New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 8th September 2023
Today’s new releases include dazzlingly virtuosic Locatelli solo concertos and concerti grossi from Isabelle Faust and Il Giardino Armonico, a regal instalment in the ‘Haydn 2032’ symphonies project from the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini (who also directs the Locatelli), a finely-shaded account of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 from Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and the world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s complex opera to a libretto by his husband Mark Adamo, that blends the Gothic horror of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Euripides’ tragedy The Bacchae.
Seven years on from their much-garlanded recording of the Mozart violin concertos (which was Gramophone's Recording of the Year in 2017), Faust and Antonini team up again to explore the solo concertos and concerti grossi of Pietro Locatelli, one of the most innovative composer-virtuosos of the early eighteenth century. At the heart of their programme is 'Il Pianto d'Arianna', which Antonini describes as 'a psychological exploration of the fluctuating states of mind of Ariadne after she has been abandoned by her beloved Theseus'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This thirteenth volume in Antonini's mammoth Haydn 2032 project takes its title from the nickname given to Symphony No. 53 (which opens the album) during the nineteenth century: premiered at Eszterhaza Palace in 1778, it was published in London around 1781, and played a significant role in establishing the composer's popularity in England. The programme also includes Symphonies Nos. 33 & 54; an alternative finale for the 'Imperial' concludes the album.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
This is the fourth instalment of Bychkov's Mahler cycle with the Czech Philharmonic, which began last year with an account of Symphony No. 4 which received five stars in BBC Music Magazine ('every tempo choice seems perfect...Dynamics from the quietest imaginable to the very loudest are perfectly handled'). The subsequent recording of Symphony No. 5 was also warmly received, with The Sunday Times praising Bychkov's ability to combine 'intelligent pacing with great-hearted warmth, and sonic opulence with textural clarity'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Britten & Elgar: Sea Interludes, Violin Concerto
Michael Barenboim (violin), Philharmonia Orchestra, Alessandro Crudele
A year on from his debut recording on Linn with a triptych of works by Respighi (described as 'light yet pulsatingly alive' by BBC Music Magazine), the Italian conductor turns to British repertoire from the first half of the twentieth century. And an affinity with Elgar's music runs in the soloist's family: his father Daniel recorded the Violin Concerto with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, and in recent years has done much to raise the composer's profile in Germany.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Trio Dichter (comprising violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, cellist Hanna Salzenstein and pianist Fiona Mato) make their debut with a programme charting an imaginary visit to the home of the two composers - featuring Robert's Piano Trio No. 2 and excerpts from Kinderszenen (in their own new arrangement), the first of Clara's Drei Romanzen, and shorter works by JS Bach, Brahms and Niels Gade.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The mainstay of Grimaud's programme is Robert Schumann's Kreisleriana, which he dedicated to his future wife in 1838 (Clara was in fact rather disconcerted by the piece, writing: 'Sometimes your music actually frightens me, and I wonder: is it really true that the creator of such things is going to be my husband?'). Brahms is represented by the Three Intermezzi Op. 117 and the Neun Lieder und Gesänge Op. 32, for which Grimaud is joined by Konstantin Krimmel (who also partnered her in Valentin Silvestrov’s Silent Songs earlier this year).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Smyth: Der Wald
Natalya Romaniw (Röschen), Claire Barnett-Jones (Iolanthe), Robert Murray (Heinrich), Andrew Shore (A Peddler), Morgan Pearse (Count Rudolf), Matthew Brook (Peter); BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, John Andrews
This is the world premiere recording of Smyth's one-act opera on a libretto by Henry Brewster, set in a medieval forest and described by the composer as 'a short and tragic story of paradox framed in the tranquility and unendingness of nature'; the work was premiered in Berlin in 1902, and was staged at the Metropolitan Opera the following year. Look out for our interview with conductor John Andrews about Smyth's 'truly individual voice' and the reception-history of the piece early next week...
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Corigliano & Adamo: The Lord of Cries
Anthony Roth Costanza (Dionysus), David Portillo (Jonathan Harker), Jarrett Ott (John Seward), Kathryn Henry (Lucy Harker), Matt Boehler (Van Helsing); Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose
With an appropriately spine-chilling score by John Corigliano and a scenario/libretto by his husband Mark Adamo, Lord of Cries transplants characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula into Euripides's The Bacchae, revealing all manner of parallels between the two texts along the way. Reviewing the premiere for The New Yorker, Alex Ross noted that the opera 'contains some of Corigliano’s grandest, wildest, most exuberantly inventive music...Not, perhaps, since Verdi wrote Falstaff has an operatic composer made so much mischief past the age of seventy-five'.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Massenet: Ariane
Amina Edris (Ariane), Kate Aldrich (Phèdre), Jean-François Borras (Thésée), Jean-Sébastien Bou (Pirithoüs), Julie Robard-Gendre (Perséphone); Munich Radio Orchestra, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Laurent Campellone
Premiered at the Palais Garnier in 1906, Massenet's Ariane was described as 'a noble, great and moving work' by Fauré and enjoyed a certain amount of success in the composer's lifetime, but never achieved the long-term popularity of Manon, Werther or Thaïs. This first complete recording received a five-star review in the Financial Times last week, with Richard Fairman declaring that it 'presents a vivid picture of Ariane’s spectacle in the listener’s ear...Ariane proudly reclaims its place in operatic history.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs + Book, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Henze: Das Floß der Medusa
Sven-Eric Bechtolf (Charon), Sarah Wegener (La Mort), Dietrich Henschel (Jean-Charles), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Sängerknaben, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Cornelius Meister
Inspired by Théodore Géricault’s arresting painting from 1819 (depicting the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse three years earlier), Henze's secular oratorio was composed as a requiem for Che Guevara, and its scheduled premiere in 1968 was cancelled after students clashed with NDR radio officials and police; the dress rehearsal, however, had been recorded, and the first performance eventually took place in Vienna in 1971. This live recording was made at the Konzerthaus in 2017.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Commissioning and performing new music was a key component of Nethsingha's fifteen-year tenure at St John's (he departed for Westminster Abbey at the end of 2022), and this programme includes music by composers including Cheryl Frances-Hoad, James MacMillan, Judith Weir, Francis Pott, Sophie Westbrooke, and Ben Comeau. The album closes with Iain Farrington's Nova Nova, which received its first performance at the end of Nethsingha's final broadcast from St John’s.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
