Today's new releases include a second volume of Mozart from Italian pianist Federico Colli on Chandos, songs of the Belle Époque from French lyric mezzo Adèle Charvet and her long-term recital-partner Florian Caroubi on Alpha Classics, Purcell's Dido & Aeneas from Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo d'Oro (with Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres in the title-roles) on Erato, and Haydn's The Seasons from Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations on Alia Vox.
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas
Joyce DiDonato (Dido), Michael Spyres (Aeneas), Fatma Said (Belinda), Hugh Cutting (Spirit), Laurence Kilsby (Sailor); Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
Eight years on from their outstanding interpretations of Didon and Énée on the late John Nelson's multi-award-winning account of Berlioz's Les Troyens, DiDonato and Spyres are reunited as the star-crossed lovers in Purcell's taut setting from almost two centuries earlier, recorded in Essen last February. Reviewing a performance at the Barbican the following week, The Guardian's Tim Ashley praised the 'immaculately balanced and focused' choral singing and DiDonato's 'magnificent' portrayal of the Queen of Carthage.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Piano Works, Vol. 2
Federico Colli (piano)
Three years on from a first volume which was described as 'distinctive and highly personal' by Fanfare and praised for the sense of 'musical free-association' in the playing by BBC Music Magazine, the Italian pianist continues his Mozart series with a programme centring on variation form: the Twelve Variations on 'Ah! vous dirai-je, maman', the Ten Variations on Gluck's ‘Unser dummer Pöbel meint’ (responding to an aria from La rencontre imprévue ou Les pèlerins de la Mecque, which was premiered in Vienna when Mozart was seven), and the Piano Sonata No. 11 'Alla turca'. The album opens with the Adagio in B minor K540 from 1788, the only work here not to involve variations.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Belle époque!
Adèle Charvet (mezzo), Florian Caroubi (piano)
Fresh from singing Cherubino in Glyndebourne's new production of Le nozze di Figaro (with a Proms performance to follow next week), the French mezzo presents a programme of songs by the great French melodists and their protégés, including Fauré's 'En sourdine' and 'La chanson du pêcheur', Debussy's 'La Chevelure' and 'Apparition', Massenet's 'Nuit d’Espagne', and mélodies by George Enesco, Isaac Albéniz, Madeleine Dubois, Nadia Boulanger, Xavier Leroux, and Ernest Moret. Charvet's debut album on Alpha in 2019 was warmly received by Gramophone, who noted her 'tangy lower register and fine dynamic control at the top'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Haydn: The Seasons
Lina Johnson (soprano), Tilman Lichdi (tenor), Matthias Winckhler (bass-baritone); Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Jordi Savall
Following his 2022 recording of The Creation (which employed two of the soloists here and was described as 'unerringly right' by BBC Music Magazine), Savall continues his Haydn series with the composer's second great oratorio, based on an adaptation of James Thomson's long narrative poem from 1730; as with The Creation the text was prepared by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who had also been a champion of Mozart. The recording was made in Catalonia last May during a European tour; reviewing the final performance in Dresden, Seen and Heard International applauded the 'constantly alert and vibrant playing' and the 'splendour and essentially sunlit disposition' of the performance as a whole.
