New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 2nd February 2018
Today's highlights include Prokofiev’s violin concertos from Lisa Batiashvili. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, lithe and limber Brahms from Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and a scintillating survey of Stravinsky’s works for two pianists from Leif Ove Andsnes and Marc-André Hamelin. There’s also a quartet of large-scale twentieth-century psalm settings from Tenebrae and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, an infectious collection of upscaled Dag Wirén from Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and a live recording of Beethoven 'Firsts' from a veteran pianist and conductor, joining forces for the first time on record.
Two titans of the keyboard join forces for Stravinsky’s own arrangement of The Rite for two pianos, plus the Concerto for two pianos from the mid-1930s, and transcriptions of Madrid (by the composer's son Soulima), Tango and Circus Polka (by Victor Babin).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Following her outstanding accounts of the Sibelius and Tchaikovsky last December, the Georgian violinist takes on both of Prokofiev's concertos, supplemented by short pieces from Cinderella, Romeo & Juliet and The Love of Three Oranges in new orchestrations by her father Tamás.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This is an album of 'firsts' in several respects - Argerich and Ozawa have never previously recorded together, and here they join forces for the Piano Concerto No. 1, captured live in concert in Japan last May and coupled with Symphony No. 1.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Following his compelling debut solo recording of unaccompanied works by Bach, Bartok and Boulez, Barenboim continues his exploration of music for solo violin with this album of Italian repertoire, shot through with a whiff of the demonic! Watch out for Katherine’s interview with him about the project in the coming weeks.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Magnificats from three members of the Bach dynasty: Johann Sebastian’s hugely popular BWV243, Carl Philipp Emanuel’s setting from 1749 (performed here in its revision from thirty years later), and his half-brother Johann Christian’s far less familiar 1760 version.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Suzuki continues his traversal of Bach’s non-sacred cantatas with ‘Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde’, depicting the musical duelling between Phoebus and Pan (which ends inauspiciously for the latter when his rival curses him with donkey’s ears in a fit of pique after losing!) and ‘Auf, schmetternde Töne’, which includes music from the first Brandenburg Concerto.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The clarity and taut energy of Dausgaard's Brahms has impressed the Presto office hugely this week - few of us can remember being quite so aware of the beauties of the inner string parts! Here's hoping he and his Swedish musicians complete the cycle with the remaining two symphonies...
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Four hugely engaging works by the Swedish composer (1905-86): the popular Serenade for Strings, and the lesser-known the Sinfonietta, Symphony No. 3 & Divertimento. Gamba opts for a full string-section rather than the chamber-orchestra forces which have usually taken on this music, to exhilarating effect.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Tenebrae join forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra to present four great twentieth-century psalm settings: Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Schoenberg’s Freide auf Erden and Zemlinsky’s Psalm 23.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty
Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov, Kristen Mcnally, Claire Calvert; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Koen Kessels
Filmed at Covent Garden at Christmas 2016 and broadcast to cinemas around the world, Marianela Nuñez’s Aurora won praise from the Financial Times for her ‘astounding command of time and space’; the production (dating from 1946 but freshened up in 2006) and Marius Petipa’s choreography continue to dazzle over six decades after their first appearance at the house.
Available Format: DVD Video
Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty (Blu-ray)
Marianela Nuñez, Vadim Muntagirov, Kristen Mcnally, Claire Calvert; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Koen Kessels
Filmed at Covent Garden at Christmas 2016 and broadcast to cinemas around the world, Marianela Nuñez’s Aurora won praise from the Financial Times for her ‘astounding command of time and space’; the production (dating from 1946 but freshened up in 2006) and Marius Petipa’s choreography continue to dazzle over six decades after their first appearance at the house.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
