Presto News - 29th June 2009

Britten'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
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 After

Mark Padmore (tenor) & Roger Vignoles (piano)

play listen - Britten - The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, op.35 - 2. Batter my heart

play listen - Britten - The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, op.35 - 6. Since she whom I loved

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Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk

New Releases

29th 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 4

The Monteverdi Choir & The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

Don'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.

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The Romantic Piano Concerto 48 - Benedict & Macfarren

Howard Shelley (piano and conductor), Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra

With 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.

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Handel - Operatic Arias

Lorenzo Regazzo (bass), Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Two 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.

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Shostakovich - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 15

Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

The 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.

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Requiem

Conspirare & Company of Voices, Craig Hella Johnson

This 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.

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Danses et Divertissements

Stephen Hough (piano), Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet

One 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.

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Vivaldi - Violin Concertos Volume 3 (Il Ballo)

Duilio M. Galfetti (violin), I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis

Naïve 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.

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Victoria - Missa Gaudeamus

Westminster Cathedral Lay Clerks, Matthew Martin

A 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.

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Radio 3

BBC Radio 3 CD Review

Saturday 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)

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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)

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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)

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Disc of the Week

Szymanowski - The Complete Music for Violin & Piano

Alina Ibragimova (violin) & Cédric Tiberghien (piano)

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Previous Newsletters

29-Jun-2009 -Britten's homage to Purcell
22-Jun-2009 -The Three Tenors
15-Jun-2009 -Penguin Rosettes and Building a Library
08-Jun-2009 -Masterclasses
01-Jun-2009 -Gergiev at the Mariinsky
25-May-2009 -Two recent re-discoveries light up Martinu year
18-May-2009 -Idomeneo from René Jacobs
11-May-2009 -A&R and Kate Royal's Midsummer Night
04-May-2009 -Chandos Records - 30 years young
27-Apr-2009 -Rachmaninov Preludes
20-Apr-2009 -20 Years of NMC
13-Apr-2009 -BBC Music Magazine Awards
06-Apr-2009 -Shostakovich 11 from the RLPO
30-Mar-2009 -BIS and the Sibelius Edition
23-Mar-2009 -Haydn - 'The Father of the Symphony'
16-Mar-2009 -George Frederic Handel
09-Mar-2009 -Bach's Brandenburg Concertos
02-Mar-2009 -Angela Gheorghiu in Puccini's Madama Butterfly
23-Feb-2009 -The world's most celebrated violins
16-Feb-2009 -Copyright to be extended
09-Feb-2009 -A feast of Early Music
02-Feb-2009 -Sarah Connolly gets Purcell year off to a flier
26-Jan-2009 -Monteverdi as you've never heard it before!
19-Jan-2009 -Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin put Platti firmly on the map
