CONSUMER INFORMATION SERVICE: NO. 293

Select Music and Video Distribution Limited3 Wells Place, Redhill, Surrey RH1 3SL Tel: 01737 645600 Fax: 01737 644065

JUNE 2016REPRESENTING

TODAY’SGREAT LABELS

THIS MONTH'S HIGHLIGHTS

2 JUNE 2016

.

Index

CDsAlbion Records ........................................................................................................................................page 6Altissimo! Recordings .............................................................................................................................page 11BIS ........................................................................................................................................................page 5BMMA ..................................................................................................................................................page 11BR Klassik ...............................................................................................................................................page 6Bridge Records ......................................................................................................................................page 11Cantaloupe Music .....................................................................................................................................page 6Capriccio ..............................................................................................................................................page 12CD Accord .............................................................................................................................................page 12Cedille Records ......................................................................................................................................page 12Champs Hill Records .................................................................................................................................page 6Chandos .................................................................................................................................................page 4Claudio Records .....................................................................................................................................page 12Concerto Classics ...................................................................................................................................page 13Coro.......................................................................................................................................................page 7CPO ....................................................................................................................................................page 7,8Dacapo ...................................................................................................................................................page 8Delos ...................................................................................................................................................page 13Dynamic ...............................................................................................................................................page 13EDA .....................................................................................................................................................page 13Farao Classics ........................................................................................................................................page 14Genuin Classics ......................................................................................................................................page 14Grand Piano ..................................................................................................................................... page 14,15Hanssler Classic .....................................................................................................................................page 15Hyperion ................................................................................................................................................page 3Kairos ..................................................................................................................................................page 16Klanglogo .............................................................................................................................................page 16LPO .......................................................................................................................................................page 8Melodiya ................................................................................................................................................page 9Novum ...................................................................................................................................................page 9Oehms Classics ......................................................................................................................................page 16Omnibus Classics....................................................................................................................................page 16Opera Rara ..............................................................................................................................................page 9Orchid Classics ........................................................................................................................................page 9Orfeo ...................................................................................................................................................page 10Orlando Records.....................................................................................................................................page 17Paladino Music ......................................................................................................................................page 17Profil ...................................................................................................................................................page 17Quartz ..................................................................................................................................................page 17Reference Recordings .............................................................................................................................page 17Rondeau Production ...............................................................................................................................page 18RPO .....................................................................................................................................................page 10Somm ..................................................................................................................................................page 10Sono Luminus........................................................................................................................................page 18SWR Music ............................................................................................................................................page 18Tactus ............................................................................................................................................. page 18,19Toccata Classics .....................................................................................................................................page 19Wergo ............................................................................................................................................. page 10,11

DVDsDelos ..................................................................................................................................................page 20Dynamic ..............................................................................................................................................page 20Opus Arte ............................................................................................................................................page 19Seventh Art .........................................................................................................................................page 20

Please click on a label below to be directed to its relevant page. Thank you.

JUNE 2016 3

César FRANCK, Claude DEBUSSY

Piano Quintet & String Quartet

Takács Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin

Franck’s Piano Quintet and Debussy’s String Quartet make an apt and unusual coupling, each work its composer’s only, unsurpassable, contribution to the genre. Both receive authoritative performances from Marc-André Hamelin and the Takács Quartet.

CDA68061

Highlight

of the month

Alonso LOBO (1555-1617)

Lamentations & other sacred music

Westminster Cathedral Choir, Martin Baker

Alonso Lobo may be remembered principally for the great funerary motet Versa est in luctum, but his setting of the biblical Lamentations must also be counted among the masterpieces of Renaissance polyphony. No choir has a more distinguished tradition in such music than Westminster Cathedral Choir.

CDA68106

Morton FELDMAN, George CRUMBPalais de Mari; A Little Suite for Christmas

Steven Osborne

The extraordinary soundscapes conjured by Morton Feldman and George Crumb are like nothing else in the whole of twentieth-century music. Steven Osborne is the most sympathetic of guides to these rarefied worlds.

CDA68108

English Romantic MadrigalsRoyal Holloway Choir, Rupert Gough

The church music of Victorian England has always retained a secure foothold; not so the secular part-songs recorded here. Written to complement the Elizabethan madrigals which were then being rediscovered and performed, an unjustly neglected corner of the English vocal repertoire is revitalized by Rupert Gough and Royal Holloway Choir.

CDA68140

4 JUNE 2016

Fryderyk CHOPIN Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat major, Op. 61; Nocturne in B major, Op. 62 No. 1; Nocturne in E major, Op. 62 No. 2; Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49; Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52; Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2; Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23; Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2; Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57

Imogen Cooper

Having explored the music of Schumann in three previous, much-lauded recordings, Imogen Cooper now turns to the music of Chopin. Combining some of his greatest works, this album is a recital in itself.

CHAN 10902

Highlight

of the month

The Lyrical Clarinet, Volume 2Robert SCHUMANN: Fantasiestücke, Op. 73; Ernest CHAUSSON: Andante et Allegro; John FIELD arr. McHale: Nocturne No. 2 in C minor, H 25; Nocturne No. 5 in B flat, H 37; Nocturne No. 10 in E minor, H 54 [Première Recordings]; Maurice RAVEL: Pièce en forme de Habanera; Jean FRANÇAIX: Tema con variazioni; Jules MASSENET: Méditation from ‘Thaïs’;Claude DEBUSSY: Petite pièce; Carlos GUASTAVINO: Sonata

Michael Collins, Michael McHale

After a highly praised first volume, including sonatas from Poulenc and Saint-Saëns, the virtuoso clarinettist Michael Collins – exclusive on Chandos - presents a new collection of pieces for The Lyrical Clarinet.

CHAN 10901

WAGNER, MACCUNN, NIELSEN, ENESCU, WEBERN, STRAUSS, HOLST, PROKOFIEV, MENDELSSOHN, GLAZUNOV, SAINT-SAËNS, SHOSTAKOVICH, DEBUSSY, SIBELIUS, MARTINŮ, ADAMS

125 years of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, various conductors

In the 2015-2016 season, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra celebrates a proud 125-year history of bringing the best in classical music performances to audience’s right across Scotland and beyond. Marking its recording relationship with the Orchestra, Chandos has compiled a two-disc set (at the price of one CD) of the finest of thirty years of recordings that have shaped the reputation of the Orchestra as well as the label.

CHAN 241-55

Johann ADOLPH: Hasse Cello Concerto in D major

Johann WILHELM: Hertel Cello Concerto in A minor; Cello Concerto in A major

Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH: Cello Concerto in A minor, Wq170

Musica Viva (Moscow Chamber Orchestra), Alexander Rudin

This album presents three rarely performed or heard early German cello concertos, played by Alexander Rudin. The multi-prize winning soloist is also a well-established conductor, in his native Russia as well as worldwide, fulfilling both roles in this recording; his first on Chandos.

CHAN 0813

Joseph Bodin de BOISMORTIER: Simphonie pour l’arrivée des Génies Elémentaires from Les Voyages de l’Amour, Op. 60; Premier Ballet de Village en trio, Op. 52; Sonate III à deux parties, Op. 14; Concerto à cinq parties, Op. 37; Sonate IV à trois parties, Op. 37

Jean-Féry REBEL: Les Caractères de la Danse; Sonate Sixiéme

Michel CORRETTE: Concerto comique VI, Op. 8 ‘Le Plaisir des Dames’

Ensemble Meridiana

Chandos is delighted to welcome on board the multi-award-winning Ensemble Meridiana. Established as one of Europe’s finest baroque ensembles, they are regularly invited to all the prestigious international early music festivals, on top of their worldwide touring activity.

