Singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright scored his epic Dream Requiem for orchestra, chorus, soprano and narrator. In June 2024, it received its world premiere in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the chorus and children’s choir of Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck with Meryl Streep as the narrator and soprano Anna Prohaska. Dream Requiem combines words …
Rufus Wainwright: Dream Requiem
Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite & Other Works
This album spotlights Gabriel Fauré’s orchestrated songs and his music for the stage, of which his suite from the incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande includes some of his best-loved music. Performances of Fauré’s spectacular Wagnerian drama Prométhée are a real rarity, while the Shylock suite, based on Shakespeare, contains some of his most elaborate symphonic music. Fauré orchestrated only …
Schütz: Weihnachtshistorie
Led by bass and recorder player Lionel Meunier, Vox Luminis is an early music ensemble based in Belgium which specializes in English, Italian, and especially German 17th- and 18th- century repertoire. The ensemble is comprised of some of the most sought-after European vocal soloists, and is supplemented, depending on the repertoire, with an extensive continuo, solo instruments, or a complete …
The Christmas Album
Lieder specialist Benjamin Appl celebrates Christmas with sacred arias by Bach and Mendelssohn, carols from Germany, Austria, America, Britain, Sweden and France. Appl is accompanied by instrumentalists (including his own mother on guitar), the Munich Radio Orchestra, and Germany’s most famous children’s choir, Regensburger Domspatzen, of which he was a member in his youth. “I returned to my hometown to …
Playlist
Orchestrated art songs by Chaminade and Michael Head
Sacred arias by Bach and Mendelssohn
Carols in Latin, German, English, and Swedish
Martin: Have yourself a merry little Christmas (arr. Rutter)
Carols in Latin and German
Flórez: Zarzuela
The first release of Florez Records, the new label founded by tenor Juan Diego Flórez, is dedicated to the genre of zarzuela. “These romances full of passion and emotion represent an almost unique opportunity for Spanish and Latin American tenors to sing in their mother tongue,” says Flórez. “This recording production certainly fills me with happiness and pride. Firstly, because …
Playlist
Gerónimo Giménez: Intermezzo from “La Boda de Luis Alonso”
Agustín Pérez Soriano: Aria from “El Guitarrico”
Rafael Calleja Gómez & Tomás Barrera: “Adiós, Granada”
Ruperto Chapí: Aria from “El milagro de la Virgen”
Nine arias from various Zarzuelas
Leonardo da Vinci
The original score for the upcoming Ken Burns documentary Leonardo da Vinci features 28 new compositions by Caroline Shaw. The album features performances by the composer’s longtime collaborators Attacca Quartet, Sō Percussion, and Roomful of Teeth as well as double bass player John Patitucci. David McMahon, one of the documentary’s directors, says “Caroline’s existing body of music—joyful, daring, at times …
Mozart: Requiem
The staged production of Raphaël Pichon’s concept for Mozart’s Requiem with director Romeo Castellucci premiered at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, 2019. After several dates across Europe, a concert version premiered at the 2023 BBC Proms; The Times headline exclaimed, “Mozart’s Requiem is reborn at the Proms” continuing with “It’s not often a performance of Mozart’s Requiem comes along that makes it sound …
Playlist
Mozart: Requiem in D minor, K. 626
Ying Fang; Beth Taylor; Laurence Kilsby; Alex Rosen; Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon
Mozart: “Miserere mei” (Originally “Kyrie”), K. 90
Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon
Mozart: Motet, “Quis te comprehendat,” K. Anh 110
Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon
Mozart: Two German Church Songs, K. 343/1, “O Gottes Lamm”
Beth Taylor; Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon
Silenced: Unsung Voices of the 20th Century
Tenor Ian Koziara and pianist Bradley Moore spotlight art songs by Franz Schreker, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Viktor Ullmann, and Alexander von Zemlinsky, whose musical achievements were overshadowed by the oppression of the Third Reich. This album marks the first tenor-voice recording for almost all of these rare songs. The musical language of these early 20th century works is more Late Romantic …
Playlist
Select songs by Franz Schreker, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Viktor Ullmann, and Alexander von Zemlinsky
Douce France
French tenor Benjamin Bernheim’s first song recital album pairs him with his regular collaborator, pianist Carrie Ann Matheson. Matheson is artistic director of the San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program and was formerly coach, prompter, and assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. Bernheim made his American debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2019 in Gounod’s Faust …
Playlist
Berlioz: “Les nuits d’été” (3 songs)
Chausson: Interflude from “Poème de l’amour et de la mer,”
Henri Duparc: Select songs (4)
Kosma: “Autumn Leaves”
Charles Trenet: “Douce France”
Jacues Brel: “Quand on n’a que l’amour”
Florence Price, Her Song
Austin based Grammy-nominated baritone, trumpeter, and pianist, Michael Hawes (former Chicagoan and former member of Axiom Brass) has devoted his first solo album to the music of Florence Price. Hawes sings most of the selections with pianist Eugenia Jeong. Four of the songs are performed on the trumpet. A brass ensemble, which includes the distinguished trombonist Randall Hawes, Michael’s father, …
Playlist
All works composed by Florence Price
Five songs for voice and piano
Four songs arranged for Trumpet and piano
Adoration arranged for trumpet and brass ensemble
Octet for Brasses and Piano (complete + 2nd mvmt)
