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This new release presents the oratorio planned to open the trilogy, the lesser known and hitherto rather under-served work The Apostles , in a performance which the Guardian described as being ‘revelatory’. This retelling of Christ's Passion from the viewpoint of His followers features extensive and effective use of and choral writing which is arguably an advance on that of Gerontius with the work’s closing section – depicting Christ’s Ascension to heaven – thought to be one of the most poignant ever written. Latest release in Elder and Halle’s renowned Elgar series. Recorded live at sell out Bridgewater Hall concert. The performance benefits from extensive research by Mark Elder, including study of a proof copy of the vocal score which he matched with what Elgar himself conducted in 1921, reinstating the semichorus of nine male voices, sung here by an ensemble Elder specially selected from the Royal Northern College of Music. The recording is probably the first since Elgar conducted The Apostles in Hereford on 7 September 1921, at the Three Choirs Festival, to incorporate Elgar’s intentions at several points in the oratorio Elgar included a part for a shofar, an ancient Hebrew instrument made of ram’s horn. In most performances this is imitated by modern instruments, but for this recording Sir Mark Elder features a genuine shofar player. The Apostles features mystic choruses and vivid orchestration, perfectly suited to Hallé forces. “It's hard to believe that this detailed account was sourced from a concert – there is very little extraneous noise, while the placing of the soloists, the three choruses and the off-stage shofar seems perfectly natural...Elder's performance has shown that, though the narrative thread is sometimes quite weak, the best of the score is top-quality Elgar.” The Guardian, 29th August 2012 **** “The musical idiom is home territory for Mark Elder and the Hallé...The choruses sound magnificent, but Elder has a tendency to stretch the slow music and over-egg the climaxes, bringing out the bombastic side of Elgar.” Financial Times, 15th September 2012 *** “It has all the tension and excitement of live performance, rising to incandescence in the closing pages, and Mark Elder has perfect control of the large forces and dramatic pacing. Brindley Sherratt is an affecting, dark-voiced haunted Judas, Jacques Imbrailo an authoritative Jesus...I'm inclined to rate this new Halle version the most nearly definitely Apostles yet.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ***** “All six of the soloists...are outstanding...The Halle Choir is splendid throughout, firm and incisive in attack, and splendidly recorded...The Halle Orchestra players seem to be Elgarians to a man or woman...It is typical of the thoroughness with which this Halle version has been prepared that it should...trump the hand of its few but still worthy predecessors, and qualify as the new Apostles of choice.” International Record Review, October 2012 “Elder’s Hallé choirs sing splendidly. They’re most attentive to Elgar’s many instructions regarding dynamics, the words are clear and the choral tone is always well focused...At the end of the day the triumph is Mark Elder’s...Elder is convincing throughout and in every respect. Both Boult and Hickox offer insightful interpretations but neither trump Elder...this superb Apostles is a mandatory purchase for all Elgar enthusiasts” MusicWeb International, August 2012 “not only does Elder obtain playing and singing of the utmost accomplishment and sensitivity, his hugely penetrating interpretation evinces an idiomatic pliancy, sure dramatic instinct and iron grip...Coote makes a memorably involving Mary Magdalene while Brindley Sherratt shines in a deeply sympathetic portrayal of Judas...A set absolutely not to be missed.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012  BBC Music Magazine
Choral & Song Choice - November 2012 |
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| |  | Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 9 Nos. 1-3
For their second release on BIS the Trio Zimmermann play Beethoven’s String Trios Op.9 – a set of three that the composer himself upon their completion described as the finest of his works. With their concentrated sonority, intense drama and striking formal disposition, the Op.9 trios mark the highlight as well as the end of Beethoven’s production for string trio before he went on to compose quartets instead. With each of its members enjoying distinguished solo careers, Trio Zimmermann is truly a world-class ensemble. Frank Peter Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit and Christian Poltéra first joined forces in 2007, and have since performed together in the most important musical centres of Europe, including the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals. The trio’s first recording, of Mozart’s Divertimento K563 (BISSACD1817), was released in 2010 and has met with worldwide critical acclaim. “The playing itself is dazzling, combining expressive warmth and admirable clarity: I don't think I've ever heard the presto finale of the first Trio dashed off with quite such transparency and lightness of touch...All in all, this recording is a real treat.