Cheryl Barker - Great Operatic Arias In English
Cheryl Barker (soprano), Gillian Keith (soprano), William Dazeley (baritone), London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Parry (conductor)
CHANDOS CD OF THE MONTH | CHAN3161 | CD | 095115316122

Opera Australia’s extraordinary soprano, Cheryl Barker, sings her favourites on CD. This highly original program showcases thrilling moments of her dramatic artistry in music both familiar and fresh, all performed in English. It includes a moving scene from The End of the Affair (premiered by Cheryl with her husband Peter Coleman-Wright in 2004), arias from Strauss’s Arabella (for which she won the 2008 Helpmann Award for Best Female Performer in an Opera) and from a beautiful, rarely heard Australian work: The Violins of St Jacques by Malcolm Williamson. All this alongside memorable moments from La Wally, Pagliacci, Adriana Lecouvreur and more! Great Operatic Arias arrives in the wake of Cheryl’s triumphant performances in Opera Australia’s Manon Lescaut.

Angela Hewitt Plays Handel and Haydn
Angela Hewitt (piano)
HYPERION CD OF THE MONTH | CDA67736 | CD | 034571177366

Recorded and released in the ‘anniversary year’ of both Handel and Haydn, Hyperion’s Record of the Month is an effusive celebration of the two composers, performed by an artist whose renditions of 17th- and 18th-century keyboard works on the piano have received the highest possible acclaim. This recital is a welcome gesture from the ‘high priestess of Bach’ (The Sunday Times), Hewitt’s trademark clarity of line, singing tone and instinctive musicality perfectly suited to the urbane elegance of the works recorded here. An enchanting release that will delight Angela’s fans in the wake of her extraordinarily successful 2008 Bach World Tour.

Handel Ode to Queen Anne, Dixit Dominus
Andreas Scholl (countertenor), Helene Guilmette (soprano), Andreas Wolf (bass), Vocal Consort Berlin, Akademis Fur Alte Musik Berlin, Marcus Creed
HARMONIA MUNDI CD OF THE MONTH | HMC902041 | CD | 794881924325

Composed to celebrate the birthday of Queen Anne of England, this Ode was subtitled ‘Ode for the Peace’ in reference to the Treaty of Utrecht which the monarch was about to sign, marking the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. It features the famous soaring trumpet obbligato of 'Eternal Source of Light Divine', one of the most celebrated moments in all Handel's vocal music. Six years earlier, the 22-year-old composer exploited in his sacred music what he had begun to learn from Italian opera: the result was the powerful, intensely passionate Dixit Dominus. Andreas Scholl is without doubt the world’s most celebrated counter-tenor, much admired by Australian audiences for his frequent national tours with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

Four Centuries of Chant
Anonymous 4
HARMONIA MUNDI | HMX2907546 | CD | 093046754624

For those who love the purity of chant, for the audiences who are discovering chant (or returning to it) as listeners or as singers, and also for those who are new to the work of Anonymous 4, the celebrated vocal quartet presents some of the greatest medieval chant culled from its acclaimed recordings, performed in a free and flexible manner, guided by the meaning, sounds, and flow of the text. This all-female early music sensation has been praised for its ethereal tones and effortless virtuosity. The ensemble’s American Angels album climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart on release, remaining there for over a year and selling over 80,000 copies. The new budget-priced compilation features the most sublime chant across four centuries, from popular albums The Lily and the Lamb, The Origin of Fire, A Star in the East, and others. The ideal Christmas gift of calming sacred music.

Sacred Music Cornerstone Works - Harmonia Mundi
Rene Jacobs, William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Kent Nagano, Deller Consort, Chiara Banchini, Ensemble 415, Ensemble Clement Janequin, The Hilliard Ensemble, Paul Hillier, Ensemble Huelgas, RIAS Kammerchor, Stile Antico, Cantus Colln, Marcus Creed
HARMONIA MUNDI | HMX290830433 | CD30 | 794881933501

Harmonia Mundi boasts the world’s richest catalogue of exquisitely performed sacred music, from early masters Josquin Desprez and Guillaume Machaut to key Baroque works – Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio – to the Bernstein Mass and beyond.

This 30-CD set (including a disc of complete sung texts) follows the staggering success of the label’s 50th Anniversary Box in 2007 (HMX290825079) and gathers together definitive recordings from some of today’s finest artists. William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Ensemble 415 & Chiara Banchini, The Hilliard Ensemble and many other luminaries jostle each other inside this lavish musical treasure chest!

