New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-up - 3rd February 2017
Riccardo Chailly marks his arrival at La Scala with an album of overtures, preludes and intermezzi from three centuries of Italian opera. There are new chamber releases of Telemann, Corelli and Bach from Höör Barock ,plus Taneyev and Rimsky-Korsakov from the Leonore Piano Trio. New recordings of music by contemporary composers include Philip Glass from pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, and Ligeti concertos from specialist ensemble BIT20.
Riccardo Chailly starts a new chapter in January 2017 as Music Director of Teatro alla Scala, Milan, the world’s most iconic opera house. Milanese by birth, Chailly made his conducting debut at La Scala in 1978, as assistant to Claudio Abbado. This disc celebrates three centuries of music first performed at the legendary opera house: overtures, preludes and intermezzi from Verdi, Rossini, Puccini and many others.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Often overlooked in his lifetime and in the years after his death, Poulenc's sacred music was an expression of his more serious side and, following the death of his close friend, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, a re-awakening of his religious faith. The Sixteen’s new recording centres round the themes of conflict and atonement, reflecting both Poulenc’s intense internal struggles and the turbulence of life in France during the mid-20th century.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Ligeti: Concertos
Christian Poltéra (cello), Joonas Ahonen (piano), BIT20 Ensemble, Baldur Brönnimann
In the Cello Concerto and the Chamber Concerto, Ligeti in different ways explores the idea of the concerto as something collective, rather than polarised between the one and the many. The disc closes with the Piano Concerto from 1988. Performing these complex scores is the Norwegian specialist ensemble BIT 20 under the Swiss conductor Baldur Brönnimann.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This is a tribute to the master of minimal music, Philip Glass, who turned 80 on 31st January. A year ago Philip Glass handpicked some pianists to perform all of his Etudes together at the Barbican in London. Víkingur Ólafsson was one of them and according to the press he was the highlight of the evening, an up-and-coming visionary pianist of technical sublimity.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Telemann, Corelli & Bach: Chamber Music
Emelie Roos (recorder), Anna Paradiso (harpsichord), Dan Laurin (recorder), Höör Barock, Dan Laurin
The young period band Höör Barock, based in the south of Sweden, has chosen a colourful programme for its début disc. With recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin at the helm, the twelve musicians steer a course through Telemann’s celebrated Wassermusik before moving onto music by Arcangelo Corelli and Johann Sebastian Bach.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rimsky-Korsakov described Taneyev’s best music as possessing ‘a wealth of beauty and expressiveness’, a verdict with which no one is likely to disagree after hearing the piano trio recorded here. Rimsky was (unjustly) disparaging towards his own, unfinished, trio, which emerges as a brooding, substantial work well worthy of revival.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
