This week audiences will get a chance to listen to albums of modern music as well as classics by Haydn and Brahms. There is also a new DVD of Cilea’s verismo masterpiece.

New York Pretending to be Paris

Albany Records presents “New York Pretending to be Paris,” a new album featuring contemporary poetry transformed into captivating art songs by New York City-based composer Eric Schorr. The album features Mezzo-Soprano Eve Gigliotti, tenor Jesse Darden, and baritone Michael Kelly who perform 13 musical settings of poems that are full of longing, desire, and poignancy. They are accompanied by pianists Cris Frisco, Eric Schorr, and Erika Switzer as well as members of The 19 Mercer Ensemble.

The Crown

In his debut solo album, Randall Scotting explores the versatile voice of one of the most famed singers of all time, the superstar castrato Senesino. Collaborating with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and conducted by Baroque specialist Laurence Cummings, the album features the music of seven highly praised but entirely neglected composers, including 13 arias that are heard here for the first time in nearly 300 years. Composers represented on the album include Antonio Lotti, Giovanni Bononcini, Geminiano Giacomelli, Giovanni Antonio Giaj, Attilio Ariosti, Giovanni Alberto Ristori, and Giuseppe Maria Orlandini.

Brahms Lieder

On her third Pentatone album, Anna Lucia Richter returns to the German lied, making her recording debut as a mezzo-soprano with a recital of Brahms songs, together with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz.

Haydn’s Theresienmesse and London Symphony No. 103 Drum Roll

 The Handel and Haydn Society concludes its exploration of Haydn’s trilogy of renowned masses with a live recording of “Theresienmesse.” The new album also includes Haydn’s London Symphony No. 103 Drum Rolland will be released by the CORO record label. “Haydn Masses Vol. III” was recorded live under the baton of H+H Artistic Director Harry Christophers at Symphony Hall in Boston on January 28 + 30, 2022.

Adriana Lecouvreur

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s April 2021 revival of Cilea’s opera will be released on Naxos. The production, which is by British director Frederic Wake-Walker, stars Uruguayan soprano Maria José Siri which OperaWire praised and stated, “was the true pearl of the performance” in the title role. The cast also included tenor Martin Muehle as Maurizio, mezzo Ksenia Dudnikova as the Princess, and Nicola Alaimo as Michonnet. Daniel Harding conducted.