Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

The Brabant Ensemble and Stephen Rice bring another forgotten Renaissance master to the ear of the listening public. Little is known about the life of the composer Pierre Moulu—he joins the long lists of Renaissance musicians whose lives are all but entirely masked in shadow. Fortunately a number of his works found favour with his contemporaries to the extent that they appear in numerous early manuscripts and prints, and they have attracted the attention of music historians since the earliest days of the discipline in the late nineteenth century. Like much of the large repertory of sixteenth-century polyphony, however, his works have rarely been performed in modern times, and this is the first recording devoted to his music.

Moulu’s most celebrated work is the Missa Alma redemptoris mater, an extraordinary piece that can be sung with or without rests, as the polyphony is composed so as to fit together in two combinations. The short version is recorded here along with two movements from the alternative long version. Stephen Rice’s fascinating and scholarly programme notes fully explain the techniques involved.

Also included is the parody mass Missa Missus est Gabriel angelus, based on a motet by Josquin which is also recorded here. Two contrasting motets by Moulu complete this disc—an important survey of an almost entirely unknown composer, sensitively performed and recorded.

CD 5 also contains the full libretto and English translation as a pdf document.

May 2010 Hallé releases the live recording of their universally acclaimed performance of Wagner's Götterdämmerung. In a landmark move the orchestra will release the opera in dual format; as both an MP3 and standard 5 disc CD set, making the recording available to the widest possible audience.

The recording was taken live at sell-out concerts, which were the showpiece of the Hallé’s 2009 artistic season. Anticipation had been high since the dates were first announced, given the superb cast and Sir Mark Elder's unrivalled reputation as one of the finest Wagner conductors in the world. The atmosphere at the concerts was electric, the critics unanimous in their praise and the audience ecstatic. This recording perfectly captures the drama and intensity of this great musical occasion, with orchestral playing of unrivalled quality and universally acclaimed performances from the whole cast. Without doubt, this was one of the most exciting musical events ever to have been staged in The Bridgewater Hall.

The Hallé will release Götterdämmerung in MP3 format in a direct appeal to both younger audiences and as a way of offering a cost effective option to those who already have a recording of the work. MP3 is seen as an environmentally friendly solution, using only 20% of the packaging required for a 5 CD set and cutting the carbon footprint for shipping and storage (heating) by 80%. This new set will be released in MP3 format at 320 kbps, the highest possible MP3 bit rate. Customers will be able to transfer the files directly to their ipod or MP3 player or to play the discs on their computer, most DVD players and newer, MP3 compatible, CD players. Both formats will be accompanied by a printed booklet containing a synopsis. A full libretto will be included as a pdf file on both the standard CD release and the MP3 Edition.

Sir Mark Elder said, “The experience for us all of absorbing this great music was daunting and thrilling in equal measure. To hear it unfolding in the wonderful acoustic of the Bridgewater Hall gave the end of last season a fitting climax.”

Domingo the Indefatigable continues to amaze opera lovers by adding another tenor lead to his shelf of heroes – in this case, Giuliano de’ Medici in Leoncavallo’s rarity I Medici.

Recorded in the Medici city, Florence, I Medici – atmospheric, sinister, and exciting – is the one and only complete recording of this work on the market: A must-buy for every Domingo fan and lover of verismo.

I Medici was first performed in 1893, the year after Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci put the composer on the map.

Plácido Domingo is partnered by Carlos Álvarez, Daniela Dessì, Eric Owens, and Vitalij Kowaljow, all of whom sing pungently on the word, in true verismo style.

The Florence Opera Orchestra and Chorus are led with verve and acumen by Alberto Veronesi, director of the Puccini Festival.

The Florestan Trio is one of Britian’s best-loved chamber groups, and its many Hyperion recordings are routinely acclaimed as benchmark versions of the repertoire. After delighting listeners and critics with two discs of Dvorák, the ensemble now further explores the Czech piano trio repertoire.

