New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 10th November 2023
Two years on from their award-nominated recording of the Shostakovich concertos with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava (praised in The Sunday Times for the Macedonian pianist's combination of 'technical bravura and singing legato'), Trpčeski and Măcelaru reunite for the two Brahms concertos, composed over two decades apart. The composer's Variations on a theme by Schumann featured on Trpčeski's last solo album, when BBC Music Magazine commended the 'grave beauty' of his interpretation.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Recorded in Tallinn last year and produced by Manfred Eicher, this programme takes its title from the Littlemore Tractus of 2000, based on the final lines of the sermon 'Wisdom and Innocence' which John Henry Newman delivered at his Oxfordshire parish in 1843; the album also includes the Greater Antiphons, Cantique des degrés, Sequentia, L'abbé Agathon, These Words…, Veni creator, and Vater Unser.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Drawing inspiration from her compatriot Kirsten Flagstad's 1958 Christmas album with Sir Adrian Boult, the Norwegian soprano's festive programme includes Swedish and English versions of ‘O Holy Night' (in the orchestration made for Pavarotti), an arrangement of the Bach/Gounod ‘Ave Maria’ which was originally written for Leontyne Price, and a selection of popular seasonal songs from Scandinavia: 'Jul, jul, strålande jul', 'Mitt hjerte alltid vanker', 'Julvisa', and 'Deilig er Jorden'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 - Franck, Fauré & Poulenc
Bruno Philippe (cello), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach, Tanguy de Williencourt (piano)
Saint-Saëns's 1872 concerto is preceded here by Fauré's Romance in A major for cello & piano and Jules Delsart's transcription of Franck's Violin Sonata, and followed by Fauré's Papillon & Après un rêve, Poulenc's Cello Sonata, and 'Le Cygne' from Saint-Saëns's Le carnaval des animaux. Philippe and de Williencourt's debut recording of Brahms and Schumann in 2015 was described as 'promising and subtly interpreted' by The Strad; the pair will be launching this new album at our store in Leamington Spa on Monday 27th November, and highlights will be shared on our YouTube channel...
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Dorics celebrate their twenty-fifth birthday by embarking on a cycle of the complete Beethoven string quartets, beginning with Nos. 1, 6, 7, 11 and 12. The quartet's recent performance of No. 11 at the Bradfield Festival this summer was warmly received by BachTrack, who noted that they plumbed 'the full emotional range of Beethoven’s shortest, yet surely one of his greatest, quartets'.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The year in question was a fruitful one in terms of compositions for cello and piano, and Croisé & Shevchenko present three contrasting works which were premiered or published during those twelve months: the nineteen-year-old Richard Strauss's Cello Sonata in F major (dedicated to the Czech cellist Hanuš Wihan), Grieg's Cello Sonata in A minor, and the slow movement of a projected sonata which Fauré began in 1880 but eventually published as the stand-alone Élégie three years later.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Israeli pianist's own arrangement of the Symphonic Dances is the mainstay of this programme celebrating the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff's birth, which also includes the Moments musicaux, the Prelude in G sharp minor, and Barnatan's transcription of the Vocalise. Barnatan's Rachmaninoff discography includes the Cello Sonata with Alisa Weilerstein, which was described by The Guardian as 'just as eloquent [as his partner's]: beautifully light and supple one moment, biting the next, always nuanced'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists make their debut on Linn with a programme of works inspired by the Greek god of love: Frank Bridge's Phantasie Trio, Helen Grime's Three Whistler Miniatures, Iván Erőd's Piano Trio No. 1, and the 'Danza de la moza donosa' ('Dance of the Graceful Girl') from Alberto Ginastera's Danzas Argentinas. The album received four stars in The Guardian yesterday, with Erica Jeal noting that the 'intriguing and eclectic programme' features 'some seriously good chamber music playing'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Schubert in English Vol. 4
Rowan Pierce (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone), Christopher Glynn (piano)
Following recordings of Winter Journey (with Roderick Williams), The Fair Maid of the Mill (with Nicky Spence) and Swansong (with Sir John Tomlinson), Glynn continues his series of Schubert lieder in translation with this recital of stand-alone songs including 'The Child of the Muses', 'The Trout', 'The Wanderer', 'To Music', and 'To be Sung on the Water'. Look out for David's podcast with all three artists about the project later this month...
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Perhaps best known today for his completion of Puccini's Turandot (in which Pirozzi sang the title-role at Covent Garden earlier this year), Alfano also composed a substantial body of Italian art-songs: this recital includes the Cinq Melodies which he wrote in 1896 as a twenty-one-year-old student at Leipzig, the Due Liriche for voice, cello and piano from 1949, and È giunto il nostro ultimo autunno from 1943.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The gentleman in question is the Tudor composer Thomas Weelkes, whose 400th birthday falls at the end of the month; this programme of his anthems, services and instrumental music includes O Lord, Arise Into Thy Resting Place, Most mighty and all-knowing Lord, O Lord, grant the king a long life, the Evening Service No. 5 'In Medio Chori', and the pavan 'Mr Weelkes his Lacrimae'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
This recital on the guitarist's own label includes his When the Birds Return and When the Birds Return, Fernando Sor's Introduction and Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Manuel Ponce's Scherzino Mexicano and Por ti mi Corazón, Alirio Díaz's arrangement of Antonio Carrillo's Como llora una estrella, and Joaquín Turina’s Fandangillo.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
