Mary Did You Know Juliette Brown Instrumental Mp3

The Summer and early Autumn have seen me falling backside with reviews for reasons which I won't overstate upon. Rather than have forever to catch upward, I'grand clearing some of the backlog with this Retrospective, sometimes offering brief 2nd opinions of recordings which my colleagues accept already reviewed. In nearly cases the textile has been received as a download or every bit a press preview and would previously have been included in the at present defunct Download News.

Index:

Bart�thou Miraculous Mandarin, Dance Suite – Philharmonia: Signum
Berlioz Rom�o et Juliette – LSO: LSO Live
Browne, Horwood, William Monk of Stratford Eton Choirbook IV – Christ Church Cathedral: Avie
Caccini Rapimento de Cefalo, etc (Firenze 1616) – Le Po�me Harmonique
Castaldi Vocal and Instrumental Works – Le Po�me Harmonique: Alpha
Charpentier Chiliad.A. etc. Splendeurs de Versailles – Various: Alpha (10 CD)
Copland Organ Symphony, Short Symphony – BBC Philharmonic: Chandos
Elgar Symphony No.1 – Santa Cecilia Orchestra: ICA Classics
Ešenvalds St Luke Passion – Latvian Radio Choir, Sinfonietta Riga: Ondine
Gershwin Piano Concerto, American in Paris, etc – Harmonie Ensemble/New York: Harmonia Mundi
Gesualdo Sacr� Cantiones I – Marian Consort: Delphian
Gostena Genus Chromaticum – De Ruvo: Arcana
Ludford , etc. Music from the Lost Palace of Westminster – Gonville and Caius College Choir: Delphian
Machaut Messe de Nostre Matriarch – Graindelavoix: Glossa; Ensemble Organum: Harmonia Mundi; Ensemble Gilles Binchois: Bright Classics; Diabolus in Musica: Alpha
Metcalf , etc. Mary Star of the Sea – Catherine Male monarch, etc: Linn
Monteverdi I seven Peccati Capitali – Capelle Mediterranea: Blastoff
Nanino Mass for 8 Voices, etc – Gruppo Vocale �rsi due east T�si: Toccata
P�rt Da pacem Domine , etc: Latvian Radio Choir: Ondine
Pepusch Fiveenus and Adonis – Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen: Ram�east
Ribera Magnificat , etc – De Profundis: Hyperion
Stravinsky Soldier's Tale (complete and suite) – Virginia Arts Festival Sleeping room Players: Naxos
- Mass, Cantata, etc. – St Mary'due south Cathedral, Edinburgh: Delphian

British Symphonies – Various: Lyrita
Et la Fleur vole: Airs � Danser & Arrogance de Cour circa 1600 – Le Musiciens de Saint-Julien: Alpha
Ice and Longboats: Ancient Music of Scandinavia – Ensemble Mare Balticum: Delphian
Venezia Stravagante – Capriccio Stravagante: Blastoff

Equally always, my in-tray contains several reviews of medieval, renaissance and baroque music.

My review of a drove of music by Guillaume de MACHAUT (c.1330-1377) entitled A called-for heart performed by the Orlando Consort (CDA68103 [58:57]) has already appeared. That's a drove of mainly secular works but there has also been a recent recording of his most famous sacred work, the Messe de nostre Dame , with propers for a Lady Mass, performed by Graindelavoix (Fran�ois Testory, Paul De Troyer, Marius Peterson, Adrian S�rbu, Bj�rn Schmelzer, David Hernandez, Tom�s Max�, Bart Meynckens, Arnout Malfliet, Jean-Christophe Brizard)/Bj�rn Schmelzer and recorded in St. Augustine'due south Church, Antwerp, Belgium, 25-31 March 2015. With texts and translations included it'south on GLOSSA GCDP32110 [72:50]. Purchase on disc from Amazon UK – ArkivMusic - Presto.

I streamed it in lossless sound from classicsonline.com where it'south likewise available to download. There's no booklet but that's available from Naxos Music Library. This is the Machaut work which should be in every library merely even afterwards repeated hearings, during which I warmed to the functioning a niggling more than at first, this is unlikely to become my starting time pick for a work for which there is a wide choice of recordings, several of which would exist my preference over Graindelavoix.

If you accept ever heard any of the recordings made by Marcel P�r�south with his Ensemble Organum, whose own recording of this work is available at mid-price on Harmonia Mundi Gilded HMG501590, you will recognise and beloved or hate the manner adopted by the Glossa team. Gary Higginson was impressed by an earlier Graindelavoix recording of music from an earlier century – review – and while I tin come across that their way might well suit that earlier music, I observe their distinctive bass-heavy audio too ungainly to take in a recording of Machaut when there are so many versions which I adopt. Two of these share the distinctive feature of the new Glossa CD, interspersing the setting with other music which would take been sung as part of a Mass in honour of the Virgin Mary.

My version of choice features the Ensemble Gilles Binchois directed past Dominique Vellard, who features amongst the soloists along with, amid others, Andreas Scholl and Gerd Turk, who have both gone on to characteristic on many fine recordings. It'due south still available on a unmarried CD on the Cantus label but it's as well available for even less than that single disc on a 3-CD plus CD-Rom super-budget compilation from Bright Classics (94217, target price �10.25). Those prepared to download and accept mp3 quality and no texts or notes can obtain that gear up for even less: �5.49 from 7digital.com . As Marking Sealey wrote: 'These are all skillful performances. They are full of atmosphere, intelligence, persuasive yet advisable emotional charge and expression. Technically unselfconscious and gently brilliant, this collection should be acquired by lovers of early music in full general and anyone committed to Machaut's œuvre'. Any reservations nigh the playing time of the CD containing the Mass – just under the 60 minutes – are negated by the sheer value of the Vivid Classics reissue.

There'due south some other fine album on which the Mass is interspersed with settings of propers and motets from Diabolus in Musica directed by Antoine Guerber on Alpha 132. Guerber has clearly learned something from the Ensemble Organum approach merely though there is more free energy and coercion in their performance than from the Binchois Consort there'southward none of the quirkiness which for me mars the P�r�southward and Schmelzer interpretations. With excellent recording to match, this could well be a first choice. I downloaded it from eclassical.com where mp3 and lossless are attractively priced at $10.94, but no download source comes with the booklet.

Some other fine performances offering just the six sections of the Mass. On Hyperion CDA66358 The Hilliard Ensemble and Paul Hillier complement their recording with the Lai de la Fonteinne. Don't exist put off by the fact that information technology's now available only from the Archive Service or equally a download (mp3 or lossless with pdf booklet); it's a most undeserving prey. As I wrote in May 2012, 'Other recordings may be more 'adventurous', but this is the version to which I return when looking for calm and tranquillity at the stop of the 24-hour interval – which is past no means to say that information technology's banal'.

