Coming Soon,
Paul Lewis's Haydn and other forthcoming highlights
The next month or two bring further instalments of several well-established series (Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Walton project on Chandos continues with the Viola Concerto and two late orchestral works, whilst the Silesian Quartet carry on flying the flag for Grażyna Bacewicz on the same label), plus two major artists branching into new territory: Paul Lewis begins his journey through Haydn’s keyboard sonatas on Harmonia Mundi, and Magdalena Kožená indulges in a bit of light relief after the intensity of Debussy’s Mélisande with a collection of songs by Cole Porter.
Following his towering accounts of the complete Beethoven sonatas and concertos and Schubert’s major piano works, Lewis embarks on a comprehensive survey of Haydn’s keyboard sonatas – works which he’s been exploring alongside Brahms in recital over the past year or so and has described as ‘some of the most startlingly original and irresistibly absurd piano writing in the entire repertoire’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
It’s not the first time James Ehnes has swapped his violin for a viola on disc (indeed his recording of the Bartók concertos for both instruments was a finalist in the 2012 Gramophone Awards): here he tackles a work he’s loved since his teenage years, supplemented by the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s accounts of the Partita for Orchestra and Sonata for String Orchestra (which Walton adapted from his A minor String Quartet).
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Grieg & Delius: Piano Concertos
Mark Bebbington (piano), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jan Latham-Koenig
Bebbington has become something of a specialist in twentieth-century English music, and here he presents Delius’s score (unperformed with orchestra during his lifetime) alongside the work which inspired it: his friend Edvard Grieg’s hugely popular concerto of 1868. He also includes the sketches for Grieg’s projected Second Concerto, which he began in the 1880s but never completed.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bartók: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Hot on the heels of Renaud Capuçon’s imminent recording with the London Symphony Orchestra (out on Erato next week), Tetzlaff offers a rival take on Bartók’s two concertos; the German violinist has previous form with this composer, with his 2004 album of the Sonatas impressing BBC Music with its ‘soft-grained sound and almost breathy phrasing’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
For their first recording of Shostakovich, the Belcea Quartet are joined by Polish pianist Anderszewski, with whom they’ve performed regularly over the past fifteen years or so: reviewing their account of the Piano Quintet at the Wigmore Hall in 2002, The Telegraph admired their joint ability to move between ‘bleak dignity and fragile tenderness’ and ‘a violence on the edge of incoherence’.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
After winning a Gramophone Award last year for their recording of Bacewicz’s complete string quartets (also described as 'a tremendous achievement' by BBC Music Magazine), the Silesians continue their advocacy for the chamber-music of the Polish composer and violinist (1909-69) with this collection of the two Piano Quintets and quartets for four violins and four cellos.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Messiaen has always loomed large in Aimard’s repertoire (his discography includes a Vingt Regards which was described as ‘superb, even awe-inspiring’ by the New York Times, and landmark interpretations of Quatuor pour le fin du temps and Turangalîla); here he begins his exclusive relationship with Pentatone with a work which he describes as ‘a musical refuge that resonates with an audience ever more concerned' with the relationship between man and the natural world.
Available Formats: 3 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Inspired by Frederica von Stade's recordings of Cole Porter, the Czech mezzo takes a step outside her usual comfort-zone for the inaugural release on her own label Brnofon, which includes Night and Day, My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye, and Miss Otis Regrets.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
For her first solo album for Alpha, the French soprano presents a programme based around the idea of dreams and visions, including songs by Schumann, Wolf, Debussy, Poulenc and Samuel Barber, and settings of Emily Dickinson by André Previn and Robert Baksa.
Available Formats: CD + Book, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Handel: Arminio (DVD)
Max Emanuel Cencic, Gaia Petrone, Lauren Snouffer; Armonia Atenea, George Petrou, Max Emanuel Cencic (dir.)
Max Cencic has spent the last couple of years championing Handel’s neglected 1737 opera both on stage and in the studio: his interpretation of the title-role on Armonia Atenea’s 2016 recording for Decca was praised by Gramophone for his ability to sustain ‘rich, beautifully rounded tone through even the most athletic numbers’, and this DVD premiere of the work captures his own production, filmed at the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe last March.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Handel: Arminio (Blu-ray)
Max Emanuel Cencic, Gaia Petrone, Lauren Snouffer; Armonia Atenea, George Petrou, Max Emanuel Cencic (dir.)
Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD MA 5.1
Picture: NTSC, 16:9
Available Format: Blu-ray
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
