At the top of each month, WRTI broadcasts a special Sunday Classical focused on recommended new releases. Join host Mark Pinto on WRTI on August 3 from 3-6 p.m. to hear highlights from these albums, which he delves into below.
Spanish Serenades
Raphaël Feuillâtre (guitar), María Dueñas (violin), Verbier Festival Orchestra, Gábor Takács-Nagy (conductor)
On his second album for Deutsche Grammophon, the much-honored French guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre puts a unique and personal touch on familiar Spanish masterworks for his instrument. Feuillâtre plays pieces by Albéniz, Llobet, and Tárrega on the composers’ own original guitars, with many of the selections in his own arrangements. As a bonus Feuillâtre presents Rodrigo’s immortal Concierto de Aranjuez with the Verbier Festival Orchestra.
Pictures from Finland
Oulu Sinfonia, Madetoja Music High School's Girls’ Choir, The Soma Ensemble, Rumon Gamba (conductor)
Finland’s Oulu Sinfonia, with chief conductor Rumon Gamba, delivers musical postcards from their native land. The works date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including a suite by Selim Palmgren celebrating the changing seasons; the Second Finnish Rhapsody of Robert Kajanus, considered the father of Finnish music; and some rarely heard incidental music by Jean Sibelius.
Mozart
Andrè Schuen (baritone), Daniel Heide (fortepiano, piano), Nikola Hillebrand (soprano), Avi Avital (mandolin), Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Roberto González-Monjas (conductor)
The Italian baritone Andrè Schuen began his musical life as a cellist before embarking on vocal studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Partnering with the orchestra of that institution in Mozart’s hometown, Schuen offers his “personal journey with Mozart’s music,” sequencing his selections of arias and songs for baritone and bass to create interesting and dramatic links and transitions.
Brahms/Koncz: Sonatas for Clarinet and Orchestra
Daniel Ottensamer (clarinet), Christoph Traxler (piano), Noah Bendix-Balgley (violin); Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Stephan Koncz (conductor)
Last month, we featured a new release from revered Austrian clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer. This time around it’s a new and captivating one from his older brother Daniel, principal clarinet of the Vienna Philharmonic. He performs both of Brahms’ Clarinet Sonatas, two of the great masterpieces of the repertoire, in versions with orchestra. The multi-talented Christoph Koncz conducts the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in his own orchestrations, and on this recording serves as cellist in a clarinet quartet by Brahms contemporary Walter Rabl.
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Ravel: La valse
Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä (conductor)
Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä makes orchestral magic with the Orchestre de Paris on this critically acclaimed release. With a rendering of Berlioz’s astonishing symphonic pipe dream that Presto Music praises as “incredibly colorful,” alongside a “riotous account” of Ravel’s exciting orchestral work, this is one not to pass up!
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Toussaint l'Ouverture, Ballade Op. 4, Suites From '24 Negro Melodies'
Curtis Stewart (violin), National Philharmonic, Michael Repper (conductor)
August 15 marks the 150th birth anniversary of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a British composer of refined and engaging music who continues to enjoy a welcome renaissance. In celebration, Grammy-winning conductor Michael Repper leads the Washington, D.C.-based National Philharmonic in an album of world-premiere recordings. Among them is the Suite from Coleridge-Taylor’s 24 Negro Melodies, originally for piano, and a concert overture celebrating the life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, a Haitian military hero who led enslaved people to independence.
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A major D959 & Moments Musicaux
Steven Osborne (piano)
Contrasting music from Schubert’s final year is the theme of this Scottish virtuoso’s new recording. Steven Osborne gives an account of Schubert’s lyrical and melancholy A Major Sonata, often regarded as a “last will” of the composer. As a foil, he offers the less-imposing six Moments Musicaux, pieces likened to Beethoven’s Bagatelles in their dreaminess and brevity.
Handel: Chandos Anthems (Anthems For Cannons)
Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen
After Handel cruised royally up and down the Thames with his Water Music in the summer of 1717, he began composing for James Brydges, who would become the first Duke of Chandos. Brydges established a concert series at his estate, Cannons, for which Handel wrote a series of sacred anthems. Using an ensemble comparable in size to that which Handel had at his disposal, the excellent British early music group Arcangelo here performs four of these stirring Chandos Anthems.
Chapeau Satie
Xuefei Yang (guitar, soloist), Sharon Bezaly (flute), Heloïse Werner (soprano)
The Chinese-born guitarist Xuefei Yang marks the centenary of Satie’s death by reimagining many of his distinctive and well-known piano works and songs for her instrument. Collaborating with flute and soprano soloists, Yang delivers intimate performances of Satie’s Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes, and Mélodies.
Tania León: Horizons, Raíces (origins), Stride, Pasajes
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina Canellakis (conductor)
Cuban-born American composer Tania León was composer-in-residence with the London Philharmonic from 2023-25. The orchestra celebrates that partnership with this release of premiere recordings of four of her orchestral works, including her Pulitzer Prize-winning 2020 composition, Stride.
La Mer - French Piano Trios
Neave Trio
The latest recording from the acclaimed Boston-based Neave Trio showcases French works for piano trio composed around the turn of the 20th century. Saint-Saëns’ five-movement Piano Trio No. 2 and two small but powerful works by Mel Bonis join a fascinating reinvention of Debussy’s beloved orchestral work, La Mer, by esteemed British composer and violist Sally Beamish.
