting the repertoire which she sang at three distinct stages of her life: her early career (including arias from Boito's Mefistofele and Mascagni's L'amico Fritz), her association with Toscanini and La Scala (Catalani's La Wally, Rossini's Mosè in Egitto and Verdi's Aida), and her time at the Metropolitan Opera (Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Verdi's La forza del destino and La traviata, and Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur).
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Anton Rubinstein: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Anna Shelest (piano), Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
This third instalment of the veteran Estonian conductor's survey of Rubinstein's works for piano and orchestra features the first two concertos, composed in 1850 and 1851 respectively (two earlier attempts at the genre do not survive, whilst a third was reworked into an octet). Reviewing the previous volume in the series, Gramophone observed that 'Järvi and his musicians clearly enjoy the music’s rapid-fire interplay between soloist and ensemble' and that Shelest 'sails through her introductory cadenza with bracing confidence'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Currently a member of the Opera Studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper (where he appeared as the Sailor in Tristan und Isolde last month), this stylish young Scottish tenor won the Clonter Opera Prize last year and has already made quite an impact in high-flying Rossini roles in particular; his debut solo album features songs by Nadia and Lili Boulanger, Viardot-Garcia, Chaminade, Liszt, Rossini, Chabrier and Fauré.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A Celebration of Paul Reade
Philippa Davies (flute), Laurence Perkins (bassoon), Pumeza Matshikiza (soprano), Robin O'Neill; English Chamber Orchestra, London Winds, Robin O'Neill
Remembered with affection by many UK viewers for his theme-music for the 1987 television series The Victorian Kitchen Garden (which won him an Ivor Novello Award), the British composer Paul Reade also scored 1980s BBC adaptations of Great Expectations, Jane Eyre and A Tale of Two Cities. Released to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death, this album includes his Concerto for Flute & Strings, Serenata for Wind Sextet, Catalonia (for bassoon and orchestra), and the 1988 song-cycle Chants du Roussillon.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Marko Nikodijevic: Orchestral Works
Anna Sohn (soprano), Jakub Sawicki (organ), hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Stockhammer, Vladimir Jurowski
Born in Serbia in 1980, Marko Nikodijevic is perhaps best-known for his score for Marina Abramović's 7 Deaths of Maria Callas (due to be revived at English National Opera in November to mark the centenary of the singer's birth). This triptych of his orchestral works comprises the 'Postludium für Orchester' ABSOLUTIO, abgesang for soprano and orchestra (setting a poem by Nikodijevic's former piano-teacher Mátyás Molcer), and the da ispravitsja / gebetsraum mit nachtwache (inspired by the music and liturgy of the Serbian Orthodox church).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following their well-received recording of Steve Reich's string quartets earlier this year, the Mivos now present a set of five compositions by Australian composer JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus/Frank Want/Clint Ruin), drawing on sources including Shelley's Ozymandias, Bernard Herrmann's score for Psycho, and works by Cage and Bartók. Described by The Chicago Reader as 'one of America's most daring and ferocious new-music ensembles', the Mivos has had a busy couple of years in the studio and will release a recording of Lei Lang's Six Seasons in a couple of weeks...
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
BBC Music Magazine welcomed the first volume in Arias-Esguerra's survey of music by his compatriots for offering 'a glimpse into a rich seam of music-making rarely mined', whilst Fanfare declared that 'the obscurity of the program...and the commitment and panache of Arias-Esguerra at the keyboard, combine to make this disc a winner.' This second instalment features works by composers including Amparo Ángel, Carolina Noguera, Catalina Peralta, Juan Antonio Cuéllar, Pacho Casas, Pedro Felipe Ramírez and Pedro Sarmiento.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Moscow-born Medtner moved to London in 1935, and lived in Golders Green until his death in 1951. This album features three works which he composed during that period: the Violin Sonata No. 3 'Epica' (dedicated to the memory of his brother Emil and championed by David Oistrakh) from the mid-1930s, the Sonate-Idylle for solo piano (written at the behest of his publisher to cater to the amateur market), and the 8 Songs on Russian and German Poems Op. 61.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Nico Dostal: Clivia
Sieglinde Feldhofer (Clivia Gray), Matthias Koziorowski (Juan Damigo), Anna Brull (Jola), Ivan Oreščanin (Lelio Down); Grazer Philharmoniker, Marius Burkert
Premiered in Berlin in 1933, Dostal's comic operetta about a movie-star who is persuaded to enter into a marriage of convenience with a man who turns out to be president of the fictitious South American country of Boliguay. This recording was made during a revival of the piece in Graz in November 2021, when BachTrack observed that 'South American flair is provided by the tango and pasodoble, and the combination of castanets and waltz is a skilful mix of styles...the Graz Philharmonic clearly had fun with the score.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Verdi: Ernani (Blu-ray)
Francesco Meli (Ernani), Roberto Frontali (Don Carlo), Vitalij Kowaljow (Don Ruy Gomez da Silva), María José Siri (Elvira), Orchestra and Chorus del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Leo Muscato, James Conlon
Filmed at the Sala Zubin Mehta last November, this was the first production of Verdi's Hugo-inspired opera to be staged at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in almost sixty years; over the past decade the title-role has become something of a calling-card for Meli, who has performed it at houses including La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and most recently the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