12-Jan-2009 -Hamelin proves his real class with Chopin
05-Jan-2009 -Lindsays lead the bargains
29-Dec-2008 -Jerusalem - in search of peace
22-Dec-2008 -Looking ahead - Handel, Haydn and more
15-Dec-2008 -2008 - A great year for DVDs
08-Dec-2008 -Top new Christmas recommendations
01-Dec-2008 -Richard Hickox
24-Nov-2008 -The World's Great Orchestras, and Euros and US Dollars now accepted
17-Nov-2008 -Lost manuscripts continue to be found
10-Nov-2008 -Haydn's String Quartets
03-Nov-2008 -Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony
27-Oct-2008 -Contemporary Music
20-Oct-2008 -Sir Peter Moores
13-Oct-2008 -Vivaldi in a new light
06-Oct-2008 -Americans in Pyongyang
29-Sep-2008 -Paul Lewis and the Gramophone Awards 2008
22-Sep-2008 -Songs her mother taught her
15-Sep-2008 -Vernon Handley
08-Sep-2008 -Zig Zag and the Atrium Quartet
01-Sep-2008 -Gramophone Awards nominations
25-Aug-2008 -Beautiful Messiah and Exquisite Morales
18-Aug-2008 -Great Pianists of the Past
11-Aug-2008 -Classical Television Broadcasts on the Internet
04-Aug-2008 -Chloë Hanslip and the unfamiliar
28-Jul-2008 -Leopold Godowsky and the virtuoso pianist
21-Jul-2008 -Linn Records
14-Jul-2008 -Vaughan Williams
07-Jul-2008 -Olivier Messiaen
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23-Jun-2008 -The French Baroque - 200 Years of Versailles
16-Jun-2008 -Bach Fugues from Onyx and the Emersons
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07-Apr-2008 -Paul Lewis's Beethoven
31-Mar-2008 -Ingrid Fliter
24-Mar-2008 -Mel Bonis
17-Mar-2008 -Stunning new Haydn Creation from Paul McCreesh
10-Mar-2008 -Hilary Hahn plays Schoenberg and Sibelius
03-Mar-2008 -Rattle and Gergiev on Mahler
25-Feb-2008 -Handel Organ Concertos
18-Feb-2008 -Late Mozart Symphonies
11-Feb-2008 -Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project
04-Feb-2008 -Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel
28-Jan-2008 -Undeservedly neglected music - John Marsh and Juan de Araujo
21-Jan-2008 -New Bach Cantatas page
14-Jan-2008 -Composers' Own Recordings
07-Jan-2008 -Francis Xavier and Jordi Savall
31-Dec-2007 -50 Years of Harmonia Mundi
24-Dec-2007 -Last thoughts on 2007, first on 2008
17-Dec-2007 -Discs of the Year
10-Dec-2007 -Stockhausen
03-Dec-2007 -25 Years of the Compact Disc
26-Nov-2007 -Pacini and the importance of first performances
19-Nov-2007 -Christmas music worth hearing
12-Nov-2007 -The forgotten Maria
05-Nov-2007 -Why composers marked repeats
29-Oct-2007 -Bach B minor Mass from Suzuki
22-Oct-2007 -New Mahler 8 from Pierre Boulez
15-Oct-2007 -Lucerne Festival Orchestra
08-Oct-2007 -Julia Fischer and the Gramophone Awards
01-Oct-2007 -Mozart - Don Giovanni from René Jacobs
24-Sep-2007 -Natalie Clein and the Elgar Cello Concerto
17-Sep-2007 -Joshua Bell
10-Sep-2007 -Luciano Pavarotti
03-Sep-2007 -Kate Royal
27-Aug-2007 -Gramophone Awards - finalists revealed
20-Aug-2007 -Exciting new baroque rediscovery - Conti's David
13-Aug-2007 -Venezuelan Youth Orchestra the envy of the world
06-Aug-2007 -Music's Best-kept Secrets
30-Jul-2007 -Haydn - the most underrated great composer
23-Jul-2007 -Beethoven Piano Sonatas
16-Jul-2007 -BBC Proms 2007
09-Jul-2007 -Elin Manahan Thomas
02-Jul-2007 -Open minds and superb Bernarda Fink
25-Jun-2007 -Excited by another batch of re-issues?
18-Jun-2007 -Composer Works lists now published
11-Jun-2007 -Padmore and Bostridge sing Handel
04-Jun-2007 -Elgar's Enigma Variations
28-May-2007 -Still suffering some seventy years on?
21-May-2007 -Buying Opera on CD or DVD
14-May-2007 -Debussy's new champion
07-May-2007 -Schütz's Legacy
30-Apr-2007 -Mstislav Rostropovich
23-Apr-2007 -Missed Opportunities
16-Apr-2007 -BBC Music Magazine Awards
09-Apr-2007 -The way we listen
02-Apr-2007 -Too much Mozart?
26-Mar-2007 -Harpsichord or Piano?
19-Mar-2007 -Strauss's Four Last Songs
12-Mar-2007 -The importance of government support
05-Mar-2007 -Do today's musicians all sound the same?

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