On the first Sunday of every month, WRTI broadcasts a special edition of our program Sunday Classical focused on new releases. Join host Mark Pinto on WRTI on May 4 from 3-6 p.m. to hear highlights from each of these albums, and read his thoughts here.
Spain on Fire - Divine and Human Passions in the Spanish Baroque
Quiteria Muñoz (mezzo-soprano); Accademia del Piacere, Fahmi Alqhai (conductor)
In the 16th and 17th centuries, classical music was much like jazz in the amount of improvisation, ornamentation, and embellishment required of its players. Original scores were basic skeletons to which musicians added an abundance of personal interpretation. Here, the Spanish early music ensemble Accademia del Piacere brings the spirit of improvisation to well-known tunes of the Spanish Baroque.
Fantasie
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason (piano)
The 22-year-old member of the supremely talented Kanneh-Mason siblings of Britain makes her solo piano recording debut (she’s also a cellist!) with music dear to her heart, representing the very different styles of music she grew up listening to. Works by Claude Debussy, Frédéric Chopin, and Alexander Scriabin sit comfortably next to those of African American composers Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and William Grant Still.
Preludes By Chopin, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Messiaen, Górecki
Jan Lisiecki (piano)
The kaleidoscopic world of the prelude is the focus of this album from the Canadian star pianist. Jan Lisiecki takes “the audience on a musical expedition” through music from multiple eras, showcasing preludes by Bach, Messiaen, Rachmaninoff, Górecki, and Chopin, who reinvented the genre with his iconic 24 Preludes, Op. 28.
Elfrida Andrée: Symphony No. 1 · Fritiof-Svit
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Hermann Bäumer (conductor)
Sweden’s Norrköping Symphony Orchestra invites you to discover the music of their compatriot, Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929), a remarkable and pioneering composer, organist, and champion of women’s rights. Heard here are two of her acclaimed compositions: the expressively colorful and atmosphere suite from her 1898 opera Frithiofs Saga and the neo-Romantic Symphony No. 1 in C major (1868), the first known symphony by a Nordic woman composer.
J. S. Bach: Mass in B Minor, Bwv 232
Julie Roset (soprano), Beth Taylor (mezzo-soprano), Lucile Richardot (alto), Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenor), Christian Immler (bass), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon (conductor)
Regarded as one of the supreme peaks of Bach’s music and a compendium of his stylistic achievements, the Mass in B minor gets a superlative new outing from French choir and period instrument ensemble Pygmalion under their founder/director Raphaël Pichon, joined by outstanding vocal soloists. Absolutely heavenly performances here!
Take Me To The Water
Ashley Jackson (harp)
British harpist Ashley Jackson here celebrates “the transportive nature of water, and of the rivers that unite us, conjuring a radiant vision of a world anchored by hope and brighter days.” Highlighted by a breathtaking interpretation of Claude Debussy’s Danse Sacrée, her album explores spirituals and her own arrangements of emblematic works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Alice Coltrane.
River of Fire
Cavatina Duo, Brandon Vamos (cello); Simin Ganatra (violin); Pacifica Quartet
The Cavatina Duo (Denis Azabagic, guitar and Eugenia Moliner, flute) debut world-premiere recordings of original works that blend classical traditions with Gypsy influences, reveling in the music and history of the Romani diaspora. The album features the duo’s collaborations with cellist Brandon Vamos, violinist Simin Ganatra, and the Pacifica Quartet in five works written for the duo by celebrated composers including Clarice Assad, Sérgio Assad, and Stacy Garrop.
Dvořák & Price: Piano Quintets
Takács Quartet, Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)
Composed in 1936 but rediscovered only in 2009, Florence Price’s Piano Quintet receives an eagerly awaited new release from the venerable Takács Quartet and Canadian piano virtuoso (and Temple University alum) Marc-Andre Hamelin. Their performance puts Price’s Quintet firmly in the classical tradition of its companion piece, Antonín Dvořák’s 1887 Piano Quintet No. 2, regarded as one of the masterpieces of the genre.