Eton Choirbook Book four
John BROWNE (fl. c. 1480–1505)
Save Regina I a 5 [15:01]
Save Regina II a v * [xviii:47]
William HORWOOD (c. 1430–1484)
Gaude flore virginali a five * (fourteen:56)
WILLIAM Monk of Stratford (fl. belatedly 15th – early 16th centuries)
Magnificat a 4 [nineteen:45]
* offset recordings
Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford/Stephen Darlington
rec.14–16 March 2016, Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
AVIE AV2359 [68:42] Purchase on disc from Amazon UK – Presto.

Avie'southward survey of the Eton Choirbook reaches Book iv and the performances remain as fine every bit on the before volumes, rivalling existing recordings from The Xvi (Coro, five volumes separately or in a set), The Tallis Scholars (music from the Choirbook by John Browne, Gimell), Tonus Peregrinus (Naxos) and the Huelgas Ensemble (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi). Even if, similar me, y'all have and love all these, with two premiere recordings to its credit the new Avie is well worth having. Of all these recordings, too, the all-male person Christ Church Choir come up closest to the sound that John Browne et al would have heard. Though it's available every bit a very inexpensive mp3 download from emusic.com, neither that nor whatsoever download that I can discover includes the essential booklet, still all as well common a case.

An album of music by Bernardino de RIBERA (c.1520-?1580) brings the only United kingdom recordings of any of his works. Three settings of the Magnificat are included along with Rex autem David, Glorios� virginis Mari�, Beata mater, Dimitte me ergo, Vox in Rama, Regina c�li, Virgo prudentissima. Conserva me, Domine, Assumpsit Jesus Petrum and Hodie completi sunt dies Pentecostes are performed by De Profundis and David Skinner on HYPERION CDA68141 [76:48] – CD or download from hyperion-records.co.u.k. (mp3, xvi- and 24-bit lossless with pdf booklet containing texts and translations. Purchase on disc from Hyperion – Amazon UK – ArkivMusic – Presto

The music of 'Bernardinus Ribera' is – or was – contained in a beautifully spring and illustrated folio in Toledo Cathedral simply some eighteenth-century vandal cut out so many pages and and then many of the all-time illustrations on other pages as to make the music unperformable. What tin be performed, however, with a little restoration, is independent on this recording: iii of what would take been eight settings of the Magnificat, here performed with plainsong antiphons fore and aft, and ten motets.

A further source, the monastery of Guadalupe, offers some other Magnificat, quartus tonus I [9:00] and that's recorded on a carve up very cheap download-merely album, complete with the antiphon Est secretum Valeriane [0:twoscore + 9:00 + 0:43]. CDA68141D – from hyperion-records.co.uk (mp3, xvi- and 24-bit lossless with pdf booklet).

What we take on these two releases makes it all the more than reprehensible that some vandal has deprived us of the other Magnificats and the additional music known to have been included in the drove. In this instance we know what we have lost, whereas there is no way of knowing what early Tudor masterpieces were lost in the Reformation. Without making exorbitant claims for Ribera equally against the other fine Iberian music of the menstruation on Hyperion recordings, I very much enjoyed the music and the performances.

I doubt if this music sounded anywhere about as skillful in Toledo Cathedral in the sixteenth century as we hear on this recording. De Profundis field a large ensemble here: seven each of altos and tenors, six baritones and 5 basses. The recording was fabricated in a adequately resonant venue and although the engineers take washed a fine chore of keeping the strands separate, you demand to follow the texts, thankfully included in the booklet, to hear the words, fifty-fifty in the plainsong sections. I don't suppose that clarity of diction was a loftier priority at Toledo anyhow, even after the Council of Trent so ordered.

Musicologist Bruno Turner has written the very informative notes and, though information technology isn't stated, I presume that he and David Skinner have been responsible for making the music performable. Having been very picky virtually small points in Hyperion booklets recently, I'm delighted to say that this is first-rate – not that the small points which I've noticed in a couple of others have vitiated the usual loftier quality.

Ancient Music of Scandinavia: Ice and Longboats perhaps looks more exotic than it turns out to be. �ke and Jens Egevad and Ensemble Mare Balticum perform on recorder, lur, frame pulsate, bone flute, lyre, Birka lyre, Cologne lyre, symphonia, vielle, pellet bells, bells, rebec, shawm, horn, Trossingen lyre, shofar, jouhikko, tromba marina and vocals. DELPHIAN DCD34181 [76:28] – reviewed as a 24/48 lossless download with pdf booklet from eclassical.com. Too bachelor in mp3 and 16-fleck lossless. Purchase on disc from Amazon Great britain – Presto.

This is the second of five planned volumes of EMAP (European Musical Archaeology Project): Volume 1, Spellweaving: ancient music from the highlands of Scotland (DCD34171) has already been released (May 2016) and Volume 3, Dragon Voices: the ancient Celtic horns of Europe (DCD34183) is due shortly. Spellweaving has received some enthusiastic reviews, though non all the same on MusicWeb-International, simply I'm sorry to say that it didn't do very much for me, perhaps because of the prevalence of the bagpipes for which I don't much intendance.

A skilful deal of speculation has inevitably been exercised in producing Ice and Longboats, merely it's well-informed speculation and it's hard to imagine annihilation more authoritative, including the notes by Cajsa S Lund and Per Mattsson. The instruments used are generally based on archaeological finds from the Viking Historic period in Scandinavia.

Some of the instruments are very exotic sounding, such as the lurs (wooden trumpets), get-go heard in Signals to the �sir Gods (track 2), a piece which would not sound out of identify in the output of a modern advanced composer. Other instruments, such equally the bone recorder (track 1, etc.), medieval harp (track eleven, etc.), and the diverse forms of lyre – apparently the most ubiquitous instrument in early NW Europe and employed on several tracks – sound much more familiar.

Dr�mde mik en dr�one thousand (I dreamed me a dream last night) appears several times in various vocal and instrumental guises, hardly surprisingly, since information technology'south usually regarded as the primeval extant lyric in any Nordic language, in this example the medieval ancestor of Swedish. Though the runic text is annotated, various interpretations of the notation are possible and it appears hither in four different forms.

In view of the common paradigm of the Vikings as heathen louts in horned helmets – which they never wore – destroying monasteries – which they did – it may seem surprising that so many of the pieces are gear up to Christian texts in Latin or the vernacular. Ane of these, Sancta Anna, moder Christ, seems to me to accept been inspired past an early on Center English lyric attributed to St Godric: Sainte Marie Virgine, / Moder Iesu Cristes Nazarene. The linguistic and cultural link between England and Scandinavia and the conversion of the Norse ran very deep: the word moder meant 'mother' in both Centre English and Old Norse.

