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Presto News - 7th March 2011Striggio: Mass in 40 Parts |
 One of the most important musicological discoveries of recent years took place in 2005 at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. There, musicologist Davitt Moroney located a previously misidentified work by Alessandro Striggio which turned out to be the long lost Missa Ecco si Beato Giorno – a mass in 40 separate parts, rising to an incredible 60 for the final Agnus dei. Dating from 1566 it pre-dates Thomas Tallis’s famous 40-part Spem in Alium by four years and as we know that Striggio visited London (and almost certainly met Tallis) in 1567 it seems almost certain that this mass (and its accompanying motet) was the inspiration behind Tallis’s most popular work.  A few of the numerous musicians involved Striggio’s newly discovered Mass received its first performed at the Proms in 2007, and this week sees its first release on CD, in a fabulous recording by Renaissance specialists I Fagiolini under Robert Hollingworth. Alessandro Striggio (1536-92) spent virtually all his life in Italy, working particularly in Florence and Mantua, and became well connected to the Medici Family, for whom a lot of his music was written. The singers in this huge 40-part mass are split up into five choirs of eight singers (unlike the Tallis which is eight choirs of five singers), and when performed they are often distributed throughout the venue. From here these choirs have what Hollingworth describes as a “sacred conversation” with each other – sometimes singing individually, sometimes in pairs or groups and sometimes all together. In terms of performance practice it is not known exactly how this would have been performed in Striggio’s time, and there is indeed every probability that it would have been performed quite differently in different towns and courts. As viol player John Bryan (of the Rose Consort of Viols) says, “performing this music today is a blend of research and imagination”. For this recording Hollingworth decides to add instruments to the choirs (which was certainly done in the Munich court at that time). He does this very cleverly by having different groups of instruments with the different choirs so, for example, one choir is accompanied by viols, one by lutes and one by sackbuts and cornets, etc. It helps tremendously differentiate the choirs from each other, as each one has a slightly different sound. Tallis’s more famous Spem in Alium is also on the recording and here also features instrumental accompaniments which make it sound quite different from the usual a cappella version which is generally heard and recorded. Musically the Striggio is much simpler than the Tallis. The harmonies move in much slower sequences and there aren’t any of the real dissonant moments which make the Tallis so special. But there are other things to enjoy with Striggio’s Italian style, which is often much more intricate and ornate (particularly in the inner parts), and the mass of sound, particularly in the concluding 60-part Agnus dei is stunning. The disc is superbly recorded, capturing the huge scale of the music, whilst retaining plenty of detail, and it comes with a DVD, which contains surround sound versions of the major works on the disc, and a short documentary about the Striggio. I’ve put a short video on the website which you can see via the link below. This gives you more information about the recording as well as a flavour of the music. Enjoy!
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 Striggio: Mass in 40 Parts (Missa Ecco si Beato Giorno)I Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworth |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Watch: A short video trailer of this disc.New Releases7th March 2011 |
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. |
 Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 & Liadov: The Enchanted LakeOrchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio PappanoConductor Antonio Pappano leads Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia on this recording of one of the 20th century’s most thrilling and emotive symphonies, Sergej Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. This is coupled with Anatoly Liadov’s beautiful tone poem The Enchanted Lake. |
 Britten: Symphony for Cello and OrchestraPaul Watkins (cello), BBC Philharmonic, Edward GardnerIn this new release, we present a unique group of works, including the rarely recorded Symphonic Suite from Gloriana, the Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, and one of Britten’s most popular works, the Four Sea Interludes. They are performed by the BBC Philharmonic with two exclusive Chandos artists: Edward Gardner, the music director of English National Opera and well known for his interpretations of the music of Britten, and Paul Watkins, one of the world’s leading cellists. |
 Martha Argerich & Friends: Live from the Lugano Festival 2010Martha Argerich (piano)EMI Classics is pleased to release the latest instalment of highlights from the Martha Argerich Project at the Lugano Festival. This is the eighth annual 3-CD set celebrating the musical fruits of a project in which young artists join seasoned performers, including Ms Argerich, to explore wide-ranging chamber music and orchestral repertoire, both well known and rarely heard. The CDs, recorded in the summer of 2010, are being released in anticipation of the Festival’s 2011 season in June. |
 Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E flat major 'Symphony of the Thousand'London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, London Symphony Chorus & Eton College Boys’ Choir, Klaus TennstedtPopularly known as the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, in this live recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 from 1991, over 528 singers and musicians are led in a vibrant, life-affirming performance by one of the greatest interpreters of Mahler’s music, Klaus Tennstedt. The soloist line-up includes some of the most celebrated operatic singers of the twentieth century including sopranos Júlia Várady and Susan Bullock and American tenor Kenneth Riegel. |
 Bach, J S: Motets, BWV225-230Richard Myron (violin), Jan Freiheit (cello) & Tobias Schade (organ), Vocalconsort Berlin, Marcus CreedIn Bach's time the exalted place the purely vocal motet had once occupied had already been ceded to the cantata. But alongside this artfully simple ‘functional’ style, Bach perpetuated in his own motets, with incomparable mastery, the tradition handed down by his own ancestors, as preserved in the so-called ‘Old Bach Archive’. |
 Bach, C P E: Cello Concertos Nos. 1-3Truls Mørk (cello), Les Violons du Roy, Bernard LabadieCellist Truls Mørk’s profound sensitivity to musical style is once again evident as he and Les Violons du Roy, under their director Bernard Labadie, bring modern instruments and 18th century sensibilities to the cello concertos of Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (third son of Johann Sebastian), in performances that give us ‘the best of both worlds’. |
 Laudent Deum - Sacred Music by Orlande de LassusHis Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts & Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, Andrew NethsinghaThe Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, an exclusive Chandos artist, here presents its third release on the label. Established in the 1670s, the choir has a long and distinguished tradition of performing religious music and here offers distinguished interpretations of sacred works by Orlande de Lassus. Of its most recent release, Hear My Words: Choral Classics from St John’s (CHSA5085), The Telegraph wrote: ‘The boy treble voices bring lustre and freshness to the sonority and the singing throughout is stirring and polished’. |
 Handel: Alexander's FeastSophie Bevan (soprano), Ed Lyon (tenor), William Berger (bass), Jan Waterfield (harpsichord), Nicholas Wearne (organ continuo), Ludus Baroque, Richard Neville-TowleHandel's musical illustration of Dryden's Alexander's Feast, first performed in 1736, was a critical and popular success. A day after the première, the London Daily Post reported ‘Never was upon the like Occasion so numerous and splendid an Audience at any Theatre in London, there being at least 1300 Persons present’. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 5th March 2011 |
Building a Library - Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, 1ère année, Suisse |
 First Choice(coupled with the Gounod opera paraphrases)Stephen Hough (piano) |
Disc of the Week |
 Erwin Schulhoff: Violin SonatasTanja Becker-Bender (violin) & Markus Becker (piano) |
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