EMI Classics and Virgin Classics January 2009 Releases
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics January 2009 Releases
Highlights from Virgin Classics Include Joyce DiDonato’s Handel Arias Disc, Furore!, and Bach Albums from Natalie Dessay, with Emmanuelle Haïm, and Pianist David Fray; EMI Classics Presents Berlioz Recording by Simon Rattle and Berlin Philharmonic with Special Guest Susan Graham
Pianist Gabriela Montero and Violinist Itzhak Perlman to Play at Presidential Inauguration Ceremony for Barack Obama on January 20
Furore! – Handel Opera Arias
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset
CD and downloads available January 13, 2009 from Virgin Classics
“A furore of murderous anguish, destructive self-pity, and touch-paper emotions. DiDonato has a tremendous, sheeny, full mezzo – from her throaty lower ranges to her liquid highs – that illuminates this psychotic assembly of Handel’s most deranged and vengeful lovers. [She] fields everything from raw-edged anger to heart-wrenching sorrow.”
– Times [London]
American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato releases her first solo arias recording in time for Handel year 2009, on the Virgin Classics label. Furore!, which has already been released in Europe to enthusiastic acclaim, is the Kansas City-born diva’s first album in a new exclusive contract with the label. It features DiDonato singing 14 arias from ten Handel operas and oratorios in Italian and English, supported by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. DiDonato and her colleagues will perform some of these arias in Kansas City on January 21 and at New York’s Zankel Hall on January 23 – one of three concerts she will give at Carnegie Hall in the course of a single week! London’s Observer calls Furore!: “A collection that stands way out from the recent spate of Handel recitals”; the London Sunday Times says “DiDonato is in ravishing form”; Warwick Thompson in Metro calls the release “Yummy!”; London’s Daily Telegraph voted Furore! “CD of the Week” in September; and the Independent says DiDonato is “one of the most flamboyantly dramatic mezzos in the business, so the thrust of her debut CD comes as no surprise.”
Among DiDonato’s other scheduled performances in the States this season: on January 18 she performs at the Marilyn Horne 75th birthday gala at Carnegie Hall; on January 25 she joins James Levine and his MET Orchestra at Carnegie for Rossini’s song cycle La regata veneziana and Mozart’s concert aria “Ch’io mi scordi di te?”, with Levine directing from the piano; and in May she gives the world premiere of Lieberson’s The World in Flower with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert. On January 24, DiDonato switches roles from singer to emcee, when she hosts the Met’s Live HD broadcast of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice into select theaters.
Track list:
1. Serse “Crude furie” (Serse)
2. Teseo “Dolce riposo!” (Medea)
3. Teseo “Ira, sdegni, e furore … O stringerò nel sen” (Medea)
4. Teseo “Morirò, ma vendicata” (Medea)
5. Giulio Cesare “L’angue offeso mai riposa” (Sesto)
6. Admeto “Orride larve” (Admeto)
7. Hercules “There in myrtle shades reclined” (Dejanira)
8. Semele “Hence, hence, Iris hence away” (Juno)
9. Imeneo “Sorge nell’alma mia” (Tirinto)
10. Ariodante “Scherza infida!” (Ariodante)
11. Admeto “Gelosia, spietata Aletto” (Alceste)
12. Amadigi “Desterò dall’empia Dite” (Melissa)
13. Hercules “Cease, ruler of the day, to rise” (Dejanira)
14. Hercules “Where shall I fly!” (Dejanira)
Bach: Cantatas
Natalie Dessay, soprano
Neil Brough, trumpet
Le Concert d’Astrée / Emmanuelle Haïm
CD and downloads available January 13 from Virgin Classics
“With this exquisite selection of Handel Italian cantatas for solo voice and orchestra, soprano Natalie Dessay joins the highest rank of today’s Baroque vocalists.”
– San Francisco Chronicle review of Delirio
French soprano Natalie Dessay, recent winner of a 2008 Opera News Award, teams up once again with the dynamic French conductor Emmanuelle Haïm for another recording of sublime Baroque repertoire. Following an all-Handel album (Delirio – Handel Cantatas) and a disc pairing Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Dessay and Haïm have come together for their first all-Bach recital. The program features three of Bach’s most beautiful Cantatas, including the great “Ich habe genug,” in Bach’s own arrangement for soprano, BWV 82a.
The other two cantatas are two of only four sacred ones that Bach wrote for solo soprano: “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” (Praise God in All Lands), BWV 51, is one of Bach’s best known cantatas, with an important part for solo trumpet, here performed by young British musician, Neil Brough. Both the soprano part, which calls for a high C in the first and last movements, and the solo trumpet part, which at times trades melodic lines with the soprano on an equal basis, are extremely virtuosic. The third cantata, “Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut” (My Heart Swims in Blood), BWV 199, is one of the earliest cantatas Bach composed – its vocal parts are technically demanding and contain challenges that Natalie Dessay meets with the highest artistry.