If at first it seems disappointing that many of these pieces are taken from comparatively late collections, such equally Pi� Cantiones (1582 and later editions), it is nevertheless the case that such collections comprise much older music, much of which nosotros still know in after arrangements, as in the case of the Spring carol Tempus adest floridum, which nosotros know as Good King Wenceslas, the words having been fabricated past the Victorian author JM Neale.

A few lurs go a long way and they won't exist to all tastes. I've said that Signals to the �sir Gods on lurs and pulsate (track 2) sound tunelessly avant-garde, merely virtually listeners, even those without any credentials in medieval music, should detect the rest of the anthology very congenial. That applies to the instrumental tracks but it'south true most of all in the example of the vocals, performed past Ute Goedeke and Aino Lund Lavoipierre. Their duet version of Dr�mde mik en dr�m (track 10) is the most attractive of the four versions of this piece on the anthology.

Groups such as Anonymous 4* proved long ago that women'south voices can sound right in medieval music and the two vocalists here maintain the same quality on track v, too, Mith hierth� brendher, and on the other vocal tracks. On track five the vocalizer's heart is burning not with courtly love, as you might expect, just with love of the Virgin Mary: the terms in which she was addressed are often indistinguishable from profane love in medieval poetry and song. If you e'er passed a sleepless nighttime wondering what a macaronic was, this is a good instance, with words alternating in Norse and Latin. The most famous case is the Christmas carol In dulci jubilo, also, incidentally, from Pi� Cantiones: originally in German language and Latin but now also sung in English and Latin.

Those familiar with the European medieval tradition will find much of the material to be in a fairly standard idiom, though some of the pieces are specifically in accolade of Nordic saints such equally St Knud Lavard and St Erik of Sweden. Apart from those lurs on track two, don't wait too much here to sound as exotic every bit you might imagine from the listing of instruments. That said, I found it all very enjoyable, much more so than my personal response to Spellweaving and well worth investigating. I'k looking forwards with apprehension to those Celtic horns on the next volume.

* At present disbanded after almost thirty years of distinguished performing. A recent anthology Three Decades of Anonymous 4 can be streamed by subscribers to Qobuz, or downloaded, with booklet including texts, for �4.29 (HMU907570). Also bachelor for �9.00 on CD from Presto.

Some other enterprising release from Delphian is entitled Chorus Vel Organa : Music from the Lost Palace of Westminster
Anon. (1519 Sarum Antiphoner) Processional: Sancte Dei pretiose [05:09]
Nicholas LUDFORD (c.1485–c:1557) Missa Lapidaverunt Stephanum – Gloria [08:08]
Betimes:, c:1530 Offertory: Felix namque [04:07]
Nicholas LUDFORD Lady Mass Cycle 6 (Friday) – Alleluia: Salvage Virgo [03:00]
Lady Mass Wheel three (Tuesday) – Kyrie [04:33]
William CORNYSH (1465–1523) Magnificat [12:17]
Nicholas LUDFORD Lady Mass Cycle iv (Midweek) – L�tabundus [08:23]
Lady Mass Wheel 5 (Thursday) – Agnus Dei [04:15]
John SHEPPARD (c.1515–1558) Hymn: Sancte Dei pretiose [03:21]
Nicholas LUDFORD Lady Mass Cycle ii (Monday) – Gloria [06:31]
Missa Lapidaverunt Stephanum – Agnus Dei [07:06]
Choir Of Gonville and Caius College/Geoffrey Webber
Magnus Williamson (organ)
DELPHIAN DCD34158 [66:58] Purchase on disc from Amazon UK – Presto. Stream (for subscribers) or download from classicsonline.com (NO booklet).

Nicholas Ludford has been receiving long-deserved attention recently, not to the lowest degree from New College Choir directed by Edward Higginbottom in Missa Benedicta et venerabilis and several Marian votive antiphons on the K617 label, which appears to accept become download-only (K617206). For that and several other Ludford recordings delight see my 2014 survey of his music. There is, however, a better-quality download of that album now, in mp3 and lossless quality from eclassical.com, with booklet containing texts and translations.

The new Delphian anthology contains two sections of Ludford's mass for St Stephen's 24-hour interval (December 26): the 'lost palace' of the championship, which was situated on the site of the Houses of Parliament, having had a chapel defended to that saint. My just reservation is that the Gloria and Agnus Dei are likely to make you desire the residuum of the work, bachelor only on an ASV recording performed by The Cardinall'southward Musick and Andrew Carwood, withAve Maria, ancilla Trinitatis (CDGAU140 – a Presto special CD). Otherwise I have nothing but praise for the singing and the organ pieces on Delphian, the latter, every bit the title of the CD, 'choir or organ' implies, alternatives to chanted versions of some of the pieces. It's specially advisable that William Cornysh'due south Magnificat is preserved in the Caius Choirbook: I'grand sure that's noted in the booklet, just the download from emusic.com, in skillful mp3, though inexpensive at �4.62, comes without the notes.

Cornysh's Magnificat also features on a recording by The Cardinall's Musick directed by Andrew Carwood and David Skinner along with settings of the same anthem by Edmund Turges and Henry Prentes and Cornysh's Ave Maria, Gaude Virgo and Salve Regina. (CDGAU164, download only: available from Presto). Despite the overlap with the new Delphian, where the music comes to life slightly more than, particularly in the plainsong sections, and the lack of texts with the ASV, that's some other recommended purchase.

Giovanni Maria NANINO (1544-1607) is not exactly a household proper noun: his music has but a walk-on function on record. With typical entrepreneurism Toccata Classics take recorded a complete album of his music for iv, 5 and 8 voices, much of it receiving its first recorded outing:

Mass for Viii Voices; Magnificat Vii toni a 8; Erano i capei d'oro a 5; Principes persecuti sunt later Erano i capei d'oro a five; Morir non pu� '50 mio core a 5; Laetamini in Domino subsequently Morir non pu� a 5; Dirige corda nostra later Donne vaghe due east leggiadre a eight; Magnificat VI toni a 4; Haec dies a five; Exultate Deo a 8
Orlando LASSUS after NANINO Magnificat 7 toni later on Erano i capei d'oro a 5
Texts and translations included
TOCCATA TOCC0235 [62:04] Toccata CDs are available from MusicWeb-International.

The music is mostly sacred but with some of the secular pieces on which Nanino and, on the last rails, Lassus based sacred works. A successor of Palestrina, I can't claim that his music approaches that of the maestro but information technology's all well crafted. The performances from Gruppo Vocale �rsi e T�si directed by Tony Corradini, are a little subdued, with some intonation slippage, specially on the tiptop line, as compared with the all-time a cappella groups. As pointed out in the notes, their approach to pitch tends to favour the male voices. They don't quite reach the 'remarkable residuum between dazzler, passion and dignity, betwixt darkness and light' claimed for Nanino's music in the notes, though I enjoyed their singing of the secular music and the Magnificat Vi toni a4 best, but I'm grateful to hear this music at all.

