New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 27th July 2018
Today’s new releases include a third instalment of Rachmaninov from pianist Steven Osborne, a recent live recording of Schubert’s final symphony from Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Goldberg Variations in an arrangement for accordion, and the complete string quartets of James MacMillan (look out for David’s forthcoming interview with him about these works over the coming weeks…).
Recorded live at Munich’s Herkulessaal der Residenz in February of this year, this is a rare opportunity to hear the Latvian conductor in Schubert; the recording was recently described by MusicWeb International as ‘a captivating and uncommonly fresh reading…a labour of love which combines glorious drama and deep compassion’.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Scottish pianist has serious form with this composer: his recording of the Preludes (also on Hyperion) was described as 'outstanding Rachmaninov playing of acute perception, discretion and poetic sensibility' (BBC Music Magazine) and 'the best on disc since Vladimir Ashkenazy' (The Guardian). This new album includes both Op. 33 and Op. 39 in their entirety.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Three works by American composers from the second half of the twentieth century: Walter Piston’s Symphony No. 6 from 1955, Samuel Jones’s Symphony No. 3 (subtitled ‘Palo Duro Canyon’) from 1992, and the unfinished Second Symphony of Stephen Albert (1941-92): this New York Philharmonic commission was completed by Sebastian Currier following Albert’s death in a car accident.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Danish accordionist performs his own transcription of the Goldbergs, a work he describes as ‘so much more than a gigantic-sounding sudoku. Each variation is an expressive universe unto itself, and the music passes through almost every corner of the human spectrum of emotions’.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Royals present MacMillan’s complete numbered output (so far!) for string quartet: No. 1 ’Visions of a November Spring’ (from 1988), No. 2 'Why is this night different?' (1998), and the untitled No. 3, composed for the Takács Quartet and premiered in 2008. The Polish quartet have championed MacMillan’s music since their days as BBC New Generation Artists
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Franz Lachner: Catharina Cornaro
Kristiane Kaiser, Daniel Kirch, Mauro Peter, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Ralf Weikert
Lachner’s 1841 grand opera was hugely popular in Munich in the last half of the nineteenth century, but hadn’t been performed there for over 100 years until this concert-performance in 2012; this recording arrives hot on the heels of Ediciones Singulares’ recent account of Halévy’s La reine de Chypre (based on the same story).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 & Symphony No. 3
Vadim Repin (violin), Simon Callow (narrator) London Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexander Lazarev
Recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in November 1997, this programme includes a rare complete performance of the picaresque 1921 ballet Chout, with veteran actor Simon Callow providing the narration, plus the early symphonic poem Dreams. Repin had recently recorded the Second Violin Concerto with Kent Nagano when the concert took place, but this is his first commercial recording of the First.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Salzburg Festival Concerts (DVD)
Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle
Recorded between 2007 and 2013, this 5-DVD set includes Bruckner’s Te Deum and Schoenberg’s Variations for Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied and Stravinsky's Firebird conducted by Pierre Boulez, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 conducted by Simon Rattle, and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Orchestras include the Wiener Philharmoniker, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and the National Children’s Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.
Available Format: 5 DVD Videos
Pierre Boulez, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle
Available Format: 6 Blu-rays
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