JULY 29 2013
harmonia mundi UK
Classical new release DISTRIBUTED LABELS:
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available 29 July , call-off 19th July
AUGUST
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Opera Choice • DUCALE DUC045/47 Mercadante I Due Figaro/Riccardo Muti Instrumental Choice • harmonia mundi HMU907557 Francesco da Milano Il Divino / Paul O’Dette Chamber Choice • Onyx ONYX 4116 Rachmaninov, Shostakovich Sonatas Leonard Elschenbroich (cello), Alexei Grynyuk (piano) JULY
GRAMOPHONE
EDITOR’S CHOICE • harmonia mundi HMU907557 Francesco da Milano Il Divino / Paul O’Dette EDITOR’S CHOICE & BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE DISC OF THE MONTH [June] • Glossa GCD922606 I viaggi di Faustina / Roberta Invernizzi JULY/AUGUST
INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW
IRR Outstanding • harmonia mundi HMU907557 Francesco da Milano Il Divino / Paul O’Dette • Aparté AP054 Art Nouveau Ravel etc / Teodora Gheorghiu
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
The Phoenix Rising The Carnegie Trust & the revival of Tudor Church Music
Stile Antico Amongst the many endeavours funded by the Carnegie Trust marking its centenary in 2013), was the publication and editing of 'Tudor Church Music' in ten large folio volumes of music, with 50 performing pieces published individually. This had a considerable impact on the revival of this important music: for the first time a significant body of the greatest Tudor compositions became accessible to scholars, performers and listeners having languished in cathedrals, museums and colleges. It also inspired a further generation of English composers after its resurrection including Howells, Britten and Vaughan Williams. Stile Antico presents a varied selection of the finest pieces from TCM in a programme centred around William Byrd’s masterful five-part mass.
Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: HMU807572 Barcode: 093046757267 NORMAL Price Format: 1 HYBRID SACD Packaging: digipack Stile Antico William BYRD: Ave verum corpus, Mass for five voices Thomas TALLIS: Salvator mundi (I) Thomas MORLEY: Nolo mortem peccatoris Orlando GIBBONS: O clap your hands together, Almighty and everlasting God Robert WHITE: Portio mea, Christe qui lux es et dies (IV) John TAVERNER: O splendor gloriae
Stile Antico is an elite ensemble of young British singers, working without a conductor, each contributing artistically to the musical result. They are now established as the crack ensemble to beat, having enjoyed huge success, via their SACD recordings for harmonia mundi USA. Awards include the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music [Song of Songs] which also reached the top of the US Classical Chart. Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality, commitment and imaginative response to text. Highlights of Stile Antico's 2012-13 season include a series of concerts as co-curators of the Wigmore Hall's William Byrd: Sacred Music festival, and this new recording celebrating the centenary of the Carnegie UK Trust, publisher of the pioneering Tudor Church Music edition. Carnegie Trust: changing minds, changing lives 1913-2013 Set up by Andrew Carnegie in 1913 to improve the wellbeing of the people of the United Kingdom and Ireland, it is one of the oldest and most respected charitable trusts in the British Isles. The Carnegie medal of philanthropy, given to those who have dedicated their private wealth to public good, will be presented in the Scottish Parliament in October 2013, in a week of events seeking to engage the Scottish public with the legacy of Andrew Carnegie. ADVERTISED IN CLASSICAL MUSIC PRESS Gramophone online news story 1st August: In Tune performance singing works from the new recording
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
BARTOK Violin Concertos Violin Concerto No.1, Sz 36 Op. posth. Violin Concerto No.2, Sz 112
Isabelle Faust Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Daniel Harding Isabelle Faust's first recording for harmonia mundi, Bartok Sonatas, won her a Gramophone Young Artist of the Year. Here she returns to Bartok, perfoming the two concertos, accompanied by Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio SO. Such is the fame of Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto (1937-38), that it has virtually eclipsed the First, written 30 years before. Yet, this earlier work, rediscovered long after the composer’s death, has a fascinating story all of its own. True to form, Isabelle Faust has gone back to the multiple musical sources of this First Concerto, a work that came ‘straight from the heart’, as Bartók’s romance with a young violinist lay at the core of its creative process.
Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: HMC902146 Barcode: 3149020214626 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Isabelle Faust [violin] Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Daniel Harding [conductor] ADVERTISED IN GRAMOPHONE IRR Cover artist September BBC Music 1st Listen podcast
"I owe my enthusiasm for the music of Béla Bartók to the wonderful Hungarian violinist Dénes Zsigmondy, who was privileged to know the composer personally. At the age of eleven, I was lucky enough to study the Sonata for solo violin with him and thus to discover Bartók’s world in a very emotional and instinctive way. In the years since then, Dénes Zsigmondy, his conception of music, and especially his interpretation of Bartók have formed an important component of my artistic career. It seemed only logical to choose the Bartók sonatas for my debut CD. I am now delighted to present the two violin concertos in this recording. It is intended as a musical expression of my admiration for the composer Béla Bartók and my gratitude for the continued inspiration and faithful friendship of Dénes Zsigmondy. My warm thanks go to László Somfai and László Vikárius of the Bartók Archives in Budapest and to Felix Meyer of the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel for their generous support of this project. Finally, I would like to express my profound appreciation of and indebtedness to Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for their absolutely fantastic contribution to the recording sessions." Isabelle Faust "Her sound has passion, grit and electricity but also a disarming warmth and sweetness that can unveil the music’s hidden strains of lyricism" The New York Times ALSO AVAILABLE: HMG508334/35 Bartok Violin Sonatas [2cds]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
CHARPENTIER: Litanies de la Vierge Motets for the House of Guise: Miserere H193, Antienne H526 Annunciate superi H333, Overture H536, Litanies de la Vierge H83
Ensemble Correspondances
Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: HMC902169 Barcode: 3149020216927 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Ensemble Correspondances Sébastien Daucé [conductor] Ens Correspondances on our Youtube channel: http://bit.ly/19EKXzN
In their first release on harmonia mundi France, Sébastien Daucé and his musicians present a sumptuous interpretation of the six-voice motets composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier for the House of Guise. These works, headed by the 'Miserere', constitute an unexpected parenthesis in the music of the Grand Siècle. The creative genius, the inwardness and the intense fervour of a composer surrounded by his faithful company of singers and instrumentalists speak to us all the more intimately because Charpentier appears here as both copyist (the surviving scores are in his handwriting) and performer: he sang countertenor. Since its formation in 2008, the Ensemble Correspondances has devoted itself chiefly to French sacred music of the 17th century. Brought together by Sébastien Daucé during their studies at the Conservatoire de Lyon, the musicians of Correspondances pursue this work (focusing notably on Marc-Antoine Charpentier) with infectious enthusiasm. Its most recent engagements have taken it to Royaumont, Ambronay, Lanvellec and Pontoise festivals, Rome, Hamburg and Hong Kong. After postgraduate study with Yves Rechsteiner and Françoise Lengellé at the CNSM de Lyon, Sébastien Daucé went on to play under the direction of such conductors as Kenneth Weiss, Gabriel Garrido, Geoffroy Jourdain (Les Cris de Paris) and Raphaël Pichon (Ensemble Pygmalion). For the past few years he has dedicated himself to the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier, three of whose operas he edited in collaboration with William Christie. His first two recordings with the Ensemble Correspondances, both for Zig-Zag Territoires, earned him widespread praise in the specialist press, with such distinctions as the Choc de Classica, Diapason Découverte, Coup de Cœur de l’Académie Charles Cros and **** in Fono Forum.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
