New releases

[Jonathan]

Found out today that the next volume of the Beethoven symphony transcriptions by Scharwenka (vol.5) is due out on the SOMM label towards the end of June

[HighlandDougie]

Back in HK for a week - and browsing in Percival Records a great way to escape the rain. A proper record shop which Roger et al might recognise. Anyway, today's finds included a remastered (and SACD-ified) version of Jascha Horenstein's Unicorn recording of Mahler 1 with the LSO. No idea what it'll sound like - and no idea whether it'll be available in the UK - but worth a punt. Already regretting not buying the Tower Records Japan SACD of Sir JB's Schubert 9th but that will justify a further visit later in the week.

[pastoralguy]

I was in London recently and popped into the HMV shop. To say I was bitterly disappointed would be an understatement. It was a very faint shadow of its former self and was little better than the ‘mini-me’ HMV shop we have in Edinburgh. I remember going to the London shop many years ago and being absolutely bowled over by the sheer size and breadth of stock.

Ah well.

[Petrushka]

I was in London recently and popped into the HMV shop. To say I was bitterly disappointed would be an understatement. It was a very faint shadow of its former self and was little better than the ‘mini-me’ HMV shop we have in Edinburgh. I remember going to the London shop many years ago and being absolutely bowled over by the sheer size and breadth of stock.

Ah well.

I think that the only place in London that's still got a good stock of classical CDs is Foyles in Charing Cross Road. They also have a reasonably good selection of second hand CDs as well.

[pastoralguy]

I think that the only place in London that's still got a good stock of classical CDs is Foyles in Charing Cross Road. They also have a reasonably good selection of second hand CDs as well.

I’ll check them out next time I’m in London. I was there a month ago and my first port of call was Notting Hill Gate exchange. Alas, I was only in town for 30 hours so I was disappointed to find that their classical basement didn’t open until 13.00. I still managed to pick up some interesting discs from their selection upstairs but it was frustrating all the same. I’ll know next time.

[MickyD]

Yet another unknown (to me) French baroque composer from the seemingly inexhaustible Brilliant Classics stable

https://www.brilliantclassics.com/articles/b/beauvarlet-charpentier-1er-livre-de-pi%C3%A8ces-de-clavecin/

[Jonathan]

Some weeks ago, I mentioned (on the Now Spinning thread) that I was really enjoying Florian Noack's Lyapunov set and was sad that he'd not recorded any more. Today, I had a helpful email from Amazon saying he's recorded the Transcendental Etudes. Another one added to the wishlist!

[Pulcinella]

Lined up for streaming later, released today:

Stravinsky

Symphony in three movements
Symphonies of wind instruments (1920 version)
Symphony in C

Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Dima Slobodeniouk (conductor)

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9623121--igor-stravinsky-symphonies-vol-1

[Pulcinella]

Looking forward to streaming this, released today (but not yet on Deezer):

Shostakovich
Symphonies 4, 5 & 6
Oslo Philharmonic, Klaus Mäkelä

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9639777--shostakovich-symphonies-4-5-6

[Pulcinella]

Looking forward to this new release, scheduled for 4 October 2024:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9661048--stravinsky-chamber-works

There an article about Dumbarton Oaks (discussion between Barbara Hannigan and AndrewFarach-Cotton) in October's Gramophone that makes interesting reading.

PS. Are my ears deceiving me? At 2 bars after figure 84 in the third movement of Dumbarton Oaks (all that's currently available to stream, presumably as a taster), it sounds to me like the flute plays a D flat in the downward scale rather than the D natural in the score. I'll have to dig out the composer's own version to compare.

[akiralx]

Just noted that Bychkov and his CzPO have recorded the last three Dvorak symphonies for Pentatone - one review I read and some sample listening I did suggested that like his recording of Ma Vlast they are very well played and recorded but a tad staid, e.g. in the Finale of the Seventh and the Allegretto of the Eighth.

[vinteuil]

.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9647179--rameau-les-boreades

[ to add to your John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Václav Luks &c ... ]

[MickyD]

.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9647179--rameau-les-boreades

[ to add to your John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Václav Luks &c ... ]

Oh my word, yet another one to get. Have you heard it, Vints? It would take a lot for me it to displace the original Gardiner. I've just had a listen to the famous Entrée de Polymnie and it seems to me at an ideal pace, not like the dreary tempo at which some conductors take it.

[vinteuil]

Have you heard it?

... not yet : it is on order.

Geoff Brown liked it - "In the 18th-century opera field, Handel might come top for human drama. But for musical daring and terrific dance numbers, it has to be Rameau. Witness Les Boréades of 1763, written when the composer was nearing 80. Public performances only arrived in the 1970s and this latest addition to Gyorgy Vashegyi’s ongoing Rameau cycle is spectacularly vivid and bouncy. The Queen of Bactria’s love problems couldn’t be clearer as conveyed by Sabine Devieilhe, whose bright soprano is ideally suited to baroque music. The tenor Reinoud Van Mechelen is equally compelling as Abaris, her contested amour. And the Orfeo Orchestra, using period instruments, is always on hand for the wonderful dance numbers and musical depictions of a violent storm, earthquake and wind. There’s so much to enjoy here, not least the album’s skilful recording, with soloists, choir and orchestra brilliantly interacting, each from their individual acoustical space."

Five stars in The Times : the ten-year partnership between Gyorgy Vashegyi and the Centre de Musique Baroque Versailles started in 2014 with their recording of Fêtes de Polymnie, and the project concludes with this, Rameau's final opera.

.

[MickyD]

Well that sounds like a total thumbs-up... another one for the shopping list!