Gerald Finzi – Dies Natalis, Op.8:III. The Rapture : Danza

Mark Padmore, tenor
Britten Sinfonia
Jacqueline Shave, director

From Benjamin Britten / Gerald Finzi (2012)
Released by Harmonia Mundi


Gerald Finzi – Dies Natalis, Op.8:III. The Rapture : Danza


Celebrated tenor Mark Padmore joins with Britten Sinfonia in some of the most beautiful English music for voice and orchestra. The centrepiece is Benjamin Britten’s magical evocation of twilight and nightfall, the Serenade (with Stephen Bell, horn). In Gerald Finzi’s song-cycle Dies Natalis, the ecstatic mood reflects a child’s wide-eyed wonder at the world. Britten’s poignant Nocturne completes the programme.

Official website

Violin Concerto no. 4 in A Major – Rondo

Jena Philharmonic Orchestra
Friedemann Eichhorn, violin
Nicolas Pasquet, conductor

From Pierre Rode: Violin Concertos (2011)
Released by Naxos


Pierre Rode: Violin Concerto no. 4 in A Major – Rondo


Pierre Rode was one of the giants of the violin world. He was a performer of superb technique — he premièred Beethoven’s last Violin Sonata in Vienna and wrote a large amount of music for his instrument, most prominently 13 concertos. They exhibit the highest qualities of the French School: grace, lyricism, fleetness and fluency.

Official website

Wandrers Nachtlied D224

Werner Gűra, tenor
Christoph Berner, fortepiano

From Schubert : Willkommen und Abschied (2012)
Released by Harmonia Mundi


Schubert: Wandrers Nachtlied D224


Placed under the aegis of Goethe’s poem Willkommen und Abschied (Greeting and parting), the lieders that make up this programme are emblematic of Romantic feeling as it is displayed throughout Schubert’s output: the subject, a traveller in search of meaning and a feeling of oneness with nature, asks himself all his life what place he occupies in the world. To this deeply existential question, the consciousness of the roaming Wanderer can see only one answer, steeped in the atmosphere of Sturm und Drang: ‘I am a stranger everywhere.’

Official website

Chants Corses (1932)
Lamentu d’u trenu

Johanne Cassar, soprano
Laurent Wagschal, piano
Sodi Braide, piano

From Henri Tomasi (1901-1971) Mélodies Corses – Cyrnos (2011)
Released by Indésens Records


Chants Corses – Lamentu d’u trenu


Soprano Johanne Cassar’s first recording with pianist Laurent Wagschal is a series of enchanting songs from one of the major composers of the Mediterranean, Henri Tomasi.

Official website

Aria : Se m’ami, oh caro (Madeleine Shaw)

La Nuova Musica
David Bates, direction
Lucy Crowe, soprano
Anna Dennis, soprano
Katherine Manley, soprano
Madeleine Shaw, mezzo-soprano
Clint van der Linde, countertenor
Lisandro Abadie, bass-baritone

From Il Pastor Fido 1712 / George Frideric Handel – Opera in three acts (2012)
Released by Harmonia Mundi


Handel : Aria – Se m’ami, oh caro (Madeleine Shaw)


The London-based La Nuova Musica, led by David Bates, presents a true rarity; the original 1712 version of Handel’s opera “Il pastor fido” (The Faithful Shepherd) in it’s world premiere recording with Harmonia Mundi. A must for all Baroque and Handel aficionados.

Official website

Osanna : Allegro di molto

Il Fondamento
Paul Dombrecht, director

From HASSE – Requiem in C major / Miserere in E minor (2000)
Released by PID


Hasse: Osanna – Allegro di molto


There was Hasse and his match “made in Heaven”, Faustina.
Now, it is Hasse, and his Requiem.

Official website

Álbum de viaje, Op.15 – I. Retrato

Jordi Maso, piano

From Joaquin Turina: Piano Music Vol. 7 (2011)
Released by Naxos


Joaquin Turina: Álbum de viaje, Op.15 – I. Retrato


This much admired series continues with an evocative travel album that shows Turina at the height of his descriptive powers. Álbum de viaje comprises delicious watercolours whilst Viaje marítimo embodies the influence of Debussy, fruitfully harnessed to Turina’s vivid sense of colour and texture.

Official website

III. Sequenz – 1. Coro. Dies irae

Lenneke Ruiten, soprano
Ruth Sandhoff, alto
Colin Balzer, tenor
Thomas E.Bauer, bass
RIAS Kammerchor
Akademie Fur Alte Musik, Berlin
Hans-Christoph Rademann, dir.

From Missa da Requiem – Miserere Johann Christian Bach (2011)
Released by Harmonia Mundi


J. C. Bach: III. Sequenz – 1. Coro. Dies irae


Thanks to Harmonia Mundi, here’s a masterpiece from the other Bach.

Official website

Casse-Noisette : Suite op.71a for two pianos (transcription N.Economou)
Danse Chinoise

Ludmila Berlinskaia, piano
Arthur Ancelle, piano

From Ludmila Berlinskaia & Arthur Ancelle / Tchaikovsky (2012)
Released by Saphir Productions


Casse-Noisette: Suite op.71a for two pianos (transcription N.Economou) – Danse Chinoise


A wonderful and amazing transcription for two pianos of the famous Casse-Noisette performed by Ludmila Berlinskaia and Arthur Ancelle.

Ludmila, daughter of the famous cellist Valentin Berlinsky, founder of the Borodin Quartet, will be performing in Hong Kong on April 25th 2012.

Official website

Sechs Lieder Op.72
Es blinkt der Tau (Boddien)
(The Dew Gleams)

Hélène Lindqvist, soprano
Philippe Vogler, piano
(The Art Song Project)

From Anton Rubinstein Persian Love Songs (2012)
Released by The Art Song Project


Rubinstein: Sechs Lieder Op.72 – Es blinkt der Tau (Boddien) – (The Dew Gleams)


A wonderful recording of long forgotten songs by Anton Rubinstein.
Beautiful voice, elegant piano, a gem not to be missed.

The dew gleams on the grass in the night,
the moon passes by in quiet splendor,
the nightingale sings in the bushes.
Hovering over the meadows in twilight,
the whole spring is fragrant,
we two wander through it all.

O Spring, how you are beautiful!
To wander through the intoxicating blossoms
on your arm your trembling love,
with the first heavenly kiss,
and firmly embracing the foolish wish,
that it will last forever.

(Gustav von Boddien, translated by the multi-talented Hélène Lindqvist )

Official website