Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - May 2017
May's been a great month for vocal and chamber-music in particular, with supremely assured collections of arias from one soprano at the peak of her stardom and another on the cusp of greatness, plus winning accounts of two glorious English string quartets from a young British ensemble and an outside-the-box collaboration between an octogenarian musical polymath and the Quatuor Ebène.
Perfido!: Concert arias by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven
Sophie Bevan (soprano), The Mozartists, Ian Page
I simply can't stop listening to this glorious collection of Classical scenas and concert arias from the young British soprano, caught here just as the youthful freshness of the voice begins to take on more dramatic qualities - the stormy final sections of the Haydn and Beethoven in particular suggest heavier roles to come. Taut, incisive accompaniments from Page's Mozartists, too.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The South Korean pianist (who won the Leeds Piano Competition when he was just 18) and Elder seem to be in perfect synchrony for these immaculately-paced performances - the music is given so much space to breathe and sing, so that the big climactic moments are thrown into even greater relief. The Hallé horns, in particular, are also at the top of their game.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
With a career that's encompassed jazz, film scores and Stockhausen, the veteran saxophonist and clarinettist Michel Portal defies categorisation, and this collaboration with the similarly eclectic Quatuor Ebène (whose recent recordings have included chansons and tango as well as Mozart and Schubert) made me feel as if I was eavesdropping on a late-night jamming-session amongst old friends.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A treasure-trove of rare gems by a composer who's still (to my mind) woefully under-recorded, showcasing the German soprano's pinpoint-accurate coloratura and newly-acquired vocal colours and amplitude: the long-lined cavatinas are every bit as breathtaking as the plentiful pyrotechnics.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The French cellist offers big-boned, passionate accounts of works exploring Jewish identity and diaspora in early twentieth-century America; the single-movement Korngold concerto in particular comes off with real silver-screen sweep and élan, and the much-recorded Bloch more than holds its own in the face of distinguished competition on disc.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Warm, open-hearted performances from the six-year-old British string quartet, who take the considerable technical demands of the Elgar entirely in their stride and make a hugely persuasive case for the neglected Delius quartet, with sound that's as glowing and golden as the record-sleeve.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
George Benjamin: Into the Little Hill
Susan Bickley (contralto), Hila Pitmann (soprano), London Sinfonietta, George Benjamin
With its unsettling combination of Gothic claustrophobia and luminous beauty, Benjamin's first opera - a tense 30-minute two-hander, based on the story of The Pied Piper - has much in common with his recent award-winner Written on Skin; the composer conducts, revealing its uncanny beauties with superb clarity in its second outing on record.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Mozart: Mitridate, rè di Ponto
Michael Spyres, Patricia Petibon, Christophe Dumaux; Le Concert d’Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm
It may not appeal if you're allergic to Regietheater, but to my mind Clément Hervieu-Léger's staging transforms the 14-year-old Mozart's opera seria into a gripping political drama rather than a mere showcase of virtuoso singing - though it is that too, with knockout performances from Michael Spyres in the fiendishly demanding title-role and countertenor Christophe Dumaux disturbing and compelling in equal measure as his Machiavellian eldest son.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