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 ***** “played with fire and subtlety by the outstanding Trio Zimmermann” Sunday Times, 15th January 2012 “These musicians are in command of the meticulously written extremes in expression, sforzandos not indiscriminately stabbed at but gauged according to the contexts in which they appear. Tempi are gauged to a nicety too...In sum, they do Beethoven proud throughout this exceptionally fine disc, enhanced by BIS's clean SACD sound.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012 “From the expressive phrasing of the slow introduction of Op. 9 No. 1 it's clear that the playing not only has unusual commitment but real imagination too. What's more, the richness of the sound generated by these three players is ideal: never too full but always warm and wonderfully balanced. Speeds, too, are beautifully judged...for anyone looking for these works now, I'd say that this new BIS disc...sits at the top of a distinguished list.” International Record Review, February 2012 “Displaying impeccable teamwork the players give these splendid Beethoven scores with a spring in the step and a sparkle in the eye yet they also draw deep to achieve a remarkable gravitas to set alongside an abundance of spirit in these assured and tasteful performances. This marvellous BIS disc was a delight from start to finish” MusicWeb International, March 2012 BBC Music Magazine Disc of the month - February 2012 |
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| |  | A ritualisation by Peter Sellars
Recorded live at the Philharmonie Berlin on 11th April 2010 It is no surprise that Sir Simon would one day tackle this most comprehensive of Bach’s compositions in view of his much applauded interpretation of the St. John Passion in 2006. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote at the time: “A performance of this musical calibre renders superfluous all questions about authenticity and historical performance practice. At the Philharmonie Sir Simon Rattle and his orchestra performed the St. John Passion [...] with highly concentrated and flawless beauty devoid of any distorting indulgence.” German daily Die Welt hailed this performance of the St. Matthew Passion as “Simon Rattle’s Easter miracle,” and The Guardian in the UK wrote: “I challenge you not to be an emotional wreck by the end of it: the singers, especially Mark Padmore as the Evangelist, give the performance of their lives; Sellars sensitively connects the Passion story with the performances and the audience, without distorting Bach’s drama; and Rattle and his players are collectively raised to spooky, spiritual levels of inspiration.” Both the double-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions contain booklets with introductory texts, biographies and photos. Bonus footage includes a conversation between Peter Sellars and Simon Halsey, conductor of the Rundfunkchor Berlin. Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese Running time: 195 mins (concert); 51 mins (bonus feature) Picture format: NTSC Audio formats: PCM Stereo Dolby Digital 5.1 DTS 5.1 Please Note: JAPAN - Due to contractual reasons I'm afraid we are not allowed to sell this product to customers in Japan. “The long rehearsal period, the expertise of everyone involved and the authority of the solo singers: all this quickly becomes evident...All the soloists embody their roles to an engrossing degree of identification...this is a defiantly modern performance, one that exults in disturbance and the irony that arises from a deeply intimate staging within the round of the Berlin Philharmonie: appropriate in terms of architectural politics but jarringly opulent and public.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “Some of Sellars's gestures...are searing, and the rapt attention of the audience leaps out of the screen...Padmore is a great Evangelist and this must be his greatest performance of the role...while the symbiosis entwining vocal and instrumental soloists leavens Simon Rattle's compelling musical direction. Ultimately, a St Matthew Passion even greater than the sum of its parts - and they were already pretty awesome to being with!” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***** “It sounded like a risky undertaking...but the resulting “ritualization” of Bach’s oratorio, captured on DVD, is most riveting and moving. Mr. Sellars has the choirs and orchestras facing each other in the round, turning the Passion into a soul-searching dialogue between individual and society, man and God. Instrumentalists and singers, too, enter into communion with one another” New York Times, 23rd November 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | A ritualisation by Peter Sellars
