The Music Pages | April 2008


	Cat. No.: 480 0476 Barcode: 0028948004768 Label: Decca CD Release Date: 12 April			ROGER NORRINGTON \| Land of Hope & Glory ARTISTS London Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Choir Sir Thomas Allen, baritone Sarah Walker, mezzo-soprano Roger Norrington TRACK LISTING ARNE: Rule Britannia WALTON: Crown Imperial: A Coronation March STANFORD: Songs of the Sea VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Serenade to Music ELGAR: "Pomp and Circumstance," Op.39: March, No.1 in D (with "Land of Hope and Glory") PARRY: Jerusalem WOOD: Fantasia on British Sea Songs There’s nothing quite as heady as being at the Last Night of the Proms. As the summer comes to a close and this great annual festival in London concludes, the crowds gather in the park to watch this event broadcast in the park (and now, in other British cities too). And those that have been lucky enough to get a ticket from the ballot allocation, crowd into the Royal Albert Hall. The core of the event is, of course, the second half, with such staples as Parry’s Jerusalem, Arne’s Rule Britannia, and, with considerable audience participation (voice, claps, whistling), Land of Hope and Glory and the Fantasia on British Sea Songs. Here, you can enjoy these highlights in studio performances, but, with a cast of superb soloists under Sir Roger Norrington’s crackerjack direction, with all the frisson of the live event itself. Excitement apart, it all gets quite emotional too. This CD returns to the catalogue at super-budget price after a long absence from the Decca catalogue and the original liner notes are expanded to include a description of the making of this recording by its executive producer, Evans Mirageas. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0472 Barcode: 0028948004720 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: 12 April			DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY \| Russian Folk Songs ARTISTS Dmitri Hvorostovsky Ossipov Russian Folk Orchestra / Nikolai Kalinin (CD 1) St.Petersburg Chamber Choir / Nikolai Korniev (CD 2) TRACK LISTING CD 1: Songs with Orchestra Karabejniki Vdol'pa ulitse Mashe: Ne vel'at Mashe za re Prash'aj radast' Kamarinskaya Ah ty dushechka Svidan'je: F chas kagda mertsan'je Vyhazhu adin ja na darogu Plyaska (Dance) Kagda, dusha (Elegia) O, jesli b mog ja vyrazit Ochi chornyje Lipa Ne adna vo pole daroshka Nochen'ka: Ah'ty, nochen'ka Jamsh'ik: Kak grusna, tumanna krugom CD 2: Songs with Choir Kalinka Barinya Ach ti slishesh li Na goryshkye Khorovodnaya Shto zatumanilas Ya vstretil vas Ivushka Kak meneya mladu Kachelniye Uch ti polye Shto bye belaya berioza Nye slishna shuma gorodskovo Vtyomnon lesye Uch kak pal tuman Ach vi sini Vyeniki Vihazhu adin ya na darogu “Russian folk culture is one the richest I know. In recent years, some of it lighter aspects have been commandeered by the entertainment and tourist industries: with this recording I wanted to go backwards and present songs I have so often heard – but never sung myself – in a direct and unvarnished, yet classical way. The songs I selected [for CD 1] I feel are truly Russian – many are melancholy, most are bittersweet, with the kind of mocking irony which counterbalances sentimentality. Two I decided to sing alone, in honour of Chaliapin, but in my own way. For the rest of this program I was privileged to work with the magnificent Ossipov Russian Folk Orchestra, who live and breathe this music. They made me feel a welcome guest in repertoire far from my operatic home, but very close to my heart.” Dmitri Hvorostovsky This double CD set returns two popular CDs to the catalogue – Hvorostovsky performing songs with orchestra (CD 1) and with choir (CD 2). Winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World, he has gone on to give great performances in operas by Verdi and is unequalled in the Russian baritone opera repertoire today. This repertoire is dear to his heart and in it he invests every ounce of artistry that marks his performances on the operatic stage and the concert platform. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0460 Barcode: 0028948004607 Label: Decca CD Release Date: 12 April			BARRY WORDSWORTH \| Opera Without Singing ARTISTS BBC Concert Orchestra Barry Wordsworth TRACK LISTING PUCCINI: "Quando m'en vo'" (Musetta's Waltz) [La Bohème] PUCCINI: "O mio Babbino caro" [Gianni Schicchi] DELIBES: "Sous le dôme épais" (Flower Duet) [Lakmé] PUCCINI: Humming Chorus [Madama Butterfly] MASCAGNI: Intermezzo sinfonico [Cavalleria rusticana] PUCCINI: "Nessun dorma" [Turandot] PUCCINI: "E lucevan le stelle" [Tosca] PUCCINI: "Donna non vidi mai" [Manon Lescaut] PUCCINI: "Che gelida manina" [La Bohème] OFFENBACH: Entr'acte (Barcarolle) [Les Contes d'Hoffmann] PUCCINI: "Un bel dì" [Madama Butterfly] PUCCINI: "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore" [Tosca] VERDI: "Celeste Aida" [Aida] LEONCAVALLO: "Vesti la giubba" [Pagliacci] DONIZETTI: "Una furtiva lagrima" [L'elisir d'amore] BIZET: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Havanaise) [Carmen] PUCCINI: "Nessun dorma" (reprise) [Turandot] Opera has entrenched itself in popular consciousness thanks to the much publicised concerts of The Three Tenors, outdoor stagings of such operatic blockbusters as Aida and Turandot, opera concerts in the park, not to mention their ready incorporation into television advertisements – be it a British Airways aircraft floating in the clouds to the Lakmé Flower Duet or an Italian mamma making a steaming pasta sauce to the sounds of the Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il Trovatore. What’s important is these defining moments in opera – tear-jerkers many – speak a universal language. Perhaps the public at large doesn’t know about Turandot’s riddles and Calaf’s dilemma, but they would be hard pressed not to recognise “Nessun dorma”. This collection, then, brings together those operatic apexes without the words – just the tunes, gloriously played by orchestra. An extremely popular CD at full price, this now returns by popular demand to the catalogue – and at super-budget price. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0824 Barcode: 0028948008247 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: 12 April			WALTER WELLER \| RACHMANINOV: Symphonies Nos. 1-3 ARTISTS L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (No. 1) London Philharmonic Orchestra (No. 2) Walter Weller TRACK LISTING RACHMANINOV: Symphonies Nos. 1 - 3 Although they have been intermittently available, Walter Weller’s cycle of the three Rachmaninov Symphonies have hidden their blazing light under the Decca bushel for far too long. Recorded in absolutely thrilling Decca sound with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (No. 1) and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Nos. 2 and 3), these three masterpieces are now collectively issued on Australian Eloquence. Weller’s view is at once trenchant and expansive. He is able to extract the last ounce of emotion from such symphonic-scapes as the slow movement of the Second – taken at a seemingly dangerously slow tempo, but which, with his unerring shaping of that popular movement, seems just right. Grippingly emotional, these readings will now take their rightful place in recording history with such other great stereo recordings as those by Eugene Ormandy and Vladimir Ashkenazy. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0800 Barcode: 0028948008001 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: 12 April			WILHELM BACKHAUS; KARL BÖHM BRAHMS: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Piano Pieces ARTISTS Wilhelm Backhaus, piano Wiener Philharmoniker Karl Böhm TRACK LISTING BRAHMS: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Capriccio in B minor, Op. 76 No. 2 Intermezzo in E flat major, Op. 117 No. 1 Rhapsody No.1 in B minor, Op. 79 No. 1 Intermezzo in E major, Op. 116 No. 6 Intermezzo in E minor, Op. 119 No. 2 Intermezzo in C major, Op. 119 No. 3 Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118 As an eleven-year-old in 1895, Wilhelm Backhaus met and performed for D’Albert, Grieg, Nikisch and Brahms, among others. Here was a pianist who shunned hectoring gestures of the late Romantic ear for economy and purposefulness. “His facial expression always remained steady, showing an unceasing concentration on the sounds his hands were coaxing from the instrument with such concentrated energy. Everything lay in the act of playing, just as the preoccupation of a great painter or sculptor would be not with technique as such, but with craftsmanship – that is, skill not as an end in itself, but as a vehicle for the idea – giving pleasure to those who were able to watch and hear how a true master would execute even difficult passages effortlessly,” writes Walter Frei. This 2CD set brings together Backhaus’s recordings with Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic of the two Brahms Piano Concertos – the first recorded in 1953, the second in 1967 shortly after the pianist’s 83rd birthday! They are coupled with a generous selection of the composer’s piano pieces, performed with the same nobility and breadth. RETURN TO THE TOP