Kevin PUTS: Symphony No.4 To touch the sky, If I were a swan
Conspirare Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop
Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Contemporary Catalogue No: HMU907580 Barcode: 093046758028 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: slipcased Conspirare / Craig Hella Johnson Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop [conductor]
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts (b. 1972) is known for his distinctive and richly coloured musical voice. Making their label début, Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra perform Kevin Puts’ Symphony No.4 (From Mission San Juan), inspired by Native American melodies. Opening this programme of world première recordings, Craig Hella Johnson leads Conspirare in two choral settings of texts by women poets: 'To Touch the Sky' and 'If I Were a Swan'. Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for 'Silent Night', an opera commissioned by Minnesota Opera and co-written with librettist Mark Campbell, Kevin Puts has been hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation. His work has been commissioned and performed by leading orchestras in the United States and abroad, including the New York Philharmonic, Tonhalle-Orchester (Zurich), the Saint Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra, and by soloists and chamber ensembles such as Evelyn Glennie, Yo-Yo Ma, Jeffrey Kahane, the Eroica Trio and the Miro Quartet. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, he received his training as a composer and pianist at the Eastman School of Music and Yale University. Since 2006, he has been a member of the composition department at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
BRITTEN: Peter Grimes [Grimes on the Beach] Alan Oke [Peter Grimes] Giselle Allen [Ellen Orford] David Kempster [Captain Balstrode] Gaynor Keeble [Auntie] Alexandra Hutton [First Niece] Charmian Bedford [Second Niece] Robert Murray [Bob Boles] Henry Waddington [Swallow] Catherine Wyn-Rogers[Mrs Sedley] Christopher Gillett [Rev. Horace Adams] Charles Rice [Ned Keene] Stephen Richardson [Hobson]
Label: Signum Classics File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: SIGCD348 Barcode: 635212034828 2 FOR 1.5 Format: 2 CD Packaging: cristal Chorus of Opera North Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Britten–Pears Orchestra Steuart Bedford [conductor]
Britten’s powerful and masterful evocation of the North Sea in all its moods has become inextricably linked, to audiences all over the world, with the Aldeburgh that was home to Crabbe in the 18th century and Britten in the 20th. Steuart Bedford leads a vast and accomplished group of performers on this new recording, created shortly before the company performed the work on the beach at Aldeburgh as part of the festival, further celebrating Britten's centenary year, 2013.
Rave reviews on the Independent, Guardian, Artsdesk websites and on Gramophone's blog
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
RAVEL: L’Enfant et les Sortilèges & l’Heure Espagnole Glyndebourne, August 2012, production by Laurent Pelly
Elliot Madore Stéphanie d’Oustrac London Philharmonivc Orchestra Kazuki Ono
Label: FRA Musica File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: FRA008 Barcode: 3770002003138 NORMAL Price Format: 1 DVD, NTSC 16:9 Elliot Madore [Ramiro] François Piolino [Torquemada] Stéphanie d’Oustrac [Conception] Alek Shrader [Gonzalve] Paul Gay [Don Inigo Gomez] Khatouna Gadelia, Elodie Mechain, Elliot Madore, Paul Gay Julie Pasturaud, François Piolino, Kathleen Kim, Natalia Brzezinska, Hila Fahima, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Kirsty Stokes
Ravel’s two one-act operas reunited in 2012 director Laurent Pelly and conductor Kazushi Ono, who made their Glyndebourne debuts in 2008 with Humperdinck’s 'Hänsel und Gretel'. While 'l’Enfant et les Sortilèges' shares with that opera a child’s-eye view of a sometimes threatening world, 'l’Heure Espagnole' is a thoroughly adult confection. Pelly addresses Ravel’s very different operas with imagination, wit and – when required – humanity. These productions were streamed live on the Guardian's website, see the link for an excellent synopsis [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/14/glyndebourne-2012-ravel-double-bill-synopsis-cast-creatives] and given in concert performance at the Proms 2012 to rapturous acclaim.
"Glyndebourne's new double bill of L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges matches the composer's ethereal precision with near flawless performances and dazzling stagings, conducted by Kazushi Ono...beautifully rendered by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in full erotic flight. Ensemble cast and chorus excelled... A friend of Ravel's once described this small, dapper man, whose favourite possession was a mechanical nightingale in a gilded cage, as both a child and an old man. He would surely have been overjoyed by this near perfect double bill." Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, 12/8/2012 "Pelly and his team have worked a miracle here – everything works and everything fits. The dusky, misty lighting is superb in creating something off-the-wall, and not just the wallpaper, allowing all the tormented characters to wreak revenge on the Child in a hallucination and nowhere more so than in the garden where animals and forestry are simply captivating. Surreal, yes, but the boy has created his own nightmare. There isn’t a weak link in the cast – most of the singers from L’Heure espagnole returning to multi-task; and there is some great choreography and costumes, too. The music’s jazziness, pastiche, suggestion and compassion are treated as one by Ono and handsomely delivered by a meticulous LPO. The ovation that the first-night audience afforded this very special staging was fully justified – it’s been a while since I have seen trees bowing in strict formation! This Ravel pairing is one of Glyndebourne’s finest two hours, L’Enfant et les sortilèges being exceptional in every dreamlike and frightening particular." Colin Anderson, Classical Source
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
RAVEL: L’Enfant et les Sortilèges & l’Heure Espagnole Glyndebourne, August 2012, production by Laurent Pelly
Elliot Madore Stéphanie d’Oustrac London Philharmonic Orchestra Kazuki Ono
Label: FRA Musica File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: FRA508 Barcode: 3770002003145 NORMAL Price Format: 1 Blu-ray Elliot Madore [Ramiro] François Piolino [Torquemada] Stéphanie d’Oustrac [Conception] Alek Shrader [Gonzalve] Paul Gay [Don Inigo Gomez] Khatouna Gadelia, Elodie Mechain, Elliot Madore, Paul Gay Julie Pasturaud, François Piolino, Kathleen Kim, Natalia Brzezinska, Hila Fahima, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Kirsty Stokes
Ravel’s two one-act operas reunited in 2012 director Laurent Pelly and conductor Kazushi Ono, who made their Glyndebourne debuts in 2008 with Humperdinck’s 'Hänsel und Gretel'. While 'l’Enfant et les Sortilèges' shares with that opera a child’s-eye view of a sometimes threatening world, 'l’Heure Espagnole' is a thoroughly adult confection. Pelly addresses Ravel’s very different operas with imagination, wit and – when required – humanity. These productions were streamed live on the Guardian's website, see the link for an excellent synopsis [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/14/glyndebourne-2012-ravel-double-bill-synopsis-cast-creatives] and given in concert performance at the Proms 2012 to rapturous acclaim.