Tchaikovsky Swan Lake
The Royal Ballet, Marianela Nunez, Thiago Soares, Elizabeth McGorian, Christopher Saunders, Alastair Marriott, David Pickering, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov (choreography), Valeriy Ovsyanikov (conductor), Anthony Dowell
OPUS ARTE | OA1015D | DVD | 809478010159

Yolanda Sonnabend's Faberge-inspired designs evoke a world of Imperial Russia in Anthony Dowell's acclaimed production for The Royal Ballet of one of the world's best-loved ballets. Marianela Nuñez as Odette/Odile and Thiago Soares as Prince Siegfried bring new vitality to a compelling story of tragic romance. The Russian conductor Valeriy Ovsyanikov directs the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in Tchaikovsky's lush romantic score. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound. Bonus features include illustrated synopsis, cast gallery, interview with Anthony Dowell and ‘Four Swan Queens’, an exclusive 30-minute panel conversation on the demands of dancing the role of the Swan Queen with former Prima Ballerinas Dame Beryl Grey, Dame Monica Mason, Lesley Collier and current principal Marianela Nuñez.

Souvenirs for Mandolin and Guitar
Craig Ogden (guitar), Alison Stephens (mandolin)
CHANDOS | CHAN10563 | CD | 095115156322

In 1999 Chandos released an album featuring music from the novels of Louis de Bernières (CHAN9780) to great acclaim, and it launched the ingenious partnership of Australian guitarist Craig Ogden and Alison Stephens, the celebrated mandolinist who played on the motion picture soundtrack to Captain Corelli's Mandolin. The pair have been performing together internationally ever since and this new disc celebrates their decade-long musical partnership. During this time, they have amassed an eclectic repertoire of vibrant music from Columbia, Mexico, Greece and other regions. The result is a wildly colourful album of fresh works bound to appeal to lovers of classical and world music alike, as well as plucked instrument enthusiasts. Alison will donate her royalties from the sale of this disc to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Bach Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord, direction)
BIS | BISSACD172122 | SACD3 | 7318591721222

Brandenburg Concertos Nos 1-6 (new recording), Orchestral Suites (reissue)

Bach Collegium Japan was first noticed internationally for undertaking the huge project of recording the complete church cantatas of J. S. Bach. Although the ensemble’s discography consists of predominately vocal works, the participating instrumentalists have attracted acclaim from the outset. On the present offering, it is Bach’s two great sets of orchestral works that form the programme and the choir of the BCJ is silent. Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki first recorded the Brandenburg Concertos in 2000, but now return to these great works (newly recorded as hybrid SACDs). This is also the format of the the Orchestral Suites, originally released in 2005 and hailed as ‘incredibly perfect Bach!’ (klassik.com). This specially-priced, attractive box combines both sets performed by one of the leading Baroque ensembles in high fidelity recordings – not to be missed!

Bach J C Six Sonatas for Keyboard Op 5
Sophie Yates (harpsichord)
CHANDOS | CHAN0762 | CD | 095115076224

Besides the many operas and works for the concert hall, Johann Christian Bach also composed keyboard music of a predominantly light, sparkling character. Much of it was intended for social purposes but the works should not be regarded as second rate. There are two sets of sonatas, and Opus 5 may be played on diverse keyboard instruments but was designed also to showcase the capabilities of the then relatively new pianoforte; it was certainly performed in London at the Hanover Square Concert Rooms. On this recording Sophie Yates plays Op. 5 on the harpsichord, which she feels brings out the stylistic novelties to greater effect, resulting in the only available recording of these works on the instrument. The Daily Telegraph commented, ‘Sophie Yates confirms her credentials as one of Britain’s most talented harpsichordists’.

Lamentations
Nordic Voices
CHANDOS | CHAN0763 | CD | 095115076323

Gesualdo Responsorium No 2, Feria V in Coena Domini, Tristis est anima mea, Responsorium No 5, Feria No 6 in Passione Domini, Tenebrae factae sunt, Palestrina Lectio No 3, Victoria Lectio Nos 1, 3, White Lectio Nos 1, 3

Nordic Voices is Scandinavia's acclaimed six-member a cappella group blending solo and ensemble qualities. On their first disc with Chandos – Reges Terrae: Music from the Court of Charles V (CHAN0763) - The Washington Post commented, ‘Intonation? Impeccable. Ensemble? Unfailing precision in phrasing, dynamics, colour – everything finely tuned. A succession of works ever-changing in expression and meaning’. This new collection of works by Victoria, Gesualdo, Palestrina and Robert White was inspired by the Offices of Tenebrae. The last three days of Holy Week have always been celebrated with a sense of the drama appropriate to their commemoration of Christ’s Passion. The texts are about conflict and persecution and are as relevant today as they must have been to the composers of the sixteenth century. Nordic Voices will donate a portion of its royalties from the sale of this disc to UNICEF.