Recorded live at the Philharmonie Berlin on 11th April 2010 It is no surprise that Sir Simon would one day tackle this most comprehensive of Bach’s compositions in view of his much applauded interpretation of the St. John Passion in 2006. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote at the time: “A performance of this musical calibre renders superfluous all questions about authenticity and historical performance practice. At the Philharmonie Sir Simon Rattle and his orchestra performed the St. John Passion [...] with highly concentrated and flawless beauty devoid of any distorting indulgence.” German daily Die Welt hailed this performance of the St. Matthew Passion as “Simon Rattle’s Easter miracle,” and The Guardian in the UK wrote: “I challenge you not to be an emotional wreck by the end of it: the singers, especially Mark Padmore as the Evangelist, give the performance of their lives; Sellars sensitively connects the Passion story with the performances and the audience, without distorting Bach’s drama; and Rattle and his players are collectively raised to spooky, spiritual levels of inspiration.” Both the double-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions contain booklets with introductory texts, biographies and photos. Bonus footage includes a conversation between Peter Sellars and Simon Halsey, conductor of the Rundfunkchor Berlin. Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese Running time: 195 mins (concert); 51 mins (bonus feature) Picture format: 1080i Full HD 16.9 Audio formats: PCM Stereo DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Please Note: JAPAN - Due to contractual reasons I'm afraid we are not allowed to sell this product to customers in Japan. “Some of Sellars's gestures...are searing, and the rapt attention of the audience leaps out of the screen...Padmore is a great Evangelist and this must be his greatest performance of the role...while the symbiosis entwining vocal and instrumental soloists leavens Simon Rattle's compelling musical direction. Ultimately, a St Matthew Passion even greater than the sum of its parts - and they were already pretty awesome to being with!” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***** “The long rehearsal period, the expertise of everyone involved and the authority of the solo singers: all this quickly becomes evident...All the soloists embody their roles to an engrossing degree of identification...this is a defiantly modern performance, one that exults in disturbance and the irony that arises from a deeply intimate staging within the round of the Berlin Philharmonie: appropriate in terms of architectural politics but jarringly opulent and public.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Chopin Recital 2
Chopin: | Polonaise No. 2 in E flat minor, Op. 26 No. 2 Waltz No. 14 in E minor, Op. post., KKIVa:15, B 56 Waltz No. 3 in A minor 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 34 No. 2 Waltz No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 64 No. 3 Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 Prelude Op. 28 No. 10 in C sharp minor Prelude Op. 28 No. 11 in B major Prelude Op. 28 No. 13 in F sharp major Fantasia in F minor, Op. 49 Nocturne No. 16 in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2 Mazurka No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 7 No. 1 Mazurka No. 50 in A minor 'Notre Temps' Mazurka No. 32 in C sharp minor, Op. 50 No. 3 Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31 |
Janina Fialkowski’s first Chopin recital received marvellous reviews and ATMA is delighted to release a second collection. “This is some of Chopin’s greatest music and the playing is sheer bliss.” Sunday Times. “Her technical brilliance is matched by the vivid originality of her interpretations.” Independent – Album of the Week. “This is a rich and illuminating find. From the outset you sense Janina Fialkowska's innate, developmental grasp of drama - of the connection between phrases and their dynamic character. Then there's the sheer life in her playing, reflected in the perfectly nourished and shrewdly apportioned sound...her pacing and exceptional graps of musical narrative is a masterclass in the art of pianistic rhetoric.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 ***** “you only have to listen to the Scherzo No 2 to realise she remains a supreme Chopin stylist, combining temperament with an unsentimental touch.” Financial Times, 19th May 2012 **** “to an even greater extent than before, her performances blaze and challenge with a potent and highly individual sense of drama...For Fialkowska, Chopin can take on something of the dark-hued austerity of late Liszt...there is never any doubting her strength of purpose. All this is a striking advance on earlier recordings, with their earlier recordings, with their more conventional notion of interpretation, and to crown it all Fialkowska has been superbly recorded.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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This recording of Alceste is performed by the Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn, whose other Handel recordings for Chandos have all received glowing accolades: Semele, for instance, was an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and one of the Records of 2007 in The Sunday Times. The recording of Flavio was nominated for a Gramophone Award in 2011, in the Baroque Vocal category. In Alceste, Admetus, the terminally ill King of Thessaly, is promised by Apollo that he can defer his premature death if another person volunteers to die in his place. Alcestis, the beloved wife of Admetus, bravely sacrifices herself to die in his place. The hero Hercules visits his grieving friend Admetus, resolves to travel to Hades, overpowers Pluto, returns Alcestis to the world of the living, and restores her to Admetus. The production of Alceste was initially envisaged as an expensive collaboration