Will Liverman, Natalia Labourdette & Malcolm Martineau Lead New CD/DVD Releases

By Francisco Salazar

This week audiences can check out new works, full opera performances, and debut albums.

Fire Shut Up in My Bones

The Met releases Terence Blanchard and Kasi Lemmon’s opera with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting a cast led by Will Liverman, Angel Blue, and Latonia Moore. OperaWire noted that the opera was a “masterpiece.”

The Complete Songs of Duparc

Malcolm Martineau presents another installment of his celebrated complete song collections, following on from those of Poulenc and Fauré.  This time with the solo songs of Henri Duparc, recorded with an acclaimed roster of British singers including Sarah Connolly, Huw Montague Rendall, Nicky Spence, and William Thomas.

Antigone: The Writings of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Movement

The Lorelei Ensemble, led by Artistic Director Beth Willer, releases “Antigone: The Writings of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Movement” by the acclaimed composer James Kallembach, on New Focus Recordings. The album features Ensemble sopranos Sarah Brailey, Rebecca Myers Hoke, Jessica Beebe, and Arwen Myers, mezzo-sopranos Christina English and Sophie Michaux, and altos Stephanie Kacoyanis and Emily Marvosh, plus a cello quartet consisting of Caleb van der Swaagh, Lisa Caravan, Michael Unterman, and Jonathan Dexter. Beth Willer conducts Antigone.

Sinnbild– Strauss Songs

PENTATONE releases Hanna-Elisabeth Müller’s second album which presents an enchanting collection of orchestral songs by Richard Strauss. She is joined by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach. The album culminates in the famous Four Last Songs. The album also explores all forms of farewell – the big and the small – that we go through as human beings.

Al Menos Cantos 

Lexicon Classics releases a new album by Laura Virella who performs the songs of Ukrainian-Puerto Rican composer Jack Délano. She is joined by pianist Alla Milchtein. The album features five song cycles.

Caio Fabbricio

Conductor and harpsichordist Bridget Cunningham premieres Handel’s pasticcio opera “Caio Fabbricio” on record, originally performed in London in 1733 and based on an earlier opera by Johann Adolf Hasse. This is London Early Opera’s eighth album in its Handel series with Signum Classics.

Early Music Nird. alte neue musik

Maria Weiss & Luca Pianca present a new album with 1607. ensemble with works of early and new music by Hildegard von Bingen, Johann Philipp Krieger, and Antonio Vivaldi. The album also includes five world premiere recordings of Early Music among others by Francesco Gasparini, and Jean Philippe Rameau and two world premiere recordings of New Music by Wolfgang Mitterer.

Die Schöne Müllerin

Gerald Finley and Julius Drake release their new recording of Schubert’s classic song cycle on Hyperion Records. The album was recorded in February 2021 at Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom and was produced by Mark Brown.

Habanera vs. Smooth

Voce Nova has released a new mashup entitled “Habanera vs. Smooth” which is a unique mashup in the realm of classical crossover, in that it combines two very different genres in a way that hasn’t been done previously.

petite MORT

Natalia Labourdette and Deutscher Musikrat release their first album with music by Alban Berg, Francis Poulenc, Gabriel Fauré, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Samuel Barber, and Joaquín Turina.

Voices of Solace

The first professional choir of South Korea, The National Chorus of Korea led by Artistic Director Yoon Euijoong release a full-length album featuring some classical music, as well as traditional Korean music and Korean Folk songs. The album features the focus track “새야 새야 (Saeya Saeya)”, which is a reinterpretation of the Korean folk song “Bird, Bird, Bird, Bird.”

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