New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 22nd July 2022
Today's new releases include an anthology of theatre and film music by Penderecki from the Beethoven Academy Orchestra and Maciej Tworek, Haydn from Trio Gaspard, the first instalment of a Stravinsky trilogy from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, and the complete symphonies of Danish composer Per Nørgård from Thomas Dausgaard, Sakari Oramo, and John Storgårds.
This digital-only release captures the concert which the Metropolitan Opera gave on 14th March to raise funds for the people of Ukraine; the programme opens with the National Anthem of Ukraine (with Ukrainian bass-baritone and Met Lindemann Young Artist Vladyslav Buialskyi as soloist), and also includes Valentin Silvestrov’s Prayer for Ukraine, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Verdi's 'Va, pensiero', Strauss's Four Last Songs with Lise Davidsen, and the final movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (with soloists Elza van den Heever, Jamie Barton, Piotr Beczała, and Ryan Speedo Green).
All proceeds from the album will be donated to charities supporting relief efforts in Ukraine.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Described in the latest edition of BBC Music Magazine as 'a generous treasure trove that dusts off some of the late Polish composer’s more obscure early pieces', this album features Penderecki's music for Little Orphan Mary and the Dwarves, Tom Thumb and the Wolf and Adventures of the Warsaw Bear (all written for children's puppet-theatres in the 1950s and 60s), the 1959 documentary There is No End to the Great War, and Adam Mickiewicz's poetic drama Forefathers’ Eve.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Per Nørgård: 8 Symphonies
Ulla Munch, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Danish National Concert Choir, Vienna Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard, Sakari Oramo, John Storgårds
The Danish composer has described each of his symphonies (composed between 1953 and 2011) as 'a whole continent in itself', and this set offers the opportunity to experience the full range of his invention in one fell swoop. Highlights include Sakari Oramo's world premiere recording of Symphony No. 8 (which won the Contemporary category at the 2015 Gramophone Awards) and John Storgårds's 'almost miraculous' (BBC Music Magazine) accounts of Symphonies Nos. 2 & 6 with the Oslo Philharmonic.
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC
This is the first instalment of a three-volume Stravinsky series recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall during Jurowski's tenure as Principal Conductor of the LPO; the mainstays of the programme are The Rite of Spring (from 2008) and The Firebird (recorded during the Stravinsky Festival Changing Faces in 2018). Also includes the recently-rediscovered Chant funèbre, the early Scherzo fantastique, Le Faune et la Bergère, and Symphony in E flat.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Haydn's music has featured heavily in the Gaspard's repertoire since the trio's inception in 2010, with the majority of their recitals including at least one of his works; for the first volume of a projected complete (and non-chronological) survey, they present the Piano Trios No. 20, 23, 32, 38 and 40, followed by a short new Haydn-inspired work by the percussionist and composer Johannes Fischer (b.1981).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Works For Two Cellos
Alexander Rudin, Emin Martirosian (cellos), Musica Viva Moscow Chamber Orchestra
As the cello began to flourish as a solo instrument in the early nineteenth century, compositions for two or more cellos (either alone or with orchestra) also became increasingly popular: this album features two such works by Bernhard Romberg and Anton Kraft, plus the world premiere recording of the Concertino for 2 Cellos in C by Kraft's son Nikolaus, who is thought to have been the cello soloist for the first performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto in 1808.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Spanning three centuries of music, the Australian saxophonist's recital mixes adaptations of works which predate the invention of his instrument (including music by Boismortier, Quantz and Stamitz) with new pieces for saxophone by Kazuo Fukushima, Kalevi Aho and Thierry Escaich; also includes transcriptions of pieces by Vieuxtemps and Reger.
Available Format: CD
The Italian-Slovenian pianist (a BBC New Generation Artist who was placed second at the 2021 International Chopin Competition) opens his debut on Avi Music with Prokofiev's Sarcasms, which he describes as 'a quasi-scientific investigation, probably connected with the mood in Saint Petersburg immediately prior to the October Revolution'; his programme also includes the same composer's Visions fugitives, Nikolai Tcherepnin's The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, and his son Alexander's Préludes nostalgiques.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A year on from her warmly-received album of transcriptions (re)creations (described as 'music-making of real purpose and conviction' by BBC Music Magazine), Chochieva presents a recital which interweaves music by Mozart and Scriabin: two composers who rarely appear alongside one another, but whom the Russian pianist sees as being linked by 'the perfection in the phrasing, the polyphony and the formal proportions, plus the concision and the lack of superfluous notes'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Recorded on the Great Organ of Magdeburg Cathedral, this recital of contemporary organ music includes Barry Jordan’s Praise Song (which draws on modern worship-songs and African drumming techniques), Theo Brandmüller’s final composition Sternenklänge, Arvo Pärt's Annum per annum (K-G-C-S-A), and Blohn's own Dialogue vers les étoiles, a tribute of sorts to the memory of his late teacher Brandmüller.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The German soprano (and great-niece of the celebrated Wagnerian Helen Traubel) teams up with one of today's finest song-pianists for a programme featuring Mahler's Rückert-Lieder (the last line of which gives the album its title), Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder, Korngold's Drei Lieder Op. 22, and Liszt selections including 'Die Lorelei', 'Freudvoll und leidvoll', and 'Es muss ein Wunderbares sein'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Produced in association with the Musikverein and Salzburg Festival, this set captures the cycle of the complete symphonies which Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker recorded in anticipation of Bruckner's bicentenary in 2024; the early symphonies in F minor and D minor (the 'Study' symphony and the 'Nullte') are also included, as is extensive footage of Thielemann in rehearsal and conversation about each work.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea (DVD)
Hana Blažíková, Kangmin Justin Kim, Carlo Vistoli, Gianluca Buratto, Lucile Richardot, Anna Dennis, Marianna Pizzolato; English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner
Following the release of L'Orfeo and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria earlier this year, this issue completes the trilogy of DVD/Blu-rays documenting the performances which Gardiner staged at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice as part of a major European tour to mark the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth. Reviewing an earlier performance in Bristol, The Guardian declared that 'the genius of Monteverdi could not be better honoured'.
Available Format: DVD Video
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
