Here is a selection of the latest releases from the catalogues of Ricordi, Durand Salabert Eschig and UMP Editio Musica Budapest.
With this album, Daniel Hope presents a personal collection of timeless classics by Schubert, Elgar and Pärt, several beloved traditional songs and a brand new arrangement of the inspiring and spiritual Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez. “Music has a tremendous power,” says Daniel Hope.
Performers:
Daniel Hope (violin),
Zürcher Kammerorchester
Label:
Deutsche Grammophon
Ferenc Farkas – Chamber Music: Works with Flute and Oboe
"This twelfth release in the Toccata Classics exploration of the music of Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000) once again puts his chamber music with flute in the spotlight – here with an oboe chaser. The music highlights the characteristics that make Farkas’ music so appealing: catchy tunes, transparent textures, buoyant rhythms, a fondness for Baroque forms and a taste for the folk-music of his native Hungary." (László Gombos, booklet)
Performers:
András Adorján (flute),
Lajos Lencsés (oboe),
Balázs Szokolay (piano), et al.
Label:
Toccata
Out of his fascination with microorganisms and inspired by their world, Dai Fujikura has created a new work for orchestra in which free-floating sounds awaken the impression of microbes flying about – the work itself becomes a “microorganism orchestra”, as Fujikura describes it.
Glorious Clouds was premiered as the finale of a concert featuring Japanese composers on 2 November 2018 by the Cologne Radio (WDR) Symphony Orchestra under Peter Eötvös.
Performers:
Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra,
Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
Label:
Minabel Records
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This double album, Mozart & Flute in Paris, brings together nine captivating works, all with their origins in Paris, which feature a solo flute. “The pieces on this album represent different golden ages of the flute,” says Pahud. The earliest, dating from 1778 are two concertante works that Mozart wrote while visiting Paris. The newest, premiered in 2014 by Pahud and the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, is Dreamtime by Philippe Hersant.
Performers:
Orchestre de chambre de Paris,
Emmanuel Pahud (flute)
Label:
Warner Classics
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The Del Sol Quartet released the world premiere recording of Huang Ruo’s
A Dust in Time, a work for string quartet, with versions for string orchestra.
A Dust in Time is a meditative, hour-long work inspired by Tibetan Buddhist sand mandalas. The Del Sol Quartet’s recording climbed to #3 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart, and was highlighted by Joshua Barone in the New York Times article, “5 Classical Albums to Hear Right Now.”
Performers:
Del Sol Quartet
Label:
Bright Shiny Things
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Italian Contemporary Music for Harpsichord (AAVV)
Performer:
Luca Quintavalle (harpsichord)
Label:
Brilliant
Liza Lim – Singing in Tongues
"A superb demonstration of [Lim's] originality as a music-theatre composer." (The Guardian)
Performers:
ELISION ensemble
Label:
Huddersfield Contemporary Records
György Kurtág – Six Moments Musicaux; Officium breve
"It’s the spare, perfectly crafted sound world of Kurtág that draws the best playing. The 15 micro movements of
Officium breve (1988–9) are austere and uncompromising but the performance is fearless yet probingly beautiful. In the
Six moments musicaux (2005), the Parker Quartet conjures a kaleidoscopic, post-Expressionistic range of mood and atmosphere. The result is nothing short of astonishing." (The Strad)
Performers:
Parker Quartet
Label:
ECM
In July 2018, Joseph Phibbs’ opera debut
Juliana received its world premiere at the Cheltenham Music Festival. Working with librettist Laurie Slade, the composer has reworked August Stindberg’s classic chamber play
Miss Julie into a modern scenario about the power of money, immigration politics, drugs and the blurring of sexual boundaries which enthralled the audience and press: “
Juliana is that rare thing nowadays,” wrote The Guardian, “a genuinely well-made, effective new opera that achieves exactly what it sets out to do.”
Performers:
Zoe Drummond,
Rebecca Afonwy Jones,
Felix Kemp (soloists),
Nova Music Opera Ensemble,
George Vass (conductor)
Label:
Resonus
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Gioachino Rossini – Petite messe solennelle
The
Petite Messe Solennelle is an enigmatic and mysterious masterpiece. Perhaps it is only with this recording (which for the first time makes use of the new critical edition), wonderfully conducted by Giulio Prandi with the Ghislieri Choir and four top class singers, that we can truly understand the mysteries of the old Rossini, who winks at the opera theatre but from a now distanced perspective (ICMA Awards | Winner for Choral Music).
Performers:
Sandrine Piau (soprano),
Josè Maria Lo Monaco (mezzo-soprano),
Edgardo Rocha (tenor),
Christian Senn (baritone),
Francesco Corti,
Cristiano Gaudio (piano),
Daniel Perer (harmonium),
Coro Ghislieri,
Giulio Prandi (conductor)
Label:
Arcana
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"Salvatore Sciarrino’s compositions for flute feature an abundance of unusual sounds inventively developed by Giancarlo Graverini, Roberto Fabbriciani, Mario Caroli, and now by his preferred instrumentalist, Matteo Cesari [...] Salvatore Sciarrino has clearly abolished – and radically so – the traditional melodic concept of the flute, giving it thickness and other dimensions through dynamics, timbre and range." (Laurent Feneyrou, booklet)
Performers:
Matteo Cesari (flute)
Label:
Kairos
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This album by the Jyväskylä Sinfonia conducted by Ville Matvejeff presents three works by Éric Tanguy (b. 1968), one of the leading composers in contemporary French music with two outstanding soloists, clarinetist Pierre Génisson and violinist Júlia Pusker.
Performers:
Jyväskylä Sinfonia,
Ville Matvejeff (conductor),
Pierre Génisson (clarinet),
Júlia Pusker (violin)
Label:
Ondine
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An eminent ambassador of the ‘French touch’ in jazz and winner of many awards (Django-Reinhardt, Victoires du Jazz, Django d’Or, SACEM jazz awards) – Baptiste Trotignon has been composing for symphony orchestras and classical musicians for several years. The music on this album is not ‘symphonic jazz’, says Trotignon, ‘but you can hear the sounds of the Afro-American musical language, whether in the harmonies or in the very motoric rhythms that are always in motion (dances, toccatas, grooves)’.
Performers:
Orchestre Victor Hugo,
Jean-François Verdier (conductor),
Baptiste Trotignon (piano)
Label:
Alpha Classics
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Péter Wolf – Jazz Preludes
"Péter Wolf seems to walk in Chopin's footsteps when he composes his preludes – with the sophistication of classical music in the language of jazz – whose essence is improvisation itself. He makes use of the entire stylistic spectrum jazz, ranging from the gospel to blues, bebop, Latin jazz, and of course, the world of ballads." (Gergely Fazekas, booklet)
Performers:
József Balog (piano)
Label:
Tom Tom