New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 11th May 2018
Boris Giltburg continues his survey of Rachmaninov's complete works for piano and orchestra whilst Fabio Bonizzoni embarks on a series of Bach's keyboard concertos; Terry Gilliam's acclaimed production of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini is released on DVD and Blu-ray, and an obscure but attractive Donizetti comedy receives its first outing on record in nearly fifty years.
Directing from the keyboard, Bonizzoni embarks on a complete survey of Bach’s harpsichord concertos, performed one-to-a-part by soloists from the ensemble which he formed in 1995; this first volume features BWV1052, 1053, 1055 and 1056.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 & Variations on a Theme of Corelli
Boris Giltburg (piano), Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto
Following an account of the Second Piano Concerto which prompted Gramophone to declare that 'Giltburg seems to imbibe the composer’s spirit', the Russian-born Israeli pianist continues his traversal of Rachmaninov's complete works for piano and orchestra. You can read Katherine’s interview with him about the previous volume here.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The co-principal flautist of the Berliner Philharmoniker performs unaccompanied works by composers including Telemann, Nielsen, Karg-Elert, Takemitsu, Honegger, Varèse, Arvo Pärt, Jörg Widmann, and Matthias Pinstcher.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The German-Italian pianist explores the musical legacy of the friendship between Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn, as well as Mendelssohn’s relationship with his sister Fanny and Schumann’s marriage to Clara Wieck. The programme includes complete performances of Schumann’s Fantasiestücke Op. 12 and Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, as well as a selection of Fanny’s ‘songs for the piano’ and Clara’s Scherzo Op. 14.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Now four instalments in, Fischer Senior’s Mahler series from Düsseldorf was recently described by Gramophone as ‘shaping up to be the most idiomatic and exciting cycle of Mahler symphonies since Kubelík and Bernstein’, and Team Presto are in complete agreement – Fischer's ‘lyrical, captivating’ account of the First Symphony was one of Katherine’s Editor’s Choices back in March.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
German Cantatas: Biber, JC Bach, Pachelbel
Nahuel Di Pierro (bass), Ensemble Diderot, Johannes Pramsohler
The Italian-born violinist and conductor directs a programme of cantatas by three composers who were close to JS Bach’s father Johann Ambrosius during his time presiding over the musical life of Eisenach (where his most famous son was born in 1685), plus works by Biber and Bruhns. His soloists include the young Argentine bass Nahuel di Pierro and British bass-baritone Christopher Purves.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
McCreesh and the Gabrielis explore five centuries of music inspired by the Virgin Mary, from Tallis’s Videte miraculum and Robert Wylkynson’s Salve Regina to a new Magnificat by Matthew Martin (b.1976) and a setting of Ave maris stella by the rising young conductor and composer Owain Park (b.1993). Also includes music by Howells, Warlock, Leighton and MacMillan.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana & Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
Fiorenza Cossotto, Joan Carlyle, Carlo Bergonzi, Giuseppe Taddei, Rolando Panerai, Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Herbert von Karajan
Bergonzi does double-duty as Mascagni’s cuckolder and Leoncavallo’s cuckold on Karajan’s expansive 1965 studio recording of the verismo double-bill, presented here in a deluxe hardback edition on two CDs and a blu-ray audio.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia
Hermann Prey (Figaro), Teresa Berganza (Rosina), Luigi Alva (Almaviva), Enzo Dara (Bartolo), Paolo Montarsolo (Basilio); London Symphony Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, Claudio Abbado
Abbado's studio Barber from 1971 also receives the deluxe treatment; reviewing the recording for our Presto Favourites series, my colleague Katherine observed that 'Abbado's pacing of the famous 'Rossini crescendos', particularly in the long Act One finale, is masterly...the wit and charm of the entire undertaking leap out of the speakers.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (DVD)
John Osborn, Mariangela Sicilia, Maurizio Muraro, Laurent Naouri, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder, Terry Gilliam
Filmed at the Dutch National Opera in 2016, Gilliam’s production of Berlioz’s ‘opera semiseria’ (based on the colourful memoirs of the eponymous sixteenth-century Florentine goldsmith) was described by the Financial Times as brimming with the ‘madcap creativity of a Monty Python alumnus’, whilst The Guardian declared that ‘the sheer energy and generous humour of the show are hard to resist’.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (Blu-ray)
John Osborn, Mariangela Sicilia, Maurizio Muraro, Laurent Naouri, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder, Terry Gilliam
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.78:1
Available Format: Blu-ray
Donizetti: Il Borgomastro di Saardam
Giorgio Caoduro (Tsar), Juan Francisco Gatell (Pietro Flimann), Irina Dubrovskaya (Marietta); Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Donizetti Opera
The early life of a Russian Tsar is the sort of operatic subject-matter more usually associated with the likes of Mussorgsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov than the composer of L’elisir d’amore, but in 1827 Donizetti’s ‘melodramma giocoso’ (which centres on Peter the Great working undercover in a Dutch shipyard!) scored a great hit in Naples; this revival from Bergamo last year captures the Rossinian wit and charm of the piece in all its glory.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Giorgio Caoduro (Tsar), Juan Francisco Gatell (Pietro Flimann), Irina Dubrovskaya (Marietta); Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Donizetti Opera
Available Format: DVD Video
Giorgio Caoduro (Tsar), Juan Francisco Gatell (Pietro Flimann), Irina Dubrovskaya (Marietta); Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Donizetti Opera
Available Format: Blu-ray
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 this month. Alongside Boris Giltburg's Rachmaninov and the Dutch National Opera's Berlioz, highlights include cello works by Schumann from Gabriel Schwabe plus recordings of orchestral music by Smetana and Poulenc.
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
