War & Peace 1614-1714

La Capella Reial de Catalunya & Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall
 
Lully, Handel, Charpentier, Scheidt, Biber, Schein, Cabanilles, Dumanoir, Rosenmüller, Jenkins, Cererols, Blow: this double SACD-book gathers the who’s-who of European music, to mention but a few, of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. Deeply affected by the Thirty Years War as well as the War of Spanish Succession, the finest music inspired by this turmoil is vividly performed by Jordi Savall and his ensembles. The set ends with a fantastic and complete performance of Handel’s 'Jubilate Deo'; and, as you have come to expect from Alia Vox, the booklet is lavishly documented.

International Classical Music Awards – Best collection

Piotr Tchaikovsky: Iolanta

Olesya Golovneva, Alexander Vinogradov, Andrei Bondarenko, Dmytro Popov, Vladislav Sulimsky, John Heuzenroeder, Marc-Olivier Oetterli, Dalia Schaechter, Justyna Samborska,
Choir of the Cologne Opera – Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne
Dmitrij Kitajenko

Die Uraufführungen von Jolanthe und Der Nussknacker fanden am 18. Dezember 1892 im St. Petersburger Mariinski-Theater statt. „Die Ausführung beider“, schrieb der Komponist tags darauf an seinen Bruder Anatoly, „war großartig, und die des Balletts wohl zu großartig – der Glanz ermüdete die Augen.“ Gustav Mahler dirigierte bereits am 3. Januar 1893 in Hamburg die erste Aufführung des Operneinakters außerhalb Russlands und brachte Jolanthe am 22. März 1900 auch als Wiener Erstaufführung zu Gehör.

International Classical Music Awards – Opera winner

Лукас Генюшас. Эмансипация Консонанса.

Фирма «Мелодия» представляет диск фортепианной музыки современных российских композиторов в исполнении лауреата XV Международного конкурса им. П.И. Чайковского Лукаса Генюшаса. Этот молодой пианист принадлежит к наиболее ярким музыкальным дарованиям современности. Ученик В. Горностаевой, он достойно продолжает великие традиции отечественного фортепианного исполнительства, идущие от Г. Нейгауза. В свои 25 лет он является обладателем множества престижных международных премий, в том числе серебряных медалей крупнейших фортепианных состязаний Европы – имени Ф. Шопена в Варшаве (2011) и имени П.И. Чайковского в Москве (2015). Критики отмечают зрелость и глубину искусства пианиста, убедительность его исполнительских трактовок музыки самых разных эпох – от Генделя до Хиндемита. Записи Генюшаса выходили на лейблах NIFC, Art Classic, DUX, Piano Classics; двойной диск с произведениями Шопена выпустил Институт Ф. Шопена в Польше, в 2013 г. Московской консерваторией была выпущена трансляционная запись концерта пианиста, посвященного юбилею Рахманинова. На этот раз Л. Генюшас представляет фортепианные циклы современных русских авторов – Леонида Десятникова, Валерия Арзуманова и Владимира Рябова. Исполняемые сочинения написаны во второй половине 1980-х гг. и выдержаны в эстетике «новой простоты». В то же время эта музыка по-своему отражает сложное время тотальной «переоценки ценностей», происходившей в эти годы в жизни и искусстве нашей страны.

CPO Panufnik Symphonic Works series (8 CDs)

The Andrzej Panufnik Edition is one of the major recording projects involving modern music in recent years. Panufnik’s extensive output of symphonic music is richly communicative and of potentially widespread appeal. Highly committed, first rate soloists, the excellent Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the charismatic and expressive conductor Lukas Borowicz – the real ‘master’ of this edition, having this music definitely in his bones – are inspired protagonists.
Andrzej Panufnik stands out in the compositional landscape of the Western World. “For me music is always the expression of the deepest human feeling and genuine emotion. The spiritual and poetic content is therefore very essential and has a decided influence on the construction. In all my works I attempt to form a real balance between emotion and intellect – an equilibrium of heart and mind, of motivation and construction.” This month CPO are concluding their complete edition of Panufnik’s symphonic works with his three great concertos for violin, cello, and piano.