CHAN 0812

JUNE 2016 5

Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Lieder ohne Worte, books 5-8

Ronald Brautigam

In 1828 Felix Mendelssohn invented a genre completely of his own when he presented his sister Fanny with a ‘song without words’ for her birthday. He went on to compose a large number of such Lieder ohne Worte and published no less than six sets of six pieces each. Following Mendelssohn’s death in 1847 the publisher Simrock issued another two sets, compiled from pieces that the composer had set aside for later publication. This second volume includes the last four published sets of Lieder ohne Worte, as well as a number of other piano miniatures. Brautigam performs them on the same instrument as on the previous disc, a copy by Paul McNulty after a piano from 1830 by Ignaz Pleyel, preserved at Musée de la musique in Paris.

BIS1983

Highlight

of the month

Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)

Pulcinella Suite; Apollon musagète; Concerto in D for strings

Tapiola Sinfonietta, Masaaki Suzuki

For his first recording of twentieth-century repertoire, Masaaki Suzuki has chosen to collaborate with the acclaimed Tapiola Sinfonietta in an all-Stravinsky programme. The disc begins with the music for Pulcinella – here in the concert suite devised by the composer – which Stravinsky later described as ‘the epiphany through which the whole of my later work became possible’. For this adaptation of an early eighteenth-century commedia dell’arte libretto, he based his score on existing music, however, in Pulcinella the material is slanted harmonically, rhythmically and texturally in a manner reminiscent of cubism – and it was indeed Picasso who provided the decor and costumes for the ballet’s first performance. The neoclassical (or neobaroque) spirit remained a vital part of Stravinsky’s compositional armoury, and informs the other two works presented here.

BIS2211

Kenneth HESKETH (b. 1968)

Horae (pro clara)Through Magic Casements; Notte Oscura; Three Japanese Miniatures

Clare Hammond

Following up on Etude and Reflections, her recent, highly acclaimed releases on BIS, here Clare Hammond performs music by her compatriot, the British composer Kenneth Hesketh. In her liner notes, Clare Hammond describes his works for the piano as 'music of phenomenal depth in which there is always something new to discover, something to surprise even the most jaded ear’. The centrepiece of the disc is Horae (pro clara), composed for Clare Hammond: a 40-minute cycle in twelve parts that together form a breviary or miniature book of hours. The three shorter works that frame Horae are all earlier works.

BIS2193

Xiaogang YE (b. 1955)

Symphony No. 3 ‘Chu’; The Last Paradise

Hila Plitmann, Cho-Liang Lin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, José Serebrier

Born in 1955, Xiaogang Ye is regarded as one of China’s leading contemporary composers. On the present disc Ye’s music is championed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the eminent conductor José Serebrier, and joined by the celebrated violinist Cho-Liang Lin and soprano Hila Plitmann. In 2002 Ye was commissioned to write a symphony in celebration of the Wuhan Orchestra’s tenth anniversary. The resultant Symphony No. 3, subtitled Chu consists of seven movements, during which Chinese instruments such as the pipa, sheng and the erhu appear alongside the traditional symphony orchestra. Two movements also include a wordless soprano part.

BIS2083

23 Vocalises-EtudesHarry White, Edward Rushton

To sing a melodic line on a single vowel presents many technical difficulties. For the past 250 years, vocalises have therefore been an important tool for singing instructors, and in 1906 Amédée-Landély Hettich, a voice professor at the Paris Conservatoire, made it his goal to raise the vocalise from a dull practice tool to a work of art in its own right. Over a period of thirty years, he persuaded an impressive list of composers to write vocalises, and 150 of these were published by Éditions Alphonse Leduc in the series Répertoire Moderne de Vocalises-Études. Finding his own instrument, with its flexible, voice-like timbre, ideal for the varied musical characters represented in Hettich’s collection, the saxophonist Harry White here presents a selection of 23 vocalises by composers as diverse as Fauré, Nielsen, Messiaen and Villa-Lobos.

BIS9056

6 JUNE 2016

Shakespeare settings by SCHUBERT, BRAHMS, LISZT, AIKIN, PARRY, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, BOWERMAN, CAPLET, SAUGUET, BRITTENShall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?Sonnets in Music

Ben Johnson, Graham Johnson

Ben Johnson is accompanied by duo partner Graham Johnson in a new recording of timeless sonnets and poetry by Shakespeare, Petrarch and Michelangelo (amongst others), all set to music by British, French and German composers.

CHRCD103

Alexander SCRIABINComplete Piano Preludes

Anthony Hewitt

British pianist Anthony Hewitt records the complete piano preludes of iconic Russian composer Alexander Scriabin.

CHRCD072

Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, Gustav HOLSTHeirs and RebelsRobert Irwin, Stuart Robertson, Edgar Coyle, Peter Dawson, Gerald Moore, George Thalben-Ball, Black Dyke Mills Band, BBC Chorus, Band of HM Grenadier Guards, Rae Jenkins, Leslie Woodgate, Julius Harrison

Heirs and Rebels is the title given to a book of letters between Holst and Vaughan Williams: ‘The heirs had come into their inheritance and the rebels had led a revolution of greater importance than they could guess’. This release revives 78 rpm recordings made by the composers’ contemporaries which are now of both historical and musical interest. Recordings from 1922 to 1946 have been remastered by Pete Reynolds bringing these old recordings to life.

ALBCD027

SCHUBERT, GAUBERT, BERLIOZ, RAVEL, CAPLET, DEBUSSY, SAINT-SAËNS, CHAUSSONChanson Perpétuelle: French Chamber Songs

Katherine Broderick, James Baillieu, Heath Quartet, Adam Walker, Tim Lowe

Soprano Katherine Broderick joins instrumentalists including pianist James Baillieu, flautist Adam Walker, cellist Tim Lowe and the Heath Quartet in a new recording of French Chamber Songs.

CHRCD095

Jean SIBELIUSSymphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43; Finlandia, Op. 26; Karelia Suite, Op. 11

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons

The new release from BR KLASSIK gathers the most famous and popular musical works of the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius on one CD. The exemplary interpretations by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under its chief conductor Mariss Jansons were recorded at several Munich concerts during the autumn of 2015.

900144

Kate MOOREStories for Ocean ShellsAshley Bathgate

Australian composer Kate Moore has worked with a wide range of ensembles, including Slagwerk Den Haag, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Amsterdam Cello Octet, the New European Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, the Bang on a Can All-Stars and many more. On her Cantaloupe Music debut with All-Stars cellist Ashley Bathgate, she brings a uniquely vivid, contemplative and almost spiritual voice to these six new compositions for the cello.

CA21118

JUNE 2016 7

Erasmus WIDMANN (1572-1634): Musicalischer Tugendtspiegel (1613, selection)

Michael PRAETORIUS (1571-1621): Terpsichore Musarum (1612, selection)

Accademia del Ricercare, Pietro Busca This release offers a fascinating overview of the German instrumental world just prior to the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). You can look forward to dances of spirited motion, exhibiting a full and richly varied sound palette.

