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Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Orchestral Works, Vol. 5
Jonathan Aasgaard (cello), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, John Wilson
This fifth volume in Wilson's series of orchestral works by his late friend and mentor comprises the Concerto for Orchestra from 1973, the first recording of the Sonnets for Orpheus (scored for cello and orchestra, and dedicated to Bennett's former partner Dan Klein), and Diversions for chamber orchestra from 1989. Reviewing the previous instalment, The Sunday Times enthused that 'Wilson’s survey of Bennett’s concert works continues to surprise and delight', whilst Gramophone declared that 'Wilson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra deliver precision and virtuosity in spades'.
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Richard Strauss: Violin Concerto and other works
Renaud Capuçon (violin), Petr Popelka, Guillaume Bellom (piano), Wiener Symphoniker, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Seiji Ozawa
As well as new accounts of the Violin Concerto (written when Strauss was still at school) the Violin Sonata from 1887 and the Piano Quartet, this 3-disc collection includes two recordings made at the Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg in 2022: the Sextet from Capriccio, and Rudolf Leopold's string septet arrangement of the Metamorphosen. The album is completed by a 2000 recording of Ein Heldenleben from Salzburg, with the late Seiji Ozawa conducting the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and a youthful Capuçon (who was the orchestra's leader at the time) taking the prominent solo part.
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Robert Schumann: Violin Sonatas
Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano)
Following their widely acclaimed recordings of sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Franck, Vierne and Szymanowski, Ibragimova and Tiberghien team up again for the three sonatas which Schumann composed in the early 1850s. The second sonata was written for the great violinist Joseph Joachim, who was also the dedicatee of the F-A-E sonata on which Schumann collaborated with Brahms and Albert Dietrich; Schumann composed the Intermezzo and Finale, subsequently adding two more movements to constitute his Violin Sonata No. 3). The duo have been praised for their 'captivating instinct for when to drop back for the other and when to join hands' (Gramophone) and 'unshakeable rapport' (The Telegraph).
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
War Silence
Roberto Prosseda (piano), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nir Kabaretti
Spanning a period of 115 years, this album of rare Italian piano concertos takes its title from a 2015 work by Cristian Carrara (b. 1977), which receives its world premiere recording here; the composer describes the work as 'an attempt to describe silence, which exists even in war, be it in death or life'. The programme also includes Guido Alberto Fano's Andante e Allegro con fuoco from 1900, Luigi Dallapiccola's Piccolo concerto per Muriel Couvreux from 1939-41, and the first recording of Silvio Omizzolo's Piano Concerto (which won Third Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1969).
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Reynaldo Hahn: Piano Quintet, Songs & Piano Quartet
Karim Sulayman (tenor), Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
As well as the Piano Quintet from 1922 and the Piano Quartet from 1946, this album includes a selection of Hahn's best-loved mélodies in new chamber arrangements by the Kaleidoscope's Artistic Director Tom Poster: 'Quand je fus pris au pavillon', 'Le rossignol des lilas', 'Chanson d’automne', 'L'Enamourée', and 'La barcheta'. Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman won a Grammy in 2019 for his debut solo album Songs of Orpheus, which was also praised in BBC Music Magazine for his 'lucid, velvety tenor and pop-star charisma'.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Dies Irae
Dmitry Masleev (piano), Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra
The Russian pianist's fourth solo album opens with Liszt's Totentanz, which Masleev performed as part of his Gold Medal-winning programme at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition. It's followed by his teacher Mikhail Petukhov's arrangement of Liszt's Rhapsodie espagnole, Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and JS Bach's arrangement of the Adagio from Marcello's Oboe Concerto. Reviewing Masleev's debut solo recording of Shostakovich, Scriabin and Prokofiev back in 2018, Gramophone's David Fanning declared that 'this is not merely competition-winning pianism but highly accomplished and communicative musicianship.'
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Seelentrost
Isabel Schicketanz (soprano)
Subtitled 'The Sound of Inner Life in Heinrich Schütz's Time', this recital from German soprano Isabel Schicketanz includes music by Matthias Weckmann, Sophie Elisabeth (Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg), Johann Theile, Heinrich Albert and Adam Krieger as well as Schütz himself. The album is an Editor's Choice in the latest edition of Gramophone, with Edward Breen declaring: 'This is one of those delightful occasions where a complex and highly nuanced solo programme both holds together as a musical sequence and is wonderfully executed, combining intellectual joy with sonic beauty.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Agathe Backer Grøndahl: Songs & Piano Works
Karen Vourc'h (soprano), Anne Le Bozec (piano)
A friend of Edvard Grieg (whose concerto she championed) and a piano pupil of Franz Liszt, Agathe Backer Grøndahl was a prolific composer of songs and piano pieces as well as a highly influential piano-teacher. This collection features her 10 Fantasistykker from 1895, and settings of poems by her compatriots Vilhelm Krag, Hans Reynolds and Peter Rosenkrantz Johnsen, Danish writers Holger Drachmann and Jenny Blicher-Clausen, and Heinrich Heine.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Praise Him With Trumpets
Bristol Choral Society, Hilary Campbell, Richard Moore (organ)
This celebration of British choral music features the world premiere recordings of Dame Judith Weir’s Praise Him with Trumpets, Grace-Evangeline Mason’s A Memory of the Ocean for choir, piano and cello, and Elizabeth Poston’s Festal Te Deum (commissioned by St Matthew's Church in Kingsley in 1959 and rediscovered seven years ago). The album also includes Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, Cecilia McDowall's Four Shakespeare Songs, Elizabeth Maconchy's Ophelia’s Song, and works by Holst and Vaughan Williams.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Joanna Marsh: A Plastic Theatre
Jennifer Johnston (mezzo), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, I Fagiolini, The Lyons Mouth Stile Antico
The centrepiece of this album of choral music by the British composer Joanna Marsh (b. 1970) is a recording of the title-work's world premiere performance, which took place in Liverpool last March: setting text by Katie Schaag, A Plastic Theatre is a dramatic cantata for mezzo and mixed choir, and plays on the two meanings of the word 'plastic' (ie 'synthetic' and 'malleable'). The programme also includes the John Donne setting 'Batter My Heart', the Ivor Novello Award-winning 'All Shall Be Well' (on texts by Julian of Norwich), and 'now i lay (with everywhere around)' (on a poem by e.e.cummings).
Available formats: Presto CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Handel: Rinaldo (1731)
Filippo Mineccia (Rinaldo), Vivica Genaux (Armida), Roberta Mameli (Almirena), Logan Lopez Gonzalez (Argante), Francesca Martini (Sirena/Donna), Michele Mignoni (L'Araldo/Mago Cristiano), Marco Angioloni (Goffredo/conductor), Il Groviglio
One of Handel's first big London successes, Rinaldo was premiered at the Queen's Theatre Haymarket in 1711, and was performed regularly in the city over the next six years; this is the first-ever recording of the revised version which Handel made two decades later, which recasts Armida and Argante as contraltos and Goffredo as a tenor, as well as including six new arias and several small but significant alterations to the plot itself. This later version received its first performance at Lincoln's Inn Fields, with the great alto castrato Senesino in the title-role.
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
