New Releases

CHAN 3106(2)

Leos Janácek
(1854–1928)

Jenufa, her step-daughter
(Brno version)
Opera in three acts
Libretto by the composer after Gabriela Preissová’s play Její pastorkyn¡a

Grandmother Buryja, retired mill owner Elizabeth Vaughan mezzo-soprano
Laca Klemen } stepbrothers, her grandsons Nigel Robson tenor
Steva Buryja } stepbrothers, her grandsons Peter Wedd tenor
The Kostelnicka, Grandmother Buryja’s daughter-in-law Dame Josephine Barstow soprano
Jenufa, the Kostelnicka’s foster-daughter Janice Watson soprano
Foreman at the mill Neal Davies baritone
Mayor of the village Alan Fairs bass
Mayor’s wife Marion McCullough mezzo-soprano
Karolka, their daughter Charlotte Ellett soprano
Jano, shepherd boy Claire Hampton soprano
Barena, servant at the mill Rosie Hay soprano
Herdswoman Imelda Drumm mezzo-soprano
Aunt Sarah Pope mezzo-soprano

Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera
Sir Charles Mackerras

Sir Charles Mackerras, one of the world’s leading experts on Janácek’s music, conducts this new recording of Jenufa, her step-daughter.

Jenufa was first performed in Janácek’s home town of Brno. Twelve years later it was produced in Prague and the composer was forced to accept cuts and reorchestration of the score to soften the work’s savage impact. It was only this year, on the occasion of the opera’s centenary, that Brno was able to hear the music as the composer intended. It is this version which appears on this set.

Jenufa is the warmest and most lyrical of Janácek’s operas, and is the ideal starting place for anyone wishing to explore this great opera composer.

The recording boasts a distinguished cast list. The two leading characters are performed by singers who have previously appeared on important recordings for Chandos – Janice Watson as Ellen in the Grammy-Award winning Peter Grimes, and Dame Josephine Barstow as Marie in the universally acclaimed Wozzeck.

About Jenufa

REVIEWS

Sir Charles Mackerras’s recording of Osud, also available on the Opera in English label, is a classic account:

‘Sir Charles Mackerras’s conducting in this Welsh National Opera recording confirms the [score’s] musical strength… this fine recording in English brings out its winning warmth…’
The Guardian

‘Sir Charles Mackerras wins playing from the orchestra that is indeed incandescent.’
Gramophone

‘…capturing the full gustiness, passion and impetus of the composer’s inspiration…’
The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs

SELECTED PREVIOUS RELEASES
Janácek: Osud CHAN 3029(2)
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin CHAN 3042(2)
Massenet:Werther CHAN 3033(2)
Verdi: La traviata CHAN 3023(2)
Donizetti: Mary Stuart CHAN 3017(2)
Handel: Julius Caesar CHAN 3019(3)

César Antonovich Cui
(1835–1918)
premiere recordings

CHAN 10201

A Feast in Time of Plague
A dramatic work in one act
Text by A.S. Pushkin after the poem by John Wilson The City of the Plague
Chairman Andrei Baturkin baritone
Young Man Alexei Martinov tenor
Priest Dmitri Stepanovich bass
Mary Ludmila Kuznetsova mezzo-soprano
Louisa Tatiana Sharova soprano
Three Scherzos, Op. 82
Les Deux Ménétriers (Two Ghostly Fiddlers), Op. 42
Text by Jean Richepin, in Russian translation Tatiana Sharova soprano
Fair Spring Echoes of War, Op. 66 No. 4
Text by N. Malashkin Ludmila Kuznetsova mezzo-soprano
Budrys and his Sons, Op. 98
A ballad for solo voice and orchestra
Text by Adam Mickiewicz, in the Russian translation by A.S. Pushkin Andrei Baturkin baritone

Chandos presents the premiere recordings of the one-act opera A Feast in Time of Plague, Three Scherzos, Op. 82 and three songs for solo voice and orchestra.

