Today's new releases include French and Italian operatic excerpts from Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee on Pentatone, early Mozart from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata and Gábor Takács-Nagy on Chandos, Tippett, Britten and Walton from Clare Hammond, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and George Vass on BIS, and a collection of recent secular choral works by Sir John Rutter on the composer's own label Collegium.
Golden Age
Erin Morley (soprano), Lawrence Brownlee (tenor), Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Ivan Repušić
Released to coincide with their joint appearance in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Donizetti's La fille du régiment (a scene from which is included here), this programme from two of today's finest bel canto singers includes duets from Rossini's Le comte Ory, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth, and Delibes's Lakmé. Morley sings the 'Bell Song' from the latter opera plus 'Caro nome' from Rigoletto, whilst Brownlee contributes arias from Donizetti's Marino Faliero and Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles.
Read our interview with the artists.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Piano Concertos, Vol. 11
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano), Manchester Camerata, Gábor Takács-Nagy
This latest instalment of the French pianist's Mozart survey focuses on works which the composer wrote in his mid-teens: dating from 1771-2, the three concertos here are all reworkings of keyboard sonatas by Johann Christian Bach, who had spent time with the budding composer when he visited London several years earlier. The programme also includes the overtures to the early operas Mitridate, re di Ponto and Ascanio in Alba, plus the incidental music for Thamos, König in Ägypten.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Tippett, Britten and Walton: Works for Piano and Orchestra
Clare Hammond (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, George Vass
For her first full-length orchestral recording, the British pianist presents three twentieth-century works: Walton’s Sinfonia Concertante for Orchestra with Piano Obbligato (which began life as a ballet score but was rejected by Diaghilev), Britten’s Diversions (commissioned by the left-hand pianist Paul Wittgenstein), and Tippett’s Piano Concerto from the mid-1950s, which Hammond describes as 'a masterpiece'. Look out for Matthew Ash's interview with her about these three contrasting works next week...
Available Format: SACD
John Rutter: In the Poet's Garden
Roderick Williams (baritone), Melanie Marshall (alto), Catrin Finch (harp), Matthew Jorysz (organ); Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Cambridge Singers, Taplow Young Voices, John Rutter
Released to mark the composer's eightieth birthday, this collection of recent choral works inspired by great poetry includes Three Shakespeare Songs, Dancing Tree (on verses by Cornish poet Charles Causley) and a luminous setting of Walter de la Mare's 'When Music Sounds', plus two larger-scale pieces: the Creation story I'll Make Me a World (on a text by American poet and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson) and London Town, which includes a setting of Rutter's own Edward Lear-esque poem 'London Zoo'.
Available Formats: CD, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Shostakovich: Works for Theatre
Malmö Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Mark Fitz-Gerald
Reconstructed by Fitz-Gerald from the original piano scores, the opening work here is the suite of incidental music which Shostakovich composed for Alexander Bezymensky's play The Gunshot in 1929, during his time as music director of the experimental theatre group TRAM (the 'Theatre of Working Youth'). The album also includes his music for The Human Comedy (an adaptation of Balzac's La comédie humaine) and an orchestral suite compiled from discarded material for his first opera The Nose.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Haffner and Linz Symphonies
Aylen Pritchin (violin), Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
This is the third volume of the Russian conductor's Mozart series with Italian period instrument ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro, which has been applauded for its 'panache and high-speed accuracy' (BBC Music Magazine) and 'ripe, punchy woodwind' (The Guardian); the two symphonies here were composed in the early 1780s (shortly after Die Entführung aus dem Serail), and are followed by the earlier Violin Concerto No. 3. Soloist Aylen Pritchin was a classmate of Emelyanychev at the Moscow Conservatory; the pair recorded the Brahms sonatas together four years ago, and their 2023 performance of his Violin Concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra prompted The Times to enthuse that 'you’d struggle to hear this music played better anywhere.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Beethoven: The Piano Trios, Vol. 1
Busch Trio (Mathieu van Bellen - violin, Omri Epstein - piano, Ori Epstein - cello)
The Busch Trio launches its survey of Beethoven's complete piano trios by starting at the very beginning, with two of the trios which the composer wrote shortly after leaving his native Bonn to study with Haydn in Vienna; the 'Gassenhauer' Trio from a few years later was originally scored for piano, clarinet and cello (with the clarinet part written in such a way that a violin could be substituted). Formed at the Royal College of Music, the trio is named after the German-Swiss violinist and conductor Adolf Busch, a previous owner of the Guadagnini violin which is currently played by Mathieu van Bellen.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Robert Schumann: Piano Works Vol. 2
Llŷr Williams (piano)
The first volume of Williams's Schumann survey was widely praised, with The Guardian declaring that 'the performances are always immaculate, their working out totally lucid' and BBC Music Magazine noting that 'Williams is a pianist with a formidable technique...but – more importantly – he has a good deal to say about the music, too.' This second instalment includes Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3 (the latter including the optional Scherzo which Schumann added in 1853), Kreisleriana, and the Études symphoniques.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Florence Price: Organ Works
Tom Winpenny (organ)
Price spent several years working as an organist for silent film screenings, and composed a large number of works for the instrument. Recorded on the Skinner Organ of Saalkirche Ingelheim, this programme includes the Bach-influenced Passacaglia and Fugue from 1927, the three-movement First Sonata for Organ from the same year, the Suite No. 1 from 1942 and Variations on a Folksong (Peter, go ring dem bells), plus three miniatures: Retrospection ('An Elf on a Moonbeam'), Adoration, Hour of Peace, and the Caprice in F.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Monteverdi: Il Sesto Libro de Madrigali
RossoPorpora, Walter Testolin
This second Arcana recording from the Italian early music ensemble is an Editor's Choice in this month's edition of Gramophone, , with reviewer Edward Breen observing that 'in [Testolin's] hands, this last book of completely polyphonic madrigals has a dreamlike quality that matches many of their pastoral overtones.' Their previous album was described as 'unquestionably the finest available recording of a selection of Marenzio madrigals - in a single word, magnificent' (Early Music Review).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Novanta
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
To mark what would have been the Italian tenor's ninetieth birthday, Decca presents a 4-disc collection of opera arias (including a live recording of 'Che gelida manina' from his professional debut in 1961), popular Neapolitan songs and crossover collaborations with artists including Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, Barry White and Céline Dion, as well as the earliest known recording of the singer (made at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in 1955). A single disc of highlights is also released today.
Available Format: 4 CDs
