Classical New Releases July 2 by [PIAS] Classics & Jazz UK

JULY 2

harmonia mundi UK

Classical new release DISTRIBUTED LABELS: ACTES SUD, AGOGIQUE, ALIA VOX, AMBRONAY, APARTE, ARTE VERUM, AUDITE, BEL AIR CLASSIQUES, CHRISTOPHORUS, CSO RESOUND, DELPHIAN, FRAPROD, GLOSSA, harmonia mundi, HAT[NOW]ART, HYPHEN PRESS MUSIC, K617, KML, LA DOLCE VOLTA, LSO LIVE, MARIINSKY, MELISANDE FILMS, MIRARE, MODE, MUSO, NAIVE, NASCOR, ONYX, OPAL, OPELLA NOVA, ORFEO, PAN CLASSICS, PARADIZO, PEARL, PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE, PHIL.HARMONIE, PIANO CLASSICS, PRAGA DIGITALS, RADIO FRANCE, RAM, RCOC, RCO LIVE, SFZ MUSIC, SIGNUM CLASSICS, STRADIVARIUS, UNITED ARCHIVES, WAHOO, WALHALL ETERNITY, WERGO, WIGMORE HALL LIVE, WINTER & WINTER, YSAYE

available 2nd July call-off 22nd June

BBC MUSIC CHORAL & SONG CHOICE -8/< HMC902139/40 SCHUBERT SCHWANENGESANG, PIANO SONATA D960 Matthias Goerne, Christoph Eschenbach “an outstanding contribution to the Schwanengesang catalogue. “

BBC MUSIC CHAMBER MUSIC CHOICE -8/< HMC902122 SCHUMANN PIANO QUARTET, PIANO QUINTET Alexander Melnikov, Jerusalem Quartet

“playing that is deeply felt but never indulgent or mannered. With a recording that offers depth of sound and admirable clarity, Schumann’s two chamber masterpieces are brilliantly served.”

BBC MUSIC INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE -8/< GCD920413 MR DE MACHY SUITES Nos 1, 4, 5 & 8 Paolo Pandolfo

“Pandolfo makes the music dance...short of wearing pointe shoes, he could hardly make these performances more balletic. The recording captures the music’s detail as well as the viol’s naturally sonorous timbre - even the curmudgeonly Machy would surely be entranced”

EARLY MUSIC TODAY June – August issue Editor’s Choice OP30518 Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos II Azzolini IRR OUTSTANDING

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

STRAUSS: Elektra Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet Angela Denoke Dame Felicity Palmer Valery Gergiev

Label: LSO Live File Under: Classical Catalogue No: LSO0701 Barcode: 822231170129 MID Price Format: 2 SACD Packaging: special Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, Angela Denoke, Dame Felicity Palmer, Matthias Goerne London Symphony Orchestra Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev conducts Strauss’ 'Elektra', one of the most powerful operas in the repertoire, accompanied by a superlative cast. Premiered in 1910 at Covent Garden, under the baton of Sir Thomas Beecham, 'Elektra' showcases many, of what were at the time, modernist techniques such as dissonance, chromaticism and fluid tonality but also some f his finest writing. The one-act Greek tragedy was reconstructed by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and his adapted text forms the libretto for the opera. The drama centres around Elektra and her determination to avenge her father’s death. The themes of death, violence, sexual repression and revenge are omnipresent. American soprano Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet is recognised as a leading force in German and contemporary music repertoire and a great singing actress. Angela Denoke and Dame Felicity Palmer both possess outstanding pedigrees in Strauss' opera. They are joined by outstanding Lieder specialist Matthias Goerne, making one of his rare forays into operatic repertoire. Concert reviews "With the London Symphony Orchestra playing with spectacular virtuosity and total commitment, Gergiev set the temperature at boiling point from the first explosive bar, and the effect was instantly scalding ... you’d be unlikely to find a staged Elektra as well sung or played as this one was" The Daily Telegraph "Gergiev drew magnificent playing from a gargantuan LSO...Palmer’s handling of her dream-monologue, her guilty mind shredded ‘like a gown eaten by moths’, was a tour de force. Charbonnet ... rippled with intelligence and nuance" The Observer "Felicity Palmer touched tragic depths as Clytemnestra, and Angela Denoke was formidable in her depiction of the seething emotions behind Chrysothemis’s cool facade" The Guardian "the night belonged to the London Symphony Orchestra. There’s no doubting the passion Gergiev feels for his players, fluttering his fingers lightly over the air almost as if it were unnecessary to command their mightiest efforts" The Arts Desk

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

JOAN OF ARC: Battles & Jails La Capella Reial de Catalunya Hesperion XXI Jordi Savall 20 years after having worked on the soundtrack of Jacques Rivette’s movie “Jeanne la Pucelle”, Jordi Savall has decided to dedicate this new album to the mother figure of the struggle for French independence. Music fully enables us to rediscover this icon. Works by composers from the time of Joan of Arc (Guillaume Dufay, Josquin Desprez, Johannes Vincenet, Johannes Cornago, etc.) but also compositions and arrangements by Jordi Savall paint the vivid portrait of a troubled time. Texts by Joan of Arc, including the record of her trial, are read in masterly fashion by French actress and director Louise Moaty. This well-documented CD-book demonstrates how a religion prepared to compromise all its principles for political reasons also takes the risk of becoming an icon of fanaticism.

Label: Alia Vox File Under: Classical Catalogue No: AVSA9891 Barcode: 7619986398914 Format: 2 SACD Packaging: cd book, 960g Montserrat Figueras Louise Moaty, René Zosso, Manuel Weber, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall CONCERTS: Snape 22/6, 23/6 Gregynog Festival 29/6 York Early Music Festival 8/7

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

STRAUSS: Four Last Songs Arabella - Das war sehr gut, Mandryka, Capriccio - Morgen mittag um elf Rosenkavalier - Marie Theres'! Hab mir's gelobt

Anne Schwanewilms

Label: Orfeo File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: C858121A Barcode: 4011790858128 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Anne Schwanewilms [soprano] Jutta Böhnert [Sophie] Regina Richter [Octavian] Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/Markus Stenz

