new classical

Rachmaninov:

Symphony No. 2, Op. 27

Sergey Rachmaninov’s orchestral works range from 1887, when he was not yet 14, to 1940, when he produced his valedictory work. His Second Symphony was written between 1906 and 1908. This program of works was recorded by the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin. (Vox Classics)

1CD# VOX-NX-3013CD

$16.99

Puts: The City – Marimbo Concerto –Moonlight

Composer Kevin Puts: “This collection of recordings is especially meaningful for me because it charts my growth as an orchestral composer from my years as a student –when the Marimba Concerto was composed – to more mature work such as Moonlight. It also reflects the wonderful relationship I have enjoyed over the years with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop.” (Naxos)

Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy –Symphony No. 2

Scriabin composed most of his single-movement fourth symphony The Poem of Ecstasy between 1905 and 1908 in Italy and France. He originally intended it to be called Poème orgiaque (‘Orgiastic Poem’) with its unprecedented raw sensuality and overpowering aesthetic, taking chromaticism beyond even Wagnerian voluptuousness. (Naxos)

1CD# 8574139 $13.99

Bach: Bachs Königin / Holland Baroque

1CD# 8559926

$13.99

Double Concerto & Piano Trio / Anne-Sophie Mutter; Pablo Fernández

Anne-Sophie Mutter and Pablo Fernández are musical partners for many years united by friendship, inspiration and mentorship. The present album includes Johannes Brahms’s Double Concerto (live recording, Prague, January 2022) with the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Manfred Honeck. The album also includes Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio (studio recording, September 2021). (Sony)

1CD# 19658741102 $11.98

Big House / The Ruisi Quartet

The Ruisi Quartet makes its recording debut on Pentatone with Big House, bringing together music by Matthew Locke, Joseph Haydn and Oliver Leith. Spanning nearly four centuries, this combination of composers establishes a harmonious as well as dissonant relationship between past, present and future. The critically-acclaimed Ruisi Quartet has established an international reputation as a charismatic and expressive young ensemble. (Pentatone)

1CD# PTC5187040 $15.99

Offenbach: Complete Duos for 2 Cellos [7 CDs]

Years before he took Paris by storm as a brilliantly witty composer of operettas, Offenbach was celebrated across Europe as a virtuoso cellist. It is this lesser-known aspect of his creative personality that is explored by Giovanni Sollima and Andrea Noferini, who have spent years immersing themselves in the technically intricate but always lyrical and extrovert pieces which Offenbach wrote for his instrument. (Brilliant Classics)

7CD# BRI96251 $34.99

Holland Baroque presents Bachs Königin, an album full of masterful organ works by J.S. Bach, transcribed for the orchestra by Judith and Tineke Steenbrink. These creative interpretations add unique colours and a fresh spirit to baroque monuments. Here is yet another chance to enjoy Bach’s genius. Holland Baroque is an original and innovative baroque orchestra that approaches baroque repertoire through a fresh and contemporary approach. (Pentatone)

1SACD# PTC5186971 $19.99

Bonds: Credo; Simon Bore the Cross NYC-based The Dessoff Choirs, instrumental in re-establishing the music of 20th-century African American composer Margaret Bonds with the world-premiere recording of her Christmas oratorio, The Ballad of the Brown King, present two more Bonds premieres: new orchestrations of her cantata, Simon Bore the Cross, created with long-time collaborator and friend Langston Hughes, and the large-scale Credo set to prose by W.E.B. Du Bois. (Avie)

1CD# AV2589 $17.99

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (1887 Version) / Markus Poschner

Was it a sign of conductors’ general satisfaction with Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony or editorial footdragging, that the work’s original 1887 version wasn’t published and performed until 1972? It is this elaborate, raw earlier version that Markus Poschner performs here, in the latest edition by Paul Hawkshaw for the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition. An interesting insight into emboldened Bruckner at his unadulterated self. (Capriccio)

1CD# C8087 $19.99

Kabelevsky, Shebalin: Works for Cello / Marina Tarasova

Renowned Russian cellist Marina Tarasova makes her debut on Challenge Classics. Her disc is centred on two great Sonatas: Kabalevsky’s (composed in 1962) and Shebalin’s (composed in 1960). In between, Prokofiev’s Concertino works as a lyrical intermezzo. Kabalevsky’s Sonata is probably the most beautiful Russian 20th Century work for cello and piano. (Challenge)

1CD# CC 72940 $16.99

1923 – Toch, Weill, Krenek, Bartok

For the festive concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the unification of the cities of Buda and Pest to form the capital and residence city of Budapest in the autumn of 1923, Béla Bartók created his “Dance Suite” for orchestra – a “rather touchy issue”, as the internationalist-minded composer explained in a private note.

