Opus 109
Víkingur Ólafsson (piano)
The Icelandic pianist's new album is built around Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major: Ólafsson feels that the third movement has a special kinship with Bach's Goldberg Variations (which he recorded in 2023, and performed for an entire season). The programme also includes the composer's two-movement Sonata in E minor Op. 90, Schubert's early Sonata in E minor D566 (which Ólafsson describes as 'a sister or a brother piece to Beethoven’s'), and two pieces in the same tonality by JS Bach: the Prelude in E major from The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Sarabande from the French Suite No. 6.
Released 21st November.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas
Paul Wee (piano)
The Op. 109 sonata also sits at the heart of this programme from the commercial lawyer and pianist Paul Wee, who was hailed as 'a sensation - there's no other word' by Fanfare for his debut recording of Alkan and is in the running for a Gramophone Award for his recent recording of concertos by Adolph von Henselt and Hans von Bronsart. The album comprises Beethoven's last five sonatas (including the mighty 'Hammerklavier').
Released 21st November.
Available format: 2 SACDs
Found Objects / Sound Objects
Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
Hamelin describes this intriguing programme as 'an admittedly rather disparate collection of recent and not-so-recent piano pieces' by composers who 'managed to create a very distinctly different sound from each other, aided by very obvious differences in their aesthetic purposes and their treatment of the instrument'. The repertoire includes Frank Zappa's Ruth is sleeping, John Cage's The Perilous Night, John Oswald's Tip, and Hamelin's own Hexensabbat (commissioned by the Le Piano Symphonique festival in Lucerne and recently premiered by Yoav Levanon).
Released 31st October.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Allan Clayton (Gerontius), Jamie Barton (Angel), James Platt (Priest/Angel of the Agony); London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
This live recording of Elgar's best-known oratorio was made at the BBC Proms in August 2022, with The Guardian describing the concert as 'a performance suggesting that Clayton is now the definitive interpreter of the role in British music today'. BachTrack, meanwhile, noted that the LPO 'played for its music director like a band possessed', and Opera Today observed that 'Gardner made Gerontius’s dream a true drama'.
Released 21st November.
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha (soprano), Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo), Hallé Orchestra, Choir & Youth Choir, Kahchun Wong
This performance took place at Bridgewater Hall in January, roughly halfway through Wong's first season as Music Director. Reviewing the concert in The Guardian, Sarah Noble noted that the Singaporean conductor 'joined the Hallé at the height of its powers – and on the strength of this compelling Resurrection, he knows precisely how to wield them', whilst BachTrack applauded him for 'achieving that rare feat of mastering the architecture of this sprawling symphony while wringing out all the highs and lows or the journey.'
Released 7th November.
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Mendelssohn & Bruch: Violin Concertos
Johan Dalene (violin), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Choir, Malin Broman, Gemma New, Kaspars Putniņš
The Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene came to international attention in 2019 after winning the Carl Nielsen Competition, and was named Gramophone's Young Artist of the Year in 2022 after releasing a widely acclaimed recording of the Nielsen and Sibelius concertos. Here he pairs two of the most popular concertos in the violin repertoire, with the choral version of Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending by way of coda.
Released 7th November.
Available format: SACD
Walton: Cello Concerto, Symphony No. 1 and Scapino
Jonathan Aasgaard (cello), Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
Following a recording of the Violin Concerto with leader Charlie Lovell-Jones (which was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award), Sinfonia of London's principal cellist steps into the spotlight for the work which Walton composed for Gregor Piatigorsky in the 1950s. The orchestra performed Symphony No. 1 at the Proms in 2023, with The Guardian describing the results as 'Walton on steroids' and declaring that 'Wilson's fierce attention to dynamic contrasts made other performances seem lazy by comparison.'
Released 7th November.
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Pavarotti: The Lost Concert
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Newly remastered and released on audio for the first time, this concert took place in Llangollen, North Wales, in 1995 to mark the fortieth anniversary of Pavarotti and his fellow choir members from Modena winning First Prize in the Choral Competition at the International Eisteddfod. The repertoire includes Neapolitan songs and arias from Cavalleria rusticana, Il trovatore, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut and La traviata; two bonus-tracks from the 1955 concert ('Bonjour mon coeur' and 'Jacob Handl's 'In nomine') are thought to be the earliest recordings featuring Pavarotti.
Released 14th November.
Available format: 2 SACDs
Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie & Lieder Op. 27
Louise Alder (soprano), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon
Hot on the heels of 'a Sibelius recording that’s up there with the finest of any era' (BBC Music Magazine), the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and its British Chief Conductor climb Strauss's mountain, with soprano Louise Alder (who was a headline soloist at the Last Night of the Proms last week) joining for four favourite Lieder: 'Ruhe, meine Seele!', 'Cäcilie', 'Heimliche Aufforderung', and 'Morgen!'. Alder makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in November as Zdenka in Strauss's Arabella.
Released 7th November.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Ambroise Thomas: Psyché
Hélène Guilmette (Psyché), Antoinette Dennefeld (Éros), Tassis Christoyannis (Mercure), Philippe Estèphe (Gorgias), Christian Helmer (Le Roi); Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Hungarian National Choir, György Vashegyi
Premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1857, Psyché predates the composer's most popular works Mignon and Hamlet, and centres on the ill-fated love-affair between the eponymous heroine and Éros (a trouser-role for coloratura mezzo). The recording is dedicated to the memory of the Belgian soprano Jodie Devos, who was originally scheduled to sing the title-role but died in June 2024 aged just 35.
Released 31st October.
Available formats: Book + 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
