JULES MASSENET / CHARLES GOUNOD / GIUSEPPE VERDI / GIACOMO PUCCINI / FRANCO ALFANO / HENRI TOMASI / ALFREDO CATALINI
Par amour Vannina Santoni, Orchestre National de Lille, Jean-Marie Zeitouni [ Alpha Classics / CD - due 14/Feb/2025 ] Love is the common thread running through this first recorded recital by soprano Vannina Santoni; it's also an opportunity to look back over her fifteen-year career, through her leading roles, alongside her favourite musicians. With the help of the... |
RICHARD STRAUSS / KELLY-MARIE MURPHY / KEVIN LAU
Poema 1. Ad Astra Alexander Shelley, Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra [ Analekta / CD - due 24/Jan/2025 ] Poema 1. Ad Astra is the first in a series of recordings by Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra in which Music Director Alexander Shelley asked Canadian Composers to craft compositions that respond to masterpieces by German Composer, Richard... |
EDWARD ELGAR / FREDERICK DELIUS
Elgar: Violin Concerto & Salut d'amour - Delius: Suite Nicolas Dautricourt; Frédéric Chaslin; BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Capriccio Quartet [ Channel Classics / CD - due 24/Jan/2025 ] 'If you want to know who, for me, is the greatest living composer, I'll tell you without hesitation - it's Elgar, whom I place on the same level as my idols Beethoven and Brahms!' So said the great virtuoso Kreisler.' Nicolas Dautricourt continues:... |
JULES MASSENET
Jules Massenet: Grisélidis Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Thomas Dolié, Vannina Santoni, Julien Dran, Adrien Fournaison, Thibault de Damas, Chœur [ Bru Zane / 2 CD - due 24/Jan/2025 ] Paris discovered Massenet's Grisélidis at the Opéra-Comique on 20 November 1901. The work is based on a medieval folktale retold by Boccaccio and Perrault, among others, and already set to music several times in the Baroque era. It gave Massenet the... |
The National
Rome [ 4AD / 2 CD - released 13/Dec/2024 ] "You have to see them in concert," is what fans of The National have been preaching for years. "The songs transform. It's a whole other level." Recorded live (without overdubs) in June 2024 at an architecturally stunning venue named for famed Italian... |
The National
Rome (Indies Only White Vinyl LP) [ 4AD / 2 LP - released 13/Dec/2024 ] "You have to see them in concert," is what fans of The National have been preaching for years. "The songs transform. It's a whole other level." Recorded live (without overdubs) in June 2024 at an architecturally stunning venue named for famed Italian... |
The National
Rome (LP) [ 4AD / 2 LP - released 13/Dec/2024 ] "You have to see them in concert," is what fans of The National have been preaching for years. "The songs transform. It's a whole other level." Recorded live (without overdubs) in June 2024 at an architecturally stunning venue named for famed Italian... |
Various Composers
Ferrum Splendidum Florian Sempey (baritone), Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Chœur de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux, Victor Jacob [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 15/Nov/2024 ] Following his Rossini recital (Alpha 791), Florian Sempey shares another of his passions: his enthusiasm for the world of knights and medieval narrative. |
GABRIEL URBAIN FAURE
Fauré: Orchestral Works Pierre Fouchenneret (violin), Martin Johnson, Catriona Ryan RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Jean-Luc Tingaud [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Gabriel Fauré is best known for his Requiem and Pavane, but these are not typical of an output that focused largely on solo piano pieces, songs and chamber music, many of which were orchestrated by others. His Violin Concerto was never completed... |
FRANZ XAVIER GRUBER
Gruber: Ukrainian Christmas Solomiya Ivakhiv Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Serhii Khorovets [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] Ukraine has a long and vibrant tradition of Christmas carols, whose melodies and meaning - now, more than ever - hold an important place in the hearts of the country's people. Some carols date back centuries and cover a wide variety of themes, but... |
Dutch National Ballet (ballet company), Hans van Manen, Reiner E. Moritz
