The Music Pages | July 2009


	Cat. No.: 478 1717 Barcode: 0028947817178 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: July			Lamberto Gardelli \| VERDI: Nabucco ARTISTS **Nabucco: Tito Gobbi Ismaele: Bruno Prevedi Zaccaria: Carlo Cava Abigaille: Elena Souliotis Fenena: Dora Carral Il Gran Sacerdote di Belo: Giovanni Foiani Abdallo: Walter Kräutler Anna: Anna d’Auria Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor Wiener Opernorchester Lamberto Gardelli** TRACK LISTING VERDI: Nabucco "It is a pleasure to hear the bold inspiration of Verdi's first triumph conveyed with such conviction. Listen to the First Act finale and I think you will be won over to the set as an entity." Alan Blyth, Gramophone RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 478 1705 Barcode: 0028947817055 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: July			John Eliot Gardiner \| GLUCK: Iphigénie en Tauride ARTISTS **Iphigénie: Diana Montague Oreste: Thomas Allen Pylade: John Aler Thoas: René Massis 1e Prêtresse: Nancy Argenta 2e Prêtresse: Sophie Boulin Diane: Colette Alliot-Lugaz Une Grecque: Danielle Borst Un minister: René Schirrer Monteverdi Choir Orchestre de L’Opéra de Lyon John Eliot Gardiner** TRACK LISTING GLUCK: Iphigénie en Tauride "It was in this opera that John Eliot Gardiner made his Covent Garden debut in 1973; his dramatic concentration and his powerful intellectual control make him an ideal interpreter of the score, and evidence of this comes speedily in the present recording with the storm that breaks— equally in Iphigenie's soul and in the seas off the Scythian coast—at the beginning of the First Act. The effect is formidable. Gardiner's direction is impressive too in the impassioned recitative that is so strong a feature throughout this opera, and in the accompaniments to the arias, so rich in emotional suggestion; the dances too are done with grace and, for the Scythians in Act 1, great spirit." Gramophone RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 478 1708 Barcode: 0028947817086 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: July			Antal Dorati \| TCHAIKOVSKY: 4 Suites For Orchestra ARTISTS New Philharmonia Orchestra Antal Dorati TRACK LISTING Tchaikovsky: 4 Suites for Orchestra "…bright, attractive performances from Dorati and the New Philharmonia." Gramophone RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 478 1714 Barcode: 0028947817147 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: July			Peter Schreier; Sviatoslav Richter SCHUBERT: Winterreise; Piano Sonata, D840 ARTISTS Peter Schreier, tenor Sviatoslav Richter, piano TRACK LISTING Schubert Winterreise Piano Sonata in C, D.840 "I had great expectations of this issue, and on the whole they have been amply fulfilled. As one might expect the performance is highly individual, two very special interpreters giving us a totally gripping, positive account of a cycle that has recently received some rather too careful readings. Schreier and Richter conceive the work in almost a solid span of concentration and that is how it should be, helped by being caught at a live performance." Alan Blyth, Gramophone RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 478 1711 Barcode: 0028947817116 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: July			Sir Charles Mackerras JANACEK: The Makropoulos Secret; Lachian Dances ARTISTS **Emilia Marty: Elisabeth Söderström Albert Gregor: Petr Dvorský Vítek: Vladimir Krejcik Kristina (Krista): Anna Czaková Jaroslav Prus: Václav Zítek Janek: Zdenek Svehla Kolenaty: Dalibor Jedlicka Strojnik: Jirí Joran Poklizecka: Ivana Mixová Hauk-Sendorf: Beno Blachut Komorná: Blanka Vitková Wiener Staatsopernchor Wiener Philharmoniker Sir Charles Mackerras (Lachian Dances) London Philharmonic Orchestra François Huybrechts** TRACK LISTING JANACEK Vec Makropulos (The Makropoulos Secret) Lachian Dances "…a brilliant recording of what is in some ways the most problematic of all Janacek's operas…To portray such a woman – brilliant, still beautiful, once passionate, separated from the human condition yet frightened of reclaiming it – is far from simple. Elisabeth Söderström succeeds astonishingly. "The Vienna Philharmonic play beautifully for Sir Charles. The special conditions of recording allow certain matters to be helped – most obviously, it is now possible to hear, as never before, the viola d'amore which Janacek (more for the name than the sound, one suspects) included in the score. But the richness and fluency of their playing lacks nothing of the suddenness and abruptness which the score demands. Sir Charles has conducted it many times, and it is very welcome indeed to have his beautiful and sympathetic reading captured on records." John Warrack, Gramophone "Huybrechts gives an attractive account of the Lachian Dances…This suite based on folk tunes, which Janacek treats in a most imaginative way, is something every Janacek addict should have." Gramophone RETURN TO THE TOP