Mozart The Marriage of Figaro Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Figaro), Taryn Fiebig (Susanna), Peter Coleman-Wright (Count), Rachelle Durkin (Countess), Opera Australia Chorus, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Patrick Summers (conductor), Neil Armfield (director) OPOZ56002BD | 5060266600012 | Blu-Ray
Recorded in 2010.
‘A marriage of distinction. An energetic, fresh-voiced cast...Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Taryn Feibig were a vivacious, appealing pairing...vocally strong and agile’ (The Australian)
‘As the Countess, Rachelle Durkin mixed statuesque hauteur with girlish puppy love...refined phrasing and beautifully poised tonal control’ (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Mozart The Marriage of Figaro Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Figaro), Taryn Fiebig (Susanna), Peter Coleman-Wright (Count), Rachelle Durkin (Countess), Opera Australia Chorus, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Patrick Summers (conductor), Neil Armfield (director) OPOZ56001DVD | 5060266600005 | DVD2
Recorded in 2010.
‘A marriage of distinction. An energetic, fresh-voiced cast...Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Taryn Feibig were a vivacious, appealing pairing...vocally strong and agile’ (The Australian)
‘As the Countess, Rachelle Durkin mixed statuesque hauteur with girlish puppy love...refined phrasing and beautifully poised tonal control’ (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Mozart The Marriage of Figaro Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Figaro), Taryn Fiebig (Susanna), Peter Coleman-Wright (Count), Rachelle Durkin (Countess), Opera Australia Chorus, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Patrick Summers (conductor), Neil Armfield (director) OPOZ56003CD | 5060266600029 | CD3
Recorded in 2010.
‘A marriage of distinction. An energetic, fresh-voiced cast...Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Taryn Feibig were a vivacious, appealing pairing...vocally strong and agile’ (The Australian)
‘As the Countess, Rachelle Durkin mixed statuesque hauteur with girlish puppy love...refined phrasing and beautifully poised tonal control’ (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Richard Greager (Edgardo), Malcolm Donnelly (Enrico), Clifford Grant (Raimondo), Patricia Price (Alisa), Sergei Baigildin (Arturo), Robin Donald (Normanno), Australian Opera Chorus, Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Richard Bonynge (conductor), John Copely (producer) OPOZ56005CD | 5060266600043 | CD2
Recorded in 1986.
‘superb...incredibly moving’ (The Australian) ‘Exceptionally fine...Sutherland remains a splendid heroine...Malcolm Donnelly is an outstanding Enrico’ (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Meyerbeer Les Huguenots Joan Sutherland (Marguite de Valois), Clifford Grant (Marcel), Amanda Thane (Valentine), Suzanne Johnson (Urbain), Anson Austin (Raoul de Nanglis), John Pringle (Comte de Nevers), John Wegner (Comte de Saint Bris), Richard Bonynge (conductor), Lotfi Mansouri (director) OPOZ56007CD | 5060266600067 | CD3
Recorded in 1990. Joan Sutherland's farewell performance of Les Huguenots. ‘Full of spectacle’ (The Sun Herald) ‘Incandescent...a wondrous, full-voiced performance that should be remembered for light years to come’ (The Age) ‘ [Sutherland] sings effortlessly...remarkable’ (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Donizetti Lucrezia Borgia Joan Sutherland (Lucrezia), Robert Allman (Don Alfonzo), Margreta Elkins (Maffio Orsini), Ron Stevens (Gennaro), Graeme Ewer (Rustighello), Australian Opera Chorus, Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Richard Bonynge (conductor), George Ogilvie (director) OPOZ56006CD | 5060266600050 | CD2
Recorded in 1977. ‘(Sutherland’s) extraordinary voice here not only scales the heights of coloratura but plunges with new ease into the depths of the mezzo range’ (The Bulletin) ‘Bonynge shapes the whole performance with assurance’ (Canberra Times) ‘delights the ear endlessly...ravishing’ (Financial Review)
*Please click on each cover image for more
NEW ACO ALBUM ON BIS!
ABC CLASSIC FM CD OF THE WEEK 2-8 May 2011 Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 1, 2, 4, Rondo in C Major, Adagio in E Major Richard Tognetti (violin), Australian Chamber Orchestra BIS | BISSACD1755 |7318599917559 |SACD
Mozart’s delightful violin concertos never sounded so fresh and alive as here. Richard Tognetti conjures pure magic from his exquisite 1743 Guarneri del Gesu violin, and the ACO matches him note-for-note with buoyancy and extraordinary vitality. Clearly all involved enjoy themselves, making for what are surely the best recordings of these delightful works available anywhere in the world today! Essential for all CD collections.