"Glyndebourne's new double bill of L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges matches the composer's ethereal precision with near flawless performances and dazzling stagings, conducted by Kazushi Ono...beautifully rendered by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in full erotic flight. Ensemble cast and chorus excelled... A friend of Ravel's once described this small, dapper man, whose favourite possession was a mechanical nightingale in a gilded cage, as both a child and an old man. He would surely have been overjoyed by this near perfect double bill." Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, 12/8/2012 "Pelly and his team have worked a miracle here – everything works and everything fits. The dusky, misty lighting is superb in creating something off-the-wall, and not just the wallpaper, allowing all the tormented characters to wreak revenge on the Child in a hallucination and nowhere more so than in the garden where animals and forestry are simply captivating. Surreal, yes, but the boy has created his own nightmare. There isn’t a weak link in the cast – most of the singers from L’Heure espagnole returning to multi-task; and there is some great choreography and costumes, too. The music’s jazziness, pastiche, suggestion and compassion are treated as one by Ono and handsomely delivered by a meticulous LPO. The ovation that the first-night audience afforded this very special staging was fully justified – it’s been a while since I have seen trees bowing in strict formation! This Ravel pairing is one of Glyndebourne’s finest two hours, L’Enfant et les sortilèges being exceptional in every dreamlike and frightening particular." Colin Anderson, Classical Source
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
Amore e morte dell’amore Duets by Monteverdi, Marcello, Handel, Scarlatti, Lotti, Durante
Roberta Invernizzi Sonia Prina Luca Pianca MONTEVERDI: Interrotte speranze, Mentre vaga Angioletta, ‘Pur ti miro’ from L’incoronazione di Poppea, Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben, Vorrei baciarti MARCELLO: Se morto mi brami HANDEL: Tanti strali Lotti: Giuramento amoroso D. SCARLATTI: Sonata K 90 DURANTE: Son io barbara donna HANDEL: Sono liete, fortunate
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: OP30549 Barcode: 709861305490 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Roberta Invernizzi [soprano] Sonia Prina [contralto] Ensemble Claudiana Luca Pianca [lute, conductor]
This recording gathers together vocal gems from the Italian baroque and some of the most renowned artists in this repertoire: Il Giardino Armonico’s co-founder Luca Pianca, soprano Roberta Invernizzi and contralto Sonia Prina. This intense and heart-stretching programme on love and sadness gathers a series of amazing duets by Monteverdi, Handel (when living in Italy), Marcello, Scarlatti, Lotti...
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
The Sopranos Sandrine Piau, Patricia Petibon, Julia Lezhneva, Lucy Crowe, Véronique Gens, Felicity Lott, Karina Gauvin, Verónica Cangemi, María Bayo
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: V5351 Barcode: 822186053515 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Sandrine Piau, Patricia Petibon, Julia Lezhneva, Lucy Crowe, Véronique Gens, Felicity Lott, Karina Gauvin, Verónica Cangemi, Barbara Schlick, María Bayo, Gemma Bertagnolli, Rosana Bertini, Gäelle Arquez
Much like the American television series of the same name, the sopranos are a large family: although they all play the same role, stylistically speaking they are quite diverse, with the term 'soprano' encompassing a wide variety of voices. Let’s take a closer look! First come the coloratura sopranos, outstanding for their stratospheric high notes. Patricia Petibon is a great example; her voice is both agile and pure in Henry Purcell’s "Bid the Virtues", in which she and an oboe share a subtle musical conversation. Voices like Julia Lezhneva’s, which effortlessly negotiate wide leaps between the low and high registers, are known as coloratura mezzos. Lezhneva performs two excerpts from Italian opera here: in the first, from Vivaldi’s 'Orlando furioso', she demonstrates flawless virtuosity and a rich timbre. The second, "Tanti affetti”, from Rossini’s 'La donna del lago', showcases her ease in perilous scales. The term 'light' soprano refers to a bright voice that is at home in the baroque and classical repertoires. Sandrine Piau, an exceptional Mozart performer, gives a dazzling rendition of “Ach, ich fühl’s” from 'The Magic Flute'. Barbara Schlick, who stands out for her interpretations of Bach’s music and her great respect for the text, sings an excerpt from Bach's Cantata BWV180. Magnificent performances by light sopranos Rosanna Bertini, in Monteverdi’s 'Lamento della ninfa', and Gemma Bertagnolli (in “Cujus animam” from Pergolesi’s 'Stabat Mater') round out the programme. A 'lyric' soprano generally indicates a voice with a solid and generous medium register. Lyric sopranos are excellently suited to the music of the 19th century as well as to Handel’s music. Here Lucy Crowe offers a highly convincing version of Handel’s “The Soft Complaining Flute” from the 'Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day'. Veronica Cangemi’s lusciously dark tone takes the well-loved “Lascia ch’io pianga” to new poetic heights, and Karina Gauvin demonstrates astounding control in “Piangerò” from 'Giulio Cesare'. Maria Bayo displays her abilities as a lyric soprano with an aptitude for coloratura singing in the exquisite 'Exsultate jubilate' by Mozart. The 'dramatic' soprano is the most intense soprano voice, as Véronique Gens, a habitué of tragic roles, ably shows in an excerpt from Mozart’s 'Don Giovanni', with her powerful performance of “Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata”, illustrating Donna Elvira’s tormented mind. These vocal categories do not define a singer for the whole of her career, however, and certain sopranos change registers with the passing years. Gäelle Arquez’s rare recording of “Amerò” from Vivaldi’s 'Orlando' demonstrates her talents as both a soprano and as a mezzo. Other voices simply defy classification. Such is the case of the inimitable Felicity Lott, who sings “Plaisir d’amour” with typically immaculate diction. full track listing available on request
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
Edvard GRIEG: Complete Symphonic Works • Vol. III WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln Eivind Aadland Concert Overture ‘In Autumn’, Op. 11, Lyric Suite, Op. 54, Klokkeklang, Op. 54, No. 6 Old Norwegian Melody with Variations, Op. 51, Three Orchestral Pieces from ‘Sigurd Jorsalfar’, Op. 56
Label: Audite File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: AUDITE92669 Barcode: 4022143926692 NORMAL Price Format: 1 HYBRID SACD Packaging: digipack WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln Eivind Aadland [conductor]
The WDR Sinfonieorchester and the Norwegian conductor Eivind Aadland continue their survey of Edvard Grieg’s orchestral works with this selection from the composer’s orchestral repertoire which he liked to conduct himself across Europe. Not all of Grieg’s orchestral works were originally conceived as such. As he became increasingly famous as a composer and conductor, the Norwegian also arranged piano works which later became popular above all in their orchestral versions. Amongst these is the suite from his 'Lyric Pieces', Op. 54, to which belongs another single piece, the almost impressionist study, 'Bell Ringing'. The 'Old Norwegian Melody with Variations', Op. 51, originally a set of variations for two pianos, was also skilfully provided with orchestral colours, at the same time increasing the musical drama. The Concert Overture 'In Autumn', completed by the 22-year-old composer during a stay in Rome, creates an exception: it was apparently conceived from the outset as an orchestral work, but as initially published as a piano piece and orchestrated at a later stage. Amongst all these innovative works, the only 'original' ones are the three pieces from the incidental music to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s Norwegian play 'Sigurd Jorsalfar', of which the "Homage March" remains an obligatory item to the present day at coronations and festivities of the high nobility. Eivind Aadland was chief conductor and artistic director of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra from 2003 until 2010 and has also worked with many other Scandinavian, European and international orchestras. Aadland initially studied the violin with Yehudi Menuhin. From 1981 until 1989 he was concert master of the Bergen Philharmonic and from 1987 until 1997 music director of the European Union Chamber Orchestra. He subsequently devoted himself fully to his conducting career and studied with Jorma Panula. ALSO AVAILABLE: • AUDITE92651 Edvard Grieg: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. I Symphonic Dances, Peer Gynt Suites, Funeral March GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE • AUDITE92579 Edvard Grieg: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. II Two Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34, From Holberg’s Time, Op. 40, Two Melodies, Op. 53 (Norsk / Det første møte), Two Nordic Melodies, Op. 63 (I folketonestil / Kulokk & Stabbelåten)