777608-2

Nino ROTA (1911-1979)

Piano WorksVariazioni e Fuga nei dodici toni sul nome di Bach; 15 Preludi; Valzer; Ippolito Gioca; 7 Pezzi difficili per Bambini; Fantasia in G

Christian Seibert

Rota’s compositions for piano attest to Bach’s influential role in his music. In 1950 he wrote the Variations and Fugue in Twelve Tones on the Name of Bach, a work with a magnificent fugue consisting of a most highly chromatic structure posing a genuine challenge to the pianist and in every way equal to Max Reger’s complex works. The most ambitious work composed by Rota for solo piano is formed by the 15 Preludi that can be heard on this new release.

555012-2

Ludwig van BEETHOVENSonatas for Fortepiano and Violin, Volume 2

Sonata No. 5 in F minor, Op. 24 ‘Spring’; Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 96

Susanna Ogata, Ian Watson

Susanna Ogata, violin, and Ian Watson, fortepiano, join forces to record the complete Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin of Ludwig van Beethoven in four instalments. Using period instruments for which the music was originally written, Watson and Ogata reveal not only the clarity of Beethoven’s extraordinary musical structures, but also the beauty and lyricism of these two particular sonatas.

COR16143

Highlight

of the month

Carl Philipp Emanuel BACHBürgerkapitänsmusik – 1780 Oratorio & Serenade

barockwerk hamburg, Ira Hochman

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote his Hamburger Bürgerkapitänsmusik in 1780 for the annual festive gathering of the captains of Hamburg’s civic guard. Trumpets and timpani and allegorical figures including virtues and vices are employed to contrast war and peace.

555016-2

Jan van GILSE (1881-1944)

Piano Concerto ‘Drei Tanzskizzen’; Variations on a Saint-Nicolas Song

Oliver Triendl, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, David Porcelijn

This month CPO add another volume to their rediscovery of a significant early twentieth-century Dutch composer. Gilse stood squarely on the foundation of tonal late romanticism and wrote music of dazzling beauty. His sumptuous, romantic, and ravishing orchestral music abounds in pathos, drama, and passion.

777934-2

Georg Philipp TELEMANNThe Grand Concertos for Mixed Instruments, Vol. 3

La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider

CPO present the third volume in the critically acclaimed Telemann Grand Concertos for Mixed Instruments edition. This new recording demonstrates the same ‘stylistically flawless and tonally beautiful interpretations’ that characterised the first two, with the three-movement Concerto in D major for Three Horns, Violin, Strings, Oboes, and Basso Continuo notable for the intricate mastery of composition.

777891-2

8 JUNE 2016

Per NØRGÅRDSymphonies 2 & 6

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds

This recording with the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by John Storgårds presents Per Nørgård’s euphoric and psychedelic Second Symphony, in which the composer unfolds his famous ‘infinity principle’ and his Sixth Symphony, in which the mature composer proves more exploratory and playful than ever. 6.220645

Giacomo MEYERBEERDinorahOu Le Pardon de Ploermel

Patrizia Ciofi, Etienne Dupuis, Philippe Talbot, Seth Carico, Elebenita Kajtazi, Gideon Poppe, Christina Sidak, Der Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin, William Spaulding, Das Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Enrique Mazzola

Following the successful release of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera Vasco da Gama, CPO presents another opera by the same composer. In Dinorah, Meyerbeer succeeds in setting the story of the lovers Dinorah and Hoël, mixing lyrical, folkloric, and comical elements that lends the music a subtle and unique colour palette.

555014-2

Highlight

of the month

Per NØRGÅRDSymphonies 4 & 5

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds

This recording by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor John Storgårds presents two of Nørgård’s most dramatic works: the chaotic and troubled Symphony No. 4 inspired by the schizophrenic Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli, and the fearless Symphony No. 5, in which the composer seems to embrace violent forces of nature.

6.220646

Nino ROTAPiano Works Variazioni e Fuga nei dodici toni sul nome di Bach; 15 Preludi; Valzer; Ippolito Gioca; 7 Pezzi difficili per Bambini; Fantasia in G

Christian Seibert

Nino Rota’s compositions for piano attest to Bach’s influential role in his music. In 1950 he wrote the Variations and Fugue in Twelve Tones on the name of Bach, a work with a magnificent fugue with a highly chromatic structure posing a genuine challenge to the pianist. The most ambitious work composed by Rota for solo piano is the Fifteen Preludes, heard on this recording.

555019-2

Anton BRUCKNERSymphony No. 5 in B flat major (Nowak Edition, 1878)

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Stanisław Skrowaczewski

This recording is an interpretation of humility from nonagenarian Stanisław Skrowaczewski, a performance in which the listener can hear the remarkable connection between conductor and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; the Orchestra has performed Bruckner’s symphonies under his baton many times.

LPO-0090

Highlight

of the month

JUNE 2016 9

Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)

Pavane for a Dead Princess; Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2; Mother Goose; Spanish Rhapsody

The USSR State Academic Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov

Melodiya presents a disc of Maurice Ravel’s symphonic works dedicated to the great French composer’s 135th birthday. The album features Ravel’s works created during one decade – Spanish Rhapsody, Suite No. 2 from the ballet Daphnis and Chloe, as well as orchestral versions of Pavane for a Dead Princess and the suite Mother Goose. They are performed by the USSR State Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov. These recordings were made at the concert dedicated to Ravel’s 100th anniversary that took place on 17 March 1975 at the Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

MELCD 1002338

Antonio VIVALDI, Carl Maria von WEBER, André JOLIVETBassoon ConcertosRodion TolmachevMariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Ivan Stolbov

Rodion Tolmachev, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the Hannover University of Music, is one of the best Russian bassoonists of the new generation. This new disc from Melodiya features works for bassoon and orchestra written in different ages – three concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, a romantic, radiant concerto by Carl Maria von Weber, and an elegant, neoclassical Concertino for bassoon, harp, piano and strings by the 20th century French master André Jolivet.

MELCD 1002413

Gerald BARRY (b. 1952)

Barry Meets Beethoven

Stephen Richardson, Chamber Choir Ireland, Crash Ensemble, Paul Hillier

Ireland’s leading vocal ensemble releases an album of works by Irish composer Gerald Barry, featuring premieres of two major works that dramatize key episodes in the life of Beethoven. ORC100055

Ruggero LEONCAVALLOZazàErmonela Jaho, Stephen Gaertner, Riccardo Massi, Patricia Bardon, David Stout BBC Symphony Orchestra, Maurizio Benini

Zazà is Opera Rara’s first recording venture into the musical world of Leoncavallo and the operatic tradition of verismo. Maurizio Benini leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Ermonela Jaho in her recording debut as the eponymous Zazà. Jaho is joined by Riccardo Massi as her lover Milio, Stephen Gaertner as her onstage partner and former lover Cascart, and Patricia Bardon as her mother Anaide.

ORC55

John BLOWSymphony AnthemsGod spake sometime in visions Hear my voice, O God; O sing unto the Lord; When the Son of Man; When Israel came out of Egypt; I was glad

Choir of New College Oxford, St James’ Baroque, Robert Quinney

This new recording by New College Choir – its first under the direction of Robert Quinney – includes three previously unrecorded symphony anthems, together with ceremonial works written for the coronation of James II and the consecration of the rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral. Alongside these, Quinney presents the first performance in 400 years of a newly reconstructed verse anthem.

