Ailyn Pérez & Dario Schmunck Lead New CD/DVD Releases

By Francisco Salazar

This week four new recordings will be released. There will be three you can stream and another that will be on video. Check them out.

Mi Corazon 

Mexican American soprano Ailyn Pérez releases her second solo album exclusively on Apple Music & iTunes. The album Mi Corazón (“My Heart”) honors the soprano’s family, friends, mentors, and idols through the exploration of Spanish and Portuguese songs, including selections by composers Manuel de Falla, Manuel Ponce, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang joins Pérez for this release.

In a press statement, the soprano noted, “Together, Xuefei and I found how much we relate to that feeling of comparing and contrasting our cultures, and finding our voices in this repertoire that is so perfect for our instruments: voice and guitar. Perhaps it’s in the historical relationship between the voice and guitar, made famous through the troubadours of the ages on to modern pop and bolero, that we found such a rich place to collaborate – not only in sound, but with our souls. It takes great care and risk to find an artistic partner, and it’s a journey for a lifetime of friendship and experience. We hope our stories and our voices will find a place in your heart and in your imagination’s ear, to listen and connect to the music, and to each other.”

Messiah

SIGNUM Classics will release the “Messiah…Refreshed! Goossens” which is a richly orchestrated version conducted by Jonathan Griffith and DCINY. The recording was made in the Abbey Road Studios in London in July 2019 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a chorus comprising of 60 members of The Jonathan Griffith Singers and 60 members of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.

 

Gunther Schuller: The Fisherman and His Wife 

The BMOP/sound will release the “Gunther Schuller: The Fisherman and His Wife.” The new recording is led by conductor Gil Rose and performed by two of Boston’s leading musical ensembles, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and Odyssey Opera.

The opera stars Steven Goldstein as the titular Fisherman, mezzo-soprano Sondra Kelly as his Wife, baritone David Kravitz as the magical Fish, and soprano Katrina Galka as the Fisherman’s cat companion.

The work dates from 1970 and has only had two Boston performances. This marks the second Schuller recording released on the BMOP/sound label.

Fernand Cortez

Dynamic is releasing a new production from October 2019 from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. The Spontini opera is shown in its original version in its first-ever recording.

The recording stars Dario Schmunck and Alexia Voulgaridou in a  new production by Cecilia Ligorio. Jean-Luc Tingaud conducts the production which OperaWire noted, “Schmunck brought nuance and passion to his singing,” while “Voulgaridou possesses a richly colored voice, bright and luminous.”

 

Categories

DVD and CD Releases