A setting of poems by Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff, Richard Strauss’s 'Four Last Songs' afford ultimate proof of Strauss’s unique ability to write soaring melodic lines for the soprano voice. Many outstanding Strauss sopranos have faced up to the challenge and now Anne Schwanewilms joins them, ahead of her Proms performance on 17th July. She is one of the most sought-after Strauss sopranos of our day; a regular visitor to all the world’s leading opera houses and festivals, from Salzburg Festival and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, to the Bavarian, Dresden and Vienna State Operas. She has also been heard in many of Strauss’ works at the Cologne Opera, most recently at a recital in 2011, when she was joined by the Gürzenich Orchestra under Cologne’s general music director, Markus Stenz, which included excerpts from roles with which she is most closely associated. The valedictory tone of the songs contrasts with that of the final scene from 'Arabella,' in which Schwanewilms strikes just the right balance between the simplicity of the opening and the increasingly jubilant note on which the opera ends. In the final scene from 'Capriccio', this last-named quality is combined with the singer’s ability to achieve the parlando style ideally demanded by Strauss. In the 'Rosenkavalier' trio her emotionally-charged singing captures the Marschallin’s rejection in favour of a younger woman with an immediacy that is altogether overwhelming. CONCERT REVIEWS [Liederabend, Wigmore Hall December 2011] “Anne Schwanewilms, the German soprano who shines in Strauss...is the classiest of all Marschallins in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier…it was the ultimate challenge of Mahler’s Five Ruckert Lieder which turned solid into liquid gold…as only the greatest performances – Janet Baker’s, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s and Fischer-Dieskau’s – have previously managed…it was here that Schwanewilms stepped up to the mark of true greatness.” David Nice, The Arts Desk, December 9th "Schwanewilms seems to have it all: unfailingly precise intonation, a polished, gleaming sound, almost superhuman breath control. She also has considerable stage presence and self-assurance: utterly in command of the voice and the material, she revealed a profound understanding of these songs while retaining a sense of freshness and spontaneity. No wonder the applause was rapturous.” operatoday CONCERTS: 17th July Royal Albert Hall, BBC Proms, Strauss Four Last Songs BBC Philharmonic / Juanjo Mena 25th August Queen's Hall, Edinburgh Festival, Liederabend: Debussy, Wolf, Strauss / Malcolm Martineau (piano)

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

GOUNOD: Roméo & Juliette Lyric drama in five acts, libretto Jules Barbier & Michel Carré

Nino Machaidze Ketevan Kemoklidze Stefano Secco Jean-François Borras Giorgio Giuseppini Fabio Mastrangelo Nino Machaidze [Juliette], Ketevan Kemoklidze [Stephano], Cristina Melis [Gertrude], Stefano Secco [Roméo], Jean-François Borras [Tybalt], Paolo Antognetti [Benvolio] Artur Rucinski [Mercutio], Nicolo Ceriani [Paris], Giampiero Ruggeri [Gregorio], Manrico Signorini [Capulet], Giorgio Giuseppini [Frère Laurent], Deyan Vatchkov [Le Duc de Vérone] Orchestra, Coro e Corpo di Ballo della Fondazione Arena di Verona / Fabio Mastrangelo

Label: Bel Air Classiques File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: BAC081 Barcode: 3760115300811 NORMAL Price Format: 2 DVD Packaging: digipack

Direction FRANCESCO MICHELI, Set design EDOARDO SANCHI, Costumes SILVIA AYMONINO, Choreography NIKOS LAGOUSAKOS, Lighting PAOLO MAZZON Filmed in High Definition at the Verona Arena, 08/2011 Here from the iconic Verona arena is Charles Gounod’s masterpiece Roméo & Juliette, performed there for the first time since 1977. This new production was entrusted to Italian director Francesco Micheli, making his arena debut, who opted for a personal, highly original version: “An arena within the Arena, like a blood-red Elizabethan theatre. A senescent world that will not let its own children live.” Juliette is sung by Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze, in a return to one of her early roles at the Salzburg Festival. Stefano Secco, often heard at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and other international venues, is Roméo. Artur Rucinski interprets Mercutio, Romeo’s friend and the rival of Jean-François Borras’s Tybalt. The page Stéphano is sung by soprano Ketevan Kemoklidze. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona are conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo.

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

GOUNOD: Roméo & Juliette Lyric drama in five acts, libretto Jules Barbier & Michel Carré

Label: Bel Air Classiques File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: BAC481 Barcode: 3760115304819 NORMAL Price Format: 1 Blu-ray Packaging: digipack

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

Le Paris des Romantiques Bertrand Chamayou Julien Chauvin Napoléon-Henri Reber: Symphony no.4 in G Major Op.33* Hector Berlioz: Rêverie et Caprice for violin & orchestra Op.8 Franz Liszt: Piano concerto No.1 S124** * world premiere, ** world premiere on period piano Recorded live on period instruments

Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: AM207 Barcode: 822186002070 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack

This recording brings together three composers who knew each other and worked together in Paris in the first half of the 19th century: Liszt was a composer and pianist, as was Reber, who studied with Anton Reicha and devoted much of his career to chamber music. Berlioz came to fame in 1830 with the première of his Symphonie Fantastique, on which occasion he first met Liszt: the beginning of a strong friendship between the two composers. The works presented here offer a panorama of French musical tastes from the years 1830-1850. Two are world premiere recordings. “Through three different instrumental works, “Paris of the Romantics” enables us to show all the different aspects of Romanticism in music in France at the time of Louis-Philippe. It is a tremendous asset for creating new ways of looking at this repertoire and for bringing the concert world a little closer to that of recordings.” Jérémie Rhorer “Although I had often played it before, I learned a great deal about this concerto from working on it with the magnificent Érard of 1837 from the Edwin Beunk Collection that we use on this recording.” Bertrand Chamayou

Bertrand Chamayou [piano Erard 1837] Julien Chauvin [violin] Le Cercle de l‘Harmonie Jérémie Rhorer [conductor] CONCERT: Bernard Chamayou, Wigmore Hall 2nd July

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

L'Italie Renaissance Doulce Mémoire E8604 Baldassar Castiglione - Il libro del Cortegiano, Venezia, 1528 E8626 Lorenzo il Magnifico - Trionfo di Bacco E8878 Cristobal de Morales - ca. 1500 - 1553 Office des Ténèbres E8847 Le Siècle du Titien E8648 Viva Napoli E8883 Léonard de Vinci - L’harmonie du monde Doulce Mémoire has been one of the leading ensembles in the Renaissance and Early music fields.They record for Naïve, K 617 and Zig Zag territories. Its recordings have received many awards and distinctions, including Diapason Record of the Year and maximum ratings from Le Monde de la Musique and Télérama.

Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Secular Vocal music Catalogue No: V5303 Barcode: 822186053034 SPECIAL Price Format: 6 CD Packaging: box set Doulce Mémoire / Denis Raisin Dadre

This set gathers their recordings on Naïve, dedicated to Italian music at the time of the Renaissance, from Naples to the Vatican

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

Accentus Box 5cds Fauré: Requiem, Brahms: Requiem [London Version], Haydn: Seven Last Words, Dusapin: Requiem [s], Transcriptions

Accentus / Laurence Equilbey Accentus chamber choir, one of Naïve's most successful artists, turns 20 in 2012. Naïve is contributing to the celebrations by releasing two special products: this 5 cd-set and a compilation gathering 20 vocal jewels, released on May 1st, Best 20. “There may be a more profoundly beautiful recording of Fauré's Requiem out there, but if so, I've not heard it.… Equilbey shapes and caresses every single phrase, every line, every note with the kind of loving care few conductors ever lavish on such a well known and technically undemanding score. The result is a genuinely revelatory reading.” Gramophone

Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: V5301 Barcode: 888786053010 SPECIAL Price Format: 5 CD Packaging: box set Sandrine Piau [soprano] Stéphane Degout [baritone] Robert Getchell [tenor] Brigitte Engerer Boris Berezovsky AAM-Berlin Accentus / Laurence Equilbey

“Performed with intense conviction by Accentus and heard to ideal advantage in the acoustic of the Arsenal de Metz, this is music that communicates through its very restraint, and is further evidence of Pascal Dusapin's distinctive creative voice” Gramophone ALSO AVAILABLE: V5290 Accentus Best 20

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

Music and Painters Music that inspired Monet, Chagall, Courbet, Matisse & Picasso

1 / Les musiques de Monet Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, Chausson, Saint-Saëns V5255 2-3 / Les musiques de Chagall Russian & Yiddish traditional | Bloch, Mozart, Bach, Ravel, Tchaïkovsky, Messiaen V4955

Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical Catalogue No: V5283 Barcode: 0822186052839 SPECIAL Price Format: 7 CD Packaging: box set

4-5 / Les musiques de Courbet Chopin, Wagner, Berlioz, Debussy, Bizet, Mahler, Duparc, Berlioz, Brahms, Chausson, Schumann, Beethoven, Liszt V5118 6-7 / Les musiques de Matisse et Picasso de Falla, Poulenc, Chostakovitch, Stravinsky, Satie, Ravel, Gershwin, Holiday, Armstrong, Gillespie,

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

GRIEG: Piano Concerto Op. 16, DVORAK Piano Concerto Op. 33 Sviatoslav Richter Sviatoslav Richter (1915-97) left behind the extraordinary legacy of a highly sensitive, angst-ridden yet ultimately serene musician, a true monstre sacré, a perfectionist in search of the absolute. This duo of 'nationalist' concertos by Grieg and Dvorák featured only briefly in his repertoire. The uncharacteristic liberty of his playing and the sense of exultation is astounding, illuminating these romantic compositions based on national folklore. They form a unique, totally unprecedented combination. RICHTER EDITION ALREADY AVAILABLE: DSD350056 Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos 1+2, Preludes

Label: Praga Digitals File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: DSD350058 Barcode: 794881896424 NORMAL Price Format: 1 SACD Packaging: digipack Sviatoslav Richter, Moscow State SO / Kirill Kondrashin Prague SO / Václav Smetácek

Live stereo recordings: Moscow March 23, 1964 [Grieg] Prague June 2 1966 [Dvorák] reissued from PR250016, 250048

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

HAEC DIES Byrd & the Tudor Revival

Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge The Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge explores the fascinating relationship between 16th and early 20th-century music as understood by the pioneers of the Tudor revival in England. Centred on Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices – revelatory and inspirational listening for a whole host of composers – this mosaic of reworkings, reimaginings and lovingly-crafted homages is brought to life with all the scholarly acumen and full-throated fervour that are the hallmarks of one of Britain’s finest choirs. Caius College Choir is one of the UK's leading collegiate choirs. The 23 singers and two organ scholars, under the direction of Dr Geoffrey Webber, perform a wide range of sacred and secular choral music ranging from the 14th century to the present day. The day-to-day activities of the choir revolve around Caius Chapel which is probably the oldest purpose-built college chapel in Cambridge still in use.

Label: Delphian File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: DCD34104 Barcode: 801918341045 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge Geoffrey Webber Annie Lydford, Nick Lee [organ]

"impeccably performed" The Observer, August 2011 "glittering precision… marvellous choral sheen" International Record Review, June 2009 Vaughan Williams: Whitsunday Hymn (1930) Harris: Eternal Ruler (1930) Holst: Man born to toil (1927) Tallis arr. M. & G. Shaw: Funeral Music (1915) Whitlock: O living Bread, who once didst die (1930) Finzi: Up to those bright and gladsome hills (1925) Byrd: Mass for Five Voices Byrd arr. J.E. Borland: Fantasia in C (1907) Britten: A Hymn to the Virgin (1930) Howells: Haec dies (1918) Pearsall: Tu es Petrus (1854) Bax: Lord, thou hast told us (1931) Howells: Master Tallis’s Testament (1940)

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

LET THE BRIGHT SERAPHIM Elin Manahan Thomas Crispian Steele-Perkins The Armonico Consort return to disc on Signum (following their highly-regarded Naked Byrd CD series) with a new disc celebrating the glorious combination of soprano and trumpet in baroque music – featuring the soaring talents of Elin Manahan Thomas and Crispian Steele-Perkins. Widely-praised for their imaginative and inventive programming, this disc features works by JS Bach (Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen), GP Telemann (Trumpet Concerto in D major), Alessandro Scarlatti (Su le sponde del Tebro) and a special compilation of works by Handel devised by Crispian Steele-Perkins.