NCR 1389

10 JUNE 2016

Felix MENDELSSOHN: Symphonies Nos 1 & 4; Jörg WIDMANN: ad absurdum

Sergei NakariakovIrish Chamber Orchestra, Jörg Widmann

ORFEO is delighted to begin a new collaboration with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and Artistic Director Jörg Widmann, to record the symphonies of Felix Mendelssohn. The multi-talented Jörg Widmann comes to the project not just as an instrumentalist and conductor but as a ‘composer colleague’ of Mendelssohn. In Widmann’s ad absurdum the disc presents not just a first-class soloist here, but also a work written especially for him. It takes a masterly instrumentalist such as trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov to divine and explore the truly transcendental possibilities and musical intelligence that this music presents.

C914161A

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

Piano Concerto No. 4; Symphonies Nos 3 & 7; Coriolan OuvertüreWilhelm BackhausWiener Philharmoniker, Hans Knappertsbusch

Hans Knappertsbuschs’s approach to Beethoven is a special case within the ‘special case’ that was Knappertsbusch himself. In his finest moments, his high degree of unpredictability (something which marks him out as the complete opposite of his great colleague and competitor Karajan) affords his interpretations a sense of ‘recreating’ the music in the truest sense of the word. On this new double CD we can hear both a complete concert given in the Musikverein in Vienna on 17 January 1954 – with the Coriolanus Overture, the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Seventh Symphony – and the Third Symphony from a concert at the same venue, given on 17 February 1962.

C901162B

Morton FELDMAN (1926-1987)

Beckett MaterialClaudia Barainsky, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Peter Rundel

In early 1976, Feldman had accepted a commission from the opera in Rome for the opera Neither, based on a text by Samuel Beckett. His works Orchestra, Elemental Procedures, and Routine Investigations, written in the short period between April and July in 1976, represented for Morton Feldman a trilogy with which he prepared himself for the work on this opera. Feldman said, 'All three pieces contain what I call 'Beckett material' – a long, continuous melodic line that I planned to use in my later Beckett opera. Now the opera Neither is finished, and I didn’t even use the ‘Beckett material’ there’.

WER 73252

Hans Werner HENZE (1926-2012)

Being Beauteous; Kammermusik 1958Anna Prohaska, Peter Gijsbertsen, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Peter Ruzicka

Henze composed the cantata Being Beauteous, based on the poem of the same name by Arthur Rimbaud, in 1963, soon after returning from his first trip to the USA. Henze felt that his experiences in New York – the danger to life and the challenge to the classical ideal of beauty posed by the conflict between abundance and decay – had been anticipated in Rimbaud’s poem, which comes from the cycle Les Illuminations. By contrast, Henze was inspired by a number of experiences to write Kammermusik 1958. He made numerous sketches during a trip to Greece in the summer of 1958: ‘Everything was as though myths had been born only yesterday. The stones began to sing’ (Henze). The recording of Kammermusik 1958 is the first recording of the string orchestra version.

WER 73342

George GERSHWINRhapsody in Blue; Piano Concerto in F; Variations on ‘I Got Rhythm’Bonus Disc – First integral recording Eight Preludes for Piano Solo

Mark Bebbington, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leon Botstein

Mark Bebbington, best-known for his much-acclaimed recordings of British music on SOMM, takes a leap across the Atlantic this month to bring his refined yet expressive style to a spectacular all-Gershwin CD, alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Grammy Award-nominated American conductor Leon Botstein.

SOMMCD 260-2

The Best of BondMary Carewe, Simon Bowman, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Carl Davis

The world-class Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with guest vocalists Mary Carewe and Simon Bowman, performs classic title songs and music from iconic 007 films.

RPOSP017

JUNE 2016 11

Pēteris VASKS (b. 1946)

String Quartets 1, 3 & 4Spīķeru String Quartet

The music of Pēteris Vasks makes use of symbolism: birdsongs associated with ultimate freedom, elements of Latvian folk music as a reminder of Latvian identity, toccata-like passages expressing an evil and brutal force, and aleatoric episodes picturing scenes full of despair and chaos. The present recording of the String Quartets Nos. 1, 3 and 4 complete the string quartet oeuvre of Vasks recorded by WERGO. The five string quartets cover almost thirty years of his creative experience and clearly illustrate the basic principles of Vasks’ musical language.

WER 73302

Balz TRÜMPY (b. 1946)

Oracula Sibyllae

El Cimarrón Ensemble

For Balz Trümpy, composing represents the ‘possibility to transport something from other dimensions into our reality of time and space’. This is made most clear in the longest work on this CD, the Oracula Sibyllae, which can be seen as both the point of departure and the goal of this collection. Trümpy wrote the piece for the El Cimarron Ensemble, to whose members it is dedicated. Preceding this piece on the CD are four other instrumental pieces that lead us into his music from different directions.

WER 73352

Robert Nathaniel DETT (1882-1943)

The Ordering of MosesLive from Carnegie Hall

Latonia Moore, Ronnita Nicole Miller, Rodrick Dixon, Donnie Ray AlbertMay Festival Chorus, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon

In 1937, Cincinnati’s May Festival gave the world premiere of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s oratorio, The Ordering of Moses, a ‘Biblical Folk Scene’ composed in 1932. The event was broadcast live to the nation by NBC radio. The present recording captures a thrilling 2014 concert of Dett’s magnum opus, live from Carnegie Hall.

BRIDGE 9462

Ursula MAMLOK (b. 1923)

Ursula Mamlok, Volume 5

Holger Groschopp, Kolja Lessing, Parnassus, Anthony Korf, Frank Lunte, Tatjana Blome, Heinz Holliger, Hanna Weinmeister, Jürg Dähler, Daniel Haefliger, Hartmut Rohde, Musicians of Spectrum Concerts Berlin

At the age of 92, Ursula Mamlok, who spent many decades living in New York, has returned to her native Germany, where she has been heralded as a master composer. Bridge Records has been honoured to issue dozens of her compositions, with the present Volume 5 being, perhaps, the most far reaching to date, containing nine compositions spanning the years 1942-2015.

BRIDGE 9457

H. M. Queen Elizabeth’s MarchThe Band of the Grenadier Guards, Lieutenant-Colonel G. J. Miller, MVO, MBE, LRAM, psm

The Band of the Grenadier Guards came to be in 1685, ‘born’ of a royal warrant the same year as J.S. Bach and Handel. The title track was composed by Adela Verne, one of the period’s virtuoso pianists, and although the march takes its name from the late Queen Mother rather than the reigning Queen Elizabeth, BMMA felt it appropriate to look forward to the Queen’s Birthday Parade in June. Other commemorative works on the album include Edward German’s Coronation March and Hymn, composed for King George V’s 1911 coronation, and an arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture.