Natalie Dessay returns to the U.S. in March for another star turn at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, singing the title role in Bellini’s La Sonnambula from March 2 through April 3.
Vivaldi: Cello Concertos
Han-Na Chang, cello
London Chamber Orchestra / Christopher Warren Green
CD and downloads available January 13, 2009 from EMI Classics
“She plays with such conviction that you feel she too could have been the inspiration for great composers.”
– Gramophone
For her first recording of Baroque repertoire, exclusive EMI recording artist Han-Na Chang plays an all-Vivaldi program featuring seven of the Venetian composer’s irresistibly tuneful and evocative cello concertos. The young South Korean cellist, described by the Strad magazine as a “natural performer whose musicianship is intense, profound, and astonishingly mature,” recorded the concertos at Abbey Road Studios in June 2008 following a performance at St. John’s, Smith Square in London. For Han-Na Chang, Vivaldi represents the “liveliness of harmony and rhythm. … It is in the colors and forms that he creates. Also, the small orchestra needed for a Vivaldi concerto – a small ensemble of strings and harpsichord that improvises during the solo – creates a special intimacy between the cello and the orchestra.”
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique and La mort de Cléopâtre
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Simon Rattle; Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
CD and downloads available January 13, 2009 from EMI Classics
“Susan Graham’s performance as the suicidal Egyptian queen is the true making of this disc, a spine-tingling reading.”
– Tribune Arts [UK]
Simon Rattle’s new recording with the Berlin Philharmonic pairs the most famous and colorful work by the arch-Romantic and revolutionary French composer Hector Berlioz with one of his early and far less-known works: the dramatic cantata La mort de Cléopâtre. It has been years since the BPO has recorded Symphonie fantastique; the famed orchestra has changed significantly in those years and under Rattle’s baton this new recording promises a fresh, compelling reading with new insights into the work. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is widely regarded as one of today’s greatest interpreters of French song, and she has sung La mort de Cléopâtre to great acclaim in recent seasons. Following a performance last season, the New York Times reported that Graham “used her warm, lustrous mezzo expressively to convey the conflicting emotions of loneliness, pride, nostalgia, and despair before the captured Cleopatra’s suicide.” Graham recently triumphed in New York in another great work by Berlioz, La damnation de Faust, which received a riveting new production at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
J. S. Bach: Piano Concertos
David Fray, piano
Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Bremen
CD and downloads available January 13, 2009 on Virgin Classics
“The superbly played and thoughtful program should help spread the news about this emerging French artist, now 26. In both Bach and Boulez, Mr. Fray displays an articulate touch, splendid command of shadings, and nimble finger work. The youthful freshness of the performances is especially appealing. Mr. Fray is not intimidated by either giant.”
– New York Times, August 2007 review of Fray’s Bach/Boulez album
After his striking debut album of works for solo piano by Bach and Boulez, young French pianist David Fray focuses on four of Bach’s six concertos for keyboard, directing the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie from the piano. David Fray has a resolute commitment to the German repertoire, and more particularly to Bach, whom he called in a recent interview, “a pinnacle; both a beginning and an end.” In this new recording, Fray displays his close affinity with the composer, showing his technical and musical understanding of these remarkable concertos (BWV 1055, 1056, 1058, and 1052) – by turns joyous, earthy, elegant, and sublime.
Swing, Sing and Think – David Fray Plays Bach
A film by Bruno Monsaingeon
DVD available January 13 from Virgin Classics
Timed to coincide with the release of David Fray’s Bach concertos album, Swing, Sing and Think is an absorbing 95-minute DVD documentary about the young French pianist, directed by the distinguished filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon, and proudly presented by Virgin Classics. Monsaingeon’s previous films, exploring the life and work of such artists such as Piotr Anderszewski, David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, and Glenn Gould, have been widely acclaimed.
Swing, Sing and Think features live footage from the audio recording sessions of the concertos BWV 1055, 1056, and 1058 alongside interviews with Fray, who discusses his relationship with Bach’s music and his views on directing an orchestra – here the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen – from the keyboard.
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Meier, Storey, DeYoung, Grochowski, Salminen
Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano / Daniel Barenboim
Stage Director: Patrice Chéreau
Live from Il Teatro alla Scala di Milano – December 2007
Three DVDs for the price of two, available January 13, 2009 from EMI Classics
“Mr. Barenboim, who knows this opera as well as anyone, drew rich, densely textured, multilayered sounds from his players.”
