Orpheus in England - Dowland, Purcell Lute Songs Emma Kirkby (soprano), Jakob Lindberg (lute) BIS | BISCD1725 | CD | 7318590017258
During the first few years of the 17th century, John Dowland received a pavane composed by his patron Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, in honour of ‘the English Orpheus’. A century later a collection of songs by Henry Purcell was published posthumously with the title Orpheus Britannicus. Together with lutenist Jakob Lindberg, Emma Kirkby has devised a programme of Dowland and Purcell which takes in a wide spectrum of emotions: from the pastoral joyfulness of 'By a fountain' and that distillate of melancholy which is 'In darkness let me dwell', we are led through the desperation and drama of 'Bess of Bedlam' to the conviction, expressed in 'Music for a while', that music has the power to vanquish even death. Interspersing the songs are lute solos, including Dowland’s immortal Lachrimae.
Pierné Piano Concerto
Divertissements on a pastoral theme, Suites from Ramuntcho, Marche des petits soldats de plomb Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano), BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena (conductor) CHANDOS | CHAN10633 | CD | 95115163320
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s third recording as a concerto soloist for Chandos follows this year’s highly acclaimed accounts of the piano concertos by Bartók (CHAN10610) and Ravel (CHSA5084). As heard in his award-winning complete Debussy series, Bavouzet is a true master of his native French repertoire. Although no longer a household name, Pierné was in his day a highly respected and prolific composer and conductor, who in 1910 famously conducted the premiere of Stravinsky’s Firebird. A pupil of Franck and Massenet, he composed music with tremendous fluency and all his works were written with a characteristically light, French touch.
Mozart Keyboard Music Vol 2
Sonata in C Major K330, Rondo in A Minor K511, Rondo in D Major K485, Adagio in B Minor K540, Sonata in C Minor K457 Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano) HARMONIA MUNDI | HMU907498 | CD | 93046749828
‘Mozart reincarnated!’ Fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, who tours with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra in 2011, continues his multi-disc survey of Mozart’s music for solo keyboard. Volume 2 features an instrument by Paul McNulty, modeled on a Viennese original by Anton Walter & Sohn (c.1802). ‘Bezuidenhout is a prince of the fortepiano, making it sing in melodic phrases as no other practitioner of this incredible instrument has done in my experience’ –The Times.
Liszt New Discoveries Vol 3 Leslie Howard (piano) HYPERION | CDA67810 | CD2 | 34571178103
Liszt was born 200 years ago in 1811, and to begin his bicentenary birthday celebration, Hyperion presents a disc of works that have been recorded, and indeed heard here, for the first time. Australian pianist Leslie Howard has long been acknowledged as the foremost Liszt scholar and performer in the world today, and this disc is a perfect example of his tireless work on behalf of the composer. Coming soon: Leslie Howard's complete Liszt in a mammoth 99-CD boxed set!
Australian Guitar Music Aleksandr Tsiboulski (guitar) NAXOS | 8570949 | CD | 747313094974
‘Add another name to Australia’s thriving classical guitar scene…Tsiboulski is the complete guitarist. His playing possesses a highly controlled, honed refinement, but he rises above the technical demands to reach a new level of concentrated, inner thought…The standout is Koehne’s rhapsodic A Closed World of Fine Feelings and Grand Design, which Tsiboulski plays with exquisite, perfectly judged phrases and aching tenderness. He is excellent, too, with Edwards’ Guitar Dances and Blackwattle Caprices…Sculthorpe’s ruminative From Kakadu and Djilile acquire an almost spiritual power.’ (The Australian, 5-star review)
Mozart Violin Concertos Richard Tognetti, Christopher Moore, ACO BIS | BISSACD1754 | SACD | 7318599917542
Undoubtedly one of the most popular and accessible classical albums by any Australian artist this year, this is the Australian Chamber Orchestra's much-anticipated first release dedicated solely to Mozart following a national tour featuring one of his violin concertos. It's set to rival Tognetti’s recordings of Bach which won three consecutive ARIA awards. Watch footage from the recording sessions, interviews with Tognetti and more on the dedicated mini-site: www.savd.com.au/aco
November 22, 2010 Love Songs Anne Sofie von Otter (vocals), Brad Mehldau (jazz piano) NAÏVE | V5241 | CD2 | 822186052419
In the most exciting classical crossover project of the year, Anne Sofie von Otter has chosen to make her first recording for Naïve with the jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, who has previously recorded with Renée Fleming.