BMMAGG1603

John WILLIAMS, William SCHUMAN, Charles IVES, Jonathan ELKUS, Robert RUSSELL BENNETT, Aaron COPLAND, MSgt. Donald PATTERSONBe Glad then, America

Gunnery Sergeant Sara Dell’Omo, The President’s Own United States Marine Band, Lt. Col. Jason K. Fettig

Be Glad Then, America takes its title from William Schuman’s New England Triptych, which used as its point of departure the religious choral writing of William Billings, one of the grandfathers of American music. Also included are three world première recordings: the exuberant For ‘The President’s Own’ by John Williams, a set of selected Charles Ives songs arranged for the President’s Own, and a transcription of the glorious final movement of Aaron Copland’s Third Symphony.

ALT04032

12 JUNE 2016

Rafał AUGUSTYNsub ioveCantores Minores Wratislavienses, Piotr Karpeta

Augustyn’s chorus sub iove has nothing in common with heavenly choirs. If anything it stems from ancient choreomania and is closer to poetry than composed music where melody and rhythm play an equal role dictated by the overall, over-riding musicality of the narrative.

ACD212

Agata ZUBEL, Cezary DUCHNOWSKIStories nowhere fromElettroVoce

A new project from the ElettroVoce Duo, Stories nowhere from brings together pieces for voice and piano with electronics. After the acclaimed Parlando and Monad 3, awarded at the International Rostrum of Electroacoustic Music (IREM) in Rome, these nine stories present yet another dimension of the artists’ work.

ACD220

Zoltán KODÁLY, Miklós RÓZSAProject HungaricaMusic for strings

Szymon Krzeszowiec, Bartłomiej Nizioł, Adam Krzeszowiec

The Duo for violin and cello, Op. 7 was written by Zoltán Kodály in 1914. This is masterful music, both instruments displaying the whole gamut of expressive and technical bravura. Kodály draws the very peculiar blend of rhapsodic melancholy and dancelike vigour from Hungarian folklore. Kodály’s work is coupled here with music by Miklós Rózsa. Known above all for his film music, he is the recipient of three Oscars.

ACD226

Domenico SCARLATTI, Jean-Philippe RAMEAU, Frédéric CHOPINRosalind Bieber

This recording is the rediscovery of a great artist, a great musician and a unique creative mind. For this recording, Rosalind Bieber has come out of retirement as a musician and, with great physical effort, immortalised performances of Scarlatti, Rameau and Chopin that show the promise and brilliance of her ever-too-short career.

CB6020-6

Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD, Karl GOLDMARKPremière Portraits: Cornelia HübschCornelia Hübsch, Charles Spencer

Capriccio’s Première Portraits series supports young, talented artists by making their debut CDs available to a world-wide audience. This new release presents the Austrian soprano Cornelia Hübsch, born in Baden near Vienna. Hübsch studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz under the supervision of Elisabeth Batrice; she also attended master classes with Ildiko Raimondi, Kurt Equiluz and David Lutz.

C3004

Vincenzo BELLINI, Gaetano DONIZETTI, Gioachino ROSSINIPremière Portraits: Emanuele D’AguannoEmanuele D’Aguanno, Charles Spencer

Capriccio’s Première Portraits series supports young, talented artists by making their debut CDs available to a world-wide audience. This new release presents one of the most promising young tenors of his generation: Emanuele D’Aguanno. He distinguished himself at the ‘Toti dal Monte’ competition in Treviso (as Paolino in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto), launching an international performance career which has led to appearances at many major venues in Italy and abroad.

C3005

Dan VISCONTI, Thomas Moked BLUM, Robert BEASER, Kenneth BENSHOOF, BALADINONedudim

Fifth House Ensemble, Baladino

Enterprising chamber group Fifth House Ensemble, noted for its ‘conviction, authority, and finesse’ (The New York Times), joins forces with swinging and virtuosic Mediterranean folk band Baladino and 2014 Rome Prize-winning composer Dan Visconti for an exhilarating, boundary-breaking collaboration. Nedudim, Hebrew for ‘wanderings’, is an album of eleven world-premiere vocal and instrumental works created from a palette of international influences, including accents of Indian raga, plus fresh arrangements of folk melodies from the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.

CDR 90000 164

CB6020-2

JUNE 2016 13

Conrad SUSADavid CONTEFacing West

Cappella SF, Ragnar Bohlin

Grammy Award-winning choirmaster Ragnar Bohlin leads his professional chamber choir, Cappella SF, in a stunning program of choral music by two of America’s leading contemporary composers.

DE 3524

GRIEG, FRANCKSymphonic Masterworks

Thomas Murray

It’s not often that one hears recorded organ transcriptions of major works originally composed for symphony orchestra. But that’s what we get here; a transcendental programme of orchestral favourites played to breath-taking perfection by Thomas Murray, an internationally renowned organist and Yale professor.

DE 3525

Andrea LUCHESI (1741-1801)

Sacred Music

Massimo Belli, Roberto Brisotto, Laura Antonaz, Elena Biscuola, Luca Dordolo, Matteo BellottoNuova Orchestra Da Camera Ferruccio Busoni, Coro Della Cappella Civica Di Trieste

The recorded compositions on this album are attributed with certainty to Luchesi. The Kyrie in D minor for S.A.T.B. choir, orchestra (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 horns, and strings) and organ, is perhaps one of the oldest existent pieces of sacred works by Luchesi. The attentive listener will recognize a melodic phrase of 4 beats, which is played after the introduction by the alto and soprano.

CNT 2098

York HÖLLER (b. 1944)

Piano WorksKristi Becker, Pi‐hsien Chen, Fabio Martino, Tamara Stefanovich, Fabian Müller, York Höller

After a comprehensive overview of the piano oeuvre of the Cologne‐resident Krzysztof Meyer, EDA Records devotes itself again to the piano works of an important contemporary composer, which are presented nearly complete on this double CD. The works written between 1964 and 2012 for this instrument not only mark important stages in York Höller’s compositional development, but they also reveal his fundamental interest in – and knowledge of – the playing characteristics of the instrument, which have a direct influence on the structure and facture of the writing.

EDA 41

Marco TUTINO (b. 1954)

Le braci (‘Embers’)From the homonymous novel by Sándor Márai

Angela Nisi, Romina Tomasoni, Davide Giusti, Pavol Kuban, Alfonso Antoniozzi, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, Francesco Cilluffo

Italian composer Marco Tutino based the plot of his opera Le braci (‘Embers’) on a famous novel by Hungarian writer Sándor Márai. Set against the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Le braci tells the story of a broken friendship, of the inevitability of the ageing process, and of violent feelings that remain smouldering beneath the ashes of the past.

CDS7736

Stephen HELLER (1813-1888)

Kinderszenen, Op. 124; Notenbuch für Klein und Gross, Op. 138Luigi Gerosa

A contemporary of Schumann, Stephen Heller was a Hungarian pianist and composer. His catalogue comprises 158 opus numbers, almost all of which are piano works, plus several unnumbered pieces. Emulating Schumann, one of Heller’s works is titled Kinderszenen, which is presented here alongside the world première recording of his Notenbuch für Klein und Gross, Op. 138. These two collections, written in a remarkably sensitive and evocative style, tell stories of childhood.