– New York Times
La Scala opened its 2007-08 season with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, staged by Patrice Chéreau. In this collaboration, Daniel Barenboim and Chéreau fulfilled a Wagnerian dream they had been cherishing since 1980. “In Chereau,” Barenboim observed, “I found my ideal partner.” The opera hadn’t been staged at La Scala for over 30 years and the new production was greeted with unanimous praise from the public and critics. The cast features Waltraud Meier as Isolde, and, making his Scala debut in the role of Tristan, the British tenor Ian Storey. Finnish bass Matti Salminem as König Marke, and gifted American mezzo Michelle DeYoung as Brangäne, round out the cast. The Associated Press reported, “Daniel Barenboim made a triumphant debut as principal guest conductor at La Scala’s gala opening-night premiere of a new staging of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, receiving 20 minutes of applause, a shower of roses, and shouts of ‘bravi.’” Barenboim recently made his long-awaited debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, conducting this same work to rapturous acclaim.
Reissues and special compilations:
Mstislav Rostropovich: The Complete EMI Recordings
Specially-priced 25-CD set, DVD, & documentary available January 13 from EMI Classics
Mstislav Rostropovich was born on March 27, 1927 and died from cancer a month after his 80th birthday. He was without a doubt the leading cellist of the 20th century, not to mention an excellent conductor and piano accompanist to his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. But what set him even further apart was his deep commitment to humanity, his dedication to the people of his native Russia, and his courageous stand against Soviet political oppression (his support of dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn and others led him to have his citizenship revoked by the Communist regime).
This month, EMI Classics is proud to issue a special collector’s edition of all the cello recordings he made for the label, including both versions of the Brahms Double Concerto, with Oistrakh and Szell in 1969 and Perlman and Haitink in 1979; the Dvorák Concerto, with Boult in 1957 and Giulini in 1977; the Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 1, with Sargent in 1956 and Giulini in 1977; the Bach Cello Suites, both on CD and DVD; and 13 CDs of recordings that Rostropovich brought to EMI, entitled “The Russian Years”.
The remarkable enthusiasm and virtuosity with which “Slava” played inspired numerous composers to write for him. He reserved his highest praise for composers Sergei Prokofiev, who died on the same day as Stalin (March 5, 1953), Dmitri Shostakovich, who died on August 9, 1975, and Benjamin Britten, who died on December 4, 1976. Both Rostropovich and Shostakovich had lost their fathers as teenagers, so when Shostakovich became the cellist’s teacher, he also became a kind of surrogate father. One can only imagine Rostropovich’s anguish at not being able to return to Moscow for the funeral, having been stripped of his citizenship; it was thus at Britten’s funeral service that he could give vent to his sadness at the loss of both great friends.
Apparently generous even in death, Rostropovich left the world a matchless recorded legacy.
George Cziffra: The Complete Studio Recordings 1956-86
Specially-priced 40-CD set available January 13 from EMI Classics
This boxed set contains the recorded legacy of “the meteor” Georges Cziffra: 40 CDs that bring together all the studio recordings Cziffra made for EMI and Philips, from his first 25 cm, 33 rpm microgroove LP, released in 1956 when he arrived in Paris, to the last sessions in the Saint-Frambourg chapel in Senlis in May 1986, a few years before he died. The Hungarian-born pianist’s legendary virtuosity and near-superhuman work ethic tended to overshadow the inner turmoil of a man who suffered deeply under Nazi oppression, and then later from the post-war Hungarian regime that eventually drove him into exile.
This elegant box set includes numerous works by Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, and others (sometimes offering several, fascinatingly different interpretations of the same work), plus a handful of improvisations and transcriptions.
Best 100 Puccini
Specially-priced boxed set (six CDs for the price of one) available January 13 from EMI Classics
The 18th installment in EMI Classics’ best-selling “Best 100” series features a feast of great Puccini singing from legendary artists such as Maria Callas, Mirella Freni, Giuseppe Di Stefano, and more. This six-CD set features highlights from all his major operas, as well as the early Messa di Gloria, at a remarkable price-point that is nearly impossible to beat: six CDs for the price of one! All tracks are stereo recordings drawn from EMI Classics’ incomparable catalog.
“Best of 2008” notices for EMI Classics and Virgin Classics releases
Stravinsky: Three Symphonies (released on EMI Classics, July 2008)
Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (released on EMI Classics, March 2008)
Berlin Philharmonic / Simon Rattle
“The Stravinsky symphonies teem with energy and pointed, dancing rhythms. The Mahler makes a searing emotional impact yet is more tightly conceived and executed than an earlier effort with the Vienna Philharmonic. The future for this pairing looks increasingly bright.”
– Boston Globe
Natalie Dessay: Italian Opera Arias (released on Virgin Classics, February 2008)
“French soprano Natalie Dessay is perhaps today’s most celebrated singer-actress. The bonus DVD shows why, featuring a vivid live performance of the 17-minute ‘mad scene’ from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera. The CD showcases Dessay in emotional arias by Verdi, Bellini, and Donizetti (including Lucia’s unhinged showstopper), with Concerto Köln, transparent accompaniment ideal for Dessay’s silvery nuance.”
