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• BERG, A.: Wozzeck [Opera] (DNO, 2017) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0081V):

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• BERG, A.: Wozzeck [Opera] (DNO, 2017) (NTSC) (2.110582):

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• CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO, M.: Violin Concerto No. 3 / String Trio / Sonata for Violin and Cello (Alogna, Pascalucci, Trainini, Stassi) (8.574003):

  The three previously unpublished and unrecorded chamber works in this programme were all written after Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s enforced move to the United States from his native Italy. Evoking the emotional day on which the composer sailed into New York for the first time, the Third Violin Concerto was composed for Jascha Heifetz specifically as a duo for violin and piano. Established as a highly regarded teacher and composer of film music, Castelnuovo-Tedesco rediscovered the joy of chamber-music making as part of the Hollywood musical community. He considered the Sonata for Violin and Cello, Op. 148 his finest in this genre, while the String Trio, Op. 147 recalls the shores of the Mediterranean. [mehr]

• Chamber Music (Woodwind Quintets) - ANTONIOU, T. / BALTAS, A. / CONSTANTINIDIS, Y. (Greek Wind Quintets) (Aeolos Woodwind Quintet) (8.579037):

  Musical life in Greece draws on a legacy that has as much richness and depth as the nation’s long and complex history. The vibrant and colourful works on this recording, while representing the country’s lively contemporary music scene, make use of traditional melodies and rhythms combined with wider stylistic influences. This unique programme of premiere recordings includes works dedicated to the Aeolos Woodwind Quintet. [mehr]

• DOMENICONI, C.: Concerto Mediterraneo / Chaconne / Trilogy / Toccata in Blue / Oyun (Amadeus Guitar Duo, Piollet, Malát) (8.573977):

  Carlo Domeniconi retains a close relationship with the culture of the Mediterranean whose traditions and customs permeate the Concerto Mediterraneo, Op. 67 in which the two guitars evoke North African and Middle Eastern plucked instruments such as the oud and the saz. Domeniconi’s prestige as an internationally esteemed guitarist informs Oyun, a vivacious and true hybrid of Turkish and Western influences, while Trilogy demands both unusual tuning and imaginative improvisation from the performer. Full of virtuosity, energy and pensive melancholy, Toccata in blue embodies allusions to boogie-woogie and the blues. [mehr]

• GÓRECKI, H.M.: String Quartets (Complete), Vol. 1 - Nos. 1 and 2 / Genesis I: Elementi (Tippett Quartet) (8.573919):

  With the belated success of his Third Symphony ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ (Naxos 8.550822), Górecki emerged in the 1990s as a composer of world stature. Between 1988 and 1995 he wrote three string quartets for the Kronos Quartet that are among his most important mature works. String Quartet No. 1 reveals chorale-like themes, so much a feature of his later writing, as well as hectic, dance-like motion, while the Second Quartet’s wider range of expression explicitly evokes Beethoven. Genesis I: Elementi offers a powerful contrast—a string trio from 1962 of uncompromising immediacy. [mehr]

• HAYDN, J.: Schöpfung (Die) (The Creation) [Oratorio] (Eriksmoen, Schmutzhard, Accentus Chamber Choir, Insula Orchestra, Equilbey) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0080V):

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• HAYDN, J.: Schöpfung (Die) (The Creation) [Oratorio] (Eriksmoen, Schmutzhard, Accentus Chamber Choir, Insula Orchestra, Equilbey) (NTSC) (2.110581):

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• Instrumental Ensemble Music (Baroque) (A German Christmas) (Margaretha Consort, Broekroelofs) (8.551398):

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• JIMÉNEZ, G.: Piano Solo Works / Cello and Piano Works - En los ojos de las llamas / 3 Pieces / La luz de enero / Mediterráneo (Villafañe, Marinis) (8.579040):

  Argentinian pianist, teacher and composer, Graciela Jiménez, continues to be inspired by the landscape and folk melodies of her native country. They infuse her piano music with evocative imagery whether in the colourful fantasia of En los ojos de las llamas, the aphoristic, dreamlike Tres piezas para piano or in the virtuosic dance rhythms of En la Quebrada de Humahuaca which evoke the music of her great predecessor, Alberto Ginastera. Her poetic, impressionist and jazz-inflected La luz de enero is an adaptation for cello and piano of her song cycle, music of exceptional and luminous beauty. [mehr]

• MY PLAYLIST FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON (8.578349):

  The nights are drawing in, there’s a nip in the air, and everywhere you go there are twinkling lights—it’s time to prepare for Christmas! Let this album of festive classical works help you to get ready for the holidays as you light the Advent candle with Chilcott, build a snowman with Korngold, untangle the fairy lights with Liszt and get the box of baubles down from the loft with Tchaikovsky. Then, once the halls have been decked and the presents are placed underneath the tree have yourself a merry, musical Christmas! [mehr]

• MY PLAYLIST FOR THE NATIVITY (8.578348):

  Can you hear the music? Do you hear it play? It’s telling you the story of the first Christmas Day… Perfect for children of all ages, this album of classical and traditional works is a charming and engaging retelling of the nativity through music, song and rhyme. Listen to the music and read the story! [mehr]

• Orchestral Music (Baroque) - LULLY, J.-B. / MUFFAT, G. / MARAIS, M. (The Versailles Revolution) (Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Kuijken) (8.573868):

  The Italian-born violinist and dancer Jean-Baptiste Lully revolutionised music at the French court in the 17th century (see The Lully Effect, 8.573867). not only did he transform ballet entertainments into a spectacular new genre, the tragédie lyrique, but he set new standards in orchestral playing—with him the ‘modern’ orchestra was born. The Suite from Roland exemplifies the majesty of his ouvertures, the beauty of his dance movements and the expressive depth of his chaconnes. Both Georg Muffat and Marin Marais were profoundly influenced by Lully, as their inventive suites show, and Muffat’s own preserved performance instructions have been closely followed on this recording. [mehr]

• PRESIDENT'S OWN UNITED STATES MARINE BAND (THE): Masterpieces for Symphonic Band, Programs 1-3 (G. Schwarz) (NTSC) (2.110589):

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• RIHM, W.: Violin and Orchestra Music, Vol. 1 (Tianwa Yang, Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic, Mueller) (8.573812):

  The violin works of the leading German composer Wolfgang Rihm encompass almost his entire career and reflect the variety of his stylistic thinking. Lichtzwang, the earliest of his concertos, draws on chorale-like sequences and piercing outbursts alike in its memorialising of the writer Paul Celan. Dritte Musik begins almost imperceptibly before growing in intensity and eventually slipping beyond audibility. Defter and more subtle than the preceding pieces, Gedicht des Malers (‘Poem of the Painter’) was inspired by an imagined painting of the great Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. As Rihm has written: ‘The soloist virtually embodies the painter’s brush as it moves over the canvas in sometimes faster and sometimes more deliberate ways.’ [mehr]

• ROSSINI, G.: Maometto II [Opera] (Palazzi, Balbo, Süngü, Yarovaya, Mubenga, Poznań Camerata Bach Choir, Virtuosi Brunensis, Fogliani) (8.660444-46):

