Including Mozart opera arias from Juan Diego Flórez, a controversial new production of Lucia di Lammermoor from Covent Garden starring Diana Damrau, Britten and Hindemith from Arabella Steinbacher, and an impressive recording debut by the young Chinese-American pianist George Li.
In his debut recording for Sony Classical, the Peruvian tenor tackles Mozart for the first time, with arias from Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Entführung, La Clemenza di Tito and Die Zauberflöte plus the concert-scene Aura che intorno spiri.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Britten & Hindemith: Violin Concertos
Arabella Steinbacher (violin), Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Vladimir Jurowski
The German violinist pairs two concertos which were written in the late 1930s, works which she describes as ‘absolutely bursting with emotional turmoil, persisting precariousness, and latent despair’.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Elder and the Hallé continue their acclaimed survey of Vaughan Williams’s music, recorded live at the Bridgewater Hall last year; reviewing the Fourth Symphony, the Manchester Evening News observed that Elder ‘found lyricism and sweetness in the grittiest of music’.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The Handel Album (standard jewel-case version)
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor/director) Ensemble Artaserse
In his first all-Handel album (in which he directs the Ensemble Artaserse as well as singing), the French countertenor focuses on the heroes of the lesser-known operas, including several roles written for the great castrato Senesino: Bertarido in Rodelinda, Radamisto, Ezio, Tolomeo and Siroe.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The Choral & Song Choice in this month’s BBC Music Magazine, this new disc from McCreesh and the Gabrielis explores twentieth-century partsongs inspired by the relationship between man and the natural world.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Gerhaher and Huber’s 2004 recording of Die schöne Müllerin was praised by Gramophone as ‘interpretation of Lieder at the highest level’; since then, they’ve performed the cycle together all over the world, and we can’t wait to hear what new insights the intervening seventeen years have supplied!
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The 21-year-old Chinese-American pianist (silver medallist at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition) performs works by Haydn, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov on this live recording, taken from a recital in St Petersburg in 2016.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
