CD Review
09.05am Christmas New Releases - I
MORITZ LANDGRAF VON HESSEN: Canzona from disc Brass Music for Christmas
(c/w Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Michael Praetorius, Andreas Riselius, Johann Cruger, Moritz Landgraf von Hessen, Leonhardt, Schroter, Giovanni Gabrieli, Pietro Lappi, Costanzo Antegnati, Jeremiah Clarke and Thomas Simpson)
Blechblaserensemble, Ludwig G?ttler (director)
Carus 83.241 (CD)
SULLIVAN: Christmas Bells at Sea from disc Victorian Christmas
(c/w Christmas carols)
Passion des Cuivres, Constanze Backes (soprano)
Orfeo C 689 061 A (CD)
JOHANN SCHELLE: Machet die Tore weit from disc Baroque Christmas Cantatas from Central Germany
(c/w BASILIUS PETRITZ: Die Herrlichkeit des Herrn; PHILIPP HEINRICH ERLEBACH: Furchtet euch nicht; CHRISTIAN AUGUST JACOBI: Also hat Gott die Welt geliebet; CHRISTIAN LIEBE: O Heiland aller Welt; JOHANN ERNST BESSEL: Komm, du schone Freudenkrone)
Birte Kulawik (soprano), Dorothea Wagner (soprano), David Erler (counter-tenor), Hans Jorg Mammel (tenor), Matthias Lutze (bass), Sachsisches Vocalensemble, Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, Matthias Jung (director)
CPO 777 332-2 (CD)
IRELAND: The Holy Boy: a Carol of the Nativity
BAINTON: Christmas Eve
(c/w songs for baritone and orchestra by Bax, Ireland, Dyson, Parry, Boughton and Bainton)
Roderick Williams (baritone), BBC Concert Orchestra, Martin Yates (conductor)
Dutton CDLX 7199 (CD)
DOMENICO ZIPOLI: Pastorale from disc Puer Nobis Nascitur
(c/w works by Daquin, Bull, Sweelinck, Dandrieu, Bruna, Buxtehude, Lebegue and JS Bach)
Ton Koopman (Van Peteghem organ of St. Martinuskerk, Haringe, Belgium)
Challenge Classics CC72234 (CD)
09.30 am
Building a Library Recommendations
P. TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker (Ballet)
Reviewer - David Nice
First choice:
Kirov Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (conductor)
Philips 462 114-2 (CD, Mid Price)
Next week Chris de Souza reviews recordings of Saint-Saens' 3rd Symphony.
10.15am - Christmas New Releases - II
CORELLI (arr. by Richard Eteson): Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 8 from disc The Swingle Singers.unwrapped
(c/w In the Bleak Midwinter, Christmas Song, River, Walking in the Air, Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!; O Tannenbaum, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Santa Baby, Away in a Manger, Carol of the Drum, Amazing Grace, Rudolph the Red-Nosed- Reindeer, Last Christmas, Happy Christmas (War is Over), Hotaru no Kikari)
The Swingle Singers
Signum Classics SIGCD107 (CD)
JOHANN VIERDANCK: 'Ich verkundige Euch gro?e Freude'
(c/w VEJVANOVSKY: Sonata Laetitiae in C; GEIST: Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern; DEDEKIND: Uns ist ein Kind geboren; LUBECK: Willkommen s??er Brautigam; BODDECKER: Magnificat anima mea Dominum; BIBER: Sonata VI in F aus der Sammlung; ALTENBURG: Gott sei Dank durch alle Welt; SCHMELZER: Venite ocius! Transeamus usque in Bethlehem; SCHUTZ: Verbum caro factum est; LECHLER: Alma Redemptoris Mater; M. PRAETORIUS: Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern; HAMMERSCHMIDT: Wie bin ich doch so herzlich froh; STADEN: Gloria in excelsis Deo)
Emma Kirkby (soprano), Susanne Ryden (soprano), Bell'Arte Salzburg, Annegret Siedel (conductor)
Berlin Classics 0016242BC (CD)
MAXWELL DAVIES: The Fader of Heven
(c/w various carols, plainsong and works by Leighton, Palestrina, Smith, Clemens non Papa and Byrd)
New York Polyphony
AVIE AV2141 (CD)
10.30 am Handel Oratorios and Opera Round
Up.
Suzana Ograjensek joins Andrew to assess some recent recordings of Handel.
