Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

2 CDs for the price of 1

Chandos are delighted to present the first complete recording of the masque The Crown of India, performed here by Clare Shearer and Gerald Finley, with the BBC Philharmonic and Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Completed by Anthony Payne in 2008 the work conveys all the pomp and pageantry with which Elgar is associated. The work is presented on 2 CDs. Disc 1 includes the entire masque with narration, whilst Disc 2 contains only the music and Marches. The set is sold at the price of one full price CD.

This recording is also the first with Sir Andrew Davis, now signed exclusively to Chandos. Sir Andrew’s fascination with Elgar goes deep, including taking the symphonies all over the world. He says of The Crown of India, ‘He’s [Payne] done a terrific job. This is from Elgar’s mature period, the time of the Violin Concerto and Sospiri. There’s a ‘March of the Moguls’ which is the only march I know in three time and an exquisite interlude with solo violin.’

The elaborate pageant and theatrical presentation, The Crown of India was first staged in 1912 to celebrate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Delhi for their coronation as Emperor and Empress of India. Elgar wrote the music as his Op.66, with a libretto by Henry Hamilton. Sadly the score was only published in a piano-vocal version and the remaining orchestral parts were destroyed in the 1960s. In 2007 the Elgar Society set about a commission for Anthony Payne to complete the orchestration of the music, with the orchestral suite and marches.

Sir Andrew Davis continues to be resident in Chicago, where he has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Lyric Opera Chicago since 2000. His association with Chandos will see him conduct the principal BBC orchestras as well as orchestras around the world.

Pianist Imogen Cooper follows her critically acclaimed ‘Schubert Live, Volume One’, with the second 2-CD release in her ongoing series of Schubert’s late piano music, recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Imogen Cooper’s Schubert Live, Volume One (AV2156) was a runaway success both critically and commercially. An already highly respected artist found her profile, both in the media and at retail, raised to new heights. Imogen continues her exploration of Schubert’s late piano music with the second volume in her ongoing series for AVIE, recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Her selection for Volume Two reflects the public appetite, in the late 1820s, for shorter piano pieces, which resulted in Six Moments Musicaux, D780 and Four Impromptus, D 935. Even the publisher of Schubert’s G major Sonata, D894, described the work as a ‘Fantasy, Andante, Menuetto and Allegretto’, knowing that marketing the work as individual character pieces would generate healthier sales.

This is Steinbecher’s debut on Pentatone. She is 27 and was taught by the same teacher as Julia Fischer. Her previous recordings for Orfeo have all got great reviews.

Rarely heard in concert at all, the Requiem by Antonín Dvorák captured on this CD from a live concert seems a near-forgotten masterpiece. Dvorák scholar Gervase Hughes cites this work for four soloists, chorus and orchestra as one of the composer’s finest sacred creations, ‘a deeply moving expression of faith on the part of a composer whose religious conviction never wavered’. It’s a conviction stamped through the composer’s illuminating, fervent score.

Saint-Saëns wrote a considerable amount of chamber pieces during his life, and his works for cello are seen as some of the most supreme for the cello repertoire.

Christian Poltéra and Kathryn Stott, best known for her performances of French repertoire perform Saint-Saëns melodic cello Sonatas, coupled with the legendary ‘Swan’ from The Carnival of the Animals. Romances Op.36 and Op.51 and Prière, Op.158 complete this programme.

Saint-Saens remains one of the most important composers for the cello, and his contributions are considerable.

Poltéra and Stott collaborate regularly in chamber music performances across the world and have recently recorded Faure Cello Sonatas for Chandos: ‘[Christian Poltéra]… is a fine choice of cellist for the two Sonatas. He phrases sensitively and makes the most of the composer’s dynamic markings… Kathryn Stott’s an ideal partner, managing her pedalling levels to produce a variety of textures.’ BBC Music Magazine

Designed and Directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

Glyndebourne Opera has a history of trend setting and pioneering opera productions and Donizetti’s opera L’elisir d’amore is no exception. Popular in Donizetti’s own lifetime, L’elisir faded into relative obscurity until the 1890s when Caruso championed the role of Nemorino: his dedication and conviction were such that Covent Garden arranged a production of the opera in 1902. L’elisir was a personal favourite of Caruso’s, so much so that in 1920 he played Nemorino in his last appearance with the Metropolitan Opera. Almost 60 years later, in 1961, it was Glyndebourne who staged a production of L’elisir d’amore designed and directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Such was the success and acclaim for this production that Glyndebourne revived it in 1962, enhancing the production with the addition of the lively and capricious Mirella Freni.

As the press noted: ‘Her [Freni's] looks and her cantabile singing melt, so to speak, on the tongue, and she acts her teasing charades with Sergeant Belcore as if nothing were farther from her mind than cruelty.’ (The Times, August 1962) and ‘Mirella Freni, the sparkling new Adina, rightly allowed real tenderness to shine through vanity and caprice.’ (The Sunday Times, August 1962)

Mirella Freni was first engaged by Glyndebourne in 1960 (and sings Susanna in Glyndebourne’s own recording of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro GFOCD00162).

