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

This week audiences will get a chance to listen to several baroque albums, a world premiere recording of a new opera, a French solo album, and rarely performed composers.

Pergolesi Stabat Mater & Vivaldi Nisi Dominus

PRJCT Amsterdam and its artistic director Maarten Engeltjes present two of the greatest vocal works of the baroque era: Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus. Engeltjes is joined by soprano Shira Patchornik in Pergolesi’s work.

Ich sehe still vorüberziehen

Yvonne Prentki and Benedikt ter Braak release “Ich sehe still vorüberziehen” on Ars Produktion. The album include Lieder by Richard Strauss, Josephine Lang, Nadia Boulanger, and Ethel Smyth.

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte

Opus Arte releases a new recording of Mozart’s famed “Die Zauberflöte.” The recording features David Portillo, Sofia Fomina, Brindley Sherratt, Björn Bürger, and Caroline Wettergreen. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth and teh production is by Barbe & Doucet.

Georg Friedrich Handel: Poro, re delle Indie

Il Groviglio, a group established in 2018 by Marco Angioloni, is an ensemble of musicians, artists, and scholars who shed new light on the world of Baroque music, offering a repertoire that is constantly being rediscovered. The ensemble has recorded Handel’s rarely performed opera.

Michael Dellaira: The Leopard

Naxos releases the world premiere recording of Michael Dellaira and J.D. McClatchy’s work. Gerard Schwarz conducts the opera with soloists Yaqi Yang, Margarita Parsamyan, Robynne Redmon, Minghao Liu, Frank Ragsdale, Kim Josephson, and Kevin Short.

When the opera had its world premiere, OperaWire review noted that, “In all, there was much to enjoy from this fascinating take on Lampedusa’s novel, from the highly expressive music to the highly-promising cast of young artists backed by seasoned professionals.

Paysage

Alpha releases the new recital album by Véronique Gens and Hervé Niquet. The two explore a neglected aspect of France’s Romantic heritage: songs with orchestral accompaniment. The album includes works by Debussy and Duparc, and Berlioz’s “Nuits d’été,” orchestral mélodies form a virtually forgotten continent. There are also works by Hahn, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Chausson, Gounod and Dubois, Massenet, Fauré, and Fernand de La Tombelle.

Oscar Merikanto: Songs

Waltteri Torikka and Marko Hilpo explore 29 songs by Oskar Merikanto, who died 100 years ago. Ondine releases the new album.

Stabat Mater: Scarlatti and Dvořák

Alpha releases recordings of Scarlatti and Dvořák’s “Stabat Mater” with La Tempête and conductor Simon-Pierre Bestion.

Johann Simon Mayr: Messa solenne in D minor

Naxos releases Mayr’s mass with a cast that includes Anna Feith, Bogna Bernagiewicz, Freya Apffelstaedt, Markus Schäfer, Fang Zhi, and Niklas Mallmann. They are accompanied by the Simon Mayr Chorus, Concerto de Bassus, and conductor Franz Hauk.

Lully: Te Deum

Lully’s Te Deum is recorded by Les Epopées, Les Chantres & Les Pages du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, and Stéphane Fuget.

Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil

Chandos celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Serge Rachmaninoff with the California-based PaTRAM Institute Male Choir. The record features the composer’s choral tour de force, “The All-night Vigil.” The album was recorded in the Russian Orthodox Convent Monastery Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and features soloists Igor Morozov, Evgeny Kachurovsky, and Alexis V. Lukianov. Ekaterina Antonenko conducts.