New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 22nd December 2017
The past fortnight’s releases include two contrasting piano recitals based around Busoni’s transcription of Bach’s Chaconne BWV1004, a persuasive case for the études by the underappreciated Parisian composer Charles-Valentin Alkan, and a hypothetical reconstruction of an evening’s operatic entertainment at Versailles.
Recorded live at the Wigmore Hall in November 2014, the fourth volume of the former BBC New Generation Artists' widely praised Beethoven series consists of String Quartets Nos. 2, 7 and 12 and was recently described by The Guardian as ‘fresh, probing and confrontational’.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Roderick Williams: Sacred Choral Works
Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir, Ralph Allwood, Jonathan Eyre
The popular British baritone also has a thriving second career as a composer, and this collection of his choral works includes seasonal pieces such as Christmas bells and Mary had a Baby as well as settings of poetry by George Herbert, St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The intrepid young British pianist has dedicated much of his career to championing the music of Alkan, and proves the most engaging advocate for this formidably difficult but attractive set of studies from 1847 – stay tuned for Katherine’s exclusive interview with him in next week’s newsletter!
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For her second solo recording, the first-ever female winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition focuses on Romantic and twentieth-century repertoire inspired by the baroque chaconne, including music by Liszt, Busoni, Nielsen, Alfredo Casella and Sofia Gubaidulina.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Busoni's mighty transcription of Bach's Chaconne BWV1004 also features on the French pianist's 15th anniversary release on Naïve, alongside Bach's Italian Concerto and homages to the composer by Poulenc, Roussel and Liszt, plus four new works by Thomas Enhco (b.1988).
Available Format: CD
The winner of the 13th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition (who featured on Deutsche Grammophon’s Great Chopin Pianists boxed set two years ago) supplements the composer’s First Piano Sonata with six polonaises and the Variations on Mozart’s ‘Là ci darem la mano’.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Es war einmal... (Once Upon a Time...)
Jörg Widmann (clarinet), Tabea Zimmermann (viola) & Dénes Várjon (piano)
This delightful and quirky chamber-music album (described in last Sunday's Observer as 'ideal fireside listening') takes the fairy-tale as its inspiration: Schumann's fantastical Märchenbilder and Märchenerzählungen provide the creative impetus for two of Widmann's own compositions on the same theme.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Un opéra pour trois rois
Chantal Santon-Jeffery (soprano), Emőke Baráth (soprano), Thomas Dolié (baritone) Purcell Choir, György Vashegyi
Not an early celebration of Epiphany – the ‘Three Kings’ of the title are Louis XIV, XV and XVI, and this imaginative reconstruction of the sort of evening’s entertainment which they may have enjoyed at Versailles includes music by Lully, Rameau, Mondonville, Lalande and Blamont.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Savall’s eclectic traversal of ‘La Serenissima’’s musical history spans a thousand years, including works by well-known composers associated with the city such as Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Andrea Gabrieli as well as music from the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, all documented in a lavish hardcover book.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs + Book, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
