June17 classical releases

harmonia mundi UK

Classical new releases

available June 17th 2016, call-off June 10th

JUNE 17

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9, Live in Concert Philharmonia Orchestra Christoph von Dohnányi Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in October 2015, this new release continues the Philharmonia Orchestra’s celebrated series of live recordings on Signum, led in this performance by their 'Honorary Conductor for Life' Christoph von Dohnányi.

Recorded as part of the orchestra’s 70th anniversary season, this performance captures the grandeur and intensity of Schubert’s final and greatest symphony.

Also available: SIGCD431 Bruckner Symphony No. 9 “Beautifully prepared account...Dohnanyi’s new recording is distinguished by the clarity with which it presents Bruckner’s score as well as the excellence of it’s sound.” Gramophone

Label: Signum Classics File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: SIGCD461 Barcode: 635212046128 NORMALPrice Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Philharmonia Orchestra Christoph von Dohnányi [conductor]

“The performance is as devastating an experience as it should be, and one of the most powerful that the whole literature of music can provide.” BBC Music Magazine "The Philharmonia plays very well for a conductor who they clearly and rightly esteem..” Music Web International

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

FAURE: Complete Songs Volume 1 Lorna Anderson • Nigel Cliffe • Ann Murray • John Chest Iestyn Davies • Ben Johnson • Janis Kelly • Joan Rodgers Malcolm Martineau Pianist Malcolm Martineau brings together some of the UK’s finest singers for the first release in a new series charting the complete songs of French composer Gabriel Fauré. This follows Martineau’s well-received series of the complete Poulenc songs.

Label: Signum Classics File Under: Classical/Secular Vocal music Catalogue No: SIGCD427 Barcode: 635212042724 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: cristal Lorna Anderson, Nigel Cliffe, Ann Murray, John Chest, Iestyn Davies, Ben Johnson, Janis Kelly, Joan Rodgers Malcolm Martineau [piano]ew

Text

1. Le papillon et la fleur, Op. 1, No. 1 (AM) 2. Mai, Op. 1, No. 2 (AM) 3-5 Poème d’un jour, Op. 21 (JC) 6. Lydia Op. 4, No. 2 (ID) 7. Tristesse Op. 6, No. 2 (ID) 8. Dans les ruines d’une abbaye, Op. 2 (JC) 9. Le voyageur Op.18, No.2 (NC) 10. Sérénade toscane, Op. 3, No. 2 (BJ) 11. Les berceaux, Op. 23, No. 1 (LA) 12. Chanson du pêcheur (Lamento) Op. 4 (NC) 13. Vocalise No. 29 (AM) 14. Sylvie, Op. 6, No. 3 (JC) 15. Après un rêve, Op. 7, No. 1 (AM) 16. Vocalise No. 20 (LA) 17. Aurore, Op. 39, No. 1 (JK) 18. Fleur jetée, Op. 39, No. 2 (JK) 19. Arpège, Op. 76, No. 2 (LA) 20. Les matelots, Op. 2, No. 2 (JC) 21. La Fée aux chansons, Op. 27, No. 2 (JK) 22. Nell, Op. 18, No. 1 (BJ) 23-27 Cinq mélodies ‘de Venise’, Op. 58 (AM) 28-35 Le Jardin Clos, Op. 106 (JR)

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

BIBER: The Rosary Sonatas Andrew Manze Richard Egarr The 'Rosary' Sonatas are one of the most unusual collections of violin music ever assembled and it is these works on which Biber's present-day fame rests. Calling for a different violin tuning, scordatura, in each of the 15 Sonatas - all played here on the same Amati instrument - the full set is a triumph of Baroque invention and 17th-century virtuoso style.

The Gramophone Award-winning partnership of Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr meets this challenge with dazzling results.

Andrew Manze plays a violin by Amati, 1700; bow by Gerhard Landwehr, Heemstede, 1988, after an Italian model.

Gramophone Award Winner, Baroque Instrumental 2005 BBC Radio 3, Building a Library, First Choice 2004

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: HMG507321/22 Barcode: 3149020732113 MID Price Format: 2 CD Andrew Manze [violin] Richard Egarr [organ and harpsichord Alison McGillivray [cello, Sonata XII]

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

BRAHMS: Complete Piano Trios Trio Wanderer “A superb Brahms recital” Classical CD of the Week, The Daily Telegraph, 30 September 2006 “This is some of the most elegant playing I have heard in Brahms’s chamber music…superb playing.”