César Cui is the least-known member of the group of five Russian nationalist composers (with Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky and Borodin) who together became known as ‘The Mighty Handful’. He was considered to be the most dramatic of these composers.

César Cui’s music is highly tuneful and approachable, full of the colour we expect from the Russian romantic tradition.

Valeri Polyansky and his Russian forces are renowned for their interpretations of their native repertoire.

Notes on A Feast in Time of Plague

REVIEWS

‘Polyansky not only conducts all this music impeccably, but was also responsible for the alluringly sumptuous recording quality.’
Classic FM Magazine on CHAN 10086 (Arensky)

‘…superbly played and recorded…’
BBC Music Magazine on CHAN 10025 (Myaskovsky)

‘…presented here by Polyansky and his orchestra in gloriously full Slavic colour…’
The Independent on CHAN 10104 (Rachmaninov)

SELECTEED PREVIOUS RELEASES
Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 27 / Cello Concerto CHAN 10025
Taneyev: Symphonies Nos 2 & 4 CHAN 9998
Rachmaninov:The Rock etc. CHAN 10104
Arensky: Symphony No. 1 etc. CHAN 10086

Takashi Yoshimatsu
(b. 1953)

premiere recordings

The Age for Birds, Op. 25 (1986) for Orchestra Dedicated to and commissioned by the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Cello Concerto,Op. 91 ‘Centaurus Unit’ (2003)*
To Mr Peter Dixon
Chikap, Op. 14a (1981/2003) for Orchestra

Peter Dixon cello*
BBC Philharmonic
Sachio Fujioka

CHAN 10202

This is the latest release in Chandos’ survey of the complete orchestral works of its exclusive composer in residence,Takashi Yoshimatsu.

The conductor Sachio Fujioka has had great success with Yoshimatsu’s music both in concert and on disc and works closely with the composer who is always present at the recording sessions.

Peter Dixon is the BBC Philharmonic’s Principal Cellist and, following his debut as soloist at the Royal Festival Hall in Walton’s Cello Concerto in 1991, has performed and recorded regularly as soloist with the orchestra. He is a regular adjudicator of BBC’s Young Musician of the Year and a coach for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has performed as soloist with the BBC Philharmonic on discs of music by Martin, Fauré, Korngold and Glière.

Yoshimatsu draws from both Western and Eastern cultures in his appealing and accessible music.

All the works on this CD here receive their premiere recording.

Yoshimatsu and his music

REVIEWS

‘The BBC Philharmonic tackles all three pieces with virtuosity and panache and the recording captures the full panoply of the Hollywoodstyle orchestration.’
BBC Music Magazine on CHAN 9960 (Symphony No. 4/Trombone Concerto etc.)

‘Attractive, semi-ambient sounds and New Age dreaminess are the basis of these two immaculately executed, picturesque and listener-friendly works.’
Classic FM Magazine on CHAN 9838 (Symphony No. 1 etc.)

‘Impressive works, performances and recording.’
The Guardian on CHAN 9737 (Symphony No. 3/ Saxophone Concerto)

CHAN 10203

Josef Myslivecek
(1737–1781)

premiere recordings
Symphony in C major, F 26
Symphony in A major, F 27
Symphony in F major, F 28
Symphony in D major, F 29
Symphony in B flat major, F 30
Symphony in G major, F 31

London Mozart Players
Matthias Bamert

This latest release in Chandos’ Contemporaries of Mozart series features music by Josef Myslivecek.

None of these elegant and beautifully orchestrated symphonies has been recorded before; indeed, none of them has been performed since the eighteenth century. The performing editions were specially prepared from the original 1772 edition for the purposes of this recording.

Myslivecek’s name and music are familiar to music lovers in the Czech republic. However, the preservation of these symphonies in England (they were crafted with an English audience in mind) has meant that no Czech scholars or musicians have had access to them.

Chandos’ unique Contemporaries of Mozart series has been much praised for its high standards of musicianship and recording, as well as for making available a wealth of undeservedly neglected music. Several discs in the series have been selected as ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone.

