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

This week, audiences get the second part of a CD series, solo albums, including a debut album, and some rarely performed works.

Longing – A Love Across The Ages

In the tradition of great “art song” composers, such as Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Gabriel Fauré, Johannes Brahms, and Gustav Mahler, Emmy-nominated composer Craig Brandwein releases an opera in one act, “Longing – A Love Across The Ages (An Opera In One Act).”

Set in New York City in the late 1920s, the story is of Dr. Curtis and his daughter, Elise, who are preparing a new Egyptian exhibit of their recent excavation. There, the Forgotten Prince, who was cursed in life, lies in his sarcophagus. The curse destroyed his entire family, ending a dynasty, but leaving the prince alive and trapped in his tomb for thousands of years. Since his discovery, he has watched in secret, learned the new language that he hears, and fallen in love with Elise. Guided by the ghost of his mother, he will reveal himself to Elise. So begins their love story, but the curse isn’t yet finished with the ancient prince.

Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde

Captured live with The re:orchestra of Rotterdam at the Zeeuwse Concertzaal, Gustav Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” is performed in a chamber version realized by Arnold Schönberg and Rainer Riehn. Roberto Beltrán Zavala conducts.

The Dunbar/Moore Sessions

GRAMMY® Award-winning baritone Will Liverman releases the second volume of The Dunbar/Moore Sessions on all digital platforms via Lexicon Classics.

Set to the late 19th and early 20th-century poetry of writer/activists Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Dunbar-Moore, Liverman’s original songs draw from the full spectrum of sounds and traditions that have shaped Liverman’s musical life —classical, musical theater, gospel, jazz, and more. The album features performances by Isabel Leonard, Erin Morley, and Liverman himself, Mykal Kilgore, Jacqueline Echols, Joshua Blue, Adam Richardson, and Ann Toomey; violin virtuoso Lady Jess; and cello virtuoso Lindsey Sharpe.

In a review, OperaWire said, “Liverman proves himself a musical polyglot. He emulates the various moods set by Paul and Alice Dunbar, and in a polychromatic array of genres, gives each of the ten tracks a highly distinctive feel.”

Johann Simon Mayr: Amor non ha ritegno

Naxos releases the opera semiseria in two acts with a cast that features Anna-Doris Capitelli, Anna Feith, Yeree Suh, Philipp Polhardt, Markus Schäfer, Niklas Mallmann, and Daniel Ochoa. Franz Hauk conducts.

Alma Mahler Lovers & Friends: Lieder by Korngold, A. Mahler, Pfitzner, Schreker, Walter & Zemlinsky

Raoul Steffani and Julius Drake focus their album on Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century, an era of great affluence and unprecedented artistic blossoming where music, literature, and the visual arts coalesced. The album showcases music by Alma Mahler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Hans Pfitzner, Franz Schreker, Bruno Walter, and Alexander Zemlinsky.

Beloved Arias

Delos releases Liparit Avetisyan’s first solo album with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra and Constantine Orbelian. The album features music by Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, and Gounod as well as Sayat-Nova’s folk-inspired “Qamancha.”

Havergal Brian: Complete Choral Songs, Volume One.

Toccata Classics releases an album of music by Havergal Brian, who devoted his career to cantatas, orchestral tone-poems, solo songs, and a large number of choral songs. The album includes the Joyful Company of Singers, Ascolta, and conductor Peter Broadbent.

Mozart Complete Masses, Vol. 6: Mass in C major, “Credo”; Missa brevis in G major; Missa brevis in D minor; Missa brevis in C major, “Spatzenmesse”

Naxos releases a Mozart album featuring some of his masses. Carolina Ullrich, Elvira Bill, Marie Henriette Reinhold, Sung Min Song, Angelo Pollak, Jonas Müller, and Konstantin Krimmel star. The Cologne Cathedral Choir and Vocal Ensemble with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra are conducted by Christoph Poppen.

Dmitri Shostakovich: Orchestral Songs

Nina Fomina, Tamara Sinyavskaya, Vladimir Kasatschuk, Arkady Mishenkin, Anatoly Kotcherga, Anatoly Babykin, and Stanislav Sulejmanov star in an album of works by Shostakovich. The Rundfunk-Kinderchor Berlin, Kölner Rundfunkchor (WDR Rundfunkchor), and Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester (WDR Sinfonieorchester) are conducted by Michail Jurowski.