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New Release Round-Up - 2nd August 2024
2nd Aug 2024
Roberto Gerhard's ballet Don Quixote from Juanjo Mena & the BBC Philharmonic, Great American Songbook classics from Susan Bullock & Richard Sisson, a second helping of Vivaldi double concertos from La Serenissima, and Ailbhe McDonagh's The Irish Seasons.
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Anna Clyne on SHORTHAND and Augmented Orchestra
30th Jul 2024
Ahead of the world premiere of her new work The Gorgeous Nothings at the BBC Proms tonight, the British composer discusses the Augmented Orchestra technology involved in the piece - and her forthcoming album SHORTHAND, out on Sony next month and featuring Avi Avital, Yo-Yo Ma and The Knights.
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Aigul Akhmetshina's debut album on Decca
26th Jul 2024
The Bashkortostan-born mezzo turns in finely-characterised snapshots of Carmen, Rosina, Cenerentola, Charlotte and Romeo, with a multi-hued voice that glows from top to bottom and atmospheric support from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on top form under Daniele Rustioni.
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New Release Round-Up - 26th July 2024
26th Jul 2024
A collection of chamber works by the Australian-born composer Jane Stanley, Paganini and The Butterfly Lovers Concerto from Chloe Chua, Smetana's complete operas on Supraphon, and (on DVD/Blu-ray) Wagner's Götterdämmerung from Christian Thielemann and Dmitri Tcherniakov in Berlin.
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April Cantelo (1928-2024)
22nd Jul 2024
The English soprano, who created the role of Helena in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, has died aged 96.
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Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Alfred Deller (Oberon), Jennifer Vyvyan (Tytania), Leonide Massine II (Puck), Kevin Platts (Cobweb), Robert McCutcheon (Mustardseed), Barry Ferguson (Moth), Michael Bauer (Peaseblossom), George Maran (Lysander), Thomas Hemsley (Demetrius), Marjorie Thomas (Hermia), April Cantelo (Helena), Forbes Robinson (Theseus), Johanna Peters (Hippolyta), Owen Brannigan (Bottom), Norman Lumsden (Quince), Peter Pears (Flute), David Kelly (Snug), Edward Byles (Snout), Joseph Ward (Starveling) London Symphony Orchestra, Choirs of Downside & Emanuel Schools, Benjamin Britten
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The Past & I: 100 Years of Thomas Hardy
19th Jul 2024
Two substantial elegies for Hardy and his first wife Emma by up-and-coming composer Arthur Keegan bookend this mesmerising recital from mezzo Lotte Betts-Dean, guitarist James Girling and the Ligeti Quartet, which also includes Keegan's arrangements of Hardy settings by Imogen Holst, Benjamin Britten and others.
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New Release Round-Up - 19th July 2024
19th Jul 2024
Bruckner and Bates from Manfred Honeck in Pittsburgh, a fourth volume of Weinberg from the Arcadia Quartet, a second helping of African Pianism from Rebeca Omordia, and a recital of Schumann, Ravel & Prokofiev from Tchaikovsky Competition silver medallist George Li.
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Aziz Shokhakimov on Prokofiev (and Strasbourg)
16th Jul 2024
Now firmly settled in his role as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the young Uzbek conductor reflects on the challenges and rewards involved in building a relationship with a new orchestra - and their recent recording of Prokofiev (released last month on Warner Classics last month).
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Eric Coates from John Wilson and the BBC Philharmonic
12th Jul 2024
Replete with memorable melodies and piquant orchestral detail, this delightful series of Coates's orchestral works continues today with a fourth instalment including a zany symphonic fantasy on Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the dance-inspired Four Centuries Suite.
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New Release Round-Up - 12th July 2024
12th Jul 2024
Schumann and Loewe from Konstantin Krimmel & Ammiel Bushakevitz, Schoenberg and Fauré from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra & Paavo Järvi, Brahms's complete symphonies from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe & Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the Wiener Philharmoniker's recent Sommernachtskonzert from Schönbrunn Palace.