Includes extracts from the following discs:
HANDEL: Solomon HWV 67
Tim Mead (counter-tenor), Dominique Labelle and Claron McFadden (sopranos), Michael Slattery (tenor), Roderick Williams (bass), Winchester Cathedral Choir, Festspiel Orchester Gottingen, Nicholas McGegan (conductor)
Carus 83.242 (2 Hybrid SACDs)
HANDEL: Solomon HWV 67
Sarah Connolly (alto), Susan Gritton (soprano), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Mark Padmore (tenor), David Wilson-Johnson (bass), RIAS Kammerchor, Akademie f?r Alte Musik Berlin, Daniel Reuss
Harmonia Mundi HMC 901949.50 (2CDs)
HANDEL: Semele HWV 58
Rosemary Joshua (soprano), Hilary Summers (alto), Brindley Sherratt (bass), Stephen Wallace (counter-tenor), Richard Croft (tenor), Gail Pearson (soprano), Chorus of the Early Opera Company Christian Curnyn (conductor)
Chaconne CHAN 0745 (3) (3CDs, Mid Price)
HANDEL: Messiah
Susan Gritton (soprano), Sara Mingardo (alto), Mark Padmore (tenor), Alastair Miles (bass), Tenebrae Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis (conductor)
LSO Live LSO0607 (2 Hybrid SACDs plus bonus DVD, Mid Price)
11.15 - Christmas New Releases - III
REGER: Weihnachten Op. 145, No. 3 from disc Christmas Organ Music from King's College Cambridge
(c/w BACH arr. Dupre: Sinfonia to Cantata 29' Wir Christenleut' hab'n jetzund Freud BWV 710; Von Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her, BWV 738; In dulci jubilo BWV 729; Pastorella BWV 590; Von Himmel hoch, da komm'ich her, BWV 700 and 701; KARG-ELERT: Chorale Improvisation on 'In dulci jubilo' Op. 75 No. 2; GUILMANT: Offertoire sur Deux Noels; IRELAND: The Holy Boy; HANDEL arr. Best: For unto us a child is born; SATTLER: Pastorale uber 'Joseph, lieber, Joseph mein' und 'Stille Nacht'; BRAHMS: Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, WIDOR: 6th Symphony Final Movement)
Daniel Hyde (organ)
Priory PRCD 884 (CD)
11.30 Interview with Christine Schafer.
German soprano Christine Schafer talks to Andrew about recent discs of unusual repertoire, including works by Zemlinsky and Reimann, and about her latest project to marry songs by Purcell and Crumb with sonnets by William Shakepeare.
Including extracts from the following discs:
ZEMLINKSY: Lyrische Symphonie Op. 18
Christine Schafer (soprano), Matthias Goerne (baritone), Orchestre de Paris, Christoph Eschenbach (conductor)
Capriccio 71 081 (Hybrid SACD)
MENDELSSOHN (arr. Aribert Reimann): .oder soll es Tod bedeuten? ('Or does it mean death')
(c/w SCHUMANN: String Quartet in A major Op. 41/3; Sechs Gesange Op. 107)
Christine Schafer (soprano), Petersen String Quartet
Capriccio 71 090 (Hybrid SACD)
MOZART: Le Nozze di Figaro
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Figaro), Anna Netrebko (Susanna), Bo Skovhus (Il Conte Di Almaviva), Dorothea Roschmann (La Contessa), Christine Schafer (Cherubino), Marie McLaughlin (Marcellina), Franz-Josef Selig (Bartolo), Patrick Henckens (Basilio), Oliver Ringelhahn (Don Curzio), Florian Boesch (Antonio), Eva Liebau (Barbarina), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (conductor)
Deutsche Grammophon 477 6558 (3 CDs)
[also available as a highlights CD on DG 477 6544 and on DVD]
PURCELL/CRUMB: Apparition
PURCELL: Music for a while; If music be the food of love; Ah how sweet it is to love; An Epithalamium (Thrice happy lovers); Sweeter than Roses; From rosy bow'rs; Not all my torments; Crown the Altar; Dido's Lament; GEORGE CRUMB: Three Early Songs (1947) - I Night, II Let it be forgotten, III Wind Elegy; Apparition (1979):
I The Night in Silence under Many a Star; Vocalise 1: Summer Sounds;
II When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd;
III Dark Mother Always Gliding Near;
Vocalise 2: Invocation;
IV Approach Strong Deliveress!;
Vocalise 3: Death Carol;
V Come Lovely and Soothing Death;
VI The Night in Silence
Christine Schafer (soprano), Eric Schneider (piano)
Onyx 4021 (CD)
11.30 am Disc of the Week
DEBUSSY: 'Estampes' from disc Complete Works for Piano, Volume 2
(c/w Ballade - Ballade slave; Valse romantique; Danse - Tarantelle styrienne; Images - oubliees; Pour le piano; Masques; L'isle joyeuse; .D'un cahier d'esquisses)
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano)
Chandos CHAN10443 (CD)
