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Presto News - 16th January 2012New Year’s Concert from Vienna |
 It always seems to me that the (impressively speedy!) release of the New Year’s Day concert from Vienna is one of the most fortuitously-timed annual events in the classical recordings calendar. What better way to blow away that sluggish January feeling than with a couple of hours of glittering waltzes and polkas from an orchestra and conductor who have this music in their (Wiener) blood? (I’ll stay away from clichéd metaphors involving Sachertorte and champagne, but feel free to insert your own should you wish!)  Mariss Jansons The concerts from the Großer Saal of the Musikverein have been getting the musical year off to a flying start since 1939, and for the past three decades or so they’ve also been recorded and/or broadcast live – a real boon as tickets are like gold-dust: aspiring audience-members must pre-register a year in advance just to be entered into the ticket draw, and many Viennese families pass their subscription from one generation to the next like an heirloom! The concerts have been entrusted to a different illustrious conductor each year since the mid-eighties, with Karajan, Abbado, Maazel and Muti all featuring on the roster. Maestro Jansons has taken up the baton once before, in 2006, and brings his characteristic poise and elegance to bear on the ‘Strauss Family and Friends’ programme to scintillating effect. Though I had dipped into individual tracks to enliven the dark mornings last week, I did wonder as I sat down to review it whether two discs of the Strausses & Co. might be the aural equivalent of polishing off that last lurking box of Christmas continental chocolates in one fell swoop (bang goes my resolution to avoid food metaphors – my apologies!). I needn’t have worried. The programme is so imaginatively planned, with fast-and-furious polkas acting as a palette-cleanser between the lush waltzes, that I was craving the second disc even before I’d finished the first! In addition, there are specific themes running through the programme which introduce several lesser-known works, some of which have never been programmed for a New Year’s Day concert before. The opening section includes two pieces written for the 1890 inaugural ball at the new Vienna Town Hall: Johann Strauss II’s Rathausballtanze (‘Town Hall Dances’, receiving its New Year’s Day premiere) and Carl Michael Ziehrer’s Wiener Burger (‘Viennese citizens’). The latter is so characterful and melodically memorable that I have to concur with the original audience in their assertion that Ziehrer was fit to rival Strauss II for the title of ‘Waltz-King’; the former, which reworks and melds fragments from the composer’s best-known waltzes and the Austrian National Anthem, beautifully encapsulates the concert’s balance of tradition and innovation and its capacity for fresh takes on familiar music. There’s even a quirky little nod to the forthcoming London Olympics in the form of two short-and-sweet polkas: Johann Junior’s Albion-Polka was dedicated to Prince Albert, whilst Josef’s Jokey (Jockey)-Polka was written in tribute to the Prince Consort’s enthusiasm for riding (listen out for the startling whip-cracks!). The second disc is largely made up of Old Favourites – the Thunder and Lightening Polka, Radetzky March and of course the Blue Danube all receive sparkling performances, which are all the more welcome after the slightly more unusual first disc with its teasing hints of things to come! Samples as usual on the CD link below. BBC Music Magazine Awards ShortlistJanuary also brings the nominations for the annual BBC Music Magazine Awards. Perusing the shortlist on Friday, I was reminded of what an embarrassment of riches we were offered by the artists and labels in 2011, with repertoire ranging from Victoria to Steve Reich (and that’s just the choral category!) and already-legendary artists like Andreas Scholl sitting alongside newcomers such as Florian Boesch and Benjamin Grosvenor. We’re still pondering our decisions in the Presto office, but were pleased to see so many of our personal highlights of the year amongst the nominations: you may recall that we enthused about Agrippina, Billy Budd, Mr Grosvenor and Stutzmann’s Vivaldi disc in newsletters. As usual, we’ve created a special page for the Awards here where you can mull over your decisions before heading to BBC Music Magazine’s page to cast your vote – some tough choices to make!
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 New Year's Concert 2012 - CDVienna Philharmonic, Mariss Jansons |
 New Year's Concert 2012 - DVDVienna Philharmonic, Mariss Jansons |
 New Year's Concert 2012 - Blu-rayVienna Philharmonic, Mariss Jansons |
Katherine Cooper - katherine@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Listen - sound samples available for this itemNew Releases16th January 2012 |
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. 3 & Caprice BohemienRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily PetrenkoVasily Petrenko conducts the RLPO for Rachmaninov’s third and most expressive symphony, paired with his capriccio on gypsy themes, the Caprice Bohémien. This will be the first of a run of exciting releases focusing on the Russian music of Petrenko’s heritage.
