CONSUMER INFORMATION SERVICE: NO. 268 MAY 2014 REPRESENTING TODAY’S GREAT LABELS THIS MONTH'S HIGHLIGHTS Select Music and Video Distribution Limited 3 Wells Place, Redhill, Surrey RH1 3SL Tel: 01737 645600 Fax: 01737 644065 Robert SCHUMANN, Ludwig van BEETHOVEN, Frédéric CHOPIN, Stephen HOUGH In the Night Stephen Hough This latest recital album by ‘the thinking person’s virtuoso: an extraordinary pianist’ (The New York Times) takes the listener on a journey through that most intense and absorbing of nineteenth-century obsessions, the night. The Romantic night was one without sleep; where experiences are mutated through darkness. Highlight Stephen Hough’s thoughtful programming creates a new aural sphere for some of the most celebrated piano of the month works in the repertoire. CDA67996 Anton RUBINSTEIN Piano Quartets Rita Manning Morgan Goff Justin Pearson Leslie Howard CDA68018 Pianist Leslie Howard is acclaimed as ‘a virtuoso in the true Romantic style with its emphasis on musicality as much as bravura’ (The Guardian). He is joined here by three of his frequent string collaborators for two forgotten masterpieces of the Russian nineteenth-century chamber music tradition by renowned pianist- composer Anton Rubinstein. Ildebrando PIZZETTI, Mario CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO Violin Sonatas Hagai Shaham Arnon Erez Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez continue their exploration of the early twentieth-century violin repertoire, CDA67869 turning this time to Italy. These musicians are noted for their full-blooded performances: here they revel exuberantly in the music’s operatic passion. George Frideric HANDEL The Eight Great Suites Danny Driver Danny Driver’s recordings of CPE Bach’s keyboard works have been much admired: praised by critics as deeply stylish and revelatory accounts of eighteenth-century works on a modern piano, with Driver’s impeccable pianism constantly present. Now he turns to Handel’s ‘Eight Great Suites’. CDA68041/2 Gabriel FAURÉ The Complete Music for Piano Kathryn Stott , (with Martin Roscoe) CDS44601/4 This welcome release presents Fauré’s complete music for piano, in benchmark performances by Kathryn Stott, at budget price. 4 hours and 56 minutes of pure pleasure. Anton BRUCKNER Maurice DURUFLÉ Symphony No. 3 The Complete Organ Music BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, John Scott Osmo Vänskä St Paul’s Cathedral Organ CDH55474 CDH55475 From (CDA67200) (From CDA66368) 2 MAY 2014 William WALTON Symphony No. 1; Violin Concerto Tasmin Little BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner Edward Gardner, a Chandos exclusive artist, conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in two great masterpieces by William Walton, his Violin Concerto and the Symphony No. 1. Highlight CHSA 5136 of the month Jules MASSENET Neeme Järvi Conducts Ouverture de ‘Phèdre’; Le Dernier Sommeil de la Vierge*; Scènes pittoresques; Fantaisie*; Overture to ‘Le Roi de Lahore’; Scène religieuse from ‘Les Érinnyes’*; Suite de ballet from ‘Le Cid’; Entr’acte Sevillana from ‘Don César de Bazan’ Truls Mørk* Orchestre de la Suisse Romande , Neeme Järvi CHSA 5137 Jules Massenet has long been associated primarily with opera, while his orchestral works have gone unappreciated. This collection of overtures, ballet music, and concert pieces, each with its own unique orchestral colour, showcases Massenet’s orchestral writing at its finest. British Works for Cello and Piano, Volume 3 Alan RAWSTHORNE: Cello Sonata in C major Edmund RUBBRA: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 60 E.J. MOERAN: Cello Sonata in A minor Paul Watkins Huw Watkins The Watkins brothers have already shown a true affinity for this repertoire, Gramophone remarking CHAN 10818 that ‘[they] have all this music in their very being.’ Volume 3 concentrates on three works written in a short period immediately after the Second World War, by three composers of very different orientation and personality. Sergei RACHMANINOFF Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 Preludes Xiayin Wang Xiayin Wang presents her second disc of piano works by Rachmaninoff, playing the two piano sonatas alongside three of the Op. 23 Preludes. She impressed with the first volume, Gramophone remarking that it featured ‘playing of an awesome clarity and poise’ (Gramophone Choice). CHAN 10816 J. S. BACH ‘Italian’ Concerto, ‘French’ Overture and Other Works for Harpsichord ‘Italian’ Concerto, BWV 971; ‘French’ Overture, BWV 831; Aria variata ‘alla maniera italiana’, BWV 989; Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 903; Fantasia, BWV 906 Steven Devine The ‘Italian’ Concerto and ‘French’ Overture included on this disc together make up the second CHAN 0802 part of Bach’s Clavier-Übung, composed, according to Bach himself, ‘for music lovers to refresh their spirits’. Here Steven Devine’s performances show that these works do far more than simply refresh spirits. MAY 2014 3 Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat Major Op. 107; Cello Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 126 Truls Mørk Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko A committed performer of contemporary music, Mørk gave the UK premiere of Rautavaara’s cello concerto ODE 1218-2 Towards the Horizon and whose recording on Ondine won both the Gramophone and ICMA Awards. This is the premiere recording of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under their new artistic director Vasily Petrenko. Aulis SALLINEN Kullervo: Opera in Two Acts Jorma Hynninen, Eeva-Liisa Saarinen, Matti Salminen, Jorma Silvasti Finnish National Opera and Chorus, Ulf Söderblom ODE 1258-2T This re-issue is released in time for the prestigious Savonlinna Opera Festival, which will stage a new production of Kullervo in the summer. Sallinen will celebrate his 80th anniversary in 2015. BYRD, TALLIS, MORLEY, PHILIPS, WHITE, TOMKINS VIGILATE! English Renaissance Polyphony Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner SDG720 The title Vigilate! (Be watchful!) epitomises the clandestine character of recusant music-making in Elizabethan England, by undercover Catholic composers of the time. The pieces on this recording display the richly imaginative, devout and diverse responses of musical craftsmen who worked with unfailing creativity in difficult times. Havergal BRIAN The Complete Havergal Brian Songbook, Volume 2 Michelle Walton Mark Stone Sholto Kynoch This is the second and concluding disc of Stone Records’ complete edition of the songs of Havergal Brian. 5060192780277 Best known for his many huge symphonies (including The Gothic, which was recently performed at the BBC Proms), Brian’s songs reveal the more intimate facets of his character. They are hugely varied in style, ranging from lyrical to angular, and from whimsical to tormented. A wonderful insight into the compositions of one of England’s most singular composers of the twentieth century. Asprilio PACELLI, Vincenzo BERTOLUSI, Giovanni Francesco ANERIO The Blossoming Vine Italian Maestri in Poland The Sixteen, Eamonn Dougan COR16123 The Sixteen and Associate Conductor, Eamonn Dougan, follow up the success of the first disc in their new Polish series with a new recording devoted to music from the court of Sigismund III Vasa. 4 MAY 2014 John IRELAND Earth’s Call: Songs for Soprano & Piano April Fredrick Mark Bebbington SOMMCD 0137 Most previous recordings of Ireland’s songs have featured male voices – tenor and baritone – but this new collection contains several first recordings by a soprano. It also features a world première recording: Variations sur ‘Cadet Rousselle’, (sung in French), which Ireland wrote in 1918 in collaboration with Arnold Bax, Frank Bridge and Eugene Goossens. Sergey RACHMANINOV Études-Tableaux Ops. 33, 39 Martin Cousin SOMMCD 0136 In this, Cousin’s third “Russian” disc for SOMM, he continues with Rachmaninov’s complete Études-Tableaux, which are ideally suited to both his fearless technique and to Rachmaninov’s compositional style and sonorities. Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Trio in E flat major Op. 3; Serenade in D major Op. 8 Trio Zimmermann The Trio Zimmermann’s previous release of Beethoven’s Trios received excellent reviews and won them the BIS2087 BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Award in 2013. This next instalment shows us the ‘lighter’ side of Beethoven’s chamber works. Richard WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer: Ouvertüre; Die Frist ist um; Tannhäuser: Blick ich umher; O du mein holder Abendstern; Lohengrin: Du Fürchterliches Weib!; Die Meistersinger: Was duftet doch der Flieder; Vorspiel zum III. Aufguz; Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!; Parsifal: Ja! Wehe! Wehe! Weh’ über mich!; Die Walküre: Wotans Abschied und Feuerzauber James Rutherford Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton BIS2080 Winner of the first Seattle Opera International Wagner competition in 2006, Rutherford has since performed in a number of Wagner productions, and is something of the Hans Sachs of our day, having sung the part at the Bayreuth Festival (in 2010 and 2011), as well as the Glyndebourne Festival. o Bohuslav MARTINU: Sonatas Nos. 1 - 3 for Cello and Piano Olli MUSTONEN: Sonata for Cello and Piano Jean SIBELIUS: Malinconia Op. 20 BIS2042 Steven Isserlis, Olli Mustonen Isserlis and Mustonen have been friends and collaborators for close to twenty years, and now join forces in this exciting and varied programme. Martinuo ’s three cello sonatas each have a distinct character and allude to musical styles of 20th century America, whilst maintaining a distinctly Czech feel. J. S. BACH Concertos for Two Harpsichords Masaaki and Masato Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan BIS2051 Performing these works, with a quintet of string players from the Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki is joined by his son Masato. For the present disc Masato