between the Scottish-born novelist and playwright Tobias Smollett, the Covent Garden company of actors and singers, the theatre owner and manager John Rich, the prestigious composer Handel, and the elaborate scenery designer Giovanni Servandoni. However, soon after full rehearsals began, Alceste was aborted permanently for reasons that are unclear. One theory to explain the cancellation is that the lavishness of the production became too expensive for Rich to risk box-office failure – another is that the temperamental Smollett quarrelled violently with the theatre owner, who might have responded by cancelling the production. Whatever the reason behind the cancellation, Smollett’s abandoned script for the play was lost, and only Handel’s incidental music survives today. Although Handel never performed his music for Alceste, he characteristically found plenty of practical uses for it. He adapted several sinfonias, choruses, and arias to form the majority of the music for The Choice of Hercules, and several other numbers were later used in revivals of Belshazzar and Alexander Balus. “The score is of superlative quality and shows that Handel understood perfectly that for this quintessentially English theatrical impact the music had to make its impact immediately...Curnyn understands this too, and this performance has wonderful breadth...Crowe brings a gorgeous sensuality to ['Gentle Morpheus']...Hulett paces and phrases his short final aria 'Tune your harps' beautifully...Foster-Williams is impressively implacable in his single aria” International Record Review, May 2012 “agreeable sequence of music with one show stopper, Calliope’s Gentle Morpheus, which is the highlight here, as sung by Lucy Crowe, warmer and more sensual than the classic account by Emma Kirkby...[with] Curnyn’s choral and orchestral forces on sparkling form, the disc offers more than an hour of Handelian delight.” Sunday Times, 13th May 2012 “Curnyn's lively and sensitive approach makes a strong case for this little-known score.” Graham Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 28th May 2012 “Curnyn's delicious recording of the surviving score is amplified with a sinfonia from Admeto and a passacaglia from Radamisto. These fizzily, sexily swung orchestral additions emphasise the parallels between Handel's incidental music and Purcell's music for King Arthur, The Fairy Queen and The Tempest...Alcestis's journey to the Underworld is enchanting, with Curnyn's fleet strings, intimately proportioned chorus, and polished soloists” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 ***** “Curnyn and his trim period band give full value to the music's sensuous charm, phrasing alluringly in the slower numbers and keeping the rhythms lithe and springy...Andrew Foster-Williams is incisive without bluster in Charon's balefully cheerful 'Ye fleeting shades'. Benjamin Hulett is both mellifluous and athletic in his three arias, while Lucy Crowe displays her nimble coloratura technique in the frolicking 'Come fancy' and brings a limpid purity of line to 'Gentle Morpheus'” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012 “There's a real sense of ceremonial majesty in the choruses, and the solo singing is exceptionally fine. Benjamin Hulett tackles his exacting coloratura numbers with great elegance, while Andrew Foster-Williams has fun as Charon...Best of all, though, is Lucy Crowe, who gets to sing Gentle Morpheus, Son of Night, one of the most beautiful things in Handel's entire output” The Guardian, 12th July 2012 **** “[Hulett] impresses with his easy mellifluous voice, lovely sense of line and nice crisp ornamentation... if you haven't yet made the acquaintance of Handel's personable score, then this is the time to do so and this is the recording to go for.” MusicWeb International, July 2012 BBC Music Magazine Opera Choice - July 2012 |
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| |  | Four-movement version
Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 including the world premiere of the latest scholarly revision of the fourth movement that the composer left unfinished at his death. Sir Simon and the Orchestra unveiled the new version at Berlin’s Philharmonie in early February 2012 and at New York’s Carnegie Hall the same month. “It was fascinating to hear this monumental symphony performed with [its new] final movement. After a quizzical opening and a strong statement of the main theme there are stretches of fitful counterpoint, brass chorales and ruminative passages that take you by surprise. Overall the music pulses with a hard-wrought insistence that crests with a hallelujah coda.” (The New York Times) On 11 October 1896, the day he died, Bruckner was still desperately trying to finish the final movement of his ninth symphony. He had completed and orchestrated one third of the movement and sketched the layout for the entire finale. Unfortunately, for scholars attempting to construct the remaining two thirds of the movement, many of the manuscript pages were subsequently stolen by autograph hunters. Some of these pages have resurfaced in recent years and several attempts have been made to complete the last movement, including four prior versions by the current musicological team of Nicola Samale, Giuseppe Mazzuca, John Phillips and Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs. “From a fresh re-examination of the manuscripts it was possible to find some convincing new solutions, binding the music even better together.” (Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs). With the benefit of 25 years of scholarship, this latest version is arguably the most comprehensive realisation of Bruckner’s sketches. John Phillips adds, “The Finale is no musical curiosity, but an integral part of the work as its composer intended. Just as Beethoven designed his last symphony around its choral finale, Bruckner designed his Ninth around this huge, ultimately triumphant movement, synthesizing sonata form, fugue, and chorale. For the devoutly Catholic Bruckner, the symphony was to be his “homage to Divine majesty” […] The Adagio, his “Farewell to Life,” traces a gradual process of dissolution that leads us, spellbound, into the enigmatic music of the Finale [which] would end with a “song of praise to the dear Lord,” a “Hallelujah” borrowed from earlier in the work. And it is with this “Hallelujah” theme—the first entry of the trumpets in the Adagio—that the Ninth can so justly and so gloriously now conclude.” In an interview for the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall, Sir Simon expressed his faith in the newly assembled four-movement version and begged audiences to be receptive to the new material. “There's a kind of myth that there are only sketches left of the last movement. In fact, there was really an emerging full score, complete almost to the end,” Rattle said, adding that Bruckner was writing in his most radical, forward-looking style in the Ninth, especially in the finale. According to Gramophone, ‘to help listeners understand just how ‘complete’ the finale actually was at the time of Bruckner's death, Rattle compared the composer to an architect designing a cathedral. Indeed, Bruckner had the rather unique composition method of deciding how long his movements should be and then putting all the bars on the manuscript, numbered and with phrase lengths, even before writing the first note. “So actually, even when there are some empty pages, we know exactly how many bars there were and what kind of phrases there were,” concluded Rattle, explaining how much of the manuscript evidence was strewn throughout various collections. He also said that had the composer lived another two months, the finale would have been complete.’ For music lovers who discount the validity of any fourth movement to the Symphony No. 9, there is much to enjoy in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s performance of the first three movements: “Mr. Rattle and the Berlin players deftly balanced elements of Schubertian structure and Wagnerian turmoil in the mysterious first movement. The brutal power of the scherzo’s main theme was chilling, with the orchestra pummelling the dense, thick, dissonance-tinged chords. And Mr. Rattle laid out the threads of chromatic counterpoint in an organic, glowing and, when appropriate, gnashing account of the Adagio.” (The New York Times) For those with the intellectual curiosity to hear how accomplished Bruckner scholars have most recently realised the unfinished movement, it is performed here by the world-renowned team of Sir Simon Rattler and the Berliner Philharmoniker. “The lustre of the Berlin Philharmonic’s horns and strings is marvellous to behold; phrasing often is velvet-smooth. Whatever the mood, Rattle’s players deliver with passion...At the same time, Rattle’s love of high drama may be indulged a fraction too much...Rattle conducts with missionary zeal, as if he believes in every note. And so he should.” The Times, 11th May 2012 *** “while there is undeniable logicality in the endless climbing repetitions and the echoes of the vaunting Wagnerian touches from the first movement, the added movement does tend to detract from the particularly fine treatment of the third movement Adagio” The Independent, 11th May 2012 *** “Rattle is less interventionist than one might expect and surer of the work’s structure. Bruckner’s harmonies were never so daring as they were here – the scream of pain in the Adagio really terrifies...But the effect [the finale] has on one’s perception of the earlier movements is harder to come to terms with. This is essential listening, though -the Berlin brass are stunning in the last few minutes” The Arts Desk, 19th May 2012 “Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic played it for the first time in February, and this recording is taken from those performances. Whether you like Rattle's approach or not – and sometimes, in the first movement especially, he pushes the music forward rather than letting it fill its natural space – the result seems authentic.” The Guardian, 24th May 2012 **** “an 82-minute work complete with a final movement of sufficiently convincing Brucknerian symphonic argument, sound and scale. In short, a revelation...Lingering doubts from earlier Brucknerian encounters with Rattle are swept away...Finer advocacy and a more transforming experience from these live performances are difficult to imagine.” International Record Review, June 2012 “the performance as a whole is utterly compelling. Rattle fully engages with the gripping drama of Bruckner's music...The climax is thrillingly majestic – the truly triumphant ending that Bruckner wanted. Rattle proves emphatically that there should be no more excuses for depriving the work of its resounding finale.” Graham Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 10th July 2012 “Rattle's performance is consistently involving. The vast arches and sudden climate changes in the Adagio third movement are particularly well handled...I can't think of many recent releases that are more musically important than this. If you love Bruckner's Ninth, you have a duty to hear it; and if you don't as yet know it and learn it from Rattle's recording, then you're in a very privileged position.