Stephen Johnson, BBC Music Magazine, Proms issue 2006 “They make such a beautiful sound, they sound so utterly in tune with the music, they are so sympathetically recorded that, really, comparisons are irrelevant: this two-disc set has to be a state-of-the-art contender in a field not lacking in other versions of the complete Trios… this newcomer takes some beating.”

Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review, July/August 2006

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Chamber music Catalogue No: HMG501915/16 Barcode: 3149020191514 MID Price Format: 2 CD Packaging: digipack Trio Wanderer

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

HAYDN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 13, 33, 35, 39, 43 47, 50 & 53 Alain Planès Haydn wrote keyboard sonatas for 'connoisseurs' and 'amateurs' throughout his career. Alternating bread-and-butter work and rich terrains of experimentation, they bear the mark of endlessly renewed invention. Alain Planès offers here a personal selection from Haydn’s output: from the experimental, sometimes anguished pieces of the 'Sturm und Drang'; through the refined and witty galanterie of the 1780’s; to the visionary masterpieces of the late sonatas, he brings out Haydn’s indefatigable spirit of adventure and infinite resource.

“Planès brings the originality of these Haydn sonatas bounding to life.”

BBC Music Magazine, June 2014 ****

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: HMG501762/63 Barcode: 3149020176214 MID Price Format: 2 CD Alain Planès [piano]

“The musicianship of Alain Planès, that most fastidious yet humane of pianists, is perfectly suited to the keyboard music of Haydn” Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times, May 2009 “a fine selection, well executed.” The Observer, 27 January 2002

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

SCHUMANN, BRAHMS: Vocal Quartets

SCHUMANN: Spanisches Liederspiel and Liebeslieder, Minnespiel [previously available as HMC902050] + BRAHMS: Liebeslieder-Walzer, Neue Liebeslieder, Drei Liedere [previously available as HMC901945]

"...plangently sung here by Werner Güra, one of today’s outstanding lieder singers, who, with the diamantine soprano of Marlis Petersen, gets the lion’s share of the solo songs and duets. The quartets are an especial delight, unjustly neglected treats for the Schumann bicentenary." [Schumann] Hugh Canning, CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK, Sunday Times, 29 August 2010 Financial Times ***** Gramophone recommends

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Secular Vocal music Catalogue No: HMG508470/71 Barcode: 3149020847015 MID Price Format: 2 CD Packaging: digipack Marlis Petersen Anke Vondung Stella Doufexis Werner Güra Konrad Jarnot Christoph Berner, Camillo Radicke [pianos]

"Topped by Marlis Petersen's crystalline soprano, the beautifully balanced vocal quartet sings with charm, tenderness and a piquant sense of drama. A word, too, for the guileful, spirited accompaniments from duetting pianists Berner and Radicke." Richard Wigmore, The Daily Telegraph, 6 October 2007 [Brahms] "delightful performances... Settle down with a bottle of good wine, relax and listen."

Michael Kennedy, Sunday Telegraph, 25 November 2007, ***** [Brahms]

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

20th Century Cello Works Britten, Cassado, Amoyel Kodaly, Dutilleux, Henze, Crumb, Ligeti, Bacri

Emmanuelle Bertrand Pascal Amoyel CD1: DUTILLEUX: Trois strophes sur le nom de SACHER (1976-82), HENZE: Sérénade (1949) CRUMB:Sonata (1955), LIGETI: Sonata (1948-53) Nicolas BACRI: Suite n°4 op.50 (1994-96) dedicated to Emmanuelle Bertrand

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: HMG508466/67 Barcode: 3149020846612 MID Price Format: 2 CD Packaging: digipack Emmanuelle Bertrand [cello] Pascal Amoyel [piano] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAjfsmfuuuQ

"Her recital is devoted to solo cello music of the 20th century, and two interpretations stand out in particular as having the composer's blessing: those of the inventive 'Trois strophes sur le nom de SACHER' (1976-82) by Henri Dutilleux, and the more conventional but still finely written 'Suite No.4' (1994-6) by Nicolas Bacri, which is dedicated to Bertrand and was premiered by her. Here and in the other works, which comprise the engaging and characterful 'Serenade' (1949) by Hans Werner Henze, the impressive 'Sonata' (1955) by the American individualist George Crumb, and the powerful, folk-influenced early 'Sonata' (1948-53) by Ligeti, Bertrand reveals her mastery of tonal variety and creative engagement with her material." George Hall, The Guardian CD2: The Cello Speaks BRITTEN: Cello Suite No.3 Op.87 (1971) in C minor, Gaspar CASSADO: Suite for solo cello (1926), Pascal AMOYEL: Itinerance, KODALY: Cello Sonata Op.8 (1915) On 'Le violoncelle parle' Emmanuelle Bertrand performs a wide-ranging selection of compositions for solo cello. Featured are Spaniard Gaspar Cassadó's Suite for Solo Cello, British composer Benjamin Britten's 'Suite No.3 for Solo Cello' as well as Frenchman Pierre Amoyel's 'Itinérance' and Hungarian Zoltán Kodály's 'Sonata for Solo Cello'. In Bertrand's hands, the cello truly 'speaks' and takes us beyond geographical boundaries and straight to the heart of the language of cultural inspiration.

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

RACHMANINOV: Etudes-Tableaux Op.39, Six Poems Op.38 Variations on a theme of Corelli Op. 42

Alexander Melnikov Alternating the roles of soloist and accompanist, Alexander Melnikov has brought together here two works emblematic of Rachmaninovf at his creative peak: the famous 'Études-tableaux' Op.39 and Six Poems Op.38 were followed by a very long silence. In 1931, it was a man broken by destiny who produced the 'Variations on a Theme by Corelli', a bitter work that yearns for a past gone forever.

First Choice, R3 Building a Library “This stunning disc is finely recorded and makes you look forward to a further balance of songs and piano music from both these remarkable artists.”

Bryce Morrison, Gramophone, April 2008

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Secular Vocal music Catalogue No: HMG501978 Barcode: 3149020197813 MID Price Format: 1 CD Alexander Melnikov [piano] Elena Brilova [soprano]

“This is Rachmaninov without frills, without superfluity, without artifice (though with oh such art!). This is Rachmaninov.”

Alexander Levin, Piano, March/April 2008

“No need for other benchmarks: this opulently recorded Rachmaninov disc is essential.”

David Nice, BBC Music Magazine, August 2008, *****/*****

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

J.S.BACH: Solo Cantatas Cantatas for alto BWV 35, 169 & 170

Bernarda Fink Freiburger Barockorchester Geist und Seele wird verwirret (Spirit and soul are bewildered), Gott soll allein mein Herze haben (God alone will have my heart) Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (Contented peace, beloved soul’s joy)

Classic FM CD of the Week Sunday Times Top 100 Albums of 2009

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Choral Catalogue No: HMG502016 Barcode: 3149020201619 MID Price Format: 1 CD Bernarda Fink[mzzo-soprano] Freiburger Barockorchester Petra Müllejans [konzertmeister] Vocalconsort Berlin

"All three of these solo cantatas for alto voice date from 1726...Fink’s velvet-timbred mezzo evokes to perfection the consoling sentiment of Bach’s alto arias. Vergnügte Ruh has long been a favourite of star mezzos and countertenors, but Fink sings with an artless humility, with eloquent yet never overemphatic German, which is not only balm to the ear, but deeply moving. The other two cantatas may be less well known, but they each contain sublime arias, with elaborate instrumental embroidery superbly supplied by the Freiburg soloists. Unmissable."

Hugh Canning , CLASSICAL CD OFTHE WEEK, The Sunday Times ***** "I can think of no one I would rather hear sing them than Fink, the Austro-Argentine mezzo, who invests the music with chaste dignity, accompanied by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra."

Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 31 January/1 February 2009 “immaculately sung and moving Bach…I doubt if anyone sings this music as satisfyingly as Fink does today. This beautifully recorded and presented disc deserves to fly out of the shops long before next Christmas’s lists.”

