New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-up - 15th September 2017
Box sets dedicated to live performances from Maria Callas, and Sir Georg Solti's tenure as chief conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are amongst this week's highlights, alongside dramatic works by Verdi and Rameau and chamber music from the Gringolts Quartet and violist Ellen Nisbeth.
Thanks to new audio remastering from the best available sources, this 45-disc set reveals Callas’ compelling genius as a singing actress with a new truthfulness and immediacy. Containing 20 complete operas – including 12 works she never recorded in the studio – and five complete filmed recitals on Blu-ray.
Available Formats: 42 CDs + 3 Blu-rays, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Over the last 25 years, Fazıl Say has firmly established himself as a musician to be reckoned with – as a pianist, director and composer. He is particularly noted for interpretations of Mozart, and it was with a recording of the complete sonatas that he made his debut recording for Warner Classics. He now turns to the music of Chopin with this disc of Nocturnes.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
An unusual feature of Schoenberg's Second String Quartet is the inclusion of a soprano in the two last movements. Almost thirty years later, in 1936, the String Quartet No. 4 was one of the first works that he composed in the USA after having been forced into exile by the threat of the Nazi regime in Germany. The two works are given full-blooded performances by the Gringolts Quartet, joined by the Swedish soprano Malin Hartelius.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
London Early Opera continue their programme themed around a typical evening’s entertainment at the 17th & 18th century Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, with a second collection of works by George Frideric Handel and contemporary composers of the day (John Stanley, Thomas Gladwin, John Lampe and Johann Adolph Hasse).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For her first recital disc, Swedish violist Ellen Nisbeth has devised an all-British programme which includes her own transcription of selected songs from Vaughan Williams's Songs of Travel, alongside the impassioned Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke, and Nisbeth's transcription of Benjamin Britten’s Third Suite for Cello.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rameau: Pygmalion
Cyrille Dubois (Pygmalion), Marie-Claude Chappuis (Céphise), Céline Scheen (La Statue), Eugénie Warnier (L’Amour), Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset
Rameau's 'acte de ballet' 'Pygmalion', was the composer's first work to bear that designation. The term denotes a one-act opera with the usual solo numbers, duets, and choruses, interspersed with dance episodes and is generally more pageant-like than plot-driven. Christophe Rousset gives life to this score and leads a new and essential reading.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Verdi: I Due Foscari (DVD)
Plácido Domingo (Francesco Foscari), Francesco Meli (Jacopo Foscari), Anna Pirozzi (Lucrezia Contarini), Teatro alla Scala, Michele Mariotti
In his ‘new life’ as a baritone Plácido Domingo has triumphed in the role of Francesco Foscari. Now he takes to the role in La Scala, Milan, joined by the soprano Anna Pirozzi and the tenor Francesco Meli, and the acclaimed Italian conductor Michele Mariotti.
Available Format: DVD Video
Verdi: I Due Foscari (Blu-ray)
Plácido Domingo (Francesco Foscari), Francesco Meli (Jacopo Foscari), Anna Pirozzi (Lucrezia Contarini), Teatro alla Scala, Michele Mariotti
In his ‘new life’ as a baritone Plácido Domingo has triumphed in the role of Francesco Foscari. Now he takes to the role in La Scala, Milan, joined by the soprano Anna Pirozzi and the tenor Francesco Meli, and the acclaimed Italian conductor Michele Mariotti.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
