When a new year begins record labels tantalize us with exciting new releases. January was an especially busy month, so here are some outstanding new recordings that you’ll want to check out.
Remember, we regularly review the best new releases each week and also showcase them in our feature stories. You can also check out new releases by scrolling down the “Recommendations” drop-down tab to “New releases.”
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5
Osmo Vänskä conducts the Minnesota Orchestra in Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5. If this seems like déjà vu all over, it is and it isn’t. Vänska recorded the complete Sibelius symphonies with the Lahti Symphony some years ago for the BIS label. Based on what I hear on this recording, the new cycle is going to be a thriller. For you Sibelius completists, the Lahti orchestra is also recording a complete cycle with their chief Okko Kamu. Thank you BIS president Robert von Bahr.
With the exception of the Glagolitic Mass, Leos Janácek’s choral music is not well known. Cappella Amsterdam conducted by Daniel Reuss do much to rectify that with this program featuring the composer’s folksy Six Moravian Choruses (transcribed from Dvorak’s Moravian Duets) and Nursery Rhymes.
James Ehnes is the soloist and Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts the Sydney Symphony in this live recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D. Ehnes brings tremendous insight and excitement to both unfamiliar repertoire as well as the standards and this recording of one of the most famous of all violin concertos is a scorcher.
Soprano Danielle de Niese is joined by countertenor Andreas Scholl and the English Concert conducted by Harry Bicket in this collection of arias by Dowland, Purcell, Handel, Pergolesi and Bach. Get ready to have your heart melt when you hear her duet with Scholl in “Pur ti miro” from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.
Shostakovich and Britten Cello Concertos
Cellist Johannes Moser is on a roll. In September 2011 he played the Schumann Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta and in October premiered Enrico Chapelas’ electric cello concerto “Magnetar” with the L.A. Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This album, featuring Shostakovich’s Concerto No.1 and Britten’s Cello Symphony, is electrifying. The young Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen directs the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln.
Here’s a great album to celebrate the tercentenary of King Frederick the Great. You aren’t celebrating the tercentenary? No matter, there’s some terrific chamber music and concertos by J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, Quantz, Benda and Fred the King himself, performed by the brilliant flautist Emmanuel Pahud. The album is a fascinating exploration of the flute’s development at the Prussian court. Savor this album and if you really want to get into the zeitgeist of the period, read James Gaines’ An Evening in the Palace of Reason, which recounts the meeting between “Old” Bach and the King.
Bach: The Well Tempered Clavier
Speaking of “Old” Bach, few harpsichordists play his music with as much insight and virtuosity as Christine Schornsheim. Schornsheim plays a rich toned 1624 Ruckers harpsichord in Bach’s complete Well Tempered Clavier.
There sure are a lot of fine young cellists out there and Zuill Bailey is one of the very best. He’s the soloist in the Dvorak Concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony conducted by Jun Märkl (in a rare recorded foray outside French repertoire) on this recording that also includes two Dvorak tone poems.
Roussel: Le festin de l’araignée
How many ballets about insects do you know? Roussel’s Le festin de l’araignée (The Spider’s Banquet) is from the composer’s earlier impressionist period and is one of his most popular scores. Two suites from Roussel’s Padmâvatî, an exotic ballet that draws on Indian music, round out this recording by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Stéphane Denève. This is the final volume in Denève’s terrific Roussel cycle.
If you think John Dowland’s music is lugubrious and bleak, you need to listen to these delicious arrangements of his more light-hearted songs. Tenor Michael Slattery and La Nef members Sylvain Bergeron and Seán Dagher put a Celtic-flavored spin on music that works remarkably well. Besides singing beautifully, Slattery accompanies himself on the shruti box, an Indian drone instrument.
by Craig Zeichner, Ariama Editor
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