CDS7747

14 JUNE 2016

VarietasWorks by HANDEL, BUXTEHUDE, BÖHM, J.S. BACH, TELEMANN, MATTHESON, C.P.E. BACH

Jean Christophe Dijoux

One of the most exciting harpsichordists of the younger generation, Jean-Christophe Dijoux takes us on a thrilling journey to the baroque period – the age of the keyboard virtuoso. This multiple award-winning musician is passionate about the musical world straddling the line between notation and improvisation, and here he revels in Preludes, Fantasies and Fugues ranging from Handel, J.S. Bach and Telemann to C.P.E. Bach.

GEN16420

MonodialogueWorks for Viola Solo by TELEMANN, HINDEMITH, STRAVINSKY, WIESENBERG

Guy Ben-Ziony

On his Genuin Classics debut, Berlin-based Israeli-violist Guy Ben-Ziony presents a programme that ranges from Telemann, Stravinsky and Hindemith, to Menachem Wiesenberg. Wiesenberg’s Monodialogue, dedicated to Guy Ben-Ziony’s former teacher Tabea Zimmermann, rounds off the disc with ethereal sounds that hover between dream and reality.

GEN16423

Wald.Horn.LiedMusic for male voices and four horns by SCHUBERT, SCHUMANN, GOLDMARKamarcord, german hornsound

This new Genuin Classics CD entitled Wald.Horn.Lied. promises to be an exceptional meeting of superb artists, with world-renowned vocal ensemble amarcord alongside german hornsound. The songs by Schubert, Schumann, Goldmark and other composers (including a number of rarely performed works) are born from the very heart of German Romanticism.

GEN16434

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)

Goldberg Variations BWV 988Marie Rosa Günter

One of the great works of the piano literature, a true test of skill for any serious concert pianist, and even more so for a pianist as young as Marie Rosa Günter, who has devoted her debut CD to Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Here, the multiple-prize-winning pianist presents this magnificent Baroque kaleidoscope with superlative piano technique and a maturity that commands admiration.

GEN16435

Brücken (‘Bridges’)Works by BUSONI, J.S. BACH, KURTAG, REGER, LIGETI

Klavierduo Stenzl

This disc by the Stenzl Piano Duo, that has won a dozen international competitions and hold the world’s only piano duo professorship, is as organic as a concert programme. In an amazingly taut musical offering, the two pianists build bridges that span centuries.

GEN16549

Leopold KOŽELUCH (1747-1818)

Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 6Kemp English

In 1785 and 1786 Mozart’s piano concertos were winning many admirers in the public concert halls of Vienna. Koželuch, however, continued to excel as master of the piano sonata, plying his art in the city’s ubiquitous private concert soirées. Indeed, the four works presented here ably demonstrate why his sonatas might aptly be called ‘the ideal of the high-Classic style’. To be sure, Mozart’s influence is felt in Sonatas Nos. 21, 23 and 24 but in Sonata No. 22, Koželuch pre-empts the hallmarks of Mozart’s much later penultimate Sonata in B flat major K570.

GP647

Antonín DVOŘÁK, Bedřich SMETANAThe Czech AlbumATOS Trio

First came ‘the French album’, then ‘the Russian album’; now, the ATOS Trio is presenting The Czech Album with music by Dvořák and Smetana. Two trios composed amid profound human pain resulting from the loss of a beloved person. The ATOS Trio was founded in 2003. Outstanding characteristics of the ensemble are its warm, homogeneous trio sound, its variety of approaches depending on the style and epoch of the music being played, and above all the artistic communication between the players and their complete dedication to the music.

B108093

JUNE 2016 15

Joseph HAYDN: Cello Concerto in C Major

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: arr. Gaspar Cassado: Cello Concerto in D Major (after the horn concerto in E flat Major, K 447)

Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH: Cello Concerto in B flat Major, Wq 171

Valentin Radutiu, Münchener Kammerorchester, Stephan Frucht

Sergei RACHMANINOV Songs

Julia Sukmanova, Elena Sukmanova

HC16038

Johann Sebastian BACHConcerto No. 9, BWV 1060; Triple Concerto, BWV 1044; Orchestral Suite, BWV 1067; Concerto, BWV 1055a

Barocksolisten München

HC16024

HC16006

Paul HINDEMITHDer Dämon, Op. 28; Kammermusik No. 2; Klavierkonzert, Op. 36; Hérodiade - Récitation orchestrale

Florian Henschel, Gisela Zoch-Westphal, Ensemble VARIANTI, Dietrich Fischer-DieskauHC16014

Béla BARTÓKFolk MusicComplete Works for Piano Solo, Vol. 3

Andreas Bach HC16020

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZARTZhang plays MozartPiano Concerto in D minor, K 466; Piano Concerto in D major, K 467

Haiou Zhang, Heidelberger Sinfoniker, Thomas Fey

HC16037

Philip GLASS (b. 1937)

Glassworlds, Vol. 4: On LoveThe Hours; Modern Love Waltz; Notes on a Scandal; Music in Fifths

Nicolas Horvath

This volume focuses on love, one of Philip Glass’ most glorious themes. The timeless melancholy of his BAFTA award-winning music for The Hours forms an organic suite driven by the film’s three powerful characters, here complete with three unpublished movements. The breathtakingly energetic Modern Love Waltz expands the limits of minimalism by combining Glass’s style with Viennese dance tradition, while his transcription of Notes on a Scandal is a recording première.

GP692

George ENESCU (1881-1955)

Complete Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 1Josu de Solaun

This first of three discs devoted to George Enescu’s piano music presents three significant pieces. The ruminative yet striking Nocturne in D flat is a work of shifting sonorities and moods. The Pièces impromptues, Op. 18 are independent, unrelated character pieces that illuminate once again the composer’s fascination with the indigenous music of Romania. The Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 24, No. 1 is – by contrast – a massive statement characterised by harmonic surprises, innovative techniques and insistent rhythms.

GP705

16 JUNE 2016

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART, Alfred SCNITTKEKammermusikMaia Cabeza, José Gallardo, Liga SkrideConcertino Ensemble of the Leopold Mozart Centre of Augsburg University, Dirk Kaftan

Every three years in Augsburg up-and-coming violin stars from all over the world participate in the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition, playing before a renowned jury and competing for the coveted Mozart Prize. The list of previous first-prize winners is a long one, and includes such outstanding names as Isabelle Faust, Benjamin Schmid, Lena Neudauer and recently in 2013, Maia Cabeza.

OC766

Walter BRAUNFELS (1882-1954)

Orchestral Songs, Vol. 1Valentina Farcas, Klaus Florian Vogt, Michael VolleStaatskapelle Weimar, Hansjörg Albrecht

Walter Braunfels achieved his breakthrough as a composer during the 1920s with the opera The Birds (based on Aristophanes). Shortly thereafter he was, alongside Richard Strauss, one of the outstanding and most frequently performed German opera composers. His extremely versatile compositional oeuvre includes numerous operas, orchestral works and choral works, as well as Lieder, chamber music and piano works. Now Oehms Classics begins a series devoted to the rediscovery of his Orchestral Songs.

OC1846

The Britannic Organ, Vol. 12 Last Voyage

With this final sequence of historic recordings on the Britannic Organ, we conclude our journey of recordings on the extraordinary Welte Philharmonie Organ of the Museum for Music Machines in Seewen. A total of 23 CDs have been issued since 2011 with well over 27 hours of music, enabling the listener to gain insight into these earliest organ recordings.

