Future Releases

Westminster Cathedral Choir returns to acclaimed Scottish composer James MacMillan, whose powerful, passionate and luminous music has made him one of the best-loved choral composers of today.

Included on this recording is a dramatic setting of the Tenebrae Responsories, a spiritually engaging and emotionally involving work which relates back in its searing intensity and some of its choral effects to Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993) (recorded on Hyperion CDA67460), one of MacMillan’s seminal earlier works.

The choir is joined by London Brass for jubilant settings of Tu es Petrus, Summae Trinitati and Ecce sacerdos magnus.

Valery Gergiev explores the intense expression, fervour and spirituality of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937) with his first recording of the early symphonies on LSO Live.

For decades Szymanowski’s music was rarely heard outside Poland. Today, he is recognised as one of Poland’s greatest musical figures. His desire to embody the music of his native land and his incorporation of the folkloric sounds of the Polish mountains make his orchestral works a must for anyone with an interest in Polish culture and music. During Szymanowski’s early career, he wrote works of a grandiose, densely chromatic nature in the Germanic style of Strauss and Wagner. His first symphony is drenched in evocative Romanticism and is an extremely powerful and emotionally intense composition.

His second, chamber-like Symphony artfully interweaves layer upon layer of seemingly disparate musical ideas to form a complex tapestry that became one of the composer’s favourite of his own works. These first two symphonies, both unconventional in style and format, make for an enthralling listening experience and provide insight into Szymanowski’s ecstatic musical character.

The Mariinsky label releases its second opera DVD & Blu-ray, Prokofiev’s 'The Gambler'. Filmed in the historic Mariinsky Theatre in 2010, it stars celebrated Russian tenor Vladimir Galuzin and bass Sergei Aleksashkin, and is conducted by Valery Gergiev. It is of fundamental significance that under Gergiev’s baton the Mariinsky Orchestra and opera company have performed all of Prokofiev’s symphonies, concerti and operas on numerous occasions.

Georgian director Temur Chkheidze, who also presented the Mariinsky’s last production in 1996 and directed the opera with critical success at the Metropolitan Opera in 2001, gives a fresh look to Prokofiev’s first opera.

Set in the fictional town of Roulettenburg in the mid-19th Century, 'The Gambler' is a four-act opera that displays the dramatic highs and lows involved in the game of chance. At the centre of the story is Alexei, who is in love with The General’s step-daughter, Pauline. All of the characters fall victim to the temptation of gambling, each one consumed by the obsession and greed that drives them.

Vladimir Galuzin, who plays the role of Alexei, is indisputably one of the world’s leading dramatic tenors, known for his unrivaled stentorious voice and extremely vivid characterisations of some of the most demanding roles. A Mariinsky soloist since 1990, he is much in demand internationally, performing regularly during the last two decades as a guest of most of the world’s most prominent opera houses, concert halls and festivals. The role of The General is played by Russian bass Sergei Aleksashkin. Three-time recipient of the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg’s most prestigious theatre prize, Sergei has been a Mariinsky Theatre soloist since 1989, singing title roles in Mussorgsky’s 'Boris Godunov' and Glinka’s 'Ruslan and Lyudmila'.

DURATION 2 hours 35'

Recorded at the Mariinsky Theatre, June 2010

Performed in Italian: subtitles in Russian, English, Japanese, German and French

This release is the first complete recording of all of Cage’s works for organ, plus 4’33” (on the DVD version only).

The organ is ideally suited to Cage’s aesthetic — its multitude of stops make it the ultimate prepared instrument. The fact that sound emanates from a number of pipes placed at discrete locations in space nicely accords with Cage’s idea of the separation of sounds in space. And it represents vast possibilities that could be released as sound through the use of chance operations. For this reason Cage’s organ music occupies a small but quite important place within his output.

For Some of 'The Harmony of Maine' Cage selected 18th-century American hymns by Billings, Law, and Belcher and altered them by extending certain tones and removing others through chance operations so as to attenuate the functional harmony underlying them. Here and there, melodic fragments from the original hymns remain.