ALSO AVAILABLE:
Mozart Violin Concertos Vol 1
Nos. 3 & 5, Sinfonia Concertante Richard Tognetti (artistic director & violin), Australian Chamber Orchestra BIS | BISSACD1754 | 7318599917542 | SACD
“Simply breathtaking” The Australian
“Very strongly recommended” International Record Review
“Highly recommended” The Observer
Contact your preferred music store for these great new releases.
Click on the album cover for more information about each recording.
Play excerpts from the CDs on the player below.
La Spagna - A Tune Throughout the Centuries Atrium Musicae de Madris, Gregorio Paniagua (director) BIS | BISSACD1963 | 7318599919638 | SACD
Legendary 1980 LP recording reissued on stunning SACD. La Spagna, a hugely popular tune across 17th-century Europe, makes a comeback!
Huppertz Metropolis Soundtrack Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frank Strobel (conductor) CAPRICCIO | C5066 | 84522105066 | CD
New recording of original Fritz Lang cult classic film Metropolis soundtrack. Frank Strobel conducts this amazing film score live with the movie later this year.
PLAY TRACK 5
Le Devin Arcadelt Musica Contexta, The English Cornett and Sackbutt ensemble CHANDOS | CHAN0779 | 95115077924 | CD
Choral classics for Candlemas in Renaissance Rome. Arcadelt Missa Ave Regina caelorum, Palestrina Senex puerum, Diffusa est gratia, de Silva Ave Regina caelorum, Inviolata, Chants - all sublime works.
PLAY TRACK 15
Rota Symphony No 3, Divertimento Concertante, Concerto Soiree Davide Botto (double bass), Barry Douglas (piano), Filharmonica '900 del Teatro Regio Turin, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor) CHANDOS | CHAN10669 | 95115166925 | CD
Thrilling album of tuneful major works by famous film composer Nino Rota played by leading musicians—a must-have album!
PLAY TRACK 18
Bowen Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 BBC Philharmonic, Andrew Davies (conductor) CHANDOS | CHAN10670 | 95115167021 | CD
Acclaimed British composer & pianist York Bowen was dubbed ‘the English Rachmaninov’. Assured music by the young composer—beautiful, lyrical, full of rich orchestral colour, life-affirming music with wide appeal.
PLAY TRACK 19
Britten Phaedra, A Charm of Lullabies, Lachrymae, Two Portraits, Sinfonietta Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Maxim Rysanov (viola), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner (conductor) CHANDOS | CHAN10671 | 95115167120 | CD
Features multi-award-winning mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly. Important works by Benjamin Britten.
PLAY TRACK 14
Piano Works by The Mighty Handful Philip Edward Fisher (piano) CHANDOS | CHAN10676 | 95115167625 | CD
Borodin Petite Suite, Scherzo Rimsky-Korsakov Scherzino Op 11 No 3, Waltz Op15 No 1, Romance Op 15 No 2, Cui Nocturne in F sharp minor, Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Balakirev Islamey, Reverie Played by talented young Royal Academy and Juilliard School graduate Philip Edwards Fisher.
PLAY TRACK 17
Weinberg Symphony No 3, The Golden Key Suite No 4 Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Thord Svedlund (conductor) CHANDOS | CHSA5089 | 95115508923 | SACD
Part of a critically-acclaimed benchmark series recorded in fabulous surround sound. Also available: Symphonies Nos 1, 7 (CHSA5087), Concertos (CHSA5064)
PLAY TRACK 16
5 rarely-heard symphonies by the great operatic reformer Christoph Willibald Gluck. Comparable with the music of Haydn and Mozart—tasteful, emotional, wonderfully crafted, and well worth discovering by all music lovers.
Delius Poem of Life and Love (world premiere recording), Life's Dance, Irmelin Suite (arr. Beecham), A Village Romeo and Juliet Suite (arr. D Matthews) Royal Scottish National Orchestra, David Lloyd-Jones (conductor) DUTTON | CDLX7264 | 765387726423 | CD
Includes first recording of Poem of Love and Life, Delius’s last work for orchestra alone.
PLAY TRACK 9
Beethoven Diabelli Variations Paul Lewis (piano) HARMONIA MUNDI | HMC902071 | 3149020207123 | CD
Thoughtful and rewarding new interpretation of Beethoven’s greatest variations. Also available: Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas (HMX290190211), Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos (HMC90205355)
PLAY TRACK 3
Rose of Sharon Joel Frederiksen (baritone), Ensemble Phoenix Munich HARMONIA MUNDI | HMC902085 | 794881984923 | CD
100 Years of American Music (1770-1870). Swoony-voiced bass-baritone Joel Frederiksen revives folk songs from the War of Independence to the American Civil War - simple, very moving music.