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012 “Rattle assuredly paces the music's long paragraphs and musters a sense of the monumental...[His] interpretation...encompasses the full gamut of emotions from tenderness and nostalgia to some amazingly apocalyptic climaxes.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***** “Rattle gives the music the right amount of breadth but he also keeps it moving forward. It helps enormously that he has the peerless Berliner Philharmoniker at his disposal. The majesty of Bruckner’s great climaxes is enhanced by their sumptuous playing” MusicWeb International, June 2012 “[once you've] heard Simon Rattle and the BPO in their glowing recent recording of the completed work, you may never wish to listen to the three-movement version again. Even if you’re not sold on the completion, Rattle’s performance of the first three movements is excellent” MusicWeb International, 16th April 2013 BBC Music Magazine Disc of the month - September 2012 |
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| |  | Liszt: The Complete Songs Volume 2
Liszt: | Der du von dem Himmel bist (Goethe), S279 First version Ihr Glocken von Marling, S.328 Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam, S309 First setting, first version Vergiftet sind meine Lieder, S.289 Third version Freudvoll und leidvoll, S.280 First setting, second version Die drei Zigeuner, S.320 First version Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh (Wandrers Nachtlied II), S.306 Third version Es war einmal ein König, S73 Second version Das Veilchen, S316 No. 1 Die Schlüsselblumen, S316 No. 2 Und sprich 'Sich auf dem Meer' Ihr Auge (Rellstab) Second version Im Rhein, im schönen Strome, S272 Second version Es muss ein Wunderbares sein, S. 314 La perla, S326 Second version Der du von dem Himmel bist (Goethe), S279 Third version |
This second volume of Hyperion’s newest Lieder series features the great dramatic and musical gifts of mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager. Internationally renowned on the opera stage, the concert hall and the recording studio, Kirchschlager is an ideal performer of these most varied, complex and emotionally charged songs. She is accompanied by the multi-Gramophone Award-winning Julius Drake, who curates the series. The songs recorded here encompass thirty years of Liszt’s life, with texts in German, French and Italian, and contain many examples of the hidden beauties of this undervalued and little-known strand of the composer’s works. Detailed and informative notes by Susan Youens and a beautifully intimate recorded sound complete a volume which will be indispensable to any lovers of Lieder. “one of the most important recording projects of recent years...Kirchschlager is exquisite and intensely dramatic by turns, though occasionally she could do with more weight in her lower registers. Drake is outstanding throughout.” The Guardian, 12th July 2012 **** “Kirchschlager's rich, resonant mezzo finds beauties everywhere on this disc, from heights of drama to imtimacies of reflection, and at every turn Drake is with her. I particularly like the way they take their time in the more meditative songs, with expressive silences.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 ***** “Several of the songs on the disc are in effect dramatic scenas. Finding a wide palette of colours within her naturally warm mezzo, Kirchschlager is in her element...this recital should open many ears to the richness and variety of his songs.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2012 “The quality of this CD is stunning from every point of view...[Kirchschlager] has the ability to make the hairs on the nape of my neck rise...Drake makes a sensitive accompanist who is perfectly at home with both the exuberant and complex piano parts as well as the more thoughtful.” MusicWeb International, August 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Mei Yi Foo: Musical Toys
Award-winning Malaysian pianist Mei Yi Foo gives the world premiere recording of Unsuk Chin’s extremely virtuosic Piano Études, which take up and develop on the legacy of Ligeti’s. Following the artist’s recommendation, the listener is invited to create their own playlist, and playfully intersperse these among the other “musical toys” on the album, including Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata and Gubaidulina’s Musical Toys. “Musical Toys, above all, delights in the importance of being playful...the work that makes the CD essential is Unsuk Chin’s set of Six Piano Etudes: music that magnificently fuses contemporary complexities with the 19th-century spirit of virtuoso display...Liberating, that’s what this CD is, as well as a joy for ever.” The Times, 19th April 2013 **** | 
