The Third Coming ! Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted Mahler Symphony no 3 with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall with Michelle DeYoung, the Philharmonia Voices and the Tiffin Boys’ Choir. It was live streamed worldwide, an indication of just how important this concert was, for it marks the Philharmonia’s 34-year relationship with Salonen.
Author: Anne Ozioro
Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution: Gergiev, Mariinsky
Sergei Prokofiev’s Cantata for the Twentieth Anniversary of the October Revolution, Op 74, with Valery Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus. One Day That Shook the World to borrow the subtitle from Sergei Eisenstein’s epic film October : Ten Days that Shook the World.
Gramophone Award Winner — Matthias Goerne Brahms Vier ernste Ges‰nge
Winner of the 2017 Gramophone Awards, vocal category – Matthias Goerne and Christoph Eschenbach – Johannes Brahms Vier ernste Ges‰nge and other Brahms Lieder. Here is why ! An exceptional recording, probably a new benchmark.
VÈronique Gens: Visions from Grand OpÈra
Ravishing : Visions, VÈronique Gens in a glorious new recording of French operatic gems, with HervÈ Niquet conducting the M¸nchener Rundfunkorchester. This disc is a companion piece to NÈËre, where Gens sang familiar Duparc, Hahn, and Chausson mÈlodies.
Jakub Hr?öa : Bohemian Reformation Prom
At Prom 56, Jakub Hr?öa conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a programme on the theme of the Hussite Wars and their place in Bohemian culture showing how the Hussite hymn was incorporated into music by Smetana, Martin?, Dvo?·k, Jan·?ek and Josef Suk.
Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder at the Proms – Sir Simon Rattle
Prom 46: Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra, Simon O’Neill, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Karen Cargill, Peter Hoare, Christopher Purves and Thomas Quasthoff. And three wonderful choirs – the CBSO Chorus, the London Symphony Chorus and OrfeÛ Catal‡ from Barcelona, with Chorus Master Simon Halsey, Rattle’s close associate for 35 years.
Detlev Glanert : Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch
Detlev Glanert’s Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch should be a huge hit. Just as Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana appeals to audiences who don’t listen to early music (or even to much classical music), Glanert’s Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch has all the elements for instant popular success.
Franz Schreker Die Gezeichneten, Bayerische Staatsoper
Franz Schreker Die Gezeichneten from the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, easily the most rewarding full performance ever. Metzmacher gets Schreker – revealing his modernity and originality. There are many kinds of “modern”. The idea that 20th-century music can only be atonal/tonal, or dissonant /romantic, is nonsense in itself. Schreker was a highly original composer, very much a man attuned to the creative ferment of his time, fuelled as it was by new ideas and social change.
Kathleen Ferrier Remembered
Kathleen Ferrier Remembered, from SOMM Recordings, makes available on CD archive broadcasts of British and German song. All come from BBC broadcasts made between 1947 and 1952. Of the 26 tracks in this collection, 19 are “new”, not having been commercially released. The remaining seven have been remastered by sound restoration engineer Ted Kendall. Something here even for those who already own the complete recordings.
Schubert Wanderer Songs – Florian Boesch, Wigmore Hall
A summit reached at the end of a long journey: Florian Boesch and Malcolm Martineau at the Wigmore Hall, as the two-year Complete Schubert Song series draws to a close. Unmistakably a high point in the whole traverse. A well-planned programme of much-loved songs performed exceptionally well, with less well known repertoire presented with intelligent flourish.