New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 16th June 2023
Ichmouratov: Piano Concerto, Viola Concerto No. 1
Jean-Philippe Sylvestre (piano), Elvira Misbakhova (viola), London Symphony Orchestra, Airat Ichmouratov
This is the third instalment of Chandos's survey of orchestral works by the Russian/Canadian composer (b.1973), and both concertos are recorded here by the soloists who premiered them. The Viola Concerto was written when Ichmouratov was studying conducting in Montreal, in response to fellow student Elvira Misbakhova's request for a new work to perform at her doctoral recital; the Piano Concerto dates from 2012/13, but remained unperformed until Sylvestre accepted the considerable challenge almost a decade later.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Featuring a number of world premiere recordings, this collection of sacred and secular choral works by Coleridge-Taylor includes Now late on the Sabbath Day, Sea Drift (setting a poem by T.B. Aldrich rather than the Walt Whitman poem which inspired Delius and Vaughan Williams), Whispers of Summer, a Jubilate and Te Deum, and the Shelley setting Song of Proserpine.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Tõnu Kõrvits: The Sound of Wings
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Risto Joost
This is the final volume of the Estonian choir's trilogy of commissions from their compatriot Tõnu Kõrvits (b. 1969), following Moorland Elegies (a collection of Emily Brontë settings which was praised in Choir & Organ for its 'melancholy expressiveness') and You Are Light and Morning ('Sei la luce e il mattino'). The Sound of Wings sets texts by Doris Kareva, which celebrate the life and work of aviation pioneer and women's rights activist Amelia Earhart - Kõrvits describes it as 'a song about flying, dreams, courage and unconditional love'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Weill: Propheten
Kurt Azesberger (tenor), Albert Dohmen, Thomas Hampson (baritones), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies
Propheten is the final act of Weill's opera-oratorio The Eternal Road, setting text by Franz Werfel and conceived by journalist and activist Meyer Weisgal in order to draw attention to the plights of Jews in Germany following the election of the National Socialist Party; Weill completed the work in Paris, having fled Germany in 1933. This is the first recording of David Drew's stand-alone concert adaptation, commissioned by the BBC Proms in 1998; it's followed by the four Walt Whitman settings from the 1940s, sung by Thomas Hampson.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This pairing of late Romantic piano quintets is an Editor's Choice in the July edition of Gramophone, with reviewer Tim Ashley observing that 'the Armida sound exquisite throughout and the limpidity of Klett’s playing is simply ravishing...Admirers of the Franck will not be disappointed, but ultimately it’s the Martin that makes the disc very special indeed'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
This collection of music from twentieth-century Mexico includes Manuel Ponce's Cuatro Danzas Mexicanas and Por ti mi Corazón, Silvestre Revueltas's Three Pieces for Violin & Piano, Arturo Márquez's Homenaje a Gismonti, José Pablo Moncayo's Viola Sonata, and songs by María Grever, Agustín Lara and Javier Álvarez. MacDougall (who fell in love with this music when he met his Mexican wife) writes: 'I believe these songs are up there with the American Songbook, and should be much better known and more widely heard'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The clarinet trio's debut recording on Accentus traces the history of the tango, and includes a new arrangement of Piazzolla's Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas by clarinettist Žilvinas Brazauskas, Ravel's Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera, Lecuona's La comparsa, the 'Danza del Gaucho Matrero' from Ginastera's Danzas Argentinas, Gardel's El dia que me quieras, and Mendizábal's El entrerriano.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Despax's 'ode to the French Belle Époque' pays tribute to his grandfather, the poet and novelist Jacques Charpentreau, who loved this repertoire and drew inspiration from it in several of his works. The programme includes Poulenc's Les Soirées de Nazelles and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, plus shorter works by Chaminade, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Fauré and Duparc. The booklet includes selected poems by Charpentreau, Baudelaire and Verlaine, chosen to complement each piece.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Refice: Cecilia
Marta Mari, Mickael Spadaccini, Leon Kim, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Giuseppe Grazioli
Depicting the martyrdom of the patron saint of music, Refice's first opera was premiered in Rome in 1934 and blends elements of Gregorian chant with verismo; the title-role was later taken up by Renata Tebaldi and Renata Scotto. This live recording was made in Cagliari at the beginning of last year, during a run of performances which were praised in Il giornale della musica for Giuseppe Grazioli's 'impeccable' musical direction.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Doráti began recording with the Minneapolis Symphony for Mercury in 1952 (three years after taking over as Music Director), and this newly remastered set brings together the 24 mono albums which they made together - a collection of the 27 stereo albums will follow at the end of the month. Repertoire here includes suites from Stravinsky's The Firebird, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, Kodály's Peacock Variations, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin.
Available Format: 31 CDs
This latest instalment in Deutsche Grammophon's Live at Verbier series captures Wang's first, electrifying appearance at the Swiss festival, comprising the Liszt PIano Sonata, Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 2, two Ligeti Études, Ravel's La Valse, and Cziffra's transcription of Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Flight of the Bumblebee'.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