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Kirill Gerstein on Music in Time of War
8th Jul 2024
The Russian-American pianist discusses his new album of music which Debussy and Komitas composed in the wake of the outbreak of World War One and the Armenian genocide respectively - exploring why music written in dark times so often contains 'an incredible amount of exuberance, kaleidoscopic colour and life-affirmation'.
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New Release Round-Up - 5th July 2024
5th Jul 2024
An Irish album from Daniel Hope & friends, Janáček's The Excursions of Mr. Brouček from Prague, Stanford's Te Deum & Elegiac Ode from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and folk-inspired works by Suk, Smetana, Coleridge-Taylor & Frank Martin from the Neave Trio.
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Jakub Józef Orliński on Gluck's Orfeo
4th Jul 2024
The Polish countertenor discusses recording 'one of the signature-roles' for his voice-type, how going to hell and back in two contrasting productions of the opera informed his interpretation in the studio, and why acting as co-artistic director on the recording taught him to 'read the room'...
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Meyerbeer's Le prophète from Mark Elder and the London Symphony Orchestra
2nd Jul 2024
This weird and wonderful opera about a Flanders innkeeper who is radicalised into religious extremism really catches fire on a live recording from last year's Aix-en-Provence Festival, with the London Symphony Orchestra on barnstorming form and American tenor John Osborn at the top of his game in the demanding title-role.
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Rory Macdonald on Our Gilded Veins
1st Jul 2024
The conductor discusses his new album of contemporary orchestral works with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, released last month on Linn and featuring music by Anna Clyne, Sir James MacMillan, Martin Suckling & Jay Capperauld.
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New Release Round-Up - 28th June 2024
28th Jun 2024
Gaspard Le Roux from William Christie & Justin Taylor, Tudor keyboard music from Mishka Rushdie Momen, French opera overtures from the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra & Neeme Järvi, and Wagner's Parsifal from the 2023 Bayreuth Festival (conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, with Andreas Schager in the title-role).
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Wagner: Parsifal
Andreas Schager (Parsifal), Elīna Garanča (Kundry), Georg Zeppenfeld (Gurnemanz), Derek Welton (Amfortas), Jordan Shanahan (Klingsor), Tobias Kehrer (Titurel) Bayreuther Festspielorchester, Bayreuther Festspielchor, Pablo Heras-Casado
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Golda Schultz on Mozart's Women
27th Jun 2024
The South African soprano (who is currently singing Fiordiligi at Covent Garden) discusses her new Mozart album on Alpha Classics, why the three Da Ponte operas feel 'more relevant than ever' today, and the role which 'changed her as a person' - even though she never wants to sing it again...
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English Song Recitals from Robin Tritschler and James Gilchrist
21st Jun 2024
Tritschler joins forces with Malcolm Martineau, Sean Shibe and Philip Higham to pay tribute to Peter Pears on Signum, whilst Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook bring unaffected eloquence to a collection of songs by Roger Quilter on Chandos.
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Paul Agnew on Rameau's Platée from Garsington
19th Jun 2024
During the final stretch of rehearsals for Louisa Muller's new production of Rameau's tragicomic opera (which opened to rave reviews at the end of May), we paid the conductor a visit at the Wormsley Estate to find out more about what makes this score such a weird and wonderful treat - and why we don't see more French Baroque opera on UK stages...
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Rameau: Platée (Blu-ray)
Mathias Vidal (Thespis), Nahuel Di Pierro (Un Satyre/Citheron), Marc Mauillon (Momus), Julie Fuchs (Thalie/La Folie), Tamara Bounazou (L'Amour/Clarine), Lawrence Brownlee (Platée), Jean Teitgen (Jupiter), Reinoud Van Mechelen (Mercure), Adrianna Bignani Lesca (Junon), Les Musiciens du Louvre, Choeurs de l'Opera National de Paris, Marc Minkowski
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Robin Tritschler on Songs for Peter Pears
18th Jun 2024
The Irish tenor discusses his tribute to Peter Pears (released last Friday on Signum Classics), which includes song-cycles by Lennox Berkeley, Geoffrey Bush, Arthur Oldham, and of course Pears's life-partner Benjamin Britten.