Label: Signum Classics File Under: Classical Catalogue No: SIGCD289 Barcode: 635212028926 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal The Armonico Consort Elin Manahan Thomas [soprano] Crispian Steele-Perkins [trumpet] Christopher Monks [musical director]

Critical praise for the Armonico Consort's Naked Byrd discs on Signum (SIGCD180 & SIGCD235): "This splendid second volume in the Armonico Consort’s Naked Byrd series … But perhaps most moving of all is the "Agnes Dei" section of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, re-scored by the composer for eight-part harmonies." The Independent “An achingly beautiful selection” Classic FM Magazine BACH: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV51 TELEMANN: Trumpet Concerto in D major SCARLATTI; Su le sponde del Tebro HANDEL: ‘March’ from Judas Maccabeus HWV63, ‘Sinfonia’ from Floridante HWV14, ‘Lentement’ from Dedemia HWV42, ‘March’ from Scipione HWV20, Eternal Source of Light Divine HWV74, Water Music: Overture, Air, Hornpipe, ‘Let the Bright Seraphim’ from Samson HWV57

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

Sir Richard Rodney BENNETT: My Dancing Day Choral Music

BBC Singers As one of Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most respected and versatile musicians, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett has produced over 200 works for the concert hall, and 50 scores for film and television, as well as having been a writer and performer of jazz songs for over fifty years. This disc of compositions and arrangements performed by the BBC Singers showcases some of his most popular and beguiling works for choir and voice, drawn from classical and jazz music and featuring his ever-popular work 'A Good Night'. This new release on Signum with the BBC Singers follows two other composer-led discs: Remoter Worlds, featuring the music of Judith Bingham, and Choral Images, featuring the music of Sir Michael Tippett.

Label: Signum Classics File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: SIGCD293 Barcode: 635212029329 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal BBC Singers Paul Brough

"An essential for any Tippett lover. But with these dazzlingly vibrant performances, if you love good choral music, then you should buy it." Musicweb International "this superb choir gives precise, passionate and powerful readings." The Times My dancing day, Gloria, gloria, In the bleak midwinter, New Year Carol, The Sun has long been set, Town and Country, Mistress Margaret, Mistress Margery, Mistress Anne, My Darling Dear, Mistress Isabel, The Apple Tree, Winter Nights, Never Weather-beaten Saile, Fire, fire! The Hours of Sleepy Night, A Good Night, By Strauss, Sophisticated lady, Every time we say goodbye

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

Jonathan DOVE: There was a Child Joan Rodgers Toby Spence CBSO Simon Halsey Jonathan Dove wrote 'There Was a Child' as a tribute to a friend’s son who died tragically young. Filled with both joyous celebration and heartfelt emotion, it’s a big, warm-hearted modern masterpiece in the spirit of Britten and Vaughan Williams – following in an evergreen English tradition and featuring the combined forces of the CBSO and CBSO Chorus, Youth Chorus and Junior Chorus with soloists Joan Rodgers and Toby Spence. A review of the concert from which this recording was taken:

Label: Signum Classics File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: SIGCD285 Barcode: 635212028520 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra CBSO Chorus CBSO Youth Chorus, CBSO Junior Chorus Joan Rodgers [soprano] Toby Spence [tenor] Simon Halsey [conductor]

"Jonathan Dove’s There Was a Child is a major addition to the choral repertoire, and will surely be taken up by societies up and down the country, perhaps with reduced orchestration for economy’s sake. Emotionally soul-baring, sharing an umbilical cord with Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality and even Dies Natalis, this panorama of a young life draws texts from so many fine poets and therefore demands consummate clarity of presentation." Birmingham Post

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

TEMPORAL VARIATIONS Music for Oboe and Piano between 1935 and 1941 Britten: Temporal Variations (1936), Two Insect Pieces (1935) Hindemith: Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1938) Sonata for Cor anglais and Piano (1941) Skalkottas: Concertino for Solo Oboe and Piano Accompaniment (1939) Haas: Suite for Oboe and Piano Op. 17 (1939)

Label: Audite File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: AUDITE92539 Barcode: 4022143925398 NORMAL Price Format: 1 SACD Packaging: digipack Birgit Schmieder [oboe, cor anglais] Akiko Yamashita [piano]

This collection of duos for oboe (specifically cor anglais) and piano by Benjamin Britten, Pavel Haas, Paul Hindemith and Nikos Skalkottas are not only interrelated by the period in which they arose – the years 1935-1941 – but also as haunting documents of musical paths through an increasingly gloomy time. Hindemith‘s sonatas for English horn and piano, part of his larger sonata oeuvre, reflect internalisation and technical dispassion before and during his emigration. Pavel Haas’ suite is a subtle protest against the annexation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. Skalkottas‘ concertino is part of a unique oeuvre that the student of Schoenberg wrote in artistic isolation and under desolate external circumstances in his home country. In both ingenious works of the young Benjamin Britten, a deep unease with the political conditions of the pre-war period is perceptible beneath a surface of virtuosic luster. An enormous contribution to the small repertoire of 20th century oboe literature, these works also present great musical and artistic challenges to the performers. Birgit Schmieder is a winner of competitions such as the Deutscher Hochschulwettbewerb and the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician with several ensembles specializing in early and new music in Germany and beyond. As a soloist, she has appeared with ensembles such as the Deutsche Bachsolisten, the Berliner Symphoniker and the Deutsches Kammerorchester. Concert tours have led her to Italy (Venice Biennale), Poland (Warsaw Autumn), Israel, China and Korea. Akiko Yamashita has appeared extensively as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. Her concert activities have taken her throughout Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands as well as to Austria, Italy, Ireland, Russia, Japan and the U.S.A. She has appeared at festivals such as the Berliner Festwochen, the Berlin new music festivals Maerzmusik and Ultraschall, Steirischer Herbst in Graz, the Venice Biennale and the Festival Milano Musica. She appears regularly as a soloist with orchestras including e.g. the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester under Dennis Russell Davies.

