New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 22nd March 2024
Today's new releases include Véronique Gens, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester & Hervé Niquet's recital of French Romantic orchestral song, Masaaki Suzuki's latest volume of solo Bach (tackling the contrapuntal masterwork Die Kunst der Fuge), a wide-ranging disc devoted to the orchestral works of Dani Howard from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Michael Seal (featuring Peter Moore as the soloist in her Trombone Concerto), and Reger's affectionate transcriptions of Brahms lieder for solo piano from Rudolf Buchbinder.
This recital of orchestral mélodies takes its title from a song by Reynaldo Hahn, whose 'D’une prison' and 'Mai' also feature on the programme alongside songs by Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Gounod, Dubois, Chausson and Tombelle. The album also includes the 'Invocation' from Massenet's incidental music for Les Erinnyes, the 'Pastorale' from his 1889 opera Esclarmonde, the long prelude 'Solitude' from Sapho, and the Nocturne from Fauré's Shylock Suite.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following his recordings of the English Suites, Toccatas and a series of organ works (and of course his superb survey of the complete cantatas), Suzuki turns his attention to The Art of Fugue. For three of the fugues, he is joined by his son Masato, whose own recording of Book One of The Well-Tempered Clavier is also due out on BIS next month; the pair's recording of Bach's Concertos for Two Harpsichords was praised in Gramophone for their ability to tap into the 'simple elegance and devotional belonging' of the music.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Dani Howard: Orchestral Works
Peter Moore (trombone), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Seal
The centrepiece of this programme of orchestral works by the British composer (b.1993) is the Trombone Concerto written for former Young Musician of the Year Peter Moore in 2021, which was described as 'an instant classic' by The Times after its premiere in Liverpool. The album also includes Argentum (written to celebrate Classic FM's 25th birthday), Ellipsis, Coalescence and Arches - the latter commissioned to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 2016 and premiered at St John's Smith Square.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A lifelong admirer of Brahms, Reger published four volumes of solo piano transcriptions of the late composer's songs in the mid-1900s, reflecting that 'In the case of such masterpieces, any embellishment and any attempt to introduce a note of brilliance would be an unheard-of act of vandalism. I mean to adopt a different approach by bringing out the vocal line and, where possible, retaining the original accompaniment in the most faithful way that I can!'. Buchbinder's programme includes 'An die Nachtigall', 'Wie Melodien zieht es mir', 'Minnelied', 'Wiegenlied', 'Feldeinsamkeit', and 'Sapphische Ode'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Santtu conducts Stravinsky: The Firebird & The Rite of Spring
Philharmonia Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali
These live recordings were made during concerts which took place at the South Bank Centre last year. Rouvali had previously conducted Petrushka at the same venue in 2019 (shortly after being announced as the Philharmonia's next Principal Conductor), when The Guardian applauded his ability to 'draw playing of sizzling virtuosity and vividness from the orchestra' and noted that 'as well as brilliance there was a great deal of wit too, as Rouvali placed the woodwind interjections with unerring skill.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
CPE Bach: Symphonies - From Berlin To Hamburg
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Mayumi Hirasaki, Georg Kallweit
This album completes the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin's survey of the complete symphonies by CPE Bach, which began over two decades ago; previous instalments have been shortlisted for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Awards and featured as Record of the Week on Radio 3's Record Review. The programme includes three symphonies which were written during his time in Berlin (where he worked at the court of Frederick the Great), and four of the symphonies composed for Baron Gottfried van Swieten after Bach's move to Hamburg in 1768.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
To mark the centenary of Fauré's death (which falls on 4th November), the French pianist has recorded his entire output for piano - composed between the 1860s and 1920s and including thirteen nocturnes, thirteen barcarolles, six impromptus, and four Valses-Caprices. Although Fauré's writing for the piano is rarely overtly virtuosic, it often poses considerable technical challenges: even Franz Liszt lamented to the composer that he had 'run out of fingers' whilst attempting to sight-read the Ballade Op 19.