Spoliansky Film Music
Mark Coles (bass), Roderick Elms (piano), BBC Concert Orchestra, Rumon Gamba (conductor)
CHANDOS | CHAN10543 | CD | 095115154328

Voice in the Night, The Happiest Days of Your Life, Galop, The Man Who Could Work Miracles, The Ghost Goes West, Five Robeson Songs, King Solomon's Mines Suite, North West Frontier Suite, Dedication

Spoliansky fled Russia after the revolution and found himself in Weimar Republic Berlin, where he enjoyed quite a reputation in the city's booming theatrical and cabaret life, working with such luminaries as Max Reinhard and Marlene Dietrich. In 1933 he left Germany for London where he began a second career as a composer of film music. He went on to score more than fifty films, Sanders of the River going on to win the prize for best music at the Venice Film Festival in 1935. Rumon Gamba conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in the latest release on the Chandos Movies label. Gamba enthuses, ‘I’m very happy to have finally recorded a disc of the film music of Mischa Spoliansky. I am an admirer of his “cabaret” songs, and it has been a pleasure to dig deeper into his scores for such well-known films as North West Frontier, Sanders of the River, and King Solomon’s Mines’. Philip Lane, who has arranged many of the scores for performance, has extracted five songs from two of the sound tracks, all originally intended for and sung by Paul Robeson; they are now published as Five Robeson Songs but on this disc are heard in the context of the music for the original films. Mark Coles, a great singer of opera and musical theatre, gives these songs the star treatment they deserve.

Rachmaninov Miserly Knight
Ildar Abdrazakov (bass), Misha Didyk (tenor), Sergey Murzaev (baritone), Peter Bronder (tenor), Gennadi Bezzubenkov (bass), BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)
CHANDOS | CHAN10544 | CD | 095115154427

Following the successful launch of Chandos' Rachmaninoff opera series last year with Francesca da Rimini, the BBC Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor, Gianandrea Noseda, turn their attention to The Miserly Knight. This is arguably the finest of Rachmaninoff’s operatic output; Pushkin’s drama makes an excellent operatic text, full of striking phrases and images. Opera is one of Noseda’s great musical passions and it is a genre he has explored to great acclaim with the BBC Philharmonic. Last September Noseda was appointed Music Director of Teatro Regio in Turin and he has also appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Teatro alla Scala, Milan. This sparkling new recording features the tenor Peter Bronder as well as four talented Russian singers: the bass Ildar Abdrazakov, tenor Misha Didyk, baritone Sergey Murzaev and bass Gennady Bezzubenkov.

Elgar Symphony No 1
Sydney Symphony, Vladimir Ashkenazy (conductor)
EXTON | EXCL00027 | SACD | EXCL00027

Elgar Symphony No 2 Op 63
Sydney Symphony, Vladimir Ashkenazy (conductor)
EXTON | EXCL00028 | SACD | EXCL00028

These two much-anticipated releases celebrate a milestone in Australian music history: Vladimir Ashkenazy’s first festival as Principal Conductor of Sydney Symphony. Recorded live at Sydney Opera House during the Maestro’s triumphant Elgar Festival, the two symphonies demonstrate the orchestra's power and energy under Ashkenazy: '...with him the Sydney Symphony always seems to play at its best... his musical judgments are intelligent and sensitive.’ (Sydney Morning Herald). As with Exton's acclaimed Rachmaninov boxed set (EXCL00017), also featuring Ashkenazy and the SSO, the Elgar discs are superbly mastered to the highest audiophile standards. Relive one of the most thrilling Australian orchestral concerts of recent years!

