The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge has played a role in the evolution of British music. This recording honours this heritage and Stephen Cleobury’s contribution in particular by focusing on Herbert Howells, who transformed the British liturgical repertoire in the 20th century.
Category: Recordings
Mieczys?aw Weinberg: Symphony no. 21 (“Kaddish”)
Mieczysław Weinberg witnessed the Holocaust firsthand. He survived,
though millions didn’t, including his family. His Symphony no. 21
“Kaddish” (Op. 152) is a deeply personal statement. Yet its
musical qualities are such that they make it a milestone in modern
repertoire.
Kenshiro Sakairi and the Tokyo Juventus Philharmonic in Mahler’s Eighth
Although some works by a number of composers have had to wait uncommonly lengthy periods of time to receive Japanese premieres – one thinks of both Mozart’s Jupiter and Beethoven’s Fifth (1918), Handel’s Messiah (1929), Wagner’s Parsifal (1967), Berlioz’s RomÈo et Juliette (1966) and even Bruckner’s Eighth (1959, given its premiere by Herbert von Karajan) – Mahler might be considered to have fared somewhat better.
Lise Davidsen sings Wagner and Strauss
Superlatives to describe Lise Davidsen’s voice have been piling up
since she won Placido Domingo’s 2015 Operalia competition, blowing
everyone away. She has been called “a voice in a million” and
“the new Kirsten Flagstad.”
Nicky Spence and Julius Drake record The Diary of One Who Disappeared
From Hyperion comes a particularly fine account of Leoš Janáček’s song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared. Handsome-voiced Nicky Spence is the young peasant who loses his head over an alluring gypsy and is never seen again.
Jean Sibelius: Kullervo
Why did Jean Sibelius suppress Kullervo (Op. 7, 1892)? There are many theories why he didn’t allow it to be heard after its initial performances, though he referred to it fondly in private. This new recording, from Hyperion with Thomas Dausgaard conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, soloists Helena Juntunen and Benjamin Appl and the Lund Male Chorus, is a good new addition to the ever-growing awareness of Kullervo, on recording and in live performance.
Mahler: Titan, Eine Tondichtung in Symphonieform – FranÁois-Xavier Roth, Les SiËcles
Not the familiar version of Mahler’s Symphony no 1, but the “real” Mahler Titan at last, as it might have sounded in Mahler’s time! FranÁois-Xavier Roth and Les SiËcles present the symphony in its second version, based on the Hamburg/Weimar performances of 1893-94. This score is edited by Reinhold Kubik and Stephen E.Hefling for Universal Edition AG. Wien.
Verdi: Messa da Requiem – Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann (Profil)
It has often been the case that the destruction wrought by wars, especially the Second World War, has been treated unevenly by composers. Theodor Adorno’s often quoted remark, from his essay Prisms, that “to write poetry after Auschwitz would be barbaric” – if widely misinterpreted – is limited by its scope and in a somewhat profound way composers have looked on the events of World War II in the same way.
Matthias Goerne: Schumann – Liederkreis, op 24 & Kernerlieder
New from Harmonia Mundi, Matthias Goerne and Lief Ove Andsnes: Robert Schumann – Liederkreis, op 24 and Kernerlieder. Goerne and Andsnes have a partnership based on many years of working together, which makes this new release, originally recorded in late 2018, well worth hearing.
Leonard Bernstein: Tristan und Isolde in Munich on Blu-ray
Although Birgit Nilsson, one of the great Isolde’s, wrote with evident fondness – and some wit – of Leonard Bernstein in her autobiography – “unfortunately, he burned the candles at both ends” – their paths rarely crossed musically. There’s a live Fidelio from March 1970, done in Italy, but almost nothing else is preserved on disc.