New Releases

[Que]

Interesting, thanks.  I've only seen music attributed to Matteo da Perugia here and there (Art of Courtly Love and a few others) but not an entire recording.

Paul van Nevel did one, splendid disc:

[asin]B0000029VL[/asin]

Q

[Mandryka]

Interesting, thanks.  I've only seen music attributed to Matteo da Perugia here and there (Art of Courtly Love and a few others) but not an entire recording. 

In addition to the one Van Nevel did, there's a CD dedicated to MP called Hélas Avril by Mala Punica. Tetraktys have recorded one of his songs on one of their Chantilly Codex CDs.

[The new erato]

Found on presto:



La Fenice, Jean Tubery, full works list here:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Ricercar/RIC374

These seven discs recorded between 1995 and 2000 make up a fabulous anthology of early seventeenth-century Italian music. A large number of composers are gathered round the central figure of Claudio Monteverdi; while some of them, like Salomone Rossi, Biagio Marini and Dario Castello, are among the musicians with whom he worked in Mantua or Venice, others illustrate the extraordinary musical creativity of the period, whether it be Sigismondo d'India, Tarquinio Merula, Francesco Cavalli, Alessandro Grandi, or so many other lesser-known personalities, each of whom helped to build the rapidly growing edifice of Italian Baroque music.

Ordered from amazon.fr, 30 Euros

[Mandryka]

Found this under new releases on mdt.

DA PERUGIA, MATTEO Chansons. Tetraktys. Etcetera

The singer is someone called Stefanie True, who as far as I can see is really a baroque music specialist. Does anyone like her style?

[Todd]

(A 2017 must-buy)

[Mandryka]

David Munrow's Art of the Netherlands in a new transfer which contains 14 tracks which haven't made it on CD before. Details here 

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/WPCS-16259

[Mirror Image]

Coming in February:



Good to see the Nielsen VC is getting more recordings. I still feel it's an underrated work.

[Brian]

Following up on Mirror Image's Halvorsen/Nielsen CD posting,

FEBRUARY - PART I



Enrique Soro rose to great esteem not only as Chile's leading composer but as a distinguished pianist, conductor and teacher. The Sinfonia romantica was the first symphony to be composed in Chile and remains the most important example of the genre in the country's musical history. Soro's melodic distinction, mastery of orchestration and his sense of form are equally distinguished. The Tres aires chilenos espouse a kind of nationalism, fusing Chilean folk music, specifically the tonada, with the European classical tradition. The rousing Danza fantastica is a perfect concert opener.



From other labels:





Despite her tragically brief life, Vítězslava Kaprálová is now considered the most important female Czech composer of the 20th century, her prolific output, abundant with fresh and bold ideas, passion, tenderness and youthful energy. This in-depth exploration, representing some of the very best of her music, includes early gems such as the April Preludes, the exquisite and sophisticated Variations, the remarkable Sonata appassionata and her final Dance for piano, reconstructed by Giorgio Koukl from its only surviving sketch.



Zara Alexandrovna Levina, born 1906 in Alexandrovsk (Ukraine), witnessed two world wars, the Revolution as well as the collapse and totalitarian reconstruction of her homeland. She was under the constant ideological pressure of the existentially threatening state censorship, which was particularly exerted by the notorious RAPM (Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians) in the 1920s and 1930s, driving her to the brink of a creative and health disaster. However, Zara Levina was able to retain her own and unmistakable voice in her music. She died in Moscow on 1976 as a respected and much-performed composer beloved of musicians such as David Oistrakh, Maria Grinberg, Victor Knuschewitzki and the public alike. Vocal works like her romances meanwhile belong to the salient repertoire of Russian music. Pianist Maria Lettberg breathes life into these world premiere recordings.



HIP, with 1849 Erard piano.



A quite interesting release about which I wish I had more information:



When we have details like recording dates and whether the CO has gone conductor-less in Fey's absence, I'll try to post them. The publicity blurb does clearly state that this is "a series of recordings which began in 1999 and will eventually will include every one of Joseph Haydn's 105 symphonies."

[Brian]

FEBRUARY - PART II

BIS



Some 150 years ago what is sometimes called 'The Great Migration' of Finns to the United States began. Many of the Finns settled in the Mid-West, and especially in the so-called 'Finn Hook', consisting of parts of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. To celebrate this, the Minnesota Orchestra under its Finnish music director Osmo Vänskä commissioned the composer Olli Kortekangas to compose a work on the theme of migration, of a scale and nature suitable for performance alongside Jean Sibelius's great Kullervo.

Discovering the work of the Minnesota-based poet Sheila Packa, herself of Finnish descent, Kortekangas composed Migrations for mezzo-soprano, male voice choir and orchestra, the same forces as in Kullervo, with the exception of the baritone soloist in that work.

An all-star Finnish cast – soloists Lilli Paasikivi and Tommi Hakala and the celebrated YL Male Voice Choir – joined the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä for three concerts in February 2016, and captured by a recording team from BIS the memorable performances can now be enjoyed by a wider audience.







"On the present release we hear a copy of a 4-stringed fortepiano by Conrad Graf from 1822 – similar to Beethoven's own last instrument, which Graf supplied him with in 1826, a year before the composer's death."



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The first encounter with a piece of new music is always exciting. To put the sound into words – the impression you have there and then – is not easy. Seldom does one see the whole intention; often one hovers on the surface of an opinion. The encounter seems indirect. You have this short time to experience what others have taken weeks, months and perhaps years to say. There is a deep understanding between composer Magne Hegdal and pianist Ellen Ugelvik. Here is a long-standing and throroughly prepared study, a knowledge of the intention and the attitude that lies behind it – and not least a practical knowledge. With his origin in a theoretical framework, composer Anton Reicha (1770-1836) works strangely and radically. Hegdal (1944) is inspired by Reicha, both by his look at sonata form and further as a theoretician and composer. Reicha's radicalism and accessibility is what Hegdal embraces, and so Reicha is heard with him on the whole of this record.

[André]

In March 2014 I heard Moser play the Elgar in Cologne. He was mesmerizing to watch, an energetic, enthusiastic performer. Certainly an artist to watch.

[Brian]

FEBRUARY - PART III









Yes, really - these are world premieres.







When I visited the Benedictine Abbey of Kremsmunster in upper Austria some years ago to look at the lutes stored in the abbey archives, I could not guess that this visit would radically change my life as a lutenist. I learnt that the writer of tablatures I discovered was a member of the abbey named Pater Ferdinando (Fischer). It soon turned out that much of the music set down by this scribe was not to be found in the numberless lute manuscripts from this period scattered around the world. These were unique manuscripts. Moreover they contained quite extraordinary works of striking compositional quality: new lute music in the form of cyclical poems of a lute enthusiast - a padre - at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. In one of the quietest recording studios in all of Europe - the Galaxy studios in Mol, Belgium - we finally brought the long since faded lute-poems of Pater Ferdinando back to life. Through the wonderfully delicate sound of my lute, Bert's immeasurable sensitivity and the most advanced recording tchnology that I have ever had the privilege of using, the lutenist-pater began speaking to us once more. - Hubert Hoffmann

Somm has acquired a new logo design.





Interestingly, two NEW works for period instrument groups:



Composer and cellist Ernst Reijseger presents his first symphonic poem, The Volcano Symphony, written for the Spanish Baroque orchestra Forma Antiqua conducted by Aaron Zapico. It is unlikely that Antonio Vivaldi only wished to describe the course of the year in his Le Quattro Stagioni, or that Richard Strauss only had the intention of illustrating the mountain hike of his youth in Eine Alpensinfonie. Instead, both works focus also on phases and narrations of human life. Ernst Reijseger is fascinated by the unstoppable power of flowing lava, the inferno, the quiet sea of hell, the explosion of the elemental forces, and the creation of new, vigorous life. On the one hand, Reijseger describes magma and its effects, this mass of molten rocks streaming out of the opening in the earth, breaking out, destroying, fertilizing, and introducing the birth of new life. On the other hand The Volcano Symphony tells of death, love and life. Soprano Eugenia Boix embodies the voice of Pele, the goddess of the volcanoes according to Hawaiian belief. We experience a completely new sound language from a Baroque orchestra: Reijseger's composition transforms its fascinating powers of narration into an event.



This album links the contemporary world with the Tudor England of 400 years ago. the English composer David Gorton has gone back to the music of John Dowland and re-thought it in contemporary terms. He has written an extended set of variations for string ensemble on Dowland's massive hit Lachrymae and another on Dowland's Forlorn Hope for 11-string guitar, where the titles of some of the variations poke fun at British politicians.

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three with no front cover art yet, but back covers for some reason:

[kishnevi]

Definitely one to get, given the quality of his Mahler cycle.

[Sergeant Rock]

When we have details like recording dates and whether the CO has gone conductor-less in Fey's absence, I'll try to post them.

6, 7, 8 were recorded in March 2014, Fey conducting (before his accident). 35, 46, 51 were recorded in June 2016, no conductor listed, but Benjamin Spillner credited as Concertmeister. A local boy, Timo Jouko Herrmann, is conducting the next scheduled concert, one of only two on the calendar this year.

Sarge

[aligreto]

That cover art really is horrific.

[Todd]

Another 2017 must-buy.

[North Star]

Album release: March 2017

GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI
ORGAN WORKS
BERNARD FOCCROULLE

https://www.youtube.com/v/QHln0FOwN3Y

[André]

That cover art really is horrific.

Imagine if they had left the arrows !



Saint Sebastian's martyrdom has been represented hundreds of times, especially during the italian Renaissance. That cover art is simply a politically correct representation, in tune with the times 

[aligreto]

Imagine if they had left the arrows !



Saint Sebastian's martyrdom has been represented hundreds of times, especially during the italian Renaissance. That cover art is simply a politically correct representation, in tune with the times 

Give me old school non pc any day!

[GioCar]

Pierluigi Billone: Sgorgo Y.N.oO, for electric guitar

[asin]B01M72FEM4[/asin]
There are not many works for solo e-guitar in the genre of New Music, as the e-guitar has a bigger place in other genres. But if you listen to this recording by excellent guitarist Yaron Deutsch, you will wonder why. Played with brilliant technique and an elaborate sound, this CD takes you on a journey through the cosmos of Pierluigi Billone.
prestoclassical.co.uk

[Todd]

Björk on a classical release.  Possibly interesting.