  With its carefully planned yet complex dramatic structure and skilful transformation of a tale of heroic conflict between two enemies into a drama of impossible love, Maometto II is considered Rossini’s most radical and innovative opera. Against the background of the violent and cruel tumult of war as the Venetian colony of Negroponte is invaded and defeated by Sultan Mehmet II ‘the Conqueror’, in 1470, Rossini contrasts this clash of civilisations with the tender emotions of a doomed romance expressed in some of the most beautiful melodies he ever wrote. Heard here in its original Naples version—the more conventional 1822 Venice version with its overture and happy ending can be heard on Naxos 8.660149-51—this is a movingly tragic drama in which the suicide of the main female role is not without a grim relevance even today. [mehr]

• ROSSINI, G.: Piano Music, Vol. 11 (Marangoni) - Péchés de vieillesse: Chamber Music and Rarities, Vol. 4 (8.573964):

  Volume 11 completes Alessandro Marangoni’s monumental project to record all 200 or so individual works comprising the Péchés de vieillesse or ‘Sins of Old Age’ (including some preliminary sketches). Highlights include all four duets from the collection, from the highly operatic Le gittane to Un sou, in which two beggars try to sell the collar of their dead dog. Rossini’s sacred or pious songs, such as the surprisingly intense Ave Maria (su due note) prompted Richard Wagner’s response, ‘the Parisian salons have turned into prayer cells… extraordinary!’ The closing piece of this edition is appropriately a setting by Rossini of his own name. [mehr]

• SATIE, E.: Piano Works (Duanduan Hao) (8.573796):

  Satie’s personal eccentricities have never masked the fact that his music was both revolutionary and anticipatory of later artistic movements, principally Minimalism, Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd. His piano music offers a perfect distillation of these elements. The Allegro is his earliest known work, offering his first use of quotations, a favoured device. The extended pieces Le Fils des étoiles and uspud derive from incidental music, glorying in parodic and grotesque scenes, while his ‘humoristic’ phase of the 1910s is explored in Cinq Grimaces. Only Satie could attempt to fuse a fugue with a waltz, as he does in the Fugue-valse. [mehr]

• WAGNER, R. Ring des Nibelungen (Der): Götterdämmerung [Opera] (Barkmin, Brenna, Shenyang, Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra, van Zweden) (8.660428-31):

  Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) is the epic fourth and final opera of Wagner’s great Ring cycle, with a plot that depicts the fall of heroes, gods, and the entire world. As ever with the Ring, the joys of love are all too fragile and fleeting, and the drama of Götterdämmerung revolves around dark and unsettling reversals of fortune and illusions of hope that synthesise thrilling and powerful grand opera traditions with Wagner’s revolutionary techniques. Containing all of the Ring’s essential elements, Götterdämmerung possesses a profoundly satisfying sense of inevitability that makes it both a towering climax and a unified summation of the Ring’s abundant variety. [mehr]

• WAGNER, R.: Ring des Nibelungen (Der) [Operas] (Goerne, O'Neill, DeYoung, Skelton, Hong Kong Philharmonic, van Zweden) (14-CD Box Set) (8.501403):

  Wagner’s visionary Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) was first performed as a cycle of four operas in 1876. Its mythic plot examines the relationship between love and earthly power through the agency of a ring which confers ultimate power on its bearer. One of the most sustained and remarkable achievements in all music, the tetralogy is performed by an all-star cast, conducted by the new music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden, in performances that have been critically acclaimed worldwide for their ‘thrilling sense of drama’ (The Sunday Times, London). [mehr]

• WAGNER, R.: Ring des Nibelungen (Der): Götterdämmerung [Opera] (Barkmin, Brenna, Shenyang, Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra, van Zweden) (NBD0075A):

  Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) is the epic fourth and final opera of Wagner’s great Ring cycle, with a plot that depicts the fall of heroes, gods, and the entire world. As ever with the Ring, the joys of love are all too fragile and fleeting, and the drama of Götterdämmerung revolves around dark and unsettling reversals of fortune and illusions of hope that synthesise thrilling and powerful grand opera traditions with Wagner’s revolutionary techniques. Containing all of the Ring’s essential elements, Götterdämmerung’s profoundly satisfying sense of inevitability makes it both a towering climax and a unified summation of the Ring’s abundant variety. [mehr]

• WIRÉN, D.: String Quartets Nos. 2-5 (Wirén Quartet) (8.573588):

  The tapestry of drama, refinement and expressive lyricism in Dag Wirén’s four string quartets (the First Quartet was withdrawn) provides a substantial overview of his musical evolution over 35 years. His earlier works are more accessible than challenging, as demonstrated by the relaxed and affirmative Second and Third Quartets. The Fourth Quartet is more sombre, with nods towards Sibelius and Shostakovich, and in the Fifth, completed not long before Wirén’s retirement as a composer, the easy confidence of the earlier quartets has been replaced by a mood of pessimism and uncertainty. [mehr]

• BACH, J.S.: Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 (Poplutz, Mainz Bach Choir and Orchestra, R. Otto) (8.574001-02):

  J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio was written for the Christmas season of 1734, and although it incorporates music from earlier works it belongs firmly among his timeless large-scale compositions. The development of the oratorio, which was to become a new musical form in Protestant church services at that time, was stimulated by Bach’s compositions, particularly by the unusual form of his six-part Christmas Oratorio. From its famously joyful opening ‘Jauchzet frohlocket’ to the arrival of the Wise Men from the East, this work’s enduring popularity has long proven its status as a choral ‘evergreen’. [mehr]

• BENNETT, W.S.: Piano Sextet / Chamber Trio / String Quartet (Villiers Quartet) (8.571379):

  Famed for his sequence of Piano Concertos, Sterndale Bennett also wrote a small but distinguished body of chamber music. The String Quartet in G major is one of his earliest surviving works, revealing a precocious talent still strongly influenced by Haydn. Mendelssohn is the model for the Sextet, though Bennett’s highly virtuosic piano writing, with its concertante interplay, reinforces the work’s lyrical qualities and required dexterity as well as its advanced harmonies and hymnal beauty. The concise Chamber Trio radiates sheer charm while displaying an even greater grasp of structure and is the first English example in the trio form where both string instruments are given parts independent of the piano. [mehr]

• BERNSTEIN, L.: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Suite / Slava! / CBS Music / A Bernstein Birthday Bouquet (São Paulo Symphony, Alsop) (8.559813):

  This recording brings together music from some of Leonard Bernstein’s best-loved scores with seldom heard occasional works and premiere recordings. From the iconic musical West Side Story, the hot-blooded dance number Mambo embodies the show’s dramatic tensions. Slava! celebrates Bernstein’s friend and colleague, the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, in music reworked from the daring show 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, from which the Suite rescues further highlights. CBS Music has not been heard since the broadcasting giant’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 1978, while the Birthday Bouquet takes the form of affectionate musical tributes from eight composer colleagues to one of the 20th century’s greatest musicians. [mehr]

• BERNSTEIN, L.: Anniversaries / Fancy Free Suite / Candide Overture / Wonderful Town Overture (São Paulo Symphony, Alsop) (8.559814):

