Today's new releases include Mendelssohn's complete symphonies, Elias and Paulus from Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester on Deutsche Grammophon, Handel's Messiah from Peter Whelan, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and soloists including Alexander Chance and Helen Charlston on Linn, Baroque songs and arias from Jakub Józef Orliński and Michał Biel on Erato, and the first instalment of Anne-Sophie Mutter's ASM Forte Forward project on Alpha Classics.
Mendelssohn: Paulus, Elias, Symphonies Nos. 1-5
Georg Zeppenfeld (Paulus), Andrè Schuen (Elias), Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons
Made in Leipzig between 2021 and 2024, these recordings celebrate the legacy of Nelsons's predecessor Felix Mendelssohn, who served as Director of the Gewandhausorchester from 1835 to 1847; the set includes the first Deutsche Grammophon recording of Paulus, which was premiered the year after Mendelssohn took up the position. Soloists include Elsa Benoit, Golda Schultz, Christiane Karg and Julia Kleiter, with Georg Zeppenfeld taking the title-role in Paulus and Andrè Schuen singing Elias.
Available Formats: 7 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Handel: Messiah
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca (countertenors), Guy Cutting (tenor), Frederick Long, Edward Grint (bass-baritones), Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Peter Whelan
This is the first period instrument recording of Messiah by an Irish ensemble, and is released to mark the Irish Baroque Orchestra's thirtieth birthday; the piece has strong connections with the country, having been premiered at Dublin's Great Music Hall in 1742. The recording is an Editor's Choice in the April issue of Gramophone, where Malcolm Riley enthuses that 'this fresh and exhilarating Dublin performance dispels decades of overblown Messiah baggage'.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
If Music...
Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor), Michał Biel (piano)
Four years on from their mesmerising Polish song recital Farewells, Orliński and Biel reunite for a programme of Baroque songs and arias, with Biel performing on a Steinway grand. The repertoire includes Purcell's 'Fairest Isle', 'Music for a While' and the 'Cold Song' from King Arthur, arias from Handel's Rodelinda, Semele, Agrippina and Serse, and 'Non t'amo per il ciel' from Fux's 'sepulchre drama' Il fonte della salute.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
East Meets West
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Nancy Zhou, Ye-Eun Choi, Muriel Razavi, Pablo Ferrández (cello), Stephanie Gonley (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès
The German violinist launches her new Alpha Classics series ASM Forte Forward (and celebrates fifty years of her career) with this collection of four works by contemporary composers: Iranian-Dutch composer Aftab Darvishi's Likoo for solo violin, Unsuk Chin's Gran Cadenza for two violins, Jörg Widmann's String Quartet No. 6 'Studie über Beethoven', and Thomas Adès's violin concerto Air-Homage to Sibelius (conducted by the composer).
Look out for James's interview with Anne-Sophie Mutter about the project next week...