OC1841

Friedrich CERHA (b.1926)

Nacht; Drei Orchesterstücke

SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Emilio Pomàrico, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Two recent orchestral pieces by one of the key figures of the European avant-garde – alongside Ligeti, Boulez and Stockhausen – Friedrich Cerha created his rich and colourful orchestral style, from large scale microtonal movements to delicate, gloomy melodies. 2016 is his 90th birthday and his music has never been more fascinating.

0015005KAI

Feuerwerk der operette (‘Operetta Fireworks’)For lovers of the classical operetta, Oehms Classics has packed in a single box the 15 most beloved operettas from 1996 to 2015 recorded at the Mörbisch Lake Festival. The leading roles are sung by stars of the genre such as Martina Serafin as the Csárdás Princess, Metella in Parisian Life and Saffi in The Gypsy Baron, Silvana Dussmann as Rosalinde in The Bat, Nikolai Schukff as Count Tassilo in Countess Mariza and, not least, Dagmar Schellenberger in the recordings of The Beggar Student and A Night in Venice.

OC016

Philippe GAUBERTCouleursSonatine quasi fantasia; Madrigal; Ballade; Sonata No. 1; Romance; Nocturne and Allegro Scherzando; Sonata No. 2; Sicilienne

Idit Shemer, Maggie Cole

Israeli flautist Idit Shemer, and American/British keyboard player Maggie Cole bring their shared love and experience of music of many periods and styles to an enchanting selection of works by this early twentieth-century composer who contributed so much to the repertoire and pedagogy of the flute.

CC5008

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)

Bach all‘ italianoSimon Borutzki & ensemble

Johann Sebastian Bach’s music is, most likely, the most frequently arranged music in the history of classical music; and yet he frequently made arrangements of other composer’s work himself. He skilfully transcribed the violin concertos of his Italian contemporaries Allesandro Marcello and Antonio Vivaldi for the harpsichord. For Bach all’Italiano, the recorder player Simon Borutzki examined these transcriptions and arranged a selection of them into concertos for recorder and continuo ensemble, which maintain their Italian sentiment.

KL1517

JUNE 2016 17

Johann Sebastian BACH, Domenico SCARLATTI, Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART, César FRANCKThe Accordion Album

Nikola Djoric

On his first solo album, Nikola Djoric ‘tried to build a mood of forms; since, on one hand, all works or work groups distinguish themselves through a tripartite: Bach’s work has three movements, there are three Scarlatti sonatas, Mozart’s work has three movements and Franck’s work has one movement, but with three parts; while on the other hand the compositions, or parts of them, are connected to each other through their keys’.

OR0022

EILENBERG, GOTTSCHALK, LEHÁR, NICOLAI, ROSSINI, SAINT-SAËNS, VON SAUER, WEBERFrom Praxedis with Love

Duo Praxedis

The seventh album by the Swiss family-duo – From Praxedis with Love – successfully revives the good old, though partly forgotten, tradition of bourgeois chamber music for piano and harp. In former times this instrumental setting was very popular and only nowadays has turned to a rarity. Due to these circumstances, this album, with arranged orchestral pieces, conveys an even more substantial meaning.

PMR0080

Anton BRUCKNERPsalm 146 in A major, WAB 37; F minor Mass, WAB 28; Organ works Ania Vegry, Franziska Gottwald, Clemens Bieber, Timo Riihonen, Philharmonischer Chor Munchen, Andreas Herrmann, Philharmonie Festiva, Gerd Schaller

PH16034

Alfred SCHNITTKEWorks for Violin and Piano

Roman Mints, Katya Apekisheva

Roman Mints has recorded for ECM, Harmonia Mundi, Quartz, and other labels, and has performed with such prominent groups as the London Mozart Players and the London Chamber Orchestra. Here, he is accompanied by Katya Apekisheva, one of Europe’s foremost pianists, whose CD of Grieg solo piano works on Quartz was chosen by Classic FM as CD of the week and selected by Gramophone Magazine as ‘Editor’s Choice’.

QTZ2116

Carlisle FLOYDWuthering HeightsAn opera in three acts

Florentine Opera Company, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Joseph Mechavich

Carlisle Floyd’s canon of operas is amongst the most performed by any living American opera composer, however, four essential operas have never been commercially released. Wuthering Heights was first performed by Santa Fe Opera in 1958, but never recorded until now. This Florentine Opera première recording was made in January 2015 at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

FR-721

(2 Hybrid SACDs)

18 JUNE 2016

Giovanni Battista BASSANI (c. 1647-1716)

Giona: Oratorio for 5 voices, strings and continuo

Carlo Vistoli, Laura Antonaz, Margherita Rotondi, Mauro Borgioni, Raffaele Giordani, Ensemble ‘Les Nations’, Maria Luisa Baldassari

‘Les Nations’ is an ensemble specializing in the rediscovery of the oratorio, from the Renaissance to the Baroque. In this production the ensemble is faced with an almost unknown author that proves he deserves a place among the great. The few surviving works by Giovanni Battista Bassani, whose life remains mostly mysterious, testify to the incredible range and greatness of his musical writing. No exception is his Giona.

TC 640290

Duke ELLINGTONSacred ConcertsJunges Vokalensemble Hannover, Big Band Fette Hupe, Jörn Marcussen-Wulff

'The most important thing I’ve ever done' – this is how Duke Ellington saw his Sacred Concerts for choir, soloists and big band. With these three concerts, of which many songs have since become standards, the grandmaster of jazz made history. Duke Ellington conceived his Sacred Concerts between 1962 and 1973 and they resemble a wonderful musical autobiography of the composer. With this very rarely recorded cycle, Fette Hupe and the Junges Vokalensemble Hannover pay tribute to one of the true legends of jazz.

ROP6112

Six Songs of InnocenceWorks by Gregor HÜBNER, John RUTTER, Knut NYSTEDT, Billy JOEL, Kirby SHAW

Knabenchor collegium iuvenum Stuttgart, Sirius Quartet New York, Michael Čulo

The Six Songs of Innocence for boys’ choir and string quartet by Gregor Hübner, a violinist and member of the Sirius Quartet New York, are as rhythmically thrilling as they are strongly expressive. The enthusiasm of the young singers of the collegium iuvenum Boys’ Choir Stuttgart immediately captivates the listener, in a work written specifically for them. Another première recording on this CD is The Purcell Project – Fragments from Dido’s Lament & The Gordian Knot Untied for string quartet by Gregor Hübner: Henry Purcell’s music revisited and revived.

ROP6120

DAVIDOVSKY, REICH, FULMER, GOSFIELD, THORVALDSDOTTIR, OLIVERTransitions

Michael Nicolas

This disc marks Michael Nicolas’s Sono Luminus solo debut. In this collection of six pieces, Michael adheres not to any one genre, but simply to a general idea exploring the human/machine dichotomy. Transitions features composers from 3 continents with works spanning over 50 years. There are duos for cello and electronics, cello solos with electronic backing tracks, pieces with multiple layered cello tracks, and a solo cello piece.

DSL-92202

Anton BRUCKNERSymphonies Nos. 1-9Michael Gielen Edition Vol. 2

SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, Michael Gielen

Some of the first broadcast recordings that Michael Gielen made in the 1960s were of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies. He eventually went on to record all nine of them, not necessarily using the standard version of each symphony, but the one which was the most musically interesting. Echoing his approach for the classical and more contemporary repertoires, Gielen instilled in his orchestra his own distinctive, well-researched interpretations.