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

SCHUTZ, GABRIELI: Polychoral Splendour from the four galleries of the Abbey Church of Muri

Cappella Murensis Les Cornets Noirs SCHÜTZ: Warum toben die Heiden, Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott, Ich danke dem Herrn von ganzem Herzen, Vater unser, der du bist im Himmel, Zion spricht: Der Herr hat mich verlassen, Alleluja! Lobet den Herrn G. GABRIELI: Canzon primi toni a 8, Canzon quarti toni a 15, Canzon VIII a 8, Sonata XVIII a 14, Canzon in echo duodecimi toni a 10, Canzon septimi toni a 8

Label: Audite File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: AUDITE92652 Barcode: 4022143926524 NORMAL Price Format: 1 SACD Packaging: cristal Cappella Murensis / Johannes Strobl Les Cornets Noirs

The young Heinrich Schütz’s four-year sojourn with Giovanni Gabrieli proved to be one of the most fruitful educational journeys to Italy undertaken by a German musician. Following his return, Schütz presented his 'Psalms of David' in 1619: an impressive result of his encounter with the Italian musical style. These 'German Psalms in the Italian Manner' are consistently based on the polychoral style with which Schütz had become acquainted in the Venetian tradition of cori spezzati. As first organist of St Mark’s, Venice, Gabrieli included in his compositions the architecture of this ecclesiastical building in a unique way, placing the singers and instrumentalists, who were divided into as many as four choirs, in facing galleries, thus achieving remarkable sonic and spatial effects. On this recording the Cappella Murensis and the ensemble Les Cornets Noirs make use of the four galleries in the Abbey Church at Muri where the abbots and master builders designed the octagonal nave of specifically for polyphonic effect. in the works for two, three and four choirs, voices and instruments blend with a total of four continuo organs, producing a unique sound. The inclusion of the two large historic Bossart organs (Epistle and Gospel) as continuo instruments creates an additional dynamic palette. With magnificent Sonatas and Canzonas by Giovanni Gabrieli, Les Cornets Noirs, led by the cornettists Gebhard David and Bork-Frithjof Smith, are showcased as one of the leading European ensembles in early baroque music.

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

SCHUTZ: Psalms of David La Chapelle Rhenane Benoit Haller The 'Psalms of David', the opus 2 of Heinrich Schütz, constitute genuine symphonies for voices and instruments combined. This offshoot of the polychoral tradition of Giovanni Gabrieli, which Schütz frequented in Venice is interpreted by La Chapelle Rhénane with a refined blend of sonorities, supreme virtuosity and great emotional depth. ALSO AVAILABLE: K617191 Schütz Magnificat d’Uppsala Gramophone Editor’s Choice “a refreshing manifesto from musicians who zealously believe in the music they have chosen to perform.” David Vickers, Editor’s Choice, Gramophone, March 2007

Label: K617 File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: K617237 Barcode: 3383510002373 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Aurore Bucher, Andrea Brown [sopranos] Rolf Ehlers, Beat Duddeck [counter tenors] Michael Feyfar, Nils Giebelhausen [tenors] Ekkehard Abele, Benoit Arnould [baritones] La Chapelle Rhenane/Benoit Haller

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

J.S. BACH: Goldberg Variations BWV988 Blandine Verlet Blandine Verlet, the noted French harpsichordist, studied with Ruggiero Gerlin and Ralph Kirkpatrick. She began recording in the late 1970s for Philips, switching to the Astree label in the 1990s. Her recordings range from J.S. Bach's keyboard works to Froberger to lesser known composers such as Louis Couperin and Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. This, her second recording of the Goldbergs, has been called "one of the finest harpsichord versions in the catalogue." With violinist Gerard Poulet she has recorded early violin sonatas by Mozart, using the older Baroque keyboard instruments rather than a fortepiano or modern piano. Verlet has also worked with flautist Stephen Preston and viola da gambist Jordi Savall. Her playing is noted for her control and restraint in not letting emotion carry her away. Recently recommended by Diapason as their 'Desert Island' Goldbergs, now at mid price.

Label: NAĂ?VE File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: V5302 Barcode: 822186053027 MID Price Format: 1 CD Blandine Verlet [harpsichord Hemsch, 1751]

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

François COUPERIN: Works for Harpsichord / Ordres pour clavecin n° 7, 8, 25-27 Blandine Verlet Blandine Verlet is now one of the last living legends of the harpsichord. After a few years of absence, she has joined the label Aparté with a programme dedicated to Francois Couperin's harpsichord music, recorded on a sumptuous Hemsch of 1751 upon which she already performed Goldberg Variations in 1993. Throughout these pieces with evocative titles (Les Amusements, the Raphaèle, the delights, the Poppies, the Wandering Shadows ..) she reveals an artist with a voice more than inspired, powerful and constantly renewed. The cover of the disc is a portrait of Blandine Verlet by Craig Hanna. A real event!

Label: Aparté File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: AP036 Barcode: 3149028016628 2 FOR 1.5 Format: 2 CD Packaging: digipack Blandine Verlet [harpsichord]

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

La Voz del Olvido: Cantigas Traditional Spanish music & Cantigas de amigo, Martin Codax

Vox Suavis "Tell yourself often: with these songs the soul of a people beats in all its natural harmony and with all its true prestige. Throw away far from you this sombre weight of prejudices, of topics, of imposition that are a vile lie. Speak in your true language: in the language of truth." Cancionero de Felipe Pedrell In this programme the seven cantigas de amigo and some other cantigas from St. María are inspired by the oral tradition of several Spanish provinces, among others those of Galicia and Castilla. In these regions the cantigas and the Galaico-Portuguese language were born.Pieces from the Sephardic communities from Sofia and Smyrna offer a rich contrast to the Spanish ones.

Label: Aparté File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: AP034 Barcode: 3149028016420 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Vox Suavis: Dominique Vellard [tenor, oud] Ana Arnaz [soprano, percussions] Baptiste Romain [vièles, bagpipes]

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

BACH: Toccatas Noelle Spieth

Label: Eloquentia File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: EL1234 Barcode: 3760107400345 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Noelle Spieth [harpsichord]

When, around 1705, Johann Sebastian Bach came to write his Toccatas, this form of keyboard music had already been known for over a century, and was strongly influenced by Italian, English and Flemish ideas. The Toccata was a product of both vocal and instrumental music, and preserved many of its distinctive features. The Toccata first originated in the Gregorian chant heard in the Cathedral of St Peter's in Rome. It now functioned as a link between diverse cultural practices. During the Baroque era it was transplanted to the northern European countries, including England, where it made a decisive contribution to the development of secular keyboard music. These pieces, intended as much for the organ as for the harpsichord, combine the spectacular features of the northern virtuoso style with the rigour associated with the music of the Catholic church. When adopted by musicians from the Lutheran countries during the 17th century, it found yet another form of expression. Through its alternation between dramatic, religious passages and philosophical reflection, the Germanic Toccata provided a new sound model for a community in search of an ideal form of expression, allowing the individual to communicate with his Creator. The impersonal phrasing of certain musical figures may be thought to express the speculative nature of Calvinism in Flanders, as in the interior scenes of Vermeer. The domestic musical tradition of this region was well known to Bach, in central Germany, through the music printed in Amsterdam, the new capital of music publishing. It was through this route that Frescobaldi's work became known in the north, in particular his Fiori musicali, a famous collection of keyboard pieces in the Roman Catholic style, which made such an impression on Bach that he copied them out by hand.

