New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 11th October 2019
This week’s releases include the culmination of Daniil Trifonov’s Rachmaninov journey with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a second instalment of Schumann from Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber (with soprano Camilla Tilling as guest), a coda to Andrew Manze’s acclaimed Vaughan Williams cycle with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and a live recording of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice from La Nuova Musica with Iestyn Davies and Sophie Bevan in the title-roles.
Destination Rachmaninov - Arrival
Daniil Trifonov (piano), Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
The first leg of the young Russian pianist’s Rachmaninov journey won the Concerto Category at this year’s BBC Music Magazine Awards, and was an Album of the Year for both The Guardian and The Times in 2018; this second stretch includes Trifonov’s own transcriptions of the Vocalise and The Silver Sleigh Bells from the large-scale choral work The Bells as well as Concertos Nos. 1 and 3.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending & Fantasia on a Theme By Thomas Tallis
James Ehnes (violin) Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
Five months on from the completion of their outstanding cycle of the complete symphonies ('as charismatic and affectionate as any on disc' - The Arts Desk), the Liverpool orchestra and their Principal Guest Conductor present a collection of Vaughan Williams's shorter works, which also includes Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, the English Folk Song Suite, and the rarely-performed orchestral version of Serenade to Music.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The first instalment of the German baritone’s complete Schumann song series with his long-term recital-partner Gerold Huber was recently announced as the winner of the Solo Vocal Category of this year’s Gramophone Awards; for this second volume, he shares the cycle which the composer wrote as a wedding-present for his wife Clara with soprano Camilla Tilling.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2
Boris Giltburg (piano), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Earlier this week the Israeli pianist announced his plans to master all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas (23 of which will be entirely new to him) to mark the composer’s 250th anniversary next year, but first comes a cycle of the piano concertos with Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; volumes two and three will follow in May and October.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Fortin and his musicians trace the history of the coffee trade via music by Marin Marais, Matthew Locke, Nicolas Bernier and the Turkish composers Nâyi Osman Dede and Tamburi Cemil Bey, interspersed with improvisations on the ney flute, the Arab violin and the yayli tanbur; the programme concludes with JS Bach’s ‘Coffee Cantata’ Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Iestyn Davies (Orfeo), Sophie Bevan (Euridice), Rebecca Bottone (Amor); La Nuova Musica, David Bates
Recorded live at St John’s Smith Square last May, this Orfeo was described as ‘intense and pleasurable’ by Opera Now, whilst Opera Today had special praise for Davies’s ‘powerful, penetrating but also patrician countertenor’ as the bereaved musician-hero; the opera is presented in the original 1762 Vienna version, with the addition of the Elysian Fields scene from the Paris version of 1774.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This is the German pianist’s third all-Liszt album, following a bicentenary solo recital on Claves which Pianist Magazine deemed ‘one of the truly great Liszt releases of this year’ and a recording of the concertos which Gramophone praised for its ‘overall mastery and insight’; the programme opens with the Piano Sonata in B minor, followed by the Deux légendes, Après une lecture du Dante, and Csárdás obstinée.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Stuart Skelton (Tristan), Gun-Brit Barkmin (Isolde), Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Boaz Daniel (Kurwenal), Ain Anger (King Marke); West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Asher Fisch
Recorded live in concert last August, this Tristan was described by Limelight Magazine as ‘an astonishing gift to audiences and a triumph of music making’; Isolde is sung by Gun-Brit Barkmin, whom Jaap van Zweden described as ‘one of the great singers of the moment’ following her Brünnhilde on his Naxos Ring Cycle from Hong Kong last year. You can read Katherine’s interview with Stuart Skelton about the challenges of singing Tristan here.
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Time and Space: Songs By Holst And Vaughan Williams
Roderick Williams (baritone), Mary Bevan (soprano), William Vann (piano), Jack Liebeck (violin)
Released to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, this recital includes fourteen world premiere recordings: four by Vaughan Williams and ten by his close friend Gustav Holst. The album closes with both composers’ settings of Darest Thou Now O Soul from Walt Whitman’s Sea Drift.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Czech pianist has championed Martinů’s fourth piano concerto Incantation (composed in New York towards the end of his life) since his students days, with BachTrack deeming the work ‘the surprise discovery of the evening’ thanks to his advocacy at a recent concert in Bamberg; it’s paired here with the original version of Dvořák’s sole piano concerto, premiered in Prague in 1878.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (DVD)
Samuel Youn (Der Holländer), Ingela Brimberg (Senta), Lars Woldt (Donald), Bernard Richter (Georg); Les Musiciens du Louvre, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Marc Minkowski
Minkowski first recorded the 1841 version of Wagner’s opera (conceived for the Paris Opera and set in Scotland rather than the Norway of the 1843 Dresden version) on Naïve in 2013, and several of the singers reprise their roles in this 2015 production from the Theater an der Wien; reviewing one of the live performances, The Opera Critic observed that the period-instrument orchestra ‘produced a rare palette of colours and dynamics in a reading full of chamber-like detail’.
Available Format: DVD Video
Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (Blu-ray)
Samuel Youn (Der Holländer), Ingela Brimberg (Senta), Lars Woldt (Donald), Bernard Richter (Georg); Les Musiciens du Louvre, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Marc Minkowski
Picture format: HD 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo and DTS-MA 5.1
Available Format: Blu-ray
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
