Today's new releases include Copland's Symphony No. 3 and Walker's Sinfonia No. 5 'Visions' from the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano on the orchestra's own label, a new arrangement of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin from Roderick Williams and the Carducci Quartet on Signum, sacred and secular choral works by Pēteris Vasks from the Latvian Radio Choir and Sigvards Kļava on Ondine, and the first instalment of a new Beethoven series from Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien on BIS.
Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas Vol. I
Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (fortepiano)
Ibragimova and Tiberghien embark on their second joint survey of the Beethoven sonatas, with this first instalment comprising Sonatas 1-3 and the 'Spring' sonata; Ibragimova plays on gut strings, whilst Tiberghien uses a modern copy of a Viennese fortepiano from 1794. Released on Wigmore Hall Live in the early 2010s, their previous set (on modern instruments) was praised for their 'sense of lively musical partnership' (BBC Music Magazine) and 'natural flair and insight' (Classic FM).
Available Format: SACD
Copland: Symphony No. 3 – Walker: Sinfonia No. 5, 'Visions'
London Symphony Orchestra, Antonio Pappano
Recorded at the Barbican last year, this latest album from the LSO and their Chief Conductor brings together two contrasting American symphonies: Aaron Copland's expansive, optimistic Symphony No. 3 (premiered just after the end of World War Two) and George Walker's brief, furious 'Visions' (his final orchestral work, written in tribute to the victims of the 2015 Charleston church shooting). Reviewing the live performance of the Copland, The Guardian remarked that 'Pappano drew out the symphony’s electric primary colours and constantly evolving textures with irrepressible energy'.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Pēteris Vasks: Songs of My Heart
Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Kļava
The Latvian Radio Choir celebrate their compatriot's eightieth birthday with a collection of his sacred and secular choral music, including world premiere recordings of his very first composition for choir (Lūgšana from 1961) and several pieces written especially for the group: the Šesas dziesmas ('Six Songs') on Poems by Knuts Skujenieks, Pirmā zāle ('First Grass'), and Tēvu zeme ('Fatherland').
Read Ben Hogwood's birthday interview with the composer, in which Vasks discusses his special relationship with the Latvian Radio Choir.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (arr. Williams)
Roderick Williams (baritone), Carducci String Quartet
The beloved British baritone and composer joins forces with the Carduccis for his own arrangement of Schubert's song cycle for voice and string quartet, which he describes as 'an act of homage, an avenue for me as a musician to explore a piece that has gripped my attention for the past ten years that I have been singing it professionally.' His 2019 recording of the original version (with Iain Burnside) was described as 'intelligent, thoughtful and beautiful' by Gramophone.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mike Batt: Symphony No. 1 'Ukraine'
London Symphony Orchestra, Mike Batt
Dedicated to and inspired by the people of Ukraine, this first symphony from composer, lyricist, conductor and writer Mike Batt (whose songwriting credits include 'Bright Eyes', 'A Winter's Tale' and 'Please Don't Fall in Love') drew comparisons with Mahler and Shostakovich from broadcaster Alexander Armstrong and was described as 'music for our time, written by somebody who understands our time' by conductor Gavin Sutherland. Batt will visit Presto next month to discuss the work's genesis in front of a live audience - keep an eye on our YouTube channel for highlights!