  The sparkling overture to Leonard Bernstein’s 1956 musical Candide immediately found a prominent place in concert programs all over the world and is now one of his most frequently performed pieces. Many of Bernstein’s best loved works drew inspiration from the city of New York, and this is true both of the three sailors pursuing female conquest in the ballet Fancy Free, and of the rip-roaring swing rhythm and big tunes from the musical Wonderful Town. Bernstein celebrated his friends and family with his Anniversaries—piano vignettes heard here for the first time in colourfully expanded orchestrations. Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop’s long association with the composer gives her unique insights into and feeling for his music. [mehr]

• Brass Septet Music, Vol. 6 - ELGAR, E. / FINZI, G. / PARRY, H. / WALTON, W. (Septura) (8.573825):

  Septura head homeward, with a recording of British music from the first half of the 20th century—a golden age in England’s otherwise chequered compositional history, and a period in which brass instruments, in the form of the brass band, established their place at the very heart of British musical culture. From the many composers of the period whose music endures we have chosen four of the finest: iconic works by Elgar, Parry, Finzi and Walton, re-imagined for the unique sound of the brass septet. [mehr]

• BRITTEN, B.: Death in Venice [Opera] (Teatro Real, 2014) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0076V):

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• BRITTEN, B.: Death in Venice [Opera] (Teatro Real, 2014) (NTSC) (2.110577):

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• BRUNEAU, A.: Attaque du Moulin Suite (L') / Naïs Micoulin: Prelude / Messidor (excerpts) (Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra, D. Ang) (8.573888):

  A composition pupil of Jules Massenet, Alfred Bruneau was largely responsible for introducing realism into French opera. His friendship with the writer Émile Zola, who shared his desire for theatrical naturalism, strongly informed his work, not least L’Attaque du moulin (‘The Attack on the Mill’), a ‘drame lyrique’. The suite includes rustic elements, but also Mascagni-like verismo beauty tempered by a Gallic palette. Bruneau was a deft orchestrator with a taste for exotic colour, and the excerpts from Messidor show the influence of Wagner on one of the most important but overlooked figures in turn-of-the-century French musical life. [mehr]

• D'Or, Yaniv / Ensemble NAYA: Exaltation (8.573980):

  A follow-up to Latino Ladino (8.573566), which focuses on music of the Sephardic diaspora after the 1492 expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain, the programme for Exaltation is drawn from Medieval and Baroque Europe, Turkey and the Near East, and includes beautiful examples of the Sephardic and Sufi traditions. This essentially joyful album, which combines instruments from different cultures and ages to include distinctive timbres such as the didgeridoo, ney flute, flamenco guitar and more, topped by Yaniv d’Or’s haunting countertenor voice, celebrates the spirit that binds the wandering communities, the gods they worship and the hopes they share for a harmonious co-existence. [mehr]

• Flute and Harp Recital: Shulman, Suzanne / Goodman, Erica - ALWYN, W. / CHAUSSON, E. / COUPERIN, F. / ELGAR, E. (Serenades and Sonatas) (8.573947):

  This programme has been nurtured from a selection of pieces inspired by English gardens, including Vaughan Williams’ lovely Fantasia on Greensleeves, spreading out towards French and Italian repertoire that evokes pastoral settings of birdsong, fountains and springs, and topped with a light-hearted musical picnic dessert. Along the way we are treated to the exquisite melody of Elgar’s Chanson de matin and the nostalgic atmosphere of William Alwyn’s Naiades. Nino Rota’s film music credits include The Godfather, and his sublime and festive Sonata adds a celebratory touch to the personal joy of these performers’ many years of musical friendship. [mehr]

• HAKENBERGER, A.: 55 Motets from the Pelplin Tablature (Polish Chamber Choir, Musica Fiorita, Łukaszewski) (8.573743-44):

  Andreas Hakenberger spent his entire professional career within the territory of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, remaining for 20 years as chapel-master at the Lutheran Church of St Mary’s in Gdańsk. Here he wrote his most outstanding works, a sequence of important motets written in cori spezzati, or polychoral technique. The rich tonal colouring obtained through the combinations of vocal parts is enhanced by the variety of the accompanying instrumentation. With astute use of imitation and rhetorical pauses, Hakenberger’s music emerges as richly colourful, graceful and vibrant. [mehr]

• HARBISON, J.: Requiem (Rivera, Martens, Phan, Markgraf, Nashville Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Guerrero) (8.559841):

  Pulitzer Prize-winner and MacArthur fellow John Harbison has composed a Requiem for our time—a moving choral work that incorporates the composer’s distinctive sensibilities while drawing deeply on the tradition of Latin sacred music. Completed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Harbison’s Requiem is full of dramatic passages from singers and musicians alike, with abundant opportunities for vocal soloists, brass and percussion to shine. “I wanted my piece to have a sense of the inexorability of the passage of time,” the composer says, “for good and ill, of the commonality of love and loss.” [mehr]

• KORNGOLD, E.W.: Wunder der Heliane (Das) [Opera] (A. Kremer, Argiris, I. Storey, Theater Freiburg Choirs, Freiburg Philharmonic, Bollon) (8.660410-12):

  Erich Wolfgang Korngold was at the height of his fame and technical mastery by the time he began work on his fourth opera in 1923. Prominent opera houses clamoured to stage his works, and the Viennese premiere of Das Wunder der Heliane (‘The Miracle of Heliane’) featured Lotte Lehmann among its star cast. Its story is one of the redemptive power of love over injustice and adversity, expressed in music that is richly impressionistic and intensely dramatic. Korngold was criticised for resisting the tide of modernist atonality in this opulent score, but its symbolism and compelling romantic atmosphere can be appreciated today more than ever. [mehr]

• MOYZES, A.: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 (Slovak Radio Symphony, L. Slovák) (8.573652):

  Alexander Moyzes was one of the most significant figures in modern Slovak music, synthesising the national musical style inherited from his teacher Vítězslav Novák with wider European contemporary trends. Both of these symphonies were written in a happy period of the composer’s life—before his musical oeuvre was overshadowed by conflict. The eloquent and sprightly Fifth Symphony is a celebration of ‘the heritage of my dear father’, who was also a talented musician and an important figure in Alexander’s development as a composer. The Sixth Symphony is notable for its clarity and symmetry, from the simple theme of its opening to the brilliant contrapuntal fugato in its closing movement. [mehr]

• OAKLEY, G.: Chamber Works - Toccata / Cello Sonata / Remembrance (Wanderer) (O'Connell, Rist, Ramishvili, Kashakashvili, Gadeliya, Mikeladze) (8.559856):

  George Oakley is a Georgian-born American composer and a prize-winning concert pianist. The solo piano pieces on this recording, Toccata and Sonata-Fantasia, are technically demanding works which exhibit a range of styles from jazz to classical and Georgian folk music. Oakley’s Sonata for Cello and Piano takes us from an initial state of struggle and doubt to a cheerful and victorious conclusion. For his Four Songs on Shakespeare Sonnets, Oakley ‘drew inspiration … from the musical language of Shakespeare’s era, so that each song would somehow become a bridge connecting the Renaissance with modernity.’ His mentor and friend Richard Danielpour has written that ‘George Oakley’s music is always highly expressive, inevitable without ever being predictable, and speaks to the heart as well as the mind.’ [mehr]