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

BAROQUE SUITES FOR GUITAR Tilman Hoppstock Buxtehude: Suite A-Dur BuxWV 238/226, Suite d-Moll BuxWV 241/244 L. Couperin: Suite in d Froberger: Suite Nr. 18 in dorisch g; Suite Nr. 20 D-Dur; Tombeau fait à Paris sur la mort de M. Blancheroche J.S.Bach: Fantasie & Chromatische Fuge BWV 919/906

Label: Christophorus File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: CHR77357 Barcode: 4010072773579 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Tilman Hoppstock [guitar]

Tilman Hoppstock (*1961) studied guitar and cello in Darmstadt and Cologne. Since 1978 he has undertaken concert tours to the most important culture centres everywhere. Beside his many live performances, Hoppstock has recorded about 25 CDs which have been received enthusiastically by the press. In 1999, he and his partner in duet, singer Christoph Prégardien, were awarded the ‘Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik’ for their CD ‘Songs of Love & Death’ now on Christophorus CHR77320. Tilman Hoppstock has gained recognition as a publisher of over 80 music editions for children and advanced guitar students, and now of these arrangements of baroque works for solo guitar. His expertise in Ancient Music has resulted in the publication of a critically acclaimed scientific edition of Bach’s works for Lute which is regarded as the standard source by guitarists all over the world. "Tilman Hoppstock is an exceptional player, with a fine sense of style and unfailing sensitivity, and a technician of the first water.“ Gramophone Also available: CHE0158-2 Great Studies for Guitar Works by Allan Willcocks, Niccolò Paganini, Matteo Carcassi and Heitor Villa-Lobos

Tilman Hoppstock is performing at West Dean Guitar Festival and Summer School 11-12th August

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

W.F. BACH: Flute Music from Dresden Munich Flute Trio Trio Sonatas in D major (Falck 47), A minor (Falck 49), D major (Falck 48), E minor (Falck 54), G major (Falck 59), E flat major (Falck 55), F major (Falck 57) As the prominent composer, music theorist and contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, Johann Mattheson, states in one of his writings in 1739, composing two- and three-part pieces meant reaching the peak of mastery in their trade for the musicians of the late Baroque. The present trio sonatas and duets of Johann Sebastian Bach‘s eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, who was the most talented composer of them all, according to his father‘s opinion, belong to the outstanding chamber music works at the close of the Baroque era. What Mattheson expected of this musical genre is demonstrated here in the dense polyphonic interplay of the two flute parts in an exemplary manner: "the genre consists in a concertante character - set for example for two instruments and a bass - since, so to speak, the two upper voices take up with one another and play competitively".

Label: Christophorus File Under: Classical Catalogue No: CHE0173-2 Barcode: 4010072017321 BUDGET Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Münchner Flötentrio

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

BAROQUE CHAMBER MUSIC FOR PICCOLO TRUMPET Joachim Schäfer Vivaldi: Concerto in G minor J.C. Bach: Sonata in E fl at major Handel: Sonata in F major, Sonata No.1 in C minor Op.1 No.8 Maurice André: Caprice in the style of Baroque François Campion: Suite facile J-B Loeillet: Sonata in G minor

Label: Christophorus File Under: Classical Catalogue No: CHE0174-2 Barcode: 4010072017420 BUDGET Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Joachim Schäfer [trumpet]

Whole generations of composers saw a special challenge in writing for the solo trumpet. At the same time, they often had trumpeters at their disposal who were virtually legends of virtuosity, such as Johann Gottfried Reiche, whom Bach was able to call upon in Leipzig. The Baroque trumpet thus contributed a great deal to the development of the concerto style not least in the musical centres of Europe. There, its splendid effects also brought glory to the instrument in operatic and incidental music for the stage. The brilliantly virtuosic tonal potential of the instrument - played in its valveless, 'natural' form during its heyday - has always exercised a special fascination. Its aesthetic appeal may still be comprehended today; what is more, this apparently eternally young and refreshing world of sonare (sonata: sounding piece) and concertare (concerto: contrasting solo part) has now awoken a great and unceasing demand for new arrangements for the trumpet. The present recording has resulted out of a feeling of obligation to meet this challenge. Here the spirits of rediscovery and revival combine.

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

MOZART'S PUPILS Works by Storace, Attwood, Süßmayr, Freystädtler Storace: Sextet in G major for pianoforte, transverse flute, two violins, alto & cello Attwood: Trio in C major Op.1 No.11 for pianoforte, violin & obligate cello Süßmayr: Divertimento I in C major for violin, viola & cello Freystädtler: Concerto facile in D major for pianoforte, two violins, alto & cello Transcribing and copying were methods of learning and earning in Mozart's time. In this way Mozart‘s 'scholars' also profited from him - Hummel lived with him for two years, Süßmayr worked with him, Freystadtler, Eberl, Storace were close to him and watched his fingers with open ears. Mozart‘s studies have been handed down by Attwood (W. A Mozart, New edition of the complete works, Series X, Supplement) - today still important for all those who study composition and interpretation. It is a display of Mozart‘s great, almost playful mastery, which he drew from practice with great ability, and this he also handed down. It is important to pay attention to the roots and branches of this ingenious stem of Mozart. We can be justified in calling the four talented 'descendants': Attwood, Storace, Süßmayr and Freystadtler 'scholars'.

Label: Christophorus File Under: Classical Catalogue No: CHE0175-2 Barcode: 4010072017529 BUDGET Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Concilium musicum Wien Paul Angerer

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

Max BRUCH: Songs for Mixed Choir 5 Songs Op.38, 9 Songs Op.60, 7 Chants Op.71, 7 Scottish Songs, 12 Welsh Songs, Songs for Mixed Choir Op.86 These choral compositions demonstrate Bruch‘s masterly vocal writing particularly well. His choral sound is characterised by simple, folksong-like melodic lines and uncomplicated harmony which is intentionally held in rein. It was Bruch‘s dream to become Mendelssohn‘s successor in choral composition, but his unaccompanied choral works are evidence of another ideal - that of the folksong. In contrast to the specifically heroic style of the large oratorios, the unaccompanied works are marked by calm inwardness.

