Today's new releases include Hugo Alfvén's Suite from King Gustav Adolf II and Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi on Chandos, Rachmaninoff's Morceaux de fantaisie & Morceaux de Salon from Boris Giltburg on Naxos, accordion works from the Baltic States courtesy of Ksenija Sidorova, the Estonian Festival Orchestra and Paavo Järvi on Alpha, and a phantasy-inspired programme including music by Ina Boyle, Herbert Howells and Malcolm Arnold from the Piatti Quartet and friends on Signum.
Alfvén & Rautavaara: Orchestral Works
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
The mainstay of this album is the suite which Hugo Alfvén compiled from his incidental music for Ludvig Nordström's play King Gustav Adolf II, which was written to commemorate the 300-year anniversary of the death of the Protestant Swedish monarch at the battle of Lützen. It's preceded by his exuberant Festspel (commissioned to inaugurate the new art nouveau building for Stockholm's Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern in 1908), and Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus ('Concerto for Birds and Orchestra') from 1972.
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Rachmaninoff: Morceaux de fantaisie & Morceaux de Salon
Boris Giltburg (piano)
Giltburg began his survey of Rachmaninoff's piano music for Naxos ten years ago, with an album of the Études-tableaux & Moments Musicaux which was applauded for his 'technical fluidity and honed musicality' (The Observer), 'convergence of heart and mind, served by immaculate technique' (Gramophone), and 'intelligence and colouristic magnificence' (BBC Music Magazine). As well as the Morceaux de fantaisie (the composer's first published collection of piano pieces) and Morceaux de Salon, this latest instalment includes the Three Nocturnes which he wrote aged fourteen and the Four Pieces from the same year.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Prophecy
Ksenija Sidorova (accordion), Estonian Festival Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
The Latvian accordionist and Estonian conductor present a triptych of works by composers from the Baltic countries: Erkki-Sven Tüür's 2007 concerto Prophecy (which explores the idea of seers who were both 'respected and disdained' by their communities), Tõnu Kõrvits's Dances (premiered by Sidorova in 2024), and Pēteris Vasks's The Fruit of Silence. Originally scored for choir and small orchestra, the latter work was inspired by a prayer of Mother Teresa and is performed here in a new instrumental arrangement by George Morton.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Phantasy
Piatti Quartet & Guests
The Piatti Quartet's world premiere commercial recording of Ina Boyle's String Quartet was one of our Top 10 Classical Recordings of the Year in 2023, and now they present first recordings of two shorter works by the Irish composer: Lament for Bion and Still Falls the Rain. Michael Tippett's tiny In Memorium Magistri from 1972 also gets its first outing here, closing a programme which includes Vaughan Williams's Phantasy Quintet, Herbert Howells's Fantasy String Quartet, Malcolm Arnold's Vita Abundans, and Augusta Holmès's Noël d'Irlande (arr. Michael Small).
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin; Concerto For Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Gustavo Gimeno
This is the Spanish conductor's third recording with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, following acclaimed accounts of Stravinsky's Pulcinella & Le Baiser de la Fée and Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphony (when Gramophone noted that 'quick and even precipitate tempos don’t exclude ardency of expression in Gustavo Gimeno’s direction'). This live recording was made at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall in November 2024, during a season which featured seven concertos for orchestra - programmed by Gimeno to 'shine a more pronounced spotlight on our musicians' collective talents'.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Unsuk Chin
Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Bleuse
Founded by Pierre Boulez in 1976, Ensemble Intercontemporain presents a tripych of works by South Korean composer Unsuk Chin (b.1961): the programme opens with Gougalon (written in 2009/12 and inspired by the travelling amateur theatres of Chin's homeland), and also includes the Double Concerto for Piano, Percussion and Ensemble (2002) and Graffiti for chamber orchestra (2012/13). Chin studied composition with György Ligeti, who was the subject of the ensemble's previous portrait-album in 2024.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Jenner, Schumann, Schumann & Weber: Works for Clarinet and Piano
Jean Johnson (clarinet), Steven Osborne (piano)
A pair of works by another married couple sit at the heart of this recital from the husband-and-wife duo: Robert Schumann's Three Romances Op. 94 and Clara Schumann's Three Romances Op. 22 (originally composed for the great violinist Joseph Joachim, who was a close friend of the couple). The programme opens with the Clarinet Sonata by Brahms's pupil Gustav Jenner (1865-1920), and closes with Weber's Grand Duo Concertant.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Amidst the Shades
Ruby Hughes (soprano), Jonas Nordberg (lute), Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann (viola da gamba)
This haunting recital of lute songs includes music by John Dowland, Robert Johnson, John Danyel, Tobias Hume and Henry Purcell, as well as specially-commissioned Shakespeare settings by Errollyn Wallen and Deborah Pritchard, and a new arrangement of Cheryl Frances-Hoad's 'They bore him bare-faced on the bier' by Nordberg. In a five-star review last week, The Guardian observed that 'Hughes’s voice retains a natural quality, for all its refinement, which has been skilfully captured'.
Available format: SACD
Smetana: Dvĕ vdovy ('The Two Widows')
Adriana Kučerová (Karolina), Kateřina Kněžíková (Anežka), Adam Plachetka (Mumlal), Pavol Breslik (Ladislaw), Jana Sibera (Lidunka), Petr Nekoranec (Toník) Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague National Theatre Chorus, Robert Jindra
Premiered in Prague in 1874, Smetana's two-act comic opera tells the story of two recently-widowed cousins, one of whom redirects the amorous attentions of a wealthy landowner to her more introverted relative. On this studio recording from 2024, the latter role is taken by Czech soprano Kateřina Kněžíková, a great ambassador for Smetana's lesser-known operas, who described it as 'an amazing piece' when she spoke to Presto shortly after the sessions.
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Donnacha Dennehy & Enda Walsh: The First Child
Sarah Shine (Karen), Emmett O'Hanlon (Simon), Niamh O'Sullivan (Alva), Dean Power (Gary), Eric Jurenas (Nurse), Joan Sheehy (Older Woman); Irish National Opera, Crash Ensemble, Irish National Opera Children's Choir, Ryan McAdams
Dennehy's Land of Winter won Best Contemporary Classical Composition at this year's GRAMMY Awards, and now Signum presents the first recording of the Irish composer's third opera with playwright Enda Walsh. Premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2021, The First Child centres on a single woman's series of apparently chance encounters with a young couple and their new baby, and was described as 'equal parts baffling and brilliant' by The Irish Times.
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
