After nearly 140 years since its release, January marked the world premiere recording of the earliest complete opera by Black American composer. Originally born a free person of color in New Orleans, Edmond Dédé (1827-1903) relocated to France in the mid 1850s after experiencing segregation and discrimination. There he became a successful conductor and composer, penning his opera, Morgiane. Hear this record and more in our February 2026 edition of Sunday Classical: New Releases, hosted by Mark Pinto on Feb. 1 from 3-6 p.m.
Orfeo son io
Rolando Villazón (tenor), Christina Pluhar (harp, theorbo, conductor), L'Arpeggiata
Christina Pluhar and her early music ensemble relate the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice through a centuries-spanning collection of instrumental and vocal works, ranging from Monteverdi and his contemporaries through Carlos Gardel and Luis Bonfá. The ensemble is joined by renowned tenor Rolando Villazón in arias from Monteverdi’s groundbreaking 1607 opera, L’Orfeo.
Quatuor Ébène, Belcea Quartet
Fresh off a world tour of this music, including a lauded performance in Philadelphia in November 2024, two of the world’s leading string quartets join forces in the recording studio to perform octets by two extraordinarily gifted teenage composers. Romania’s George Enescu was 18 in 1900 when he penned his String Octet in C Major, Op. 7, a remarkable work synthesizing various European influences but imbued with the spirit of Romanian folk music. At two years younger, Felix Mendelssohn wrote his symphonically conceived octet in 1825 as a birthday gift for his violin teacher.
MacDowell: Orchestral Works Vol. 2
Xiayin Wang (piano), Peter Dixon (cello), BBC Philharmonic, John Wilson (conductor)
John Wilson and the BBC Philharmonic present their second volume of orchestral music by Edward MacDowell, America’s first internationally acclaimed composer, who was also a virtuoso pianist. As a composer, MacDowell established a distinctly American style, rooted in the European Romanticism he soaked up during studies in France and Germany. Included here are two orchestral Shakespeare sketches after the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia, a Romanze for cello and orchestra, the Piano Concerto No. 2, a work MacDowell himself premiered in New York in 1889, and an orchestral suite inspired by the composer’s love of nature.
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 — Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
Nobuyuki Tsujii (piano), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Domingo Hindoyan (conductor)
Blind from birth, Japanese star pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii has received considerable acclaim for his techniques for learning music and performing with an orchestra while being unable to see. His latest recording captures his vivid and powerful performances of Russian Romantics Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, foremost Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, one of the most technically demanding works in the repertoire, and Mikhail Pletnev’s virtuosic concert suite for solo piano drawn from Tchaikovsky’s ballet score, The Nutcracker.
Piotr Anderszewski (piano)
Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski, known for his intense and introspective interpretations, is the ideal performer of these jewels from Brahms’ Op. 116 to 119. Anderszewski presents these mature, intimate, and subtle works, written during the final two years of Brahms’ life, as the composer’s personal testament.
Vítězslav Novák: Piano Concerto - Signorina Gioventu Suite - Nikotina Suite
Oliver Triendl (piano), Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Łukasz Borowicz (conductor)
Though not as well known as his compatriot and colleague Josef Suk or his friend and teacher Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer Vítězslav Novak was a key transitional figure between Romanticism and 20th-century modernism, leaving behind a wide-ranging output of striking and refined works blending Czech folk elements with innovative, complex, and lush soundscapes. This welcome release brings together his 1895 piano concerto and suites from two ballet-pantomimes from the 1920s.
Edmond Dédé: Morgiane, ou, Le sultan d'Ispahan
Nicole Cabell (soprano), Chauncey Packer (tenor), Joshua Conyers (baritone), Mary Elizabeth Williams (soprano), Valencia Pleasant (mezzo-soprano), Jonathan Woody (bass-baritone), Taylor White (soprano), Antonio Domino Jr. (tenor), Kenneth Kellogg (bass), Opera Lafayette Orchestra, OperaCréole Ensemble, Patrick Dupré Quigley (conductor)
Nearly 140 years in the making, this is the world premiere recording of the earliest complete opera by a Black American composer. Edmond Dédé (1827-1903) was born a free person of color in New Orleans. In the mid-1850s, however, facing segregation and discrimination, Dédé fled to France, where he lived the rest of his life, establishing a successful career as a composer and conductor. With its French libretto based on Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Dédé’s opera tells the story of a mother, Morgiane, and her daughter, Amine, who fight a tyrannical ruling sultan. This revelatory live recording boasts an outstanding cast of Black American performers.
Bach: Clavier-Übung III
James McVinnie (organ)
With its chorale preludes, duets, and majestic opening Prelude and closing Fugue, Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1739 Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Practice) III is a rich musical exploration of his Lutheran faith and a showcase of his sublime mastery of counterpoint. English organist James McVinnie brings Bach’s first published volume of organ music to life in performances on the 1702 Arp Schnitger organ of the Aa-kerk in Groningen, Netherlands.
Paranormal Musical Chamber
Cyrille Lacrouts (cello), Cécile Tête (violin), Grégoire Vecchioni (viola), JB Dunckel (percussion), Lorraine Campet (double bass), Shuichi Okada (violin), Wei-Yu Chang (double bass), Marie Laforge (flute)
For his 2024 release, Paranormal Musicality, JB Dunckel (AKA Jean-Benoit Dunckel, half of the French electronic duo Air) sat down at the piano and spontaneously composed a collection of short pieces revealing a passion for impressionism, romanticism, and minimalism. In this new album, Dunckel collaborates with composer/pianist Harry Allouche to imbue these works with new colors and a sense of permanence in arrangements for string quintet, with and without flute.
Constellations
Ensemble Ouranos
Hailed as one of the best French wind quintets in the world, Ensemble Ouranos serves up a program of arrangements and one original work, with a couple local connections. Highlights are the arrangements of Shostakovich’s famous String Quartet No. 8 and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin (the latter by Mason Jones, longtime principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra). The one original piece for wind quintet is the sensual Summer Music, a 1956 piece by West Chester, PA native Samuel Barber.
William Sterndale Bennett: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 6
Simon Callaghan (piano), Hiroaki Takenouchi (piano); Northern Sinfonia, Martin Yates (conductor)
Among the oft-overlooked composers in 19th England is William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875). A teacher for many years at London’s Royal Academy of Music and later at Queen’s College, Bennett counted Hubert Parry and Arthur Sullivan among his students. He was also acknowledged as an outstanding pianist in England and Germany, and the music he wrote for his own instrument is considered his finest and most characteristic. This album gives us the opportunity to hear two of his six piano concertos, written in a style blending British and German Romanticism.
