Coming Soon,
Verismo from Domingo Hindoyan and other forthcoming highlights
The Liverpool orchestra's third full-length album with its Chief Conductor focuses on turn-of-the-century Italian opera, including intermezzi from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana & L'Amico Fritz, Puccini's Suor Angelica & Manon Lescaut, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, the 'Dance of the Hours' from Ponchielli's La Gioconda, the Serenata from Wolf-Ferrari's I gioielli della Madonna and the Overture to his Il segreto di Susanna.
Released 27th October.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The first disc of this 2-CD set features the four Liszt-inspired symphonic poems which Saint-Saëns composed in the 1870s (Phaéton, La Jeunesse d’Hercule, Le Rouet d’Omphale and Danse macabre), plus the Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila. The second opens with Le carnaval des animaux, which is followed by the score for the 1908 historical film L’Assassinat du duc de Guise.
Released 17th November.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Drawing inspiration from her compatriot Kirsten Flagstad's 1958 Christmas album with Sir Adrian Boult, the Norwegian soprano's festive programme includes Swedish and English versions of ‘O Holy Night' (in the orchestration made for Pavarotti), an arrangement of the Bach/Gounod ‘Ave Maria’ which was originally written for Leontyne Price, and a selection of popular seasonal songs from Scandinavia: 'Jul, jul, strålande jul', 'Mitt hjerte alltid vanker', 'Julvisa', and 'Deilig er Jorden'.
Released 10th November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This album of works by the British composer, singer and cellist takes its title from a suite which pays homage to the victims of the Zong massacre of 1781 (in which over 130 enslaved people were thrown overboard by their captors as they sailed from Africa to Jamaica) and to a young man who drowned in a beach accident in Jamaica which Witter-Johnson witnessed during a family holiday. She describes the piece as an 'exploration of themes around my ancestry, family history and the ocean'.
Released 27th October.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 29 & 40, Oboe Concerto
Ivan Podyomov (oboe), Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
Recorded at the Sala della Carità in Padua this February, this is the second instalment of the young Russian conductor's Mozart series with Il Pomo d'Oro: reviewing Volume One back in February, BBC Music Magazine noted that 'the orchestral playing here has a panache and high-speed accuracy whose impressiveness can’t be argued with', whilst The Guardian relished the 'fleet string figures and ripe, punchy woodwind'. Look out for our interview with Maxim about the project in November...
Released 3rd November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Schubert in English Vol. 4
Rowan Pierce (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone), Christopher Glynn (piano)
Following recordings of Winter Journey (with Roderick Williams), The Fair Maid of the Mill (with Nicky Spence) and Swan Song (with Sir John Tomlinson), Glynn continues his series of Schubert lieder in translation with this recital of stand-alone songs including 'The Child of the Muses', 'The Trout', 'The Wanderer', 'To Music', and 'To be Sung on the Water'.
Released 10th November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 7 & 10
Robert Levin and Ya-Fei Chuang (piano), Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings
Levin began his survey of Mozart’s complete works for keyboard and orchestra with the AAM back in 1993 (with the late Christopher Hogwood at the helm); the project was resumed this year after a two-decade hiatus, with two further instalments ready for release in 2024. This volume comprises the Concerto No. 7 K242 (originally scored for three keyboards but presented here in the composer's later version for just two), the Concerto No. 10 in E flat, and the Concerto Movement for Piano, Violin and Orchestra K315f. Listen to David's podcast with Robert Levin about the project here.
Released 3rd November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 - Franck, Fauré & Poulenc
Bruno Philippe (cello), Tanguy de Williencourt (piano), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach
Saint-Saëns's 1872 concerto is preceded here by Fauré's Romance in A major for cello & piano and Jules Delsart's transcription of Franck's Violin Sonata, and followed by Fauré's Papillon & Après un rêve, Poulenc's Cello Sonata, and 'Le Cygne' from Saint-Saëns's Le carnaval des animaux. Philippe and de Williencourt's debut recording of Brahms and Schumann in 2015 was described as 'promising and subtly interpreted' by The Strad; the pair will be launching this new album at our store in Leamington Spa in November, and highlights will be shared on our YouTube channel...
Released 10th November.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rossini: La donna del lago (Blu-ray)
Salome Jicia (Elena), Juan Diego Flórez (Giacomo V), Varduhi Abrahamyan (Malcolm), Michael Spyres (Rodrigo), Marko Mimica (Douglas); Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Michele Mariotti, Damiano Michieletto
Recorded at the Adriatic Arena in Pesaro during the 2016 Rossini Opera Festival, this production of Rossini's Walter Scott-inspired opera was warmly received across Europe: the Financial Times noted that 'with characteristic boldness, Michieletto reformulates this glittering music into something otherworldly', the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung opined that 'Mariotti and his outstanding orchestra were the stars of the evening', and Opera Today declared that 'it is clear that Juan Diego Flórez has no equal in finding the joy of singing'.
Released 27th October and also available on DVD.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Puccini: Tosca (Blu-ray)
Kristine Opolais (Tosca), Jonathan Tetelman (Cavaradossi), Gábor Bretz (Scarpia), Rafał Pawnuk (Sacristan/Sciarrone), ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Marc Albrecht, Martin Kušej
Filmed at Theater an der Wien last January, Kušej's bleak, hyper-violent staging of Tosca was the subject of much controversy, but the performances themselves were widely praised: Albrecht's conducting was described as 'a masterly achievement' by Opernwelt, whilst Gramophone noted that Tetelman 'sang a superb Cavaradossi, his chiselled good looks and excellent stage presence allied to some truly thrilling singing.'
Released 27th October and also available on DVD.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
