New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-up - 13th October 2017
Two early Mozart works receive sterling advocacy, Vasily Petrenko's Scriabin cycle with the Oslo Philharmonic goes from strength to strength, and Naxos's epic project to record all of Havergal Brian's remaining symphonies crosses the finishing-line.
JS Bach: Magnificat in E flat and Missa in F
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Recorded live in London at the end of a mammoth European tour last year, this postscript to Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with the Monteverdi Choir presents the Magnificat in its original version in E flat rather than the more familiar D major reworking which Bach made a decade later.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Piano Concerto No. 3
Lars Vogt (piano), Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Tanja Tetzlaff (cello) Royal Northern Sinfonia
For the second instalment of his Beethoven Concertos cycle (in which he directs the Northern Sinfonia from the keyboard) Vogt is joined by his long-term chamber-music partners, brother and sister Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff, for the Triple Concerto. The synergy which won the trio acclaim for the recordings of Brahms is evident in every bar.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This volume completes Naxos’s mission to make commercial recordings available of all of Havergal Brian’s 32 symphonies. (No. 26 was previously only available on a pirated LP, conducted by Vernon Handley, and No. 21 in an amateur performance by the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra). The recording opens with the one-movement Eighth Symphony, the first of Brian’s symphonies to be performed.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following the success of their Resurrection Symphony (described by BBC Music Magazine as ‘magnificently convincing in its artistic overview’), Gergiev and his Munich orchestra scale things down a notch or two with the Fourth Symphony, recorded live at the Philharmonie im Gasteig. Austrian soprano Genia Kuhmeier is the luminous soloist.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi and 3 Petites liturgies de la Présence Divine
Jane Archibald (soprano), Cynthia Millar (ondes martenot), Michael Brown (piano), Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Boychoir, Ludovic Morlot
The two works here celebrate two of the great loves of Messiaen’s life: his Catholic faith and his wife Claire Delbos aka ‘Mi’. Canadian soprano Jane Archibald, who’s made a name for herself in high-wire coloratura roles, is more than equal to the heavier demands of the song-cycle, whilst Morlot conjures an infinitely subtle range of colour from his Seattle forces.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Il sogno di Scipione
Chiara Skerath (soprano), Soraya Mafi (soprano), Klara Ek (soprano), Stuart Jackson (tenor), Krystian Adam (tenor), Robert Murray (tenor). Classical Opera, Ian Page
A rare outing for the fifteen-year-old Mozart’s ‘azione teatrale’ (almost certainly not performed complete during his lifetime); of the stylish young cast, tenor Stuart Jackson stands out in the title-role, negotiating the young composer’s often hyperactive writing with poise and flair. Future instalments of COC’s Mozart series are eagerly awaited!
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Lucio Silla (Blu-ray)
Kresimir Spicer (Lucio Silla), Lenneke Ruiten (Giunia), Marianne Crebassa (Cecilio), Inga Kalna (Lucio Cinna), Giulia Semenzato (Celia), Teatro alla Scala, Marc Minkowski
Another assured case for Mozart’s juvenilia comes courtesy of La Scala; the French mezzo Marianne Crebassa (who has a gorgeous album of French song is out on Warner next week) is an especial delight in the castrato-role of Cecilio. Director Marshall Pynkoski opts for a largely traditional staging, all corsets, frock-coats and sweeping baroque gesture.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Mozart: Lucio Silla (DVD)
Kresimir Spicer (Lucio Silla), Lenneke Ruiten (Giunia), Marianne Crebassa (Cecilio), Inga Kalna (Lucio Cinna), Giulia Semenzato (Celia), Teatro alla Scala, Marc Minkowski
Also available on DVD.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Scriabin: Symphony No. 2 & Piano Concerto
Kirill Gerstein (piano), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Petrenko’s Scriabin series with the Oslo Phiharmonic (the first volume was praised by BBC Music Magazine for his ‘broader than usual awareness of the creative legacy within which Scriabin worked’) continues apace with the Second Symphony of 1901 and the Piano Concerto; the soloist is Kirill Gerstein, who’s been making waves (or flames!) with his performances of Prometheus over the past couple of years.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Sibelius: Tapiola, En Saga & 8 Songs
Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo) Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Released to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Finnish independence, this disc couples tone-poems from either end of Sibelius’s career with a collection of songs in new orchestrations by fellow Finn Aulis Sallinen, tailored especially for Anne-Sofie von Otter. Watch this space for Katherine’s interview with Hannu Lintu next week.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Our dedicated Naxos New Release Brochure returns this week, where you can browse, read about, and listen to excerpts of all the exciting Naxos releases out today. Highlights include the final volumes of both Marin Alsop's acclaimed cycle of Prokofiev symphonies with São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and Naxos's series of Havergal Brian's 32 symphonies. Also to look out for this month are Saint-Saëns's cello concertos from Gabriel Schwabe, Bizet from Barcelona and two new box sets from the Idil Biret Archive.
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
