November is upon us, and with it comes a new edition of Sunday Classical: New Releases. Join host Mark Pinto on Nov. 1 from 3-6 p.m. as he plays highlights from a number of new albums, including a collection of solo cello works performed by Curtis alum Arlen Hlusko; pianist Daniil Trifonov in solo and concertante works from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 15-year-old violinist Himari's Decca Classics debut.
Mi Historia Americana: Sur
Daniil Trifonov (piano), Gonzalo Grau (percussion, conductor), São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
The popular Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov follows up his critically acclaimed 2024 recording, My American Story – North, with this release devoted to solo and concertante works from Latin America and the Caribbean. Sprinkling in popular miniatures, Trifonov curates a program of discoveries including sonatas by Alberto Ginastera and Gabriela Lena Frank, Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 for solo piano, and a suite for piano and orchestra based on Osvaldo Golijov’s St. Mark Passion.
Prokofiev — Villa-Lobos — Poulenc
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Simone Menezes (conductor)
The Viennese classicism of Mozart and Haydn attracted many composers in the first half of the 20th century to revisit and reimagine it for their own new compositions. Here, Vienna’s Radio Symphony Orchestra and sought-after conductor Simone Menezes offer three of these "neoclassical" works — Prokofiev’s well-loved "Classical" Symphony No. 1 and Villa-Lobos’ contemporaneous sinfonietta In Memory of Mozart, plus Poulenc’s own breezy, dance-driven Sinfonietta from three decades later.
Debut
Himari (violin), Chelsea Wang (piano), Berliner Philharmoniker, Sebastian Weigle (conductor)
One of the youngest-ever applicants at the Curtis Institute, Japanese-born Himari has already performed with world-renowned orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, and won top prizes at several international competitions. Now, at age 15, the youngest-ever female artist to sign with Decca Classics has released her debut recording of works she says she “truly love[s] and feel[s] deeply connected to.” These include Wieniawski’s fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto No. 1, the same composer’s Fantasia on Themes from Faust showpiece for violin and piano, and miniatures by Sibelius, Chopin, and Godowsky. A “debut” not to be missed!
komorebi
Arlen Hlusko (cello)
Recent Curtis Institute alum and Philly concert presenter Arlen Hlusko offers an album whose Japanese title signifies the interplay of sunshine filtering through trees in the forest, and light weaving through gaps in the darkness. Bach’s moving Cello Suite No. 5 is the sunshine here, as Hlusko weaves movements from the suite around compositions by several new American voices influenced by everything from American bluegrass to Indian ragas, Argentinian tango, and more.
The Deeps Have Music
Beth Taylor (mezzo), Hamish Brown (piano)
Songs of the sea comprise the debut recital album by rising vocal star Beth Taylor and award-winning pianist Hamish Brown. Taylor demonstrates her formidable technique in English, French, and German repertoire including Edward Elgar’s celebrated Sea Pictures and gems by Franz Schubert, Alma Mahler, and Ethel Smyth.
Granville Bantock: Orchestral Works
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba (conductor)
Elgar once referred to Granville Bantock as “the most fertile musical brain of our time.” His music had many champions, including Jean Sibelius, who became the first president of the Bantock Society after the composer’s death in 1946. The BBC Scottish Symphony offers three of Bantock’s works which exhibit a musical style combining Wagnerian romanticism with influences of English and Scottish folk music and eastern exoticism. Listeners are treated to the powerful and atmospheric Hebridean Symphony, the ancient Greek-inspired Prelude to “The Bacchae” of Euripides, and the charming and picturesque English Scenes suite. A most delightful discovery.
Shape of My Heart
Laura Lootens (guitar)
The German-Belgian guitarist Laura Lootens takes listeners on a wide-ranging journey between France and the Americas. First Prize winner of the 2022 Andrés Segovia Competition, Lootens serves up a wide-ranging program of Romantic repertoire including transcriptions of Chopin and Field, originals by Barrios and Mertz, and arrangements of chansons by Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel.
SHINE
Jess Gillam (saxophone) et al.
This pioneering and popular British saxophonist is known for actively expanding the repertoire for her instrument. Her new release spans 900 years of music in genres ranging from classical to folk, pop, jazz, and ambient. Collaborating with an ensemble of instrumentalists and revealing her joyful virtuosity and exquisite and sensitive tone, Jess Gillam ‘shines’ on music from Hildegard of Bingen to David Bowie, Arcangelo Corelli to Joni Mitchell.
The Beethoven Connection, Vol. 2
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano)
The renowned French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet offers listeners a further opportunity to encounter piano music by several composers who lived and worked in the shadow of Beethoven. Carl Czerny’s Funeral March on the Death of Ludwig van Beethoven joins sonatas by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Muzio Clementi, and Ludwig Berger, the latter’s Grande Sonate pathétique taking its cue from Beethoven’s own Pathétique sonata while paying tribute to Mozart.
Saint-Saens & Lalo: Cello Concertos
Sol Gabetta (cello), Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth (conductor)
Internationally acclaimed for her expressive and distinctive playing, Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta joins forces with France’s period instrument orchestra Les Siècles for fresh takes on three cornerstone works of the French Romantic cello repertoire. The popular First and highly virtuosic Second Concertos of Camille Saint-Saëns are presented alongside Édouard Lalo’s dramatic D minor Concerto.