The three works on this CD cover the complete span of what is usually thought of as the Czech school of composition. Smetana, regarded as the founding father, first showed the way to bring traditional dance and song into the mainstream of European composition, forging a national style. Eben, who died in 2007, was one of the most distinguished composers who carried this line to the present day. But, as these three contrasting pieces demonstrate, Czech composers were subject to very different kinds of influence at different times. Smetana’s Piano Trio, an early work, shows more influence from the mainstream giants of the time—particularly Schumann and Liszt—than it does from any ‘folk’ elements. By the time Martinuo wrote his first Piano Trio, he was immersed in the exciting cosmopolitan culture of twentieth-century Paris. And Petr Eben took the neoclassicism of Martinuo and his contemporaries, and developed his own individual approach to it.

The pianist Danny Driver has garnered the highest possible praise for his two York Bowen discs on Hyperion. Now, demonstrating his extraordinary versatility, he turns to a composer from a very different age—yet one who has been similarly overlooked by the musical establishment, while always having a place in the heart of connoisseurs of arcane keyboard music.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), second son of Johann Sebastian, was both revered and criticized by his contemporaries for his bold departures from conventional modes of musical expression. He perfected a highly original and intensely personal compositional style known as the empfindsamer Stil (literally, the ‘sensitive style’). As the works on this recording show, Bach’s approach to musical expressiveness found voice in frequent mood changes, abundant rests and ‘sighing’ motifs, the juxtaposition of contrasting rhythmic figures, deceptive cadences, and dramatic, rhetorical harmonic interjections. Bach became particularly renowned for his ability to improvise fantasias—seemingly free-form, stream-of-consciousness flights of fancy characterized by unmeasured rhythm and distant harmonic excursions. Yet underlying even the most improvisatory of his compositions is a coherent structure.

Emanuel Bach’s music breaks dramatically away from, yet also builds upon, the early eighteenth-century style perfected by his father. His compositions mark one of the first—and among the most inspired—repudiations of the baroque aesthetic, in which a single unified mood dominates each movement. Emanuel Bach composed more than three hundred keyboard works during his lifetime—all of the works on this recording were composed during the 1740s, while in the service of King Frederick II of Prussia.

Alexander Gauk (1893-1963) studied with Glazunov and Tcherepnin at Petrograd Conservatory. His early appointments included the Petrograd Music Drama Theatre, the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (formerly the Mariinsky, latterly the Kirov), and he went on to become principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic, succeeding Nikolai Malko. He was also appointed to the role of first director of the USSR State Symphony. In addition, he taught at the conservatories in Tbilisi, Leningrad and Moscow.

Gauk premiered many works, including Shostakovich’s 3rd Symphony, The Golden Age, and The Bolt. He was a champion of Khachaturian, Miaskovsky, Prokofiev and Shaporin, and was also one of the first conductors to resurrect Rachmaninov’s 1st Symphony after its catastrophic premiere under a clearly drunk Glazunov. He rather daringly (for the time and place) tackled Mahler and Richard Strauss.

Gauk was a visceral conductor, favouring tight rhythms and driven structures, and the discipline he exerted over orchestral ensemble was breathtaking, and completely free of any blemish. His recorded legacy is extensive, and his is still a formidable name in Russian musical history.

One of the great conductors of the 20th century who was closely linked with some of the greatest Russian composers, and who premiered many of their works.

Extensive booklet notes.

Some unusual Russian repertoire is included in the set.

The works of the British composer Brian Ferneyhough have been performed throughout the world. The compositions on this CD focus on the relationship between soloist and ensemble and the relationship of the music to tradition.

Playable on MP3 compatible disc players and MP3 portable devices.

This disc also contains the full libretto and English translation as a pdf document.

May 2010 Hallé releases the live recording of their universally acclaimed performance of Wagner's Götterdämmerung. In a landmark move the orchestra will release the opera in dual format; as both an MP3 and standard 5 disc CD set, making the recording available to the widest possible audience.