– Newark Star-Ledger
Diana Damrau: Arie di Bravura (released on Virgin Classics, October 2008)
One of “THE BEST FROM THE BEST” among “A baker’s dozen of must-have recital discs from 2008…dazzling.”
– Opera News
EMI Classics artist in the news: Gabriela Montero
Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriela Montero, who has wowed audiences worldwide with her encores of improvisations based on tunes suggested by the audience, will join Itzhak Perlman and prominent musicians at the presidential inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 20 (the ceremony begins around 10 am on the West Front of the Capitol). John Williams, the composer whose music was heard at Obama’s victory party on election night in Grant Park, has composed a new piece to be played for the incoming president, featuring Perlman on violin, Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Gabriela Montero on piano, and Anthony McGill on clarinet. Montero, who has been profiled on the top-rated TV news program 60 Minutes, has had back-to-back Billboard bestsellers for EMI Classics: her debut album, Bach and Beyond, and Baroque.
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists on tour – Winter / Spring 2009
Jan 18 Joyce DiDonato at the Marilyn Horn Foundation Gala, Carnegie Hall (NYC)
Jan 20 Gabriela Montero and Itzhak Perlman perform at Presidential Inauguration Ceremony for
Barack Obama on West Front of Capitol (Washington, D.C.)
Jan 21 Joyce DiDonato sings Furore in Kansas City with Les Talens Lyriques / Rousset (MO)
Jan 23 Joyce DiDonato sings Furore at Zankel Hall with Les Talens Lyriques / Rousset (NYC)
Jan 24 Joyce DiDonato hosts Met’s Live in HD broadcast of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (select theaters)
Jan 25 Joyce DiDonato with MET Orchestra / Levine at Carnegie Hall (NYC)
Feb 18 Alison Balsom at St. Cecilia Music Center (Grand Rapids, MI)
Feb 21 Alison Balsom at First Flight High School (Kill Devil Hills, NC)
Feb 22 Evgeny Kissin recital at Orchestra Hall (Chicago, IL)
Feb 23 Alison Balsom at Sunrise Theater (Southern Pines, NC)
Feb 24 Alison Balsom at Elon University (Elon, NC)
Feb 27, 28 Alison Balsom at Lyric Theatre (Kansas City, MO)
Mar 1 Evgeny Kissin recital at the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.)
Mar 1 Alison Balsom plays Haydn and Tomasi Trumpet Concertos with Kansas City Symphony (MO)
Mar 2 Natalie Dessay sings title role in Bellini’s La Sonnambula at Met, through Apr 3 (NYC)
Mar 5 Evgeny Kissin recital at Carnegie Hall (NYC)
Mar 5 Alison Balsom at Brooks Center for the Performing Arts (Clemson, SC)
Mar 11 Evgeny Kissin recital in Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco, CA)
Mar 14 Alison Balsom at Germantown Performing Arts Centre (Germantown, TN)
Mar 16 Evgeny Kissin recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, CA)
Mar 24 David Daniels sings Bach with English Concert / Harry Bicket at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los
Angeles, CA)
Mar 26 David Daniels sings Bach with English Concert / Harry Bicket at Herbst Theatre (Pittsburgh, PA)
Mar 27-29 Han-Na Chang plays Brahms (San Antonio, TX)
Mar 28 Ian Bostridge sings all-Schubert recital at Carnegie Hall (NYC)
Mar 29 David Daniels sings Bach with English Concert / Harry Bicket at Harris Theater (Chicago, IL)
Mar 30 Ian Bostridge at the Savannah Music Festival (Savannah, GA)
Mar 31 Angela Gheorghiu sings Donizetti’s Elisir d’amore at the Met, through Apr 15 (NYC)
Apr 1 David Daniels sings Bach with English Concert / Harry Bicket at Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall (NYC)
Apr 3 Ian Bostridge at Jordan Hall (Boston, MA)
Apr 4, 5 Han-Na Chang plays Brahms (Orange County, CA)
Apr 5 Ian Bostridge at Shriver Hall (Baltimore, MD)
Apr 7 Ian Bostridge at McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, NJ)
Apr 9 Ian Bostridge at Spaulding Auditorium (Dartmouth, NH)
May 7-9 Joyce DiDonato with New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert (NYC)
May 7-10 Ian Bostridge sings Britten’s Les Illuminations with CSO / Haitink (Chicago, IL)
May 19 Han-Na Chang plays Brahms (Saint Paul, MN)
For further information contact:
Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group: (212) 625-2038, [email protected]
Mariko Tada, EMI Classics: (212) 786-8964, [email protected]
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– January 13, 2009