Today's new releases include Bliss ballet music from the BBC Philharmonic with Michael Seal, a wide-ranging debut recital from countertenor Hugh Cutting with Audrey Hyland, Schubert piano sonatas from Martin Helmchen, and Debussy and Szymanowski from the Belcea Quartet.
Bliss: Miracle in the Gorbals & Metamorphic Variations
BBC Philharmonic, Michael Seal
Arthur Bliss's earlier ballet, setting a rather Passion-like story in Glasgow's notorious historic slum, receives a much-needed performance here - showing the buds that would eventually blossom in the much more famous Checkmate. The recording also features the full version of the Metamorphic Variations, with two missing movements restored to their rightful place for the first time.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Refound
Hugh Cutting (countertenor), Audrey Hyland (piano)
Pulling together a dizzying range of influences and styles, this debut recital from Hugh Cutting takes us from Vaughan Williams and Ravel, via the irreverence of the late, great Tom Lehrer, all the way through to two world premieres - a new work by Piers Connor Kennedy and a fresh take on Schubert's valedictory D829.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Schubert: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1
Martin Helmchen (piano)
The opening salvo in a highly promising series - Martin Helmchen embarks on a complete Schubert sonata cycle, aiming to complete the project for the bicentenary of the composer's death in 2028. This volume sees Helmchen follow in the footsteps of Paul Badura-Skoda by choosing to offer completions of the works left unfinished by Schubert. A series to watch!
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Debussy & Szymanowski: Quartets
Belcea Quartet
After a wait of three years (and a slight change of personnel), the Belcea Quartet return to Debussy, revisiting the work with which they made their recorded debut a quarter of a century ago. It's here complemented by two quartets from Szymanowski from 1917 and 1927 - exhibiting a musical language that the Belcea's members express a particular fondness for.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Pianosong
Alexandre Tharaud (piano/narrator), Thomas Dunford (theorbo), Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Pierre Dumoussaud
The phrase 'je ne regrette rien' springs unavoidably to mind in respect of this album - Tharaud's adaptation of the great French chanson tradition to the piano (with and without orchestral backing). Everything from Poulenc (including his own musical tribute to Edith Piaf) to Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour makes an appearance, with French songwriters' greatest hits proudly reimagined in a solo piano vein.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Schreker - Korngold - Krenek
Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Sascha Goetzel
The fin-de-siècle mood (destined all too soon to be branded Entartete Musik) flows deeply through this album, with hyper-Romanticism bending and breaking under the influence of modernity and non-classical influences. The three composers describe a broad journey from the peak of Romantic Angst, through musical responses to the uncanny musings of Jung and Freud, and ending with a jazzward turn from Krenek.
Available Format: SACD
Berlioz: Le Carnaval Romain & Symphonie Fantastique
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal , Rafael Payare
A new recording from Rafael Payare and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is always worth waiting for, and this colourful album of Berlioz doesn't disappoint - all the neuroticism and hallucinatory nightmares of the ever-popular Symphonie fantastique, preceded by the equally vivid spectacle of the Carnaval Romain, using music from Benvenuto Cellini.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
David Matthews: Anna - Symphonic Diptych
Emma Halnan (flute), Ulster Orchestra, Jac van Steen
Two symphonic works from David Matthews - his eleventh symphony, which grew out of the germ of a little idea of trumpet solo over a held string chord into a twenty-minute one-movement tonal poem, his Symphonic Diptych based on his own opera Anna, and a dance-infused concerto for flute and orchestra that ranges from waltzes to echoes of Irish jigs in its inspirations.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Martinů: Violin Concertos 1 & 2 and Stravinsky: Divertimento
Josef Špaček (violin), Miroslav Sekera (piano), Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Petr Popelka
An unusual neoclassical sandwich - Martinů's two violin concertos, separated by Stravinsky's Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fée. All three works share a certain distance from traditional Romantic excess - though with plenty of fresh, clear lyricism on display. Josef Špaček captures the spirit of this triptych to perfection.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Alain Altinoglu
A fun little 'before and after' pairing - the adventurous, Modernist work that famously got Shostakovich into so much trouble ('muddle instead of music!'), and the one that represented his attempt to come to terms with both the political climate of his time and his own need for artistic integrity. Alain Altinoglu's account of the Fifth is spacious at times, particularly in the opening of the first movement - yet rising to crushing heights of brutality when the music calls for it.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Lang Lang: Piano Book 2
Lang Lang (piano)
Lang Lang continues his well-earned self-indulgence - let other people pore over concept albums and abstruse sleeve notes! This second Piano Book collection, like the first, aims to help people 'discover new favorites, reconnect with familiar melodies, and find renewed inspiration at the piano', and combines classical favourites with music from popular films, anime, and video games, with just a hint of Christmas at the end to round the programme off.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Silenced
Hyeyoon Park (violin), WDR Sinfonieorchester, Gergely Madaras
Something in common with both Altingoglu's orchestral album and that fin-de-siècle offering from Sascha Goetzel - Hyeyoon Park presents works banned by authoritarian governments. Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 fell foul of the vague accusation of 'formalism', while Henriette Bosmans's political 'sin' was perhaps more straightforward - refusing to join the Nazi's 'Kulturkammer' earned her music a retaliatory ban. Her Concert Piece for VIolin and Orchestra bears the clear traces of her grief and frustration at that decision.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Haydn: Missa Cellensis
Mari Eriksmoen (soprano), Kristina Hammarström (mezzo), Mark Milhofer (tenor), Christian Senn (bass); Basel Chamber Orchestra, Zürcher Sing-Akademie, René Jacobs
The first in a new series of recordings celebrating Haydn's Masses - the large-scale Missa Cellensis (actually the first of what turned out to be two works he had composed under that name) features prominent parts for both timpani and trumpets. René Jacobs joins forces wth the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Sing-Akademie of Zürich for this whole project (due to conclude in 2028), alongside a stellar quartet of soloists.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Chopin: Mazurkas Opp. 6, 17, 24, 41, 50, 56 & 63
Rafał Blechacz (piano)
Two decades on from his International Chopin Competition triumph, Rafał Blechacz returns to the composer, embarking on a new project to record Chopin's complete Mazurkas for the Yellow Label. While scholars have endlessly debated exactly what kind of influences Chopin was drawing on in his fifty-nine Mazurkas, what can't be denied is that the combination of traditional Polish dance-forms and Chopin's gift for melody and virtuosity is a winning one.
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Sir Thomas Beecham: The Mono Era on HMV & Columbia Graphophone 1926-1959
Sir Thomas Beecham
Creator of both the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, Thomas Beecham was one of the first trailblazers of the recording era. This box-set captures his recordings for HMV and Columbia Graphophone [sic!], dating right back to 1926. Many have never before appeared on CD, and the majority have been newly remastered to capture the very best possible version of the sound.
Available Format: 53 CDs
