New Releases

Rossini wrote some of music’s most masterful and lovable operas. His gift for comic and tragic forms was matched by a relish for characterisation, qualities that are always evident in his overtures. La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is perhaps the most famous, one of the world’s most popular concert openers. Guillaume Tell, with its overture in four movements, includes a scene for five solo cellos. La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) opens with an overture of charm and élan, and Le siège de Corinthe is dramatic and colourful. All of Rossini’s overtures display sparkling themes, rich lyricism and theatrical excitement.

Ondine proudly presents a disc of works by German composer Jörg Widmann. This release features his Violin Concerto (2007), Insel der Sirenen for Violin and 19 Strings (1997) and Antiphon for Orchestral Groups (2007-08).

The acclaimed violinist Christian Tetzlaff, for whom the Violin Concerto was written, plays the solo part in these works and handles their challenges with incredible precision. He considers this Violin Concerto to be one of the greatest contemporary concertos.

Daniel Harding, one of the brightest conductors of his generation, is a frequent guest conductor for the world’s top orchestras. As Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra he has helped the orchestra to become one of the most interesting and diverse ensembles of today.

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra – one of Europe’s foremost orchestras – collaborates regularly with leading conductors, soloists and composers. Their strong commitment to contemporary music is also reflected in this recording.

After a highly acclaimed recording of Briten’s Cello Symphony (ONYX4058) Pieter Wispelwey and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Seiko Kim, turn to two romantic cello concertos whose neglect is hard to fathom.

Lalo, unusually for a French composer in the mid 19th century, was drawn to chamber music, and formed a string quartet (in which he played viola, and later second violin) that championed the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. His passion for chamber music developed to embrace large scale orchestral works – two violin concertos, the famous 'Symphonie espagnole' for violin and orchestra, a symphony in G minor, the Piano Concerto and the concerto recorded here: the Cello concerto in D minor of 1877. A strong work in the Germanic tradition, the central movement combines a slow movement and scherzo. Its comparative neglect in the concert hall is difficult to understand as it is an impressive and well made work, worthy of his contemporaries Franck and Saint-Saëns.

The latter’s second cello concerto from 1902 is totally overshadowed by his impressive and dazzling first concerto dating from 1872. The later work has all of the composer’s flair for style, elegance and is possibly more challenging for the soloist than its A minor sibling.

Viktoria Mullova renews her partnership with long-term collaborator Ottavio Dantone in a programme of concertos for violin, offering not only the two famous concertos, but two concertos arranged for violin from the 2nd harpsichord concerto, and a concerto for violin and harpsichord which listeners may recognise from its violin and oboe guise – even this was arranged by Bach himself from the original for two harpsichords. Bach himself was a great re-user of material, and many concerto movements (including some from lost concertos) appeared in his cantatas. Mullova and Dantone have worked together for many years, both recording and in concert. They wanted to find a piece they could both play with orchestra, and BWV1060 in this brilliant arrangement is the result – the overall composition is enriched by a range of new nuances.

Viktoria Mullova’s Bach recordings for ONYX have been widely acclaimed worldwide, and of her recording of the 'Partitas and Sonatas' for solo violin, the Sunday Times said ‘they exemplify the best of old and new stylistic approaches to Bach’s masterpieces’, selecting the recording as their Classical CD of the week.

Kurt Moll, who will celebrate his 75th birthday this coming spring, was not merely a celebrated opera singer who performed on the world’s most famous stages. The sophistication and precise diction that characterized his greatest roles – such as Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal, Baron Ochs in Strauss’s Rosenkavalier or Sarastro in Mozart’s Magic Flute – always reminded one that he was a singer who, besides opera, also paid equal attention to the lied, to which he devoted the same perfectionism. As was traditional for a bass with a full-bodied, supple timbre and a deep register, he enjoyed particular triumphs on the concert podium with ballads ranging from Haydn via Loewe to Shostakovich. In the genre of the lied he also achieved success with a repertoire that has usually been dominated by higher voices. If we want to know how Moll managed to become an exception to the rule, we can easily find out by listening to his recording of Schubert’s Winterreise from 1982. It is now available once more on the ORFEO label, and on a single CD for the first-ever time (its length had made this technically impossible in earlier editions). Together with his regular accompanist Cord Garben, Kurt Moll here offers what the international press of the day hailed as an exemplary recording of perhaps the most famous song cycle of all. This recording was thus awarded the Diapason d’or in France, where Moll’s Winterreise was held in similar regard to the legendary performances of Hans Hotter. He was especially praised for his unmannered, introverted interpretation. His thoroughly cantabile style was without any declamatory harshness, yet remains completely clear in its articulation. Kurt Moll’s Winterreise thus remains captivating to the present day and is one of the most important acoustic documents of this singer’s art. With the ideal balance that he achieved between words and music he became not just one of the most significant singers of recent decades, but also one of the singing teachers most in demand.

For a performance of 'Lohengrin' to be completely successful, it depends largely on the evil couple who stand opposed to the Swan Knight and the girl he protects, Elsa. The 1965 production at the Vienna State Opera was acclaimed for its musical aspects, and on its opening night Christa Ludwig as Ortrud made evident why Wagner himself described this character as “terribly magnificent”. Christa Ludwig celebrates her 85th birthday on 16 March 2013, and with her interpretation of roles such as this she secured for herself a place in the annals of the Vienna State Opera. Her curse ('Entweihte Götter!') was accorded spontaneous ovations by the audience and the subtlety that she brings to this role, straddling as it does the range of a dramatic soprano and a dramatic mezzo, makes this sorceress the undisputed manipulator of the action. All this can be heard clearly, on this live recording. With the dramatic baritone Walter Berry as Telramund, she had a partner on that evening whose vocal power was hitherto largely unsuspected, yet who offered no less vocal sophistication. Overall, the performance on that evening was stormier and more agitated than many a more 'ethereal', enraptured version such as one often hears. It was driven by Karl Böhm at the helm of the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, and with a State Opera Chorus that had been excellently prepared by Wilhelm Pitz. Eberhard Waechter as the Herold and Martti Talvela as King Heinrich were powerfully resplendent, while Claire Watson as Elsa and Jess Thomas as the title hero formed the 'good' couple, rounding off this superb cast with their bright tone colours. Her voice, schooled in Mozart, was slender and clear in focus, while his virile tenor, clear in accentuation and in diction, offered a model of the Wagner style of the 1960s that also dominated in Bayreuth: as was preferred by the director, Wieland Wagner. This 'Lohengrin' offered a modern reading in the best sense of the word, allowing the characters their mythical grandeur while at the same time letting them approach the contemporary audience as men and women of flesh and blood.

Music Director Nicholas McGegan conducts Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Beethoven’s symphonies from his middle period on historically accurate instruments.

Writing of the live performance of Symphony No. 4, the San Francisco Classical Voice said: “This was the perfect music for this conductor and this orchestra, so beloved for their balance of wit and profundity…This was fine Beethoven playing — damn fine.”

The San Jose Mercury News noted, “Interpreted by McGegan and the orchestra, it was a joy…clear, direct, intimate Beethoven.”