New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 19th January 2024
Following albums focusing on Schumann and Chopin, Gabetta and Chamayou present Mendelssohn's two cello sonatas, the Variations concertantes and the short Assai tranquillo (written on a train-journey and dedicated to the composer's assistant and editor Julius Rietz). The album also includes the posthumously-published Lied ohne Worte Op. 109, and responses to the piece by Heinz Holliger, Francisco Coll, Jörg Widmann and Wolfgang Rihm.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The French pianist's second all-Schubert album has already been warmly reviewed in Gramophone, with Peter J. Rabinowitz opining that 'for all their discretion, there’s much to enjoy in the sheer beauty and intelligence of these superbly engineered performances – enough so that even those who prefer a more extreme take on Schubert owe it to themselves to get acquainted'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Following his Pentatone debut Signor Gaetano, the Mexican tenor turns to the songs of Francesco Paolo Tosti for his second album on the label; the programme features rarities including three French-language mélodies as well as favourites such as 'Marechiare', 'A vucchella', 'L'ultima canzone' and 'L'alba sepàra dalla luce l'ombra' (from the Quattro canzoni d'Amaranta, which are included complete).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The Paavo Berglund Edition
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Paavo Berglund
This collection of the Finnish conductor and violinist's recordings on EMI Classics and Finlandia includes Sibelius tone-poems and incidental music plus three cycles of the complete symphonies, the Shostakovich Piano Concertos, the Brahms & Walton Violin Concertos, Vaughan Williams's Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6, and works by composers including Dvořák, Bliss, Glinka, Glazunov, Yardumian and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Available Format: 42 CDs
As a postscript to their survey of the complete piano concertos with Ronald Brautigam (described as 'fresh and full of adventure' by BBC Music Magazine and praised in Gramophone for 'the communicativeness of the playing'), Willens and his Cologne orchestra present the overtures to twelve operas - including the three Da Ponte masterpieces and Die Zauberflöte as well as early works such as Mitridate, Ascanio in Alba, and Lucio Silla.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Earthcycle
Jackie Oates (vocals), David Le Page (violin), David Gordon (keyboards), Orchestra of the Swan
To mark the 300th birthday of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, the Stratford-based orchestra has commissioned a new version of the work from Baroque/jazz musician and composer David Gordon, interspersed here with traditional folk songs related to the theme of the seasons such as 'The Lark in the Morning', 'The Birds in the Spring' and 'Bright Phoebus'. The album is part of a larger multimedia project designed to draw attention to climate change as well as celebrating our place within the natural world.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rebecca Clarke: Sonatas For Violin, Viola and Piano
Judith Ingolfsson (violin/viola), Vladimir Stoupel (piano)
Clarke's 1919 Viola Sonata has deservedly gained a firm foothold in the repertoire after tying for first place with Ernest Bloch in a composition-competition sponsored by Clarke's neighbour, the American arts patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge; Bloch was eventually awarded the prize to avoid accusations of favouritism. Her sole completed Violin Sonata received its first performance only in 2000, whilst a Molto moderato (thought to be part of another lost or abandoned sonata) was discovered at the Clarke estate two years later; both works are believed to date from 1907-09.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
This first instalment of a projected series dedicated to composers who studied with Shostakovich features German Galynin's 1945 Suite For Piano, Alemdar Karamanov's Variations for Piano (1961), and Boris Tchaikovsky's Sonatina from 1946. Shostakovich himself is represented by three of the Preludes & Fugues, the Three Fantastic Dances (written whilst he was a student at the Petrograd Conservatory), and the Polka from the 1930 ballet The Golden Age.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Felix & Fanny Mendelssohn: Choral Works
Julia Doyle (soprano), Jess Dandy (contralto), Mark Le Brocq (tenor), Ashley Riches (baritone), Crouch End Festival Chorus, London Mozart Players, David Temple
This quartet of choral works by the siblings comprises Felix's Christmas cantata Vom Himmel hoch & the Goethe setting Die erste Walpurgisnacht (given here in its 1843 version), and Fanny's Gartenlieder for unaccompanied choir & the cantata Hiob; based on the Book of Job, the latter work was composed in 1831 but remained unpublished until 1992.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Songs of Fate
Vida Miknevičiūtė (soprano), Magdalena Ceple (cello), Andrei Pushkarev (vibraphone), Kremerata Baltica, Gidon Kremer
In the booklet-note to this recording, Kremer reflects that 'I realise - to my own surprise - that in many ways, this project revolves around the notion of 'Jewishness''. The programme includes Jewish songs by Mieczysław Weinberg, excerpts from Giedrius Kuprevičius's chamber symphony The Star of David, and world premiere recordings of two works by contemporary composers from the Baltic States: Raminta Šerkšnytė's This too shall pass and Jēkabs Jančevskis's Lignum.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Conceived during the first UK lockdown in the spring of 2020, this programme exploring the themes of isolation and mortality takes its title from a song by Errollyn Wallen and also includes new songs by Brian Elias, Caroline Shaw and Deborah Pritchard, plus Debussy's Trois chansons de Bilitis, Mahler's 'Urlicht', Ravel's 'Kaddisch' and Tavener's Akhmatova Songs.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
This second volume of song by the Norwegian composer (1871-1904) opens with the cycle Wartburg: originally conceived for bass-baritone and orchestra, it sets texts by Theodor Caspari which were inspired by the medieval German castle where Martin Luther sought refuge in 1521/2. The programme also includes excerpts from Haugtussa (a set of poems which was also set by Lie's compatriot Grieg), and songs on texts by Danish journalist Helge Rode & Norwegian physicist and botanist Idar Handagard.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