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| |  | Saariaho: D’OM LE VRAI SENS
This new release features the much-awaited première recording of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s first clarinet concerto D’OM LE VRAI SENS. Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) is one of the internationally leading composers of today, and the 2011–12 Composer-in-Residence at New York’s Carnegie Hall. In the composer’s words, “the general idea of this piece is based on the famous medieval tapestries called La Dame à la Licorne [displayed at the Musée de Cluny in Paris]. The subject matter is the five senses and the ‘sixth sense.’” Featuring star clarinetist Kari Kriikku, this recording brings together several of Finland’s finest ambassadors of music. Kriikku has inspired many other native composers to write concertos for him, subsequently recorded for Ondine: Magnus Lindberg (ODE 1038-2: 2006 BBC Music Magazine Award & Classic FM Gramophone Award), Uljas Pulkkis, Jukka Tiensuu, Kimmo Hakola, and Jouni Kaipainen. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, here led by its chief conductor Sakari Oramo, performed the acclaimed world première performance in September 2010. Also included are the 20-minute orchestral piece Laterna Magica co-commissioned by Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker and Lucerne Festival, and a cycle of four Leino Songs, written for the acclaimed soprano Anu Komsi. “The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra partner Kriikku admirably in this enchanting concerto and under Oramo's sensitive direction provide beguiling accompaniments for Anu Komsi in the four Leino Songs...[Laterna magica] is a filigree tone-poem with a soul of steel that showcases the Finnish orchestra splendidly. Ondine's demonstration sound caps a marvellous issue.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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This is the third release of the very successful Wagner Edition. The first release, Flying Dutchman (PTC5186400) was an Editor’s Choice in the Gramophone. The second, Die Meistersinger, (PTC5186402) was the BBC Music Magazine Opera Choice of the Month in February. “It is a phenomenal achievement of Marek Janowski to have welded his immense forces into such a virtually flawless unity.” “the set is beautifully engineered, and the presentation immaculate” The Guardian, 29th March 2012 **** “It has spontaneity of something which has sunk so deeply into the performers' minds and souls that they can throw caution to the wind and still be accurate...Elsner is a wonderfully sensitive and expressive Parsifal...But the strongest performance of all is the Amfortas of Evgeny Nikitin...If Janowski's planned cycle...continues like this, it will unquestionably be the finest modern traversal on disc of Wagner's achievement.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 ***** “The strongest contributions come from Evgeny Nikitin’s Amfortas and Eike Wilm Schulte’s Klingsor.” Financial Times, 26th May 2012 *** “The Parsifal strikes me as one of the finest on disc, easily the best of the past decade, with an avuncular, Sachs-like Gurnemanz in Franz-Josef Selig, an exciting Kundry in Michelle DeYoung, Evgeny Nikitin’s noble, anguished Amfortas (better than in 2010’s Gergiev/Mariinsky set) and, best of all, Christian Elsner’s ideally lyrical and heroic Parsifal.” Sunday Times, 15th July 2012 “Familiar tropes from previous concerts in this all-Wagner series resurface. Pacing is generally quite quick. Casting and characterisation are naturalistic, apparently written by Wagner. Gurnemanz (Selig) sounds like an inquisitive old squire rather than a retired Wotan waiting to unearth the secrets of the universe. Parsifal (Elsner) is a rough, innocent outsider instead of the chosen one in embryo.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2012 “Janowski's approach is pointedly symphonic...[Elsner] proves an inspired choice as Parsifal, dark-toned yet lyrical...DeYoung delivers what is by some margin her most compelling performance to date...She pins you to your seat with her description of her alter ego laughing at Christ...All told, this is a Parsifal - in modern sound - to rank with some of the great performances on disc.” International Record Review, September 2012 “the first benefit that strikes the listener is the quality of the recorded sound...
This is matched by a vivid performance from the orchestra, who have played Wagner brilliantly throughout this cycle so far...Selig is outstanding, anchoring the whole set with gravitas and weight. He sings not only with authority but with outstanding beauty...Nikitin is outstanding at evoking sympathy...DeYoung’s Kundry is outstanding because she gets inside both aspects of the role.” MusicWeb International, August 2012 “these performances sound polished and well cast, revealing diaphanous beauty and detail in the orchestration...Parsifal is distinguished by Franz-Josef Selig’s majestic Gurnemanz” Financial Times, 5th January 2013 *** | | | (also available to download from $40.75) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Gramophone Magazine
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2013
Gramophone Awards 2012