Bellini: I Puritani
Lawrence Brownlee (Lord Arturo Talbo), Lisette Oropesa (Elvira), Anthony Clark Evans (Sir Riccardo Forth), Riccardo Zanellato (Sir Giorgio Valton), Roxana Constantinescu (Enrichetta di Francia); Dresdner Philharmonie, MDR-Rundfunkchor, Riccardo Frizza
Conducted by the Artistic Director of the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo, this recording of Bellini's final opera stars two of today's leading interpreters of leading roles. Oropesa's Elvira (at the Teatro di San Carlo) was praised by BachTrack for her 'crystal-clear timbre, effortless high register and good command of thrills', whilst Brownlee (who previously recorded the role under Constantine Orbelian and has sung it at the Metropolitan Opera) has been described as 'an impressive Arturo, light of tone and with an easy ascent into the upper register' by BBC Music Magazine).
Available Formats: 3 SACDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
Yuja Wang (piano), Cécile Lartigau (ondes martenot), Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
This recording was made at Boston’s Symphony Hall in April, to mark the 75th anniversary of the work's premiere: Turangalîla was commissioned by the orchestra via its music director Serge Koussevitsky in 1946, and received its first performance under Leonard Bernstein three years later. Reviewing the recording last week, the Financial Times declared that 'it is a pleasure to hear the finesse that today’s Boston players bring to this complex work, which marks one of the high points in the orchestra’s history', whilst The Guardian opined that Wang's brilliance in the solo part 'is impossible to take for granted'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Smetana: Má Vlast
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Petr Popelka
This is Popelka's second recording with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he was appointed Chief Conductor in 2022; also a prolific opera-conductor, he believes that Má Vlast 'should be approached a bit like an opera, as a great story'. Released to mark Smetana's bicentenary, the album also includes the symphonic poems Richard III, Hakon Jarl and Wallenstein's Camp, George Szell's orchestration of the String Quartet No. 1 'From My Life', and the Festive Symphony from 1854.
Available Format: 3 CDs
Lucy
Lucy Illingworth (piano)
Described as 'truly remarkable' by Lang Lang, the winner of Channel 4's The Piano (who is blind and neurodivergent) makes her recording debut with a programme which includes Debussy's Arabesque No. 1 and 'Clair de lune', Chopin's Nocturne No. 2, 'Träumerei' from Schumann's Kinderszenen, Debbie Wiseman's 'I'm Walking With You', the first movement of Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata, and 'Silent Night'. The CD release of this recording is available exclusively through Presto Music.
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Folies Parisiennes
Romain Leleu (trumpet), Julien Gernay (piano)
Inspired by the unique instruments in Paris's Musée de la musique, this celebration of twentieth-century music for cornet/trumpet includes Poulenc's Sonata for Horn, Trumpet & Trombone, Enescu's Légende, Honegger's Intrada, Arban's Fantaisie brillante, Ravel's Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera (transcribed by Leleu), and Gershwin's Three Preludes (originally for solo piano, but given here in an arrangement by Rich and Brandon Ridenour).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Masaaki Suzuki Plays Bach Organ Works, Vol. 6
Masaaki Suzuki (organ)
Launched in 2016, Suzuki's Bach series has been applauded for his 'flair and imagination' (BBC Music Magazine), 'magisterial sense of architecture' (Choir & Organ), and 'inimitable artistry' (Fanfare). Recorded on the Arp Schnitger Organ of Martinikerk, Groningen, this latest instalment focuses on Bach's won reworkings of organ chorales dating from the years 1708–17, including 'Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele', 'An Wasserflüssen Babylon', 'Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott', and 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland'.
Available Format: SACD
Echoes Across Borders
Thomas Verity (clarinet), Michael Csányi-Wills (piano), Klezmer-ish
Mieczysław Weinberg’s early Clarinet Sonata (which blends folk music with Romanticism) opens this recital and was the inspiration for British-Hungarian composer Michael Csányi-Wills's own contribution to the genre, incorporating elements of the klezmer music which had also played a significant role in Weinberg's youth. The album also includes Csányi-Wills's Variations on a Ukrainian Theme (based on a recording of a song by a teenage concentration camp prisoner from 1945) and Weinberg's Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes, performed by the band Klezmer-ish - the four members met whilst playing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light - Original Soundtrack
The Locrian Ensemble of London, Debbie Wiseman
With the final episode of Peter Kosminsky's mesmerising Hilary Mantel adaptation due to air on Sunday evening, Silva Screen releases a collection of Debbie Wiseman's music for the series; the composer conducts The Locrian Ensemble of London and soloists including viola-player Philip Dukes and soprano Grace Davidson (who sings the haunting theme representing Wolsey's illegitimate daughter Dorothea, which opens the first three episodes). Speaking to Presto last week, Wiseman remarked that 'the whole purpose of the score was for it to sound contemporary, albeit with some Tudor inflections. Hilary Mantel always said that our past is the characters' present.'
Available Format: CD
Baroque Christmas at the time of Louis XIV
La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall
The well-known Messe de Minuit (thought to have been composed for Christmas 1690) is the centrepiece of this programme of seasonal music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, which also includes the three Noëls 'Un Jeune Pucelle', 'Or, nous dites Marie' and 'Laissez paître vos bêtes', 'Régnez, calme profond', 'Célestes compagnons' and 'Gloire dans les hauts lieux'. Savall's 2014 recording celebrating Charpentier at Versailles was described as 'unfailingly, gorgeously expressive' by the Sunday Times and as 'possibly even more beautiful than originally envisaged' by Gramophone.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Prayer: The Songs of Morten Lauridsen
Jeremy Huw Williams (baritone), Paula Fan (piano), Caryl Hughes (soprano), John Reynolds (clarinet), Peter Esswood (cello)
Lauridsen was present during all of the recording-sessions for this album, which opens with the solo version of his best-known piece 'O Magnum Mysterium'; the repertoire also includes his three song-cycles A Winter Come, A Backyard Universe and Cuatro Canciones (on poems by Federico García Lorca), plus settings of James Agee's 'Sure On This Shining Night', Pablo Neruda's 'Ya Eras Mia' ('Now you are mine'), and Rainer Maria Rilke's 'Dirait-on'.
Available Formats: CD, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Joshua Bell: Complete Decca Recordings
Joshua Bell (violin)
Bell was just nineteen (and had been playing the violin seriously for less than a decade) when he signed to Decca in 1986; the first few months of the partnership yielded recordings of concertos by Bruch, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Wieniawski as well as an album of recital-encores. Other highlights from this set include an album celebrating Bell's hero Fritz Kreisler, sonatas by Prokofiev, Debussy and Franck, and an Argo recording of Aaron Jay Kernis's Air (written for Bell in 1995) which has previously been available only in the US.
Available Format: 14 CDs
Ottorino Respighi: Maria Egiziaca (Blu-ray)
Francesca Dotto, Simone Alberghini, Vincenzo Costanzo, Michele Galbiati, Luigi Morassi, Ilaria Vanacore, William Corrò, Roberta Paroletti, Maria Novella Della Martira; Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice, Alfonso Caiani, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Manlio Benzi
Originally conceived as a concert triptych, Respighi's depiction of Saint Mary of Egypt was premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1932 and received its first staging at few months later in Venice; the score blends elements of Gregorian chant and Monteverdi with Respighi's own trademark post-Romanticism. Also filmed in Venice, this new production by Pier Luigi Pizzi was deemed 'a great success' by Opera Libera, whilst Opera Wire praised Francesca Dotto's 'impressive versatility and physical ability in the title role'.
Available Format: Blu-ray
