Today's new releases include world premiere recordings of two new orchestral works by Joe Hisaishi on Deutsche Grammophon, Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 from Nathalie Stutzmann and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Warner, John Williams's Flute Concerto and Bernard Herrmann's Souvenirs de Voyage from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra on Pentatone, and a ninetieth-birthday celebration of Zubin Mehta on Decca.
Joe Hisaishi: Symphony No. 3 (Metaphysica) & Harp Concerto
Emmanuel Ceysson (harp), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Joe Hisaishi
Especially renowned for his Studio Ghibli film scores, the Japanese composer conducts the world premiere recordings of two new concert pieces: the Symphony No. 3 ‘Metaphysica’ was commissioned to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the New Japan Philharmonic and draws inspiration from Mahler, minimalism and Sudoku, whilst the Harp Concerto was written in 2024 for Ceysson (the Principal Harpist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic). Hisaishi reflects that 'The harp is usually associated with graceful, gentle, and calm music, but this concerto is intense, wild, and dynamic - quite different from traditional concepts'.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4, 'Romantic'
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Nathalie Stutzmann
Recorded live at Atlanta Symphony Hall as part of the orchestra's Bruckner bicentenary festival Architect of the Spirit in September 2024, this account of Symphony No. 4 was hailed by ArtsATL for showcasing 'Stutzmann at her best, taking apart a familiar piece of music and carefully reassembling the bits into a fresh new whole'. The Swiss conductor describes Bruckner's music as 'the exact opposite of our often superficial, hyperactive and disrupted contemporary existence: extremely deep, sincere, persistent, and incredibly moving.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
John Williams: Flute Concerto & Bernard Herrmann: Souvenirs de Voyage
Jin Ta, Ma Yue, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Darrell Ang, Joshua Tan
This project from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra focuses on concert works by composers who are perhaps best known for their film scores: it opens with John Williams's Flute Concerto, written in 1969 and inspired by the composer's recent encounter with the Japanese Shakuhachi flute. The programme also includes Williams's Essay for Strings from four years earlier, Bernard Herrmann's 1967 clarinet quintet Souvenirs de Voyage (arranged for clarinet and string orchestra by the late Hans Sørensen), and the world premiere of Hugo Friedhofer's Suite for 5 Woodwinds.
(Booklet-note by Presto's resident film music expert, James Longstaffe!).
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Zubin Mehta - The Philharmonic Edition
Zubin Mehta
Released to mark the Indian conductor's ninetieth birthday, this collection gathers together the recordings which he made for Decca and Deutsche Grammophon between 1965 and 2013, including the complete Schubert symphonies, two sets of the Beethoven piano concertos (with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Radu Lupu respectively), a 1988 concert in memory of Georg Solti (with Angela Gheorghiu and Anne Sofie von Otter), and a selection of live recordings from the 1982 Huberman Festival (with soloists including Ida Haendel, Shlomo Mintz, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, and Pinchas Zukerman).
Available Format: 57 CDs
John McCabe: Symphonies 2 & 3 and Cello Concerto
Raphael Wallfisch (cello), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Woods
This album brings together three major orchestral works by Ivor Novello Award-winning British composer John McCabe: his widow Monica writes that Symphony No. 2 'concerns itself with mankind’s recurring cycles of unthinking and unchanging violence, as exemplified here through the 1969 Peckinpah Western The Wild Bunch', whilst No. 3 (subtitled 'Hommages') pays tribute to his beloved Haydn and Nielsen. The single-movement Cello Concerto 'Songline' was premiered by Truls Mørk and the Hallé Orchestra in 2008, and draws inspiration from travel writer Bruce Chatwin's 1987 book about indigenous Australian song.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Andrew Downes: The Marshes of Glynn & Song of the Prairies
Brenden Gunnell (tenor), Paula Downes (soprano), Eleanor Minney (mezzo), Sam Madden (tenor), Simon Grant (bass), Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia Voices, David Trippett
This is the second instalment of a trilogy of recordings celebrating the legacy of the late Andrew Downes (1950-2023), a student of Herbert Howells who spent over a decade as Head of Composition at Birmingham Conservatoire. Setting a poem by Sidney Lanier, The Marshes of Glynn was composed in 1986 to mark the opening of the Adrian Boult Concert Hall in Birmingham, whilst Song of the Prairies was written for a singing weekend at Shrewsbury Public School led by John Rutter. Downes's St Luke Passion was described as 'well crafted, technically impressive and thoroughly professional' by Choir and Organ upon its release earlier this year.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Opera Suites for Nonet - Act III
ensemble minui
Comprising five string players and four wind players, ensemble minui was founded ten years ago by a group of friends who initially met through their orchestral work. Following recordings of suites from Der Rosenkavalier, Tosca, Rusalka, Elektra, La bohème and Eugene Onegin, they afford the same treatment to Die Walküre, Manon Lescaut, and Die Frau ohne Schatten. All arrangements are the work of founder-member and clarinettist Stefan Potzmann.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Observations of Venice
Ensemble Feuervogel
Inspired by English travel-writer Thomas Coryat's account of his 1608 voyage to the 'incomparable city' of Venice, this programme from the German early music ensemble takes its cue from his description of hearing music 'so beautiful that I would willingly walk a hundred miles at any time to hear the like of it'. The repertoire includes Giorgio Mainerio's Il primo libro di ballli, Francesco Bendusi's Opera nova de balli, and shorter pieces by Girolamo Parabosco, Giovanni Bassano, Baldassare Donato, and Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta.
