New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 18th October 2024
.
The Keyboard Suite in A minor BWV818b sits at the heart of a programme which also includes Tharaud's own arrangements of the opening chorus from the St John Passion, 'Aus Liebe' from the St Matthew Passion and the Lute Suite in E minor, plus Gounod's 'Ave Maria' and two chorale transcriptions by Jean Wiéner. Tharaud plays a Steinway Model D, and was recorded in Metz at the beginning of this year.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The Polish soprano 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!'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
A pupil of Vaughan Williams, Egon Wellesz and Gordon Jacob, Williams (1906-77) became the first British woman to score a feature-film, and is now recognised as one of the foremost Welsh composers of the twentieth century. Spanning four decades of her career, this collection comprises The Legend of Rhiannon (1939), Sea Sketches for string orchestra (1944), the quasi-medieval Ballads (1968), and Castell Caernarfon (1969) - the latter work was commissioned for the investiture of Prince Charles (as he then was) in 1969, with Williams remarking that the premiere 'came off rather well in the open air' of the castle's grounds.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Korngold's Violin Concerto (threaded with material from his film scores) sits at the centre of a programme which centres on themes from the worlds of television, cinema, anime and gaming - taking in Squid Game, Pokémon, How to Train Your Dragon, The Promised Neverland, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Chen plays the 1714 ‘Dolphin’ Stradivarius which was previously owned by Jascha Heifetz (who premiered the Korngold concerto in 1947).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The Dorics embarked on their survey of the complete Beethoven quartets last year to celebrate their 25th anniversary: Vol. 1 was described as 'intelligent, spontaneous-sounding, [and] technically immaculate' by The Strad and was praised in Gramophone for 'the ever-youthful freshness of their music-making and their habitual inability to take any phrase, any note for granted.' This second instalment comprises String Quartets Nos. 2, 5, 8 and 13 (the latter with both the Grosse Fuge and the alternative 1826 ending).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
As well as Agrippina and oratorios Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno & La resurrezione, Handel's youthful sojourn in the Eternal City also yielded a number of fine Italian cantatas, three of which feature here: Ero e Leandro (thought to have been written at the behest of Cardinal Ottoboni), Tra le fiamme, and Armida abbandonata. The programme is completed by Bellezza's aria 'Tu del ciel ministro eletto' from Il trionfo.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
This postscript to the Icelandic pianist's Goldberg Variations (our best-selling recording of the past decade) features solo piano arrangements of six sacred pieces by Bach: Ólafsson's own transcriptions of 'Es ist vollbracht' (from the cantata BWV 159), 'Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis', 'Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich' and 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen', Harold Bauer's arrangement of 'Komm, süßer Tod', and György Kurtág's four-hand transcription of 'Das alte Jahr vergangen ist' (for which Ólafsson is joined by his wife Halla).
Please note short playing-time of 19 minutes.
Also available on crystal clear silver vinyl.
Available Format: Vinyl Record
Featuring new recordings and tracks from The Library EP series, this collection of close-harmony favourites includes new versions of Jerome Kern’s 'The Way You Look Tonight' (by John Rutter) and Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture (by Daryl Runswick), plus arrangements of Elton John's 'Crocodile Rock', Laura Mvula’s 'Father, Father', Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, and a number of Beatles songs.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The doughty American tenor celebrated his seventieth birthday by recording this album of jazz standards; the project grew out of a series of very popular karaoke performances which Kunde shared on YouTube during lockdown, and also harks back to his pre-opera days performing this repertoire with his 'garage-band' at parties and wedding-receptions in his native Illinois. The programme includes 'I Left My Heart In San Francisco', 'Beyond The Sea', 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square', 'For Once In My Life', and 'My Funny Valentine'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Building on the success of Omordia's African Pianism project, this recital includes Ayo Bankole's 'Àdúrà fún Àláfíà', 'Òjò máa rọ̀̀!' and Akin Euba's Six Yoruba Songs, 'Ne Nkansu' and 'Ngulu' from Fred Onovwerosuoke's Twelve African Songs, and two arias from Joseph Bologne's 1780 opera L’Amant anonyme. The programme also features two pieces by Black British composers: Shirley Thompson's Psalm to Windrush and Errollyn Wallen's Peace on Earth.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
To mark the bicentenary of the Czech composer's birth, SOMM presents a freshly-remastered set of previously-unreleased live recordings from the 1940s: the Overture to The Bartered Bride, Wallenstein’s Camp, two movements from Má Vlast, and Szell's own 1939 orchestral arrangement of the String Quartet No. 1 'From My Life'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Donizetti: Il diluvio universale
Nahuel Di Pierro, Nicolò Donini, Davide Zaccherini, Eduardo Martínez, Sabrina Gárdez, Erica Artina, Sophie Burns, Enea Scala, Giuliana Gianfaldoni, Maria Elena Pepi, Wangmao Wang, Orchestra Donizetti Opera, Coro dell’Accademia Teatro Alla Scala, Salvo Sgrò, Matteo Ricchetti, Riccardo Frizza
Premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in 1830, Donizetti's opera on The Great Flood was originally presented as an oratorio in order to circumvent restrictions around theatrical performances during Lent; the work was subsequently staged in Genoa and Paris during the composer's lifetime, but then disappeared from the repertoire for 150 years. This production by Italian artistic duo MASBEDO was filmed at the Festival Donizetti in Bergamo last year; making heavy use of video-projections, the staging reflects contemporary concerns about climate-change, with Noè (Noah) depicted as an environmental activist and prepper.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Charles Ives: The Anniversary Edition
Charles Ives (piano), New York String Quartet, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, Helen Boatwright (soprano), John Kirkpatrick (piano) et al
Columbia Masterworks originally released this set on LP in 1974 to mark the centenary of Ives's birth; it now reappears digitally to commemorate his 150th birthday. The repertoire includes excerpts from Ives's own performance of the 'Concord' Sonata plus a number of improvisations, the Mundane Songs, Visionary Songs and Nostalgic Songs from Boatwright and Kirkpatrick, The Fourth of July and The Unanswered Question (conducted by Bernstein), The Celestial Country from the Gregg Smith Singers, and the Variations on 'America' from E. Power Biggs. The set is completed by extracts from the oral history Charles Ives Remembered.
Available Format: 5 CDs
Limited to 1000 copies, this 17-LP, 180-gram vinyl edition was designed by American artist Robert Longo and includes introductory notes for each symphony as well as in-depth essays by Stephen Johnson and Barbara Vinken. The featured conductors are Daniel Harding (No. 1), Andris Nelsons (No. 2), Gustavo Dudamel (Nos. 3 & 5), Yannick Nézet-Séguin (No. 4), Kirill Petrenko (No. 6), Sir Simon Rattle (Nos. 7 & 8), Bernard Haitink (No. 9), and Claudio Abbado (the Adagio from No. 10).
Available Format: 17 Vinyl Records
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