PLAY TRACK 'X'
Shostakovich Piano Trios Nos 1 & 2, Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok Florestan Trio, Susan Gritton (soprano) HYPERION | CDA67834 | 34571178349 | CD
Final recording from the popular Florestan Trio, which disbands later this year. Turbulent and intimate Russian masterpieces shot through with light and darkness.
PLAY TRACK 11
BBC Music Magazine Award-winning ensemble. Profoundly moving Romantic chamber music that is played with utter conviction and flawless musicality.
PLAY TRACK 12
Schoendorff Missa Usquequo Domine, Missa super
La dolce vista, Usquequo Domine, Magnificat sexti toni,
Te decet hymnus, Veni sancte Spiritus Cinquecento HYPERION | CDA67854 | 34571178547 | CD
Complete surviving works by 16th-century composer Philipp Schoendorff, sung by renowned Gramophone Award nominees Cinquecento.
PLAY TRACK 10
Loewe Songs and Ballads Florian Boesch (baritone), Roger Vignoles (piano) HYPERION | CDA67866 | 34571178660 | CD
Carl Loewe, dubbed ‘the Schubert of North Germany’, made the ballad a powerful art form. Masterful interpretations of these sadly neglected but truly compelling mini-masterpieces of 19th-century song.
PLAY TRACK 4
Debussy La mer, Jeux, Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (conductor) LSO LIVE | LSO0692 | 822231169222 | SACD
Virtuoso orchestral showcase of shimmering, subtle and stirring orchestral masterpieces. Gergiev draws absolutely exquisite playing from the LSO, with gorgeous recorded sound.
PLAY TRACK 7
Per la Vergine Maria Monica Piccinini, Lia Serafini, Anna Simboli (soprano), Elena Biscuola, Gabriella Martellacci (contralto), Maurizio Dalena, Raffaele Giordano (tenor), Matteo Bellotto, Marco Scavazza (bass), Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Aklessandrini (conductor) NAIVE | OP30505 | 709861305056 | CD
Music by Monteverdi, Bencini, Antonio Soler, Alessandro Scarlatti, Carissimi and Stravinsky praising the Blessed Virgin Mary. More than 300 years of truly ravishing sacred music, lovingly performed!
PLAY TRACK 13
Victoria Requiem 1605 Tenebrae SIGNUM | SIGCD248 | 635212024829 | CD
Tomas Luis de Victoria’s choral masterpiece has gained an almost mystical status for its sheer beauty and luminosity. Tenebrae is a highly-praised British vocal ensemble conducted by Nigel Short: ‘astonishing’ BBC Music MagazinePLAY TRACK 6
Michel Legrand and the Cinema Patrick Fiori, Liane Foly, Maurane, Catherine Michel, Mario Pelchat, Helene Segara, Orchestra National d'Ile de France, Michel Legrand ARTHAUS | K101549 | 807280154993 | DVD
Songs from Yentl, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Thomas Crown Affair, Summer of 42, The Young Girls of Rochfort, The Three Musketeers, Brian's Song, The Happy Ending and other films. Live from Salle Pleyel Paris 2009
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
16-22 May 2011 Victoria Requiem 1605 Tenebrae SIGNUM | SIGCD248 | 635212024829 | CD
Tomas Luis de Victoria’s choral masterpiece has gained an almost mystical status for its sheer beauty and luminosity. Tenebrae is a highly-praised British vocal ensemble conducted by Nigel Short: ‘astonishing’ BBC Music Magazine
2-8 May 2011 Mozart Violin Concertos Vol 2
Nos. 1, 2 & 4, Rondo in C major, Adagio in E major Richard Tognetti (artistic director & violin), Australian Chamber Orchestra BIS | BISSACD1755 | 7318599917559 | SACD
The eagerly awaited second volume of the ACO’s sparkling performances of Mozart’s violin concertos is already making waves. Such vivid and lively interpretations place this album at the top of the list for all music lovers, and is a worthy successor to their critically acclaimed and best-selling first volume.
ALSO AVAILABLE Mozart Violin Concertos Vol 1
Nos. 3 & 5, Sinfonia Concertante Richard Tognetti (artistic director & violin), Australian Chamber Orchestra BIS | BISSACD1754 | 7318599917542 |SACD
Szymanowski Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 (Blu-ray Audio) Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit (conductor) NAXOS BLU-RAY AUDIO| NBD0021 | 730099002165 | BR
Although Szymanowski later dubbed his Symphony No. 1 a “contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral monster” and disavowed the influence of Wagner, Reger and Richard Strauss, it is an astonishingly powerful work by a composer only in his mid-20s and still enthralls listeners a century after its première with its sheer opulence. The unusually structured Symphony No. 2 is a work of great impact and invention, with many passionate and varied contrasts in its use of solo instruments, in particular the violin. On their CD release, these thrilling interpretations of Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 1 (8.570722) earned 5 STARS from BBC Music Magazine, while the Symphony No. 2 (8.570721) gained Gramophone Editor’s Choice and 5 STARS for these “deliriously sensual scores” from ClassicFM.
