New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 21st October 2022
Today's new releases include an homage to nineteenth-century diva and composer Pauline Viardot from mezzo Marina Viotti and Christophe Rousset, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 and Rimsky-Korsakov's Kitezh-Suite from Gianandrea Noseda and the London Symphony Orchestra, the soundtrack to Todd Field's new psychological drama Tár (starring Cate Blanchett as the eponymous conductor-composer), and a cinematic anthology from Alexandre Tharaud with Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 - Rimsky-Korsakov: Kitezh Suite
London Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda
Following their live recording of Symphony No. 4 and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (which BBC Music Magazine deemed a 'lead recommendation' for the latter work), Noseda and the LSO continue their 'Russian Roots' series pairing a Tchaikovsky symphony with a work by one of his compatriots; the performance was recorded at the Barbican in November 2019, with BachTrack describing the Fifth as 'full of impetuosity, impatience and nerve-shredding tension'.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
This is the fifth volume in Thielemann's Bruckner cycle from Vienna, which has attracted praise for the 'detailed phrasing and utmost care taken with even minor solos' (Fanfare on Symphony No. 2) and 'careful attention to dynamics coupled with a flexible approach to tempo' (Gramophone on Symphony No. 8); reviewing this latest instalment, BBC Music Magazine observed that 'the recorded sound strikes a near ideal balance between spaciousness and clarity of detail, while the playing of the Vienna Philharmonic is often of extreme beauty'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Luisi fell in love with Nielsen's music after becoming Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in 2017, and this download-only release is the first instalment of a projected cycle of the complete symphonies; a physical box-set will follow in spring 2023, to coincide with the Carl Nielsen Festival in DR Koncerthuset Copenhagen, and a digital sequel will feature the three solo concertos for flute, clarinet and violin (with soloists Bomsori Kim, Ulla Miilmann and Johnny Teyssier).
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
TÁR
Sophie Kauer (cello), Dresdner Philharmonie, London Symphony Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra
Premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month, Todd Field's psychological drama about a brilliant but flawed composer-conductor who becomes the first female Music Director of a major German orchestra stars Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár, Julian Glover as her predecessor in the role, and Nina Hoss as her wife. The soundtrack features original music by Hildur Guðnadottir, plus excerpts from the Elgar Cello Concerto and Mahler's Symphony No. 5 (including footage of Blanchett conducting the Dresdner Philharmonie in the latter work).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This tenth volume of violin concertos in Naive's mighty Vivaldi series focuses on works with a connection to Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755) - a friend and pupil of the 'Red Priest', who did much to popularise Vivaldi's music in Germany during his long service as konzertmeister of the Dresden Court Orchestra. The programme comprises three concertos composed for Pisendel (RV 237, RV 314 and RV 340), and three others copied by his hand (RV 225, RV 226 and RV 369)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Cinema
Alexandre Tharaud (piano), Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
Taking in fifty scores by nineteen composers (including Michel Legrand, John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Francis Lai, Marvin Hamlisch, Nino Rota and Philip Glass), Tharaud's tribute to the silver screen features music from films such as The Way We Were, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, The Thomas Crown Affair, E.T. and High Heels; special guests include Vanessa Paradis, Camélia Jordana, Sabine Devieilhe, Michel Portal and Nemanja Radulović.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Glière & Mosolov: Harp Concertos
Xavier de Maistre (harp), WDR Sinfonieorchester, Nathalie Stutzmann
The French harpist couples Reinhold Glière's concerto from 1938 with his pupil Alexander Mosolov's work from the following year, which draws inspiration from folk-song as well as from his teacher's composition and received its world premiere performance only in 2019. The programme also includes the Prélude et La Romanesca from Glazunov's 1898 ballet Raymonda, and de Maistre's own transcription of the 'Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy' from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Formed in 2013, the Minerva Piano Trio have been praised by Classical Source for their 'high degree of maturity, concentration, commitment and energy' and 'beautiful sounds' (The Times), and now make their recording debut with a programme featuring Pulcinella Suite (arranged by their cellist Richard Birchall), David Knotts's transcription of three scenes from Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, pianist Annie Yim's arrangement of Caroline Shaw’s Gustave Le Gray, and Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Sylvia Plath-inspired My Fleeting Angel.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Whilst Italian baroque composers tended to assign royal duties to castrati and tenors, their Northern European contemporaries frequently cast lower voices as kings and tyrants; the Czech baritone's gallery of operatic monarchs includes Nero from Keiser's Octavia, Sigebert from the same composer's Fredegunda, Damon from Telemann’s Der neumodische Liebhaber Damon, Grazia from Ariosti's La fede ne' tradimenti, and Premislao III from Heinichen's La Pace di Kamberga.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Currently composer-in-residence at the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Liturgy, Frank La Rocca' has won acclaim from Fanfare for his 'superbly crafted and achingly beautiful music' and been described as 'a composer you simply MUST get to know' by American Record Guide; sung in sung in Latin, Spanish, and Nahuatl, his Mass of the Americas incorporates Gregorian chants and folk melodies from eighteenth-century México into the structure of a traditional Missa solemnis.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Judith & Sémélé
Ensemble Amarillis, Héloïse Gaillard, Maïlys de Villoutreys
The French harpsichordist and composer's setting of Judith's story is one of the six Old Testament portraits which make up her first book of Cantates françoises sur des sujets tirez de l'Ecriture, published in Paris in 1708; Sémélé is the first of three secular 'Cantates françoises' from around 1715, scored for voice, flute, violin and continuo. The album also includes Suite in G major from her Pièces de clavecin of 1707, and the Corelli-influenced Trio Sonata No. 4.
Available Format: CD
Vaughan Williams Live, Vol. 2
BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
The opening work here is the Thanksgiving for Victory (also known as A Song of Thanksgiving) from 1944, captured here at its first performance and broadcast by BBC Radio the following year; it's followed by the Serenade to Music in the version for orchestra, chorus and four soloists (Isobel Baillie, Astra Desmond, Beveridge White and Harold Williams), and a 1946 performance of Job - A Masque for Dancing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra - the work was dedicated to Boult, who went on to record it four times in the studio.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This homage to the great French-Spanish mezzo, composer and teacher (1821-1910) includes excerpts from roles which she created (Rachel in Halévy's La Juive, the title-roles in Gounod's Sapho and Massenet's Marie-Magdeleine) and operas which were dedicated to her or revised for her voice (Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila and Berlioz's arrangement of Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice respectively). Also features arias from Donizetti's La Favorite, Rossini's Semiramide and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Bellini's I Capuleti, and Berlioz's Les Troyens.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