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Schumann: Violin Concerto
Midori Gotō (violin), Ozgür Aydin (piano), Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds
Midori makes her Pentatone debut with a programme devoted to the music of Robert and Clara Schumann, opening with the concerto which Robert composed for Joseph Joachim in 1853; Joachim never performed the work and withheld the manuscript for the rest of his life, detecting a 'certain exhaustion' in the music (the piece was premiered only in 1937). It's followed here by the Five Pieces in Folk Style Op. 102 (originally for cello and piano), the Three Romances for Oboe and Piano Op. 94, and Clara's Three Romances Op. 22.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Brahms: Trio Op. 114
Tabea Zimmermann (viola), Javier Perianes (piano), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello)
Those two sets of Romances also feature on this programme exploring Brahms's social circle, arranged for viola and piano by Zimmermann. The mainstay of the recital is Brahms's own Clarinet Trio from 1891 (which the composer tried out with Joachim playing the clarinet part on viola); the album also includes Joachim's Hebrew Melodies and the Scherzo which Brahms contributed to the 'FAE' Sonata (the other movements being supplied by Robert Schumann and his pupil Albert Dietrich).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Beyond Vivaldi: Lute Concertos
Evangelina Mascardi (lute), Estrovagante, Riccardo Doni
The lute concerto RV93 which Vivaldi composed during his stay in Prague in 1729-30 sits at the heart of a programme which also includes works by Johann Ludwig Krebs, Joachim Bernard Hagen, Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht, and Karl Ignaz Augustin Kohaut. Mascardi's 2022 recording of JS Bach's complete lute works was described as 'consistently idiomatic' by BBC Music Magazine, whilst American Record Guide hailed her 'impeccable legato, seasoned voice-like phrasing, and crystal-clear ornaments' in music by Silvius Leopold Weiss two years later.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Carl Vine: Child's Play
Goldner String Quartet, Piers Lane (piano)
Described as 'one of the most prolific and consistently inspired composers of our time' by Chicago Classical Review, Carl Vine was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1954, and has a longstanding relationship with the members of the Goldner Quartet (who present their final recording here). The title-work is Vine's sixth string quartet from 2017; the programme also includes the Piano Quintet 'Fantasia', the Strutt Sonata for cello and piano, the String Quintet from 2009/2015, the Piano Trio 'The Village', and Harbour Reverie for string quartet.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Puccini: Heroines
Sondra Radvanovsky (soprano), Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, Enrique Mazzola
Released to coincide with her performances as Tosca at the Opéra Bastille, this gallery of Puccini heroines from the American-Canadian soprano runs the gamut from the ingenue Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi to Minnie in La fanciulla del West and the formidable title-role in Turandot (which Radvanovsky sang on Antonio Pappano's award-winning recording of the opera in 2023). Also includes scenes and arias from Le Villi, Edgar, Manon Lescaut, Suor Angelica, La rondine, La bohème, and Madama Butterfly.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Tye: The Peterhouse Mass & Other Works
Cinquecento
Born around 1505, Christopher Tye studied at the University of Cambridge and went on to become choirmaster at Ely Cathedral; his Peterhouse Mass has been reconstructed by Paul Doe from partbooks found in the eponymous Cambridge college. The Mass is presented here alongside motets including Amavit eum Dominus, Sub tuam protectionem and In pace in idipsum. Formed in 2004, Cinquecento have received Gramophone Award nominations for their recordings of music by Jean Guyot, Jacob Regnart, and Ludwig Daser.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Edmund Rubbra: Crucifuxus Pro Nobis
Benjamin Hulett (tenor), François Cloete, Owen Chan (organ), Choir of Merton College Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas
This collection of Rubbra's choral music opens with the world premiere recording of the Cantata di Camera ('Crucifixus pro Nobis') from 1961, scored for solo tenor, ensemble and choir. The programme also includes the Missa in honorem Sancti Dominici, the Evening Service in A flat, the popular 'Virgin's Cradle Song', and two pieces for solo organ: the Prelude and Fugue on a Theme by Cyril Scott and Meditation.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
i carry your heart
VOCES8, VOCES8 Foundation Choir, VOCES8 Foundation Orchestra, Barnaby Smith
This programme of music by American composer Taylor Scott Davis (b. 1980) takes its title from a setting of a poem by e. e. cummings which was written for VOCES8; the album also includes the first recording of his Requiem (which features a setting of Siegfried Sassoon's Idyll), the Jubilate Deo, and arrangements of Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine and the Lux Aeterna on Elgar's 'Nimrod'. Scott Davis is currently VOCES8's Composer in Residence, and has been praised by The Guardian for his 'sweetly glowing, beautifully coloured choral music'.
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Bernard Haitink in London: Complete Philips Recordings
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
This second of three volumes covering Haitink’s complete recordings for Decca and Philips focuses on the fruits of the time he spent in London from the mid-1960s to the mid-80s: the Dutchman served as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic from 1967 to 1979, and was also a regular at Covent Garden (where he subsequently spent fifteen years as Music Director). The repertoire includes the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (with Alfred Brendel), eight Shostakovich symphonies, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and The Firebird, Holst's The Planets, and Elgar's Enigma Variations.
Available Format: 31 CDs
