This week audiences will get a chance to hear a recording of Auber’s neglected opera, Rachmanioff’s music, and Vivaldi’s sacred works. Here is a look at this week’s new releases.

All-Night Vigil

The Clarion Choir releases its fourth recording, Rachmaninoff’s the All-Night Vigil on PENTATONE.  The new recording comes following a lifelong dedication to the repertoire.

The new album features Rachmaninoff’s “The Bells” and the “All-Night Vigil,” both large-scale choral works.

The Beauty of Innuendos

Navona releases a new album by Frank Felice, an eclectic composer celebrated for his postmodern mischievousness. The new album explores his own brand of “consonant adiatonicism” and sets a variety of texts to music, ranging from the antiphons of 9th-century Christian mystic Hildegard of Bingen to the modernist poetry of Wallace Stevens. Featured in these recordings is mezzo-soprano Mitzi Westra, who commissioned two of the works.

Le Philtre

Naxos releases Auber’s obscure “Le Philtre,”  based on Eugène Scribe’s scenario of 1831 involving a prosperous country girl, the endearing bumpkin who carries a torch for her, the swaggering sergeant who pursues her, and the itinerant quack who disrupts their lives. The work is the predecessor to Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore.” This recording comes from the summer of 2021, with Luciano Acocella leading the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. Soprano Luiza Fatyol plays Térézine, baritone Emmanuel Franco (a Wildbad favorite) is Joli-Coeur, basso Eugenio Di Lieto is Fontanarose, and as Guillaume is tenor Patrick Kabongo.

Sacroprofano

Countertenor Tim Mead releases a Vivaldi album on Alpha. Mead alternates samples of Vivaldi’s secular output with examples of the composer in his spiritual mode—“two worlds. Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen accompanies the countertenor on the album.