New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 19th July 2024
Recorded live at Heinz Hall in 2022, this account of Symphony No. 7 was described as 'a complete triumph' by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, thanks to the 'Herculean, high-octane playing' of the brass in particular; it follows Honeck's Grammy-nominated recording of Symphony No. 9, which The Arts Desk's Graham Rickson hailed as 'the best three-movement Bruckner 9 I’ve heard'. The companion-piece by Mason Bates was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony to mark Honeck's sixtieth birthday, and receives its world premiere recording here.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This fourth volume of the Arcadia's acclaimed Weinberg series features the six-movement String Quartet No. 6 from 1946, the single-movement String Quartet No. 13 (written shortly after the death of Weinberg's friend Shostakovich), and String Quartet No. 15 from 1979. The series has been praised for the quartet's 'underlying technical finesse and emotional commitment' (Gramophone on this latest instalment) and 'evident enthusiasm for the music' (BBC Music Magazine on the inaugural volume).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Released in early 2022, African Pianism Vol. 1 was applauded in Gramophone for Omordia's 'musical curiosity and imagination, bolstered by an admirably versatile technique' and in Fanfare for her 'suave sense of melodic line, and her timbral sensitivity'; this sequel includes Salim Dada's Miniatures Algériennes, Florence Price's Fantasie Nègre, Fela Sowande's Two Preludes on Yoruba Sacred Folk Melodies, and works by Girma Yifrashewa and Nabil Benabdeljalil.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Comprising Schumann's Arabeske in C major & Davidsbündlertänze, Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales and Stravinsky's Three Movements from 'Petrushka', the American pianist's second solo recording for Warner is an Editor's Choice in this month's Gramophone, with Patrick Rucker reflecting that 'I can’t think of another pianist who portrays Ravel’s aesthetic with greater relish or sympathy.' Look out for our interview with George later this month...
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Turkish Flavours: 100 Years of Turkish Symphonic Music
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Howard Griffiths
Turkish orchestral music is a particular passion for the Swiss-based British conductor Howard Griffiths, who is married to a Turkish viola-player: this collection includes Ahmed Adnan Saygun's Ayin Raksi, Cemal Reşit Rey's Enstantaneler, Fazil Say's Şahmeran (inspired by the legend of an Anatolian snake queen), plus works by Necil Kâzım Akses, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, and Ferit Tüzün.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The Violin Sonata from 1918 opens this recital of Elgar's works for violin and piano, which takes its title from one of the composer's earliest works for those forces; the programme also includes Sospiri, the Chanson de Matin and Chanson de Nuit, Salut d'amour, Adieu, and the Romance Op. 1 (written in the late 1870s and dedicated to Elgar's friend Oswin Grainger, a Worcestershire grocer and amateur orchestral player).
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Carl Heinrich Graun: A Gentle Tenor
Aco Bišćević (tenor), Barockorchester der Thüringen Philharmonie, Michael Hofstetter
Graun spent the last two decades of his life as Kapellmeister to Frederick the Great, but was originally engaged at court as a tenor: upon his death, the monarch remarked 'We will not hear such a singer again'. This album presents world premiere recordings of three secular Italian cantatas which Graun composed for himself to perform during his time at the court of Duke August Wilhelm of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel: Superba un dì la rosa, Agitata alma mia, and In quel amena valle. A graduate of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Slovenian high tenor Aco Bišćević will appear at this year's Gluck Festspiele in Bayreuth.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Bruckner From the Archives, Vol. 3
NDR Sinfonieorchester Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Münchner Philharmoniker, Volkmar Andreae
Sourced and remastered by the acclaimed audio restoration engineer Lani Spahr, this Bruckner bicentenary series continues with the first releases of two live radio broadcasts from the mid-twentieth century: Symphony No. 3 by the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (1966) and Symphony No. 4 by the Munich Philharmonic under Volkmar Andreae (1958). The first instalment of the project was released in March, when Gramophone remarked that 'if the following five hold to the high standards achieved here, there’ll be considerable cause for excitement among all dedicated Brucknerians.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This collection of the Australian coloratura soprano's complete recitals and oratorio recordings for Decca features her very first studio recording (Bliss’s A Song of Welcome, from 1954), with other rarities including an all-Wagner disc, a recently-discovered set of French songs, and four recordings with Richard Bonynge from 1958 which appear on Decca for the first time. The set also includes celebrated albums such as The Art of the Prima Donna, a 1959 operatic recital from Paris with Nello Santi, and Live from Lincoln Center (with Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti), plus the Verdi Requiem with Sir Georg Solti and two recordings of Handel's Messiah (conducted by Boult and Bonynge).
Available Format: 37 CDs
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
