Today's new releases include Haydn sonatas from Denis Kozhukhin on Pentatone, sacred and secular songs and arias by Sir Arthur Sullivan from David Webb, John Andrews and the Academy of Ancient Music on Resonus, a second volume of Debussy piano duets from Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier on Chandos, and the complete Sibelius symphonies from Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the Helsinki Philharmonic on Ondine.
Haydn: Sonatas
Denis Kozhukhin (piano)
A prizewinner at the Leeds International Piano Competition (2006) and the Queen Elisabeth Competition (2010), Kozhukhin recorded his first Haydn album back in 2014, when International Record Review described his playing as 'about as close to the perfect ideal in this music as it is possible to imagine' and Classical Music hailed him as 'an incisive and thoughtful interpreter of Haydn'. This sequel comprises Sonatas Nos. 9, 33, 46, 53 and 57.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Arthur Sullivan: Songs For Tenor
David Webb (tenor), Jennifer France (soprano), Charles Rice (baritone), Academy of Ancient Music, John Andrews
The British tenor's debut solo album celebrates the legacy of Sir Arthur Sullivan, whose music is recorded for the first time on period instruments here. As well as arias and duets from the Savoy operas which Sullivan wrote with WS Gilbert, the programme includes excerpts from the late comic opera The Rose of Persia (with libretto by Basil Hood) and the oratorios The Golden Legend, The Light of the World and The Prodigal Son.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Debussy: Piano Duets, Vol. 2
Hélène Mercier (piano), Louis Lortie (piano)
This second volume of Debussy from the Canadian pianists includes En blanc et noir, Ravel's arrangement of the Trois Nocturnes, Dutilleux's transcription of Clair de lune, and the composer's own two-piano version of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Reviewing the first instalment back in 2022, MusicWeb International enthused that 'the playing by the two distinguished pianists is faultless, distinctly outlining the notes with a clarity of separation'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Sibelius & Saraste: The 7 Symphonies
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
The Finnish conductor and violinist Jukka-Pekka Saraste first recorded the Sibelius symphonies in the late 1980s, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; the results were hailed as 'a fine Sibelius treasury' by Classical Source and praised in Gramophone for his 'fine musical intelligence and good taste'. Almost four decades later, he returns to the works with the orchestra which gave their premieres under the composer.
Available Formats: 3 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Elgar & Dvořák: Cello Concertos
Alban Gerhardt (cello), WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Andrew Manze
Both of these concertos have been in Gerhardt's repertoire for thirty-five years, but he waited until last spring to set them down in the studio with a long-term collaborator: he and Manze were shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2013 for their recording of Britten's Cello Symphony. Gerhardt reflects that although he was deeply inspired by the legendary recordings of du Pré and Rostropovich, his interpretations were also driven by 'a growing need to look beyond inherited conventions and return to the sources: the scores themselves'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 27, Clarinet Concerto
Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano), Blaž Šparovec (clarinet), ORF Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, Howard Griffiths
This latest volume in Alpha's Next Generation Mozart Soloists couples Mozart's first piano concerto with his final work in the genre: the Piano Concerto No. 1 was written when he was just eleven, whilst No. 27 was completed exactly eleven months before his death in 1791. The programme is completed by the Clarinet Concerto from a few months earlier, which soloist Blaž Šparovec likens to 'an opera in which the basset clarinet plays all the roles'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Schubert/Liszt: Wanderer Fantasy - Tchaikovsky: Concert Fantasy
Lukas Geniušas (piano), Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Modestas Pitrėnas
Schubert composed his solo piano fantasy on his own Lied 'Der Wanderer' in 1822, and remarked that only 'the devil himself' would be equal to its technical demands; Liszt arranged the work for piano and orchestra almost three decades later, rendering the solo part more congenial in the process. Originally conceived as a full-scale concerto, Tchaikovsky's two-movement Concert Fantasy was inspired by the playing of Liszt's pupil Eugen d'Albert, whom the composer heard in Moscow in the mid-1880s.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Ástor Piazzolla: Café 1930
Daniel Matejča (violin), Martin Šulc (accordion)
Following his 'eye-wateringly good' (Gramophone) recording of concertos by Shostakovich and Prokofiev with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra last year, the young Czech violinist teams up with accordionist Martin Šulc for a programme dedicated to the music of Ástor Piazzolla, including Suite del Ángel, Histoire du Tango, Oblivion, and Ave Maria. Born in Liberec in 2005, Matejča was crowned Eurovision Young Musician 2022, and recorded his debut album of the Ysaÿe sonatas for Supraphon later that year.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Bach: The 6 French Suites
Francesco Tristano (piano)
Following recordings of the Seven Toccatas, Six English Suites and Six Partitas, the Luxembourg pianist continues his Bach journey with the French Suites, which he describes as 'the cycle I most cherish' - Tristano expounds that he is 'drawn to it because it seems devised on a smaller scale than his other works, so it sounds really intimate.' Released in late 2025, his set of the Toccatas received four stars in BBC Music Magazine, with Jan Smaczny observing that 'Tristano brings real insight to the breadth of technique demanded by these works'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Bach: 6 Suites
Marc Sabbah (viola)
Praised by The Strad for the 'intensity and conviction' of his playing, New York-born Marc Sabbah presents Bach's six Cello Suites in his own arrangement for the viola. A former student of the great Baroque cellist Anner Bylsma (who recorded the Suites twice), Sabbah writes: 'Bach enjoyed playing the viola and I'd like to think that these suites could have been conceived on viola - and if not, then it's my own wishful thinking.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Fusions
Nikolay Medvedev (piano)
Described by the Berlin-based pianist as 'a jazz night at the concert grand', Fusions sets two jazz-influenced composer-pianists alongside each other: George Gershwin and Nikolai Kapustin, who was born just a few months after Gershwin's death. The programme includes five of Kapustin's Eight Concert Études, Gershwin's Three Preludes, and Earl Wild's Virtuoso Etudes after George Gershwin (riffing on songs including 'I got rhythm', Embraceable You', and 'The Man I Love').
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Haendel: Inexorable Amour
Marie Lys (soprano), Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal, Gaétan Jarry
Recorded at Versailles last May, this recital from the Swiss soprano comprises four of Handel's secular solo cantatas: Il delirio amoroso, Un' alma inamorata, Crudel tiranno Amor, and the light-hearted 'Cantate française' Sans y penser (Handel's only such work in the French language). Having appeared on a number of Christophe Rousset's recordings with Les talens lyriques, Lys will sing the title-role in Handel's Theodora when he conducts the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in the work later this year.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Gottfried von Einem: Der Prozess ('The Trial')
Robert Murray (Josef K.), Anne-Fleur Werner (The Wife), Alexander Grassauer (Franz/Der Fabrikant/Der Geistliche), Timothy Connor (Willem/Advokat), Klangforum Wien Ppcm Academy, Walter Kobéra, Stefan Herheim
Based on Franz Kafka's posthumously published novel of the same name, von Einem's second opera was premiered at the Salzburg Festival under Karl Böhm in 1953 (with a cast including Max Lorenz, Walter Berry and Lisa della Casa). Using a chamber version of the score by Tobias Leppert, Stefan Herheim's new production was filmed at the Theater an der Wien in December 2024, when BR Klassik singled out Murray's 'magnificent' portrayal of the beleaguered bank clerk who finds himself accused of an unspecified crime.
Available Format: DVD Video