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This collection of six violin sonatas by Giuseppe Tartini takes its title from the famous 'Devil's Trill' sonata, which the composer claimed was inspired by a dream about making a Faustian pact, during which the devil performed 'a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy'. The album also includes three sonatas from Tartini's Op. 1, which were published in Amsterdam in 1734 and pay homage to Corelli.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This 'Sequence of Music for the Easter Vigil' is Westminster Cathedral Choir's first recording under its current Director of Music Simon Johnson, who succeeded Martin Baker in 2021. The repertoire includes Palestrina's 'Sicut cervus', Victoria's 'Laudate Dominum', Jean L’Héritier's 'Surrexit pastor bonus' and Lassus's 'Iubilate Deo' as well as compositions by two former Westminster musicians: Andrew Reid's 'Exodus Canticle' and Matthew Martin's 'Vidi aquam'. Look out for David's interview with Simon Johnson about the album during Holy Week...
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following an album devoted to Stanisław Moniuszko, the French-Cypriot pianist continues his exploration of music by neglected Polish composers with a collection of polonaises by Juliusz Zarębski, Kacper Napoleon Wysocki, Józef Kozłowski, Maciej Radziwiłł, Maria Szymanowska and others. The recording is released as part of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute's Resonance series, which to date has featured music by Paderewski, Godowski and Andrzej Panufnik as well as a Polish-language version of Schubert's Winterreise.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Richard Baker: The Tyranny of Fun
Richard Baker, CHROMA, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Finnegan Downie Dear, Three Strange Angels, Sir Stephen Cleobury Choir of King's College Cambridge
This portrait of the composer and conductor (b.1972) comprises a selection of chamber works for a variety of forces, written between 1994 and 2022. The title-work (premiered in 2012) was inspired by George Balanchine's ballet La Valse and draws on disco music from the 1970s and 80s, which Baker describes as 'the sound of the great super-clubs of New York in their decadent heyday, just before the first wave of the AIDS epidemic hit'. The programme also includes Motet II, the basset clarinet concerto Learning to Fly, To Keep a True Lent and Hwyl fawr ffrindiau (based on a Welsh children’s song).
Read David's interview with Richard Baker about the works on the album.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Serenade To Music
Isobel Baillie, Elsie Suddaby, Walter Widdop, Heddle Nash et al; BBC Symphony Orchestra, Henry Wood
As well as the world premiere recording of the Serenade To Music (made just ten days after the first performance in 1938), this album from Albion includes solo recordings from the sixteen named soloists for whom Vaughan Williams wrote the work: highlights include Puccini's 'Vissi d'arte' from Eva Turner, the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria from Isobel Baillie, Vaughan Williams's 'Linden Lea' from Heddle Nash, and Margaret Balfour in The Angel's Farewell from Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Nielsen: Maskarade (Blu-ray)
Monika Buczkowska, Susan Bullock, Michael Porter, Liviu Holender, Alfred Reiter, Chor der Frankfurt, Frankfurter Opern-Und Museumorchester, Tobias Kratzer, Titus Engel
Premiered in Copenhagen in 1906, Maskarade is often described as Denmark's national opera; based on a comedy by Ludvig Holberg, the work blends elements of opera buffa with folk-song and centres on the complications which arise in the cold light of day after two young people fall in love at a masked ball. This production uses a new German translation by Martin G. Berger, and was filmed in Frankfurt in 2012; BachTrack noted that 'Kratzer handles the intricate plot with admirable clarity' and also praised conductor Titus Engel for delivering 'a virtuoso performance of Nielsen’s fiendish score.'
Available Format: Blu-ray
Rossini: Le Siège de Corinthe (Blu-ray)
Luca Pisaroni (Mahomet II), John Irvin (Cléomène), Nino Machaidze (Pamira), Sergey Romanovsky (Néoclès), Xabier Anduaga (Adraste), Cecilia Molinari (Ismène) Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Coro Del Teatro Ventidio Basso, Carlus Padrissa, Roberto Abbado
Recorded at the 2017 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, this production of Rossini's 1826 opera (reworked from Maometto II for the Académie royale de musique in Paris) used a new critical edition of the score by French musicologist Damien Colas. The Financial Times praised Romanovsky's combination of 'warm tone and pinging top notes' as Néoclès, and observed that 'Machaidze as Pamyra thrilled most of all, as she purred effortlessly through pyrotechnic coloratura'; BachTrack, meanwhile, praised Abbado's 'light, heroic and passionate' interpretation and described Romanovsky as 'a wonderful surprise'.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
