New Release Round-up, New Release Round-Up - 10th May 2024

Originally set by Caldara in 1733. Metastasio's tale of romantic and athletic rivalry in Ancient Greece proved one of his most popular libretti, inspiring operas by over sixty composers; Cimarosa's setting dates from 1784, and features especially striking writing for Aristea (a high coloratura role, taken here by Spanish soprano Rocio Pérez, who was a finalist at the 2018 Queen Elisabeth Competition). Rousset will conduct the opera with largely the same cast at Versailles next week.

Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

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To coincide with the bicentenary of the Ninth Symphony this week, Sony presents Manacorda's complete Beethoven cycle as a box-set; previous releases in the series have been warmly welcomed, with Gramophone applauding the 'muscularity' and 'rhythmic assurance' on display in Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 7 and BBC Music Magazine praising the 'taut ensemble playing, rhythmic discipline and sense of drama' in Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6.

Available Formats: 5 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

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Following albums coupling the composer's music with works by Brahms and Schoenberg, the Turkish pianist continues his Schubert + series by presenting Krenek's Piano Sonata No. 2 (composed in the 1920s and described by Çakmur as 'quite charming, sitting somewhere between Schubert and Parisian jazz!') alongside his completion of Schubert's unfinished Piano Sonata in C major (D840). The programme is completed by Schubert's Hungarian Melody in B minor D817 and Allegretto in C minor D900.

Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

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Helmchen made this recording on an original Spat & Schmahl tangent piano dating from 1790 (four decades after Bach's death), and describes his first encounter with the instrument as 'one of the most thrilling moments of my life as a pianist' thanks to 'the colours, the symbiosis of the characteristics of the harpsichord, clavichord and early piano, the buff stop, the opening up of polyphonic textures'.

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Schmitt composed La Tragédie de Salomé in 1907, to accompany a 'mimodrame' performed by American dance pioneer Loïe Fuller; the scenario is based on a poem by Robert d'Humières, who depicts Salome as a far more innocent figure than Oscar Wilde presents in the 1893 play which later inspired Strauss. The work was admired by Stravinsky, to whom Schmitt dedicated the Symphonic Suite which he prepared from the work three years later; although this later incarnation is more commonly heard today, Altinoglu here presents the original version for twenty instruments.

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

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This album exploring various meanings of 'home' in contemporary America takes its title from a new commission by Kevin Puts (whose opera The Hours was recently released on Warner Classics) and also features the world premiere of Caroline Shaw's Microfictions [volume 1], plus the slow movement of George Walker's String Quartet No. 1, Samuel Barber's String Quartet from the mid-1930s, and William Ryden's arrangement of Harold Arlen's 'Over The Rainbow'.

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This second helping of British and Irish miniatures from the Irish cellist and friends includes Arnold Bax's Nereid, Rebecca Clarke's Passacaglia and Epilogue, Ireland's Columbine & Spring Sorrow, and Frank Bridge's Berceuse, Serenade & Elegie, plus a selection of traditional Irish songs in new interpretations which Peregrine performed at over a thousand Covid Care Concerts during 2020/21. (Peregrine began this initiative in the early weeks of lockdown, performing in the grounds of hospitals and residential care homes).

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

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Four of Mehldau's own Fauré-inspired compositions ('Prelude', 'Caprice', 'Nocturne' and 'Vision') sit at the heart of this recital from the American jazz pianist and composer. They are preceded by Fauré's Nocturnes Nos. 13. 4 and 12, and followed by Nocturne No. 7 and a solo transcription of part of the Adagio non troppo from his Piano Quartet No. 2. A long-term admirer of Fauré, Mehldau supplied the liner-notes for an album of his chamber-music back in 2022, describing him as a 'catcher of dreams' and 'a bridge to much of the music I compose and improvise, music commonly called jazz'.

Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

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Although commonly known by its original title 'L'Africaine', Meyerbeer renamed his final completed opera 'Vasco da Gama', finishing work on the full score the day before he died; the earlier title was restored by Belgian musicologist and composer François-Joseph Fétis, who prepared the performing edition used at the premiere a year later. This recording was made live in Frankfurt in 2018, at a production directed by Tobias Kratzer; the performing version was based on the critical edition of the full score, reflecting Meyerbeer’s original intentions rather than Fétis's revisions.

Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC

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This final instalment of Stefan Herheim's production of the Ring Cycle was filmed in Berlin in 2021; although the Financial Times's Shirley Apthorp found the staging uninspired, she had little but praise for the singers, noting that 'Hilley’s Siegfried has extraordinary energy and stamina, and he hurls himself at the role with reckless courage and skill' and declaring that 'it is impossible not to love [Stemme] when she sings'. The Blu-ray/DVD releases include a 'Making Of' documentary, with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Herheim & Runnicles.

Available Format: Blu-ray

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