Ian Bostridge, Elīna Garanča & Juyeon Song Lead New CD/DVD Releases
By Francisco SalazarThis week audiences will get a chance to stream rarely performed works and new albums by some of the best-known artists in opera. Here is a look.
Beethoven
Warner Classics releases Ian Bostridge and Sir Antonio Pappano latest album which is dedicated to Beethoven’s song cycle “An die ferne Geliebte (To the distant beloved).”
The album also includes the rapturously lyrical “Adelaide,” the somber “In questa tomba oscuraÆ and a selection of Beethoven’s settings of folksongs from the British Isles. The album also showcases the talents of violinist Vilde Frang and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt.
Pappano noted in a press release, “When we all play together, it’s like a family making music at home.”
Elgar/Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim and Decca Classics continue their acclaimed Elgar series, recording “Sea Pictures” and the symphonic poem “Falstaff.” Recorded live in the winter of 2019, the album features the Staatskapelle Berlin and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča in her first recording of Sea Pictures.
Heldin, Arias by Wagner & Strauss
Affetto Recording releases soprano Juyeon Song’s latest album featuring the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava and conductor Niels Muus. The album includes the final scene from R. Strauss’ “Salome,” the Immolation scene from “Götterdämmerung,” the Liebestod from “Tristan und Isolde,” and excerpts from “Die Walkure” and “Siegfried.”
Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo
Naxos releases a rarely performed Rossini work from Wildbad. The elaborately staged cantata showcases Leonor Bonilla, Joshua Stewart, Mert Süngü, Eleonora Bellocci, and Marina Comparato. Pietro Rizzo conducts the new recording which also featured the Górecki Chamber Choir, Kraków, and the festival’s house band, the Virtuosi Brunensis.
Il Prigioniero
Chandos releases the first commercial recording in a quarter-century of Luigi Dallapiccola’s one-act drama. The new recording features Michael Nagy, Anna Maria Chiuri, and Stephan Rügamer. Gianandrea Noseda leads the Danish National Concert Choir and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. The album also includes three choral works of Dallapiccola.
Mozart’s Mass in C Minor
From last summer’s Salzburg Festival Belvedere releases Mozart’s unfinished “Great” Mass in C Minor. The recording features conductor Andrew Manze, the Salzburg Bach Choir, and the Camerata Salzburg and organist Michaela Aigner.
Soloists include Carolyn Sampson, Marianne Beate Kielland, Benjamin Bruns, and Douglas Williams.
Le Postillon de Lonjumeau
Adolphe Adam’s rarely performed opéra-comique receives a recording on Naxos from Paris in the spring of 2019. The production from the Opéra-Comiqueis directed by Michel Fau and stars Canadian soprano Florie Valiquette and Michael Spyres.
Sébastien Rouland leads the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Normandie.