EMI Classics & Virgin Classics Feb releases
This February, Virgin Classics presents Rachmaninov’s expressive Third Symphony, Caprice bohémien, and Vocalise in new recordings from Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the partnership whose way with Russian repertoire won the 2009 Gramophone Award for Best Orchestral Recording. EMI Classics, meanwhile, offers new recordings from two phenomenal young Chinese instrumental talents: guitarist Xuefei Yang, whose all-Bach album features her own original arrangements of the Baroque master’s concertos, and Chopin Competition-winning pianist Yundi, with The Red Piano, a disc devoted to music from his homeland. Details of these new titles follow below.
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko
CD and downloads available February 7 from Virgin Classics
“Petrenko instinctively conveys the essential quality of soul that the interpretation of Rachmaninov requires.”
– Daily Telegraph (UK)
Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko leads the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Rachmaninov’s third and most expressive symphony, paired with his Caprice bohémien and Vocalise. As the orchestra’s Principal Conductor since 2006 and Chief Conductor since 2009, “Petrenko has inculcated a particular quality of sound into the RLPO’s playing of Russian music with full, long-breathed phrasing and a terrific depth of sonority” (Daily Telegraph).
Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony dates from 1935-36, almost two decades after the revolution that drove him from his native land, yet it is the most expressively Russian of his symphonies. Juxtaposing meditative passages reminiscent of Russian Orthodox melodies with exuberant dance-inspired writing, Rachmaninov reflects in this symphony his enduringly Russian outlook and way of life. He and his family retained Russian as their primary language, and continued observing Russian customs, employing Russian servants, and entertaining Russian guests.
An early work, the colorful, gypsy-inspired symphonic poem Caprice bohémien was completed in 1894, just before the First Symphony, while the encore favorite Vocalise was originally the last of 14 songs for voice and piano dating from 1912, three years before the composer transcribed it for orchestra.
As Petrenko recently observed,
“All three works on this disc fit together very well, reflecting three different periods of Rachmaninov’s life – his youth, when he wrote the Capriccio bohémien, his middle age with Vocalise, and later in his life and career, when he wrote the Third Symphony. You can see how, from a young, enthusiastic composer full of life, he became nostalgic about the fate of Russia, his mother country, which he felt was a bit lost through the dramas of the 20th century. But he still had hope for a happy end and, if you listen to his Third Symphony, you can hear that the good forces will come and rescue the country.”
Like Rachmaninov, the young Russian conductor trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Besides his appointment at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, where his contract extends to 2015, he serves as Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and takes up a new appointment as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic in the 2013-14 season.
Petrenko has previously recorded with the RLPO for Naxos and Avie, winning the 2009 Gramophone Award for Best Orchestral Recording with their CD of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. The conductor was named Young Artist of the Year at the 2007 Gramophone Awards, and Male Artist of the Year at the 2009 Classical Brit Awards.
Track listing:
1. Caprice bohémien (Capriccio on Gypsy Themes), Op. 12
2. Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
3–5. Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44
Bach Concertos
Xuefei Yang
Elias String Quartet
CD and downloads available February 14 from EMI Classics
“Yang demonstrates her feisty virtuosity, impeccable technique, and sensitive musicianship.”
– New York Times
Beijing-born guitarist Xuefei Yang’s first album of Baroque music, Bach Concertos, offers an all-Bach program anchored by her own new arrangements for guitar and string quartet of three concertos: two originally for violin, in A minor and E major respectively, and one originally for keyboard, in D minor. Complementing these performances, which feature the Elias String Quartet, winner of the 2010 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, are Yang’s solo guitar arrangements of Bach’s First Violin Sonata, the C major Prelude from his Well-Tempered Clavier, and the Air on the G-string.
The guitarist explains the genesis of her new recording:
“In the Baroque concerto repertoire, we [guitarists] only really have Vivaldi concertos, which are very light in nature. … Bach wrote quite a few works for solo lute and they have become core repertoire for guitarists. … I wondered whether his concertos would work on the guitar too. So I found the scores and, to my delight, I found that they did! The music on this recording is so well known on the original instruments that it was always going to be a challenge to make the transcriptions sound convincing and stand on their own as good pieces of guitar music. So I followed the example set by Bach: when he transcribed violin pieces for lute or harpsichord, he made use of the sonorities and qualities of those instruments.”