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
MAHLER: Symphony No. 8 with bonus bluray
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Mariss Jansons
Label: RCO Live File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: RCO13002 Barcode: 5425008378961 NORMAL Price Format: 1 hybrid SACD+bluray Packaging: cristal Christine Brewer, Camilla Nylund Maria Espada, Stephanie Blythe, Mihoko Fujimura, Robert Dean Smith Tommi Hakala, Stefan Kocán Netherlands Radio Choir State Choir 'Latvija' Bavarian Radio Choir National Boys Choir National Children's Choir
"Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no more human voices, only planets and suns revolving in their orbits," wrote Gustav Mahler to his friend, Willem Mengelberg, on 18 August 1906. The day before, he had completed the sketches of the Eighth Symphony in little more than three weeks, and that after a very hectic season. The legendary relationship between Gustav Mahler, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Willem Mengelberg has established a firm tradition of playing Mahler in Amsterdam. During the 1960s the orchestra and Bernard Haitink started recording a Mahler discography that still remains one of the cornerstones of any Mahlerian's collection. Ricccardo Chailly's tenure as chief conductor yielded another brilliant Mahler cycle and now Mariss Jansons is steadily building his tribute to the composer. Recorded during the same Mahler cycle as the recently released Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 – part of the full Mahler cycle that the orchestra performed in the 2009-2011 seasons to celebrate the composer's 150th birthday and 100th anniversary of his death - Mariss Jansons's interpretation of the Eight Symphony is one more jewel in the crown of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; with a star-studded cast and excellent choral forces, this 'Symphony of a Thousand' left a lasting impression on the audience. "Triumph for Jansons in Mahler 8. …this was a performance to frame in gold, with the RCO and assembled choirs in great shape. Happily cameras and microphones witnessed this miracle." Peter van der Lint, Trouw The SACD/DVD version of this work will be [well] reviewed on Radio 3, 6th July, RCO13003
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
BRAHMS: Piano Works Svjatoslav Richter Piano Sonata No.2 Op.2, Variations On A Hungarian Song Op.21 No.2 Piano Sonata No.1 Op.1, Ballade Op.118/3, Intermezzo Op.118 No.6, Intermezzo Op.119 No.3 Svjatoslav Richter, unlike his childood friend Gilels, was not an ardent proponent of Brahms' repertoire. Considering that in 1948 Richter performed only the famous Concerto in B flat, Op. 81, this rare recital makes the young Brahms come across as an intuitive, even prophetic composer rather than merely discursive. Recorded live in Prague: stereo July 20 1988, June 1984; in Plzen, mono June 13 1984, previously released on PRD254059; stereo live in Leipzig No. 28 1963
Label: Praga Digitals File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: DSD350080 Barcode: 3149028027723 NORMAL Price Format: 1 HYBRID SACD Packaging: cristal Svjatoslav Richter [piano]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
David BEDNALL: Welcome All Wonders A Christmas Cantata The Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford Owen Rees 'Welcome all Wonders: A Christmas Cantata' is a large-scale work for choir, organ and trumpet spanning 15 movements. It celebrates the Christmas story through an imaginative selection and juxtaposition of poetry and liturgical texts, and provides a multifaceted telling of the familiar narrative. The celebratory aspects of Christmas are tainted by darker themes that are inherent to the story but are easily overlooked, culminating in an enlightened and engaging work that explores the Christmas story in a profound manner. The Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford is among the finest and most active university choirs in the UK. Its wide-ranging repertory includes a rich array of Renaissance and Baroque music and contemporary works. WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
Label: signum File Under: Classical/Choral/Contemporary Catalogue No: SIGCD335 Barcode: 635212033524 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal The Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford Owen Rees [director]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
WIDOR: The Complete Organ Symphonies, Vol.3 Organ Symphony No.3 in E minor, Op.13 Organ Symphony No.4 in F minor, Op.13
Joseph Nolan The third volume in a new series of Charles-Marie Widor’s Organ Symphonies, performed by Joseph Nolan on the magnificent Cavaillé-Coll organ of L’église de la Madeleine, Paris. Bridging the generations from Mendelssohn to Messiaen, Empire to Republic, Widor was born to the organ. His Lyonnaise kinsfolk were organ-builders, he showed early talent for the instrument, and for decades was the embodiment of its might and splendour across the Gallic domain - his ‘Organ Symphonies’ were genre-defining in their influence.
Label: Signum Classics File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: SIGCD334 Barcode: 635212033425 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Joseph Nolan [Cavaillé-Coll organ of La Madeleine, Paris]
Joseph Nolan is an internationally renowned organist, acclaimed as ‘brilliant and such an astute musician’ (Gramophone UK). He was appointed to Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, St James’s Palace in 2004, and has since been invited to perform and record in some of the world’s premiere venues – including the refurbished Organ of Buckingham Palace Ballroom (SIGCD114) and the Organ of Saint- Sulpice in Paris (SIGCD167). The Cavaillé-Coll Organ of La Madeleine, Paris is a similarly renowned instrument, with former chief-organists including Camille Saint-Säens and Gabriel Fauré. Reviews for the previous discs in this series (Vol.1 - SIGCD292 and Vol. 2 - SIGCD319): "The recording clarity is remarkable, only final chords revealing that we have been enjoying the fruits of some six seconds of reverberation. Joseph Nolan … is an utterly persuasive executant at the console. Thoroughly enjoyable." Organists Review “Joseph Nolan’s painstaking approach to registration yields a sound which is about as authentic as you could wish. Add to this his amazingly precise fingerwork, his total mastery of the score and his obvious empathy with this music ... this has few challengers when it comes to the utter authority of the performances.” Gramophone
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
William SWEENEY: Tree o’ Licht The Tree o’ Licht The Poet Tells of his Fame [electroacoustic fantasy for cello, pre-recorded samples & live processing] Sonata for Cello and Piano
Robert Irvine Both musically impassioned and socially engaged, William Sweeney’s music is at its most eloquent when voiced by that most human of instruments, the cello. The player navigates a stormy electronic landscape in the Borges-inspired 'The Poet Tells of his Fame', while Schumann lies behind the powerfully argued Sonata for Cello and Piano, recipient of a 2011 BASCA British Composer Award. The Sonata bears a joint dedication to Delphian artist Robert Irvine and to Erkki Lahesmaa - ‘keepers’, as Sweeney calls them, ‘of the cello’s inner voice’ - and Irvine is joined by his Finnish colleague here in the 2008 duo 'The Tree o’ Licht', in which Gaelic Psalmody is transmuted into deepest instrumental expressivity.
