New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 5th April 2024
Nielsen: Flute Concerto & Symphony No. 3
Adam Walker (flute), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
Following their recording of Symphony No. 4 and the Violin Concerto with James Ehnes (which received four stars in the Sunday Times and BBC Music Magazine), Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic continue their Nielsen series with the 'Sinfonia espansiva' (with Lina Johnson and Yngve Søberg as the wordless soprano and baritone soloists in the Andante) and the Flute Concerto which was written for Holger Gilbert-Jespersen in 1926. The curtain-raiser is the short symphonic poem Pan og Syrinx from 1918, which also includes a prominent flute solo.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC
John Adams: City Noir, Fearful Symmetries & Lola Montez Does the Spider Dance
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop
The main event on this triptych of orchestral works by John Adams is City Noir, which draws on historian Kevin Starr's portrait of mid-twentieth-century Los Angeles and is described by the composer as ‘an imaginary film score'. Fearful Symmetries was composed shortly after the premiere of Nixon in China and shares much of the opera's sound-world, whilst Lola Montez Does the Spider Dance (dedicated to Alsop) was inspired by the extraordinary life-story of the Irish-born dancer, courtesan and sometime lover of Liszt, Dumas and Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Australian pianist's programme comprises Glazunov's Theme and Variations Op. 72 (originally titled 'Variations on a Finnish folk song' but modified after friction between Finland and Russia), the Six Pieces on a Single Theme which Tchaikovsky dedicated to his teacher Rubinstein in 1873, Rachmaninoff's Variations on a theme of Chopin Op. 22, and John Field's much smaller-scale Variations on a Russian Folk Song from 1818.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This first instalment of the Chinese pianist's projected survey of Mozart's sonatas was recorded at the Great Hall of the Salzburg Mozarteum last November, and comprises Sonatas K.310, K.331 (the 'Alla Turca') & K.457 plus the Fantasia K.475. The youngest-ever winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition, Yundi became captivated by Mozart at the age of seven; his interpretations of the composer's music have been described as 'refined and aristocratic' (Rondo) and 'direct [and] sharply etched' (Classics Today).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Taking its title from a contemporary critic's description of Ethel Smyth, this collection of music by female composers includes Smyth's Voices Sing of Immortality, Mel Bonis's La toute petite s'endort, Sally Beamish's In the Stillness, Agathe Backer-Grøndahl's Trois Morceaux, Ruth Crawford Seeger's Rissolty Rossolty, and Florence Price's Adoration. All works are arranged for brass ensemble by Jarle Storløkken, with the exception of Maria Theresia von Paradis's Sicilienne (arr. Roger Harvey) and Joy Webb's Share My Yoke (arr. Sebastian Haukås).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
George Lloyd: The Symphonies Nos. 7-12
BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic (Brass Section), Albany Symphony Orchestra, George Lloyd
Following the release of Symphonies Nos. 1-6 at the beginning of March, Lyrita completes the cycle today with these recordings of Lloyd's remaining six symphonies (written between 1957 and 1989, and recorded in Manchester in the 1990s with the composer conducting). The set also includes the Orchestral Suite No. 1 from Lloyd's second opera The Serf, which was premiered at Covent Garden in 1938. Reviewing the previous volume last month, MusicWeb International praised the 'rich colour, intrepid rhythms, firm and cogent structures' of Lloyd's musical language.
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Born into a family of German heritage in 1884, Frederick Kessler was described as a 'composer [who] will go down in posterity' in 1910, when The Cremona reviewed a selection of his early works for violin and piano; immediately after World War One, he adopted the surname 'Laurence' in order to avoid anti-German sentiment, and had his music performed in five consecutive Proms seasons. This album includes his Spring Nocturne (1929) and the undated Violin Sonata, plus a selection of solo piano pieces: Contemplation, Ecstasy, Erotic, the Four Interludes Op. 11, Phases and Tristis.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
After flying the flag for neglected British composers including Roger Sacheverell Coke (the subject of his doctoral dissertation), John Addison and Humphrey Searle, Callaghan turns his attention to Cyril Scott (1879-1970): the Piano Sonata No. 1 dates from 1909, and is given here in the revised version which the composer prepared in the 1930s. It's followed by the two short character-pieces At Dawn and Pierrot triste, both dating from 1904.
Please note that this album has a short playing-time of 39 minutes.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Strauss: Die schweigsame Frau (scenes)
Hans Hotter (Sir Morosus), Hermann Prey (Barbier), Fritz Wunderlich (Henry Morosus), Ingeborg Hallstein (Aminta), Eva Maria Rogner (Isotta), Marianne Radey (Carlotta), Karl Christian Kohn (Vanuzzi), Josef Knapp (Morbio), Carl Hoppe (Farfallo); Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Heinz Wallberg
To mark the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BRSO's own label releases this studio recording of excerpts from Strauss's 1935 comic opera, which was produced for a television programme in November 1960. (The majority of the cast had performed the work at the Salzburg Festival the previous year, and though a live recording of the production is available it is compromised by a significant amount of stage-noise).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Born in Antwerp in 1547, the Franco-Flemish composer George de La Hèle spent much of his career at the court of Philip II in Madrid. His Missa Praeter Rerum Seriem (which is based on a motet by Josquin and receives its first complete recording on this album) is followed here by a selection of motets by other Flemish composers who were employed by the Spanish monarch, including Pierre de Manchicourt's Emendemus in melius, Nicolas Payen's Virgo prudentissima, and Philippe Rogier's Cantantibus organis.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
William Steinberg & Boston Symphony Orchestra: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
Boston Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg
Newly transferred and remastered, this collection of highlights from Steinberg's brief tenure in Boston includes Schubert's Symphony No. 9, Bruckner's Symphony No. 6, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 & Carnival Overture, and Strauss's Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche. Recordings of Mendelssohn’s own orchestration of the Scherzo from his Octet and Stravinsky’s Scherzo fantastique & Scherzo à la russe are released here for the first time.
Available Format: 4 CDs
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