Myslivecek and his music

‘‘Matthias Bamert’s lively direction and the highly professional playing of the London Mozart Players provide Herschel with the best imaginable advocacy…’
Gramophone on CHAN 10048 (Herschel)

‘Top-flight performances and demonstration sonics – another landmark in Bamert’s ongoing series.’
BBC Music Magazine on CHAN 9703 (Kozeluch)

‘The three symphonies here bear witness to a skilled and enterprising composer… I cannot imagine better advocacy for it than this recording, under the alert and sensitive direction of Matthias Bamert, who secures some excellent playing…’
Gramophone on CHAN 9916 (Wranitzky)

Alexander Zemlinsky
(1871–1942)

Symphony in B flat major (1897)
Prelude to ‘Es war einmal…’
(Original Version, 1899) original premiere recording
Sinfonietta, Op. 23 (1934)
Prelude to Act III of ‘Der König Kandaules’ (1936)
Orchestrated by Antony Beaumont

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Antony Beaumont

CHAN 10204

This is the third volume in Antony Beaumont’s acclaimed Zemlinsky survey.

Antony Beaumont is a world authority on the composer. His previous interpretations of Zemlinsky’s works were universally admired for their authenticity and sheer musicality. Gramophone noted: ‘No one has studied these scores with more sympathy than Antony Beaumont…’

This is the only available recording of the original version of the Prelude to Zemlinsky’s opera Es war einmal….

The disc features an illuminating programme of contrasts. Where the Symphony in B flat major surges with energy, brilliance and youthful selfassurance, the Sinfonietta, composed nearly four decades later, glows in mellow colours, with undertones of joy and anxiety, pride and sorrow, hope and self-doubt. Though almost identical in their structures, the two operatic preludes inhabit similarly contrasting worlds of light and shade.

About the music

‘Beautifully recorded, masterfully played…’
Classic FM Magazine on CHAN 10138 (Die Seejungfrau etc.)

‘…with the Czech Philharmonic on fine form and well recorded, Beaumont gives the music a greater sweep, combined with an attention to detail that elucidates Zemlinsky’s masterly twists and turns of motifs, use of orchestral colour and harmonic shifts.’
BBC Music Magazine on CHAN 10138 (Die Seejungfrau etc.)

‘…Antony Beaumont has done more than anyone to ratchet up… recognition for Alexander von Zemlinsky.’
The Guardian ‘Classical CD of the Week’ on CHAN 10069 (Lyric Symphony etc.)

‘There’s no denying Beaumont’s unique authority in this music…’
BBC Music Magazine on CHAN 10069 (Lyric Symphony etc.)

Previous releases in Antony Beaumont’s Zemlinsky series
Die Seejungfrau /Symphony in D minor CHAN 10138
Lyric Symphony etc. CHAN 10069

Percy Grainger
(1882–1961)

CHAN 10205

Penelope Thwaites piano

Lullaby from ‘Tribute to Foster’
One More Day, My John
A Bridal Lullaby
Knight and Shepherd’s Daughter
Children’s March ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’
Bridal Lullaby Ramble
Spoon River
Ramble on the Last Love-Duet from Strauss’s ‘Der Rosenkavalier’
Danish Folk-Music Suite
To a Nordic Princess
Blithe Bells
Walking Tune
Lullaby from ‘Tribute to Foster’
Proud Vesselil
Rimmer and Goldcastle
Irish Tune from County Derry
Country Gardens
The Immovable Do or ‘The Cyphering C’
Beautiful Fresh Flower
Now, Oh Now I Needs Must Part

This is Penelope Thwaites’s third and final volume of solo piano music in Chandos’ ongoing series of works by Percy Grainger. Penelope Thwaites researched these manuscipts in order to present the music with the maximum authenticiy and faithfulness to the composer’s original intention.

Penelope Thwaites is known worldwide as a leading authority on Grainger’s music. She is a recipient of the International Percy Grainger Society’s Medallion and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2001, in recognition of her work for Australian composers.

This is the first time Grainger’s piano works have been recorded and annotated in the chronological order of their basic musical material, thus providing a unique perspective on both the works and the composer.