• Reed Quintet Arrangements - RAMEAU, J.-P. / MOZART, W.A. / RAVEL, M. (4 Woods + 1 Sax Play Rameau, Mozart and Ravel) (Vienna Reed Quintet) (8.579021):

  With its unique combination of instruments, the Vienna Reed Quintet creates a new and refreshing sound that differs significantly from that of the conventional wind quintet. This programme opens up three very special keyboard works to these exhilarating sonorities, starting with the virtuoso dances of Rameau’s descriptively titled suite La Triomphante. Mozart’s Fantasia has all the stately grandeur of a Bach fantasia, while Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin is a tribute both to his great musical ancestor and to friends who fell during the First World War. [mehr]

• RIES, F.: Violin Sonatas, Vol. 3 (Grossman, S. Kagan) - Op. 18, Op. 38, No. 3 and Op. 83 (8.573862):

  Ferdinand Ries grew up in the same musical environment that nurtured Beethoven, both counting Ferdinand’s father Franz as one of their teachers and the two of them becoming the closest of friends. Ries was a gifted and prolific composer in every instrumental genre. His Violin Sonatas are based on the Viennese Classical style established by Mozart but with a freshness and originality that includes movements such as the Adagio of the Sonata, Op. 38, No. 3, one of Ries’s loveliest creations. The Sonatas Op. 38, Nos. 1 & 2 can be heard on the 2nd volume of this edition (8.573717), ‘unreservedly recommended’ by Fanfare magazine. [mehr]

• SCHREKER, F.: Geburtstag der Infantin Suite (Der) / Vorspiel zu einem Drama / Romantische Suite (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Falletta) (8.573821):

  Franz Schreker was a prominent figure in early 20th-century Austro-German music, his reputation as an opera composer rivalling that of Richard Strauss. The Prelude to a Drama is the concert overture of Schreker’s acclaimed opera Die Gezeichneten, a lurid drama involving murder and madness. Conceived as a theatrical pantomime, The Birthday of the Infanta adapts Oscar Wilde’s tragic tale of an ugly dwarf who dies of a broken heart, while the Romantic Suite fully explores the composer’s colourfully detailed and translucent orchestration and lyrical expressiveness. [mehr]

• TEA FOR TWO - Songs and Chansons from the Belle-Époque to the Roaring 20s (Decouture, Brocard, Frivol'Ensemble) (8.573973):

  London and Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries shared an artistic vitality that set them apart from the rest of the world. With Parisian society regularly gripped by periods of Anglomania, a constant process of cultural exchange resulted in operetta hits, wartime classics and popular songs both bawdy and elegant. Capturing the spirit of a period ranging from the fashionable d’Oyly Carte to 1920s American jazz, the Frivol’Ensemble takes us back in time to rediscover the delights of this golden age of musical theatricality. [mehr]

• VERDI, G.: Macbeth [Opera] (Teatro Massimo, 2017) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0077V):

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• VERDI, G.: Macbeth [Opera] (Teatro Massimo, 2017) (NTSC) (2.110578):

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• BACH, J.S.: Lute Works (Complete) (Yasunori Imamura) (8.573936-37):

  The considerable variety of Johann Sebastian Bach’s output for the lute stands witness to different periods of his life and career. This collection comprises Bach’s complete lute works, amply demonstrating his interest in its expressive qualities. These works include the technically demanding Partita BWV 1006a, Bach’s own transcription of his Cello Suite No. 5, three pieces from the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion where the lute appears in an ensemble setting, and the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998, described by the renowned harpsichordist Wanda Landowska as ‘of incomparable beauty… unique amongst Bach’s works’. [mehr]

• BRAGA SANTOS, J.: Piano Concerto / Symphonic Overtures Nos. 1 and 2 (Filipec, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Cassuto) (8.573903):

  Joly Braga Santos was Portugal’s greatest orchestral composer, and this recording presents eight world premiere recordings including his very first work for orchestra, the Symphonic Overture No. 1. This and the Symphonic Overture No. 2 share a unified structure and lyrical themes, contrasting with the sombre Prelude, originally written for an intensely tragic opera. Braga Santos’s characterful four ‘miniatures’ (tracks 4–7) are brought together to form an attractive suite, while his only Piano Concerto is a virtuoso spectacle with a large part for percussion and a gloriously anarchic approach to timbre and tonality. [mehr]

• DODGSON, S.: Chamber Music with Harp and Guitar - Septet Variations / Pastoral Sonata / Solway Suite (Karolos Ensemble) (8.573857):

  Although he was particularly renowned for his music for harpsichord and for guitar, British composer Stephen Dodgson was a versatile craftsman of chamber music. The examples here reveal his intricate but surprising turns of phrase, from the subtle exploration of sonorities in the Septet Variations to the sunlit beauty of the Pastoral Sonata. Dodgson’s mastery of colour and texture is evident in his Solway Suite, while the early Capriccio and Finale treats the listener to a kaleidoscope of whimsical and witty interludes. [mehr]

• DUTILLEUX, H.: Symphony No. 1 / Métaboles / Les Citations (Ciabaud, Tomczak-Feltrin, Petit, Robine, Lille National Orchestra, J.-C. Casadesus) (8.573746):

  A fiercely independent composer, Henri Dutilleux wrote music that is refined, colourful and scrupulously crafted. Symphony No. 1, his first purely orchestral score, established his international reputation. Structurally unconventional—it opens, unusually, with a passacaglia—it illustrates his principle of ‘progressive growth’ through its sustained lyricism and towering, chorale-like statements. Métaboles was inspired by the virtuosity of the woodwind section of George Szell’s Cleveland Orchestra. Distinctive instrumentation for each movement allows for deep expression, jazzy rhythms and moments of irony. The enigmatic diptych Les Citations quotes from fellow composers Benjamin Britten and Jehan Alain. [mehr]

• GRAHAM, P.: Metropolis 1927 / On the Shoulders of Giants / New York Movie (Black Dyke Band, N. Childs) (8.573968):

  Peter Graham is one of the leading brass band composers of his generation, and the first outside the US to win the American Bandmasters Association’s prestigious Ostwald Award for composition. Black Dyke Band celebrates his 60th birthday with this recording, the theme of which derives from Graham’s time in New York and from some of the ‘giants’ of American culture. On the Shoulders of Giants pays tribute to great brass virtuosi such as Miles Davis and John Philip Sousa; New York Movie is a ‘musical narrative’ on seven of Edward Hopper’s iconic, haunting paintings; and Metropolis 1927 takes its inspiration from the dystopian beauty of Fritz Lang’s classic science fiction film. [mehr]

• Guitar Recital: Topchii, Marko - JOSÉ, A. / CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO, M. / MARTIN, F. / KOSHKIN, N. / DYENS, R. (8.573963):

  Marko Topchii, winner of the 2017 Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition, has selected a rich and varied repertoire ranging from neo-Romanticism to serialism, each work offering a unique vision of the instrument’s technical and expressive capabilities. Antonio José’s Sonata is remarkably inventive, bringing a new language to ancient dance forms, while Frank Martin’s Quatre Pièces brèves, written in the same year, offers the flourish and vigour of contemporary harmonic vocabulary. Roland Dyens’ Libra Sonatine is one of the most virtuosic and brilliant of late 20th-century guitar works. [mehr]

