The classical recording industry produces an annual trove of new releases. For listeners who want more than a track excerpt or review to help inform their choices, KBACH's Michael Keelan and Greg Kostraba talk with the recordings' musicians and related experts about select new albums.
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Béla Bartók composed 44 short duos for two violins, initially for use in an educational method. Their musical rigor makes them suitable for concert performance, and a new recording with violinist Alexandra Preucil and violist Antoine Tamestit intersperses the duos with the original field recordings of the folk source material made by Bartók over a century ago. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with both players. More information is at Harmonia Mundi.
Arthur Sullivan is famous for the comic operettas he wrote with wordsmith William S. Gilbert. A new debut album from tenor David Webb features many excerpts from G&S, as they’re known, but also a few of Sullivan’s more serious efforts. The Academy of Ancient Music lends a distinctly Victorian tint to the instrumental accompaniment. KBACH’s Michael Keelan talked with Webb.More info is at Resonus Classics.
Cincinnati-based composer Rick Sowash has released a new album of his music for clarinet and piano on his RSP Classics label. The release, Full Circle, features clarinetist Christopher Bade with KBACH's Greg Kostraba at the piano. Greg talked with Sowash about his varied career, his love of writing for the clarinet, and the music on the new release. The album is available through Kickshaw Records.
The Apollo Chamber Players consistently explore contemporary American culture on their albums. We the People features recent commissions often with texts reflective of aspects of democracy and the experience of ethnically diverse groups in the US. The wide variety of textures includes narrator, electric violin, a student choir, and soloists. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with ensemble founder Matthew Detrick.
The combination of clarinet, viola, and piano was established by Mozart in his "Kegelstatt" Trio, K.498. A new recording of that masterpiece with clarinetist Luigi Magistrelli also has three other pieces by composers following in Mozart's footsteps after his lifetime. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Magistrelli about the album and his large instrument collection.See album details at Brilliant Classics.
Susan Graham is one of America’s most recognized mezzo-sopranos. Her first recording of Samuel Barber’s opera Vanessa was in the role of Erika and a new recording features her as the Baroness. From July 18 to August 19 Graham appears in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Santa Fe Opera. KBACH’s Michael Keelan talked with her about the roles and the special significance of Santa Fe.
In his third installment of Mendelssohn's solo piano music, Peter Donohoe turns to the seldom-heard sonatas and some of the more virtuosic short works. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with him about Mendelssohn's relationship with other composers like Beethoven and Liszt.More details at the Chandos website.
Perhaps no composer is so associated with the splendor of Louis XIV's court as Jean-Baptiste Lully. Soprano Marie Lys sings the title role of Lully's opera Proserpine, the mythological daughter of Jupiter abducted to the underworld by Pluto on a new recording. She also has a solo album of Handel cantatas forthcoming. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Lys.Referenced recordings available from the Château de Versailles Spectacles website and Presto Music.Photo credit: Bernard Martinez.
Music by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-George, has received a strong revival in the past decade. A new album from Romuald Grimbert-Barré combines concertos of Saint-George with a new work by Thierry Pécou illustrating aspects of the earlier composer's dramatic life during the royal and revolutionary eras in France, and his Caribbean heritage. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Grimbert-Barré. Details available at the Aparté Music website.Photo credit: Marc de Pierrefeu.
Prolific contemporary composer Reena Esmail has written a harp and percussion concerto in which Yolanda Kondonassis plays all the instruments. Called "Terra Infirma," it is a response to the recent Los Angeles fires in which Esmail was displaced. It has elements of poetry, choreography, and drama besides music. The album also has two other pieces by the composer and soloist. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with Kondonassis. More details on the recording available at: Jensen ArtistsPhoto credit: Laura Watilo Blake