Alfano Cyrano de Bergerac (Blu-ray DVD) Placido Domingo (Cyrano), Sondra Radvanovsky (Roxane), Arturo Chacon Cruz (Christian), Valencia Regional Government Choir, Valencian Community Orchestra, Patrick Fournillier (conductor) NAXOS BLU-RAY VIDEO| NBD0005 | 730099000567 | BR
While best known today for having composed the ending to Puccini’s unfinished Turandot, Franco Alfano wrote some dozen operas, including Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) with a libretto by Henri Cain based on Edmond Rostand’s drama of the same name. It is a moving tale of romantic misunderstanding, swashbuckling bravado and heartbreaking loyalty, in which the eloquent Cyrano feels unable to express his love for Roxane because of his famously protuberant nose—except on behalf of his handsome but inarticulate friend, Christian. When Domingo and Radvanovsky sang Cyrano and Roxane at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Andante magazine wrote: “Incredibly, Cyrano is his 121st role. And it suits him splendidly…Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was luminous as Roxane, her passionate outbursts showing off her powerful upper register to good effect”.
Schubert Piano Sonatas Nos 4, 13, Wanderer Fantasy Eldar Nebolsin (piano) NAXOS | 8572459 | 747313245970 | CD
Acclaimed for his Naxos recordings of music by Chopin, Liszt, Dohnanyi and Rachmaninov, Eldar Nebolsin here fulfills a heartfelt ambition to record important piano works by another great Romantic composer, Franz Schubert, for the label. The passion and pathos of the two sonatas, with their song-like melodies and adventurous harmonies, set the scene for one of Schubert’s most powerful solo piano pieces, the Wanderer Fantasy, a work so technically demanding that Schubert himself is reported to have exclaimed ‘the devil may play it!’. Based on his popular song Der Wanderer, the Fantasy is virtually a four-movement sonata in its own right and a path-breaking masterpiece of the piano literature.
Debussy Orchestral Works Vol 6 - Suite Bergamasque, Petite Suite, Printemps, En Blanc et Noir, Symphony in B minor Orchestre National de Lyon, Jun Markl (conductor) NAXOS | 8572583 | 747313258376 | CD
Jun Markl’s exemplary interpretations of Debussy’s orchestral music have been praised for their ‘subtle and sensitive readings’ (Gramophone). ‘This is bewitching music-making that should on no account be missed…One of the finest discs Naxos has ever released’, declared Classic FM of Volume 1 (8570759). Volume 6 in Naxos’s popular series presents five highly diverse works in gorgeous orchestrations by Debussy’s contemporaries or later admirers. Indeed, pieces such as Clair de lune and Printemps may even be better known in these seductive guises than in their original forms. Of particular interest is Debussy’s sole attempt at composing a symphony, a youthful work imbued with the spirit of French Romanticism, only the first movement of which he completed.
Australian composer and artist. Luxembourg-born Australian composer Georges Lentz’s 60-minute solo guitar work Ingwe (an Aboriginal word meaning 'night') is a truly extraordinary achievement. Here, heavy metal meets musical metaphysics, as shrieking amplified sound clashes with the spirituality of Indigenous Australian cultures. Conceived as part of an open-ended cycle of compositions with the religiously inspired title Caeli enarrant... (The Heavens are Telling, Psalm XIX), it is at once a nod to guitar heroes such as Jimi Hendrix, and a monumental meditation on the human condition, the bleak vastness of the Australian desert and the awe-inspiring radiance of its night skies.
Ginastera Cello Concertos Mark Kosower (cello), Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Lothar Zagrosek (conductor) NAXOS | 8572372 | 747313237272 | CD
The career of Argentina’s most famous classical composer began inauspiciously: “One day [as a child] I went into the kitchen and played on all the pots and pans and other things I could get to make a kitchen orchestra. I was spanked”, he recalled. Decades later, and inspired by the renowned cellist Aurora Nátola (whom he married), Ginastera would revise his first Cello Concerto: the provocative singing lines, Latin dance rhythms and virtuosic feats of its solo part were ideally suited to her heroic talents, its intense orchestral colours and abundant percussion perhaps recalling his childhood experiment. His second Cello Concerto, composed as a 10th-wedding anniversary tribute “To my dear Aurora”, includes a brilliant depiction of the rising sun, percussion instruments portraying jungle sounds, and a celebratory rustic finale.