(BR Klassik)

1CD# BRK900206 $17.99

Les nuits de Paris – Delibes, Dubois, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Thomas

Under the expert baton of François-Xavier Roth, the orchestra Les Siècles has set out to rediscover the French dance repertory using historical instruments. Their album explores the output of both established composers – Camille Saint-Saëns, Ambroise Thomas, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet –and their colleagues who specialized in Terpsichorean entertainment, including Philippe Musard and Isaac Strauss. (Bru Zane)

1CD# BZ2005 $18.99

Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 (reorchestrated by Mahler)

Robert Schumann’s Fourth Symphony was initially conceived not long after the success of the First. This and the Third Symphony owe a great deal to Beethoven. Gustav Mahler’s subtle re-orchestrations were made in the light of instrumental innovations and the increase in size of the symphony orchestra towards the beginning of the 20th century, making them ideal for performance today. (Naxos)

Poulenc: La Voix Humaine / Veronique Gens

Véronique Gens’s version of La Voix Humaine has been eagerly awaited! This ‘lyric tragedy in one act’ might have been written for her, so ideally suited are her feeling for language and her dramatic intensity to Poulenc’s monologue on a text by Jean Cocteau, composed in 1958. This is a far cry from the ‘light’ Poulenc of the 1920s. (Alpha)

1CD# ALPHA899 $18.99

Mozart: Krönungsmesse (Coronation Mass), K. 317

The mass that Mozart composed in 1779 for the Easter service in Salzburg Cathedral is shrouded in legend. From the very first bar onwards, it exudes the stately tone that would, much later on, earn it the sobriquet “Coronation Mass”. Soon after Mozart’s death, it became the Viennese court orchestra’s favorite mass for coronation ceremonies.

(BR Klassik)

1CD# BRK900530 $17.99

Ivanschiz: Chamber Music at the Abbey of Lambach

Amandus Ivanschiz was baptized Matthias Leopold Ivanschiz on 24 December 1727 in the Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt. The extensive oeuvre of this master, who only lived to the age of 31, is astonishing. In total, more than 300 copies of his works can be found in Central and Eastern Europe. His modern style and great compositional mastery probably explain the wide dissemination of his music. (Challenge)

1CD# 8574430

$11.99

Nicolaou: Etudes & Frames / Tamara Stehanovich

On "Etudes & Frames", pianist Tamara Stefanovich presents the music of contemporary master Vassos Nicolaou. In his Etudes, Nicolaou uses virtuosity as a means to explore forms made of complex rhythms, great speed and multilayered sound. Each of the fifteen etudes has an evocative title and focuses on specific geometrical-choreographical movements of the hands on the keyboard, as well as on a basic acoustical idea. (Pentatone)

1CD# PTC5187041 $15.99

Janacek-Brahms-Bartok / Patricia Koptachinskaja; Fazil Say

This new recording marks the reformation of the legendary duo of Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say. The explosive duo presents a program devoted to Bartók’s Violin Sonata No. 1 (‘a marvel from start to finish, one of his finest works’, says Patkop), Brahms’s D minor Sonata (‘I imagine a feather in flight at the opening of the sonata’) and Janácek’s Sonata, ‘an extreme work, wounded and heart-rending’. (Alpha)

1CD# ALPHA885 $18.99

1SACD# CC 72913 $18.99

Jongen: Preludes for Piano

Serbian-American pianist

Ivan Ilić presents this new recording of two of Joseph Jongen’s substantial sets of Préludes for piano. The 13 Préludes, Op. 69 are expansive in nature and extremely poetic – each bears an evocative title. The 24 Petits Préludes dans tous les tons were begun in 1940 and (like Bach’s preludes and fugues) circle through each and every key, major and minor. (Chandos)

1CD# CHAN 20264 $20.99

Thomas: Complete Works for Solo Violin

Clarissa Bevilacqua writes:

“The more I became familiar with Augusta Read Thomas’s compositional style, the more I felt myself wanting to create something tangible and long-lasting with her works. And thus, at the beginning of the global pandemic a few years ago, the idea for this album was born. This album features Augusta’s complete works for solo violin, as well as the world premier recording of her Violin Concerto No. 3 ‘Juggler in Paradise’” (Nimbus)

1CD# NI8109 $18.99