As usual with Toccata, the texts and translations are provided and the notes are scholarly to the point of including footnotes, making them co-equals with Hyperion.

Giovanni Battista Dalla GOSTENA (1558?-1593) Genus Cromaticum is a collection of music published in 1599, performed by Irene De Ruvo on the Graziadio Antegnati Organ, 1565 in the Basilica di Santa Barbara, Mantova. Though Gostena is considered an important composer by musicologists, simply 2 other recordings contain any of his music: i of his Fantasias performed past Jacob Lindberg (lute) on BIS and Fantasias 3, eight, 12 and 25 plus his system of Lassus' Susane un jour from Paul O'Dette (lute) on Harmonia Mundi. That chanson arrangement, ii others and Fantasias 1, 3, iv, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, fourteen, 15, xvi, 17, 19, 22, 23, 24 and 25 feature on a new Arcana digital-only release, AD102 [77:47]. Plain not currently bachelor on disc. Download in mp3, sixteen- or 24-chip lossless from eclassical.com.

Though usually performed on the lute, the music lends itself well to being played on the organ and the Mantuan instrument, with its modest selection of stops, sounds ideal in the hands of Irene De Ruvo. Inappreciably essential music but well worth hearing and non simply past specialists.

Medieval and gimmicky works are combined in a programme of music in honour of the Virgin Mary: Mary Star of the Sea. Gothic Voices, also infrequent visitors to the recording studios since making their wonderful albums for Hyperion, perform Joanne METCALF (b.1958) Il nome del bel fior, parts 1, iv and five and Ave maris stella, interspersed with a selection of anonymous medieval pieces: Stillat in stellam radium; Stella maris illustrans omnia; Letetur celi curia; Tronus regis instauratur; Dou style, Robyn / Sancta mater grati�; Sancta Maria virgo; Stond wel, moder, under rode; Beata progenies; Jesu, fili virginis; Pia mater salvatoris; Moder, if hello dar the telle; Gaude Maria virgo; Alleluia psallat / Alleluia concinat – Virga Jesse and music past John DUNSTABLE (c.1390-1453) Beata mater; Ave maris stella; Richard SMERT (c.1400-?1478/9) Ave, decus due south�culi; Godric of Finchale (c1065-1170) Crist and Sainte Marie - Kyrie eleison; Andrew SMITH (b.1970) Stond wel, moder, under rode. The singers are Catherine Rex (mezzo), Steven Harrold, Julian Podger (tenor) and Stephen Charlesworth (baritone) and the programme was recorded in June 2015 at Boxgrove Priory, Chichester, West Sussex. LINN CKD541 [74:21] – from hyperion-records.co.united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland or linnrecords.com (both mp3, 16- and 24-bit lossless with pdf booklet). Purchase on disc from Amazon UK – Presto.

I hadn't come across Joanne Metcalf earlier* but her music, setting Dante'southward vision of Mary in Paradiso XXIII and dating from 1998, blends perfectly with the medieval works, themselves settings of Latin and Middle English poesy in honour of Mary, the cute flower, the star of the sea, the Mother of Christ and the witness of His crucifixion. Performances, recording and booklet are all every bit excellent as when the Voices recorded for Hyperion.

A fascinating release; I'm pleased to encounter that a further Gothic Voices album of music by Dufay is in the offing but I'yard surprised to notation that this, like some other recent Linn releases, is on CD, not SACD.

* I'd forgotten that her music features on another Linn recording, Carmina Celtica – review.

Carlo Gesualdo da VENOSA (1566–1613)
Sacrae Cantiones for v voices, Book I (Sacrarum Cantionum Quinque Vocibus Liber Primus, 1603)
The Marian Consort [Emma Walshe (soprano); Esther Brazil (mezzo); Rory McCleery (counter-tenor and director); Ashley Turnell, Guy Cut (tenors); Christopher Borrett (bass)]
rec. 6-8 January 2016 Chapel of Merton College, Oxford. DDD.
Texts and translations included.
DELPHIAN DCD34176 [60:55] Reviewed equally 24/48 download from eclassical.com, with pdf booklet. Purchase on disc from Amazon UK – ArkivMusic – Presto.

There'south a very recommendable recording of these 5-function settings from the Oxford Camerata and Jeremy Summerly on an cheap Naxos CD (8.550742) and five of them feature on the Tallis Scholars' recording of Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Sat (CDGIM212), so the bar is set very high. My colleague Johan van Veen, on his own site, was not impressed with a recording on the Ricercar label which employs instrumental parts. On Delphian and Naxos the music is sung a cappella and sounds more constructive.

Though these Cantiones are not every bit intense as some of Gesualdo'south compositions they receive a fine set of performances, well recorded, especially in 24-fleck, in the amenable audio-visual of Merton College Chapel.

Book II of the Sacrae Cantiones has been recorded by Harmonia Mundi – Download News 2013/iv.

Igor STRAVINSKY was fascinated by Gesualdo'due south music. Another Delphian release brings his arrangements of three works from Volume Two of the Cantiones – Da pacem Domine, Assumpta est Maria and Illumina nos – with his own Mass, Cantata and other brusk works. The choir of St Mary's Cathedral Edinburgh is directed by Duncan Ferguson on DCD34164 [59:54] – from eclassical.com, mp3, xvi- and 24-scrap lossless, with pdf booklet.

Venezia Stravagantissima: Balli, Canzone e Madrigali 1550-1630
Antonio INCERTO (fl .1584-1602) Pavan: The Funerals [4:29]
Giorgio MAINERIO (1535-82) Pass'e Mezzo Moderno [iv:18]
Gioseffe GUAMI (1540-1611) Canzon Vigesimaquarta a 8 [2:50]
Orazio VECCHI (1550-1605) Mostrav' in Ciel: Tedesca a5 [ane:58]
Giorgio MAINERIO Tedesca e Saltarello [2:45]
Pass'east Mezzo Antico [4:09]
Pass'e Mezzo della Paganina due east Salterello [2:17]
Giovanni PICCHI (fl.1600-25) Ballo alla Polacha [1:l]
Floriano CANALE (1550-1603) Canzona: la Balzana a8 [3:20]
Orazio VECCHI Gioite Tutti in Suoni: Saltarello detto Il Vecchi a5 [2:48]
Giorgio MAINERIO Ballo Anglese due east Saltarello [3:22]
Pietro LAPPI (1575-1630) Canzon Decimaottava a8: la Negrona [2:53]
Gasparo ZANETTI (fl.1626-45) Intrada del Marchese di Caravazzo [two:01]
Giovanni GABRIELI (1553/56-1612) Canzon 2 [2:35]
Giovanni PICCHI Ballo Ongaro [2:04]
Orazio VECCHI So ben mi ch'ha bon Tempo, due east Finale [ix:52]
Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra/Skip Semp� (harpsichord and virginal)
rec. November 2001, Notre-Dame du Liban Church, Paris.
ALPHA Drove 327 [53:31] Reissued from Alpha 049. Purchase on disc from Presto.