As the first guitarist in China to enter a music school or to launch an international career, Yang is something of a musical pioneer. She has an exclusive contract with EMI Classics; this is her fourth recording for the label. Her debut album, Romance de Amor, went gold in Hong Kong, and her second, 40 Degrees North, was named “Best Instrumental CD of 2008” by China’s Canton Radio, and Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine. Her third EMI CD, Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, was recorded with the Barcelona Symphony and released in 2010.
This February, Yang embarks on a six-city North American tour, including stops in Boston (March 9), Toronto (March 10), and New York, where she makes her Carnegie Hall debut on February 26 with a program juxtaposing works by Albeniz and Rodrigo with her arrangement of Bach’s G minor violin sonata. After an appearance at London’s Wigmore Hall last season, the Strad magazine reported that “the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly a stunningly virtuosic arrangement for solo guitar of the G minor Violin Sonata BWV 1001, where Xuefei Yang proved to be a most impressive advocate for her instrument.”
Track listing:
1–3. Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
4. Prelude No. 1 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (BWV 846)
5–7. Violin Concerto No. 2 in E (BWV 1042)
8 – 11. Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor (BWV 1001)
12–14. Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor (BWV 1041)
The Red Piano
Yundi
CD and downloads available February 28 from EMI Classics
“A technically astounding pianist who is by turns elegant and rambunctious, coolly expressive and white hot.”
– New York Times
Yundi, the charismatic pianist with a rock-star following in China, releases The Red Piano, his first CD to be completely devoted to music from his homeland. For its centerpiece, the pianist – the youngest winner to date of the prestigious International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition – is joined by the China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra under conductor Zuohuang Chen in a performance of one of the best-known works in the Chinese orchestral repertoire, the Yellow River Piano Concerto. Rounding out the program is a selection of virtuoso solo piano works based on traditional Chinese melodies and songs. These include the premiere recording of a new work by contemporary composer Zhang Zhao, whose Pi Huang (Peking Opera) was composed especially for the recording and is dedicated to his “favorite pianist, Yundi.”
Reflecting Yundi’s Chopin Competition win, the pianist’s two previous recordings for EMI Classics were both all-Chopin discs. By contrast, The Red Piano represents a personal and patriotic statement, celebrating the music and tradition of his native land. Red is the traditional color of China, and the new album, which was recorded last year in Beijing on a red Steinway grand, commemorates the centenary of the 1911 Chinese Revolution and the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party.
Based on folk melodies, Yellow River Cantata was composed in 1939 by Xian Xinghai, whose teachers included d’Indy and Dukas at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1969, with the Cultural Revolution in full swing, a committee of at least six composers revised the patriotic cantata into the four-movement work known as the Yellow River Piano Concerto. Enormously popular in China, the concerto evokes Liszt and Rachmaninov as well as sounds more typically associated with Chinese music.
As Yundi explains. “Music is the best communication tool that does not need language and can bring people from different cultures together. My new album is an opportunity to win glory for Chinese music.”
Track listing:
1–5. The Yellow River Piano Concerto (based on Xian Xinghai: The Yellow River Cantata)
6. Qinghai folk song: “Glowing Red Morningstar Lilies”
7. Shaanxi folk song: “Pi Huang” (Peking Opera)
8. Zhang Zhao: “Remote Shangri-La”
9. Ma Jingfeng / Zhang Nan: “Liu Yang River”
10. Hunan folk song: “Kangding Love Song”
11. Sichuan folk song: “Colorful clouds chasing the moon”
12–16. Ren Guang: Five Yunnan Folk Songs
17. Zhu Jian’er: “Celebrating our new life”
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists on tour – winter 2012
February 2 — 4
Gautier Capuçon: Dutilleux: Tout un monde lointain with Boston Symphony Orchestra / Charles Dutoit
Boston, MA (Symphony Hall)
February 2 — 5