Label: Delphian File Under: Classical/Chamber music/Contemporary Catalogue No: DCD34113 Barcode: 801918341137 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Robert Irvine [cello] Erkki Lahesmaa [cello] Fali Pavri [piano]
World premiere recordings made in the presence of the composer
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
Music from the Age of Louis XIV John Kitchen Louis MARCHAND: Suite No.1 in D minor Louis COUPERIN: Pavane in F sharp minor Elisabeth JACQUET de la GUERRE: Suite in F major Jean-Henri d’ANGELBERT: Tombeau de M. De Jean-Baptiste LULLY transcr. D’Angelbert: Menuets ‘Dans nos bois’ and ‘La Jeune Iris’ (from Trios pour le coucher du Roi), Les songes d’Atys, Chaconne de Phaeton, Chambonnières agréables François COUPERIN: Movements from Troisième Ordre in C minor
Label: Delphian File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: DCD34109 Barcode: 801918341090 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal John Kitchen [1755 double-manual harpsichord by Luigi Baillon]
John Kitchen continues his much-lauded series of recordings from the instruments of the world-famous Roger Mirrey collection of keyboard instruments. Recorded in St Cecilia's Hall, Scotland's oldest purpose-built concert hall, this programme is specifically designed to highlight the unique qualities of the 1755 double-manual harpsichord by Luigi Baillon. Built in Cyteux, Burgundy, it has a very different sound from Parisian instruments of the time; cleaner and brighter in tone, it is the perfect vehicle for Kitchen's subtly nuanced playing, which brings the sophistication of the period to new life. The familiarity born of Kitchen's daily experience with the Edinburgh collections and their setting shines through these performances.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
MONTEVERDI: Il Quarto Libro dei Madrigali La Dolce Maniera Luigi Gaggero From the introduction by Luigi Gaggero: “In our interpretation of the Fourth Book, we have considered the poetic text as the guiding element that defines all other musical parameters: dynamics, rhythm, colors and vocal gestures. Absolute respect of the prosody of these texts (and not only the search for clear and correct pronunciation, but also the respect of the metric, rhyme and internal assonance) has led us to look for an ever-changing tonal palette, linked to the emotional movement of the affects, and a variety of vocal gestures closely related to the meaning of the poems. In particular, taking into account the fact that Monteverdi wrote 'L’Orfeo', the first true masterpiece in the history of opera, only four years after the publication of the Fourth book, we felt it was important to seek the harmony of the whole without losing the personality and autonomy of each single voice within the madrigal: only in this way, we believe, can one underline the genius of Monteverdi, who, with a sensitivity that has few equals in the history of art, tells us with infinite love about the human soul, and the voices that inhabit it”.
Label: Stradivarius File Under: Classical/Secular Vocal music Catalogue No: STR33963 Barcode: 8011570339638 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack La Dolce Maniera Luigi Gaggero [director]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
VIVALDI: Violin Concertos Insieme Strumentale di Roma Giorgio Sasso Concerto in F major RV 287 for violin, strings and continuo Concerto in C major RV 508 for two violins, strings and continuo Concerto in G minor RV 517 for two violins, strings and continuo Concerto in C major RV 113 for strings and continuo Concerto in G minor RV 321 for violin, strings and continuo Concerto in D minor RV 240 for violin, strings and continuo Concerto in D major RV 123 for strings and continuo
Label: Stradivarius File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: STR33944 Barcode: 8011570339447 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Insieme Strumentale di Roma Paolo Perrone [violin] Giorgio Sasso [violin and conductor]
From the liner notes by Pablo Queipo de Llano: The seven concertos presented on this CD constitute an anthology of Vivaldi’s repertory for strings in his most preferred forms: the four-part concerto without a solo instrument, the concerto with one or two solo violins. Although the three types of the genre were already well known when Vivaldi began to cultivate them in the first decade of the 18th century, the advent of the Red Priest caused an authentic revolution in the repertory both in Italy and abroad. Apart from the sensuous musical substance which characterises them, the main formal novelty of Vivaldi’s concertos consists in the “stellar” arrangement of the solo parts, which in Vivaldi’s works is seen in a hitherto unknown splendour. Vivaldi raises the soloist to the position of authentic protagonist of the concerto, going beyond the discreet role which the fathers of the genre - Corelli, Torelli and Albinoni among others – had given them. Although the string concertos without a soloist – called 'Concerti Ripieni' by Vivaldi – prove to be less spectacular because of the absence of a soloist, the personality of the Venetian maestro still stands out.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
CORELLI: Sonatas Op.V Luis Beduschi Philippe Grisvard It is unlikely that Corelli expected the impact his Opus V would have throughout the 18th century and beyond. Indeed, the Corellian Solos, as they were called at the time, had been reprinted more than 50 times by the 1800s along with hundreds of manuscript copies and dozens of arrangements. No other collection of pieces has seen such evidence of free ornamentation. Luis Beduschi, the internationally renowned flautist, has chosen ornaments by Corelli, himself, to appropriate these works for the flute because of their undeniable beauty and coherence as a whole, removing the various unsatisfactory Baroque transcriptions to develop his own, with the aim of restoring the original line.
Label: Eloquentia File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: EL1341 Barcode: 3760107400413 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Luis Beduschi [flute] Philippe Grisvard [harpsichord]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
Miroir(s) Ensemble Contraste “Delicious contrasts occur when classical music and popular music rub elbows” is the motto of Ensemble Contraste, a French group founded in 2000 by some of the leading classical virtuosi of the new generation. They built their notoriety by making their own arrangements that have resulted in original programmes that range from classical music to tango, and from musicals to jazz, to premieres of contemporary works. The Ensemble Contraste has collaborated with artists from many fields. 'Miroir(s)' is a jazz recording that pays homage to some of the masterpieces of classical music. It gathers a jazz musician, a composer/improviser, a pianist who writes arrangements and a classical musician tempted by the jazz demon. Mozart’s 'Lacrimosa' turns Bossa Nova...
