Shostakovich & Britten
Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Sinfonia of London, John Wilson, Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano)
Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 sat at the heart of Kanneh-Mason's debut album Inspiration back in 2017, recorded shortly after his winning performance at the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition; now he teams up with Wilson and Sinfonia of London for No. 2, which he considers 'the greater work' thanks to its sheer emotional scale and elusive ending. His sister Isata joins him for the Cello Sonata from 1934 and the sonata which Britten composed for Rostropovich (who was also the dedicatee of Shostakovich's concertos).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Following his Gramophone Award-nominated Beethoven Révolution project, Savall continues his exploration of nineteenth-century German repertoire with two early works by Robert Schumann and Bruckner: the former's unfinished 'Zwickau' Symphony from the early 1830s (based on sketches which the composer made for an opera on Hamlet) and the latter's 'Nullte' Symphony from 1869, which was premiered and published three decades after his death.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Bizet: Les Mélodies
Marianne Croux (soprano), Coline Dutilleul (mezzo), Cyrille Dubois (tenor), Guilhem Worms (bass), Edoardo Torbianelli (piano), Luca Montebugnoli (piano)
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Bizet's death (which falls on 3rd June), Harmonia Mundi presents the first-ever complete set of his songs: highlights include the Vingt mélodies Op. 21 from 1873 (which includes songs based on material from the operas Djamileh, Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth), the Chants des Pyrénées from 1867, and settings of poems by Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, Théophile Gautier and Pierre de Ronsard.
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This album is something of a departure for the Franco-American keyboardist, who is more usually found at the harpsichord in Baroque repertoire: here he performs the Preludes which Chopin composed on the Pleyel pianino at the villa in Valldemossa (Majorca) which he shared with George Sand in 1838, plus a selection of études, nocturnes and mazurkas and Chopin's transcription of 'Casta diva' from Bellini's Norma. As Chopin's own instrument is too fragile for use, Taylor plays its 'younger brother': a near-identical model which was manufactured just a few months later.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Bruch & Korngold: Violin Concertos
Bomsori (violin), Thomas Hoppe (piano), Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša
As well as Bruch's evergreen Violin Concerto No. 1 and Korngold's sole work in the genre, this album includes excerpts from the latter composer's incidental music for Much Ado About Nothing and Die stumme Serenade plus Marietta's Lied from Die tote Stadt. Bomsori was one of the three soloists on Deutsche Grammophon's set of the Nielsen concertos back in 2023, which won a BBC Music Magazine Award the following year.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Guerra-Peixe: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 'Brasília'
Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra, Goiânia Symphony Choir, Goiás Youth Symphony Choir, Neil Thomson
Naxos's Music of Brazil series continues with these two symphonies by Petrópolis-born violinist, ethnomusicologist and composer César Guerra-Peixe (1914-93), who worked extensively in film, TV and radio in addition to writing a significant number of concert works. Symphony No. 1 dates from his early Serialist period and was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1946, whilst the more expansive 'Brasilia' (which features a largely wordless choir) was written in response to a competition organised in 1960 by Brazil’s Ministry of Education and Culture; the album also features the austere Nonet, composed concurrently with Symphony No. 1.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Premiered in Dresden in February, Helbig's Requiem A was created to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II; scored for choir, orchestra, electronics and solo voice, the work combines liturgical and new texts, with the 'A' of the title alluding to the words 'Anfang' ('beginning'), 'Aufbruch' ('setting off'), 'Asche' ('ashes') and 'Atmen' ('breath'). The work will be performed in Coventry - which also saw the premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem - later this year.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Electric Fields
Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Katia Labèque (piano), Marielle Labèque (piano), David Chalmin (synths and electronics)
The music of Hildegard von Bingen was the inspiration for this programme of music for soprano, pianos and live electronics, which opens with her 'O virga mediatrix' and closes with 'O vis aeternitatis'; the album also includes new arrangements of love songs by Barbara Strozzi and Francesca Caccini, plus responses to Hildegard's plainchants by David Chalmin and Bryce Dessner.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This first full-length concerto album from the Israeli mandolinist focuses on late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Vienna, and features the world premiere recordings of three works by Ernest Krähmer (1795-1837) which were recently rediscovered at the Bavarian State Library. The programme also includes Paisiello's Mandolin Concerto, Sariel's own arrangement of Mozart's Andante for Flute and Orchestra, and a new composite piece comprising two movements by Haydn and one by Ignaz Malzat (formerly attributed to Haydn).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Following a first instalment which paired Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 2 with Luise Adolpha Le Beau's work for the same forces from 1884, the Kaleidoscope couple his third and final work in the genre with Louise Héritte-Viardot's 'Im Sommer'.The eldest child of the celebrated mezzo and composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, Louise's career as a contralto was curtailed by ill health; with the aid of Clara Schumann she secured a position as a singing-teacher in Frankfurt, composing a substantial body of chamber music, orchestral works and cantatas alongside her teaching commitments.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Elgar: The Kingdom
Francesca Chiejina (soprano), Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo), Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone); London Mozart Players, Crouch End Festival Chorus, David Temple
Commissioned by the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival and premiered in 1906, Elgar's third oratorio centres on the experiences of John, Peter, the Blessed Virgin and Mary Magdalene in the period after the Resurrection, and has generally been overshadowed by The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles. Temple writes: 'I truly believe The Kingdom to be Elgar’s greatest choral work. It is a gem from the first note to the last'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Édouard Lalo: Le Roi d’Ys
Judith van Wanroij (Rozenn), Kate Aldrich (Margared), Cyrille Dubois (Mylio), Jérôme Boutillier (Karnac), Nicolas Courjal (Le Roi d’Ys), Christian Helmer (Saint Corentin/Jahel); Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra & National Choir, György Vashegyi
Premiered by the Opéra-Comique in 1888, Lalo's second opera is based on an old Breton legend, and explores the messy emotional aftermath of a peace-treaty which hinges on the marriage of the king's daughter Margared and the city's former enemy Karnac. This studio recording was made in Budapest last January, shortly before a live performance in Amsterdam which was praised by Opera Gazet for van Wanroij's 'heartfelt warmth' as Margared's sister and love-rival Rozenn, and for Courjal's 'fatherly authority' in the title-role.
Available Formats: CD + Book, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
