We began our coverage of Opera Rara's Donizetti Songs #4 because of the inclusion of a setting of some of the libretto for La Straniera, and we covered Bellini's opera of that name recently. now back to the beginning - Genesis, as it were - with

Scriabin, Bach, Beethoven Nicolas Namoradze (piano). Wigmore Hall, 23.06.2025 Scriabin  Piano Sonata No. 10, Op. 70 (1912/13)  Bach    Prelude & Fugue in E, BWV 878 (WTC II)  Scriabin   Fugue in E minor, WoO 20 (1892)  Bach    Prelude & Fugue in G sharp minor, BWV 863 (WTC I)

Love and Loss: Music for Countertenor & Lute Songs by Dowland, Danyel, Rosseter, Campion, Purcell, Blow and Cynthia Harper. Alexander Chance (countertenor); Toby Carr (lute). Thaxted Parish Church, 22.06.2025 (9pm)  A stroll through Elizabethan lute song as the sun sets is just the ticket, Especially after Nicky Spence

It’s been a while: well, over 40 years, since I heard Lehár's Die lustige Witwe, in an amdram production just outside of Manchester in which I was playing French horn. Has absence made the heart grow fonder?  Well, there is no doubting that having the orchestra of

Opera Rara's Donizetti Song Project is the latest in their alchemical mix of musicology and performance. But why say with Volume Four first? Because recently we heard Bellini's La straniella (see this post), and Donizetti sets part of the source text by Charles Vivto Prévost, Viscose

Britten, Shostakovich Augustin Hadelich (violin); Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra / Michael Sanderling (conductor). Kulturpalast, Dresden, 13.06.2025 Britten Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 15 (1939)  Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65 (1943)  Great programming here: a celebration of the famous meeting of Benjamin Britten with Dmitrii Shostakovich

Heinrich Heine. Paris. Musik Benjamin Appl (baritone); James Baillieu (piano); Barbara Auer (narrator); Jens Harzer (narrator); Helmut Butzmann (concept). Palais im Großen Garten, Dresden, Germany, 12.06.2025   Lieder with readings might be an Appl preference, when one considers his Alpha Classics disc, again with pianist James Baillieu, Forbidden Fruit.

Firstly, what a beautiful disc this is, from each and every angle: the performer, one of the most experienced tenors active today, James Gilchist, with a superb pianist, Anna Tilbrook, captured in Chandos' trademark excellence of recording. Secondly, what sevice to music itself. The output of Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Bellini La strraniera (concert performance) Cast; Chorus and Orchestra of Chelsea Opera Group /. Stephen Barlow (conductor) Cadogan Hall, London, 01.06.2025 Cast:   Alaide (La straniera) - Helena Dix  Valdeburgo – Dan D’Souza  Isoletta – Geogia Mae Bishop  The Lord of Montolno – Kevin Hollnds  Osbirgo – Will Diggle  Arturo – Thomas Elswin  Prior

Aziz Shokhakimov's continuing success with the Strasbourg orchestra is exemplified in this recording. Good timing, too, given the Ravel celebrations this year. Recently, we covered a live performance in Strasbourg of Stravinsky's Rite could with are Debussy (Printemps) and a Mozart Piano Concerto. And here we

Edmund Meisel (arr. Morton) Battleship Potemkin Last year, Music in the Round celebrated 40 years, and included a performance of the film L'assassinat du duc de Guise with live music. This year upped the ante, with a realisation of Austrian-born Edmund Meisel's music (in an arrangement