Moving To Music (a Film By Reiner E. Moritz) & Hommage à Hans van Manen (metaforen; Adagio Hammerklavier; Frank Bridge Variations) [ Naxos / Blu-ray - released 11/Oct/2024 ] Guided by his idol George Balanchine, Hans van Manen has striven all his life to create meaning in his choreography. |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Vie parisienne (Original Version) Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse; Chœur de l'Opéra national du Capitole de Toulouse; Romain Dumas; Anne-Catherine Gillet; Véronique Gens; Ar [ Bru Zane / 2 CD/Book - released 4/Oct/2024 ] 'The rehearsals for La Vie parisienne are almost driving me insane', wrote librettist Ludovic Halévy a few days before the work's first performance. |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Cello Concerto (with works by Ukrainian composers) Raphaela Gromes (cello) / National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Volodymyr Sirenko [ Sony Classical / CD - released 4/Oct/2024 ] Following the tremendous success of her album "Femmes" (2023), Raphaela Gromes releases a new album, "Dvorák: Cello Concerto", featuring one of the most renowned cello concertos alongside inspiring and moving pieces by Ukrainian composers. It was... |
GABRIEL FAURE
New.Pavane - Best of Fauré (LP) Linda Chesis (flute), Patricia Nagle (flute), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson (conductor) [ Erato / LP - released 25/Sep/2024 ] Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was a seminal composer, organist, and teacher, pivotal in bridging the Romantic and modern eras in music. Born in Pamiers, France, he studied under Camille Saint-Saëns at the École Niedermeyer. Fauré's compositions are noted... |
Joseph Swensen; Christiane Libor; Michael Weinius; Derek Welton; Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine; Salvatore Caputo; Chœur de l'Opéra National de
Ring Odyssey [ Alpha Classics / 2 CD - released 20/Sep/2024 ] "'If, in a parallel universe, Wagner wrote a symphony rather than a sixteen-hour Ring, it might actually resemble my Ring Odyssey.' These are the words used by the new music director of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Joseph Swensen, to... |
PUCCINI / GOUNOD / MASSENET / MASCAGNI / VERDI / BERLIOZ
Nessun Dorma Pene Pati (tenor) / Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Emmanuel Villaume [ Warner Classics / CD - released 20/Sep/2024 ] Taking its title, Nessun Dorma, from the greatest tenor hit of them all, Pene Pati's second album balances favourite numbers with operatic rarities - one of them in world premiere recording. In addition to Puccini, the Italian composers are Verdi,... |
PUCCINI / GOUNOD / MASSENET / MASCAGNI / VERDI / BERLIOZ
Nessun Dorma (LP) Pene Pati (tenor) / Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Emmanuel Villaume [ Warner Classics / LP - released 20/Sep/2024 ] Taking its title, Nessun Dorma, from the greatest tenor hit of them all, Pene Pati's second album balances favourite numbers with operatic rarities - one of them in world premiere recording. In addition to Puccini, the Italian composers are Verdi,... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: TheComplete Symphonies, Ovetures, Haydn Variations, Violin Concerto, Requiem & Alto Rhapsody David Oistrakh, Christa Ludwig, Elizabeth Schwarkopf, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion, Otto [ Warner Classics / 6 CD Box Set - released 23/Aug/2024 ] Klemperer and Brahms had much in common, which may go some way to explaining the empathy with which Klemperer conducts the works of the composer. Richard Osborne says 'no detail was insignificant, yet none was allowed to subvert the larger whole'. |
THOMAS DE HARTMANN
Thomas de Hartmann Rediscovered Joshua Bell, Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska, Matt Haimovitz Mdr-Rundfunkorchester, Dennis Russell Davies [ Pentatone / CD - released 16/Aug/2024 ] This album brings the glowing, cinematic Violin and Cello Concertos of Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann, an important compositional voice in his own time, back into the limelight. Using an international all-star cast, the recording not only aims... |
RICHARD WAGNER
Erkoreka: Cello & Piano Concertos / Tres Sonetos de Michelangelo Asier Polo (cello) Carlos Mena (countertenor) Alfonso Gómez (piano) / Basque National Orchestra, Juanjo Mena [ Ondine / CD - released 26/Jul/2024 ] Award-winning composer Gabriel Erkoreka (b. 1969) is one of the leading composers of contemporary music from the Iberian Peninsula. This new album by the Basque National Orchestra conducted by Juanjo Mena is dedicated to his orchestral works.... |