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Jazz crossover Catalogue No: V5339 Barcode: 822186053393 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Ensemble Contraste: Arnaud Thorette [viola] Johan Farjot [Fender Rhodes piano] Raphaël Imbert [saxophone] Karol Beffa [Fender Rhodes piano]
Paraphrase gnossienne - Johan Farjot / Erik Satie Chinatown - Karol Beffa Lament - Johan Farjot / Henry Purcell Je t’invoque - Karol Beffa Stella hymnis - Raphaël Imbert Ich ruf zu dir, herr Jesu Christ - J. S. Bach Lacrymosa - Johan Farjot / W. A. Mozart Cracovia - Johan Farjot Cathédrales (improvisation) - Karol Beffa Echoes of gospel (improvisation) - Raphaël Imbert Amazing Grace (improvisation) - William Walker Herz und mund und tat und leben - J. S. Bach Un mot encore - Johan Farjot Choral - Johan Farjot En miroir - Karol Beffa
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
Liza LIM: Tongue of the Invisible a work for improvising pianist, baritone and 16 musicians text by Jonathan Holmes after poems by Hafiz
Uri Caine Omar Ebrahim ensemble musikFabrik AndrĂŠ de Ridder A "story of 'fixed' and 'open' things" unfolds in Liza Lim's work 'Tongue of the Invisible' on this new CD on Wergo's edition musikFabrik. Of Chinese descent, the Australia-born composer was inspired by the lyric poetry of the Sufi Persian poet Hafiz.
Label: Wergo File Under: Classical/Contemporary Catalogue No: WER6859-2 Barcode: 4010228685923 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Uri Caine [piano] Omar Ebrahim [baritone] ensemble musikFabrik /AndrĂŠ de Ridder [conductor]
"An ecstatic vertigo: There still isn't enough Lim on disc for my liking, but this release of the 55-minute song cycle Tongue of the Invisible will fill the gap for a while...The piece was written for Musikfabrik, and they bring a headily sensual quality to their playing. The instrumental introduction, a sequence of increasingly elaborate solo curlicues over an increasingly massive drone, is one of the most absorbing passages I can recall in Lim's output. If you're looking for an introduction to Lim's music - and if you haven't already had one you should be - then this may be what you need." The Rambler 20/6/2013
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
Mark ANDRE: Piano Music S1 for two piano Un-fini III for piano iv 11a for piano iv 11b for piano Contrapunctus for piano iv 1 for piano
Label: Wergo File Under: Classical/Contemporary Catalogue No: WER6783-2 Barcode: 4010228678321 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Tomoko Hemmi [piano] Yukiko Sugawara [piano]
The piano works of Mark Andre are founded on his intensive examination of the fleeting phenomenon of sound reverberation and decay: there might be a thick cluster that reverberates on a single string, or a single note that causes the entire landscape of strings to resonate. An echo that has almost faded away may suddenly rise up from another spot inside the piano; diffuse clouds of sound change their colours or begin to flutter restlessly. These combinations and their manipulation in time and space are usually preceded by detailed frequency analyses. Experimental work together with the performers also plays an essential role in the construction of these unstable resonating states. While Andre's early piano compositions were generated with the help of algorithms, his later works are no longer the result of calculations. Instead, he now attempts the opposite: to develop the composition out of the structure of the sound and the “breath of the material”. Compared to the cool objectivity of the works from the 1990s, the more recent pieces seem softer and more playful, although they have hardly been conceived less systematically – here, too, the intrinsic logic and necessity of every transition and development is closely scrutinised.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
BUSSOTTI: Four Pianos Quattro Pianoforti (2011) 12 Folie d’après François Couperin le Grand (2008) La vergine ispirata (1982) PER TRE sul piano from Sette fogli. Una collezione occulta (1959) Bartók-Busoni, capriccio di 34 mikrokosmos (1995) Olof Palme (1987) Le pietre di Venezia from Foglio d’Album (1984) in the version by Claudio Ambrosini, 2012
Label: Stradivarius File Under: Classical/Contemporary Catalogue No: STR33952 Barcode: 8011570339522 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Sylvano Bussotti [harpsichord & piano] Aldo Orvieto [piano] Ciro Longobardi [piano] Giovanni Mancuso [piano] Debora Petrina [piano] Carlo Lazari [violin] Claudio Ambrosini [inside piano] Alvise Vidolin [live electronics]
There are not many composers of Sylvano Bussotti’s generation – by generation we mean a poetic more than numerical fact – for whom the piano has represented the, or an, authentic centre: a specific place for the invention and production of sounds which radiates towards other ideas, other fields of application. Despite not being a composer-pianist, or a musician linked to a craft by means of the keyboard, at the end of the 1950s Bussotti succeeded, like Cage, Boulez and Feldman, in defining authoritatively a contemporary language of the piano which is at the same time idiomatic, experimental and imbued with history. The presence of the piano in Bussotti’s extensive catalogue is not only frequent, but also indicative of innovation, of turning points, sometimes even of ‘manifesto’; it is also not only the fruit of composition but also the living presence of the composer as a skilled and charismatic performer.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
VIVALDI: Gloria RV589, Dixit Dominus RV594 Gemma Bertagnoli Sara Mingardo Concerto Italiano Rinaldo Alessandrini Rinaldo Alessandrini’s rapport with this music borders on the love affair. We have him and his Concerto Italiano to thank for the triumphant return of these works to the concert platform, radiant and rejuvenated 300 years after they were first performed: using his expertise in the vocal parts as a guideline for his instrumental direction, the Italian conductor and harpsichordist, a pioneer in his home country since the 1980s, is an unstinting advocate of legibility, a dynamic of conviction, and stunning sensuality. Diapason praised: “A frank, vigorous mixed-voice approach with flawless tempi, making marvellous use of the sumptuous trumpets, colouring the energetic strings”.
