Hymns of Bantu
Abel Selaocoe (cello), Manchester Collective
The South African cellist and singer won a slew of awards (including BBC Music Magazine's Newcomer Prize) for his debut album Where is Home (Hae Ke Kae) in 2022, and this sequel continues his mission to 'allow classical music to sit in the same space as where I’m from' - the programme juxtaposes compositions by JS Bach and Marais with traditional Bantu music, which incorporates throat-singing and body percussion.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Sibelius & Barber: Violin Concertos
Renaud Capuçon (violin), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Daniel Harding
In the wake of outstanding recordings of Elgar, Korngold and Bartók on Erato, the French violinist adds two more concertos from the first half of the twentieth century to his discography. Following a performance of the Barber concerto at the Royal Festival Hall in 2023, The Guardian described Capuçon as 'a five-star successor to [Isaac] Stern', noting that he displayed 'all the expressive tonal warmth and legato for the first two movements and all the brilliantly fast-fingered technique required for the hair-raising presto finale'.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
Kate Lindsey (mezzo), Jóhann Kristinsson (baritone), Veronika Eberle (violin), Thomas Cornelius (organ), Chor der KlangVerwaltung, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Kent Nagano
Recorded in concert at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie in the summer of 2022, this version of Brahms's German Requiem presents the work as it was originally performed at Bremen Cathedral on Good Friday 1868 (with the composer conducting). The fifth movement 'Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit' for solo soprano had not yet been composed, but the existing six movements were interspersed with music by other composers, including excerpts from Handel's Messiah (sung in German). Nagano also includes 'Erbarme dich' from the St Matthew Passion, and slow movements from violin concertos by Tartini & Bach.
Available format: 2 SACDs
Ravel: The Piano Concertos
Seong-Jin Cho (piano), Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
A month on from his survey of the complete solo piano works (which featured as one of our January Recordings of the Week and caused the Financial Times to declare that 'Ravel playing of such perfection of detail does not come round often'), the South Korean pianist continues his tribute to Ravel's 150th birthday with the Piano Concerto in G and the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand which was written for Paul Wittgenstein. Reviewing the live performance in Boston last January, BachTrack enthused that 'The “Gershwin meets Boléro” aspects were embraced and clearly delineated by both soloist and orchestra while Nelsons’s adept handling of tension and release in the build-up to the conclusion created a catharsis rarely associated with this concerto.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
Christian Li (violin), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Following his recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (which was released when he was just thirteen and prompted BBC Music Magazine to describe him as 'an extraordinary wunderkind') and Discovering Mendelssohn (2023), the Australian violinist presents an all-Tchaikovsky album. Recorded in the round, the programme centres on the Violin Concerto and also includes the 'Danse russe' from Swan Lake, the 'Valse sentimentale' & 'Valse-scherzo', the 'Andante sentimentale', and a new arrangement of the 'Waltz of the Flowers' from The Nutcracker by Paul Campbell.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Brahms & Schubert: Lieder With Orchestra
Thomas Hampson (baritone), Würth Philharmoniker, Claudio Vandelli
As well as Detlev Glanert's orchestration of Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge (complete with Glanert's own prelude, interludes and postlude), this set includes Brahms's arrangements of Schubert's 'Gruppe aus dem Tartarus', 'An Schwager Kronos', 'Memnon', 'Geheimes' and 'Greisengesang'; the programme is completed by Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Haydn and Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. Hampson previously recorded several of the Schubert songs in new arrangements by David Matthews on Tides of Life (2014), when he told us that 'it's one of the great thrills for me as a singer, to work with such a talented group of musicians in a kind of richer one-on-one experience'.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Górecki: Complete Works For String Quartet
Silesian Quartet
After their award-winning survey of chamber music by Grażyna Bacewicz, the Polish string quartet turn their attention to another of their compatriots. All three of Górecki's string quartets were composed in the latter part of his life and were commissioned by the Kronos Quartet: No. 1 (subtitled 'Already it is dusk' and based on a sixteenth-century song by Wacław of Szamotuły) lasts just fifteen minutes, whilst the four-movement No. 2 ('Quasi una fantasia') runs to thirty minutes and No. 3 ('Songs Are Sung') clocks in at just under an hour. The album is completed by the Five Kurpian Songs in the version for string quartet, which receives its first recording here.
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Donizetti Songs Vol. 3
Michael Spyres (tenor), Carlo Rizzi (piano)
Curated by musicologist Roger Parker, Opera Rara's Donizetti Song Project launched in October with an album from Spyres's regular collaborator Lawrence Brownlee. This third instalment focuses on French-language songs, many of which were written when Donizetti was at the height of his fame as an opera composer; the programme includes settings of Victor Hugo, Paul Lacroix and the tenor Adolphe Nourrit (who had created the title-role in Meyerbeer's Robert le diable, Eleazar in Halévy's La Juive, and many of Rossini's French operas). Harpist Sally Pryce joins for 'Le Petit Joueur de harpe' and violinist Eloisa-Fleur Thom for 'Le Violon de Cremone'.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Donizetti Songs Vol. 4
Marie-Nicole Lemieux (mezzo), Giulio Zappa (piano)
The Canadian mezzo's contribution to the series also features settings of Hugo and Nourrit, alongside the Venetian barcarolle 'Sull'onda cheta e bruna' and comic songs written during Donizetti's time in Naples; other highlights include the Spanish-inflected 'Ah! si tu voulais, toi que j'aime', 'La fuga di Tisbe' (inspired by the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, and composed when Donizetti was finding his feet as an opera-composer) and 'La Novice', which features an obbligato part for harmonium.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Irmgard Seefried Edition
Irmgard Seefried (soprano)
As well as complete recordings of Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben, Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch & Spanisches Liederbuch and Brahms's Liebeslieder-Walzer, this collection of the German soprano's complete recital recordings for Deutsche Grammophon also includes songs by Schubert, Strauss, Mussorgsky and Bartók plus Respighi's Il tramonto and JS Bach's Wedding Cantata. Bonus discs feature arias and scenes from operas including Don Giovanni, Fidelio, Der Freischütz, Carmen and Ariadne auf Naxos.
Available format: 20 CDs