This is the 'nearly extravagant' Venice of the age before Vivaldi and his contemporaries, the superlative adjective presumably chosen to contrast with the usual epithet for Venice, la Serenissima, the nigh serene. The notes state that this was the showtime recording of the ensemble Capriccio Stravagante, just I encounter that they recorded Lully for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi every bit long ago as 1990 – review. They have since made several recordings for Alpha and other labels within the Outhere group and for others, many of them winning awards. Their name is derived from a work past Carlo Farini, non included here.

My most recent encounter with them was in a operation of Gilles' Requiem which attempted a reconstruction of Rameau'southward funeral music – Download News 2014/11. I marginally preferred the Harmonia Mundi recording of the Gilles, largely because it gives us the music 'straight' rather than because of whatsoever defects on the part of Skip Semp� and squad, whom I profoundly enjoyed on the Alpha reissue. To appointment I have heard but an mp3 printing preview, only that sounds well enough.

French court trip the light fantastic toe music from effectually the same menstruum features on another Blastoff Drove reissue:

Et la Fleur vole: Airs � Danser & Arrogance de Cour circa 1600
Michael PR�TORIUS (1571-1621) Ballet – La Bourr�e [4:09]
Suite de Branles : Robert BALLARD (c.1520-1588) Branles de la Cornemuse; Guillaume Chastillon de la TOUR (c.1550-1610) Tandis que je grand'arreste; Michael PR�TORIUS Bransles Doubles; Andr� PHILIDOR (1652-1730) Bransle De Village [v:xvi]
Gabriel BATAILLE (c.1575-1630) L'Oeil noir de ma chaste Brunette [2:42]
Michael PR�TORIUS Spagnoletta [5:41]
Antoine BOESSET (1587-1643) Je voudrois bien � Cloris [half-dozen:06]
Michael PR�TORIUS Gaillardes [2:16]
Bransles de la Gren�due east; Jean PLANSON (1559-after 1612) Puisque le Ciel veut ainsi [4:08]
Gabriel Bataille Sort�south Soupirs T�moins de mon Martire [6:08]
Jean PLANSON Et la Fleur Vole ; Michael PR�TORIUS Passepiedz de Bretaigne [iii:34]
Pierre GU�DRON (c.1575-1620) Si jamais monday Ame bless�due east [2:36]
Michael PR�TORIUS Courante ; Andr� PHILIDOR Courante la Berg�re [2:40]
Guillaume TESSIER (c.1550-c.1600) Press� d'ennuis [2'46]
Pierre GU�DRON Si c'est pour mon Pucelage; Jean PLANSON Amour n'a Signal des Ayles [4:00]
Antoine BOESSET Un Jour Amarille et Tircis [4:41]
Michael PR�TORIUS Bransles Gays
Girard de BEAULIEU (?-after 1587) Rosette pour un Peu d'absence [4'xix]
Jacques MANGEANT (?-1633) J'ay un Oiseau qui vole (branle simple); Ceste Beaut� Supresme (branle double l�ger); J'estois bien Malheureuse (branle double l�ger) [5'03]
Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien/Fran�ois Lazarevitch
rec. February 2010, Chapelle de l'H�pital Notre-Matriarch de Bon-Secours, Paris
Texts Not included
Blastoff COLLECTION 314 [66:05] Reissued from Alpha 167. Reviewed as download with pdf booklet from eclassical.com. Buy on disc from Amazon UK – Presto.

Many of the dances from Pr�torius's Terpsichore, the chief source of this album, are reasonably familiar from recordings of selections from that work including David Munrow's classic recording (Erato/Virgin 3500032, ii CDs, budget price, with Morley and Susato). The performances here reminded me of the exuberance of Munrow'due south Early Music Consort rather than the slightly more restrained – though doubtless more than historically accurate – more recent accounts. The vocal items, too, are sung with gusto and the album is well recorded. One serious reservation, still, must be the lack of sung texts – not a major problem with the Venetian collection where at that place is only i sung work but a fatal omission for La Fleur Vole. Unfortunately, I tin't point y'all to a source where the original booklet can be downloaded, so a fine ship must be marred for a ha'porth of tar.

Other pending reissues in this series:

Bellerofonte CASTALDI (c.1580-1649)
Arpeggiata a mio Modo [1:55]
Repeat Notturno [5:14]
Francese Lamentevole [iii:42]
Follia [four:35]
Mascherina Canzone [4:45]
Dolci miei Martiri [five:28]
Capriccio detto Bischizzoso [iv:11]
Quagliotta Canzone [ii:58]
Chi Vidde pi� lieto e felice di me? [3:54]
Tasteggio Soave – Sonata Prima [4:forty]
Grilla Gagliarda [1:58]
Capriccio detto Svegliatoio [2:58]
Capriccio detto Hermaphrodito [two:11]
Steffania Persuasiva [3:21]
Cecchina Corrente – Sadoletta Corrente [1:59]
La Lettera d'Heleazaria Heb. a Tito Vespasiano [x:35]
Guillemette Laurens (vocalisation)
Le Po�me Harmonique/Vincent Dumestre
rec. 25-27 March 1998, Studio de la Fondation Tibor Varga, Sion (Switzerland)
Blastoff Drove 320 [64:22] Reissued from Alpha 001 – reviewed as lossless download of original from eclassical.com.

Another reissue which comes without the vocal texts – not even the eclassical.com download of the original release provides them, either, though I chose to listen to that in lossless sound rather than the low-bit mp3 provided equally a printing preview. At $11.33 information technology works out at nigh the aforementioned toll as the reissued CD. Despair not, however: y'all can find the original booklet with texts and (French) translations at chandos.cyberspace.

The music may mostly be quieter in tone than the dance music from Venice and the French courtroom, but it'southward well worth hearing in these fine performances. Some of the song items, particularly the closing Lettera, are reminiscent of the early operas of Caccini, Peri and Monteverdi.

A further reissue entitled Firenze 1616 contains Giulio CACCINI'due south fragmentary 1600 work Il Rapimento di Cefalo, Domenico BELLI's L'Orfeo Dolente and three shorter works by Caccini and Claudio Saracini. The performers again are Le Po�me Harmonique/Vincent Dumestre, recorded in September 2007. (Alpha Collection 321 [58:43]). I downloaded the lossless version with pdf booklet from eclassical.com, preferable to the low-level mp3 press preview and, at $10.56, slightly less expensive than the reissued CD. The recording of Belli'due south 1616 Orfeo, the final of the great early Florentine operatic works – really a series of intermedii – is especially welcome, only there are no texts in the cut-downwardly version of the booklet with the Blastoff reissue. Chandos ride to the rescue with the booklet for the original release, Alpha 120. Texts and translations are included there, though not without problem: lines are printed which are not sung and some which are sung are omitted. At that place are no rival recordings of either of the main works, then information technology'south fortunate that they are so well performed and recorded here.