The 1978 and 1987 works were written for the German organist Gerd Zacher, an important champion of new music. American organist Gary Verkade, a student of Gerd Zacher, is on the faculty of the Musikhögskola in Piteå, Sweden. He has appeared at major festivals and concerts throughout Europe and the USA. Verkade was one of the registrants in the first German performance of Some of 'The Harmony of Maine'.

Includes booklet with trilingual notes by Rob Haskins.

Tabea Zimmermann commemorates the 50th anniversary of death of Paul Hindemith with the recording of his complete works for viola. Hindemith is regarded as a key composer for the instrument and was a famous violist, himself, and who premiered the viola concertos by Darius Milhaud and William Walton.

The works recorded here in Vol. 1 include the viola concerto 'Der Schwanendreher' that Hindemith composed at the time when he faced massive agitation by the Nazis, as well as the intimate and touching 'Trauermusik' (Music of Mourning), written for the funeral of King George V. Besides these celebrated works, the album also includes two lesser known concertos: the 'Kammermusik No. 5' and the early edition of the 'Konzertmusik' Op. 48a in its world premiere recording.

Tabea Zimmermann has teamed up with exceptional musical partners: the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin, conducted by Hans Graf, who dedicate themselves to Hindemith’s legacy. A second volume will include the sonatas for solo viola and for viola and piano and will be released as a double album in Autumn 2013.

New Naïve signing, Francesco Piemontesi, born in 1983, is one of today's most-watched pianists. His debut album on Naïve features the Schumann Piano Concerto and the original version of the Dvorák Piano Concerto, a work seldom performed due to its sheer technical difficulty. Conducted by Jiri Belohlávek with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the album was recorded at BBC Maida Vale studios (Dvorák) and live in concert at the Barbican (Schumann) in December 2012 and continues the blossoming relationship between soloist, conductor and orchestra, begun in 2010, with Strauss’s 'Burleske'.

Piemontesi was voted Best Newcomer at the 2012 BBC Music Magazine Awards. In presenting his student with the award, Alfred Brendel praised “a young pianist with real talent, a pianist of natural poise and grace, of wonderful technical equipment, and of the ability to remind us what beautiful playing means: cantabile playing that is colourful, luminous and harmonious, without in the least lacking tension and atmosphere.”

Piemontesi has been a prize-winner at numerous international competitions including the Queen Elisabeth in Brussels, and in 2009 was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship as well as being named by the BBC as one of its New Generation Artists.

John Philip Sousa’s swift rise to fame and greatness came at a time when band concerts were the most important aspect of musical life in the U.S. The works on this recording range from the early Revival March of 1876 and the stirring Right Forward March from Sousa’s time as conductor of the U.S. Marine band, to the “up-to-date” 1920s fox-trot Peaches and Cream and the 1923 Leaves from My Notebook, dedicated to the Campfire Girls of America. Music from Sousa’s operetta Chris and the Wonderful Lamp can be found alongside his medley of tunes from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, which includes many of the hit tunes from this operetta, while The Honored Dead was performed at President Ulysses S. Grant’s funeral.

George Gershwin fired up the New York music scene with his mélange of alluring tunes and refinement of the jazz vibe. His Strike up the Band Overture opened a flashy Broadway hit and, inspired by a train ride, the composer heard his masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue as a “musical kaleidoscope of America”. Promenade was reconstructed from a 1937 film score, and Catfish Row was Gershwin’s concert suite from the opera Porgy and Bess. Acclaimed as a “bold, gutsy performance with plenty of pizzazz” and with “impressive brilliance and depth”, JoAnn Falletta’s previous Gershwin volume can be found on 8559705 or Blu-ray NBD0025.

This release follows JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic’s acclaimed recording of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto, which was a Grammy® nominee and described by Gramophone as having “snappy performances in well-balanced, clear recordings”. Soloist Orion Weiss has also frequently been singled out for praise, with MusicWeb International’s critic admiring his “special gift of making you listen to what he has to say.” With cracking performances, a spectacular recording and widespread promotion, we anticipate this title will be one of the hottest releases of this summer.

JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony in the United States and Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland.