August 2019 Catalogue Issue 40 Prices valid until Friday 27 September 2019 unless stated otherwise 0115 982 7500 The Wiener Staatsoper, celebrating its 150th birthday this year [email protected] Your Account Number: {MM:Account Number} {MM:Postcode} {MM:Address5} {MM:Address4} {MM:Address3} {MM:Address2} {MM:Address1} {MM:Name} 1 Welcome! Dear Customer, DG and Decca have pulled out all the operatic stops this month, with three very special releases featuring some of their best soloists. Mexican tenor Javier Camarena’s ‘Contrabandista’ recital marks the first issue in the ‘Mentored by Bartoli’ series on Decca - a partnership between Decca and the Cecilia Bartoli Music Foundation. Arias by Verdi are the focus of DG’s new recording from Russian bass, Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who also happens to take the lead in a brand new recording of Die Zauberflote, the sixth in DG’s current series of Mozart operas. It is the latter that we have been particularly taken by, so you will find it as our ‘Disc of the Month’ for August, as well as being at a very special price as part of our new DG & Decca Opera Sale (found on pp.13-18). Another recording which was a strong contender for the ‘Disc of the Month’ position, was Mahan Esfahani’s performance of Bach’s Toccatas on a rather fabulous harpsichord - Hyperion have done a sterling job in capturing Esfahani’s consummate skill in interpreting these works. Other highlights for August include the second instalment in The Illyria Consort’s recordings of sonatas by Carbonelli; hi-fi Holst and Elgar from the Bergen Philharmonic and Andrew Litton on BIS; lesser-known Beethoven from the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, who provide us with a gripping performance of Beethoven’s complete incidental music to Egmont (Ondine); plus we have Messiaen from Tom Winpenny (Naxos), Handel from the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin (Pentatone), and Brahms/Dvorak from Jakub Hrusa and the Bamberger Symphoniker (Tudor), to name but a few. Boxsets to point out include Istvan Kertesz’s complete Decca recordings with the Wiener Philharmoniker, a set from Orfeo commemorating 150 years of the Wiener Staatsoper, and the compiling of Joseph Nolan’s recordings of Widor’s organ work on 8 CDs (Signum). Plenty to get excited about! As mentioned above, our new special offers start with some great discounts on opera recordings from DG and Decca, plus we have a selection of reduced-price chamber music recordings from Hyperion, discount on the complete catalogues of Capriccio and C-Avi, special prices on archive reissues from Unicorn-Kanchana and Heritage, and an offer on all DVDs and Blu-rays currently available from C Major Entertainment. Best regards from, The Europadisc Team DISC OF THE MONTH Mozart Die Zauberflote £15.57 Klaus Florian Vogt, Christiane Karg, Rolando Villazon, Regula Muhlemann, or pay just Franz-Josef Selig, Albina Shagimuratova, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nezet-Seguin £13.95 Deutsche Grammophon 483 6400 (2CD) if your order value Deutsche Grammophon’s landmark cycle of Mozart’s mature operas reaches its sixth exceeds £50* title with The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote). This live recording continues the Yellow * to qualify for the special price, Label’s special collaboration with the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Chamber your order value must exceed a total of £50 excluding this Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nezet-Seguin. It boasts a stellar cast, headed by the recording and before any project’s initiator, Rolando Villazon as Papageno, together with Klaus Florian Vogt as applicable carriage charges. Tamino, Christiane Karg as Pamina, Regula Muhlemann as Papagena, Albina Offer available while stocks last. Shagimuratova as the Queen of the Night, and Franz-Josef Selig as Sarastro. The Magic Flute was first performed at the Theater auf der Wieden, outside the ancient city walls of Vienna, in September 1791, barely two months before Mozart’s premature death. The show ran for over 100 performances within its first season and soon became a hit throughout Europe and beyond. The opera balances earthy comedy with an exploration of the nature of individual freedom, fraternity, enlightened leadership and unconditional love, all expressed in music of simplicity and beauty. “I very much like the perspective of doing The Magic Flute now,” Nezet-Seguin reflects, “because it throws light on all the operas we’ve already recorded.” Four of the five operas recorded by DG so far have received Grammy nominations, with Le nozze di Figaro winning a prestigious Echo Klassik Award in 2017. 2 PRIORITY NEW RELEASES DG and Decca Contrabandista Verdi Arias by Garcia, Rossini, Arias and Zingarelli Abdrazakov, Orchestre Camarena, Les Musiciens du Metropolitain de Montreal, Prince, Capuano Nezet-Seguin £12.50 £12.50 Decca 483 4899 DG 483 6096 due 16/8 New CD + Blu-ray Audio Boxsets 483 7393 Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 5CD + Blu-ray Audio VPO;Bernstein £25.95 483 7394 Wagner Tristan und Isolde 3CD + Blu-ray Audio Nilsson;Windgassen;Ludwig;Talvela;Bohm £25.95 Mozart Die Zauberflote Vogt, Karg, Villazon, Selig, Shagimuratova, Muhlemann, Nazmi, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Nezet-Seguin £15.57 483 6400 (2CD) on offer as part of our DG & Decca Opera Sale (see p.13) In 2012, DG started a series of Mozart operas conducted by Yannick Nézet- Séguin, and initiated by Rolando Villazón, in collaboration with Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and with the generous support of ROLEX. Die Zauberflöte is the sixth installment, after the very successful productions of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Grammy Award Nomination), Le nozze di Figaro (Grammy Award Nomination & Echo Klassik Award) and La clemenza di Tito. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praised Villazón’s “comic talent” in his first Papageno, “achieving ‘heights of emotion’ with the captivating Regula Mühlemann’s Papagena”, as well as the “magical tenor” of Klaus Florian Vogt as Tamino, Christiane Karg’s “lyrically perfect Pamina” and the “imposing” Franz-Josef Selig’s Sarastro. Nézet-Séguin “is a genuine Mozartian ... and rolling out a red carpet for the singers”. Istvan Kertesz in Vienna The Decca Recordings £87.95 483 4710 (20CD + 1 Blu-ray Audio) István Kertész’s complete Decca Recordings with the Wiener Philharmoniker, recalling the art of a great conductor and his relationship with one of the world’s finest orchestras. Includes Schubert’s Symphonies plus three overtures; seven Mozart Symphonies alongside the Requiem, La clemenza di Tito (with Krenn, Berganza, Casula, Popp, Fassbaender etc al) and highlights from other operas; Brahms’s Symphonies and the ‘St Anthony Variations’; Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (with Corena, Sciutti, Krause, Oncina et al); and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. All are newly remastered from original analogue sources by Paschal Byrne (Audio Archiving Company Ltd). The 68pp booklet (English/French/German) includes a new essay by Andrew Stewart and many session photographs. The Schubert Symphonies and overtures are also presented on one High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu ray Disc at 24 bit/ 96kHz. 3 PRIORITY NEW RELEASES Orfeo 150 Years of the Wiener Staatsoper The Anniversary Edition £97.95 C 980120 (22CD) The opera house on the Ring opened on 25 May 1869 with a festive performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It was an event that not only generated great excitement in Vienna, but also attracted considerable attention beyond the borders of the Hapsburg empire. Since then the opera house has remained in the public spotlight. For 150 years it has been an internationally important institution, and the affairs of the Wiener Staatsoper are always also matters of public interest to an extent found in no other city in the world. With this anniversary CD box set, school and online projects, streaming and the inclusion of the federal provinces, the opera house on the Ring is breaking new boundaries; two exhibitions (at the opera house on the Ring and at the Theatre Museum) and a number of publications will focus on the history and current artistic events in the Vienna opera scene; and on the anniversary itself, the artists and the opera house itself will be honoured. Inc: Berg Wozzeck (1955, Berry/Goltz/Bohm); Beethoven Fidelio (1962, Ludwig/Vickers/Karajan); Strauss Elektra (1965, Nilsson/Resnik/Bohm); Mozart Le nozze di Figaro (1977, Krause/Tomowa-Sintow/Karajan); Rossini Il viaggio a Reims (1988, Caballe/Raimondi/Abbado); Wagner Tristan und Isolde (2013, Stemme/Seiffert/W-Most); Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin (2013, Netrebko/Hvorostovsky/Nelsons); Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos (2014, Botha/Isokoski/Thielemann); Verdi Un ballo in maschera (2016, Beczala/Stoyanova/Lopez Cobos); ‘Legendary Voices of the Wiener Staatsoper’ (1955-2009). Strauss, R Verdi Heroines Don Quixote, Cello Performances from Sonata, Song transcs Baltsa, Bumbry, Cotrubas, Muller-Schott, Schuch, Dragoni, Lipovsek and Melbourne SO, A Davis Varady £13.95 £11.95 C 968191 MP 1904 (2CD) BIS at £12.95 each BIS 2068 Holst The Planets; Elgar Engima Variations Hybrid SACD Bergen PO;Litton BIS 2323 Martinsson Into Eternity, Opening Sounds, Tour de force etc Hybrid SACD Larsson;Malmo SO;Magi BIS 2337 Bach, CPE The Solo Keyboard Music vol.38: The Earliest Works Spanyi (harpsichord) BIS 2381 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no.1; Prokofiev Piano Concerto no.2 Hybrid SACD Zhang;Lahti SO;Slobodeniouk BIS 2429 Haydn The Seven Last Words (keyboard version) Hybrid SACD Stavy (piano) Signum Charles-Marie Widor was born to the organ. Raised in a family of organ-makers, he showed early talent for the instrument and would later come to embody all its might Widor and splendour. His life heavily intertwined with that of the great French organ builder Complete Organ Works Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, this new collection of Widor’s complete organ works brings Nolan together eight years’ worth of recordings; captured across France on period Cavaillé-Coll instruments.