ZHOU, Long / CHEN, Yi: Symphony, "Humen 1839", ZHOU, Long: The Rhyme of Taigu / The Enlightened

New Zealand Symphony, Darrell Ang

Widely regarded as one of China’s leading composers, Pulitzer Prize-winning Zhou Long writes music which is consistently compelling. The Rhyme of Taigu revives the spirit of Chinese court music from the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD), drawing on traditional percussion instru­ments. Symphony ‘Humen 1839’, co-composed with Chen Yi, vividly commemorates the public burning of over 1000 tonnes of opium, an event that was to lead to the First Opium War between Great Britain and China.

Grammy Nominee

Shostakovich - Under Stalin's Shadow

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
    
'Nelsons’s masterful grasp of the architecture of the work (particularly the epic 20-minute first movement, which al­most feels like a symphony in its own right here), the slow-burn climaxes and the searing brass-playing all make their mark, but there’s something quite special going on here which transcends the technical side of things.'

Grammy Nominee
Presto Discs of the Year

JS Bach: Violin Concertos. Alina Ibragimova (violin). Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen

Alina Ibragimova recently transfixed Proms audiences with her live solo Bach performances. Back in the studio she has teamed up with the expert Arcangelo to record five Bach Violin Concertos, two undisputed masterpieces and three probable reconstructions: all to be treasured.

Presto Discs of the year
BBC Music Magazine Disc of the month

Filament. Eighth Blackbird. Bryce Dessner (guitar), Nico Muhly (organ)

Celebrated new-music sextet Eighth Blackbird, whose last three albums garnered Grammy awards, continues to soar with 'Filament', a sizzling selection of four-world premiere recordings, plus a concert performance of Philip Glass’s influential Two Pages. The title 'Filament' symbolizes the strong ties of friendship and shared music­al interests con-necting the composers and per­formers on the album. The Chicago-based “super-musi­cians” (Los Angeles Times) are “a polished, personable, routinely dazzling sextet” (New York Times). In recent con­cert seasons, eighth blackbird has performed at Carne­gie Hall (Zankel and Stern Halls), London’s Barbican Centre and Washington DC’s Library of Congress and Kennedy Center.

Mozart: The Weber Sisters

Sabine Devieilhe, Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion
  
The Weber Sisters is rooted in Mozart’s life story and includes music inspired by Aloysia, Konstanze and Josepha Weber, three soprano sisters whom Mozart first met in the German city of Mannheim in 1777, when he was 21. Though he initially fell in love with Aloysia, who went on to become a celebrated diva, it was Konstanze who became his wife; she outlived him by nearly 50 years and did much to sustain and build his reputation after his death. The programme comprises songs, operatic and concert arias and orchestral numbers, and Sabine Devieilhe’s interpretations are typified by beauty of tone, a penetrating sense of drama and a scrupulous respect for the score and the text. Three of the highlights are: the concert aria ‘Popoli di Tessaglia’ – written for Aloysia – which rises to spectacular heights (specifically, the G two-and-a-half octaves above middle C); the sublime ‘Et incarnatus est’ from the C minor Mass – premiered in Salzburg by Konstanze, and ‘Der Hölle Rache’, written for Josepha as the second fireworks-filled aria of the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, a role that has brought triumphs for Sabine Devieilhe at the opera houses of Lyon and Paris. Her colleagues on this album are the Ensemble Pygmalion, the keyboard player Arnaud de Pasquale and the conductor Raphaël Pichon.