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 Wagner: Die Meistersinger von NürnbergAlbert Dohmen (Hans Sachs), Robert Dean Smith (Walther von Stolzing), Edith Haller (Eva), Dietrich Henschel (Sixtus Beckmesser), Rundfunkchor Berlin & Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Marek JanowskiWe are delighted to announce the second release in the Complete Wagner Edition. It is a unique project with all Wagner’s operas being performed by the same forces in concert performances. The first release, Flying Dutchman (PTC5186400) was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.
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 Alison Balsom: SeraphAlison Balsom (trumpet), Scottish Ensemble, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence RenesAlison’s new recording of modern and contemporary repertoire marks an important artistic stepping stone in her career. This labour of love features the world premiere recording of Seraph, James MacMillan’s trumpet concerto written for Alison, works by Takemitsu and Zimmermann and includes her long-awaited recording of the ever popular Arutunian Trumpet Concerto. |
 Janacek: Choral WorksCappella Amsterdam, Daniel ReussJanácek’s choral works draw on an extremely rich repertory of folksongs and folk tales. The composer seized on idioms from Bohemian and Moravian traditions, with their characteristic folk dances and rustic nursery rhymes, and on the recently published ‘Moravian Duets’ of his compatriot Antonín Dvorák, to convey a mixture of emotions, forever shifting between cheerfulness and melancholy, like his subdued harmonies. Here we witness the birth of a musical language which, though deliberately rooted in central Europe, has projected for nearly a century the aura of a universal sentiment. |
 Two Souls (Khachaturian and Barber Violin Concertos)Mikhail Simonyan (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Kristjan JärviThis unusual coupling of the violin concertos by Aram Khachaturian and Samuel Barber, entitled Two Souls, is tailor-made for Mikhail Simonyan’s exciting DG debut. Born in Novosibirsk, Simonyan has mixed Russian and Armenian parentage, but spent his formative years in the US. Simonyan's close rapport with Kristjan Järvi and his first collaboration with one of the world’s best orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, produce an extraordinarily fresh reading of the two concertos. |
 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto Nos. 1 & 2Andrei Korobeinikov (piano), Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Okko KamuThese scores show two completely different periods in the life of Shostakovich: that of a young musician suddenly become famous, going from strength to strength, and a quarter of a century later, the trials and disappointments, both professional and romantic, of a composer nearing his fiftieth anniversary. After his recent success at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, both in recital and concerto, this is Andrei Korobeinikov’s third disk for Mirare, this time accompanied by the Orchestre Symphonique de Lahti and its principal conductor Okko Kamu. |
 Viola ConcertosNobuko Imai (viola), Orchestra de la haute Ecole de Musique de Geneve, Gabor Takacs-NagyPaul Hindemith (1895-1963) was one of the most under-appreciated composers of the 20th century. Talented and prolific, he was also a viola virtuoso of the highest order and premiered William Walton’s Viola Concerto. More than any other composer, Hindemith understood the viola and wrote some of its most challenging repertoire. ‘Der Schwanendreher’ is a delightful viola concerto with themes based on old German folksongs. On his death-bed Béla Bartók (1881-1945) left a draft of what appears to be almost all of the solo viola part of his concerto. The orchestration of the first version prepared for performance is largely Tibor Serly’s although Bartók left fairly frequent short-hand prompts to what he had in mind. The revised edition, by Peter Bartók and Nelson Dellamaggiore, has restored many original features, but has not fundamentally challenged the orchestration.
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 Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 9 Nos. 1-3Trio Zimmermann: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Christian Poltéra (cello)For their second release on BIS the Trio Zimmermann play Beethoven’s String Trios Op.9 – a set of three that the composer himself upon their completion described as the finest of his works. With their concentrated sonority, intense drama and striking formal disposition, the Op.9 trios mark the highlight as well as the end of Beethoven’s production for string trio before he went on to compose quartets instead.
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Watch - Video trailers available for this item
Download - download options available for this item BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 14th January 2012 |
Building a Library - Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61 |
 First ChoiceThomas Zehetmair (violin), Hallé, Sir Mark Elder |
Disc of the Week |
 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink |
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