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Presto News - 29th June 2009Britten's homage to Purcell |
 It will be interesting to see how the various composer anniversaries this year will be picked up and used as inspiration by contemporary composers. Back in 1945, the 250th anniversary of Purcell’s death had a profound effect not only on his own popularity, but also on the compositional careers of a number of British composers – most notably Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett.  Benjamin Britten I think what probably attracted them to Purcell most was his dramatic sense. His understanding and treatment of the language combined with his ability to capture mood and emotion through the music is quite remarkable. He did this through a variety of means such as unexpected resolutions, multiple suspensions and chromatic bass lines. Post-1945 Britten in particular developed a profound knowledge of Purcell’s music and a detailed appreciation of the techniques and subtleties of his style. He displayed this in a number of works, the most popular of course being The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra which uses a Rondeau from Purcell’s Abdelazar as its theme. Britten realized a number of Purcell’s songs and also wrote his own song cycle The Holy Sonnets of John Donne in 1945 almost as homage to Purcell. It is a new recording of Britten songs with one of my favorite tenors, Mark Padmore, that has been my inspiration this week. The disc includes the Holy Sonnets and some of the Purcell realizations mentioned above along with the slightly later Winter Words and a few folksong arrangements. It is an outstanding disc in every respect, with Padmore displaying his remarkable range of vocal expressions to maximum effect. He can be dark and sensuous one minute, dramatic and gripping the next, and all the time matched by the outstanding piano playing of Roger Vignoles. If you already have and enjoy the famous Peter Pears recordings of these works then I’d say this is quite different but no less effective, and Harmonia Mundi’s sound is truly excellent. I’ve put a couple of samples from the Holy Sonnets for you to enjoy below, which if you have time to listen to both illustrate perfectly the range of both emotion in Britten’s writing and vocal timbre in Padmore’s voice. |
 Britten - Before Life and AfterMark Padmore (tenor) & Roger Vignoles (piano)
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Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
listen - Britten - The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, op.35 - 2. Batter my heartNew Releases29th June 2009 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Bach Cantatas Volume 4The Monteverdi Choir & The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot GardinerDon't be confused by the numbering here. This is the twenty first set to come out in Eliot Gardiner's Cantata pilgrimage, out of a planned twenty seven volumes, so we're very much now into the home run. In this volume they head to Ansbach to perform at the prestigious Ansbach Bach Festival. The programme opens with BWV 9 Es ist das Heil uns kommen her. This is then followed by the well known chamber cantata BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, expertly sung by internationally renowned counter-tenor, Michael Chance. A highlight is the first alto aria - an aria of pure enchantment, which tells, through rich and passionate music, that “pleasant rest” can be attained only though union with heaven. The programme ends with the very moving funeral motet Der Gerechte kommt um, attributed to Bach, an incredibly beautiful five-voiced Latin motet composed by Johann Kuhnau. The magnificence of this motet made this very popular with both the choir and orchestra thereby resulting in it being used as a regular encore on the Bach Cantata pilgrimage. |
 The Romantic Piano Concerto 48 - Benedict & MacfarrenHoward Shelley (piano and conductor), Tasmanian Symphony OrchestraWith Volume 48 of the groundbreaking Romantic Piano Concerto series we reach very uncharted territory indeed. Sir Julius Benedict has been all but forgotten today but he is yet another composer who gives the lie to the idea that Britain was ‘a land without music’ in the nineteenth century. |
 Handel - Operatic AriasLorenzo Regazzo (bass), Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo AlessandriniTwo musical titans in the classical world, award-winning Italian bass Lorenzo Regazzo and Italian conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini, both major Naïve artists, are brought together once again to record the greatest operatic arias by George Frederic Handel. |
 Shostakovich - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 15Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery GergievThe second release on the Mariinsky label features Shostakovich's first and final symphonies. Valery Gergiev made award-winning recordings of Symphonies 4-9 for Philips, however he will release a complete cycle on the Mariinsky label, starting with the symphonies he has not previously recorded. |
 RequiemConspirare & Company of Voices, Craig Hella JohnsonThis CD returns Conspirare's Grammy®-nominated recording Requiem, originally released on the Clarion label in 2006, to the active catalogue. Selections on the disc range from Herbert Howells' Requiem to selections from Eric Whitacre's sublime Three Songs of Faith. Two works: We remember them by Donald Grantham and Eliza Gilkyson's Requiem, written in response to the catastrophic Asian tsunami in 2004, receive their debut recordings on this release. Taking up a theme as old as music itself, five modern composers turn their attention to reflections on death, loss and gratitude for living. |
 Danses et DivertissementsStephen Hough (piano), Berlin Philharmonic Wind QuintetOne of the world’s foremost wind quintets meets one of today’s finest pianists in a work that many consider to be the best work for piano and winds: Poulenc’s Sextet, as well as works by other French composers. |
 Vivaldi - Violin Concertos Volume 3 (Il Ballo)Duilio M. Galfetti (violin), I Barocchisti, Diego FasolisNaïve releases the third volume dedicated to Vivaldi’s violin concertos in its ground breaking project, the Vivaldi Edition. Multi award-winning violinist Duilio Galfetti is accompanied by acclaimed early music ensemble I Barocchisti under the direction of Diego Fasolis. |
 Victoria - Missa GaudeamusWestminster Cathedral Lay Clerks, Matthew MartinA new recording from Westminster Cathedral features the gentlemen of their choir in a fascinating programme which brings to life the musical and liturgical traditions of this foundation. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 27th June 2009 |
Building a Library - Falla: El Amor Brujo |
 First Choice (1915 version)(coupled with Falla: Fantasia Baetica; Master Peter’s Puppet Show)Antonia Contreras (flamenco singer), Jerome Correas (bass-baritone), Chantal Perraud (soprano), Eric Huchet (tenor), Orchestre Poitou-Charentes, Jean-Francois Heisser (conductor) |
 First Choice (1925 version)(coupled with Falla: La Vida Breve; 7 Canciones populares espanolas; El sombrero de tres picos; Soneto a Cordoba; Psyche)Victoria de los Angeles (soprano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini (conductor) |
 First Choice (1925 version)(coupled with Falla: El Sombrero de tres picos; 7 Canciones populares espanolas; Noches en los jardines de Espana; Concerto in D major for Harpsichord and Five Instruments; Psyche; Soneto a Cordoba; 4 Pieces espagnoles; Fantasia betica)Victoria de los Angeles (soprano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini (conductor) |
Disc of the Week |
 Szymanowski - The Complete Music for Violin & PianoAlina Ibragimova (violin) & Cédric Tiberghien (piano) |
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