Available Format: CD
Fauré: Sonatas For Violin and Piano
Kerson Leong (violin), Jonathan Fournel (piano)
As well as the two sonatas which Fauré composed in 1875/6 and 1916 respectively, this album from long-time collaborators and friends Leong and Fournel includes transcriptions of the melodies 'Clair de lune', 'Les berceaux', 'Après un rêve' and 'Soir', 'Fileuse' from the Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, and the Nocturne from the Shylock Suite. The Violin Sonata No. 2 was dedicated to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, who was a keen amateur violinist; Fournel won the International Grand Prix which bears her name in 2021.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
She Composed
Yami CruzMontero, Karla Martínez, Serena Chillemi, Johanna Henschel, Marie Sophie Hauzel (piano), Débora Halász (piano), Iván Rolón, Jelena Stojkovic, Sonja Uhlmann, Dmitry Mayboroda, Markus Bellheim
Subtitled '53 Piano Pieces by Women Composers', this anthology spans over three centuries of music, from Baroque dance movements by Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre and Elisabetta de Gambarini to recent works by Karen Tanaka, Dorothea Hofmann and Alicia Terzian. Other highlights include Dora Pejačević's Berceuse, Amy Beach's The Returning Hunter, Vítězslava Kaprálová's Pisnicka ('Little Song'), and Florence Price's Hoe Cake, Corn Cake.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Debut
Sasha Stychkina (piano)
Born in Moscow in 2003, Greek-Russian pianist Sasha Stychkina came to prominence when she became the youngest finalist and prizewinner in the history of the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition. Recorded under the artistic direction of her teacher Kirill Gerstein, her debut album features Weber's Piano Sonata No. 1, Ravel's Menuet sur le nom de Haydn, Bartók's Three Studies, Liszt's Variations on a theme from 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen', and Five Preludes by the little-known Russian composer Alexei Stanchinsky (a student of Taneyev and Gretchaninov who died aged just 26 following a long period of mental illness).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Wishing Tree
The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park
Described by director Owain Park as 'a journey through time, poetry and song, rooted in tradition yet alive with contemporary expression', this eleventh album from The Gesualdo Six takes its title from a piece by Joby Talbot, setting a text by Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie and premiered at the BBC Proms in 2002. The programme also includes Poulenc's Petites voix, Park's own Fantasia on English Children's Songs, music by Gibbons, Byrd, Josquin and Stanford, and arrangements of 'The Oak and the Ash', 'The Lark in the Clear Air', and 'My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Hourglass
Simone Dinnerstein (piano), Baroklyn
Released in anticipation of Philip Glass's ninetieth birthday, this album brings together two works for piano and ensemble: the Piano Concerto No. 1 'Tirol' from 2000 (which blends neo-Baroque elements with references to Glass's own Etudes) and the three-movement suite for piano, strings, harp and celeste which Michael Riesman compiled from Glass's score for the 2002 film The Hours (starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep). Riesman played on the original soundtrack, which won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a GRAMMY.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
milestones
Hugo Ticciati (violin), O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra
Recorded in 2021, this cross-genre project from the Stockholm-based chamber ensemble brings together music by three figures with significant death anniversaries that year: Josquin des Prez (d.1521), Igor Stravinsky (d.1971), and Miles Davis (d.1991). The programme includes Stravinsky's Suite de L’Histoire du Soldat, Josquin's Mille Regretz and Une mosche de Bischaye, and Davis's Selim, Sivad and All Blues.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Cavalli: La Calisto
Lauranne Oliva (Calisto), Alex Rosen (Giove), Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian (Endimione), Giuseppina Bridelli, (Diana), Anna Bonitatibus (Giunone), Ensemble Correspondances, Sébastien Daucé
Sebastien Daucé fell in love with Cavalli's music through René Jacobs's 2006 recording of La Calisto and conducted it at the Aix-en-Provence Festival last year in a production conceived by the late Pierre Audi (who died shortly before the performances came to the stage). The Financial Times's Shirley Apthorp deemed the results 'perfect', enthusing that 'Daucé’s instrumentalists played with phenomenal polish and style, following his unerringly poised tempi through his lush, cheekily imaginative instrumentation.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Così fan tutte (Blu-ray)
Federica Lombardi (Fiordiligi), Emily D’Angelo (Dorabella), Filipe Manu (Ferrando), Peter Kellner (Guglielmo), Kate Lindsey (Despina), Christopher Maltman (Don Alfonso), Orchester und Chor der Wiener Staatsoper, Philippe Jordan, Barrie Kosky
Framed as a play-within-a-play (with Don Alfonso as a manipulative director), Kosky's new production of Così fan tutte was filmed in Vienna in 2024, when Frankfurter Rundschau declared that 'the individual voices are outstanding, and the ensemble homogeneity even more so'; Kleine Zeitung praised the 'Classical beauty and vibrancy' of Jordan's conducting, deeming Maltman's Alfonso as 'the vocal centre of the evening'.
Available Format: Blu-ray
Haydn: The Complete String Quartets
London Haydn Quartet
Released as a complete set to mark the London Haydn Quartet's twenty-fifth birthday, these period-instrument recordings were made between 2007 and 2023, and were warmly received across the board: Gramophone applauded 'their fantasy, their disciplined spontaneity and their cumulative insights', whilst Classic FM deemed an early instalment as 'without a doubt one of the all-time great Haydn quartet recordings' thanks to the 'deep feeling, dynamic subtlety and phrasal sensitivity' on display.
Available Format: 20 CDs
