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Presto News - 1st December 2008Richard Hickox |
 The death of Richard Hickox, announced last Monday, comes as a real shock. He was aged just sixty and over the last decade was finally starting to enjoy the international recognition his irrepressible drive and deep musicianship undoubtedly deserved. He is probably most known for his commitment to 20th-century English music, and in this respect, coming so soon after the death of Vernon Handley, the loss to that repertoire is even greater. However, he worked hard to avoid being musically stereotyped and conducted and recorded a wide range of composers.  Richard Hickox In fact his repertoire was enormous, ranging from baroque opera, through 18th-century classics to contemporary music. At the age of just 23 he founded the Richard Hickox Orchestra (later to become the City of London Sinfonia) and Singers, and in 1990 co-founded the baroque orchestra Collegium Musicum 90 with Simon Standage. With both orchestras he has made some of his finest recordings including a fantastic complete cycle of Haydn Masses with the latter. However it was in British Music that his real forte lay and amongst his huge catalogue of recordings (mainly for Chandos), all five of his Gramophone award winners were of British composers, most famously the original version of Vaughan Williams's A London Symphony, which won Record of the Year in 2001. And it wasn’t just the big names which he championed - like Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Tippett, Britten and Holst (whose Choral Symphony he was recording when he died) - but also the composers that other conductors so rarely go near – such as Rubbra, Dyson, Alwyn, Bliss, Howells and most recently Leighton. He made so many great recordings it is hard to mention just one or two, but having already mentioned the Haydn Masses set and the Vaughan Williams London Symphony above, I didn’t want to leave without mentioning what I consider his greatest recording – the two-act version of Britten’s Billy Budd made in 1999 which has got to be as close to perfection as you can ever get. His death is a huge loss for music, made all the more tragic by the fact that he was still so young. If you want to explore the extensive legacy of recordings which he has left behind we have a complete Richard Hickox discography here. VAT Reduction For customers in the UK and the European Union you’ll be pleased to hear that prices have gone down a very small amount today thanks to the Chancellor’s decision to lower the rate of VAT (Value Added Tax) from 17.5% to 15%. I’m afraid there is no change for customers outside the EU as the prices you pay already exclude the VAT.
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 Haydn - The Complete Mass EditionJanice Watson, Susan Gritton, Nancy Agenta, Lorna Anderson, Pamela Helen Stephen, Catherine Denley, Louise Winter, Mark Padmore & Stephen Varcoe Collegium Musicum 90, Richard Hickox |
 Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 2 'A London Symphony'original 1913 versionLondon Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox |
 Britten: Billy BuddPhilip Langridge, Simon Keenlyside, John Tomlinson, Alan Opie, Matthew Best, Alan Ewing, Francis Egerton, Quentin Hayes, Clive Bayley, Mark Padmore London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Tiffin Boys' Choir, Richard Hickox |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases1st December 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. |
 Bach - Cantatas Volume 41Carolyn Sampson (soprano) & Peter Kooij (bass), Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord and conductor)As on two other recent instalments (Vols 37 & 38) in his Cantata cycle, Masaaki Suzuki here concentrates on the so-called solo cantatas, providing an opportunity for two of the highly acclaimed soloists of this series, Carolyn Sampson and Peter Kooij, to shine even more brightly. |
 Jean-Marie Leclair - SonatasJohn Holloway (violin), Jaap ter Linden (violoncello) & Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord)Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764), who laid the foundations for the French violin school, was a particularly interesting figure. He trained as a dancer, lacemaker, violinist and composer and was active in several European cities such as Torino, Lyons, Paris, Amsterdam and Kassel. He was murdered in Paris under never fully detected circumstances. As a composer he was a master of mixed styles, providing a rare synthesis of Italian and French traits, of melodic beauty and dancelike vivacity. John Holloway has chosen sonatas from his “classical” period – a selection from the Troisième Livre de Sonates, op 5 – in which Leclair had gained a perfect balance of proportion, lightness, expressiveness, contrapuntal art and virtuosic display. |
 Grieg - Cello SonataEmmanuelle Bertrand (cello) & Pascal Amoyel (piano)Alongside the Sonata Op. 36, Emmanuelle Bertrand and Pascal Amoyel have transcribed some of the delightful Lyric Pieces as a sort of personal diary. They retrace the life of Grieg, from the little Arietta of 1867 to the final backward glance of Remembrances (1901). The programme also includes two original pieces for this formation, the Intermezzo and Grieg's own transcription of the Scherzo from his Third Violin Sonata. |
 Dietrich - Symphony & Violin ConcertoElisabeth Kufferath (violin), Oldenburgisches Staatsorchester, Alexander RumpfAlbert Dietrich’s music is only now being revived 100 years after his death. Dietrich was the music director at the Oldenburg Court, Germany, from 1861-1891. His friendship with Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms helped to raise his profile and throughout his lifetime his music was frequently performed. Both Schumann and Brahms valued him very highly as a composer and Brahms often visited Dietrich in Oldenburg to perform with him. |
 Joseph Marx - Symphonic WorksRadio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Johannes WildnerJoseph Marx (1882-1964) was an Austrian composer with Italian grandparents. He spent a lot of his youth staying in Italy and was inspired by the beautiful idyllic surroundings. Nature and its seasonal cycle continued to be an inspiration in his music. A selection of these seasonal inspired pieces is present on this disc, including the recording premiere of Feste im Herbst, a monumental work of great maturity which was inspired by his favourite season Autumn and was the composers last work. |
 Tcherepnin - Complete Symphonies & Piano ConcertosNoriko Ogawa (piano), Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan ShuiThis boxed set includes the first complete recorded cycle of Alexander Tcherepnin’s symphonies and piano concertos, along with four shorter orchestral scores. The striking stylistic diversity within this body of work illustrates the complex evolution of Tcherepnin’s style during a half-century-long odyssey both artistic and geographic. The recordings included in this set were originally released on single CDs, and have all received lavish praise, both for the fascinating repertoire and for the highly sympathetic performances by Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Lan Shui and for Noriko Ogawa’s interpretations. |
 Harmonia Mundi - Haydn EditionHarmonia Mundi's new Haydn Edition is designed to co-incide with the 200th anniversary of the composer's death in 2009. Included here are the René Jacobs Seasons, the Jerusalem Quartet playing selected Quartets, the Freiburger Barockorchester with Symphonies Nos. 6-8 (Le Matin, Le Midi and the Le Soir), Sunhae Im singing the Esterhazy Cantatas, Andreas Staier playing Piano Concertos and Patrick Cohen, Eric Höbarth & Christophe Coin playing Piano Trios. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 29th November 2008 |
Building a Library - Sibelius: Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 104 |
 First Choice(coupled with Pelléas and Mélisande Suite, Op. 46)Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi |
 First Choice(as part of the Complete Symphonies set)Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi |
Disc of the Week |
.jpg) Strauss, R: SalomeSusan Bullock (soprano), Sally Burgess (mezzo), John Graham Hall (tenor) & John Wegner (baritone) Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras |
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