New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 15th March 2024
Featuring The Tempest, Francesca da Rimini and The Voyevoda, the British conductor's debut recording last year demonstrated what BBC Music Magazine described as 'a tremendous flair for Tchaikovsky', whilst Gramophone opined that 'Chauhan proves in this disc that he loves Tchaikovsky and is not afraid to show it'. This sequel includes Fatum, Hamlet, Capriccio Italien, the Introduction to The Queen of Spades, and orchestral excerpts from The Oprichnik and The Snow Maiden.
Available Format: SACD
Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4 & 'Archduke' Trio
Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Emanuel Ax (piano)
The Beethoven for Three project began life at the Tanglewood Festival in 2021, when Ma, Kavakos and Ax performed Symphony No. 2 in an arrangement for piano trio by Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries; the trio released a recording of the work the following year, coupled with an arrangement of Symphony No. 5 by Colin Matthews which 'bowled over' Gramophone's Andrew Farach-Colton. The transcription of Symphony No. 4 on this latest instalment is by pianist Shai Wosner, a former pupil of Ax and an acclaimed Beethoven interpreter in his own right.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Montreal orchestra's first recording with their new Music Director (released a year ago on Pentatone) was an account of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 which received five stars in BBC Music Magazine and was hailed in The Sunday Times as 'an intense and beautifully recorded interpretation that you feel will the stand the test of time'. In her first recording of German orchestral song, Yoncheva joins them for the Rückert-Lieder (composed concurrently with Symphony No. 5), which are preceded by Strauss's exuberant autobiographical tone-poem from 1898.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
When Night Falls ...
Elīna Garanča (mezzo), Raphaël Feuillâtre (guitar), Raimonds Pauls (piano), Albrecht Mayer (oboe), Malcolm Martineau (piano) Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria, Berlin Music Ensemble, Karel Mark Chichon
The Latvian mezzo's programme of songs associated with twilight, sleep and dreams includes Strauss's 'Wiegenlied', Montsalvatge's 'Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito', the Asturiana from Falla's Siete Canciones populares españolas, Tosti's 'Sogno', two of Berio's Folk Songs and Schubert's 'Nacht und Träume', plus pieces by three Latvian composers: Jānis Zālīts, Imants Kalniņš and Ojārs Raimonds Pauls (who was Latvia's Minister of Culture from 1988 to 1993).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni & La Follia
Julien Chauvin (violin/director), Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian (countertenor), Le Concert de La Loge
Le Concert de la Loge's founder Julien Chauvin is the soloist and director for Le Quattro Stagioni, performing on a violin by Neaopolitan luthier Nicolò Gagliano which has been loaned to him by the Château de Versailles for this recording; once played by Yehudi Menuhin, the instrument comes from the ‘collection de Madame Adélaïde’, named after one of Louis XV’s daughters. The album also includes the aria 'Sovvente il sole' from Andromeda liberata, the score of which was discovered in Venice in 2002.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Recently appointed Principal Cellist of Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Posner was awarded the Thierry Scherz Prize at Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad 2023 and was also a prize-winner at the the International Karl Davidov Competition in 2018. His debut solo recording comprises Bloch's Schelomo, Bruch's Kol Nidrei and Dohnányi's rarely-recorded Konzertstück from 1903/4. The recording was awarded four stars in The Times this week, with Geoff Brown observing that 'this youngish British musician hasn’t taken numerous cello masterclasses with the soulful Steven Isserlis for nothing'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Thomas Roseingrave: Eight Harpsichord Suites and Other Keyboard Works
Bridget Cunningham (harpsichord)
To celebrate St Patrick's Day, Bridget Cunningham (herself of Irish heritage) presents a programme of keyboard works by the Anglo-Irish composer Thomas Roseingrave, who spent his early career in Italy before being appointed organist of St George's Hanover Square in 1725. The set of harpsichord suites (which receives its first complete recording here) date from 1728 and shows the influence of Domenico Scarlatti, whom Roseingrave had met during his time in Naples and admired enormously; he had produced a version of his opera Amor d'un'ombra e gelosia d'un'aura in London several years earlier, and also published excerpts from the work.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Born in Bordeaux in 1895, Beydts was a pupil of André Messager and devoted much of his energies to operette, ending his career as as Director of the Opéra-Comique; many of his songs receive their world premiere recordings here. Dubois and Raës won a Gramophone Award last year for their survey of Fauré's complete mélodies, which was 'recommended for those who love indulging in French song at its finest'. The new recording received four stars in the Financial Times this week, thanks to Dubois's 'exceptional sensitivity of style' and the 'immaculate teamwork' on display.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This recital was conceived to mark the 150th anniversary of Vaughan Williams's birth in 2022, and was performed at Wigmore Hall in October of that year. The programme includes world premiere recordings of Herbert Howells’s 'The Sorrow of Love', Sarah Cattley’s 'A Square and Candle-Lighted Boat' (on verses by Vaughan Williams's cousin Frances Cornford) and Roderick Williams's setting of William Blake’s 'The Shepherd; there are also songs by Vaughan Williams's teachers (Stanford, Parry, Wood, Bruch, Ravel), friends (Holst, Gurney, Howells, Butterworth, Finzi), and pupils (Grace Williams, Boyle, Gipps, Maconchy & Dring).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Donizetti: Dalinda
Lidia Fridman, Paolo Bordogna, Luciano Ganci, Yajie Zhang, Andrès Moreno Garcia, David Oštrek, Kangyoon Shine Lee, Fermin Basterra, Egor Sergeev; Chor und Orchester der Berliner Operngruppe, Felix Krieger
This is the world premiere recording of Dalinda, which Donizetti reworked from Lucrezia Borgia in order to circumvent censorship restrictions at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples; as well as transplanting the action to the Middle East at the time of the Third Crusade, he also made significant modifications to the score itself, but the opera was nonetheless rejected by the theatre and remained unperformed until 2023. It is given here in a new critical edition by Eleonora Di Cintio, whose previous work has included an edition of Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo for Opera Rara.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bruckner From the Archives, Vol. 1
Bruckner Orchester Linz, Kurt Wöss, Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Eugen Jochum, Koeckert Quartet et al
This is the first instalment of a projected six-volume series marking this year's Bruckner bicentenary, which will feature rare archival recordings of the 11 symphonies and selected other important works. Volume One includes a 1974 recording of the Symphony No. 00 from Kurt Wöss & the Bruckner Orchester Linz, a 1959 account of Symphony No. 1 from Eugen Jochum & the Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the String Quartet from the Koeckert Quartet (recorded in 1951).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Busoni: Doktor Faust (Blu-ray)
Dietrich Henschel (Doktor Faust), Daniel Brenna (Mephistopheles), Wilhelm Schwinghammer (Wagner/Master of Ceremonies), Joseph Dahdahv (Duke of Parma), Olga Bezsmertna (Duchess of Parma); Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Cornelius Meister, Davide Livermore
Busoni died before finishing his opera on the Faust legend, which he envisaged as his masterwork; the score was completed by his pupil Philipp Jarnach, and the work received its premiere in 1925 (a year after the composer's death). Reviewing this 2023 production from Florence, British Theatre Guide reflected that 'Livermore interprets the piece as a metaphor of the composer’s own unfulfilled ambition, Henschel sporting a lush Busoni-like forelock, and with up to 40 chorus members holding Busoni face masks.'
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