• HANDEL, G.F.: Agrippina [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2016) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0078V):

  [mehr]

• HANDEL, G.F.: Agrippina [Opera] (Theater an der Wien, 2016) (NTSC) (2.110579-80):

  [mehr]

• HANDEL, G.F.: Messiah (ed. W. Shaw) (O'Loughlin, D. Moore, Phan, Concert Artists of Baltimore Symphonic Chorale, Baltimore Symphony, Polochick) (8.573798-99):

  Of all English oratorios Handel’s Messiah has always been the most overwhelmingly popular. It is the least theatrical of his oratorios and the most purely sacred in its choice of subject matter. The vivid choral writing—there are more choruses in Messiah than in any other Handel oratorio—coupled with the expressive density of the solo arias, have ensured its status as one of the greatest choral masterpieces in the Western canon. [mehr]

• HAYDN, J.: 10 kleine Klavierstücke / 24 Menuets, Hob.IX:3 and 11 (Jandó) (8.573933):

  In addition to some 47 keyboard sonatas, Haydn wrote a variety of other pieces including arrangements of earlier orchestral or chamber works, and dances intended for occasional use. The 10 kleine Klavierstücke (10 Little Piano Pieces) contain five symphonic movements—including the second movement from one of his most popular, No. 53 in D major, known as L’Impériale—a single movement from a string quartet and three extracts from his witty Eszterháza opera La vera costanza. The dance movements were popular in Vienna’s many ballrooms. [mehr]

• Instrumental Ensemble Music (Baroque) - LULLY, J.-B. / TELEMANN, G.P. / RAMEAU, J.-P. (The Lully Effect) (Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Kuijken) (8.573867):

  This recording realises Barthold Kuijken’s long-held desire to restore to Jean-Baptiste Lully, and to French Baroque orchestral works in general, the power and intensity that once held the musical world in thrall. To the grandeur, finesse and diversity of the genre he has brought original source material to inform specific bowing techniques and the use of ornamentation. The result, as with Telemann’s Suite in E minor, which stands firmly in the Lully tradition, and Rameau’s magnificent Suite from Dardanus, evokes the spectacle and splendour of Versailles. [mehr]

• KERTSMAN, M.: Concertos / Chamber Symphony No. 2, `New York of 50 Doors` (Piccinini, Korcsolán, Kuuskmann, London Philharmonic, D.R. Davies) (8.573987):

  Brazilian-American composer, Miguel Kertsman, writes in numerous genres embracing classical music, jazz, progressive rock, electronica and film, bridging these diverse elements to craft a unique sound world. Concerto Brasileiro explores lyricism and modernity through solemn chorale-like writing and seductive dances laced with Brazilian folk rhythms. Uncommon sonorities, haunting themes and ethereal landscapes mark out the Concerto for Violin, Horn, Shofar and Orchestra, while traditionalism and experimentation define the Journey for Bassoon and Orchestra. Chamber Symphony No. 2 explores and celebrates New York’s rich cultural diversity. [mehr]

• LISZT, F.: Poems - Après une lecture du Dante / Mephisto Waltz No. 1 / Consolations (1st version) (Filipec) (Liszt Complete Piano Music, Vol. 51) (8.573794):

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• Lost Saxophone Concertos - CRAGUN, J.B. / GUNAROPULOS, Y. / LINDORFF-LARSEN, E. / PALS, L. van der / TATE, P. (Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo and his Orchestra) (8.579038):

  A large number of saxophone concertos have been written, but only a handful are regularly performed. With these premiere recordings Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo showcases five works that, had circumstances been different, might easily have established themselves as repertoire pieces. John Beach Cragun’s beautifully voiced work is the first saxophone concerto by an American and, like Yrjö Gunaropulos’ concerto—which enjoyed celebrity in the 1930s—was only rediscovered in 2016. The concertos by Eilert Lindorff-Larsen and Leopold van der Pals are compact, varied and exciting, while that by Phyllis Tate is considered her first major work. [mehr]

• MOZART, W.A.: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 and 24 (arr. I. Lachner for piano, string quartet and double bass) (Goldstein, Fine Arts Quartet, Bickard) (8.573736):

  Mozart himself saw the advantages of creating more accessible versions of his concertos in reduced instrumentation. Ignaz Lachner followed common 19th-century practice by leaving the piano parts of these concertos intact and making splendid transcriptions of the orchestra parts using only a string quartet with added bass. K. 488 and K. 491 are two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular piano concertos. These chamber versions throw an intense and intimate new light on familiar music. [mehr]

• MY PLAYLIST FOR BAKING (8.578344):

  Wooden spoons at the ready! Turn the oven on, weigh out the sugar and immerse yourself in a feast of classical music—from Tchaikovsky’s enchanting Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy to Clara Schumann’s delicious Notturno. Perhaps you fancy making a sweet French Pastry with Hayman, baking a pie with Bax—or maybe even conjuring up a wedding cake with Saint-Saëns? Whatever you’re baking, this album will serve as the perfect accompaniment to your culinary creativity. [mehr]

• MY PLAYLIST FOR DRAWING AND PAINTING (8.578347):

  Music and art are inexorably bound together, and this playlist of inspirational and relaxing classical works provides the perfect background to time spent drawing and painting. From the iconic first notes of Promenade from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, to Murphy’s sublime Scintillation from And then at night I paint the stars, these works span a multitude of hues and tones, from Higdon’s Pale Yellow to Bliss’s Purple. Prime your canvas, prepare your palette and immerse yourself in a world of colour and sound. [mehr]

• MY PLAYLIST FOR GARDENING (8.578345):

  The garden is a magical place to spend a day, and this playlist of cultivated classical pieces is the perfect accompaniment to working amid the flowers and foliage. Hear the sun rise in Grieg’s exquisite Morning Mood from Peer Gynt, waltz among the flowers with Tchaikovsky and watch the sparkling Fountain Dance with Elgar before drifting into the Haze of Noon with Alwyn. In the afternoon, shelter from the shower with Debussy and listen to the Birds in the High Hall Garden, exquisitely brought to life by Julian Lloyd Webber, before Gibbs’ Dusk falls. [mehr]

• MY PLAYLIST FOR SEWING AND KNITTING (8.578346):

  Knit one, purl one…and press play on this album of specially picked classical works, stitched together to create a musical tapestry of pieces to sew and knit to. Lay out a pattern for a New Dress with Waxman, thread The Sewing Machine with Ibert, cross and twist the bobbins on the lace pillow with Johann Strauss I and prime The Darning-Needle with Boris Tchaikovsky. From the sublime Fantasia on Greensleeves by Vaughan Williams to the delightful Valse from Coppélia by Delibes, this playlist is the perfect accompaniment to needlework. [mehr]

• ROSSINI, G.: Aureliano in Palmira [Opera] (Gatell, Dalla Benetta, Viotti, Pitts, Poznań Camerata Bach Choir, Virtuosi Brunensis, Pérez-Sierra) (8.660448-50):