Hugh Canning, IRR OUTSTANDING, International Record Review, February 2009 "Bernarda Fink’s taste for unusual and understated repertoire extends to Bach. Sung with scrupulous attention to the text, the three cantatas on this disc – including Gott soll allein mein Herze haben (BWV 169), which may be more familiar as the E major Harpsichord Concerto – feature organ obbligato solos of unusual complexity. Organist Wolfgang Zerer’s subtle articulation is complemented by some lovely oboe playing."

Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday, 5 April 2009

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

HAYDN: Piano Concertos Hob.XVIII: 4, 6 & 11 Andreas Staier Freiburger Barockorchester Andreas Staier plays a fortepiano by Monika May, Marburg, 1986, after Walter, Vienna, 1785. This title was released for the first time in 2004 and was BBC Radio 3 Building a Library Period Instrument Choice in 2005.

Gramophone Editor’s Choice Radio 3 Disc of the Week "Andreas Staier, playing as copy of a Walter fortepiano, is superb here, receiving classy support from Gottfried von der Goltz's players." Andrew Clarke, The Independent, 5-11 February 2005

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: HMG501854 Barcode: 3149020185414 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Andreas Staier [fortepiano] Freiburger Barockorchester Gottfried von der Goltz

“outstanding” Nalen Anthoni, Editor’s Choice, Gramophone, April 2005 “The playing of both the soloist and the accompanying band is wonderfully lithe and crisp, the copy of a 1785 Walter fortepiano makes the most delicious sound and Staier has the technique and imagination to bring these pieces to startling life and make you wonder why they so seldom figure on the concert platform.” Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review, April 2009

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

LIGETI: Lux Aeterna Three Fantasies after Friedrich Hölderlin, Sonata for Viola Solo HEPPENER: Im Gestein, World Premiere Recording

musicFabrik Cappella Amsterdam Daniel Reuss Both Ligeti and Heppener belong to the generation born in the 1920s which formed the basis for the post-war avant-garde. 'Lux Aeterna', used by Stanley Kubrick in his film '2001: A Space Odyssey', marked the installation of a new musical language. The later 'Sonata for solo viola' simultaneously evokes the polyphony of the 14th century and certain varieties of ethnic music. 'Im Gestein', a cycle of lieder to poems by Paul Celan which won Heppener the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize in 1993, was here recorded for the first time in 2008.

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Secular Vocal music Catalogue No: HMG501985 Barcode: 3149020198513 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack musicFabrik Susanne van Els (viola) Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss

“In this performance [of Lux aeterna] by the astoundingly good Capella Amsterdam it sounds more meditative and less apocalyptic than it did [in Kubrick's 2001], but no less haunting.”

The Telegraph “If the title track is the big draw here, the Dutch choir does not disappoint. The sopranos are tightrope walkers on the eternal, steady high note, staggering their breaths for a seamless sound. The held, unresolving clashes are thrilling, a torment one never wants to end. Ligeti's Viola Sonata, the Drei Phantasien, offers similar pleasures where the tenors push singing close to shouting in the mighty fortissimo.” The Times

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

BARTOK: The Miraculous Mandarin Op. 19, Sz.73 (complete ballet) Dance Suite BB 86, Sz.77, Four Orchestral Pieces Op. 12 (Sz 51)

Orchestre National de Lyon, David Robertson This disc contains the first recording of a truly complete 'Miraculous Mandarin' from 2002. The composer’s son, Peter, restored 30 missing bars, along with various performance directions, from the autograph score.

"The 1924 quasi-ballet that provoked so much indignation at its premiere in Cologne is interpreted by Robertson and his forces with a crisp vivacity rarely evoked on CD." Tarik O'Regan, The Observer, 14 July 2002

Label: harmonia mundi File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: HMG501777 Barcode: 3149020177716 MID Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Orchestre National de Lyon David Robertson [conductor]

"David Robertson leads a thinking-man's Bartók program. The playing is stunning, all the dynamics are observed, and there's a clarity to all three of the works recorded here that will delight those who love Bartók's brilliant use of the orchestra, his colorations, his inner voices and rhythms. The Four Pieces for Orchestra gets the best performance--the first and third movements are the soul of expressionism, and Robertson gets the strangeness perfectly." Robert Levine "There are two good reasons for investigating this disc apart from its stimulating and substantial programme. First, Bartók enthusiasts will be interested to hear The Miraculous Mandarin, the expressionist pantomime completed in 1924, in a new edition... The disc’s other strength is that David Robertson and the Lyon National Orchestra offer an unexpected but rewarding perspective on Bartók’s expressive world. The orchestra’s soft-grained timbre yields sober but satisfying performances that possess gravity, humanity and a tinge of melancholy (especially in the Dance Suite and Four Orchestral Pieces) – qualities not usually apparent in more overtly characterised accounts."

