New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-up - 2nd March 2018
Today’s stand-out releases include a live recording of Mahler from Christian Thielemann and the Münchner Philharmoniker, formidable Rachmaninov concertos from Yevgeny Sudbin, Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, persuasive advocacy for a neglected Tudor master by the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and a fiery first solo album from the dramatic mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili.
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3
Yevgeny Sudbin (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
The Russian pianist concludes his masterly survey of Rachmaninov's works for piano and orchestra with the composer's two most popular concertos; previous instalments were described as 'exhilarating, barnstorming, spine-tingling’ (BBC Music Magazine) and 'rich in detail and immaculately executed’ (Gramophone).
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mahler: Wunderhorn-Lieder and Symphony No. 10 (Adagio)
Michael Volle (bass-baritone), Münchner Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann
A rare opportunity to hear Thielemann (generally more of a Wagner and Bruckner man) conducting Mahler, this concert was recorded live on the centenary of the composer’s death; Michael Volle (who sang Wotan under Thielemann five years after this recording was made) contributes eight Wunderhorn songs, including Urlicht - usually the province of mezzos.
Available Format: CD
The Romantic Piano Concerto 74 - Sir William Sterndale Bennett
Howard Shelley (piano & conductor), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Shelley’s recording of Sterndale Bennett’s Fourth Piano Concerto on Vol. 43 of the Romantic Piano Concerto series over a decade ago received praise from Gramophone for the ‘air-spun brilliance and stylistic elegance’ of his playing; now he tackles the composer’s first three concertos, written in the early 1830s.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Definitely one to play at full volume - recorded in surround sound in one of London's liveliest acoustics, this collection includes nearly fifty fanfares (some of them under a minute long!) by fourteen British composers from the past 150 years, including Malcolm Arnold, Arnold Bax, Arthur Bliss, Eric Coates, Imogen Holst, Albert Ketèlbey and Michael Tippett.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Ludford: Missa Videte miraculum & Ave Maria, ancilla Trinitatis
Westminster Abbey Choir, James O'Donnell
A contemporary of John Taverner and Robert Fayrfax, Ludford lived just a stone’s throw from Westminster Abbey at the beginning of his career, and its choir do full justice to the mass and sequence here in performances which were celebrated in this month’s Gramophone for their ‘graceful long-arced phrases’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
ANITA: Opera Arias
Anita Rachvelishvili (mezzo), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Giacomo Sagripanti
The Georgian mezzo makes her solo recording debut with snapshots of her signature-roles including Carmen, Dalila, Santuzza and Azucena - she took The Met by storm with the latter last month, with the New York Times describing her gypsy as 'the opera's riveting, volatile central figure'. There's also a foretaste of Eboli, which she debuts in 2019.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Così fan tutte (DVD)
Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel Behle, Alessio Arduini, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Sabina Puertolas; Royal Opera House, Semyon Bychkov, Jan Philipp Gloger
Gloger’s elaborate contemporary staging (which has the women wise up to the men’s little game halfway through the action) may not be to all tastes and Bychkov is an idiosyncratic Mozartian, but this is worth catching for Daniel Behle’s outstandingly sung Ferrando, which my colleague Katherine told me was one of the most spellbinding Covent Garden debuts she’s ever heard.
Available Format: DVD Video
Mozart: Così fan tutte (Blu-ray)
Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel Behle, Alessio Arduini, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Sabina Puertolas; Royal Opera House, Semyon Bychkov, Jan Philipp Gloger
Sound format: LPCM 2.0, DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
Available Format: Blu-ray
A 7-CD collection including the Prussian, Dissonance and Hoffmeister quartets, in performances described by Gramophone as ‘exceptionally intimate and refined’; Alfred Brendel joins for the Piano Quartet K493 and a chamber arrangement of Piano Concerto No. 12.
Available Formats: 7 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