  Aureliano in Palmira is unique in Rossini’s oeuvre for its inclusion of the only role, Arsace, that Rossini wrote for the castrato voice. Its tale of tragic defeat and the ultimate nobility and triumph of love in seemingly impossible circumstances is a refined and highly innovative example of his style. Set amidst turbulent times in the Roman Empire, Aureliano in Palmira is packed with sublime arias, duets of haunting beauty (notably the three given to Arsace and Zenobia) and excellent choruses, Rossini himself considering this work as ‘divine music’. Even after initial success he re-used many of its melodies in later operas, most famously in Il barbiere di Siviglia. [mehr]

• ROSSINI, G.: Piano Music, Vol. 10 (Bridelli, Marangoni) - Péchés de vieillesse: Chamber Music and Rarities, Vol. 3 (8.573865):

  Rossini considered the ‘mezzo’ voice to be his ideal, stating that ‘the contralto is the norm against which the other voices and instruments of the composition must be gauged.’ Containing numerous premiere recordings, this penultimate release in Alessandro Marangoni’s acclaimed traversal of Rossini’s complete piano music is vibrant with national colours from France, Italy and Spain, and rich in emotions of sadness and love, from the tragic Adieux à la vie! sung on a single note, to the sustained operatic embellishments of Questo palpito soave. [mehr]

• SIBELIUS, J.: Incidental Music (Turku Philharmonic, Segerstam) (6-CD Box Set) (8.506032):

  Parallel to his great sequence of symphonic masterpieces and tone poems, Jean Sibelius wrote a significant body of music for the theatre. It was with King Christian II and Kuolema that he established his fame throughout Europe while some of his most hauntingly beautiful writing for the stage can be found in Belshazzar’s Feast. The tragic pantomime Scaramouche is Sibelius’s only continuous dramatic score, the atmospheric and dramatic Pelléas et Mélisande is one of his most popular works and the rarely performed Jedermann is recognised as a hidden masterpiece. Gramophone wrote of these performances: ‘Leif Segerstam masterminds a characteristically unhurried, atmospheric display. What an absorbing journey of discovery this series has proved to be; congratulations to everyone involved.’ [mehr]

• TULEV, T.: Magnificat / Summer Rain / Legatissimo / Tanto gentile (Latvian Radio Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Putniņš) (8.573735):

  The Estonian composer Toivo Tulev has forged a unique sound world. His music, with its almost obsessive focus on religious mysticism, can be sensual and emotional but also cerebral and technically demanding. Tulev often takes inspiration from his extensive travels, in particular from the city of Istanbul which, like his vocal music, bridges East and West. His meditation on the words of Sufi mystic Mansur Al-Hallaj, I said, Who are You? – He said, You, conjures up a transcendent atmosphere, while his Magnificat departs from the text’s traditionally solemn setting with its stratospherically high string writing and wild percussion solos. [mehr]

• VILLA-LOBOS, H.: Harmonica Works - Harmonica Concerto / Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: Aria / Songs (Bonfiglio, New York Chamber Symphony, G. Schwarz) (9.70275):

  Heitor Villa-Lobos was one of a number of eminent composers attracted to writing for the harmonica and his Concerto explores the instrument’s abilities perfectly. The first movement is highly melodic while the harmonica’s singing qualities are to be found in the plaintively haunting lyricism of the slow movement. The finale embodies festive romance and great virtuosity, capping one of the most exciting works in the repertoire. The sequence of arrangements and orchestrations of some of Villa-Lobos’s most beautiful, moving and famous melodies includes the masterpiece Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5. [mehr]

• WEINBERG, M.: Symphony No. 13 / Serenade (Siberian State Symphony, Lande) (8.573879):

  Weinberg’s Symphony No. 13, dedicated to the memory of his mother, is cast in a single movement that unfolds in a symmetrical arc. A large orchestra is used sparingly in chamber-like textures with motivic ideas that evolve over the course of the work. The result is music of gripping and unsettling power, both emotionally intense and architecturally complex. Some years earlier Weinberg wrote the light-hearted Serenade, Op. 47, No. 4 which offers a study in contrasts: by turn capricious, rumbustious and wistful. [mehr]

• Accordion Music (Danish) - LOHSE, M. / KOCH, J. / LORENTZEN, B. / AAQUIST, S. (On the Path to H.C. Andersen) (Hanzhi Wang) (8.573904):

  With this unique programme Hanzhi Wang takes us into the ‘fairy-tale world of the accordion’ in works by Danish composers that explore both the darkness and luminosity of Hans Christian Andersen’s famous stories. Poignant reflection and tragic depiction infuse Martin Lohse’s Menuetto and The Little Match Girl (dedicated to Hanzhi Wang), while his post-minimalist Passing series forms adventurous ‘mobiles’ of dancing light. From Jesper Koch’s quixotic Jabberwocky to Svend Aaquist’s evocative Saga Night, this new repertoire for a relatively recent concert instrument is both dramatic and uplifting. [mehr]

• BACH, J.S.: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (Rübsam) (8.573921):

  Wolfgang Rübsam is one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Bach, and his extensive series of the composer’s music on Naxos has earned critical admiration. In turning to the Goldberg Variations, the culmination of Baroque variation technique, Rübsam has sought out a new approach. His use of the Keith Hill lute-harpsichord, especially built for him to period specifications, has enabled Rübsam to honour Bach’s conception of cantabile playing with appropriate baroque keyboard performance practices, including ornamentation and independent voicing of polyphony, thus not only making this complex score more transparent but shining new light on one of the great monuments of keyboard music. [mehr]

• BRAHMS, J.: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 (Győr Philharmonic, Berkes) (9.70277):

  Having successfully completed his First Symphony after a 15-year struggle, Brahms began composing his Second almost immediately. His friend, the scholar Philipp Spitta, noted that ‘the first two symphonies form a contrasted imaginative pair entirely characteristic of the composer, and they must be regarded as stemming from a single deeply hidden root’. The Third Symphony, one of Brahms’s most poetic and evocative works, was hailed by the critic Eduard Hanslick as ‘artistically the most perfect … equal to the best of Brahms’s works … a feast for the music-lover and musician’. [mehr]

• BRAHMS, J.: Symphony No. 1 / Tragic Overture (Győr Philharmonic, Berkes) (9.70276):

  Completed in 1877, Brahms’s remarkable and impressive Symphony No. 1 was the result of a 14-year gestation period and established the composer as the leading German symphonist of his generation. This recording is released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra. [mehr]

• BRAHMS, J.: Symphony No. 4 / Academic Festival Overture (Győr Philharmonic, Berkes) (9.70278):

  Brahms’s Symphony No. 4, which won immediate success at the time of its 1885 premiere and was praised by the critic Eduard Hanslick for its demonstration of the composer’s mastery of ‘all the secrets of counterpoint, harmony and invention’. Coupled here with the perennially popular Academic Festival Overture, this recording is released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra. [mehr]

• CLEMENTI, M.: Keyboard Sonatas, Op. 25, Nos. 1 and 3, Op. 33, Nos. 2 and 3, Op. 46 (Chaplikov) (8.573712):

