MODEST MUSSORGSKY / PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
Galina Vishnevskaya sings Russian Songs Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano) & Mstislav Rostropovich (piano) [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "Intensity is the keynote of these performances. Mme. Vishnevskaya has a rich dramatic voice of characteristically Slavonic timbre, highly charged emotionally..she is invaluably aided by accompaniments of infinite sensibility by her husband" Gramopho |
W. A. MOZART
Salzburg Festival 2012: Ouverture Spirituelle Sylvia Schwartz (soprano), Elisabeth Von Magnus (mezzo-soprano), Jeremy Ovenden (tenor) & Florian Boesch (baritone) Arnold Schoenberg Chor & Concentus [ EuroArts / DVD - released 1/Dec/2018 ] This is the first recording of the new concert series "Ouverture Spirituelle" from the Salzburger Festspiele 2012 focusing on religious themes and musical works. Two rarely heard pieces that Mozart wrote when he was twenty years old - the Litaniae... |
JIA DAQUN / MARTIN LODGE / MICHAEL DAUGHERTY / MICHAEL F. WILLIAMS / PARAM VIR
Flow - new music for string quartet Polaris String Quartet [ Atoll / CD - released 5/Sep/2018 ] A project to link composers from four continents in a joint musical statement on the Taoist / Buddhist theme of 'flow'. |
JAN LADISLAV DUSSEK
Dussek: Piano Concertos Opp. 3, 14 & 49 Ulster Orchestra, Howard Shelley (piano & conductor) [ Hyperion The Classical Piano Concerto Vol 5 / CD - released 31/Aug/2018 ] "Dussek wrote little orchestral music beyond his concertos but the sympathetic collaboration of the Ulster orchestra showcases the increasing subtlety and sophistication of his handling of the orchestra." Gramophone |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Choral Works (Lieder) Op. 41, 48, 59, 88, & 100 RIAS Kammerchor, Hans-Christoph Rademann [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / CD - released 10/Aug/2018 ] "This is first-class singing, captured in equally first-rate sound (from Berlin's Jesus-Christus-Kirche)-and if you want to fall in love with Mendelssohn's choral writing, this is where it will happen. Highly recommended!" 10/10 Classics Today |
ALEXANDER KNAIFEL
Knaifel: Lukomoriye Oleg Malov (Piano), Tatiana Melentieva (Soprano), Piotr Migunov (Bass), Lege Artis Choir, Boris Abalian (Conductor) [ ECM / CD - released 20/Apr/2018 ] The fourth New Series album from the St Petersburg-based composer Alexander Knaifel may be his most wide-ranging to date, voyaging from the sacred to the secular and back again via several inspired detours. It includes two Prayers to the Holy Spirit,... |
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Bernstein: Mass Kevin Vortmann (tenor) / Philadelphia Orchestra, Westminster Symphonic Choir, Temple University Concert Choir, The American Boychoir, Yannick Né [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2018 ] "Nézet-Séguin might seem like just a bystander amid all the activity, but the fact that this recorded account is as coherent as it is attests to his multitasking strengths." Philadelphia Inquirer |
BÉLA BARTÓK
Bartok: Piano Concerto No 3 / Concerto For Orchestra Javier Perianes (piano), Münchner Philharmoniker, Pablo Heras-Casado [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 5/Jan/2018 ] The inexhaustible strength of a genius Neither the disillusionment that set in after his exile to the United States nor his declining health stopped Bartók from fulfilling his commission for the Concerto for Orchestra nor from writing the Third Piano... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: The Motets The Norwegian Soloists' Choir Ensemble Allegria Grete Pedersen, conductor [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2017 ] Bach's motets are surrounded by much uncertainty. To begin with, we do not know how many he actually composed, as some have been lost while others have been wrongly attributed to him. Although several of the motets were written for funerals, it is... |
RAVEL / DUTILLEUX / DELAGE
Ravel, Dutilleux, Delage BLU-RAY / DVD Sir Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra, Leonidas Kavakos, Julia Bullock [ LSO Blu-ray + DVD / Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 27/Oct/2017 ] "Rich sound and crystalline picture quality make this an enjoyable viewing experience." Gramophone |