BBC Music, David Breckbill

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

Accordato-Habsburg violin music Ex-vienna Vol. 3 Violin Music from Manuscript XIV 726 of the Minoritenkonvent in Vienna

Gunar Letzbor Ars Antiqua Austria

Label: Pan Classics File Under: Classical/Instrumental Catalogue No: PC10334 Barcode: 7619990103344 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Gunar Letzbor [violin] Ars Antiqua Austria

The violinist Gunar Letzbor is an established specialist in performing Austrian baroque music; in particular, he has especially intensively grappled with works of Biber, Muffat and Schmelzer, to name three examples. In so doing, he is constantly searching for a specifically Austrian baroque string sound. Manuscript XIV 726 of the Minoritenkonvent in Vienna is one of the most important sources of Austrian baroque music. From the over hundred sonatas contained in it, Gunar Letzbor has compiled the series "ex Vienna" consisting of three programmes which shed light on various aspects of Austrian violin music. On this, the third and final CD of the series – Accordato – Gunar Letzbor has recorded violin works that are attributed to a particular author and that do not require any detuning of the violin (scordatura). A violin school north of the Alps was founded by Schmelzer, Bertali and Biber that was of a far higher standard, in many respects, than was found elsewhere in the world. They used the high range on the fingerboard almost as a matter of course; players experimented with special bowings and delighted in polyphonic playing on the violin. These musicians conceived tone painting and especially loved rapid playing that could make a strong artistic impression on the listeners.

Also available: PC10322 EX VIENNA VOL. 2 – Scordato PC10310 EX VIENNA VOL. 1 - Anonymus “The title scarcely sets the pulse racing but, sometimes shadowing the flair of Biber, the anonymous treasures of manuscript XIV 726 leap off the page in performances fresh, committed and idiomatic.”

BBC Music Magazine, August 2014 **** “Letzbor selected the programme and plaNORMALys with great facility and real verve throughout, fully communicating in a sympathetic recording the intriguing, anonymous sonatas all the while abetted by fine accompaniments from Ars Antiqua Austria.” MusicWeb International, 1st October 2014

RELEASE DATE 17TH JUNE 2016

Double Bass Concerto ROTA: Divertimento Concertante, BLOCH: Schelomo, BRUCH: Kol Nidrei Op.47 "When I first heard the Divertimento Concertante for double bass and orchestra by Nino Rota, I immediately recognised that it was one of the best ever compositions for double bass. The work provides a complete image of both technical and also creative possibilities which can be displayed by a double bass virtuoso, not to mention the wonderful melodies which would perhaps not be at all anticipated on this instrument! Right at the beginning, I recognised that Schelomo by Ernest Bloch - originally composed for violoncello – would also be perfectly suited for performance on the double bass. The lower notes and the melodies played by the double bass sound just as good and fascinating as on the cello. There are also a few passages which in my opinion sound even “deeper” and “darker” on the bass. Recording Max Bruch‘s Kol Nidrei was just as great a challenge. The work has been part of the double bass repertoire for many years despite the inherent difficulty of shaping and communicating these wonderful melodies." Boguslaw Furtok

Label: Pan Classics File Under: Classical/Orchestral Catalogue No: PC10354 Barcode: 7619990103542 NORMAL Price Format: 1 CD Packaging: digipack Boguslaw Furtok [double bass] Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Peter Zelienka [conductor]

Boguslaw Furtok was born in Katowice, Poland and has been taking double-bass lessons since the age of 9. His post-graduate studies brought him to Germany where he studied with Prof. Günter Klaus at the Frankfurt Academy of Music and Performing Arts, and in 1995 he was appointed Principal double-bassist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. A succesful prizewinner at many major competitions he has formed a duo with pianist Ewa Warykiewicz, with whom he performs a wide range of works from the double-bass repertoire and including special transcriptions of works originally for cello and violin to further establish the double bass as a solo instrument.