Previously she had also performed at the opera house in Torino in the late 50s and sung with Netherlands Opera in 1959-60 season, but her international break and recognition came by virtue of her role as Adina in this 1962 production.

This recording, released here for the first time, precedes Freni’s EMI recording of L’elisir d’amore with Nicolai Gedda as Nemorino in a Rome Opera production by some 5 years. In this recording, Freni has a cast of equals around her. As the besotted Nemorino, Luigi Alva vividly portrays the wounded innocent with The Daily Telegraph noting in August 1962 that ‘Alva’s Nemorino is a wonderful combination of rustic clowning and exquisitely finished bel canto’, with Enzo Sordello a baritone voice big enough to fill a stadium, providing a fresh virile and bold Belcore. Conductor Carlo Felice Cillario enjoyed a 60 plus year career and is remembered for his masterful interpretations of Puccini, Verdi and Donizetti operas and stands as one of the most singer-friendly conductors of all time.

The 2CD set is packaged as a hard bound book containing a full libretto translated into English, French and German along with a commissioned article about the opera, and synopsis in English, French and German.

This disc of world première recordings represents nearly 10 years of commissions by vocal ensemble The Clerks, best known for their pioneering recordings and reconstructions of early music. Written by some of the UK's leading composers, this disc demonstrates the versatility of the group - the compositions themselves are drawn from sources both ancient and modern, from 12th-Century organum to 21st-Century subway adverts!

Throughout the 18th century, Prague was a significant European centre. When it comes to music, it fused in a singular manner influences primarily from Dresden, Vienna and Italy with the famous Czech musicality and folk culture. In a superlative and historically knowledgeable interpretation, the newly originating cycle “Music from Eighteen-Century Prague” will map the-yet-to-beappreciated wealth which is still being discovered in Prague, Czech and foreign archives and which directly reflects the variegated picture of the musical life of the capital. Václav Gunther Jacob’s “Missa Dei Filii”, which in world premiere opens this series, is an example of the creation of one of the most popular composers from the Czech lands in the first third of the 18th century.

Jacob was primarily synonymous with the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Prague’s Old Town, yet thanks to several printed music collections his fame spread far beyond the country’s borders (prints have been preserved in, for example, Munich and Bologna) and earned him a number of commissions from abroad. Through this CD, the remarkable work of the stylistically highly original composer has for the first time in centuries the opportunity to draw the attention it deserves and be listened to by lovers of Baroque music. The recording is noteworthy for its vivacity and stylistic purity – attributes characteristic of Capella Regia Praha. The world premiere of V. G. Jacob’s Baroque mass opens the new edition series Music from Eighteen-Century Prague.

Wagner's epic four-opera cycle is a work of extraordinary scale - a full performance takes place over four nights with a total playing time of approximately 15 hours. Based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas, it is a work that follows the struggles of gods, heroes, mythical creatures, and the eponymous magical Ring that grants dominion over the entire world. The music is richly textured, and grows in complexity as the cycle proceeds - Wagner wrote for an orchestra of gargantuan proportions, including a greatly enlarged brass section with new instruments invented especially for the work. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus was constructed for this work to be performed in, with a specially designed stage that allows singers voices to blend with the huge orchestra without straining - essential for such long performances.

‘Whatever one's take on the production, Mr. Thielemann drew a probing, radiant and exhilarating musical performance from this orchestra of dedicated instrumentalists’ New York Times

‘ … there is no doubt that this year's Ring at Bayreuth belongs to… Thielemann…[who] creates a musical experience epic in its scale and inexorable in its apocalyptic, shattering power.’ The Guardian

Recorded live at the Bayreuth Festival in 2008, this production stars a host of international stars including Michelle Breedt, Albert Dohmen, Stephen Gould, Hans-Peter Konig, Linda Watson & Eva-Maria Westbroek. Christian Thielemann, one of the most sought-after conductors in the world, takes the baton with the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra. This 14-disc CD box set marks the first ever Opus Arte CD release, and the start of an exciting new direction for the company.

Born in 1894, Peter Warlock was one of England’s great songwriters – described by Lennox Berkeley as one of the “most colourful talents in English 20th century music”. His output was prolific. In addition he was a distinguished editor and transcriber of a vast amount of early music as well as an author of several books and many articles, editor and music critic. He was very close to Delius – indeed was obsessed with Delius’s music and wrote a book about him, and also assisted Beecham in organising a Delius festival in 1929. He shared a cottage with fellow composer E. J. Moeran. He suffered bouts of depression and sadly he was found dead in his Chelsea flat in December 1930, of gas poisoning.

Gathered here are the original 78rpm recordings from the John Bishop Collection – divided into Orchestral and Chamber on CD1 and vocal items on CD2. John Bishop was one of the leading lights of the Peter Warlock Society, and all tracks have been remastered by Andrew Rose of Pristine Audio.

The booklet contains fascinating and informative notes, rare photographs and original 78rpm matrix numbers with recording dates.