Coming Soon,
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel from John Wilson and other forthcoming highlights
Nathaniel Hackmann and Mikaela Bennett lead the cast as volatile carnival-barker Billy Bigelow and mill-worker Julie Jordan on Wilson's recording of Carousel, with other autumn highlights including Barrie Kosky's burlesque-infused staging of Die Fledermaus from Munich (starring Georg Nigl and Diana Damrau as the Eisensteins), Igor Levit's first concerto recording in almost twenty years, the debut album from charismatic young baritone Huw Montague Rendall, a Second Viennese School recital from Elisabeth Leonskaja, and an intriguing new performing version of Mozart's Requiem from Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
Nathaniel Hackmann (Billy Bigelow), Mikaela Bennett (Julie Jordan), Sierra Boggess (Carrie Pipperidge), Julian Ovenden (Enoch Snow), Francesca Chiejina (Nettie Fowler), David Seadon-Young (Jigger Craigin); Sinfonia of London, ‘Carousel’ Ensemble, John Wilson
A year on from their award-winning recording of the original uncut score of Oklahoma!, Wilson and Sinfonia of London continue their Rodgers & Hammerstein series with the duo's second musical, premiered in 1945: Wilson describes Carousel as 'Rodgers & Hammerstein's greatest achievement...a score with operatic aspirations and dimensions'.
Released 13th September.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Following a much-praised recording of the Schumann and Grieg piano concertos at the beginning of the year, Leonskaja turns her attention to the Second Viennese School: the programme comprises Berg's Piano Sonata, Webern's Variations Op. 27, and Schoenberg's Klavierstücke Op. 11, Kleine Klavierstücke Op. 19 & Suite for Piano Op. 25.
Released 13th September.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Brahms: Piano Concertos & Late Works for Solo Piano
Igor Levit (piano), Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann
This is Levit's first concerto album since his debut recording of Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (made when he was just 20, with the Kölner Kammerorchester). Reviewing his performance of the first Brahms concerto with Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker in Vienna earlier this year, Der Standard declared that 'an irresistible dose of emotion was conveyed – but at the same time the sophisticated structure of Brahms’ masterpiece remained crystal clear'. By way of encore, Levit and Thielemann play the four-hand Waltz Op. 39 No. 15 together.
Released 4th October.
Available Format: 3 CDs
To mark the centenary of Puccini's death, Kaufmann is joined by six outstanding sopranos on this collection of love-scenes from his operas: Pretty Yende in La Bohème, Anna Netrebko in Manon Lescaut, Sonya Yoncheva in Tosca, Malin Byström in La fanciulla del West, Asmik Grigorian in Turandot, and Maria Agresta in Madama Butterfly.
Released 13th September.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus
Diana Damrau (Rosalinde), Georg Nigl (Eisenstein), Katharina Konradi (Adele), Andrew Watts (Orlofsky), Markus Brück (Dr. Falke), Sean Panikkar (Alfred); Bayerische Staatsoper, Vladimir Jurowski, Barrie Kosky
Filmed in Munich last December, Kosky's production of 'The Revenge of the Bat' was described by BachTrack as 'a hit anchored somewhere between burlesque and vaudeville', with reviewer Zenaida des Aubris also praising Jurowski's 'stringent attention to the waltz's intoxicating effects at work throughout the opera' and Katharina Konradi's 'dazzling vocal technique, beautiful phrasing and cheeky stage presence' as the quick-witted chamber-maid Adele.
Released 13th September and also available on DVD.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Recorded shortly before their BBC Proms performance last year, Pichon and Pygmalion's version of the Requiem uses Süssmayr’s completion of the score, with a twist: the movements are interspersed with earlier sketches and fragments by Mozart, including the short canon 'Ach, zu kurz ist unsers Lebens Lauf', 'Ne pulvis et cinis' from the incidental music for Thamos, König in Ägypten, and a solfeggio which eventually found its way into the Mass in C minor.
Released 4th October.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This is Heras-Casado's first recording with the Belgian period-instrument orchestra, which he has conducted on a regular basis since 2020. Brass and woodwind sections play predominantly Viennese and German instruments dating from Bruckner's lifetime, with Heras-Casado reflecting that 'It's obviously fascinating to have at your disposal the same sound-palette as he had...It can compel you to start all over again in terms of balance, textures, tempi, dynamics and so on'.
Released 13th September.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The Norwegian violinist remarks that Elgar's Violin Concerto 'has been a very late discovery for me... But it didn't take me a long time to become a very passionate ambassador for this piece.' Reviewing a performance of the work with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the CBSO last year, The Guardian noted that 'her balancing of the virtuosic elements with the music’s hushed intimacy was always instinctive' and 'her extraordinarily beautiful tone seemed to honour the source of Elgar’s inspiration [Fritz Kreisler] with a startling immediacy.'
Released 6th September.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Featuring a number of world premieres, this collection of Imogen Holst is released as part of NMC's 35th anniversary celebrations, with label-founder and composer Colin Matthews remarking that 'if it had not been for Imogen Holst, NMC would very likely never have come into being'. The repertoire includes the overture Persephone (1929), the Suite for String Orchestra (1943), the Variations on 'Loth to Depart' (1962), and the Festival Anthem from 1946 (orchestrated by Matthews).
Released 6th September.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The son of two opera-singers (mezzo Diana Montague and tenor David Rendall), this young baritone has won particular acclaim over the past couple of years as Mozart's Papageno (who makes an appearance here) and Debussy's Pelléas. His debut solo recording includes arias from Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, Gounod's Faust & Roméo et Juliette, Korngold's Die tote Stadt, Britten's Billy Budd and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel, plus Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and 'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen'.
Released 6th September.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Recorded last year to celebrate the French tenor's sixtieth birthday, this album includes excerpts from operas including Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Gounod's Polyeucte, Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko, Moniuszko's Halka and Wagner's Lohengrin, plus popular Italian and South American songs, the Mario Lanza classic 'Be My Love', and Alagna's own composition 'Sognare'.
Released 20th September.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The Polish soprano (and Alagna's wife) pays tribute to the French diva Cornélie Falcon, who gave her name to a sub-category of the soprano voice and created the roles of Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Rachel in Halévy's La Juive and Léonor in Niedermeyer's Stradella. As well as snapshots from these roles, the programme includes arias from Don Giovanni, Le comte Ory and La vestale (all of which featured in Falcon's repertoire), and Beethoven's concert-aria Ah, perfido!.
Released 18th October.
Available Format: CD
