March new releases available from this Monday

 

Our March new releases are available from www.chandos.net from Monday!

Disc of the Month

HANDEL – DUETS-CONNOLLY/JOSHUA

This new Handel collection features two great Handelian singers, Sarah Connolly and Rosemary Joshua, accompanied by the English Concert conducted by Harry Bicket. The programme offers a carefully chosen selection from Handel Operas ‘Guilio Cesare’, ‘Belshazzar’, ‘Theodora’, ‘Ottone’, ‘Sosarme’, ‘Radamisto’, ‘Rodelinda’, ‘Agrippina’ and ‘Tamerlano’. Duets play a key role in Handel’s stage works; he understood the dramatic effectiveness of blending two voices together - generally those of a soprano heroine and castrato hero. Sarah Connolly is a highly sought after Artist who has performed a number of Handel roles on stage including Giulio Cesare for the Glyndebourne Festival. Rosemary Joshua has developed quite a reputation for her Handel roles, which include  the title role in Semele on stage for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award and on disc for Chandos. This album launches with a Wigmore Hall concert on April 1^st.  Also check out the saucy artwork on this disc.

D’INDY – ORCHESTRAL WORKS VOL 3

Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra follow their Grammy-nominated volume 1 and Editor’s Choice volume 2 with four rare orchestral works from Vincent D’Indy’s musical legacy.  The previous volumes have attracted such comments as “superbly realised by the excellent Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Rumon Gamba and the state-of-the-art Chandos recording; definitely a key record of D’Indy’s orchestral output,”- Gramophone  and “this series is going to be virtually definitive” –Musical Opinion. This third volume comprises the Third Symphony subtitled ‘Sinfonia Brevis de Bello Gallico’, ‘Istar’ –Symphonic Variations, ‘Diptyque méditerranéen’, and ‘Choral varié pour saxophone solo et orcheste’. The Saxophone soloist is Sigurður Flosason who is quite a star in his native Iceland.

HALVORSEN –ORCHESTRAL WORKS , VOL.1

This disc begins a journey of discovery with Norway’s national orchestra the Bergen Philharmonic conducted by Neeme Järvi. It is the start of a major new orchestral series featuring the music of Johan Halvorsen who has been described as one of Norway’s best kept secrets.  Halvorsen was not only a composer but also an accomplished violinist and conductor. Indeed, he was conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic between 1885 and 1886 and was one of the most important Norwegian composers after Grieg. His music follows the national romantic tradition with a distinctive style and brilliant orchestrations. The series kicks off with the rarely recorded ‘Symphony No.1’, coupled with the ‘Entry March of the Boyars’ which is frequently included in concert programmes, together with ‘Andante Religioso’, ‘Mascarade Suite’ and ‘La Mélancholie’. The Bergen Philharmonic will embark upon a UK tour in March this year.

HAYDN- PIANO SONATAS Vol.1 - BAVOUZET

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s complete Debussy cycle has been a big hit across the world, picking up numerous awards on the way.  He has now decided to embark upon a Haydn  cycle highlighting the fact that he should in no way be pigeon-holed as a ‘French’ specialist. Many leading pianists have tackled these virtuosic classical Sonatas but Bavouzet really feels he has something new to say. The programme for Volume 1 includes the experimental and ambitious Sonata in A flat No.31, the elegantly virtuosic Sonata in D major No.391, the expressive Sonata in B minor, No.47 and the almost Schubertian Sonata in C sharp minor op.49. Bavouzet shipped in a specially selected Yamaha piano for the recording which he feels give the sort of tonal quality he is looking for.  He will play the Sonatas at concerts across Europe and Volume 2 will be released this Autumn. 

ST JOHN’S MAGNIFICAT-THE CHOIR OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

This recording is the start of a new exclusive recording contract between Chandos and the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge under their music director Andrew Nethsingha.

This first disc introduces the Choir singing music by Herbert Howells. There are two settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis, one of which was written for St. John’s during the time Howells was Acting Organist during World War 2. The other was written for Gloucester Cathedral in Howells’ native county. Andrew Nethsingha comments “We are delighted to be embarking on a partnership with such an excellent label as Chandos. We have chosen to start with a disc of Howells’ music – Herbert Howells was closely associated with St John’s College for several decades. Two major works written for the St John’s Choir, including “Sequence for St Michael” will feature on the CD.  ‘By the Waters of Babylon’, is a deeply moving psalm setting for baritone, violin, cello and organ, will also be another highlight of the disc.” Previously on Chandos the Choir of St John’s recorded a disc of Christmas Carols, the Mozart Requiem and works by Gibbons and Tallis. Check out the website for details.

RACHMANINOFF –SYMPHONY No.2/THE ROCK-BBC PHIL/NOSEDA

The BBC Philharmonic’s epic Rachmaninoff series continues with a recording of ‘Symphony 2’, coupled with ‘The Rock’. Unlike his first Symphony, No.2 is standard orchestral repertoire composed in a charming garden villa in Dresden where Rachmaninoff and his family had settled in late 1906. The finished product turned out to be one of the longest of all Russian symphonies. As one critic observed at the 1908 St Petersburg premiere, the new E minor Symphony … may be slightly over long for the general audience, but how fresh , how beautiful it is.’  The Symphony is coupled with the fantasia The Rock written in 1893 and is an excellent example of Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestration. After a recent concert at the Bridgewater Hall a critic commented “Noseda showed his remarkable affinity with Rachmaninoff’s style. He combines an ability to sustain the long structures of its emotional climaxes with a ‘vocalistic’ approach to phrasing which lifts the tunes out of the texture and lets them sing. It’s almost operatic in its vividness’. City Life