Hi-Res Highlights,
Hi-Res Highlights - September 2017
This month's crop includes beautifully remastered recordings of Maria Callas from the early 1950s, an imaginative collaboration from two of the winners of this year's Gramophone Awards, and the final instalment of Warner's much-loved 'Live from Lugano' series, which show Martha Argerich in indomitable form both as soloist and chamber-musician.
One of our recent Recordings of the Week includes arias by Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Offenbach, Lalo, Massenet and Halévy; luxury cameos from Sonya Yoncheva and Ludovic Tézier in scenes from Manon and The Pearl Fishers.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Two veteran Brahms interpreters join forces with Leonidas Kavakos (himself renowned for his recordings of the violin sonatas and concerto) for performances of 'tremendous authority and faultless ensemble' (The Guardian).
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Zimerman's first solo album for Deutsche Grammophon in over twenty-five years was recently praised by my colleague James for its 'great charm and appealingly direct simplicity' and for the 'varied overtones' of the keyboard which Zimerman designed himself especially for this recording.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The soprano and countertenor explore some infrequently-recorded duets by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Quilter and Purcell-via-Britten; their lunchtime recital of this repertoire at last year's Proms was described by The Independent as 'chamber music of the highest quality'.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Full-blooded accounts of three choral masterpieces of the twentieth century, 'sung with characteristic “European” ripeness of tone and precision' (The Observer): Janacek's Otcenáš, Kodály's Missa brevis, and Poulenc's Mass in G.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A fascinating collection of British piano works from the last century, including Britten's Holiday Diary, Holst's Brook Green Suite (in an arrangement by Vally Lasker), Ronald Stevenson's Fantasy on Peter Grimes, and a new work by Roderick Williams, Goodwood-by-the-Sea
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Études-Tableaux, Op. 33
Boris Giltburg (piano), Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto
In the first instalment of a projected survey of Rachmaninov's works for piano and orchestra, the Israeli pianist (described as 'a natural Rachmaninov interpreter' by Gramophone) tackles the evergreen Second Piano Concerto, along with two delightful transcriptions of pieces by Behr and Kreisler.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
To mark Jurowski taking up the baton as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Pentatone release their new recordings of Totenfeier and Also sprach Zarathustra, plus the mysterious Symphonisches Präludium which has been attributed to both Mahler and Bruckner.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The American baritone's first full-length French song album includes mélodies by Bizet, Chausson, Chabrier, Gounod, Magnard, Meyerbeer and Saint-Saëns - the original voice and piano setting of the latter's Danse macabre is a particular highlight.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Martha Argerich & Friends: Live from Lugano 2016
Martha Argerich (piano), Renaud Capuçon (violin), Orchestra e Coro della Svizzera Italiana, Diego Fasolis and others
The final volume of live recordings from the annual Swiss festival includes music by Busoni, Falla, Brahms, Berg and Debussy, as well as a rare performance of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit from the grand dame herself.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Re-Issues
Spontini: La Vestale
Franco Corelli (Licinius), Maria Callas (Giulia), Ebe Stignani (Gran Vestale), Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto
One of the rarities in the new Callas Live series, this 1954 Vestale from La Scala captures 'La Divina' in a role which she sang only rarely but which has parallels with one of her signature-roles, Bellini's Norma - both works depict a priestess torn between her passion for a Roman officer and her sacred duty.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bellini: Norma
Maria Callas (Norma), Ebe Stignani (Adalgisa), Mirto Picchi (Pollione), Giacomo Vaghi (Oroveso), Joan Sutherland (Clotilde), Royal Opera House, Vittorio Gui
It was as Bellini's conflicted Druid priestess that Callas made her Covent Garden debut in 1952; on this live recording she shares the stage once again with Ebe Stignani and a soprano who would go on to become a formidable Norma in her own right - Joan Sutherland, then just 26, who sings the small role of Clotilde here.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Remastered at 24-bit/96kHz from the original tapes, these 1980 recordings of the Second English Suite, Toccata BWV911 and Partita No. 2 were praised by Gramophone for the 'deeply accomplished and thoughtful pianism' on offer.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rafael Kubelik
Reviewing a re-issue of these recordings from 1968 and 1970, Gramophone observed in 2010 that 'The poet among Mahler conductors delivers a performance filled with imagination and delight...Kubelik’s unpretentious, Bohemian approach to the symphony remains perfectly valid.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Knappertsbusch conducts Beethoven, Brahms and Weber
Géza Anda (piano), Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hans Knappertsbusch
This complete concert from 1962 comprises Weber's Euryanthe Overture, Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto, and Brahms's St Anthony Variations and Third Symphony.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bach, Brahms & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos
David Oistrakh (violin), Staatskapelle Dresden, Franz Konwitschny, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Eugene Goossens, Wiener Symphoniker
Running to almost two and a half hours, this vintage collection includes the Beethoven Romances and the Bach Double Concerto, in which Oistrakh is joined by his son Igor.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
David Smith - Head of Digital