A new release at full toll:

Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
I 7 Peccati Capitali (Vii Deadly Sins)
Mariana Flores; Francesca Aspromonte (soprano); Christopher Lowrey (countertenor); Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro; Mathias Vidal (tenor); Gianluca Buratto (bass)
Cappella Mediterranea/Leonardo Garc�a Alarc�northward
rec. Temple de Le Sentier, Vall�e De Joux (Switzerland), during le Cadre des Rencontres Musicales de la Vall�east de Joux, Apr 2016.
Texts and translations included
Alpha 249 [72:24] Reviewed as press preview from outhere-music.com. Available from Presto.

Monteverdi never composed a work about the Deadly Sins, so the title is Blastoff's invention. One track comes from Monteverdi's church music: O ciechi, ciechi from the Selva morale e spirituale (track 8). The rest is taken from the operas, Poppea, Orfeo and Ulisse and from the madrigals. Each rail illustrates one of the sins or the virtues, the two alternating, though it's understandable that the title should refer only to the sins – far more than likely to sell the CD than mention of virtues.

The definition of the deadly sins – more than accurately cardinal sins – and the respective virtues has varied over time: Monteverdi includes Accidia, acedie, not quite the same thing as sloth, and prodigality. The singing is excellent throughout and very well supported by Leonardo Garc�a Alarc�n and his instrumental team. Cappella Mediterranea's previous releases include a fine recording of Monteverdi'south Vespers of 1610 – review – review – Carmina Latina – Recording of the Month – and office of an album of music past Cipriano de Rore and contemporaries – review. Everything I've heard from them, including these vigorous new performances, is so good that I'd like to hear them record more Monteverdi madrigals – a consummate Book Eight, perhaps – and the extant operas. For all the virtues of the other music which I've mentioned, this album serves to remind us why Monteverdi is performed and recorded more than ofttimes than his contemporaries.

The booklet, though lacking page 3 in the printing preview, is beautifully illustrated from Ambrogio Lorenzotti's painting of Good and Bad Governance. The recording came to me in mp3 format simply, at around 256 kb/s, which is not adequate for me to estimate the quality of the CD or the lossless download which I expect to be available in due form from the likes of classicsonline.com, eclassical.com and Qobuz. Information technology is, nevertheless, good plenty for me to look well of hearing it in a better format. Unlike the reissues, full texts and translations are included.

Splendeurs de Versailles is a budget-price 10-CD prepare of French baroque music assembled from diverse releases from the Outhere grouping of labels:
- CD1 – Versailles: L'�le enchant�e, Divertissements by Jean-Baptiste Lully and music by Jean-Henry D'Anglebert, etc., performed by Capriccio Stravagante/Skip Semp� – rec. 2001
- CD2 – Fifty'Humaine Com�die, song and instrumental music by Estienne Moulini� performed by Le Po�me Harmonique/Vincent Dumestre – rec. 1999 (from ALPHA005 – available every bit mp3 and lossless download from eclassical.com, NO booklet). Download News 2014/eleven.
- CD3 – Pi�ces de Clavecin et Arrogance by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Henry D'Anglebert performed past Caf� Zimmermann – rec. 2004 (from Alpha 074, 2-CD prepare – available as mp3 and lossless download from eclassical.com). See too CD9 below.
- CD4 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier Te Deum and Jean-Baptiste Lully Te Deum, performed past Chœur Capella Cracoviensis/January Tomasz Adamus and Le Po�me Harmonique/Vincent Dumestre – rec. 2013 (from Blastoff 952 – review, available equally mp3 and lossless download with pdf booklet from eclassical.com)
- CD5 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier Motets pour le Grand Dauphin, performed by Ensemble Pierre Robert/Fr�d�ric Desenclos – rec. 2007 (from ALPHA 138, bachelor equally download in mp3 and lossless from eclassical.com, NO booklet)
- CD6 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier O Maria! Psalms and Motets, performed by Ensemble Correspondances/S�bastien Dauc� – rec. ? (from Zig-Zag ZZT100601 – bachelor as mp3 download from emusic.com, NO booklet).
- CD7 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier Tristes D�serts, including excerpts from La Descente d'Orph�east aux enfers, performed by Il Seminario Musicale/G�rard Lesne – rec. 2006 (from Zig-Zag ZZT070302).
- CD8 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier Le�ons de T�due north�bres, performed past Arte dei Suonatori/Alexis Kossenko – rec. 2011 (from Alpha 185 – available as mp3 and lossless download from eclassical.com, NO booklet)
- CD9 – Jean-Henry D'Anglebert Pi�ces de Clavecin et Airs d'apr�s M de Lully performed by Celine Frisch (harpsichord) – rec. 2004 (from ALPHA 074, two CDs – available as mp3 and lossless download from eclassical.com) See also CD2 above
- CD10 – Louis-Nicholas Cl�rambault Miserere and Fran�ois Couperin Le�ons de T�n�bres performed past Le Po�me Harmonique/Vincent Dumestre – rec. 2010 and 2013 (from ALPHA957 – Download News 2015/3, available as mp3 and lossless download with pdr booklet from eclassical.com)

The massive booklet contains texts and translations. ALPHA 260 [10:44:66] Bachelor from Presto.

Some parts of these recordings have been reissued earlier on two albums, both confusingly entitled Les Grands Eauxs Musicales de Versailles – review – merely that should not prevent you from buying the new set. I've listed some downloads for those who have several of these recordings already: well worth obtaining individually but you wouldn't demand to buy more than than a few of these to equal the toll of the box set, effectually �40 or less. It would, however, be worth considering the download of the x-CD box, with pdf booklet, for �23.99 from Qobuz. Individually all these recordings are at or most the superlative of their pile; collectively the set is irresistible.

Ensemble Correspendances and Southward�bastien Dauc�, whose recording on CD6 is well worth investigating on its own if you don't go for the complete fix, have more recently recorded for Harmonia Mundi, including Henri du MONT's (1610-1684) music for the private chapel of Louis 14. Entitled O Mysterium it's available from Amazon United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland – ArkivMusic – Presto or as an mp3, xvi- or 24-bit download with pdf booklet including texts and translations from eclassical.com. ( HMC902241). First class performances and recording of music which deserves to exist better known.

Eclassical.com also offer for download Du Mont Motets for the Chapel of the Louvre (Ensemble Pierre Robert/Fr�d�ric Desenclos, Alpha 069, in mp3 and 16-bit lossless – here – NO booklet). Some of his Grands Motets are available on Ricercar RIC202, performed past the Ricercar Consort/Pierre Pierlot and there's another, unlike, selection of his Grands Motets from La Chapelle Royale and Philippe Herreweghe, Harmonia Mundi HMA1951077, formerly a upkeep-price CD but now download-only – from eclassical.com, mp3 and lossles, NO booklet. Only the lack of a booklet with the download prevents full recommendation of all these.

