Dvorak Violin Concerto, Legends Richard Tognetti (violin), Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Christian Lindberg (conductor) BIS | BISCD1708 | CD | 7318590017081
One of the year’s most hotly anticipated classical releases by an Australian artist, this disc features Australia's favourite violinist Richard Tognetti in Dvorak’s virtuosic, highly melodic Violin Concerto. The work is the perfect showcase for Tognetti’s world-famous technique, precision and passion. The ARIA-winning ‘National Treasure’ teams with Christian Lindberg to bring this gorgeous Romantic work vividly to life. The last collaboration between the two masterful musicians (with Lindberg on Baroque trombone) was an extremely popular ABC Classic FM CD of the Week. Now Lindberg appears as conductor for this thrilling disc of Dvorak’s spirited music for violin and orchestra.
Watch an excerpt of Tognetti’s dazzling performance on YouTube.
Gershwin by Grofe - Symphonic Jazz Lincoln Mayorga (piano), Al Gallodoro (clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone), Harmonie Ensemble, Steven Richman HARMONIA MUNDI | HMU907492 | CD | 093046749224 Rhapsody in Blue, I Got Rhythm (arr Grofe for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra) The Yankee Doodle Blues, That Certain Feeling, Somebody Loves Me, Summertime, The Man I Love, Fascinating Rhythm, I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise
In this swinging collection of ‘symphonic jazz’, Steve Richman and the Harmonie Ensemble New York recreate the original Gershwin orchestrations made by Ferde Grofé for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. The programme features Gershwin’s immortal Rhapsody in Blue (with legendary reedman Al Gallodoro, an original member of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the 1930s!), the I Got Rhythm Variations, and a selection of George’s Broadway tunes, including 'Summertime'.
Scarlatti Cantatas, Chamber Music Clara Rottsolk (soprano), Tempesta di Mare Chamber Players CHANDOS | CHAN0768 | CD | 095115076828 Quella Pace Gradita, Non so qual piu m'ingombra 'Cantata Pastorale', Bella s'io t'amo, Bella dama di nome Santa, Concerto No 9 in A Minor
The soprano Clara Rottsolk joins Tempesta di Mare Chamber Players for a disc of cantatas and instrumental music by Alessandro Scarlatti. Though his cantatas and operas are little known today Scarlatti was a titan in his time, closely associated with Rome’s Arcadian Academy and an inspiration to the much younger Handel, a frequent visitor to the Academy. This disc of cantatas – a genre for which Scarlatti demonstrated a special affinity – includes two rarely performed love cantatas, ‘Quella pace gradita’ and ‘Bella dama di nome Santa’, exquisite jewels of the Italian baroque.
Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos Stephen Hough (piano), Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska (conductor) HYPERION | CDA677112 | CD2 | 034571177113
The Romantic Piano Concerto series reaches Volume 50. Rarely in the history of recorded music has such a rich seam of undiscovered delights been mined to such consistently dazzling effect. The performers include some of the greatest pianists, orchestras and conductors in the world, including Australians Piers Lane and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Stephen Hough played Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos in thrilling performances during his 2009 Australian tour, just after having recorded this disc. His Saint-Säens recording for the series (CDA673312) garnered the Gramophone Gold Disc and Record of the Year awards.
value pick of the month - cheaper than a download!
Luciano Pavarotti – The ‘Signature’ Edition
Arias including: Nessun Dorma (Turandot) • Brindisi (La Traviata) Una Furtiva Lagrima (L’elisir d’amore) • O Soave Fanciulla • Che gelida manina (La Bohéme) • La donna e mobile (Rigoletto) • O sole mio • Caro mio ben • Schubert’s Ave Maria Conducted by Richard Bonynge • Sir Charles Mackerras • Maria Giulini • Claudio Abbado RED NOTE | RNCDBOX001 | CD10 | 5060214200219
The finest Pavarotti boxed set on the market, an ideal gift for collectors! This beautifully presented 'signature' edition (in a matte-finish clamshell box with silver-embossed detail) features almost 150 superb tracks from the world's most beloved tenor, on 9 DVDs with a bonus live concert DVD from the Gran Teatre Del Liceu in 1989.
Averaging roughly 40 cents per track, this lavish boxed set is cheaper than a download and looks spectacular on any collector’s shelf.
April 19, 2010 Handel Duets Sarah Connolly (mezzo), Rosemary Joshua (soprano), English Concert, Harry Bicket (conductor) CHANDOS | CHAN0767 | CD | 095115076729 Duets from Agrippina, Belshazzar, Sosarme, Ottone, Tamerlano, Ariodante, Radimisto, Theodora, Giulio Cesare
This sumptuous new Handel collection features two great singers - Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano) and Rosemary Joshua (soprano) - alongside the English Concert, one of the world’s finest baroque orchestras.