SWR19014CD

Benjamin BRITTEN, Arvo PÄRT, Heinrich KAMINSKI, Francis POULENC, Michael PRAETORIUS, Jan SANDSTRÖM

Himmelslieder: Songs of HeavenSWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Maria Stange, Marcus Creed

Christmas carols from around Europe follow similar themes - angelic choirs, lullabies and hymns to the Virgin Mary. Yet the carols of different countries and regions sound distinctive. This is because Christmas, more than any other celebration, is so deeply rooted in a nation’s folk culture. The Christmas settings in this collection comprise music from the Middle Ages to the present day, from an anonymous 15th-century composer to Jan Sandström.

SWR19015CD

SWR New Jazz Meeting 2013Living Being Extended

When the New Jazz Meeting proposed, in 2013, to the accordionist Vincent Peirani to expand his core quintet Living Being, he chose in Mathias Eick and Leïla Martial partners who would understand the densely interconnected cosmos of his band. Living Being Extended performed three concerts, in Karlsruhe, Tübingen and Mainz, one of the great moments of the New Jazz Meetings.

JAH-458

JUNE 2016 19

Vieri TOSATTI (1920-1999)

Complete Piano WorksDaniele Adornetto

Vieri Tosatti, was a unique composer: he was irreverent, ironic, refuted the mainstream and kept away from the academic world. His original, expressive language, set him against the musical world of his time, which was relentlessly anchored to experimentation. Tosatti was also a brilliant pianist. The five pieces presented in this CD pertain to two distinct stages of his musical life. The refined pianist Daniele Adornetto, pupil of Tosatti in orchestration, guides us in this musical journey.

TC 922201

Bohuslav MARTINŮEarly Orchestral Works, Vol. 2The Shadow: Ballet in One Act

Dorota Szczepańska, Artur Gadzała, Agnieszka Kopacka, Sinfonia Varsovia, Ian Hobson

The generous quantity of orchestral music Martinů wrote between his late teens and early thirties is as good as unknown; some of it, indeed, has never been performed. Toccata Classics continues Ian Hobson’s pioneering recordings of those early orchestral works with the one-act ballet Stín (‘The Shadow’) from 1916, which has its world premiere in this recording.

TOCC 0249

Conrad BECK (1901-1989)

Complete Music for Solo PianoGabrielle Beck-Lipsi

This CD shines light on a major twentieth-century composer whose music has been almost entirely forgotten since his death. The Swiss composer Conrad Beck wrote a generous amount of music, including seven symphonies, around twenty concertos and concertante works, four string quartets, some large-scale choral works, solo songs and much else, and during his lifetime he enjoyed the strong support of Paul Sacher.

TOCC 0301

Sadie HARRISONThe Rosegarden of LightANIM Junior Ensemble of Traditional Instruments, Kevin Bishop, Ensemble Zohra, Cuatro Puntos

This album is the fruit of a remarkable collaborative project, a kind of ‘Malala in music’. Here the students – some of them orphans and street vendors – of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul meet the US string sextet Cuatro Puntos. The student musicians include a ground-breaking girls’ ensemble – a remarkable achievement, given the conditions prevailing in contemporary Afghanistan.

TOCC 0342

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZARTDie Entführung Aus Dem SerailGlyndebourne

Sally Matthews, Edgaras Montvidas, Tobias Kehrer, Mari Eriksmoen, Brenden Gunnell, Franck Saurel, The Glyndebourne Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Robin Ticciati

Director David McVicar’s original-period vision for this Mozartian gem allows its genius to speak for itself, offering a ‘mesmerising, sensitive […] outstanding’ portrayal of Enlightenment-era fascination with the East that is both ‘exquisitely acted and sung’, featuring a Konstanze and a Belmonte sung with ‘finesse and bravura’ and a ‘sensationally voiced’ Osmin - Guardian *****.

OA1215D

OABD7204D

Arnold ROSNER (1945-2013)

Orchestral MusicPiano Concerto No. 2, Op. 30; Gematria, Op. 93; Six Pastoral Dances, Op. 40; From the Diaries of Adam Czerniaków, Op. 82

Peter Vinograde, Peter Riegert, London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Amos

The musical language of the New York-based Arnold Rosner clothes the modal harmony and rhythm of pre-Baroque polyphony in rich Romantic colours, producing a style that is instantly recognisable and immediately appealing.

TOCC 0368

20 JUNE 2016

Georg Frederic HANDELSaulGlyndebourne

Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies, Lucy Crowe, Sophie Bevan, Paul Appleby, Benjamin Hulett, John Graham-Hall, The Glyndebourne Chorus, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ivor Bolton

Glyndebourne’s Saul stole the summer and had critics raving. The Guardian applauded ‘virtuoso stagecraft’ from director Barrie Kosky in his debut production there, calling the show ‘a theatrical and musical feast of energetic choruses, surreal choreography and gorgeous singing’. For the Independent, which ranked it amongst the five top classical and opera performances of 2015, there was ‘no praise too high’ for the cast.

OA1216D

OABD7205D

Highlight

of the month

Giacomo PUCCINILa Rondine

Dinara Alieva, Charles Castronovo, Alexandra Hutton, Alvaro Zambrano, Stephen Bronk, Noel Bouley, Matthew Newlin, Thomas Lehmann, Siobhan Stagg, Elbenita Kajtazi, Stephanie Lauricella, Carlton Ford

Perhaps the least performed of Italian master Giacomo Puccini’s mature operas, La Rondine (‘The Swallow’) was originally conceived as Puccini’s first (and only) operetta. The work turned out to be an artful blend of operetta and opera, with a somewhat lighter mood and simpler plot than most of the composer’s more serious masterpieces. But its gorgeous music makes it a ‘must see’ for any opera fan.

DV 7010

DV 7011

Highlight

of the month

Renoir: Revered and ReviledPierre-Auguste Renoir is known and loved for his impressionist paintings of Paris which rank among the world’s favourites. Renoir, however, grew tired of this style and changed course. This stunning film – based on the remarkable Renoir collection at Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation – explores the artist’s new approach. These later works still provoke extreme reactions - some people are repulsed by them and others seduced.

SEV191

Highlight

of the month

37742

57742

Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)

La GazzettaDirected by: Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera; Recorded at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liege, Belgium - June 2014

Cinzia Forte, Enrico Marabelli, Laurent Kubla, Edgardo Rocha, Julie Bailly, Monica Minarelli, Jacques Calatayud, Roger Joakim, Orchestra and Chorus of Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Jan Schultsz

A true comedy of errors, Rossini’s comic opera La Gazzetta abounds in misunderstandings and plot twists. Based on a play by Carlo Goldoni, the plot revolves around the bizarre tale of a man who decides to find a husband for his daughter by placing an ad in a newspaper. Directed by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, this Liège staging of Rossini’s 1816 opera buffa was the closing production of Opéra Royal de Wallonie’s 2014 season. It includes, for the first time, a quintet which was rediscovered in 2012 by the librarian of the Palermo Conservatory. Authenticated by US musicologist Philip Gossett, this quintet has now been restored to its rightful place in Act One of La Gazzetta.