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Premières symphonies
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Kazuki Yamada
Two of the works here were written whilst their composers were still in their teens: Saint-Saëns was just fifteen when he composed what is now known as his 'Symphony No. 0' (an essentially Classical work which was only premiered in 1974), and Bizet was two years older when he wrote his Symphony in C under the guidance of Gounod at the Paris Conservatoire. Gounod's own Symphony No. 1 was a major source of inspiration for his young student, who had recently transcribed the piece for piano four hands - Gounod was 37 when he composed the work 'to console myself from my disappointment' after the failure of his Gothic opera La nonne sanglante, which was cancelled after being decried as 'filth' by the new director of the Paris Opera.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
London Circa 1760
La Rêveuse, Florence Bolton, Benjamin Perrot
Two years on from their exploration of musical life in London during the 1740s (which was nominated for an International Classical Music Award in 2024), the French period instrument ensemble focuses on the period immediately after Handel's death and the accession of the music-loving George III. Their programme includes a concerto by Carl Friedrich Abel, a quartet by Johann Christian Bach, solo guitar pieces by Francesco Geminiani, a trio sonata by Thomas Alexander Erskine, and excerpts from singer and gambist Ann Ford's Instructions for Playing on the Musical Glasses.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Beauty Veil'd
The Berkeley Ensemble, Simon Callaghan (piano)
The centrepiece of this album is the world premiere recording of Dorothy Howell's single-movement string quartet from 1933, reconstructed from her pencil sketches by the ensemble's viola-player Dan Shilladay in 2018. The programme also includes first recordings of four more pieces: Scottish cellist and composer Marie Dare's Phantasy Quintet (also written in 1933), Howell's Adagio and Caprice for violin and piano from 1955, Nugae - Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet by John Blackwood McEwen (who was Howell's composition teacher at the Royal Academy of Music), and Tobias Matthay's Piano Quartet in One Movement.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Scarlatti
Javier Perianes (piano)
Following a recording devoted to his compatriot Granados, the Spanish pianist turns his attention to the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti, most of which were written during the twenty-five years which he spent in Madrid (where he served as music master to the future queen of Spain, Maria Barbara). Reviewing the album last week, MusicWeb International's David Barker enthused 'I will go as far as to say that it is the most satisfying Scarlatti recording I’ve heard. It’s not the most electrifying – try either of Sudbin’s for full-on pyrotechnics for that – but for sheer musicality, this is exceptional.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Divine Light
Somerville College Choir, Oxford, Will Dawes, Nirmala Rajasekar (saraswati), Veena, V. Srinivasan (mridangam)
This celebration of 'the living Indian choral tradition' includes the world premiere recording of the late Vanraj Bhatia's Six Seasons from 1989, Nirmala Rajasekar's Coffee Kapi, Reena Esmail's Tuttarana, Shruti Rajasekar's Light Eternal, and several responses to the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore by European composers: 'Peace, my heart' from Gabriel Jackson's Requiem, Craig Hella Johnson's Gitanjali Chants, Vytautas Miškinis's The Same Stream of Life, and Christopher Churcher's Light.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Handel: Alexander's Feast
Miriam Kutrowatz (soprano), Daniel Johannsen (tenor), Damien Gastl (bass), Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Zefiro Baroque Orchestra, Alfredo Bernardini
Premiered at Covent Garden in 1736, Handel's ode depicting a banquet held by Alexander the Great and his mistress Thaïs (during which the Macedonian king is moved to feel compassion, pride and ultimately vengefulness by the musician Timotheus) was one of his most popular oratorios during his lifetime; inspired by John Dryden's St Cecilia's Day ode Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music, it sets a libretto by Irish writer Newburgh Hamilton, who also collaborated with Handel on Samson eight years later. In the latest issue of Gramophone, Lindsay Kemp noted Bernardini’s 'natural ebullience' and the 'engaging vigour' of Zefiro's playing.
Available Formats: CD, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Giacomelli: Cesare in Egitto
Arianna Vendittelli (Cesare), Emőke Baráth (Cleopatra), Margherita Maria Sala (Cornelia), Filippo Mineccia (Achilla), Valerio Contaldo (Tolomeo), Federico Fiorio (Lepido); Accademia Bizantina, Ottavio Dantone
Premiered in Milan eleven years after Handel's setting of the same story, Cesare in Egitto 'was considered Giacomelli's masterpiece during his time' according to Dantone, who chose the work to open the Innsbruck Early Music Festival last year; this live account from the festival is the opera's world premiere recording, and uses the revised version of the score which Giacomelli prepared for Venice. Reviewing the live performance, BachTrack noted that Accademia Bizantina 'brought the score to life with their usual dynamism and verve', and praised Baráth's 'always stylish and elegant' singing as Cleopatra.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Gondoliers
William Morgan (Marco), Mark Nathan (Giuseppe), Ellie Laugharne (Gianetta), Sioned Gwen Davies (Tessa), Yvonne Howard (Duchess), Richard Suart (Duke), Ben McAteer (Don Alhambra), Catriona Hewitson (Casilda), Dan Shelvey (Luiz); Scottish Opera, Derek Clark, Stuart Maunder
After a sparkling account of Gilbert & Sullivan's penultimate collaboration Utopia, Limited in June (featuring many of the same singers), Opus Arte presents Scottish Opera's 2022 production of the duo's previous operetta, centring on a pair of Venetian brothers, their brides, and a Spanish ducal family fallen on hard times. The show was hailed as 'G&S con amore' by The Arts Desk, whilst BachTrack described it as 'truly sumptuous'.
Available Format: Blu-ray
