CD Review
09.05am
R. STRAUSS: Eine Alpensinfonie
(c/w Vier Letzte Leider)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Anja Harteros (soprano), Fabio Luisi (conductor)
Sony 88697141972 (Hybrid SACD)
PENDERECKI: Symphony No. 8
(c/w Dies Irae; Aus den Psalmen Davids)
Michaela Kaune (soprano), Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo-soprano), Wojtek Drabowicz (baritone), Anna Lubanska (mezzo-soprano), Ryszard Minkiewicz (tenor), Jaroslaw Brek (bass-baritone), Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit (conductor)
Naxos 8.570450 (CD, Budget)
LEIFS: Edda Part 1: The Creation of the World
Gunnar Gudbjornsson (tenor), Bjarni Thor Kristinsson (bass-baritone), Schola Cantorum, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Hermann Baumer (conductor)
BIS 1350 (Hybrid SACD)
09.30 am
Building a Library Recommendation
WAGNER: Siegfried
Reviewer - Roderick Swanston
First choice:
Siegfried - Wolfgang Windgassen; Brunnhilde - Astrid Varnay; Wanderer - Hans Hotter; Alberich - Gustav Neidlinger; Mime - Paul Kuen; Erda - Maria von Ilosvay; Fafner - Josef Greindl; Waldvogel - Ilse Hollweg; Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Joseph Keilberth (conductor)
Testament SBT4 1392 (4 CDs)
Next week John Deathridge continues CD Review's examination of Wagner's epic Ring cycle on CD and DVD, looking at the fourth and final instalment- Gotterdammerung.
10.45 am Edward Gardner on some highlights from the Naxos A-Z of conductors.
With extracts from the following discs:
CD 3: GRIEG: The Last Spring
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky (conductor) (recorded November 1950)
CD 1: ROSSINI: La scala di seta (Overture)
Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum (conductor) (recorded May 1952)
CD 4: MOZART: Symphony No. 41, 'Juptier' (4th movement)
Berlin Staatskapelle, Richard Strauss (conductor) (recorded late 1926)
CD 4: LISZT: A Faust Symphony (2nd movement, 'Gretchen' [conclusion])
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, William Steinberg (conductor) (unpublished recording of NBC Radio Broadcast 05/03/1949)
CD 4: BRAHMS: Tragic Overture
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini (conductor) (recorded October 1937)
The A-Z of Conductors - written and selected by David Patmore, with a 977 page book.
Naxos 8.558087-90 (4 CDs, Budget)
11.15 am Composer and conductor James Weeks surveys the available recordings of music by Judith Weir.
With extracts from the following discs:
WEIR: 'The Romance of Count Arnaldos' from song cycle 'Songs from the Exotic' (disc On Buying a Horse)
(c/w On buying a horse; Ox Mountain was Covered by Trees; Scotch Minstrelsy; The Voice of Desire; A Spanish Liederbooklet; King Harald's Saga; Standchen)
Signum CD SIGCD087 (CD)
WEIR: Three Operas
King Harald's Saga:
Jane Manning (soprano)
The Consolations of Scholarship:
Linda Hurst (soprano), Lontano, Odaline de la Martinez (conductor)
Missa Del Cid:
Nick Herrett (evangelist), Combattimento, David Mason (conductor)
Novello NVLCD109 (CD)
WEIR: A Night at the Chinese Opera
Michael Chance (counter-tenor); Karl Daymond (tenor); Frances McCafferty (mezzo-soprano); Michael George (bass); Adey Grummet (soprano);
Frances Lynch (mezzo-soprano); Timothy Robinson (tenor); Gwion Thomas (baritone); Adrian Thompson (tenor), Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Andrew Parrott (conductor)
NMC D060 (2CDs, Mid Price)
WEIR: Blond Eckbert
Nicholas Folwell (baritone), Anne-Marie Owens (mezzo-soprano), Christopher Ventris (baritone), Nerys Jones (soprano), Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opear, Sian Edwards (conductor)
NMC D106 (CD, Mid Price)
WEIR: 'The Art of Touching the Keyboard', Piano Concerto
(c/w Music for 247 Strings; Arise! Arise!; Piano Quintet; Distance and Enchantment, The Bagpiper's String Trio; I Broke Off a Golden Branch; Ardnamurchan Point; El Rey de Francia; The King of France)
William Howard (piano), The Schubert Ensemble, Domus piano quartet, Susan Tomes (piano), Peter Casen (piano)
NMC D090 (2 CDs, Budget)
WEIR: 'Moon and Star', from disc The Welcome Arrival of Rain
(c/w The Welcome Arrival of Rain; Natural History; Forest; Heroic Strokes of the Bow)
Ailish Tynan (soprano), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
NMC D137 (CD)
This is released 4th February 2008
11.45 am Disc of the Week
HANDEL: Esther (complete 1732
version, in a live recording from the 25th
London Handel Festival, 2002)
Rosemary Joshua (soprano), James
Bowman (counter-tenor), Susan Bickley
(mezzo-soprano), Christopher Purves
(bass), Rebecca Outram (soprano),
Andrew Kennedy (tenor), London
Handel Orchestra and Chorus,
Lawrence Cummings (conductor)
SOMM238-9 (2CDs)
