Today's new releases include two of Beethoven's 'Razumovsky' Quartets from the Chiaroscuro Quartet, Schubert and Schumann from Can Çakmur (both on BIS), songs by Madeleine Dring from Kitty Whately and Julius Drake on Chandos, and Holst'sThe Planets and Bax's Tintagel from the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano on LSO Live.
Holst: The Planets – Bax: Tintagel
London Symphony Orchestra, Tenebrae, Antonio Pappano
Recorded at the Barbican in September 2024, this performance of The Planets was Pappano's second concert as Chief Conductor of the LSO, and was described by BachTrack as 'an out-of-this-world account that showcased the different sections of his new band as much as any Concerto for Orchestra.' Tintagel was captured three months later, and was hailed by The Guardian as 'orchestral playing in high-definition'.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 59 Nos 1 & 2
Chiaroscuro Quartet
This fourth instalment of the Chiaroscuro's Beethoven series comprises the first two quartets which were commissioned by the Russian diplomat Andrey Razumovsky, an accomplished amateur violinist who maintained a house string quartet at his palace in Vienna and was also the dedicatee of Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. The quartet plays on gut strings, at Classical pitch; earlier volumes have been described as 'dynamic, intelligent, agile and argumentative' (Gramophone), 'spruce, clean-sounding and finely articulated' (BBC Music Magazine), and 'little short of remarkable' (Classical Music).
Available Format: SACD
Through the Centuries: Songs of Madeleine Dring
Kitty Whately (mezzo), Julius Drake (piano)
After devoting much of last year to shining a spotlight on the songs of Rebecca Clarke, Whately celebrates the legacy of another alumna of the Royal College of Music - Madeleine Dring, who studied with Herbert Howells, Gordon Jacob and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Dring's sources of inspiration ranged far and wide, from fourteenth-century French song ('The Far-Away Princess') to Cole Porter; other highlights include selections from her Shakespeare settings, the 1970s song cycle Love and Time (setting texts by John Dryden, John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire and others), and the posthumously published 'Weep you no more, sad fountains'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Leokadiya Kashperova: Piano Concerto & Symphony
Oliver Triendl (piano), Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Anna Skryleva
A student of Anton Rubinstein, Kashperova went on to teach piano to Igor Stravinsky'; although her famous pupil dismissed her music as 'antiquated', contemporary reviews were much more favourable, with The Times describing her as 'a decided talent' in 1907 and The Russian Musical Gazette hailing her as 'a most welcome phenomenon of St Petersburg’s musical life' five years later. Her Piano Concerto was premiered in Moscow in 1901 with the composer (a favourite pianist of Balakirev and Glazunov) as soloist, whilst the Symphony in B minor dates from four years later and draws on both Central European and Russian influences.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Dora Pejačević: Complete Symphonic Works
Annika Schlicht (mezzo), Martina Filjak (piano), Staatskapelle Weimar, Ivan Repušić
The daughter of a Croatian count and a Hungarian noblewoman, Pejačević was born in Budapest in 1885 and was largely self-taught; her first orchestral work was the Piano Concerto in G minor, composed in 1913 and premiered three years later in Zagreb. Her subsequent symphonic works comprise the Symphony in F sharp minor from 1916/17, the Phantasie concertante and the Ouverture in D minor (both from 1919); the album also includes orchestrations of Zwei Schmetterlingslieder and the Liebeslied (on a text by her friend Rainer Maria Rilke).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Haydn: Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze
Kateryna Kasper (soprano), Katie Bray (mezzo), Robert Murray (tenor), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (bass-baritone), Konzerthausorchester Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, Justin Doyle
Haydn composed The Seven Last Words as a purely orchestral work in 1784, in response to a commission from Mexican priest José Saenz de Santamaria, and was inspired to rework it to incorporate vocal soloists and choir after hearing an arrangement by Joseph Friebert on his journey to London ten years later; the composer reportedly commented that he thought Freibert 'could have handled the vocal parts better', and conducted the premiere of his own new version in Vienna in 1796.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Schubert + Schumann Vol. 6
Can Çakmur (piano)
Following volumes which coupled Schubert with Beethoven, Brahms, Schoenberg, Krenek and Voříšek, the Turkish pianist sets the Piano Sonata No. 17 in D alongside Schumann's Waldszenen and the Fantasiestücke Op. 111. Previous instalments of the series have been praised for their combination of 'fine piano-playing and heartfelt poetic utterance' (Gramophone on Schubert + Schoenberg) and 'exquisite playing that sings and sparkles' (BBC Music Magazine on Schubert + Beethoven).
Available Format: SACD
Echoes in the Mists
Tae-Hyung Kim (piano)
A prize-winner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the Long-Thibaud International Competition, the South Korean pianist makes his debut on Challenge Classics with a recital which is built around Janáček's In the Mists (1912) and explores 'the transformation of piano writing from Romantic lyricism to early modern expression'; the programme also includes Schumann's Waldszenen, and Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert's 'Frühlingsglaube', 'Gretchen am Spinnrade', 'Ständchen', 'Der Müller und der Bach' and 'Wohin?'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Donizetti Songs Vol. 7
Rosa Feola (soprano), Carlo Rizzi (piano)
This is the penultimate volume in Opera Rara's Donizetti Song Project, curated by musicologist Roger Parker and featuring a significant number of world premiere recordings; the 24 Italian-language songs here include settings of poems by Metastasio, Leopoldo Tarantini, and Felice Romani (who supplied the libretti for Anna Bolena and L'elisir d'amore). Reviewing a recital which Feola and Rizzi gave at Wigmore Hall a few days after the recording sessions, Opera Now praised the Italian soprano's 'even-toned, firm but pliant' singing, singling out 'La fidanza’ (for which Feola was joined by harpist Sally Pryce) as a particular highlight.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Haendel: Sosarme
Rémy Brès-Feuillet (Sosarme), Sarah Charles (Elmira), Éléonore Pancrazi (Erenice), Logan Lopez Gonzalez (Argone), Nicolò Balducci (Melo), Giacomo Nanni (Altomaro); Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal, Marco Angioloni (Haliate/conductor)
Premiered at the King's Theatre in London in 1732 (with the great alto castrato Senesino in the title-role), Sosarme, re di Media was a huge success in its time but fell off the radar for over 200 years, receiving its first modern performance only in 1970. This recording was made live at Versailles in late 2024 and has been warmly welcomed by BBC Music Magazine for Angioloni's 'compelling, energetic' direction, whilst The Guardian singled out the 'impressive suppleness and power' of Giacomo Nanni (who excels in the wide-ranging 'Fra l’ombre e gl’orrori', recycled from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo).
Available Formats: 3 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Don Giovanni (Blu-ray)
Kyle Ketelsen (Don Giovanni), Philippe Sly (Leporello),Hanna-Elisabeth Müller (Donna Anna), Stanislas de Barbeyrac (Don Ottavio), Kate Lindsey (Donna Elvira), Patricia Nolz (Zerlina), Peter Kellner (Masetto), Ain Anger (Commendatore); Wiener Staatsoper, Philippe Jordan, Barrie Kosky
Filmed in Vienna in December 2021, Kosky's minimalist staging was described as 'more dramma than giocoso, but pleasingly so' by BachTrack, who praised Jordan's 'controlled but compelling' approach to the score; Der Standard also applauded the 'transparency, tangibility and poetry' of his conducting, whilst the ORF welcomed Kosky's willingness to 'satirise the burden of tradition'.
Available Format: Blu-ray
