Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world.

This week audiences get to hear a lost concert from a legendary tenor, an homage to a great singer who we lost too soon, a new album from one of the great tenors of our time, and a new song by a rising star. Here are this week’s albums to get:

Luciano Pavarotti – The Lost Concert

Decca Records releases a historic concert, filmed and recorded in Llangollen, North Wales, released on audio for the very first time. The concert marked 40 years since Pavarotti and his fellow choir members from Modena won First Prize in the Choral Competition at the International Eisteddfod in 1955.

The concert includes operatic arias from “Cavalleria Rusticana,” “Il trovatore, Macbeth,” “Manon Lescaut” and “La traviata,” and popular Neapolitan song. There are also two tracks, recorded in 1955, thought to be the earliest recordings with Luciano Pavarotti – “Bonjour mon coeur (Lassus)” and “In Nomine (J Handel).”

Die Dämmerungen

The new work by David Felder is the inaugural launch of BMOP/sound Singles, a new bold initiative releasing stand-alone digital works. Performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) using Dolby Atmos Music, the 25-minute work sets the tone for a series that champions originality, curiosity, and contemporary artistry. “Die Dämmerungen” was commissioned and composed for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta in 2017-2019. The work is in four movements.

Pier Francesco Tosi: Il Martirio di Santa Caterina

The oratorio in two parts features Valeria Girardello, Massimino Luca Greco, Vittoria Giacobazzi, Leopoldo Punziano, and Enrico Torre. Giuseppe Camerlingo conducts the work.

Nigun: Jüdische Chormusik

SWR releases SWR Vokalensemble and Yuval Weinberg’s new album which presents a capsule history of this rich choral tradition.

Haydn: Missa Cellensis

Alpha Classics releases René Jacobs the Kammerorchester Basel, and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie’s new album that is devoted Haydn’s masses. The present album’s Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae dates from 1766, when Haydn was commissioned by Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy to write a Missa Solemnis for performance at the Basilica of the Nativity of Mary at Mariazell.

Soloists include Mari Eriksmoen, Kristina Hammarström, Mark Milhofer, and Christian Senn.

Michael Haydn: Requiem Pro Defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo; Missa Sancti Hieronymi.

The Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; Academy of Ancient Music and Matthew Martin release an album featuring Michael Haydn’s Missa Sancti Hieronymi.

Motets Romantiques

Alpha Classics releases The Choeur de Radio France and  Christophe Grapperon’s album of French sacred music.

The album includes works by Saint-Saëns and Fauré, but also lesser-known works by Clémence de Grandval, Charlotte Sohy, Léon Boëllmann, Fernand de La Tombelle, and Mel Bonis.

Memories & Roots

Albany Records releases Ileana Perez Velazquez new album which features works for solo violin as she does in a string quartet and chamber ensemble.

The Songs Remain

Navona records releases the Portland State Chamber Choir’s new album celebrating its 50th anniversary season. The works on the album are arranged by members of the chamber choir and features such composers as Henry Alexander, Matthew Lyon Hazzard, David Walters, Shireen Abu-Khader, Gerald Gurss,
Nicolas Nipp, Allison Cottrell, Ara Le, and Ethan Sperr.

Gilgamesh

J. Scott Brubacher’s song cycle is interpreted by baritone Stephen Lancaster and pianist Susan McDaniel.

Le Chant des Muses

Spanish Baroque & modern violinist Anna Urpina’s album “Le Chant des Muses” is the result of years of research and recovery. The music, both instrumental and vocal, had been preserved in manuscripts in Parisian and Venetian libraries. The album features two world-premiere recordings of works by contemporary composers Helena Cánovas and Zulema de la Cruz.

The album features María Hinojosa, Daniel Oyarzabal, Nicola Brovelli, and Nacho Laguna.

ESTRELLITA

Esther Rayo and Peter Grünberg release a new album featuring works by Fernando Obradors, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, Alberto Ginastera, Xavier Montsalvatge, Consuelo Velázquez, and Manuel Ponce.

Veni Redemptor Gentium

New York-based early music ensemble Concordian Dawn presents Veni Redemptor Gentium, a joyful and introspective musical celebration of the Christmas season centered around songs spanning the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries.

Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music

Reference Recordings presents the beloved Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a very special interpretation. Academy Award and Golden-Globe-winning film and Broadway star F. Murray Abraham joins Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for Honeck’s dramatic conception of “Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music.”

The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe

Odyssey Opera, in partnership with the acclaimed Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), releases the debut studio recording of Dominick Argento’s “The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe” on BMOP/sound. Recorded in Poe’s birthplace of Boston, Massachusetts, this recording is conducted by Gil Rose and OperaWire has raved stating, “As it is, the opera is some kind of hybrid: grand expressionistic theatre—at a key juncture in American musical history.”

“Pace”

Composer and pianist Fabio D’Andrea joins forces with opera star Freddie De Tommaso for the release of “Pace,” an original work blending the lyrical beauty of Italian song with the emotional depth of sacred text. The accompanying music video, featuring dancer Lara Renaud, brings the piece to life with a moving visual performance reflecting the composition’s central theme: peace, or pace in Italian.

In a statement, D’Andrea said, “My aim was to write a melody with a timeless quality – one that would sound equally beautiful whether played by an instrument or sung by a voice. There was a hymn-like simplicity that reminded me of English sacred music, but when I set the lyrics in Italian, they fell naturally into place. That meeting of English and Italian influence really reflects my own mixed heritage.”

De Tomasso added, “This collaboration marks a new milestone in my career as it is the first time I have sung and recorded a brand-new composition. There’s something very special about singing a piece which has been written with your specific voice in mind, and the fact that Fabio and I were able to discuss the piece together and fine tune it constantly was a unique experience for me. Pace feels both contemporary and yet strongly rooted in the great lyrical traditions and I’m very proud to bring something completely new into that world.”

Primero Sueño

The acclaimed processional opera written by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera, will have its first recording released on VIA Records. The recordingfeatures Magos as Sor Juana, German vocal ensemble Sjaella, Celso Duarte on Paraguayan and Mexican jarocha harp and percussion, and Luca Tarantino on theorbo and Spanish guitar. The album was recorded at the Power Station at BerkleeNYC, engineered, edited, and mixed by Alex Verguer and mastered by Oscar Zambrano.

Ireland: Greater Love Hath No Man

The anthem “Greater love hath no man” was commissioned in 1912 for Charles Macpherson, the sub-organist of St Paul’s Cathedral.

This new recording from Hyperion features the Chichester Cathedral Choir, Charles Harrison (conductor), Jago Brazier, Richard Paterson, and Timothy Ravalde.

The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Stephen Layton, Jonathan Lee

One of the world’s top five choirs (as voted by Gramophone), The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge brings their ‘liquid legato’ (The New York Times) to 10 beloved choral anthems of the Anglosphere. This mixed-voice choir powerfully reflects trends in the centuries-old choral tradition, combining staples of the canon with new contributions to the genre by contemporary composers Jonathan Dove and Matthew Martin. (CD, Digital)

Evening Hymn

Berit Norbakken joins the Arctic Philharmonic and Henning Kraggerud for Songs by Georg Friedrich Händel, Antonio Vivaldi, Henry Purcell, Tarquinio Merula, and Claudio Monteverdi.

In a statement, Norbakken said, “Interpretation of music is personal, and musical taste is individual. However, working with Henning Kraggerud and the Arctic Philharmonic, immediate listening, dialogue, and understanding of musical ideas, gestures, and phrasing were shared and mutual.”

LAWO Classics releases.