At the top of each month, WRTI broadcasts a special Sunday Classical focused on recommended new releases. Join host Mark Pinto on WRTI on May 3 from 3-6 p.m. to hear highlights from these albums, which are detailed below.
So Poétique!
Cyrille Dubois (tenor), Brussels Philharmonic, Pierre Dumoussaud (conductor)
French tenor Cyrille Dubois, renowned for his elegant technique and native phrasing, showcases one of his specialties on this recording devoted to the art of the mélodie. The genre, a form of French art song comparable to the German lied, originated in the mid-19th century. Dubois gifts listeners with two dozen works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Gabriel Fauré, Benjamin Godard, Augusta Holmès, Jules Massenet, and other familiar names.
Joseph Haydn: The Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 5
Trio Gaspard
The music of Joseph Haydn has been central to Trio Gaspard throughout the ensemble’s career. One of the world’s most sought-after young chamber groups, they offer here the fifth volume in their continuing survey of Haydn’s pioneering works in the genre of the piano trio. Like their previous outings, this volume contains contrasting trios from different points in Haydn’s compositional life alongside a world premiere of a commissioned work, a whimsical piece by the Swiss-Dutch composer Helena Winkelman.
Pájaros Mágicos
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel (conductor)
Gustavo Dudamel and his Los Angeles Philharmonic treat listeners to two early 20th century ballets inspired by mythical birds and boasting distinct and spectacular orchestrations. The far-better known is Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird, represented by the composer’s 1919 suite from the ballet. The other, a delightful discovery, is Uirapuru (The Enchanted Little Bird), by Brazil’s Heitor Villa-Lobos, completed in 1935. Drawing from the composer’s knowledge and experiences in the Amazon, the colorful score brims with bird calls, exotic percussion, and Brazilian folk melody.
Willows
Pekka Kuusisto (violin & conductor), Sam Amidon (guitar, banjo, vocals), Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
Finnish violinist, conductor, and composer Pekka Kuusisto has established a reputation for breaking classical music conventions through his genre-bending collaborations and innovative, often folk-influenced programming. He’s true-to-form in this new release, which sees him as soloist in Vaughan Williams’ folk-inspired The Lark Ascending and as conductor in Nico Muhly’s arrangements of six traditional American folk songs with American singer-songwriter Sam Amidon on guitar, banjo and vocals. American composer Caroline Shaw’s 2015 Plan & Elevation, a musical journey through the gardens of Dumbarton Oaks, rounds out the album in a new version for string orchestra.
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Ryan Bancroft (conductor)
Isata Kanneh-Mason’s long and personal relationship with the music of Sergei Prokofiev reveals itself in this recording exploring the composer’s piano music across different periods and styles. The eldest of Britain's famous musical siblings, Isata plays the album’s centerpiece, the popular Piano Concerto No. 3, together with such solo works as the energetic, single-movement Piano Sonata No. 3, the Toccata, and transcriptions from Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, The Love for Three Oranges, and Lieutenant Kijé.
Invocation
Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova Choir, Massimo Zanetti (conductor)
After a rapid rise to stardom, French-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig has established herself as a leading lyric voice of her generation. She demonstrates her versatility in this album of operatic prayers, pleas, and supplications by fourteen chiefly Romantic-era composers to texts in six languages. Mixed in among ‘greatest hits’ by Bellini, Puccini, Wagner, Verdi, and Dvořák are fascinating offerings from Italy’s Carolina Uccelli, Denmark’s Peter Heise, and a cantata excerpt by an 18-year-old Georges Bizet.
German Opera Scenes and Arias
Malin Byström (soprano), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Søndergård (conductor)
German opera aficionados will thrill to this new release from one of today’s leading singing actors, renowned for her vocal technique – Swedish soprano Malin Byström. She displays her mastery of German operatic repertoire in these scenes and arias from Beethoven’s Fidelio, Weber’s Der Freischütz, Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, and three operas by Richard Strauss - Die ägyptische Helena, Capriccio, and Salome.
Sibelius: Violin Concerto - Lemminkäinen Suite
Ava Bahari (violin), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali (conductor)
Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Gothenburg Symphony have garnered numerous awards for their recordings of the symphonies and symphonic poems of Sibelius over the past five years. They add to this prestigious legacy with this release pairing the famous Violin Concerto with the Four Legends from the Kalevala (AKA Lemminkäinen Suite), a cycle of symphonic poems inspired by the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The rising young Swedish violinist Ava Bahari stars in the Concerto.
Schumann: Violin Concerto & Works for Violin and Piano by Clara and Robert Schumann
Midori Gotō (violin), Ozgür Aydin (piano), Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds (conductor)
Celebrated on stages around the world, violinist Midori Gotō returned to the recording studio for this survey of late works by Robert and Clara Schumann. Robert is represented by the expressive and powerful Violin Concerto and the intimate and lyrical Five Pieces in Folk Style and Op. 94 Three Romances, the latter two works performed with Turkish-American pianist Ozgür Aydin. Intimacy and emotional expressiveness are also hallmarks of the Five Romances of Clara’s Op. 22.
Emporium - Music of Aldo López-Gavilán
Aldo López-Gavilán (piano), Ricardo Morales (clarinet), Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Butterman (conductor)
The worlds of classical and jazz meld in this exciting release of premiere performances of works by the “dazzling” and “formidable” Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilán. Praised for his ability to seamlessly fuse classical virtuosity, jazz improvisation, and Afro-Cuban rhythms, the composer is soloist in Emporium for piano and orchestra and the magical and dreamy Hechizos (Spells) for solo piano. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s own principal clarinet Ricardo Morales makes a guest appearance in López-Gavilán’s Clarinet Concerto, a tribute to the composer’s clarinetist grandfather.
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 9 & 22
Jan Lisiecki (piano), Bamberger Symphoniker, Manfred Honeck (conductor)
Canadian star pianist Jan Lisiecki celebrates Mozart’s 270th birthday anniversary with
performances of two of his great piano concertos. “These two concertos,” says Lisiecki, “both in the key of E flat major, emerge as singular masterpieces.” The Concerto No. 9, nicknamed “Jeunehomme”, is considered the 21-year old Mozart’s first mature concerto, while No. 22, from a high point in his career, is a grand work noted for its rich orchestration, including his first use of clarinets in any of his concertos.
Britten: Les Illuminations and Other Works
Julie Roset (soprano), Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Lawrence Foster (conductor)
Impressionistic, post-Romantic works composed between 1940 and 1953 fill this album released in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death. Featured are the much-loved Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; the Sinfonia da Requiem, dedicated to the memory of the composer’s parents; the festive Courtly Dances from Gloriana, his opera-tribute to Queen Elizabeth II; and the sublime song cycle Les Illuminations, featuring young French soprano Julie Roset as soloist.