Available Formats: Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Sing, My Soul, His Wondrous Love
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Adam Field (organ), Sarah Macdonald
This collection of sacred works by Canadian organist and choral trainer Sarah MacDonald includes a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, the carol sequence The Manger is Empty, the Missa brevis Sancta Cecilia, a selection of anthems and motets, and the Selwyn College Grace. The album was recorded at Ely Cathedral, where MacDonald is Director of the Girl Choristers; she also holds the position of Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn, and has recorded albums devoted to the music of John Hosking, Richard Peat, Phillip Cooke and Mark Gotham with the choir.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Herbert Howells: Partsongs
Nick Salwey (piano), Mira Ensemble, Tom Edney
This debut album from the London-based ensemble (founded in 2025 to shine a light on repertoire for upper voices) is made up entirely of world premiere recordings: the centrepiece is the charming 1935 cycle Sea Urchins (on poems by Gladys Balcomb), with other highlights including settings of William Blake, Walter de la Mare, Thomas Dekker, Robert Greene and Thomas Campion. The recording received five stars in Choir & Organ, and was described as a 'delightful cornucopia' in the latest issue of Gramophone.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
David Hackbridge Johnson: A Pocket Full of Tunes
Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin/viola)
Several of the pieces here were inspired by specific historical instruments or performers: Three Disused Stations, Seven Versets and Three Preludes are all performed on the 'Rayman' viola (made in Southwark in 1641 and thought to be the oldest surviving English viola), whilst the Six Preludes for solo violin were inspired by the 'Charles II' violin (made by an anonymous London luthier in the mid-1660s). The Will Rosin of Wapping suite pays tribute to a fictional eighteenth-century violinist who appeared regularly in the pages of The Tatler.
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Trial By Jury / A Matter of Misconduct!
Richard Suart (Judge), Kira Kaplan (Plaintiff/Sylvia Lawless), Jamie MacDougall (Defendant/Sandy Hogg), Chloe Harris (Counsel/Cherry Penistone), Edward Jowle (Usher/Hugo Cheeseman), Ross Cumming (Roger Penistone), Scottish Opera, Toby Hession, John Savournin, Laura Attridge
Filmed in Glasgow last year, Scottish Opera's innovative double-bill couples Gilbert & Sullivan's early one-act operetta about a breach of promise case with a new piece by Toby Hession and Emma Jenkins: set in the press room of No. 9 [sic] Downing Street, A Matter of Misconduct! centres on a politician whose leadership campaign is threatened by the discovery of shady emails. In a four-star review, BachTrack enthused that 'Hession’s filmic score is peppered with lively orchestrations and colour' and 'Jenkins’s whip-smart libretto had us laughing out loud'.
Available Format: BLU-RAY
Dvořák: Rusalka
Ludmila Červinková (Rusalka), Beno Blachut (Prince), Eduard Haken (Water Goblin), Marta Krásová (Witch), Marie Podvalová (Foreign Princess); Prague National Theatre Orchestra, Jaroslav Krombholc
Presented here in a remastering of the original mono version, this is the first complete Czech studio recording of Dvořák's dark fairytale opera, made in Prague in 1952; reviewing an earlier incarnation of the recording in 2005, Classics Today noted that 'the spirit of the piece is brilliantly set forth' and deemed Blachut's Prince the star of the show, 'his ardency and impetuousness truly felt and his tone attractive'.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