Label: Christophorus File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: CHE0176-2 Barcode: 4010072017628 BUDGET Price Format: 2 CD Packaging: cristal Konzertchor Darmstadt Wolfgang Seeliger

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

DVORAK: String Quartets No.9 Op.34 B75, No.13 Op.106 B192 Zemlinsky Quartet Two scores that frame the period when the composer of the famous 'American’ Quartet (No.12) was in his prime. Combining rhythmic invention, bright colours, only dimmed by the importance of the viola part, and a spontaneous melodic outpouring that contrasts with the absorbing melancholy of the slow movements, they give voice to a happy idiom despite the number of personal dramas the composer had undergone. Elements of folk nationalism pervade reminding us of a people that was going to become a nation once again in 1918. "There’s nothing quite like a Czech string quartet. The Zemlinsky are in the great Bohemian tradition, playing with a fullness of tone and a combined naturalness and care for phrasing and note values that give delight" David Cairns, Sunday Times

Label: Praga Digitals File Under: Classical/Chamber music Catalogue No: DSD250292 Barcode: 3149028012224 NORMAL Price Format: 1 SACD Packaging: cristal Zemlinsky Quartet: František Soucek, Petr Strizek [violins] Petr Holman [viola] Vladimír Fortin [cello]

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

SHOSTAKOVICH: The Song of the Forests Op.81 [1949] oratorio on words by Yevgeni Dolmatovsky The sun shines over the motherland Op. 90 [1952] cantata on words by Yevgeni Dolmatovsky & M.Svetlov 10 Poems Op. 88 based on words by revolutionary poets Op.88 (1951) Today Soviet propaganda literature tends to raise a smile, whereas the genuine feel of combined secular ‘passion’ and popular refrains still astounds, with its irresistible Russian prosodic rhythms. A tribute to outstanding Russian artists: Yevgeni Mravinsky (1903-88), Alexander Yurlov, choirmaster (1927-73) and the great bass Ivan Petrov (1920-2003).

Label: Praga Digitals File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: DSD350060 Barcode: 3149028020526 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Vladimir Ivanovsky [tenor] Ivan Petrov [bass] Boy’s Choir of Moscow State Chorus, USSR Academic Russian Choir Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra Yuri Ulanov / Alexander Yurlov USSR SO / Konstantin Ivanov (Op.90) Leningrad Radio & TV Chorus

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

VIENNESE DOUBLE BASS CONCERTOS Sperger, Hoffmeister, Anton Zimmermann, von Ditterdorf

Edicson Ruiz Edicson Ruiz, born in 1985 in Caracas, took up the double bass at the age of eleven. As a fifteen-year-old, he was awarded First Prize at the International Society of Bassists Competition in Indianapolis/USA. Soon afterwards he attended courses given by Janne Saksala and became the youngest scholarship holder of the Orchestral Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, where he studied with Klaus Stoll.Already during these studies, Edicson Ruiz was appointed a member of the world-famous Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra after a convincing audition. Conductor Christian Vásquez, born in 1984 in Caracas, is, as is Edicson Ruiz, a protégé of the internationally known Venezuelan Sistema and has already established himself as one of the most promising developing talents from the Americas.

Label: Phil.harmonie File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: Phil06020 Barcode: 4250317416209 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: special Edicson Ruiz [double bass] Sinfónica Juvenil Teresa Carreño De Venezuela Christian Vasquez [director]

ALSO AVAILABLE: Phil06008 Dittersdorf, Hoffmeister, Vanhal “Ruiz plays with unshakeable aplomb, exhibiting a sprightly spiccato and consistent tonal imagination.” The Strad recommends, March 2011

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

SCHULHOFF: String Quartet No. 1, Duo for Violin & Cello, 5 Pieces for String Quartet A Mirror Maze of Ideas, The Chamber Music of Erwin Schulhoff

Vogler Quartet

Label: Phil.harmonie File Under: Classical/Chamber music Catalogue No: Phil06016 Barcode: 4250317416162 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: special Vogler Quartet: Tim Vogler, Frank Reinecke (violins) Stefan Fehlandt (viola) Stephan Forck (cello)

After World War I Schoenberg was prominently placed, together with Stravinsky, Bartok and Hindemith. Krenek and Weill were beckoning, whilst Les Six suffered for their irony in Paris. Quite different was the perspective for composer Erwin Schulhoff returning home from the war. At 24 years of age, he had been wounded twice on the front and experienced human suffering, destruction and the loss of own ideals. Schulhoff had to scratch a living doing musical odd jobs but became friends with George Grosz, Otto Dix along with the Berlin Dada movement, whilst programming the Second Viennese school in his Dresden concerts. In the Nazi era he was denied employment and politically he leaned to the left, even setting passages from the Communist Manifesto, later obtaining Soviet citizenship. However, he was arrested in Prague the day after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. In 1944, he died in the W端lzburg concentration camp in Germany and it was to take more than 40 years for his work to become known and more popular, enhanced by the efforts of Michael Haas and Decca's Entartete music series. The Vogler Quartet celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2010/11. Here they offer Schulhoff's chamber music from the mid 1920s.