David Fray: Mozart Piano Concerto K 466 with Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden
Dallas, TX (Meyerson Symphony Center)
February 4
Joyce DiDonato: Jake Heggie: Into the Fire (world premiere)
San Francisco, CA (Herbst Theatre)
February 7
Tine Thing Helseth: Recital
Minneapolis, MN
February 8
Tine Thing Helseth: Recital
Northfield, MN
February 9, 11 & 12
David Fray: Mozart Piano Concerto K 466 with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra / Xian Zhang
Cincinnati, OH (Music Hall)
February 10
Tine Thing Helseth: Recital
Conway, SC
February 21
Xuefei Yang: Recital with music by Bach, Albeniz
Middlebury, VT
February 22
Thomas Adès: Concentric Paths (Couperin, arr. Adès) with Britten Sinfonia / Pekku Kuusisto
New York, NY (Alice Tully Hall)
February 22
Alison Balsom: Haydn, Piazzolla
Los Angeles, CA (Hollywood Bowl)
February 23
Joyce DiDonato: Berlioz: Les nuits d’été with the New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert
New York, NY (Avery Fisher Hall)
February 23 & 26
Ingrid Fliter: Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor with Minnesota Orchestra
Minneapolis, MN
February 23
Simon Rattle: Debussy / Dvorak / Schoenberg / Elgar: Enigma Variations with Berliner Philharmoniker
New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
February 24
Ian Bostridge: Bach: St.John Passion with Les Violons du Roy / Bernard Labadie
New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
February 24
Joyce DiDonato: Berlioz: Les nuits d’été with the New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert
Philadelphia, PA (Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts)
February 24
David Fray: Mozart Piano Concerto K 466 with Indianapolis Symphony / Susanna Mälkki
Indianapolis, IN
February 24
Simon Rattle: Bruckner’s Symphony no. 9 with Berliner Philharmoniker
New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
February 25
Renaud Capuçon: Beethoven: Violin Concerto with LA Philharmonic / Lionel Bringuier
Los Angeles, CA
February 25
Joyce DiDonato: Berlioz: Les nuits d’été with the New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert
Washington, DC (Kennedy Center)
February 25
Simon Rattle: Wolf’s Elfenlied, Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with Berliner Philharmoniker, Camilla Tilling, and Bernarda Fink
New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
February 26
Xuefei Yang: Recital
New York, NY (Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall)
February 28
Diana Damrau: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
New York, NY (Metropolitan Opera)
February 28
Joyce DiDonato: Berlioz: Les nuits d’été with the New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert
New York, NY (Avery Fisher Hall)
March 2
Ian Bostridge: Recital with Julius Drake
Ithaca, NY
March 2
Quatuor Ebène: Mozart, Borodin, Mendelssohn
San Diego, CA
March 3
Angela Gheorghiu: with Washington National Opera Orchestra
Washington, D.C.
March 3
Quatuor Ebène: Mozart, Borodin, Mendelssohn
Costa Mesa, CA
March 4
Quatuor Ebène: Mozart, Borodin, Mendelssohn
Eugene, OR
March 5, 9, 12, 16, 21, 24, 27, 31
Diana Damrau: Donizetti: L’elisir d’amore
New York, NY (Metropolitan Opera)
March 7
Ian Bostridge: Recital with Julius Drake
Philadelphia, PA
March 8 – 10
Ingrid Fliter: Chopin Piano Concerto no. 2 with Naples Philharmonic
Naples, FL
March 8
Quatuor Ebène: Mozart, Borodin, Mendelssohn
San Francisco, CA
March 9
Ian Bostridge: Recital with Julius Drake
Jacksonville, FL
March 9
Xuefei Yang: Recital
Boston, MA
March 10
Xuefei Yang: Recital
Toronto, ON
March 14
Quatuor Ebène: Mozart, Borodin, Mendelssohn
New Orleans, LA
March 14-17
Christina Pluhar with L’Arpeggiata
New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
March 14
Xuefei Yang: Recital
Las Vegas, NV
March 15, 17
Simon O’Neill: Beethoven: Fidelio (Florestan)
Washington, D.C.
March 15
Xuefei Yang: Recital
Fort Worth, TX
March 17
Xuefei Yang: Recital
Dallas, TX
March 18
Quatuor Ebène: Mozart, Beethoven, jazz
New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
March 19
Christina Pluhar with L’Arpeggiata
Washington, D.C.
March 23-25
Joyce DiDonato: Rossini: Giovanna d’Arco
Kansas City, MO
For further information:
Visit EMI Classics’ YouTube channel for video previews of many of its new and recent releases: www.youtube.com/user/emiclassics.
Contacts:
Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group: (212) 625-2038, [email protected]
Andrew Ousley, EMI Classics: (212) 786-8607, [email protected]