  With a European reputation second only to Haydn’s during his lifetime, Muzio Clementi was highly regarded by Beethoven as a composer and his impact on music in general and the piano in particular as a performer, publisher and innovator cannot be ignored. With its cadenzas and dazzling virtuoso display, the Sonata Op. 33, No. 3 has the expressive range of a piano concerto, including an aria-like Adagio worthy of Mozart’s Vienna. Clementi was noted for his technical brilliance with runs in thirds, a hallmark found in the Op. 25 sonata alongside surprisingly operatic pauses, and a captivatingly lucid style of writing that always sounds freshly minted. [mehr]

• CZERNY, C.: 2 Trios Brillants, Op. 211 / 3 Sonatinas for Piano Trio, Op. 104 (Sun-Young Shin, Hayek, Gingher) (8.573848):

  Carl Czerny found a continuing source of inspiration in the music of his teacher Beethoven, even after he had established himself with a series of influential pedagogic works, piano exercises and studies. His works for piano trio show a flair for vivacious themes and unusual rhythms, such as the Spanish bolero in the second of the Deux Trios brillants, Op. 211 as well as opportunities for brilliant display, notably for the pianist. The Trois Sonatines, Op. 104 are equally lively, showing a transitional style that bridges the period from Mozart to Liszt. [mehr]

• FUCHS, K.: Piano Concerto, `Spiritualist` / Poems of Life / Glacier / Rush (Biegel, A.N. Cohen, Sparr, McAllister, London Symphony, Falletta) (8.559824):

  Kenneth Fuchs is one of America’s leading composers. He celebrates his unique fifteen-year recording history with conductor JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra with this stunning release of three new concertos and an orchestral song cycle. [mehr]

• GROSLOT, R.: Concerto for Orchestra / Violin Concerto (Kurkowicz, Brussels Philharmonic, Groslot) (8.573808):

  The concerto occupies a central place in the works of leading Belgian composer, pianist and conductor, Robert Groslot. His experience as a renowned soloist informs the instrumental possibilities and playing techniques of his compositions, which are notable for their refined and rich contrast. Conforming to his preference for one-movement structures, the Violin Concerto is laced with scintillating motifs both ethereal and playful as well as complex moods ranging from the dream-like and magical to the dark and violent. The Concerto for Orchestra is a meticulously structured and dazzlingly evocative showpiece. [mehr]

• Guitar and Flute Recital: Fukuda, Shin-ichi / Kudo, Shigenori - TAKEMITSU, Toru / NODAIRA, Ichiro / NODAIRA, Tami (Japanese Guitar Music, Vol. 4) (8.573911):

  Many Japanese composers have shown particular affinity for the guitar, none more so than Tōru Takemitsu. In Toward the Sea Takemitsu expands his unique sensibility and imaginative flair for the instrument’s colours and expressiveness to embrace the warmly elliptical sound of the alto flute. Ichiro Nodaira’s Wave Recollections evokes the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 in its exploration of the guitar’s acoustic properties—the quality of mankind’s relationship with nature runs as a theme through many of the evocative Japanese song arrangements in this programme. ‘This is not music you’ll be able to hear often—and it’s unlikely that you’ll hear it played more beautifully.’ (American Record Guide on Vol. 3, 8.573595) [mehr]

• KASTALSKY, A.: Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes (The Clarion Choir, S. Fox) (8.573889):

  In the face of the devastation wrought by the First World War, Alexander Kastalsky conceived a musical service of remembrance for the fallen. A pivotal figure in Russian musical life—he was a student of Tchaikovsky and acclaimed as the founder of a new, national church music—Kastalsky composed a choral-orchestral Requiem, for the concert stage. Simultaneously, he worked on the a cappella version heard on this recording to be sung in Russian Orthodox churches. Following the basic structure of the Orthodox Panihida, or memorial service, Memory Eternal, and the short sacred pieces that end the programme, reveal Kastalsky’s masterful use of choral sonority and colour, his weaving of complex polyphonic textures, and his graceful use of ancient chant melodies. [mehr]

• LIPIŃSKI, K.: Trios for 2 Violins and Cello, Opp. 8 and 12 (Proniewicz, A. and J. Roszkowski) (8.573776):

  Although Polish-born virtuoso and composer Karol Józef Lipiński embraced the innovations of Paganini and other 19th-century virtuosos, he disdained ‘empty’ technique devoid of musical depth, preferring the artistic ethos of Spohr, Tartini and Viotti. Described as ‘lyrical Slavic folk tunes with elements of the ballad’, the expertly crafted G minor and A major String Trios are notable for their warmly expressive themes to go along with the bravura runs and doublestopping heard in the primo violin part. Lipiński’s Capriccios Opp. 10 and 27 can be heard on 8.572665. [mehr]

• MASSENET, J.: Cendrillon [Opera] (Theater Freiburg, 2017) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0079V):

  [mehr]

• MASSENET, J.: Cendrillon [Opera] (Theater Freiburg, 2017) (NTSC) (2.110563):

  [mehr]

• MOYZES, A.: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 (Slovak Radio Symphony, L. Slovák) (8.573651):

  Alexander Moyzes was among the leading Slovak composers of his generation, drawing inspiration from the traditions and landscape of his own country while absorbing a number of wider contemporary trends. His Symphony No. 3, or Little Symphony is derived from an earlier Wind Quintet, while Symphony No. 4, with its occasional suggestions of Mahler and Sibelius, combines protest at the injustice of war with the past history of the Slovaks. [mehr]

• SCHUMANN, R.: Duets, Trios and other Partsongs (Die Orange und Myrthe hier) (Libor, P. Steiner, Møller, Gödde, Kluge, Klemm, Horst) (8.551381-82):

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• SCHUMANN, R.: Fantasiestücke, Opp. 73, 88, 111 / Märchenbilder (Fantasies and Fairy Tales) (Heiskanen, Szilvay, Sinkovsky, Rudin, Häkkinen) (8.573589):

  Schumann’s literary sensibility was exceptionally receptive to the ideas of fantasy and fairy tale. His poetic Hausmusik—music for domestic consumption—represents a motion from the outer to the inner world. This recording explores these affiliations in a unique way as most of the performances are the first to have been recorded on period instruments. The clarinet is a replica of the early 19th century type Schumann knew, all three string instruments use gut strings while the piano is an original 1843 Pleyel, and the music’s intimacy and volatility are significantly intensified through their use. [mehr]

• BALADA, L.: Caprichos Nos. 6, 7 and 10 / Ballet City / Spiritual (Fernández-Castelló, Sanjuan, Carrascosa, Ensemble Col legno, R. Ferrer) (8.579036):

  Acknowledged as one of the finest contemporary composers, Barcelona-born Leonardo Balada has written a series of Caprichos, suite-like pieces that illustrate the range of his invention. Fusing traditional and contemporary elements, they generate a symbiosis between the ethnic and the avant-garde, as in Caprichos No. 7: Fantasies of ‘La Tarara’ in which an Andalusian folk melody is transformed into a surrealist canvas, and in the vividly descriptive dissonance of Caprichos No. 6. Ballet City is a youthful work, reflecting Balada’s early enthusiasm for neo-classicism. [mehr]

• BÖHM, A.K.: Lieder (Die Symphonie des Lebens) (Lind, Tanski) (8.551397):

