Today's new releases include a collection of world premieres by contemporary Estonian composers from Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra, David Lang's 2019 meditation on Jewish holidays the writings from Cappella Amsterdam and Daniel Reuss, a selection of Grieg's Lyric Pieces from Peter Donohoe, and a programme of orchestral music by John Ireland from John Wilson and Sinfonia of London.
John Ireland: Orchestral Works
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
The mainstay of this all-Ireland programme is A Downland Suite, commissioned for the National Brass Band Championships in 1932 - Ireland later arranged the central two movements for strings, and his pupil Geoffrey Bush subsequently transcribed the others. The album also includes The Forgotten Rite (one of Ireland's earliest orchestral works), the Satyricon and London Overtures, the symphonic rhapsody Mai-Dun, the Epic March and The Holy Boy.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Estonian Premieres
Estonian Festival Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
For their third release on Alpha, Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra present six works by five contemporary Estonian composers: Tõnu Kõrvits's To the Moonlight, Ülo Krigul's Chordae and The Bow, Helena Tulve's L’ombre derrière toi, Tauno Aints's Estonia Overture, and Lepo Sumera's Olympic Music I (written for the Tallinn Sailing Regatta at the 1980 Summer Olympics).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The New Four Seasons: Vivaldi Recomposed
Elena Urioste (violin), Chineke! Orchestra, Max Richter
It's ten years since the premiere (and first recording) of Richter's reinterpretation of Vivaldi, which met with near-unanimous critical acclaim: The Telegraph described it as 'a subtle and often moving piece of work', and The Independent as 'a creditable palimpsest of the original work informed by modern pop and dance techniques'. On this new recording, both Chineke! and Urioste play on gut strings, whilst Richter uses an early Moog, dating from the 1970s.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 & Stucky: Silent Spring
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck
Following their Grammy-nominated recording of the Ninth Symphony (which was hailed by BBC Music Magazine as 'meticulous, immaculate and even' and described by Fanfare as 'a Beethoven Ninth for the ages'), the Pittsburgh Symphony and their Principal Conductor present the Pastoral Symphony coupled with a work which they commissioned to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the book Silent Spring by Pittsburgh native and environmentalist Rachel Carson.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Reich/Richter
Ensemble Intercontemporain, George Jackson
This is the world premiere recording of Reich/Richter, originally written to be performed with German visual artist Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz’s film Moving Picture (946-3), and performed over a hundred times at The Shed in New York in 2019 before this Paris performance. The Financial Times described the score as 'reminiscent of his earliest work...very beautiful', whilst The New York Times noted its 'tender energy, and an undercurrent of melancholy'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Grieg: Lyric Pieces
Peter Donohoe (piano)
Donohoe fell in love with Grieg's solo piano works as a teenager, and describes the pieces on this personal selection of favourites as 'pristine examples of his diverse and original style - Norwegian with a Germanic flavour'; his programme includes Erotikk, Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen, Gjetergutt, the Valse mélancolique, Sommeraften, Puck, and Alfedans.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Without Borders
Can Çakmur (piano)
The Turkish pianist's third album for BIS juxtaposes four composers' different responses to folk music: Bartók's Piano Sonata from 1926, Dimitri Mitropoulous's Passacaglia, Intermezzo e Fuga from 1924, Ahmed Adnan Saygun's Piano Sonata (written fifty years after the composer accompanied Bartók on a field-trip to Turkey), and Enescu's Piano Sonata No. 3 in D major from the mid-1930s.
Available Format: SACD
L'aimable: Une journée avec Louis XV
Céline Frisch (harpsichord)
Playing an Andrea Restelli copy of an eighteenth-century instrument by Jean-Claud Goujon, the French harpsichordist reconstructs a day in the life of the French king's court: her programme includes music by François d'Agincourt, François Couperin, Louis-Claude Daquin, Michel Corrette, Claude Balbastre, Pierre Dandrieu, and Pancrace Royer.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
David Lang: the writings
Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss
This is the world premiere recording of the writings, which was co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall & the Nederlands Kamerkoor and sets five texts from the Old Testament tied to Jewish holidays. Reviewing the first performance in 2019, The New York Times observed that 'the harmonies — quickly shifting, comforting and peculiar at once — served as reminders of Mr. Lang’s individual artistry'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
At Home with Hugo Alfvén
Elin Rombo (soprano), Peter Friis Johansson (piano)
Released to mark the 150th anniversary of Alfvén's birth, this recital was recorded at Alfvéngården (where the composer made his home in his later years) using his own piano; the programme of songs and solo piano pieces includes the Lyriska stamningar Op. 8, Skargardsbilder Op. 17, the Österlingsånger Op. 22, and Fyra låtar från Leksand.
Available Format: SACD
