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Presto News - 9th August 2010Gramophone Awards - The Finalists |
 It seems amazing to think that we’re already fast approaching Gramophone Awards time again. Generally regarded as the Oscars of the classical music world, they are the most significant honours bestowed on the classical record industry. As usual each record company was able to nominate a proportion of its annual release, and Gramophone critics then voted to produce the top three in each of the 16 categories (one more than last year as they’ve split the DVD category into two - Documentary and Performance).  There have been some superb recording achievements this year and it is great to see the Gramophone picking up on many of them here. One such superb achievement is the completion of the Cardinall's Musick’s Byrd Edition. Volume 1 came out back in 1997 on the ASV label. When that label was bought by Universal about five years ago the completion of the superb series was threatened. Thankfully the Cardinall's Musick found very willing new partners in the form of Hyperion for the last four volumes, and the final disc (Volume 13) is here short-listed for the Early Music Award. Another cycle drawn to a successful close this year is the Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr’s Handel Opp. 1-7 cycle of which the two disc set of the Opp. 2 and 5 Trio Sonatas is a finalist in the Baroque Instrumental category. The scarcity of Opera recordings these days produces an unusual-looking list in that previously hard-fought category. Mark Elder and the Hallé’s recent live recording of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung is up against the long awaited release of the 1997 BBC recording of Peter Maxwell Davies’ seminal opera Taverner and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s first opera L'Amour de loin. Thomas Adès’ opera The Tempest meanwhile is in the Contemporary category - explain that if you can! Tenor Jonas Kaufmann receives two nominations (in Recital and DVD Performance) as does the late great Sir Charles Mackerras - both in the Orchestral category for his discs of the Dvorak Tone Poems and Mozart’s Symphonies (Volume 2). Both are wonderful recordings and, with Dvorak and Mozart both being composers he was very closely associated with, it would be fitting if one of them could pick up the Orchestral category Award this year. Elsewhere pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s fifth and final volume of his already award winning Debussy cycle must be a hot tip in the Instrumental category, and Pappano’s Verdi Requiem fresh from its success early this year at the BBC Awards will look to repeat that success in the Choral category. Regular readers will recognise quite a few of the other discs as well from the weekly newsletters and on the whole it is hard to argue with the selections made. We’ll reveal the overall winners on the afternoon of October 1st, along with the Artist of the Year and overall Disc of the Year. We’ve put a special page up on the website where you can view all this year’s finalists here.
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Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases9th August 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. |
 Foerster: The Complete String QuartetsStamic QuartetFollowing the acclaimed recordings of the two violin concertos (SU39612) and the cello concerto (SU39892), Supraphon returns to the work of Josef Bohuslav Foerster, a composer somewhat neglected until recently. This double CD presents for the first time his complete string quartet oeuvre. The first quartet (1888) is dedicated to Tchaikovsky, who recognised in Foerster a talented music creator and in a letter encouraged him to persevere with composing. |
 Villa-Lobos: Floresta do Amazonas, W 551Anna Korondi (soprano), Male voices of the Choir of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra & São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, John NeschlingThe subject of the Amazonian forests surfaces in a number of works throughout Villa-Lobos’s output. In Floresta do Amazonas, one of his very last works, Villa-Lobos again focused explicitly on the rain forest, the creatures that live in it, and the myths that have been woven around it. The work has been described as a symphonic poem for soprano, male-voice choir and large orchestra, The songs, Melodia Sentimental in particular, have also become popular as separate concert items. The suite's twenty-three movements have rousing titles such as ‘Forest Fire', ‘Head Hunters' and ‘Dance of the Indians', but also include numbers such as ‘Lullaby' and ‘Twilight'. |
 Orff: Carmina BuranaPatricia Petibon (soprano), Hans-Werner Bunz (tenor) & Christian Gerhaher (baritone), The Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, Daniel HardingFor his second Deutsche Grammophon recording, Daniel Harding conducts one of the most popular pieces of the classical canon: Carl Orff’s cantata, Carmina Burana, a composition that continually attracts an audience both inside and outside of classical music. The Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, well versed in Carmina Burana, pull out new stops under Daniel Harding’s idiosyncratic guidance. Rhythmically unpredictable, its musical content veering from the devotional to the sensual and savage, Orff’s masterpiece requires, and here gets, inspirational leadership from Daniel Harding. The superb trio of vocal soloists are soprano Patricia Petibon, tenor Hans-Werner Bunz, and baritone Christian Gerhaher. |
 Dvorák: Slavonic DancesBudapest Festival Orchestra, Iván FischerFollowing on from the hugely successful releases of Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra in Dvorak's late symphonies, Channel Classics has now secured the rights from Decca to re-issue his superb recording of the complete Symphonic Dances. |
 ChaconneRinaldo Alessandrini (harpsichord)This unique recording re-introduces Rinaldo Alessandrini as a solo harpsichordist and reviews the concepts of chaconne and passacaglia in the most eclectic and captivating way. This recording is the first album for years featuring Rinaldo Alessandrini as a harpsichordist and not as a conductor. This is a highly interesting recording presenting an eclectic programme that reviews the concepts of chaconne and passacaglia over music history, from Frescobaldi to Ligeti. |
 Regis Re-issuesAnother 13 top quality bargain re-issues from RegisThere are some superb recordings in this month's Regis re-issues. Highlights include a disc of Schumann piano music from Helene Grimaud, Mikhail Pletnev playing Grieg and Tchaikovsky, Heinz Holliger playing Telemann's oboe music, and a number of Russian licensed recordings including Rostropovich, Oistrakh and a number of disc from Evgeny Svetlanov. |
x.jpg) Contemporaries of MozartLondon Mozart Players, Matthias BamertMatthias Bamert’s ‘Contemporaries of Mozart’ project is one of Chandos’ longest-running and most successful series. The unquestionable genius of Mozart has tended to eclipse the accomplishments of many other composers who were writing at the same time as he. Many of these composers, successful in their day, suffered neglect in subsequent decades and in some cases were almost forgotten. Matthias Bamert’s series has shown just how rich this area of the repertoire is, and each of the CDs has received superb critical acclaim. This uniquely compiled box set comprises five of the most successful CDs in the series to date (many of the works are poorly represented in the catalogue, if at all) and provides an ideal introduction to the repertoire - at bargain price. Each CD offers a wealth of classically elegant melodies wrapped up in imaginative orchestration. |
 EMI Icons5 New releases in EMI's popular Artist led re-issue seriesEMI continue to mine their extensive catalogue with these five new Icons boxes. The pick of them for me is the Alicia de Larrocha 8-CD set including all the recordings of solo Spanish piano music she made for the Spanish company Hispavox in the 1950s and 60s, as well as a live recording of a concert with the Spanish soprano Victoria de los Angeles in 1971 and a concerto by Montsalvatge made in 1992. There are also discs of Edwin Fischer, Fritz Wunderlich, Pierre Fournier and Rudolf Kempe. |
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