JACEK SZYMANOWSKI
Szymanowski: Litany to the Virgin Mary / Stabat Mater / Symphony No. 3 'Song of the Night' Aleksandra Kurzak (soprano) Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo) Dmitry Korchak (tenor) Artur RuciĆski (bar) / Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, Jacek Kaspsz [ Warner Classics / CD - released 25/Sep/2017 ] "This huge ensemble is captured in brilliant sound - essential for appreciating the composer's luxuriantly detailed soundworld...[in the Stabat Mater] Kaspszyk ensures that everything is balanced between introversion and dramatic impact" BBC Music |
CHARLES IVES
Ives: Concord Sonata Joonas Ahonen (piano), Pekka Kuusisto (violin) [ BIS / CD - released 1/Sep/2017 ] Charles Ives's 'Concord Sonata' is often described as one of the greatest of American piano works. Published in 1920, at the composer's own expense, it contains radical experiments in harmony and rhythm and would have to wait until 1939 for its first... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Cantatas For Bass Matthias Goerne (baritone), Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Goltz [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/Aug/2017 ] "Freiburg Baroque are at the top of their game: lithe, shapely, tuneful...And the singing? Matthias Goerne is all breath and vowels and gravel and intensity." The Guardian, 17th August 2017 *** |
FRANZ SCHMIDT
Schmidt: Symphony No. 2 (with Richard Strauss: Dreaming by the Fireside) Wiener Philharmoniker [Vienna Philharmonic], Semyon Bychkov [ Sony Classics / CD - released 10/Aug/2017 ] "this is down on my list of the best discs of 2017 already, and it will take some toppling from first place" BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Month, July 2017 ***** |
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare: King Lear (recorded live Strafford-Upon-Avon, 2016) Royal Shakespeare Company / Antony Sher, Natalie Simpson, Nia Gwynne, Kelly Williams / Robin Lough (director) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 7/Aug/2017 ] King Lear has ruled for many years. As age begins to overtake him, he decides to divide his kingdom amongst his children, living out his days without the burden of power. |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) / Wiener Philharmoniker, Jonathan Nott [ Sony Classical / CD - released 22/Apr/2017 ] "played with shimmering detail by the Vienna Philharmonic...As expected, Kaufmann is glorious in the tenor songs. In those for lower voice he sings with the same, unaffected sensitivity...An interesting, one-off experiment." Financial Times *** |
GIACHES DE WERT
Giaches de Wert: Divine Theatre - Sacred Motets Stile Antico [ Harmonia Mundi SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Mar/2017 ] "It is a testament to Werts's emotional immediacy that this album is one of their (Stile Antico's) most engaging recording; polyphony to grab one's attention rather than to carpet a devotional daydream" Gramophone Award Nomination 2017 - Early Music |
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
Scarlatti, (A): Missa defunctorum Odhecaton, Paolo Da Col [ Arcana / CD - released 22/Feb/2017 ] "The interweaving voices produce an attractive juxtaposition of density and transparency. Texts are declaimed crisply yet sensitively, melismatic vowels possess compassionate luminosity" Gramophone Awardc Nomination 2017 |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Symphony No 1 (with Balakirev - Tamara) Mark Padmore, Sally Matthews, Kate Royal, Bernarda Fink, Andrew Staples / London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle [ LSO Live SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 9/Sep/2016 ] "this release completes a superb Rachmaninov symphony cycle…it's a taut, gripping account, Gergiev often pushing the accelerator harder than Mariss Jansons and Mikhail Pletnev" Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Lieder und Klavierstucke (melodies and pieces for the piano) Werner Gura (tenor) Christoph Berner (pianoforte) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/Sep/2016 ] These songs by Mozart accompanied the events of his life like illustrations in a picture-book - from the departure of a close friend to a meeting of his Masonic Lodge. After their highly personal exploration of the Romantic lied, Werner Güra and... |