Grands Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros

Over the sea. Edith Canat de Chizy

Edith Canat de Chizy was born in 1950. She studied archaeology and philosophy at the Sorbonne University and music at the Paris Conservatoire. Her compositions have received numerous prizes and accolades and she is the first female composer to be a member of the Institute de France. Her favourite and most successful compositions are those using string instruments and choir. All of her works have an engaging contemporary sound and explore the relationship between the past and the present. She is heavily influenced by the music of Purcell and Britten

Grands Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros le Prix du Président de la République

Gounod: La Colombe

Hallé Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder
Erin Morley (Sylvie), Javier Camarena (Horace), Michèle Losier (Mazet), Laurent Naouri (Maître Jean)

Following his award-winning recording of Donizetti’s Les Martyrs, Sir Mark Elder’s second Opera Rara release of 2015 features an rare recording Gounod’s delightful opera La Colombe ("The Dove”). Sir Mark and the Halle Orchestra are joined by a wonderful cast, led by two of the most acclaimed young singers in the world today.

Since graduating from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in 2010, Erin Morley has risen to become one of today’s most most sought after coloratura sopranos. Alongside Erin is Mexican tenor Javier Camerena, one of only three singers in 70-years to sing an encore at the Metropolitan Opera during two consecutive performances of Rossini’s “la Cenerentola” (those two other encore singers were Juan Diego Florez and Luciano Pavarotti).

Presto Discs of the year finalist

This Is From Here. Harrison Kennedy

Blues Music Award nominee Harrison Kennedy was once best known as a founding member of Holland Dozier Holland's 70's Soul Super Group 'The Chairmen of the Board' but he's now equally well known as one of the 21st century's most original Blues artists. On his new Electro-Fi release 'This Is From here' he takes a giant step forward, superbly supported by Guitar ace Colin Linden (Bob Dylan band), John Dymond (K. D. Lang) and Gary Craig (Bruce Cockburn). The 11 original tracks and a dynamic Ray Charles cover showcase Harrison's unforgetable deep blues and soul vocal stylings. 'Ingenious, Original Blues of Charm and Individuality'

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro. MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis

For Currentzis, these recordings represent the culmination of a decade-long research project dedicated to the discrepancies between the composer’s will and what our ears have become used to. About his Figaro, he says: “The radicality of this recording is its precision. It is through strictest discipline that you unlock the perfume, bring the composer’s text into real life, create all these colours that are impossible on the stage. This is why we spent such a significant amount of time in the studio – because we were pushing to reach our limits, to jump above our limit and reach a new understanding of this music. That is the privilege of a ‘no-compromise’ studio recording.

CD des Jahres. Opernwelt

Yes! Julie Fuchs

Paris de la fin de la Première guerre jusqu’aux sinistres événements qui annoncent la Seconde, voilà ce qu’a choisi la soprano Julie Fuchs pour son récital d’airs d’opéra, d’opérettes et de comédies musicales françaises – ou, du moins, en français pour quelques moments de Kurt Weill et Léhar (la seule incursion de l’album dans l’avant-Première guerre). On y trouve des choses tout à fait « sérieuses », comme l’air du Feu dans L’Enfant et les sortilèges, l’air de Vilya de La Veuve joyeuse (dans la traduction française de Robert de Flers) ou quelques délicieux moments des Aventures du roi Pausole de Honegger – en compagnie de l’excellent ténor Stanislas de Barbeyrac ; mais aussi des choses provenant de répertoires plus légers, voire du music-hall avec Yes ! de Maurice Yvain ou Tea For Two. C’est que Julie Fuchs ne se limite certes pas au répertoire classique, même étendu à Weill ou Yvain, mais ose s’aventurer dans les territoires du jazz et de la comédie musicale de Broadway. Une artiste lyrique complète, en quelque sorte.