Duets play a key role in Handel’s stage works. A master of the Baroque opera seria medium, with its extended sequence of solo arias and recitative dialogue, he understood the dramatic effectiveness of occasional numbers blending two voices, generally those of a soprano heroine and a castrato hero. Sarah Connolly's Handelian roles have including the title-role in Giulio Cesare for the Glyndebourne Festival and in Agrippina, Xerxes, Ariodante and Ruggiero (Alcina) for the English National Opera. Rosemary Joshua, too, is well known for her Handel, having sung the title-role in Semele for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award and recorded for Chandos. A must-have for all Handel enthusiasts.
April 12, 2010 Schubert Arpeggione Sonata, Lieder Antoine Tamestit (viola), Sandrine Piau (soprano), Markus Hadulla (piano) NAÏVE | V5219 | CD | 822186052198 Arpeggione Sonata (arr viola), Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Romanze der Helene
French violist Antoine Tamestit lovingly takes on one of the most popular works of chamber music for cello in an arrangement for his own instrument.
Schubert's yearning Arpeggione sonata sounds just as warm and lyrical recast for the mellow tones of the viola, while French soprano Sandrine Piau contributes several heart-wrenching Schubert Lieder to this Romantic album.
March 29, 2010 Australian Guitar Music Aleksandr Tsiboulski (guitar) NAXOS | 8570949 | CD | 747313094974 Edwards Guitar Dances, Blackwattle Caprices, Sculthorpe Pieces from Kakadu, Into the Dreaming, Djilile, Dean Three Caprichos after Goya, Houghton Stélé, Koehne A Closed World of Fine Feelings and Grand Design
This disc is a must-have for lovers of guitar music and contemporary Australian composition.
It presents a selection of lively and accessible Australian works arranged for guitar from our finest composers, from Sculthorpe's ever-popular Kakadu to Ross Edwards' thrilling dance-inspired music and works by Brett Dean, whose new opera Bliss is the toast of the town following Opera Australia’s triumphant premiere production. Brilliant young Adelaide-based guitarist Aleksandr Tsiboulski brings this diverse collection of music by leading Australian composers to the attention of listeners the world over.
Stravinsky’s collaboration with the violinist Samuel Dushkin was a great artistic success, generating new works for the repertoire as well as arrangements of some of the composer’s most tuneful and popular works. Of these arrangements, Dushkin wrote that Stravinsky seemed ‘to go back to the essence of the music and rewrite or recreate the music in the spirit of the new instrument’. In the performing partnership of violinist Anthony Marwood and composer-pianist Thomas Adès, Hyperion has a combination that seems to reignite the original flames of inspiration, creation and re-creation.
‘The symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.’ This oft-quoted statement by Mahler serves to illustrate his extraordinary artistic ambition and focus.
The journey through his symphonies is rich and emotionally charged, imbued as they are with the influences of his surroundings, his suffering as well as his joy, and his unique sense of satire.
Vaughan Williams Sancta Civitas, Dona Nobis Pacem Christina Pier (soprano), Matthew Brooke (baritone), The Bach Choir, Winchester Cathedral Choristers, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, David Hill (conductor) NAXOS | 8572424 | CD | 747313242474
Although Vaughan Williams described himself as ‘a cheerful agnostic’, he was not only steeped in the traditions of the Anglican Church, but sensitive to the mystical significance ‘of what lies beyond sense and knowledge’
Written in 1936, his cantata Dona nobis pacem sets powerful Biblical texts alongside those by Walt Whitman and John Bright and is both a warning that mankind was sliding disastrously towards another war and a plea for a world without strife. The oratorio Sancta Civitas, one of his most original choral works, strikingly deploys vocal and orchestral forces to depict the battle between good and evil from the Book of Revelation.
An exciting new DVD venture from Opus Arte: Shakespeare productions live from the Bard’s original theatre in London, The Globe.
Dominic Dromgoole’s production brings refreshing clarity to one of Shakespeare’s most famous and best-loved tragedies, drawing out the contemporary relevance of this passionate teenage love story. Filmed before a live audience at Shakespeare’s Globe in the heart of London, its intimate and atmospheric setting adds immediacy and vitality to the humour and passion of Shakespeare’s verse.
Watch the trailer
Steven Osborne has been playing Beethoven live in concert for many years, always to great acclaim. Now for the first time he has committed these extraordinary performances to disc.
It is clear from listening to the opening movement of the ‘Moonlight’ that this release will establish him firmly as one of the great Beethoven pianists of today. Performances of such passionate humility, such musical intelligence, such subtlety and yet such instinctive understanding of the music are rare indeed.
Dvorak Violin Concerto, Legends
Gershwin by Grofe - Symphonic Jazz
Scarlatti Cantatas, Chamber Music
Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos
