Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - April 2023
April favourites include an irresistible collection of Roberto Sierra's orchestral music from Domingo Hindoyan and the Liverpool Philharmonic, Baroque fireworks from vocal chameleon Michael Spyres, two powerful and imaginative new choral works by Cecilia McDowall, and a ravishing debut album from young British countertenor Alexander Chance with lutenist Toby Carr.
This exuberantly-played and conducted anthology of music by the Puerto Rican composer (b. 1953) is hands-down the most exciting orchestral recording to cross my path so far this year: the vibrant Fandangos (all castanets and scintillating woodwind flourishes) is an absolute riot of colour, whilst the Huracán from Symphony No. 6 is a force of nature in itself. Everything here will grab you by the scruff of the neck in the best possible way.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree on the evidence of this debut solo album from the young British countertenor. His father Michael recorded many of these songs back in the 90s, and Chance Junior's voice is equally beguiling and distinctive: robust, richly-coloured and beautifully even across the registers, it's coupled with superb diction and a natural, unfussy way with the texts that's especially affecting in the plangent laments but also pays dividends in the racier songs (such as Campion's 'I care not for these ladies', given with a twinkle in the eye that never crosses the line into archness). Delicious.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Spyres's versatility and sheer virtuosity emerge every bit as strongly on this all-Baroque programme as they did on its audacious predecessor Baritenor - the American singer is such a vocal chameleon that you'd swear that at least three different singers were involved in the project, and his phenomenal range is once again exploited to the max (an aria from Mazzoni's Antigone stops the virtual show with a three-octave cadenza reaching top G!). Rarities from Latilla's Siroe, Piccinni's Roland and Vinci's Catone stand out, but he's no less attuned to French Baroque style in more familiar arias by Lully and Rameau.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Cecilia McDowall: Da Vinci Requiem, Seventy Degrees Below Zero
Kate Royal (soprano), Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), City of London Sinfonia, Neil Ferris, Wimbledon Choral
Weaving extracts from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci together with texts from the Latin Mass, the Da Vinci Requiem contains many passages of luminous beauty, not least the gorgeous pseudo-lullaby 'O You Who Are Asleep' (given with typical eloquence by Williams) and the final bars of the 'Lux Aeterna', which seems to float away into the ether. More striking still is the almost Britten-esque Seventy Degrees Below Zero, which paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of Scott's final, doomed Antarctic expedition'; tenor Ben Hulett is incredibly moving here, particularly in the closing section setting the explorer's last letter to his wife.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Meunier has stitched together a rich and varied tapestry on this 'Lutheran requiem', including earlier settings of the texts which Brahms would later incorporate into his own Deutsches Requiem: highlights include Christian Geist's Die mit Tranen saen (where delicate antiphonal exchanges eventually give way to an imposing wall of sound), and Johann Hermann Schein's 'Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen', which yields little to Brahms in gentle radiance. The singers of Vox Luminus are unfailingly affecting and stylish, both singly and together.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Bartók: Four Pieces and Concerto for Orchestra
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina Canellakis
This is the Dutch orchestra's first recording with their new Principal Conductor, and it's a cracker: Bartók was a key part of Canellakis's repertoire in her previous career as a violinist, and her long-standing affection for his music resonates loud and clear in performances that balance high adrenaline with a warm lyricism that often gets short-changed in this music. The seldom-recorded Four Pieces come off especially well - not least the fiendish Scherzo, where the precision of the playing in every section is a marvel.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
There's such a lovely rapport between these two eminent Baroque musicians on their first recorded collaboration, with Podger stepping gracefully into the role of accompanist for long stretches and Bezuidenhout (playing a French harpsichord for the early sonatas and a modern copy of a Walter fortepiano for the later ones) dazzling in the many moments when he takes centre-stage. The lovely Adagio from the opening sonata, more than a little reminiscent of the slow movement of Bach père's Double Concerto, is particularly enchanting.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Mercadante: Il Proscritto
Ramón Vargas (Giorgio Argyll), Irene Roberts (Malvina Douglas), Elizabeth DeShong (Odoardo Douglas), Sally Matthews (Anna Ruthven), Iván Ayón-Rivas (Rodrigo), Goderdzi Janelidze (Guglielmo Ruthven); Britten Sinfonia, Opera Rara Chorus, Carlo Rizzi
Lots to enjoy both vocally and orchestrally on the world premiere recording of this shamelessly melodramatic 1842 opera about political and romantic conflicts in Cromwellian Scotland, not least the rare opportunity to hear two tenors and two mezzos going head-to-head in a couple of riproaring duets. Ramón Vargas spars thrillingly with impressive newcomer Iván Ayón-Rivas (winner of the 2021 Operalia Competition) in their big Act II face-off, whilst DeShong and Roberts are beautifully contrasted as the Douglas siblings - and Rizzi conducts like he believes in every bar.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
