Presto Team Choices | Updated Monthly
Curated by David Smith
Tracks from the recordings featured in the most recent Team Choices from the Presto Classical team. 2 hours 28 minutes
Handel's Italians
Carlo Vistoli (countertenor), Giulia Semenzato (soprano), Le Concert d'Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm
'This gorgeous album is a fascinating reminder of how much inspiration Handel drew from the star castrati of the day, particularly Senesino, Guadagni and Carestini - the programme includes excerpts from roles which they created as well as arias which Handel reworked (and in some cases even translated) to showcase their talents in revivals. With idiomatic, unmannered English diction, bags of temperament and a rich palette of vocal colours at his disposal, Vistoli is a constant pleasure - 'The Raptur'd Soul' from Theodora in particular is heart-stopping stuff.' (Katherine Cooper)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Smetana: Libuše
Kateřina Kněžíková (Libuše), Adam Plachetka (Přemysl), Alžběta Poláčková (Krasava), Martin Bárta (Chrudoš), Jan Šťáva (Lutobor), Richard Samek (Šťáhlav), Jiří Brückler (Radovan), Václava Krejčí Housková (Radmila), Czech Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša
'First performed at the opening of the Prague National Theatre in 1881, Smetana’s “festival opera” concerns an inheritance dispute between two brothers, and ends with a prophecy from the eponymous princess regarding the future prosperity of the Czech nation. Featuring strong stylistic kinship to the composer’s series of tone poems, Má vlast, as well as more than a slight influence from Wagner’s Lohengrin, it’s a wonderful work that is rarely recorded. Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša leads a magnificent cast headed by Kateřina Kněžíková in a recording taken from performances at the 2024 Prague Spring International Music Festival, bringing out all of the colour and excitement of Smetana’s music.' (James Longstaffe)
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Ceremony
Emmanuel Pahud (flute), Dresdner Philharmonie, Jonathan Stockhammer
'I’m familiar-ish with Prokofiev’s Flute Sonata, but I wouldn’t say I really know it. Happily, this allows me to enjoy Stephan Koncz’s vivid orchestrated version as a largely ‘fresh’ work. The orchestra interacts seamlessly with the soloist, reinforcing the sonata’s rapidly-shifting moods.
Christopher Rouse’s 1993 concerto, written in memory of the murdered British toddler Jamie Bulger, has a meditative feel to it, opening and closing with a simple, lyrical ‘Amhrán‘ (in Gaelic simply ‘song’). The middle movements are much more active, particularly the punchy alla marcia.
Toshio Hosokawa’s Ceremony - dedicated to Pahud - sees the soloist playing the role of an animist shaman, using the flute to invoke the powers of nature and the weather.
For an instrument often seen as merely light and delicate, this is a fascinating and bold triptych that truly breaks the mould.' (David Smith)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
To Awaken the Sleeper - Works of Joel Thompson
Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Kansas City Symphony, Exigence Vocal Ensemble, Michael Stern, Dr. Eugene Rogers6
"The music of Joel Thompson makes a powerful statement in this time of increasing division, expressing mourning, rage, despair and hope. It is musically and emotionally challenging and engaging, from the hard-hitting short movements of Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, through to The Caged Bird Sings for Freedom, and addresses the subjects of brutality, loss and those who have led the cries for a better world with a diverse stylistic palette. Joyce DiDonato’s singing in The Places We Leave is spine-tingling, and Yo-Yo Ma’s cello in Breathe/Burn: An Elegy is entrancing. The Kansas City Symphony and Exigence vocal ensemble are superb, and the recorded sound is as good as you’d expect from Reference Recordings." (Matthew Ash)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Contes
Sandrine Piau (soprano), David Kadouch (piano), Ophelie Gaillard (cello)
'There are a couple of bona fide fairy-tales on the menu here (Wolf's macabre 'Die Geister am Mummelsee' gets a suitably spinechilling performance), but at its heart this is a programme about memory and nostalgia for childhood and youth, from Jeanne Bernard's broadly idyllic Trois chansons de Bilitis to Wally Karveno's sassy, bittersweet 'La robe de la lune' (in which an ageing beauty recalls her glory days). But it's the final track which hits hardest: both artists are the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, and they close with the haunting 'Wiegala' which Ilse Weber composed and sang for her son shortly before their fatal deportation to Auschwitz'. (Katherine Cooper)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Janáček: The Excursions of Mr Brouček
Peter Hoare (Mr Brouček), Lucy Crowe, Aleš Briscein, Gyula Orendt, Lukas Zeman, Doubravka Novotná, Linard Vrielink, Stephan Rügamer, Arttu Kataja, London Symphony Orchestra, Tenebrae, Sir Simon Rattle
'This seems to be the month for new recordings of underperformed Czech operas, as Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra continue their Janáček cycle with this quirky tale of an eccentric gentleman who, whilst under the influence of rather a lot of alcohol, imagines himself undertaking fantastical journeys first to the Moon and then back in time to fifteenth-century Prague during the Hussite rebellion. Peter Hoare is full of character and good humour in the title role, alongside an impressive choral contribution from Tenebrae, particularly in their bagpipe-accompanied Hussite battle hymn.' (James Longstaffe)
Available formats: 2 SACDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
'As September rolls into October we’re roughly at the midpoint of this album’s narrative trajectory. The first instalment was more than two decades ago - the hiatus is due to the untimely death of one of the original consort members.
Christopher Simpson, one of the kings of the English viol tradition, wrote a set of twelve works based on the months of the year, and also a quadralogy themed around the seasons; we hear the second half of both sets here. Vivaldi’s later take on the subject is of course beloved for good reason, but dare I say it a little… ubiquitous? Try this earlier, far more intimate spin on the idea to accompany you through the tail-end of 2026.' (David Smith)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Karol Szreter: Parlophon & Odeon Recordings 1926 - 1931
Karol Szreter (piano)
"APR’s latest release celebrates the Polish pianist Karol Szreter, a pupil of Egon Petri with whom his playing shares a similar balance of technical command and musicianship. The three Beethoven sonatas recorded in 1930 and 1931 are striking, with a combination of structural tautness and beautifully judged contrasts. Szreter’s tempi and voicing favour clarity, yet the playing is unfailingly spellbinding, and this is a quality across much of the repertoire here, including the Beethoven fourth concerto and a recording of Schumann’s Carnaval that demonstrates an engaging grasp of character. The challenges of restoring these variable recordings have been well met by Roger Beardsley, and the booklet is very informative." (Matthew Ash)
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