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: NC40017 Barcode: 822186400173 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Gemma Bertagnoli [soprano] Sara Mingardo [contralto] Concerto Italiano Rinaldo Alessandrini [conductor]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
VIVALDI: The Four Seasons, Violin Concertos RV171, 163 Europa Galante Fabio Biondi In the 1980s violinist Fabio Biondi emerged as a free-thinking and passionate adventurer, one of the first in Italy to board the time machine and re-explore this repertoire. To find a modern way of using the expressive instruments of the 18th century, he had to go back to the drawing board, with his Europa Galante orchestra, founded in 1989. In 1991, this dazzling interpretation by Europa Galante, the ensemble’s first recording, brought instant recognition, propelling the ‘Red Priest’ into the modern world. Fabio Biondi’s ensemble – featuring harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini, another pioneer of the baroque renaissance with his own Concerto Italiano – gives the impression of overflowing off the concert stage. Vivaldi not only enjoys a second coming, but returns rejuvenated. Diapason d’or, RTL d’or, 10/10 from Répertoire magazine, Gramophone Editor’s Choice
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: NC40018 Barcode: 822186400180 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Europa Galante Fabio Biondi
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
VIVALDI: Nisi Dominus RV608, Crucifixus RV592, Stabat Mater RV621 Marie-Nicole Lemieux Philippe Jaroussky Ensemble Matheus Jean-Christophe Spinosi
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: NC40019 Barcode: 822186400197 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Marie-Nicole Lemieux [contralto] Philippe Jaroussky [countertenor] Ensemble Matheus / Jean-Christophe Spinosi
“As a specialist of Vivaldi’s music, Jean-Christophe Spinosi is aware of the permeability of the boundaries between sacred music and opera…The conductor and his musicians are past masters in spotlighting the key words to which Vivaldi brings his special colours and underlining the oppositions that the composer deployed so liberally”, reported Le Monde de la musique. This intense life that is so deeply engraved in the Nisi Dominus and the Stabat Mater, felt and revived for our modern era by the Matheus Ensemble and their conductor, nourishes the generous voices of Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Philippe Jaroussky: the former “expresses with rare nobility the pain of the woman who suffers and the compassion of the woman who recounts”, the latter, the “voice of the soul”. Since their 2003 revival of Vivaldi’s 'Orlando furioso', Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Philippe Jaroussky and Jean-Christophe Spinosi have been united in a beautiful and enduring win-win love affair with and around music. While they may pair off with Rossini or Handel, they come together again as a threesome for Vivaldi. [!] Recorded in 2007.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
El Cant de la Sibil-la Montserrat Figueras La Capella Reial de Catalunya Jordi Savall
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Secular Vocal music Catalogue No: NC40020 Barcode: 822186400203 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Montserrat Figueras [soprano] La Capella Reial de Catalunya Jordi Savall [conductor]
The soprano Montserrat Figueras discovered the Songs of the Sibyl one Christmas, while still a teenager, at a Midnight Mass in Palma de Mallorca. She was fascinated, experiencing “the privilege of touching something essential”. With her husband, the Catalan conductor and viol player Jordi Savall, an indefatigable archaeologist of early music for 40 years now, she revived the generous timbres of the Songs of the Sibyl, explored at that time by no other singer. The result is a unique heritage, a testimony to an immense and enduring culture whose influence spread throughout the Mediterranean basin. This programme, recorded in 1988 a year after the foundation of their ensemble La Capella Reial de Catalunya, presents three Songs of the Sibyl: the understated and profound Latin version (10th – 11th century), the Provençal (13th century) with oud, influenced by the art of the troubadours, and the Catalan, a close cousin of the medieval Mystery plays. The gathering of these songs has unearthed an unparalleled repertoire eminently worthy of reassessment and resurrection.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
SCHUBERT: Sonate Arpeggione D821 Sonatina D.384, Lieder transcriptions: Ständchen, An die Musik, die Forelle
Anne Gastinel Claire Désert
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: NC40021 Barcode: 822186400210 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Anne Gastinel [cello] Claire Désert [piano]
In 2005 Anne Gastinel and Claire Désert recorded this Schubert programme and were rewarded with a RTL d’or and a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. The magic of this iconoclastic programme (Anne Gastinel transcribed the lieder herself) lies in assimilation rather than imitation. The cello absorbs sonata, sonatina and lieder as though they had all been written for it: in fact it is the cello that has saved the sonata for posterity now that the arpeggione is long forgotten. Since winning the Rostropovich Competition in 1990, Anne Gastinel, has had scant regard for her “classical” image. Through her close rapport with pianist Claire Désert she has recreated a repertory of songs by a composer that she loves, without the absence of words taking anything away from the capacity to move. “Delicate, fine, natural. Never overstated, never the slightest trace of sentimentality, yet constantly singing, [this performance] is, warm and noble”, wrote Le Nouvel Observateur.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
SCHOENBERG: Verklärte Nacht Op. 4 Arditti Quartet The Arditti String Quartet recorded Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night in 1993; theirs has, to this day, remained the reference version. For 40 years, their unswerving faith in 19th and 20th century music and their intelligent choices of championed repertories have nourished their work as begetters, missionaries and major players in musical creativity. Their strong identity, stamped on the quartet by founder Irvine Arditti, “a prophet among musicians”, in the words of Harrison Birtwistle, and the last remaining member of the original 1974 lineup, stems from the Second Viennese School. Their immense discography has developed with a specific quality of string sound and a transparent technique capable of making the most demanding pages of chamber music accessible to a broad audience.
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Chamber music Catalogue No: NC40022 Barcode: 822186400227 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Arditti Quartet
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
MOZART: Clarinet Quintet K581, Kegelstatt Trio K498 Quatuor Mosaïques The Mosaïques Quartet trained with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Concentus Musicus, cultivating a taste for authenticity, the path they subsequently trod, starting in Vienna in 1987 and illuminated by Haydn and Mozart, led them to develop a collective colour. Here, their mosaic stretches to the mellowness of the fortepiano and the basset clarinet, an instrument partly invented by Stadler and suggested by the wide tessitura of the Quintet, which is what makes this version so special. Wolfgang Meyer expresses the light and dark facets of Mozart’s close friend, both soloist and trusted ear, eschewing emphasis and torment, constantly radiant and bonded to the ensemble.
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Chamber music Catalogue No: NC40023 Barcode: 822186400234 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Quatuor Mosaïques Wolfgang Meyer [clarinet] Patrick Cohen [hammerflugel]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
PERGOLESI, SCARLATTI: Stabat Mater Gemma Bertagnolli Sara Mingardo Concerto Italiano Rinaldo Alessandrini timeline: 1708-1717 Scarlatti writes his 'Stabat Mater', commissioned by the Neapolitan brotherhood of the Cavalieri della Vergine dei Dolor for the Lent services in the church of San Luigi di Palazzo. 1734-1736 Pergolesi’s 'Stabat Mater', commissioned by the same brotherhood to supersede the Scarlatti version. 1980 Pioneered in northern Europe, the Baroque revival continues in Italy, spearheaded by Rinaldo Alessandrini. 1998 Rinaldo Alessandrini and his newly founded Concerto Italiano record the two Stabat Maters. The recording becomes a reference: ƒƒƒƒ Télérama, Timbre de platine Opéra international, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, 10 de Répertoire, Recommended by Classica.
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: NC40024 Barcode: 822186400241 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Gemma Bertagnolli [soprano] Sara Mingardo [contralto] Concerto Italiano Rinaldo Alessandrini
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
HAYDN: London Symphonies No. 102, No. 103 Drumroll, No. 104 London
Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble Marc Minkowski Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble have been working now for over 30 years on the vocal and symphonic repertories, expanding from the initial baroque repertory to span the centuries, taking in Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz and Wagner, without losing any vigour. Far from a solemn commemoration, Minkowski celebrates Haydn in a free, inventive spirit, refreshes the tempi, restores the original line-up of 60 musicians, and breathes vivacity to reveal “Haydn’s Dionysian side and also his inner garden”. Julian Sykes concludes: “The theatrical momentum produced by these interpretations […] is reminiscent of the sweeping energy of Leonard Bernstein. Minkowski does not stylise; he looks for the big picture, moves forward without the little mannerisms of the baroque...but without sacrificing detail” (Le Temps, October 2010).
