Today's new releases include Schubert from Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen on RCA, a new oratorio from young British composer Edward Picton-Turbervill from London Choral Sinfonia and Michael Waldron on Orchid Classics, Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie and Metamorphosen from Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra on their own label, and an exhilarating live Carmina Burana from Jader Bignamini and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on Pentatone.
Schubert: Symphonies No. 5 & No. 6
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi
This second instalment of Järvi's Schubert cycle from Bremen was warmly welcomed in the latest issue of Gramophone, where Richard Wigmore noted the 'lively, witty interplay' and 'ideal balance between the superlative Bremen woodwind and the lithe, period-influenced strings'. Its predecessor (comprising the 'Tragic' and 'Unfinished' Symphonies) was an Editor's Choice in the January edition, and also received four stars from BBC Music Magazine.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Eden: The Music of Edward Picton-Turbervill
Katie Bray (mezzo), George English, Hugh Rowlands, Hannah Watson Emmrich, Ed Lyon (tenor), Hugo Herman-Wilson, Michael Foyle (violin), London Choral Sinfonia, Michael Waldron
This is the second full-length recording devoted to the music of Edward Picton-Turbervill, a recent Britten Pears Young Artist and former organ scholar at St John’s College Cambridge whose voice was hailed as 'genuinely distinguished' by The Scotsman earlier this year. The mainstay of the album is the oratorio Out of Eden, blending Old Testament texts with poetry by Philip Larkin and described by The Arts Desk as 'a kind of Bachian Passion'; the programme also includes the instrumental suite Songs of Eden, plus Spell of Creation and Spell of Sleep (both inspired by the poetry of Kathleen Raine).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Strauss: An Alpine Symphony & Metamorphosen
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
This live recording of Eine Alpensinfonie was captured at the South Bank Centre last February, when BachTrack observed that 'Gardner kept a steely control, within which the players could really let rip. And let rip they did.' The same publication described the performance of Metamorphosen (recorded the previous month) as an example of 'supreme string playing, individually and as a tight-knit unit'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Orff: Carmina Burana
Chen Reiss (soprano), Reginald Mobley (countertenor), Andrzej Filończyk (baritone), Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Opera Youth Chorus, Audivi, Jader Bignamini
Recorded live in Detroit last November, this account of Orff's popular secular cantata is the Choral Choice in next month's issue of BBC Music Magazine, with reviewer Jeremy Pound applauding Bignamini's 'gripping sense of purpose' and noting that the rich and varied choral contributions are 'done with immaculate discipline but exceptional pizzazz'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The Viola Sonatas from the Royal Chapel of Madrid
Pablo de Pedro Cano (viola), Samuel Maíllo (harpsichord), Lorenzo Meseguer (cello)
The eleven sonatas here were composed between 1778 and 1818 as sight-reading pieces for viola-players hoping to obtain a position in the orchestra of the Capilla Real during the reigns of Charles III and Charles IV. All five featured composers were themselves Chapel musicians: Madrid native Juan Balado, Seville-born Felipe de los Ríos, the Murcian Juan Oliver Astorga and the Italian Gaetano Brunetti were violinists, whilst José Lidón started out as an altar-boy and later became Maestro de la Capilla.
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Ataúlfo Argenta & Enrique Jordá: The Decca Masters
Ataúlfo Argenta, Enrique Jordá
Born in 1913 and 1911 respectively, Ataúlfo Argenta and Enrique Jordá were the first Spanish conductors to build international reputations, and recorded extensively for Decca in the post-War years; many of the recordings here receive their first official digital remasterings. The repertoire includes music by their compatriots Manuel de Falla, Manuel Ponce, Joaquín Rodrigo and Enrique Granados, plus Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol, Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole and Alborada del gracioso, Maurice Ohana's Llanto por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias, and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.
Available Format: 20 CDs
Godowsky: Java Suite & Stravinsky: Three Movements from Petrushka
Jonathan Kuo (piano)
Born in Indonesia, Kuo has a special connection with Leopold Godowsky's gamelan-influenced Java Suite, written in the mid-1920s and described by the composer as a 'cycle of musical travelogues-tonal journeys' - reviewing the album in Gramophone this month, Jed Distler opined that 'Kuo's brisk basic tempo and shimmering power throughout 'The Great Day' put him at the head of the class, so to speak'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Complete Violin Concertos
Ning Feng (violin), Kammerakademie Potsdam, Suyeon Kang, Susanne von Gutzeit
Chinese violinist Ning Feng came to international prominence in 2001 when he was a prizewinner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition, performing Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in the semi-final; his Mozart was later praised by The Telegraph for his 'gorgeous light touch with faultless intonation and deft bowing married to a sweet tone'. Directing from the violin here, Feng plays a Nicolò Amati 1665 violin and a Francesco Rugeri 1694 violin from the collection of Dr. David Li AM (Chairman of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra).
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Brahms: Violin Sonatas
James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong
This first release from Seattle Chamber Music Society's in-house label sees the organisation's Artistic Director James Ehnes coming together with long-term friend and collaborator Andrew Armstrong for the three sonatas plus the Scherzo from the FAE Sonata which Brahms co-authored with Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich. In a five-star review last week, The Guardian declared that 'the longevity of their partnership pays dividends here in performances that exude an effortless rightness'.
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Dvořák: String Quintets
James Ehnes (violin), Tessa Lark (violin), Jonathan Vinocour (viola), Ani Aznavoorian (cello), Timothy Cobb (double bass), Amy Schwartz Moretti (violin), Paul Neubauer (viola), Che-Yen Chen (viola), Edward Arron (cello)
Ehnes also leads the second release on the label, recorded in Seattle in July 2022; the programme comprises String Quintets Nos. 2 and 3 (composed in 1875 and 1893 respectively), plus the Intermezzo which Dvořák cut from the earlier work and later revised and published as the Nocturne in B major.
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Gavin Bryars: Marilyn Forever
Anne Grimm (Marilyn), Richard Morris (The Men), Adam Goodburn, Nicholas Cannon (The Tritones), Robert Holliston (piano), Julien Wilson (saxophone), Gavin Bryars (double bass), Aventa Ensemble, Bill Linwood
Commissioned by the Aventa Ensemble and premiered in Victoria in 2013, Bryars's fourth opera is based on a radio play by Canadian writer Marilyn Bowering which explores the inner life of Marilyn Monroe; reviewing a 2015 revival, the Los Angeles Times observed that 'Bryars’s music offers an ineffable atmosphere and mood so rich that this becomes the first operatic score to give Marilyn the room she always wanted in life'.
Available Formats: CD, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Puccini: Turandot
Luciano Pavarotti (Calàf), Joan Sutherland (Turandot), Montserrat Caballé (Liù), London Philharmonic Orchestra, John Alldis Choir, Zubin Mehta
Reissued in 24-bit audio to mark the centenary of the work's premiere, this landmark recording of Puccini's final opera was originally released in 1972 and was described as 'the best-sounding Turandot on CD' in the Penguin Guide, whilst Gramophone's Edward Greenfield hailed it as 'the most satisfying of all [accounts of the work], with Sutherland an icy Princess who gives signs of human vulnerability far earlier than usual'. The vinyl edition was half-speed mastered by Miles Showell & cut at Abbey Road Studios.
Available Format: 2 SACDs