Johann Christoph PEPUSCH (1667-1752) Venus and Adonis – Ciara Hendrick, Philippa Hyde, Richard Edgar-Wilson, Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen/Robert Rawson rec. 2015 RAM�East RAM1502 [85:03]

Having listened to this from an mp3 printing preview from Outhere, the parent group which includes the Ram�e label, I'grand looking frontward to obtaining information technology in lossless sound when, as I promise, it appears from eclassical.com. Meanwhile I tin just agree with DBi that this is 'A lively operation and a super-splendid recording of an unjustly neglected English language opera seria' - review and buy details.

An equally charming BIS recording of Pepusch'south five pastoral cantatas from 1720 was released in 1998 before MusicWeb had got nether full steam. The performances by Bergen Barokk can be downloaded in mp3 or 16-bit lossless from eclassical.com. The cantatas are Dear frowns in beauteous Myra's Optics; Cleora; When Love'due south soft passion… and Menaloas and Corydon and they are interspersed with instrumental music past Accident, Finger, Paisble and Purcell. (BIS-CD-965 [63:15).

Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869) Rom�o et Juliette – Olga Borodina (mezzo) Kenneth Tarver (tenor) Evgeny Nikitin (bass-baritone) London SO & Ch/Valery Gergiev rec. 2013 LSO LIVE LSO0762 SACD [2CDs: 90:25]

As Simon Thompson writes: 'You could get all this done so much better elsewhere'. Review and details. Download from hyperion-records.co.united kingdom (mp3, xvi- and 24-bit lossless, with pdf booklet).

Look out for the forthcoming Linn release of functioning by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Robin Ticciati (CKD521) and the Chandos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis (CHSA5169).

Sir Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Symphony No. 1 in A flat, Op.55 [54:35]
In the Southward (Alassio), Op.l [19:54]
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Sir Antonio Pappano
rec. Jan 2012 (Symphony) and March 2013, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome
ICA CLASSICS ICAC5138 [74:32]

Review by Gwyn Parry-Jones and CD purchase details.

Two very pleasant surprises recently, though I should not have been unprepared for them, have come in the form of recordings of Elgar's Kickoff Symphony. I'd but decided that no conductor not to the manner born could possible excel Daniel Barenboim in this piece of work (Decca 4789353: Download News 2016/5). I at present have to say that his erstwhile prot�chiliad� Sir Antonio Pappano non only at least runs him very close but likewise offers an account of In the Southward to rival the very best which include a Conifer recording past Edward Downes which should be restored to united states. I listened as a download from emusic.com where it'due south available very inexpensively to subscribers (mp3 only, NO booklet).

Now I promise that the LSO Live label will give us Pappano's recent Barbican performance of the Second Symphony. Meanwhile those looking for inexpensive couplings of both symphonies should consider Sir Andrew Davis on Signum SIGCD179, a budget twofer, available for download from hyperion-records.co.great britain at an fifty-fifty more than attractive toll. Fans of Colin Davis tin can download his LSO Live recording of the First Symphony from eclassical.com, 16-flake CD-quality, with pdf booklet, while Janet Baker enthusiasts – count me in – who want her Sea Pictures other than coupled with the Cello Concerto on Warner should try Vernon Handley on LPO Live LPO0046, bachelor for download from eclassical.com. Handley'south superb Classics for Pleasure recording has passed from sight, even as a download.

B�la BART�K (1881-1945)
The Miraculous Standard mandarin (1918-19) [33:54]
Dance Suite (1923) [17:28]
Contrasts (1938) [xvi:59]
Yefim Bronfman (pianoforte)
Zsolt-Tiham�r Visontay (violin)
Mark van de Wiel (clarinet)
Philharmonia Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen
rec. Royal Festival Hall, London January 27, 2011 (Standard mandarin), Oct 27, 2011
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD466 [68:33] – reviewed equally 24/44.1 download with pdf booklet from hyperion-records.co.britain.

Like Gwyn Parry-Jones – review – I was very impressed with this recording, especially as information technology offers the complete Miraculous Mandarin ballet, not just the usual suite. The performance of Mandarin is greatly preferable to the Harmonia Mundi reissue which I reviewed recently – likewise coupled with the Dance Suite – and little short of rivalling 4�due north Fischer, whose Philips recording is now available only every bit a download or on a special CD from Presto. The download from Hyperion is particularly practiced value: �7.99 in mp3 or xvi-fleck lossless, �9.00 in 24-bit format.

For the Mandarin Suite, Solti remains hard to beat, the LSO recording recently reissued on Australian Decca Eloquence with Concerto for Orchestra, etc. (4806872, 2 CDs).

Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)
L'Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier'due south Tale): English version past Michael Flanders and Kitty Blackness
Tianwa Yang (violin),
Fred Kid (Narrator),
Jared McGuire (the Soldier),
Jeff Biehl (the Devil)
Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players/JoAnn Falletta
NAXOS 8.573537 [58:02] Purchase on disc from Amazon Great britain – ArkivMusic – Presto.

Having reviewed this recording every bit a download from eclassical.com in Download News 2016/five, I subsequently received the CD for a more detailed review. Meanwhile it has received some glowing reviews elsewhere, though some agreed with me that the operation is slightly lacking in earthiness, prompting me to heed again.

I like Naxos's jaunty earlier recording, fabricated in 1995/96 with the Northern Bedchamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Ward (8.553662, with Dumbarton Oaks). By a small margin I adopt that to the Chandos recording, as well in English, directed by Neeme J�rvi (CHAN9189) and a French version with 1000�rard Depardieu as the Devil (Na�ve V5371) – see Download News 2014/ix.

The new version doesn't accept quite the jauntiness or the down-to-earth qualities of that before Naxos and it comes without coupling, so I'd stay with the earlier Naxos, with the added bonus of a fine Dumbarton Oaks, one of my favourite Stravinsky works. Uk readers will besides probably prefer the narration on the older Naxos (David Timson) or the Chandos (Aage Haugland).

On the new Naxos the narrator, Fred Child, Jared McGuire and Jeff Biehl are well known voices beyond the swimming. Bielh'southward Devil may be less spooky than Haugland'due south but his down-to-earth, less exaggerated performance is constructive and preferable for connected listening. The other spoken roles, too, are all well taken on the new recording. Some of the phraseology of the Flanders and Black translation has besides been slightly Americanized, though there'southward nada likewise alarming.

None of these recordings can boast the distinguished line-upwards of Sir John Gielgud, Tom Courtney and Ron Moody with the Boston Chamber Players on Decca Eloquence 4803300 (2 CDs, with Octet, Pastorale, Ragtime, Septet, Concertino, Berg and Schoenberg). It'south been too long since I heard that archetype recording for me to make a detailed comparison.

