Today's new releases include a lute song recital with a difference from countertenor Reginald Mobley on Alpha Classics, Dvořák's Slavonic Dances from Sir Simon Rattle and the Czech Philharmonic on Pentatone, a Parisian love-letter from guitarist Alexandra Whittingham on Decca, and the Elgar & Adès Violin Concertos from Christian Tetzlaff, the BBC Philharmonic and John Storgårds on Ondine.
Solitude
Reginald Mobley (countertenor), Brandon Acker (lute/theorbo/baroque guitar), Douglas Balliett (viola da gamba/double bass)
Two years after his GRAMMY-nominated Alpha Classics debut Because, the American countertenor returns with a programme which sets English lute songs by Purcell, Dowland, Eccles and the household of Samuel Pepys alongside song arrangements by Virginia-born guitar virtuoso, abolitionist and composer Justin Holland (whom Mobley describes as 'a spiritual successor to Dowland'). The centrepiece is a sequence of songs on texts by African American haiku poet Crystal Simone Smith which explore 'the indomitable resilience contained in the tale of a runaway slave', composed by Jonathan Woody and Douglas Balliett.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Dvořák: Slavonic Dances
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
A year on from a celebrated recording of Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 and 9 with Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov (which prompted The Times to enthuse that 'everything is as it should be when Czech musicians play Czech music'), the Czech Philharmonic joins forces with Principal Guest Conductor Rattle for the set of sixteen pieces which Dvořák composed between 1878 and 1886, taking inspiration from Brahms's Hungarian Dances. Originally written for piano four hands, the first set of Dances were orchestrated soon after publication at the request of Dvořák's publisher Simrock, who also commissioned the second volume; the pieces played a significant role in cementing Dvořák's reputation as a leading composer.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Letters From Paris
Alexandra Whittingham (guitar)
The British guitarist's first full-length album for Decca includes Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin (arr. Julian Bream), Hahn's 'L'heure exquise' (for which she is joined by saxophonist Jess Gillam), Charles Aznavour's 'She' (with the Carducci Quartet), Satie's Gnossienne No. 1, Edith Piaf's signature song 'La vie en rose', and relative rarities by Francis Kleynjans, Elisabeth Lutyens, and Ida Presti. Alexandra joined us in-store last night to perform selections from the album - look out for highlights on our YouTube channel next week...
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Elgar & Adès: Violin Concertos
Christian Tetzlaff (violin), BBC Philharmonic, John Storgårds
Following superb recordings of works by Dvořák, Suk and Shostakovich, Tetzlaff and Storgårds reunite for two British violin concertos written almost a century apart; Adès's Concentric Paths was composed for Anthony Marwood in 2005, whilst Fritz Kreisler was the dedicatee of Elgar's concerto (giving the premiere in 1910 with the composer conducting). Tetzlaff and Storgårds take their interpretative cue from the earliest recordings of the Elgar (including the composer's own account with a sixteen-year-old Yehudi Menuhin), adopting swifter tempi than are often heard today; reviewing Tetzlaff's Proms performance of the work at the BBC Proms with Sakari Oramo in 2023, The Guardian noted that 'the concentrated tension, always the hallmark of Tetzlaff’s playing, never flagged'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Requiem & Say: Mozart & Mevlana
Fatma Said (soprano), Marianne Crebassa (mezzo), Pene Pati (tenor), Alexandros Stavrakakis (bass); Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Michael Sanderling
A starry quartet of soloists come together for Mozart's Requiem (given in the familiar Süssmayr completion) plus the world premiere recording of a new work by Turkish composer-pianist Fazil Say: setting Turkish translations of two verses by the thirteenth-century Sufi poet Rumi (Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî), the piece combines musical references to the Requiem (as well as to Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and solo piano works) with metres and harmonies from Anatolian culture, incorporating the Turkish ney and kudüm into the Classical orchestra.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
ELEGY
Mary Bevan (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano)
Conceived whilst the soprano was mourning her father (the organist and composer David Bevan, who died in 2021), ELEGY explores the experience of bereavement and the role which music can play in the grieving process: the programme includes songs by Ravel, Mahler, Clara and Robert Schumann, Bridge, Grieg, Viardot-Garcia and Wallen. The album received four stars in The Times this week, with Geoff Brown praising 'the round tone and dark beauty of [Bevan's] soprano voice'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Butterworth & Holst
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
Following their superb cycle of Vaughan Williams's symphonies, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Manze reunite for a programme of music by two friends of the composer who came to share his love of folk music: the programme comprises Butterworth's Housman-inspired orchestral rhapsody A Shropshire Lad, Two English Idylls and The Banks of Green Willow, and Holst's homage to Thomas Hardy Egdon Heath, Two Songs Without Words, A Fugal Concerto (with oboist Helena Mackie and flautist Cormac Henry) and St Paul's Suite.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Robert Russell Bennett & Vernon Duke: Violin Concertos