Schubert Die Winterreise
Mark Padmore (tenor), Paul Lewis (piano)
HARMONIA MUNDI | HMU907484 | CD | 093046748425

Composed in 1827 and first performed privately for members of Schubert’s circle, Die Winterreise initially received a mixed reception. Now acknowledged as the greatest song cycle ever penned, the work (here sung in the original keys) receives a profound and probing reading from tenor Mark Padmore and four-time Gramophone Award-winning pianist Paul Lewis, marking the launch of their exciting Schubert triptych. ‘Schubert couldn’t be better served’ –Evening Standard

Haydn String Quartets Op 33
Cuarteto Casals
HARMONIA MUNDI | HMX296202223 | CD2 | 794881911929

The six string quartets Op. 33, though known as the 'Russian Quartets' in reference to their dedicatee the Grand Duke of Russia and future Tsar Paul I, in fact have much more in common with Austrian folk music and comic opera. Almost ten years after the extreme intensity of his Opus 20, Haydn showcases his wit and good humour in these works featuring the famous scherzos written 'in a new and special way'. Spanish string sensation Cuarteto Casals has been praised in The New York Times for Haydn interpretations of 'deep consideration and refinement'.

Haydn Violin Concerto, Symphonies Nos 49 'La Passione', 80
Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Goltz (violin, direction)
HARMONIA MUNDI | HMX2962029 | CD | 794881924622

The musicians of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra chose to highlight the craggiest 'Sturm und Drang' side of the composer in August 2008 when they recorded this symphony known as 'La Passione'. Composed in the plaintive key of F minor, the work bathes in an intensely emotional atmosphere entirely characteristic of the pre-Romantic era. It is coupled here with Haydn's first Violin Concerto and his Symphony No. 80, two calmer pieces which will enable listeners to return to terra firma! Beautifully packaged as part of Harmonia Mundi's Haydn 2009 Edition commemorating the bicentenary of the composer's death.

Byrd Assumpta Est Maria
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood (conductor)
HYPERION | CDA67675 | CD | 034571176758

In this twelfth volume from The Cardinall’s Musick’s acclaimed Byrd series, the composer’s overtly Catholic agenda is clearly displayed. All of the music on this disc is drawn from the firstvolume of Gradualia published in 1605. The music is a world away from the dark broodings of the earlier Cantiones Sacrae. In the later publications Byrd achieves a fusion of styles, mixing the energy and rhythmic vitality of the madrigal tradition with the spirituality and liturgical context of words from the Mass and Divine Office.

Stravinsky Ballet Music Jeu de Cartes, Agon Orpheus
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor)
HYPERION | CDA67698 | CD | 034571176987

Propers for the Nativity of the Virgin - Quem terra pontus aethera, Salve Regina, O gloriosa Domina, Propers for the Annunciation to the Virgin - Vultum tuum, Diffusa est gratia, Ave Maria, Ecce virgo concipiet, Memento salutis auctor, Salve sola Dei genetrix, Ave maris stella, Propers for the Assumption of the Virgin

Stravinsky’s ballet music contains some of the composer’s most dazzling inspirations, and his work with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes brought him to international attention before the first world war. But it was through his collaborations with Diaghilev’s protégé George Balanchine that Stravinsky evolved the individual ‘neoclassical’ style of his own that is arguably his greatest contribution to the musical language of the twentieth century. Five of Stravinsky’s ballets have been recorded on two discs (the second to be released next year) by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under maestro Ilan Volkov. Volkov’s mastery of a range of Russian music is well represented on Hyperion and has been greatly acclaimed on the concert platform.

Prokofiev Cello Concerto, Symphony-Concerto
Alban Gerhardt (cello), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor)
HYPERION | CDA67705 | CD | 034571177052

The two works recorded here have an interestingly close musical relationship. The Symphony-Concerto is now acknowledged as one of the composer’s late masterpieces. It has been recorded here with its extremely different earlier version, Cello Concerto No.1, a work of undeniable importance to scholars and music-lovers alike. The German virtuoso Alban Gerhardt performs with Andrew Litton and the Bergen Symphony Orchestra in their second disc for Hyperion.

Flying Horse Music from the ML Lutebook
Elizabeth Kenny (lute)
HYPERION | CDA67776 | CD | 034571177762

Dowland The Battle Galliard, A Gallyard upon the Gallyard Before, Johnson Pavins, The Noble Man, Allmayne (Hit it and take it), Holborne Mr Holborn's Last Will and Testament, Ballard La Courante Sarabande, Bacheler A Gallyard by Mr Dan Bacheler, d'Orleans A Volte, Sturt A Volte, Perrichon Corant (Le Testament), Anonymous The Battle, Tom of Bedlam, John come kiss me now

Mysterious doodles on a 17th-century manuscript provided Elizabeth Kenny with the inspiration for this fascinating disc. Works by Dowland, Johnson, Bacheler, Sturt and others summon up an exhilarating musical world influenced by the court, the theatre and the cries of the street. Kenny, arguably the greatest lutenist of today, performs this entrancing collection with an aplomb and flair that seem to directly channel the virtuoso performers who were handed the music with the ink still wet on the page.

Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 1, 6
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski (conductor)
LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA | LPO0039 | CD2 | 854990001383

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s celebrated Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski conducts live recordings of Tchaikovsky’s first and last symphonies. The first, entitled ‘Winter Daydreams’, is seductively atmospheric with crisp orchestrations giving the impression of a winter landscape. The Sixth Symphony, ‘Pathétique’, is a passionate work whose tragic finale gained significance with Tchaikovsky’s sudden death just days after he conducted its first performance in St Petersburg.

Cantare - The Voice of the Harp
Isabelle Moretti (harp), Dame Felicity Lott (soprano)
NAÏVE | V5186 | CD | 822186051863

Transcription is second nature to the harp. First of all because, from the 18th century onwards, composers for the instrument enthusiastically seized on hits from opera, opéra comique or romance to make virtuoso paraphrases of them. And also because the harp, thanks to its extensive range, its polyphonic capacities, and its technique, can easily substitute for the piano, notably in its accompanying role –sometimes the accompaniment is taken over without change in the songs performed here by Dame Felicity Lott. Here then is a disc full of curiosities, a veritable ‘cross-genre’ repertory in which Romantic opera is transformed into string textures; where melodies arranged by pianists undergo a second transfiguration for the harp; where folksongs are turned into classical pieces. Also included: a delightful setting of Harold Arlen's 'Over the Rainbow'! The game might appear somewhat gratuitous – had it not been conceived by the finest harpists of her generation, who made these transcriptions.

Brahms Symphony No 3, Choral Works
The Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)
SOLI DEO GLORIA | SDG704 | CD | 843183070428

Ich schwing mein Horn ins Jammertal Op 41 No 1, Es tont ein voller Harfenklang Op 17 No 1, Night Watch No 1 Op 104, Einformig ist der Liebe Gram Op 113 No 13, Gesang der Parzen Op 89, Nanie Op 82

Soli Deo Gloria is proud to release the third instalment in the successful Brahms Symphony series which sees John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique explore the music of Johannes Brahms. The recordings from this series are drawn from Gardiner’s two-year Brahms and his Antecedents project which not only celebrated Brahms the composer, but traced the roots from which Brahms drew his creative inspiration. No other composer of the 19th century had such a close and informed relationship to music of the past and for this reason, great choral works by composers as varied as Bach, Schütz and Mendelssohn are performed alongside Brahms’ compositions. This album features Brahms’ grand, heroic third symphony alongside his setting of Schiller’s dirge Nänie and Goethe’s dramatic ballad Gesang der Parzen. These are preceded by a little group of choir pieces threaded together by an autumnal hunting-horn theme. Inside the same elegant packaging used for the Bach Cantatas CDs, the booklet notes feature an in-depth conversation between John Eliot Gardiner and composer Hugh Wood.

Schubert Piano Sonatas
Jonathan Biss (piano)
WIGMORE HALL | WHLIVE0030 | CD | 5065000924331

Piano Sonata in C Major D840 'Reliquie', Piano Sonata in A Major D959, Kurtag Birthday Elegy for Judit, Hommage to Schubert (from Jatekok)

In this Wigmore Hall recital (recorded 12 May 2009), Biss chose to preface two of Schubert’s piano sonatas with a Homage to Schubert and five studies from the collection Játékok (Games) by the contemporary Hungarian composer György Kurtág. Three months after the Wigmore Hall performance, Biss ventured to Australian shores to tour with a Schumann recital. “Jonathan Biss is no ordinary pianist. This young American, whose studies with Leon Fleisher have helped to polish an exceptional talent, plays with a selfless maturity that is exceptional. Biss has all the technique required, yet he unfailingly puts the composer first. Such is the strength and conviction of his playing that the music unfolds with a natural-sounding inevitability … There is nothing showy about his piano-playing; everything feels completely natural, innately musical, tightly controlled and deeply felt.” (BBC Music Magazine).