Their meeting at Carnegie Hall in 2009 gave rise to a cycle of 7 Love Songs, settings by Brad Mehldau of poems by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933). Together Anne Sofie and Brad have assembled some of the greatest songwriters, including Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, Michel Legrand, Leonard Bernstein, Paul McCartney, Joni Michell and others.
See a personal message from Anne Sofie announcing her signing to Naive
November 15, 2010 Telemann Tafelmusik Complete Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Petra Mullejans (violin, conductor), Gottfried von der Goltz (conductor) HARMONIA MUNDI | HMC90204245 | CD4 | 794881967728
In his Musique de Table, through skilful organisation, breadth of imagination and sheer masterful inspiration, Telemann concentrates the entire range of European musical styles.
This bravura display brings together ‘what stern custom had divided’. Here is the ultimate glittering banquet of late Baroque in all its rich diversity. Often compared to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, Musique de Table is presented here by one of the world's foremost Baroque period-instrument ensembles, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
October 18, 2010 Virtuoso Clarinet Michael Collins (clarinet), Piers Lane (piano) CHANDOS | CHAN10615 | CD | 95115161524
Michael Collins is one of the world's most versatile clarinettists, possessing a dazzling virtuosity and sensitive musicianship that have made him the favourite of conductors, composers, and audiences throughout the world.
Accompanied here by Australian pianist Piers Lane, Collins is embarking on a series of recordings designed to display the extraordinarily wide range of music written for his instrument. The present programme comprises a varied repertoire, concentrating on its more extrovert virtuoso aspects and offering some breathtaking show-stoppers. Well-known works such as Rachmaninoff’s haunting Vocalise contrast with a bubbly fantasia on the famous aria from La Traviata and Gershwin's three exuberant jazz Preludes.
September 13, 2010 Satie in the Orient Sarband Ensemble DOUMTAK | NTCD808 | CD | 826596028088
On this unique and mesmerisingly beautiful concept album, the music of eccentric French composer Erik Satie travels to the Middle East. Satie is played here on oriental instruments including the oud and qanoun, and joined by the chalumeau, cornett and medieval harp! Satie undoubtedly would have approved of these exotic touches gracing his gnossiennes and gymnopédies.
Bartók Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Symphony No 1 John Bradbury (clarinet), Carmine Lauri (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Pasternack (conductor) 8572448 | CD | 747313244874
Béla Bartók’s pantomime The Miraculous Mandarin was banned after its first performance in 1926, but the composer’s orchestral suite quickly became a popular concert work, appreciated for its energetic rhythms and daring harmonies. Though facetiously dubbed ‘Beethoven’s Tenth’, Brahms’s Symphony No.1 is also, in its own way, a no less revolutionary work which charts a journey from darkness to light from its brooding introduction to its euphoric finale. This splendid recording joins other fine LSO albums available from Naxos.
On this second volume of Sibelius Symphonies (Nos. 1 and 3 are available on Naxos 8.572305), the acclaimed young Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen interprets two of his compatriot’s most contrasting symphonies. The Symphony No. 4 is a work of ominous brooding and bleak desolation, reflecting the Sibelius’s psychological state at the time of its composition. Sibelius commented of his much-revised and expansively heroic Symphony No. 5: ‘It is as if God the Father had thrown down mosaic pieces from heaven’s floor and asked me to put them back as they were.’
Wagner Ring Cycle La Fura Dels Baus, Zubin Mehta C MAJOR | 703808 | DVD8 | 814337010386
Cirque du Soleil meets Blade Runner in this hi-tech, visually sumptuous spectacle: the breathtaking 2007 production of Wagner’s Ring cycle from the Palau de les Arts ‘Reina Sofia’, Valencia. 'It looks like a landmark Ring cycle, it is outstanding.' –BBC Music Magazine. Specially priced 8-DVD boxed set (or 4 Blu-Ray discs).
coming soon
February 2011 Liszt Complete Piano Music Howard Shelley (piano) HYPERION | CDS4450198 | CD99
Hyperion kicks off the Liszt bicentenary celebrations in style with what is surely the most comprehensive Liszt collection ever released. At long last, we proudly present Australian pianist Leslie Howard’sboxed-set of The Complete Liszt Piano Music— the culmination of over a decade of recording, 98 CDs (plus bonus disc), over five days' playing time, comprehensive indexes … what more could the 'completist' among us wish for?
Orpheus in England - Dowland, Purcell Lute Songs
Pierné Piano Concerto
Mozart Keyboard Music Vol 2
Liszt New Discoveries Vol 3