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

Wolfgang RIHM: Die Hamletmaschine Music theater in 5 parts: I. Family Album II. Europe of the Woman III. Scherzo IV. Pest in Buda, Battle of Greenland V. Wildstraining, In the Fearsome Armaments, Millennia These two CDs present a live recording of the premiere in the Nationaltheater Mannheim in March 1987. Under Peter Schneider as conductor and Friedrich Meyer-Oertel as stage director, the ensemble offers up a forceful performance. Revived with new artwork for Wolfgang Rihm's 60th birthday. "Heiner Müller's text 'Die Hamletmaschine' from 1977 is an intellectual turning point, an 'endgame' of drama... time has become a lumpy sphere, and multi-layered images pass like an imaginary theatre. With his partly impetuous, partly excessive lyrical music, 'polluted' by quotes and pseudo-quotes and thus also being 'open', Wolfgang Rihm managed to 'grasp' this unwieldy text and achieve a great success at the world premiere of 'Die Hamletmaschine'." Fono Forum

Label: Wergo File Under: Classical Catalogue No: WER6195-2 Barcode: 4010228619522 NORMAL Price Format: 2 CD Packaging: box set Kurt Müller-Graf (Hamlet I), Rudolf Kowalski (Hamlet II), Johannes M. Kösters (Hamlet III) Gabriele Schnaut (Ophelia), Carmen Fuggiss (Ophelia-Double) Ulrike Sonntag (Ophelia-Double, Lenin) Martina Borst (Ophelia-Double; Mao) Chor & Orchester des Nationaltheaters Mannheim Peter Schneider [conductor]

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

John CAGE: Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on 'Finnegans Wake', Writing for the Second Time Through After having released Pierre Henry's "La Ville. Die Stadt" WERGO continues this CD series with John Cage's famous radio production "Roaratorio - An Irish Circus on 'Finnegans Wake' ". In addition to his musical works and closely tied to them is a body of extensive poetic-philosophical work wich he published successively in his books. Beginning in the 1940s Cage was occupied with the epochal work of James Joyce, particularly with the hermetic and difficult "Finnegans Wake". With "Roaratorio. An Irish Circus on 'Finnegans Wake' " Cage realised a work which within months of its premiere in 1979 at the WDR in Cologne became an international sensation and must be ranked as one of the key works of Ars Acustica in this century. In "Roaratorio" Cage's experiences with music and poetry, oral recitation and tape montage, and his close association with Zen Buddhism, lead to an all-inclusive cosmology built out of human voices, natural sounds, sounds coming out of the immediate environment, noises, singing, and music.

Label: Wergo File Under: Classical Catalogue No: WER6303-2 Barcode: 4010228630329 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal John Cage [voice], Joe Heaney [voice] Paddy Glackin [violin] Peadar Mercier, Mel Mercier [bodrhan] Matt Malloy [flute] Seamus Ennis [uillean-pipes] Studio Akustische Kunst des WDR, Kรถln Klaus Schรถning [editor]

RELEASE DATE 2ND JULY 2012

ORFF: Gisei - The Sacrifice Music drama after the Japanese tragedy 'Terakoya' in a German translation by Karl Florenz Aki Hashimoto (Kwan Shusai/Kotaro), Oleksandr Prytolyuk (Genzo), Susanne Serfling (Tonami), Andreas Daum (Matsuo/1st figure), Anja Vincken (Chiyo/2nd figure), Sven Ehrke (Gemba) Staatsorchester Darmstadt, Choir of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, Constantin Trinks [conductor], John Dew [stage director]

Label: Wergo File Under: Classical/Opera & Vocal Catalogue No: MV0856-5 Barcode: 4010228085655 NORMAL Price Format: 1 DVD Packaging: long box Aki Hashimoto (Kwan Shusai/Kotaro), Oleksandr Prytolyuk (Genzo), Susanne Serfling (Tonami), Andreas Daum (Matsuo/1st figure), Anja Vincken (Chiyo/2nd figure), Sven Ehrke (Gemba) Staatsorchester Darmstadt, Choir of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, Constantin Trinks [conductor], John Dew [stage director]

WERGO release another highlight in their Carl Orff DVD edition: a film version of Orff's first stage work 'Gisei - Das Opfer' by the film director Peider A. Defilla. 'Gisei' is set in the year 902 in a village school in Japan and is about the sacrificial death of a child. Both the subject and Japanese culture greatly inspired the young Carl Orff, and he remained an afficionado of Japan all his life. In the Japanese tragedies, Orff also found numerous references to the ancient Greek tragedies by Sophocles with which he concerned himself decades later. This DVD shows the world premiere production by John Dew (who was recently awarded the Carl Orff Prize 2012) at the Darmstadt State Theatre. Lavish costumes as well as carefully rehearsed facial expressions and gestures convey a deep impression of this tragedy. The following 15-minute bonus film includes interesting additional information on Orff's oeuvre and particularly on his work on 'Gisei'.

RELEASE DATE 31ST OCTOBER 2011

VIVALDI: Concertos for Bassoon Vol. 2 RV499, 472, 490, 496, 504, 483, 470

Sergio Azzolini This is the second volume of Bassoon concertos to be released by Naïve as part of the prestigious Vivaldi Edition. As with the first, the recording features the outstanding combination of soloist Sergio Azzolini, an acknowledged expert in baroque performance, and the critically acclaimed period instrument group L’Aura Soave.

Label: NAÏVE File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: OP30518 Barcode: 709861305186 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Sergio Azzolini [bassoon] L'Aura Soave Cremona Diego Cantalupi [direction] also available Op30496 Bassoon Concertos Vol. 1 Vol.3 will be released his Autumn

Internationally renowned bassoonist Sergio Azzolini was born in 1967 in Bolzano, Italy. As a baroque bassoon player he is a member of the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, and appears regularly as soloist with L’Aura Soave Cremona, Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca and La Stravaganza Köln. He is also a member of Parnassi Musici. The group L’Aura Soave was formed in 1995 by lutenist and musicologist Diego Cantalupi with the aim of exploring Italian vocal and instrumental traditions and little-known Italian composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the last few years L’Aura Soave has begun a close collaboration with the bassoonist Sergio Azzolini, whose role as both soloist and director has greatly influenced the orchestra. Its first recording of bassoon concertos by Vivaldi (OP30496) for the Naïve Vivaldi Edition was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or in France as best instrumental release of 2010. “The performances are very much in the modern Italian manner: period instruments played with gusto, a terrific sense of attack pervading outer movements. Azzolini burbles and rasps away merrily, yet there's poetry aplenty in slow movements, where he displays an unsurpassed palette of tonal colour...[I] cannot imagine these concertos better played, with such infectious exuberance.” International Record Review “Azzolini is on excellent form again and seems to have lost none of the infectious eagerness with which he started out...[He] catches all these moods and is everywhere tireless in avoidance of the routine - listen to the dramatic pause before the last ritornello in RV496, where others might simply have ploughed on head-down...Has anyone ever grabbed hold of this music so wholeheartedly?” Gramophone Diapason d'Or IRR OUTSTANDING Editor's Choice, Early Music Quarterly June-August 2012