Puccini: Tosca
Eleonora Buratto (Tosca), Jonathan Tetelman (Cavaradossi), Ludovic Tézier (Scarpia), Giorgi Manoshvili (Angelotti), Davide Giangregorio (Sagristano), Matteo Macchioni (Spoletta), Nicolò Ceriani (Sciarrone), Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Daniel Harding (conductor)
Two rising young stars of the opera stage head the cast in this new take on Puccini’s much-loved opera. Italian soprano Eleonora Buratto in the title role and Chilean-American tenor Jonathan Tetelman as her lover Cavaradossi are joined by French baritone Ludovic Tézier as Baron Scarpia, the evil police chief and the lovers’ nemesis. The release also commemorates the centenary of Puccini’s death and marks the official debut of conductor Daniel Harding as the Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia’s new Music Director.
Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Suite No. 3 - Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol - Tcherepnin: La Princesse Lointaine
NDR Radiophilharmonie, Stanislav Kochanovsky (conductor)
Another conducting debut is heralded in this recording of late 19th century orchestral works by three Russian composers. Stanislav Kochanovsky, who arrived as the NDR Radiophilharmonie’s sought-after Chief Conductor in 2024, leads expert and thrilling performances of Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous Capriccio espagnol, alongside less-familiar but compelling fare by Tchaikovsky and Tcherepnin.
Howard Shore: Anthology – The Paris Concerts
Olivier Doise (oboe), Jean-Paul Gasparian (piano), Raphaëlle Moreau (violin), Stéphane Guillaume (alto saxophone), Lydia Kavina (theremin), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, La Maitrise De Radio France, Le Balcon, Ludwig Wicki, Mike Schäperclaus, Bastien Stil (conductors)
Among the numerous awards earned by the now 78-year-old Canadian composer are three Oscars, three Golden Globes, and four Grammys. Recorded live in concert during Radio France’s “Howard Shore Weekend” in 2023, this release brings together music from some of his seminal film scores, including The Fly, Naked Lunch, Ed Wood, Eastern Promises, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit, plus a few discoveries written for the concert hall.
Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), Norwegian Soloists' Choir, Grete Pedersen (conductor)
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes explores an often-forgotten side of Franz Liszt. The famed virtuoso also had a deeply-held religious faith which led him to receive minor religious orders in 1865. Andsnes highlights Liszt’s spiritual side with performances of his Consolations and two of the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, plus a remarkable late work for choir and piano, Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross), in which Andsnes collaborates with the acclaimed Norwegian Soloists’ Choir.
Concertos For Baroque Lute: Fasch - Hagen - Kohaut – Kleinknecht
Il Pomo d'Oro, Miguel Rincón (lute)
The king of court instruments in the 17th century, the lute gradually fell out of favor among composers during the following century. By then, however, the lute was larger, with more courses (pairs of strings), and employed a different tuning, enabling it to hold its own as a solo instrument in performances with orchestra. The award-winning, historically informed ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro invites you to enjoy inventive and virtuoso concertos for baroque lute by four German composers writing in the mid-18th century, also a time of stylistic change.
MENDELSSOHN, Felix: Sacred Choral Works - Psalms / Die deutsche Liturgie / 6 Sprüche
Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Kļava (conductor)
In the 1840s, when he was ailing with what would prove his final, fatal illness, Mendelssohn wrote a significant amount of unaccompanied sacred choral works. The superlative Latvian Radio Choir here focuses their primary attention on the works of this period. Included are the Sechs Sprüche (Six Anthems) and Three Psalms, plus a world premiere performance of Ehre sei dem Vater (the prayer known as the Glory Be), published only in 1997.
At Which Point
The Crossing, Donald Nally (conductor)
Philly’s acclaimed contemporary choir The Crossing is not to be outdone in their performances of new music, socially conscious works in particular. Their latest endeavor features commissioned works by three contemporary women composers – American Ayanna Woods, Chinese-born Wang Lu, and Canadian Tawnie Olson – which address questions surrounding the artistic and creative experience in contemporary society.