Chloë Hanslip (violin), Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Hanslip brings together three pieces by composers who were better-known for their achievements in musical theatre than their works for the concert-hall. A student of Nadia Boulanger, Robert Russell Bennett composed his Violin Concerto 'In The Popular Style' in 1941 before going on to orchestrate musicals including The Sound of Music, The King & I and South Pacific, whilst Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Alexandrovich Dukelsky) already had ballet scores for Diaghilev and a string of hit songs such as 'April in Paris' and 'Autumn in New York' under his belt when he came to write his in the early 1940s. The album also includes Bennett's Hexapoda - Five Studies in Jitteroptera, written over the course of a weekend in 1940 for violinist Louis Kaufman.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Ferdinand Ries: Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7
Tapiola Sinfonietta, Janne Nisonen
This is the final instalment of the Finnish orchestra's survey of Ries's symphonies, which has been praised for its 'unwavering commitment and dedication' (BBC Music Magazine) and 'admirable' playing (Gramophone). Born in Bonn in 1784, Ries was a pupil of Beethoven (later working as his secretary) and conducted the German premiere of his Ninth Symphony in 1825; his own Symphony No. 6 was composed shortly afterwards, and makes uses of 'Turkish' effects similar to those which Beethoven employed in the finale of the Ninth. Symphony No. 7 was written a decade later for a music society in Vienna and was published only in 2004 - the work is believed to have remained unperformed during Ries's lifetime.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Bartók: Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 For Violin & Piano; Karol Szymanowski: Mythes
Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Dmytro Choni (piano)
Zimmermann has serious form with Bartók's music, having won a Gramophone Award for his accounts of the violin concertos with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2022 and received significant critical acclaim last year for his recording of the two Rhapsodies with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Jakub Hruša. Now he teams up with Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Choni (who took the Bronze Medal at the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition) for the sonatas from early 1920s, complemented by Szymanowski's 1915 suite inspired by three Greek myths (Arethusa, Narcissus, and Pan).
Available Format: SACD
Morton Feldman: The Viola in My Life
Antoine Tamestit (viola), Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Harry Ogg, François-Xavier Roth
Written for American viola-player Karen Phillips (with whom Feldman was in love) in 1970-71, The Viola in My Life is a sequence of four ‘individual compositions utilizing various instrumental combinations (small and large)’ - the first two pieces are scored for chamber ensemble (including percussion), the third for viola and piano, and the fourth for viola and full orchestra. Tamestit writes: 'This work has accompanied me like a secret, an almost silent meditation on what the viola means in my life. Through it I have experienced how much this instrument connects me to listening, to patience, to inwardness.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Howells: Sine Nomine
Ikon, David Hill
Taking its title from a piece which was written for the 1922 Three Choirs Festival at the suggestion of Elgar, this anthology focuses on secular works of a composer who is perhaps best-known today for this Anglican church music; originally written as an orchestral rhapsody with two soloists and chorus, Sine nomine is given here in a new chamber arrangement by Iain Farrington, who also made the choral version of the solo song 'King David' (1919) which opens the album. The programme also includes 'A Maid peerless', 'Walking in the snow', 'A New Year Carol', 'The summer is coming', and 'Creep afore ye gang' (written for the Newcastle Bach Choir in 1923).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Michael Haydn: Requiem Pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo & Missa Sancti Hieronymi
The Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Academy of Ancient Music, Matthew Martin
The Cambridge choir are joined by four alumni (Julia Doyle, Kate Symonds-Joy, James Robinson and Malachy Frame) for the Requiem which Michael Haydn composed during Advent 1771, ostensibly in memory of his patron Prince-Archbishop Sigismund Graf Schrattenbach but also as an elegy for his own daughter Aloisia Josepha who died before her first birthday. The less turbulent Missa Sancti Hieronymi (‘Mass in honour of St Jerome’) was written six years later, and makes prominent use of oboes and the three trombones which were something of a sonic trademark in the liturgical music of eighteenth-century Salzburg.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Wagner: Lohengrin (Blu-ray)
David Butt Philip (Lohengrin), Malin Bystrom (Elsa), Anja Kampe (Ortrud), Martin Gantner (Friedrich von Telramund), Georg Zeppenfeld (Heinrich der Vogler), Attila Mokus (Der Heerrufer des Königs); Wiener Staatsoper, Christian Thielemann,Tiziano Mancini
First staged at the 2024 Salzburg Easter Festival and filmed a few months later in Vienna, Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito's production presents Lohengrin as a crime thriller, casting doubt on the innocence of Elsa and the apparent guilt of Ortrud and Telramund. Reviewing the production last May, the European News Agency enthused that Butt Philip's singing in the title-role 'radiated luminous clarity and emotional depth', whilst Der Standard declared that 'When it comes to Wagner, Thielemann really is in a class of his own'.
Available Format: Blu-ray