Having listened to the new Naxos again, my feelings remain as earlier. This is a very practiced recording and English language speakers, specially those in North America, will adopt it to the Depardieu, though that preserves the rhythms of the original French. The Virginia Arts Festival Players, not also well represented in the catalogue, perform very well under JoAnn Falletta'south management and the violin part is very well performed by Tianwa Yang. Type her name into our search engine and y'all'll find some glowing reviews.

The recording is pin-point precipitous. Keith Anderson'due south notes are as excellent equally ever; though there are no texts in the booklet and no online link to them the diction is clear enough non to need them.

I haven't yet heard Falletta's recording of merely the Suite, recently released by Naxos, merely the classic Ansermet recording is coupled with Honegger'south Le Roi David on Naxos Classical Athenaeum – Download News 2014/nine.

RECORDING OF THE MONTH
George GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
Overture to 'Of Thee I Sing' (1934 radio version) – first studio recording [iii:16]
Piano Concerto in F (1925) [29:37]
Three Preludes (1930s arrangement by Roy Bargy) – kickoff recording [6:10]
An American in Paris (1928) [16:57]
Lincoln Mayorga (pianoforte)
Harmonie Ensemble / New York/Steven Richman
rec. Di Menna Middle for Classical Music, New York City, 22-24 June 2014. DDD.
HARMONIA MUNDI HMU907658 – reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from eclassical.com Purchase on disc from Amazon United kingdom – ArkivMusic – Presto.

There are many fine recordings of An American in Paris and quite a few of the Concerto in F – Bernstein springs to mind for the former, Previn and Kostelanetz for the latter, both from Sony – merely there's niggling indicate in making comparisons when so much about this recording is unique. Working from Gershwin'southward original manuscripts, Steven Richman and the Harmonie Ensemble/New York recapture the lean, unsentimental style the composer intended for these two works, with Lincoln Mayorga, staff pianist for the Disney Studios, equally the soloist.

None of which would matter if the performances, and even the cover shot, didn't work out so right. A first-class discovery and a strong candidate for Recording of the Month.

Aaron COPLAND (1900-1990): Orchestral Works, Volume 2
Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924) * [23:23]
Orchestral Variations (1957, arr. of Piano Variations, 1930) [12:35]
Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2, 1931-33) [15:22]
Symphonic Ode (1927-29, 1955) [18:18]
Jonathan Scott (organ) *
BBC Philharmonic/John Wilson
rec. Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 16 Jan 2016 ('Organ' Symphony); MediaCityUK, Salford, thirteen January 2016 (Symphonic Ode) and 17 January 2016 (other works)
CHANDOS CHSA5171 SACD [lxx:17]

Reviewed every bit xvi-bit lossless download with pdf booklet from eclassical.com. As well bachelor in sixteen- and 24-bit from chandos.net and as hybrid SACD from Amazon Uk – ArkivMusic – Presto.

Benchmark (Organ Symphony): E Power Biggs; NYPO/Leonard Bernstein (with Symphony No.3, Sony, download merely): Bargain of the Calendar month – Download News 2016/8.

I was far from lonely in enjoying, albeit with some slight reservations, the first release in this series: CHSA5164 – review – review. That offers the ballet suites from Billy the Kid and Appalachian Spring together with El Sal�n M�xico and the dance episodes from Rodeo. The playing is first-class, if a tad reserved, and the recording is splendid in 24-chip format.

Nothing on the second release has quite the immediate entreatment of the orchestral suites or the sheer power of the Third Symphony. The budget-price Sony download of the Organ Symphony is very tempting indeed and information technology'south coupled with what remains my benchmark Symphony No.iii, a archetype recording that rivals the composer'south own: 66 minutes of wonderful music for not much more than �iii. The audio may not have quite the immediacy of the new Chandos but it'south very good indeed for its age and I still marginally prefer information technology to its new rival. Taken all in all, however, the new recording is highly recommendable.

Another very fine recent Copland recording brings the complete Appalachian Spring, preferable to the usual suite, plus the rare courtroom ballet Hear Ye! Hear Ye! in performances past the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin. Like Dan Morgan, whose Recording of the Month review should have appeared past the fourth dimension that you read this, I downloaded the 24-fleck from eclassical.com, with pdf booklet, and very much enjoyed hearing it. The CD and 16-bit are obtainable less expensively but the Hi-Res audio is very skillful. (NAXOS 8.559806 [72:27]). Purchase on disc from Amazon UK – ArkivMusic – Presto.

Ēriks EŠENVALDS (b. 1977) St Luke Passion – Latvian Radio Ch; Sinfonietta Riga/Sigvards Kļava rec. 2015 ONDINE ODE1247-2 [68:09]

Having converted John Quinn'due south review – 'Highly imaginative music by Ēriks Ešenvalds in superb performances' – I downloaded this in 24-fleck sound, with pdf booklet, from eclassical.com and was every bit enthralled.

Sigvards Kļava too directs the Latvian Radio Choir in Arvo P�RT (b.1935) Da pacem Domine, Triodion, Magnificat Anthems, and other music on another recent Ondine release. If you like the 1 yous're almost bound to go for the other. (ODE1286-2 [71:18] – download in 16-bit audio, with pdf booklet, from eclassical.com). Purchase on disc from Amazon UK – ArkivMusic – Presto.

Deal OF THE MONTH in any format has to be British Symphonies past William ALWYN; Malcolm ARNOLD; Arnold BAX; Lennox BERKELEY; John JOUBERT; Due east J MOERAN; Alan RAWSTHORNE; Cyril ROOTHAM; Edmund RUBBRA; Humphrey SEARLE; William Sterndale BENNETT and Grace WILLIAMS LSO and LPO, various conductors – rec. 1968-2007.
LYRITA SRCD.2355 [77:54 + 79:31 + 77:56 + 78:55]

Having missed out on the CDs, I downloaded this from Qobuz, where it costs a mere �seven.99 in lossless audio, albeit without the essential booklet. The booklet comes with the download from classicsonline.com merely, at twice the price of the CDs when I checked, I can't recommend that when any subscribers who stream information technology from there are likely to desire to obtain it in more permanent form. As Marc Rochester writes, it's 'A wonderful commemoration of a genre which is too frequently overlooked past those who should know meliorate' – review and details including purchase push from MusicWeb-International, where it costs non much more than than the Qobuz download and much less than that from classicsonline.

Gwyn Parry Jones was as well enthusiastic: 'equally of import as it is stimulating' – review. Even if, like me, you have several of these recordings already, this is an essential purchase alongside the earlier 4-CD Lyrita bargain sets of British String Concertos and British Piano Concertos.

wallotham1991.blogspot.com

Source: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Oct/Retrospective_Autumn16.htm

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