The recording was taken live at sell-out concerts, which were the showpiece of the Hallé’s 2009 artistic season. Anticipation had been high since the dates were first announced, given the superb cast and Sir Mark Elder's unrivalled reputation as one of the finest Wagner conductors in the world. The atmosphere at the concerts was electric, the critics unanimous in their praise and the audience ecstatic. This recording perfectly captures the drama and intensity of this great musical occasion, with orchestral playing of unrivalled quality and universally acclaimed performances from the whole cast. Without doubt, this was one of the most exciting musical events ever to have been staged in The Bridgewater Hall.

The Hallé will release Götterdämmerung in MP3 format in a direct appeal to both younger audiences and as a way of offering a cost effective option to those who already have a recording of the work. MP3 is seen as an environmentally friendly solution, using only 20% of the packaging required for a 5 CD set and cutting the carbon footprint for shipping and storage (heating) by 80%. This new set will be released in MP3 format at 320 kbps, the highest possible MP3 bit rate. Customers will be able to transfer the files directly to their ipod or MP3 player or to play the discs on their computer, most DVD players and newer, MP3 compatible, CD players. Both formats will be accompanied by a printed booklet containing a synopsis. A full libretto will be included as a pdf file on both the standard CD release and the MP3 Edition.

Sir Mark Elder said, “The experience for us all of absorbing this great music was daunting and thrilling in equal measure. To hear it unfolding in the wonderful acoustic of the Bridgewater Hall gave the end of last season a fitting climax.”

Howard Shelley’s acclaimed series of the complete Piano Sonatas of Clementi reaches its penultimate volume. In the latter half of the 1790s, when all the sonatas and sonatinas heard in this recording (with the exception of the Sonata Op 46) were published, Clementi apparently devoted his energies mainly to teaching. His pupils included members of wellplaced families in London who were able to meet his reported fee of one guinea per lesson. He also had among his students aspiring professionals, including J B Cramer, Theresa Jansen, Benoit-August Bertini, and John Field.

The sonatas heard here, owing to their technical difficulty, appear for the most part to be addressed to such students and other accomplished pianists—and perhaps for Clementi’s own performance in private circles. The sonatinas are clearly intended for less advanced pupils; today they are Clementi’s most well-known works as countless young pianists are still given them for instruction. Therefore this set should be of particular interest to many of those pupils and their teachers.

“This disc was originally the idea of the Ambronay team: our strong respective temperaments, our affinities for Baroque music were among the many arguments they put forward with infectious enthusiasm to encourage Aline Zylberajch and myself to embark on a duo recording project for Ambronay Éditions. We then met to read through some of the pieces. Little by little, a guiding thread evoking Schumann’s famous song cycle Frauenliebe und leben (A woman’s love and life) prompted us to choose from among Haydn’s finest works a programme of lieder and canzonettas illustrating the universal theme of the cycle of love: from the girl dreaming of love to her first experience of it, from the beloved woman to her abandoned sister… Haydn’s musical style, the psychological evolution of the protagonists of his songs, and the palette of colours, emotions, and expressions this stimulates, brought us rich emotions and joys during our work on the recording. For my part, I also had the good fortune to discover a delightful personality behind a remarkable musician in the person of Aline. In conclusion, ‘Das Leben ist ein Traum’ thanks to music!” Stéphanie d’Oustrac

Among the activities undertaken by the Vienna Singverein to commemorate its 150th anniversary during the 2008–9 season was a series of performances of Dvorák’s Requiem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of Mariss Jansons. The concert recordings of the two performances given in Amsterdam in February 2009 have been integrated here to create a captivating presentation of this rarely recorded work. On this double SACD release, Jansons, who has a special affinity with Dvorák’s late works, has paired the Requiem with the Eighth Symphony, composed during the period directly preceding the Requiem. Of particular note in Jansons’s interpretation of both works here is his attention to detail, a characteristic of his performances, but which in no way impedes the development of extended, overarching climaxes.