New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 27th September 2024
As well as the Cello Concerto (which Soltani play-conducts), this programme of works by Robert Schumann features the Austrian-Iranian cellist's transcriptions of 'Schneeglöckchen' from Liederalbum für die Jugend and songs from Dichterliebe, Myrthen & Liederkreis Op. 39 for cello and piano, plus arrangements of Lieder for cello and orchestra by Michael Rot. Soltani's transcription of Clara Schumann's 'Ich stand in dunklen Träumen' completes the recital.
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The Ukrainian viola-player also presents an all-Schumann programme which includes his own transcriptions of songs from Dichterliebe, as well as from Liederkreis Op. 24. The recital also includes Märchenerzählungen for clarinet trio, and two pieces from 1849 which were originally intended for clarinet and horn respectively: the Drei Fantasiestücke from 1849 and the Adagio & Allegro, which Robert's wife Clara described as 'just the sort of piece that I like - brilliant, fresh and passionate'.
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Orliński and Dębicz join forces with Polish pop musicians Marcin Ułanowski and Wojciech Gumińki for a new twist on Baroque songs and arias including Purcell's 'Fairest Isle', 'Sound the Trumpet' and 'Music for a While', Monteverdi's 'Zefiro torna', 'Vedrò con mio diletto' from Vivaldi's Il Giustino, and 'Pena tiranna' from Handel's Amadigi di Gaula.
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Following her recital of Schoenberg songs with Christopher Glynn earlier this year, Booth's second recording marking the composer's 150th birthday centres on his Pierrot lunaire; the programme includes other works inspired by the commedia dell'arte character, such as the 'Tanzlied des Pierrot' from Korngold's Die tote Stadt, three songs from Max Kowalski's Gedichte aus Pierrot Lunaire, the 'Valse amoureuse' from Amy Beach's Les Rêves de Colombine, Thea Musgrave's Pierrot, and Poldowski's Colombine.
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Štilec's series of music by his compatriot Wranitzky (which began in the spring of 2021) has been praised in Fanfare for his 'inherent knack for the style' and the 'splendid' playing of the Pardubice orchestra. This seventh instalment features the Symphony in D Major 'Con musica turca', orchestral music from the 1793 Singspiel Merkur der Heiratsstifter, the Symphony in C Op. 35 No. 1, and incidental music for Die Rache (a German-language production of Edward Young's 1721 tragedy The Revenge).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Santoro: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6
Pedro Bittencourt (saxophone), Emmanuele Baldini (violin), Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra, Goiânia Symphony Choir, Neil Thomson
Released as part of Naxos's Music of Brazil series, this fourth volume dedicated to the composer, conductor and violinist Claudio Santoro (1918-89) focuses on his shift away from serialism and towards nationalism in the 1950s: the Canto de Amor e Paz for string orchestra is followed by the Symphony No. 4 (subtitled 'Sinfonia da Paz') from 1953/4, whilst the more compact Symphony No. 6 is preceded by the Choro Concertante for tenor saxophone and orchestra. The programme is completed by the Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra, which began life as sketches for a concerto in the early 1950s and was orchestrated only in 1980.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This collection of nocturnal pieces for cello and piano includes Berceuses by Bridge, Tchaikovsky, Glière and Grieg, 'Songs my mother taught me' from Dvořák's Gypsy Songs, 'Nana' from Falla's Siete Canciones populares Españolas, 'Ständchen' from Schubert's Schwanengesang, the 'Wiegenliedchen' from Schumann's Albumblätter, Brahms's 'Wiegenlied', Fauré's 'Après un rêve', and Ravel's Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Fourteen years after her victory at the XVI International Chopin Piano Competition, Yulianna Avdeeva presents an all-Chopin recital recorded at the Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana: the Piano Sonata No. 3 sits at the heart of a programme which also includes the Two Nocturnes Op. 62, the Polonaise-fantaisie Op. 61, the Barcarolle in F sharp major Op. 60, and the Three Mazurkas Op. 59. Reviewing her recording of the Chopin Piano Concertos with the Orchestra of the 18th Century and Frans Brüggen back in 2014, The Guardian observed that 'there seems to be a real spontaneity about Avdeeva's approach...she's discovering a new range of possibilities, a new palette of keyboard colours.'
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This collection of choral music for women’s voices and harp by female composers takes its title from Imogen Holst's Welcome Joy & Welcome Sorrow - a set of six part-songs on texts by John Keats, which was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1951. The programme also includes Judith Weir's We Sekyn Here Rest, Hilary Campbell's Our Endless Day, Elizabeth Poston's An English Day Book, Olivia M. Sparkhall's Lux aeterna, and two pieces by Shruthi Rajasekar: Ushās – Goddess of Dawn and Priestess, which were composed especially for this programme in response to the third group of Gustav Holst’s Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (also included here),
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Book-ended by psalm settings from South Korean composer Jaeil Jung (whose credits include Squid Game and Parasite), this programme of choral music for night-time includes Max Richter's On the Nature of Daylight, Max Reger's Nachtlied, Caroline Shaw's and the swallow, Hugo Alfvén's Aftonen, Kerensa Brigg's Media Vita, and Frank Ticheli's There Will Be Rest. The album features the world premiere recordings of pieces by Classic FM Rising Star Lucy Walker and US composer and choral conductor Taylor Scott Davis.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
André Campra: Messe de Requiem & Les Maîtres de Notre-Dame de Paris
Ensemble Correspondances, Sébastien Daucé
Although the provenance of Campra's Requiem is uncertain (the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles recently debunked the theory that it was written for a ceremony in memory of Monseigneur François de Harlay, Archbishop of Paris in 1695), it became one of the most popular works for large-scale funerals and memorial services in eighteenth-century France. The Mass is surrounded here by a selection of shorter works from other composers associated with Notre Dame, including Pierre Robert's Christe redemptor omnium, Jean Veillot's Ave verum corpus and Domine salvum fac regem, and François Cosset's Missa sex vocum 'Domine salvum fac regem'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (Blu-ray)
Nadine Sierra (Adina), Liparit Avetisyan (Nemorino), Bryn Terfel (Dulcamara), Boris Pinkhasovich (Belcore), Sarah Dufresne (Giannetta); Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Sesto Quatrini
Filmed last year at Covent Garden, this revival of Laurent Pelly's sun-drenched 1950s-style production from 2007 was notable for the house debut of Sierra, whom BachTrack declared 'simply sizzled in a way that even the best Adinas rarely do'; Opera Today noted that Terfel (who had previously appeared as Dulcamara in this production nine years ago) was 'still a force of nature and delivers the role with aplomb'.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
