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Presto News - 25th January 2010BBC Music Magazine Awards Shortlist |
 The BBC Music Magazine have announced the nominees for their 2010 Awards this week. Out of the 1500 discs they reviewed during the year, almost 300 of them had five stars. Their special awards jury had the very tricky task of reducing those 300 to just 18, and now those 18 are put before the public vote to decide the six category winners - Instrumental, Chamber, Orchestral, Choral, Vocal and Opera.  Valery Gergiev I’m not sure if the jury deliberately set out to select something for everyone, but there is a remarkable variety amongst the eighteen chosen discs. In terms of repertoire these are classics like Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Verdi’s Requiem and there are also several lesser-known works, such as Szymanowski’s Violin Sonata, Telemann’s Brocke’s Passion and Shostakovich’s opera The Nose. There is a good range across the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th Century periods, although it is slightly disappointing not to see any Renaissance or Contemporary discs included.  Magdalena Kozená In terms of artists, there is no shortage of big names with conductors Valery Gergiev and Sir Charles Mackerras, pianists Murray Perahia and Stephen Kovacevich and singers Jonas Kaufmann and Magdalena Kozená all included. There are also a number of young (but no less talented) musicians short-listed with Russian and Moravian violinists Alina Ibragimova and Patricia Kopatchinskaja leading the way. It is also interesting to note the continued fragmentation of the record industry and in particular the continued rise of the independent record labels. Out of eighteen discs nominated no few than sixteen different labels are represented, ranging from the mighty EMI with a catalogue of several thousand recordings and over a hundred years of recorded history to the tiny Mariinsky Theatre’s own label which started last year and so far has four discs in its catalogue. As usual we’ve put a special page together where you can browse all the nominated discs, and this year also included six very short videos of the artists explaining a bit about their discs. There seems to be a real thirst for knowledge and discovery out there and it is a great idea of the BBC’s to make these short videos which give you just a little bit more depth and appreciation of the works themselves and what the artists are trying to show in their recordings. You can browse full details of the nominated discs and watch the videos here.
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Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases25th January 2010 |
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. |
 Swiss PerspectiveNota Bene TrioAfter a first volume dedicated to Russian music (Claves CD 502720), the young Nota Bene Trio from the canton of Valais, Switzerland, are back with a programme that is 100% Swiss! This recording is truly a sensational experience as many of these chamber riches are still relatively unknown. Includes works by Honegger, Bloch, Martin and Raff |
 Vierne - Complete works for cello and pianoPhillipe Pennanguer (cello) & Magali Goimard (piano)Louis Vierne made a brilliant contribution to French music. Known primarily as an organist, he was in fact a complete musician, producing an extensive body of works in all areas of composition. This CD includes all his works for cello and piano. Pennanguer and Goimard perform much neglected French music and hope that their interpretations will help a wider audience to appreciate this music. |
 Homilius: Erwachet, ihr ChristenFriedrich Kircheis (organ & harpsichord), Barbara Christina Steude (soprano), Andreas Lorenz (oboe), Ludwig Güttler (trumpet, corno da caccia), Sächsisches Vocalensemble, Virtuosi Saxoniae, Ludwig GüttlerHomilius was organist of the Dresden Frauenkirche and composing chorale preludes was one of his main activities. This CD has been expanded to include two cantatas, as well as the only known chamber music by Homilius. The recording is under the direction of the internationally-renowned trumpeter and conductor Ludwig Güttler, who conducts and performs here. |
 Joaquín Nin - The Piano MusicMartin Jones (piano)Joaquín Nin y Castellanos (1878-1949) is generally considered a leading Spanish composer, pianist and musicologist, though he was born and died in Havana, Cuba and spent much of his life in Paris. Manifesting pianistic gifts even as a child, Nin was taken to Spain and studied piano in Barcelona before moving to Paris, where he was a piano pupil of Moritz Moszkowski. |
 New Year's Concert 2010 - DVDWiener Philharmoniker, Georges PrêtreThe internationally-renowned French maestro Georges Prêtre returns to Vienna’s illustrious Musikverein to conduct the 2010 New Year’s Concert, presenting a compelling programme that combines perennial classics with a selection of intriguing Strauss premieres. |
 Glor Classics8 New ReleasesThe German classical label GLOR Classics focuses on vocal music, with the goal of presenting interpretations of both classical and modern vocal and choral literature in the very best quality. The EuropaChorAkademie features in several recordings, and the catalogue includes works by Mozart, Haydn, Ravel, Berlioz, Poulenc and Janácek. This month there are several slightly more unusual works worth looking at such as Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien and Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri. |
 DG Originals10 New Re-issuesThe latest batch of re-issues from DG includes a number of outstanding recordings appearing for the first time at mid price. Included amongst these ten titles are John Eliot Gardiner performing Brahms' German Requiem, Claudio Arrau playing Beethoven, Rafael Kubelik conducting Schumann and Leonard Bernstein in Mahler's Ninth Symphony. |
 EMI's 20th Century Classics5 New Re-issuesEMI's comprehensive survey of music of the 20th Century continues this month with discs of composers Xenakis, Roussel, Zemlinsky, Orff and Shostakovich. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 23rd January 2010 |
Building a Library - Schütz: Musikalische Exequien, Op. 7 |
 Schütz - Musikalische Exequien & Kleine geistliche KonzerteLa Chapelle Royale, Philippe Herreweghe |
Disc of the Week |
 Wagner: Der Ring des NibelungenRecorded live at the Bayreuth Festival, Germany, in 2008.Bayreuther Festspiele Chorus & Bayreuther Festspiele Orchestra, Christian Thielemann (conductor) |
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