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: NC40025 Barcode: 822186400258 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble Marc Minkowski
This 2009 Live recording in the Vienna Konzerthaus of the twelve “London” Symphonies, rewarded by a Diapason d’or, a Diapason d’or for 2010 and the German Record Critics’ award and is ranked in the Top 10 for 2010 by Belgium’s Le Soir.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
HANDEL: Opera Seria arias for soprano from Scipione, Orlando, Giulio Cesare, Partenope, Amadigi Alesssandro, Rodelinda, Faramondo, Tamerlano, Deidamia, Arianna in Creta
Sandrine Piau Les Talens Lyriques Christophe Rousset This 2004 recording is far more than just a recital by a prima donna: it is a perfectly balanced dialogue between Piau and Rousset, both indelibly marked by their work with William Christie, the former from her discovery of early vocal music, the latter from his time as assistant leader of Les Arts Florissants before forming his own ensemble in 1991. The rapport between soprano and conductor has blossomed over time, notably through their collaboration, since 1994, on the operatic works of Handel. Their complicity reveals the deep humanity of Handel’s heroines behind the masks. Recorded in 2004 & awarded Gramophone Editor’s Choice in the UK.
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: NC40026 Barcode: 822186400265 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Sandrine Piau [soprano] LeS Talens Lyriques Christophe Rousset
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes Op. 28 Grigory Sokolov Grigory Sokolov: a living legend of the piano whose public performances and recordings are as rare as the man is secretive. He stepped away from the limelight years ago, refusing to be idolised by a society avid for imagery. Under the winged fingers of the giant you hear the vibrancy of an inner song, wordless but not illegible. June 7 1990: concert and recording of Chopin’s Preludes by Grigory Sokolov, still relatively unknown in France. The record receives high praise from the critics.
Label: NAĂ?VE File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: NC40027 Barcode: 822186400272 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Grigory Sokolov [piano]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
BRAHMS: Ein Deutsches Requiem [London version] Sandrine Piau Stéphane Degout Brigitte Engerer Boris Berezovsky Accentus This two-piano version of Brahms' 'Requiem' was put to the test in 1871, in London, after the original version had been subjected to a flawed and chaotic premiere. In 2003, Laurence Equilbey's Accentus choir were joined by two legends of the keyboard, the late Brigitte Engerer and Boris Berezovsky, soprano Sandrine Piau and baritone Stéphane Degout. Dispensing with flowers and wreaths they transform affliction into comfort, the forsaking of life into celestial attraction, testifying above all else to the superiority of Brahms’ art.
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: NC40028 Barcode: 822186400289 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Sandrine Piau [soprano] Stéphane Degout [baritone] Brigitte Engerer [piano] Boris Berezovsky [piano] Accentus / Laurence Equilbey [conductor]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
J.S. BACH: Goldberg Variations BWV988 Pierre Hantaï Pierre Hantaï’s incisive, ornate playing delights in the intellectual virtuosity and harpsichord pyrotechnics, feeds on the complexity of the counterpoint, finding freedom in the rigorously thought-out scoring. Ultimately, this is a perfectly structured book of metamorphoses, closing with the initial Aria, like an invitation to return to the starting point and travel again. An “art of the variation” just as there is an Art of Fugue. Pierre Hantaï, born in 1964, is one of the most inquisitive, determined and innovative of that generation. At the age of 19, he distinguished himself at the Musica Antiqua Bruges competition in Belgium and had scarcely turned 30 when he recorded his masterful 'Goldberg Variations'. While his meeting with Gustav Leonhardt sharpened his appetite for research and his quest for perfection, stimulating his instinct and development, his main inspiration remains Bach. His first love endures. Today Pierre Hantaï is still drawn back relentlessly to Bach’s work, either on the harpsichord or with his orchestra Le Concert Français
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: NC40029 Barcode: 822186400296 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Pierre Hantaï [harpsichord]
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
BACH: Brandenburg Concertos 1,3,4 & 5 Concerto Italiano Rinaldo Alessandrini BBC Building a Library / Music Magazine ‘Best recording of the work’ Gramophone Editor’s Choice Classicstoday 10/10
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Chamber music Catalogue No: NC40030 Barcode: 822186400302 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Concerto Italiano / Rinado Alessandrini
In 2005, when Rinaldo Alessandrini decided to focus his recording work on Bach, he set out to explore the influence of the Italian concerto and repertory, so dear to him, on the German master. Preferring the light touch of an ensemble of soloists, he chose to reveal each timbre and clarify the musical arguments, underlining the interaction and differences. This innovative vision, honed since the 1980s by Concerto Italiano on instruments of the period, focuses not on effects but on articulations, suppleness, dynamics and respiration. Never has an old language been made so vibrant. “Bach’s music has it all”, concludes Rinaldo Alessandrini. “Our job is simply to bring elegance and a beautiful tone.”
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
J.S.BACH: Cantatas BWV49, 115, 180 Andreas Scholl Barbara Schlick Christoph Prégardien Ensemble Baroque de Limoges Christophe Coin
Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: NC40031 Barcode: 822186400319 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Andreas Scholl [countertenor] Barbara Schlick [soprano] Christoph Prégardien [tenor] Gotthold Schwarz [bass] Ensemble Baroque de Limoges / Christophe Coin
Unusually these three church cantatas are accompanied by a cello, which was uncommon, especially in church: in this case the five-string piccolo, fashionable at the start of the 18th century. The key to the originality and coherence of this recording by the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, with Concerto Vocale Leipzig, is to have approached these works from the instrumental angle. Conductor Christophe Coin, who studied with Jordi Savall and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, has, for the last 30 years, been France’s most fervent apostle of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. It all came together in 1993: his first love of baroque music, his quest for authenticity in the interpretation of known and lesser known repertories, his approach to voices and period instruments, his work as a cellist himself, never sacrificed to a career as conductor… The record won a Diapason d’or, ƒƒƒƒ from Télérama and a Timbre de platine from Opéra International.
RELEASE DATE 29TH JULY 2013
ALLEGRI: Miserere Messe Vidi Turbam Magnam Motets: De Ore Prudentis, Depleti sunt omnes, Cantate Domino
A Sei Voci
Label: NAĂ?VE File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: NC40032 Barcode: 822186400326 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack A Sei Voci Dominique Ferran [organ] Bernard Fabre-Garrus [conductor]
Bernard Fabre-Garrus, his A Sei Voci ensemble and the musicologist Jean Lionnet, with their characteristic fervour and concern for authenticity, pored over the writings of Allegri’s contemporaries and rediscovered the lost paradise of the original sources. In 1993, they restored the original intent of the piece in this unique interpretation, true to the tradition of improvised ornamentation, with its inventive, blossoming lines. The surprises do not stop there, because, A Sei Voci inserts between this 'authentic' version and the traditional, familiar version conveyed over the centuries and other forgotten works by Allegri, composed for liturgical services in the Pontifical Chapel in Rome. With its expressive sobriety, supported by the understated playing of organist Dominique Ferran and perfectly balanced voices that alternately come to the fore from within the counterpoint, A Sei Voci invites you on to the stairway to paradise...Bernard Fabre-Garrus died in 2006 and A Sei Voce disbanded some five years later.