Qobuz Diapason d'or, Le Choix de France Musique, Choc de Classica (octobre 2015)

Mélodies rares. Paul Derenne

Rare french songs
 
Œuvres de Koechlin, Delage, Manziarly, Cliquet-Pleyel, Delannoy, Durey, Caplet, Ciry, Sauguet, Beydts, Francaix, Jaubert, et extraits d'opérettes de Van Parys et Pierre Petit / Paul Derenne, ténor

Institut national de l'audiovisuel - Ina Mémoire Vive

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado

In January 2014, music lovers worldwide were saddened to learn that Claudio Abbado had passed away. Deutsche Grammophon feels immensely blessed and proud to be releasing together with Accentus Music Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, which was recorded as part of Abbado’s final concert

The concert was recorded by Accentus Music during the 75th Lucerne Festival in 2013 with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.

Gramophone Awards - Record of the Year, Winner - Orchestral
BBC Music Magazine Orchestral Award Winner

Rameau: Pièces de clavecin. Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)

This is a masterclass for the instrument, confirming this young artist as a truly great player: in the words of International Record Review ‘his technique is beyond criticism and his inherent musicianship goes far deeper than mere surface understanding … it is difficult not to warm to such a musician’.

This double album comprises the whole of Rameau’s output of keyboard suites, and Esfahani rejoices in its wealth of genius, its excitement and drama. Rameau is a composer whose revival is ongoing, and his unique combination of the witty and the cerebral, the light and the curmudgeonly, abounds throughout his harpsichord music.

New York Times Best Classical Recordings of the Year
Gramophone Awards Winner - Baroque Instrumental

Glenn Gould: The Complete Album Collection 1 & 8

In 1955 Glenn Gould signed an exclusive contract with Columbia Masterworks, and remained with the label until his untimely death in 1982. The Complete Album Collection refurbishes Gould’s complete approved studio recordings - from his legendary 1955 Goldberg Variations to his last recording in 1982 - using state-of-the-art Direct Stream Digital® (DSD) mastering technology in an x81 CDs limited edition; each album presented with its original LP sleeves and labels. The deluxe box packaging includes a 416 pages book, featuring the complete original liner notes (many penned by Gould himself), a wealth of facsimile documents, rare photographs, full discographical information, and a newly commissioned introductory essay by Gould scholar and biographer Kevin Bazzana. Few pianists are so easily identifiable as Gould, whose rhythmic acuity, breathtakingly clean articulation and scintillating technical aplomb still leave a formidable individual imprint, from his brashly controversial Mozart Sonata cycle and spacious Brahms Intermezzi to his fiercely committed 20th-century music interpretations and his bracing, joyous & highly influential Bach.
Sony: 88875032222

Smetana: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2

Following their 2014 Gramophone Award-winning recording of Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D minor 'Death and the Maiden' and the Quintet in C major, the Quartet are returning once again to the work of a Czech composer.

Pavel Haas Quartet was formed in 2002 and bears the name of Pavel Haas (1899-1944), a Czech composer of the first half of the 20th century. Since 2004 the Quartet has won many prestigious awards, including first place in the Prague Spring International Music Festival, BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice, the MIDEM Classical Award, and three Gramophone awards.

Presto Disc of the Week
Gramophone Awards Winner - Chamber
Gramophone Magazine Disc of the Month

A French Baroque Diva. Arias for Marie Fel

This album is of particular interest as rather than concentrating on one composer it showcases the works written for the premiere soprano of the day, Marie Fel. Voltaire called her his ‘adorable nightingale’. For d’Aquin, she was an enchanted being. Marie Fel was the soprano who held an entire generation spellbound at the Paris Opéra and at Louis XV’s court during one of the most glorious periods of French music. With a voice described as ‘pure, charming, silvery’ (La Borde), ‘touching and sublime’ (Grimm) and ‘always lovely, always seductive’ (d’Aquin), she inspired some of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s finest music and introduced a whole new level of virtuosity and expression into the French singing tradition. Her long, triumphant career is traced through this fascinating recording.

Presto Discs of the Year Finalist
Gramophone Awards Winner - Recital