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• Choral Music - WHITACRE, E. / NOVELLO, I. / JOEL, B. / VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, R. (And So It Goes - Songs of Folk and Lore) (The Elora Singers, Edison) (8.573861):

  This recording traverses Canada, America and the British isles in music that has helped define the culture of those nations. England is represented by two of its most celebrated composers, Holst and Vaughan Williams, and the iconic Scottish Auld Lang Syne is traditionally sung to greet each New Year. Celebrated Canadian songs include Jimmy Rankin’s Juno Award-winning Fare thee well love. Eric Whitacre’s distinctive harmonic clusters can be heard in Go lovely rose, and Gordon Lightfoot counts Bob Dylan among his many fans, Dylan once declaring that when he heard a song such as Pussywillows, cat-tails he wished ‘it would last forever’. [mehr]

• Choral Music (Danish) - NIELSEN, C. / RING, O. / MORTENSEN, O. (Forår og sommer i Den Gamle By) (Akademisk kor Århus, Faurschou) (8.573999):

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• Clarinet and Piano Recital: Bosi, Sergio / Bartoli, Riccardo - GAGLIANO, G. / BUSONI, Ferruccio and Ferdinando (Italian Clarinet Treasures) (8.579034):

  Circumstances including an overwhelming preoccupation with opera at the expense of instrumental music, two world wars and the rise of a Fascist dictatorship, resulted in a generation of Italian chamber music composers born between the 1880s and early 1900s whose music seemed to vanish without trace. Featured on this release, they include virtuoso composer-performers, such as Ferdinando Busoni, father of Ferruccio, renowned pedagogues, and composers persecuted for their Jewish origins. This is Sergio Bosi’s fifth album for Naxos in a series devoted to restoring to the repertoire forgotten and rarely-performed Italian clarinet works from the second half of the 19th century to the present day. [mehr]

• DODGSON, S.: String Trios Nos. 1 and 2 / Violin Sonatina / Caprice after Puck / Cello Partita (Karolos) (8.573856):

  In his writing for strings, Stephen Dodgson revealed an abiding love of early music through his perceptive use of ornamentation, virtuoso displays and enthusiasm for variation form. Both String Trios reflect these elements and their slow movements—hymnal in the earlier work, valedictory in the later—are especially beautiful. The Sonatina in B minor for solo violin is simultaneously a tribute to Bach and a statement of Dodgson’s own musical identity, while the very different Caprice after Puck offers a complex exploration of the hobgoblin’s sinister pranks. [mehr]

• Guitar Duo Recital: Bulatović, Srdjan / Nikčević, Darko - BULATOVIĆ, S. / NIKČEVIĆ, D. (The Sea) (8.573943):

  For a quarter of a century the Montenegrin guitarists Srdjan Bulatović and Darko Nikčević have thrilled audiences worldwide not only as artists but with their unique blend of original compositions. Sharing a common thread of Montenegrin traditional music, movie soundtracks, and contemporary world and popular music, while drawing on improvisatory Middle Eastern modes, flamenco and Balkan rhythms, their music recreates the rhythms of Spain, wistful Slavic melodies, as well as the atmosphere of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. [mehr]

• LI, Haiying: Our Sun Yat-sen (Choir of the Department of Vocal Studies, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Guangzhou Symphony, Haiying Li) (8.570622):

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• LINDPAINTNER, P.J. von: Sizilianische Vesper (Die) (Sung in Italian as Il vespro siciliano) (Poznań Camerata Bach Choir, Virtuosi Brunensis, Longo) (8.660440-43):

  Robert Schumann considered Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner the most promising operatic composer in the country, yet despite his 21 operas he has been almost forgotten. Like most leading German composers of his time he took Meyerbeer’s historical grand operas, conceived in Paris, as his model. Set in Sicily at the dawn of the 1848 revolution, Il vespro siciliano (‘Die sizilianische Vesper’ / ‘The Sicilian Vespers’) is a dramatic four-act opera that reveals why he was held in such esteem by Schumann, Spohr and Mendelssohn: expressive harmonies, folksong-like strophic songs, rich orchestration, the use of the latest stylistic devices, and tuneful bel canto melodies that point to the work’s Franco-Italian lineage. [mehr]

• MERCADANTE, S.: Flute Concertos, Vol. 2 - Nos. 5 and 6 / 20 Capricci (P. Gallois, Kazunori Seo, Czech Chamber Philharmonic, Pardubice) (8.573742):

  Although operas make up the most substantial part of Mercadante’s catalogue, his technically challenging flute concertos are notable examples of 19th-century Italian instrumental music, effectively closing the Classical period for this instrument. Built on the agile writing and bel canto style that characterised the Neapolitan school, the Concerto in D major is unique in Mercadante’s catalogue in being for two flutes. The great mutual respect between Mercadante and Rossini is brought vividly to life in the theme used for the masterly Tema con variazioni. The Capricci can be compared with those for violin by Paganini, and the joyous Sixth Concerto makes varied and eloquent use of the orchestra. Volume 1 of this collection can be heard on Naxos 8.572731. [mehr]

• MESSIAEN, O.: Livre d'orgue / Verset pour la Fête de la Dédicace (Winpenny) (8.573845):

  Ten years after writing Les Corps glorieux (8.573682) Olivier Messiaen developed a plan to compose a Book of Rhythmic Studies for the organ. This resulted in two distinct works of which Livre d’orgue proved to be an anthology representative of his compositional thinking at the time. It runs the gamut of rhythms, tone colours and sonorities, ranging from extreme delicacy to the most powerful vehemence, and includes new modes, complex Hindu rhythms, and an aviary of birdsong. The test piece Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace offers a more serene vision in its own essay in birdsong. [mehr]

• Piano Recital: Panfilov, Alexander - DEBUSSY, C. / SECO DE ARPE, M. / MUSSORGSKY, M.P. / ALBĖNIZ, I. (8.573846):

  Debussy’s richly evocative Estampes takes us through exotic gamelan-like sonorities from East Asia and the strumming guitars of Spain, to end amid the bracing excitement of a violent rainstorm in Normandy. Alexander Panfilov was a laureate at the Premio Jaén competition in 2016, at which Manuel Seco de Arpe’s elegantly constructed and complex Anamorfosis was the mandatory work. He concludes this recital with Mussorgsky’s supremely descriptive Pictures at an Exhibition, one of the great works of the Russian piano tradition. [mehr]

• RACHMANINOV, Sergey: Piano Solo Recordings, Vol. 5 - Final Edison and First Victor Recordings (1919-1923) (8.111408):

  Sergey Rachmaninov moved to America in 1918 and immediately began giving concerts to raise funds for his new life outside Russia. Thomas Edison was the first to entice him into the recording studio, and the compositions captured here complete his work for Edison, the rest of which can be found on volume 4 (8.111407). In 1920 Rachmaninov moved to the Victor company, and these first recordings, made with the acoustical process, reveal the perfectionist composer-pianist at his fascinating best. [mehr]

• ROSSINI, G.: Comte Ory (Le) [Opera] (Malmö Opera, 2015) (Blu-ray, HD) (NBD0062V):

  [mehr]

• ROSSINI, G.: Comte Ory (Le) [Opera] (Malmö Opera, 2015) (NTSC) (2.110388):

  [mehr]