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Presto News - 14th July 2008Vaughan Williams |
 Vaughan Williams is generally considered a very ‘English’ composer. This is not surprising considering that many of his most popular works have English connections. Top of the Classic FM Hall of Fame charts for the last two years is The Lark Ascending, a piece for violin and orchestra which evokes the languid pastoral England of our dreams in which a skylark rises into the heavens. His Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis looks back to the traditional English choral music of Purcell, Byrd, and, of course, Tallis and conjures up visions of Tudor Courts. And despite being a ‘determined atheist’ he edited the English Hymnal, and spent much of his life collecting English folk music and songs.  Ralph Vaughan Williams However, pigeon hole this ‘Englishness’ too much, and there is a danger that you start to underestimate his importance on the world stage. For in a long and productive life, music flowed from his creative pen in profusion. He wrote in almost every genre, and his output included nine symphonies, five operas, film music, ballet and stage music, several song cycles, church and choral music, and chamber music. Add into this the influence that he had on his contemporaries and you are left with a true giant of his time, and not just in England. Rachmaninov was reportedly ‘moved to tears’ at the premiere of the composer’s Serenade to Music in 1938, while Bartók was a known admirer of the modernist Piano Concerto. There was also of course a huge generation of English composers who owe a debt to him, not least Benjamin Britten. I've spent much of the last few months listening to his music and have been constantly amazed by the quantity and quality of his work (and also how little of it I actually knew!). Many people are familiar with the sort of favourites mentioned above, but I'd strongly recommend venturing beyond these and in particular exploring some of the choral and vocal music. We've got a very special price on the big EMI Vaughan Williams set of 30 CDs (which includes the very fine Vernon Handley Symphony cycle), but also worthy of mention below is a new 4 CD set of Choral Works from Hyperion, and for the first 3 releases from Albion Records, a label which seeks to resurrect the rarer side of the composer. Alternatively another good place to start exploring might be our Vaughan Williams page.
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 Vaughan Williams - The Collector’s Edition (30 CDs)This edition, released to mark the 50th anniversary of his death, presents all the major orchestral, chamber, vocal and stage works, as well as many lesser pieces and rarities, in the finest interpretations. All your favourite Vaughan Williams is here, in over 34 hours of music on 30 CDs. |
 Vaughan Williams - Choral Works (4 CDs)Issued to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Vaughan Williams’s death, this collection is tantalizing: it starts with one of the best-selling discs in the the catalogue, the Serenade to Music, and includes such favourites as the Five Mystical Songs and The Hundreth Psalm. There are also two intriguing pairings: in Dona nobis pacem, RVW warns of the impending doom of WWII; in A Song of Thanksgiving we hear his moving response to its successful conclusion. |
 Albion Records - First 3 releasesAlbion Records Ltd, a not-for-profit record label, is dedicated to recording rare 20th century English classical music, concentrating on Ralph Vaughan Williams. The label is a subsidiary of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society and each of the CDs contain world première recordings. |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases14th July 2008 |
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. |
 Mozart - Symphonies 29, 33, 35, 38 and 41Orchestra Mozart, Claudio AbbadoAs a celebration of Claudio Abbado's 75th birthday in June, a cornucopia of six releases is planned to mark the occasion. Recorded live from concerts in Bologna, Bolzano, Modena and Ferrara between 2004 and 2006 they have an extraordinary, raw energy, with the impact of drama and lyricism at the forefront. The recordings of Symphonies nos. 33 and 38 (Prague) are new to Abbado’s discography. |
 Mozart - Violin Concertos Nos. 1-5Giuliano Carmignola (violin), Orchestra Mozart (on period instruments), Claudio AbbadoThe Orchestra Mozart is a handpicked group of players founded in Bologna in 2004, with Abbado as their artistic director – and with Giuliano Carmignola as concert-master. Here, he steps up as soloist for these fresh and full of energy accounts of the violin concertos. |
 Bach - Harpsichord ConcertosOttavio Dantone (conductor & chamber organ), Accademia Bizantina (on original instruments)The new album features some of Bach's most memorable music, recorded with one player per part. The concertos were originally written for harpsichord and strings, and Accademia Bizantina has returned to the original scoring to achieve an intimate dialogue between the solo instrument and accompanying strings. |
 Ravel - Piano WorksGeorges Pludermacher (piano)The first disc of this set is dedicated to the pianist's late teacher Jacques Fevrier. Fevvrier was a close friend of Ravel and the knowledge and insights into the music Fevrier learnt from the composer he passed down to Pludermacher. Disc 2 is dedicated to the choreographer George Balanchine with whom the pianist worked in 1975. As ever with performances by Georges Pludermacher, the playing is immaculate and sensitive. |
 The First Night of the Proms 1943London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Henry WoodA very special release at this time of the year from Somm - a live recording of a concert given at the Royal Albert Hall on 19th June 1943. Sir Henry Wood conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra and soloists, including Moura Lympany playing Saint-Saens 2nd Piano Concerto and tenor Heddle Nash singing “Love In Her Eyes Sits Playing” from Handel’s “Acis and Galatea”. The programme also includes Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s Theme and Variations from Suite No. 3, Op. 55. |
 Dvorak - Symphony No. 6 and The Water GoblinNetherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Yakov KreizbergThis is the third release in the cycle of Dvorak symphonies with Yakov Kreizberg conducting the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, and arguably much more interesting than the last two as it includes the much less frequently performed Symphony No. 6. |
 Glinka: Ruslan and LyudmilaEvgeni Nesterenko & Bella Rudenko, Bolhosi Orchestra and Chorus, Juri SimonovEvgeni Nesterenko and Bella Rudenko head this all Russian cast in spectacular performance of Glinka’s operatic masterpiece, “Ruslan and Ludmila”. This performance, recorded in 1978, uses the forces of the Bolshoi theatre and is conducted by Juri Simonov. From the very opening bars of the famous lightening speed overture, through to the final scene, this is a wonderful recording with a truly Russian flavour. |
 Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (DVD)Siegfried Jerusalem, Waltraud Meier, Matthias Hölle, Falk Struckmann & Uta Priew, Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Daniel BarenboimTristan und Isolde in the acclaimed production by Heiner Müller from the Bayreuth festival from 1995, conducted by Daniel Barenboim with fire and sensitivity. Siegfried Jerusalem as Tristan and Waltraud Meier as Isolde have consistently drawn enthusiastic acclaim for their performance, not only in the year of the premiere, but in subsequent years. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 12th July 2008 |
Building a Library - Bizet: Symphony in C |
 First Choice(coupled with Jeux d'enfants (Petite Suite), Op. 22 and Chabrier's Suite Pastorale)Les Siècles, François Xavier Roth |
Disc of the Week |
 Frank Martin - TriptychonJuliane Banse (soprano) & Muriel Cantoreggi (violin), German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Christoph Poppen |
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