Studio Masters

Robert Schumann – Das Paradies und die Peri – London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle (2015)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:27:50 minutes | 3,48 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Digital Booklet | © LSO Live
Recorded live in DSD 128fs, 11 January 2015 at the Barbican, London

In his debut recording on LSO Live, Sir Simon Rattle conducts a stunning performance of Schumann’s rarely recorded Das Paradies und die Peri featuring a superb line-up of soloists. Rattle is well-known for being a champion of this rarely-heard work, and yet this is the first audio recording he has made of it. Here it is brought to life by the LSO under his baton, and the starry line-up makes the best possible case for Schumann’s great oratorio. Sir Simon says of the piece, ‘It’s the great masterpiece you’ve never heard, and there aren’t many of those now…. This is just something else, a complete anomaly if you think about it. In Schumann’s life it was the most popular piece he ever wrote, it was performed endlessly. Every composer loved it. Wagner wrote how jealous he was that Schumann had done it and he’d stolen this subject that he wanted to do and how extraordinary it was… It was a playground for composers and the piece was extraordinary.’
Based on an episode from Thomas Moore’s epic poem Lalla Rookh, itself inspired by exotic, colourful tales taken from Persian mythology, Das Paradies und die Peri reflects the 19th-century craze for all thing Oriental. Completed in 1843, Schumann’s ‘secular oratorio’ tells how the Peri, a legendary creature, was expelled from paradise and follows her quest to redeem herself by giving the gift that is most dear to heaven. Writing about the work in a letter to a friend, Schumann said, ‘at the moment I’m involved in a large project, the largest I’ve yet undertaken – it’s not an opera – I believe it’s well-nigh a new genre for the concert hall.’ Conceived in three beautifully sequenced parts, it is unlike any oratorio of Schumann’s day. Sustained melodic invention is clear throughout, with Peri’s high C in the final forming a deftly timed climax. Soprano Sally Matthews gives a soaring performance as the Peri, showcasing Schumann’s imaginative and emotive vocal writing, while there are also superb supporting performances from Mark Padmore, Kate Royal, Andrew Staples and Florian Boesch.

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Robert Schumann – Cello Concerto, Piano Trio No.1 – Jean-Guihen Queyras, Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov, Pablo Heras Casado, Freiburger Barockorchester (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz  | Time – 54:50 minutes | 974 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: highresaudio.com | Digital Booklet | © Harmonia Mundi
Recorded: mai, août, septembre 2014, Teldex Studio, Berlin

This final instalment in our trilogy devoted to the complete concertos and trios of Schumann spotlights the cello of Jean-Guihen Queyras. The Cello Concerto, though energetically championed by Clara Schumann, suffered from delays in publication and was not premiered until after the composer’s death. Interpreted in the same poetic spirit as its two predecessors, this third volume concludes an adventure that has changed for ever the way we listen to Schumann.

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Itzhak Perlman plays Saint-Saens, Chausson & Ravel – Orchestre de Paris, Jean Martinon (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 00:46:08 minutes | 836 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Digital Booklet | ©  Warner Classics
Recorded: Salle Wagram, Paris, 4 & 5 July 1974

Over the years, Itzhak Perlman has regularly enriched his recorded catalogue with works by French composers. As early as 1968, he set down his first versions of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole and Ravel’s Tzigane (for RCA), as well as of Franck’s Sonata (for Decca). He later revisited the Symphonie espagnole, this time coupling it with Berlioz’s Rêverie et Caprice (DG, 1980). Next came Chausson’s Concert (1982, CBS), Saint-Saëns’s Third Concerto (DG, 1983) and, a few years later, Debussy’s Sonata and Ravel’s Trio (1994, Decca). In 1974, under the baton of Jean Martinon, he recorded four concertante works inspired by “exotic” music, but reclothed in westernised garb. Combining the concertante genre with the theme of foreign travel became very fashionable in France back in 1834, the year in which Berlioz’s Harold en Italie received its premiere. It appeared to be a recipe for success and other composers, such as Lalo, D’Indy, Chabrier, Saint-Saëns, Debussy and Ravel were to try their hand at it. Certain (non-French) musicologists have noted, slightly tongue-incheek, that French composers showed a particular talent for conjuring the musical atmosphere of places they had never actually visited… The works on this album would appear to back up that claim.

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Maurice Ravel – Complete Orchestral Works – Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, Lionel Bringuier (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 04:02:27 minutes | 3.96 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: highresaudio.com | © Deutsche Grammophon
Recorded: Tonhalle, Zurich, 11/2014, 1, 4 & 9–11/2015, except for Piano Concertos (recorded at Tonhalle, Zurich, 4/2015), Tzigane & Fanfare (recorded at Tonhalle, Zurich, 11/2015)

On 8 April, Deutsche Grammophon is releasing a 4-album set of Ravel’s complete orchestral works and solo concertos, performed by the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich under the baton of Lionel Bringuier. The new set represents something of a rarity in its completeness and in having largely been recorded live. The soloists are pianist Yuja Wang and violinist Ray Chen, while this expansion of its CD repertoire with Ravel’s music marks the orchestra’s first recording project under Lionel Bringuier. The choice of composer was a carefully-considered artistic decision, according to the conductor: “For my first recordings with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich I’ve opted for Ravel. We all know his Daphnis et Chloé, Boléro and La Valse. A complete cycle allows us to get to know some lesser-known works as well.” This is Deutsche Grammophon’s first collaboration with the renowned Zurich ensemble.

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Peter Neumann – Mozart: Salzburg Sacred Music (2004)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 56:53 minutes | 883 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © MDG Records

Old hand Peter Neumann recorded Mozart’s Missa Solemnis KV 337 once before. Neumann is an authenticist that uses a period band. This recording is twice as good as the one he made previously, a rendition that included the organ sonata KV 336 between the Gloria and Credo sections, as he has done here.

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