Previous volumes in the series have included a number of premiere recordings, and this disc presents the first recording of Bridal Lullaby Ramble.

Grainger's piano music

REVIEWS

‘…a wonderful album of Grainger’s solo piano music… her [Penelope Thwaites’s] devotion to his art shines out…’
BBC Radio 3 ‘Building a Library’ on CHAN 9919

‘Rarely has the precociousness of his talent been better demonstrated than on this new disc… the rarities, like the more familiar pieces, are played with unapologetic conviction. Penelope Thwaites, a Grainger advocate since well before the current boom, paints the music in bold strokes… a major contribution to the Grainger discography.’
Fanfare on CHAN 9895

‘There is a personal character to Grainger’s music also, which gradually emerges as Grainger expert Penelope Thwaites journeys through the first decade of his composing life… the unique Grainger glow, which comes from wistful chromatic harmonies that are spiked with wit, is definitely there.’
BBC Music Magazine on CHAN 9895

Silvius Leopold Weiss
(1686–1750)
Lute Concerti
premiere recordings

Concerto grosso in B flat, SC 57
Concerto a cinque in C, SC 90
Concerto in D minor, SC 58
Concerto in F, SC 53
Concerto for lute and flute in B flat, SC 6
Concerto for lute and flute in F, SC 9

Richard Stone lute
Tempesta di Mare

CHAN 0707

Silvius Leopold Weiss was the greatest lutenist of the eighteenth century, according to both contemporary and modern critical appraisal.

Weiss’s ensemble compositions have remained hitherto obscure because they are all incomplete. Only the lute tablature part remains in the known manuscripts. Richard Stone has reconstructed the flute and bowed-string parts heard on this recording.

This is the world premiere recording of these important concertos.

The baroque ensemble Tempesta di Mare is named after Vivaldi’s concerto The Storm at Sea. The group, which originates from Philadelphia, has appeared at the Prague Spring Festival and the Amherst Early Music Festival, and will be performing regularly throughout Pennsylvania over the coming year.

About Silvius Leopold Weiss

REVIEWS

‘Tempesta’s team spoke the music like a native language.’
The American Journal of Classical Guitar on a concert performance of Weiss lute concerti

‘Tempesta di Mare offers superb support…’
American Record Guide

‘… compulsive listening…’
BBC Music Magazine

Orazio Vecchi
(1550–1605)

L’Amfiparnaso (1597)
(The Twin Peaks of Parnassus)
A musical comedy
Text attributed to Giulio Cesare Croce

CHDVD 5029

Characters
Pantalone, an old man
Pedrolino, his servant
Hortensia, a courtesan
Lelio, a young lover
Nisa, Lelio’s beloved
Doctor Gratiano
Lucio, the young lover of Isabella
Captain Cardon, a Spaniard
Zanni, a native of Bergamo
Isabella, Lucio’s young beloved
Frulla, Lucio’s servant
Francatrippa, Pantalone’s servant
Jews inside a house

Simon Callow speaker
I Fagiolini
Robert Hollingworth director
with Eligio Quinteiro lute Steven Devine harpsichord

Filmed in the Great Hall and the grounds of the Dartington Hall Estate, Devon on 4 & 5 August 2003

A world premiere for Chandos in the first ever visual DVD of a dramatic Renaissance work: I Fagiolini’s staged production of the commedia dell’arte classic, L’Amfiparnaso.

This ground-breaking DVD, the combination of a live performance and specially filmed episodes, is a collection of commedia snapshots, with comic narrations by Simon Callow. Directed by West End producer Peter Wilson, it’s available at the cost of just a full price CD.

L’Amfiparnaso is the classic music theatre work of the Italian Renaissance, written just before the first opera and based on the characters of the commedia dell’arte. Meet miserly Venetian merchant Pantalone, cod-doctor Graziano, the Spanish Captain (ladies’ man and coward) and the much put-upon Zanni that gave rise to Harlequin, Pierrot etc. The piece’s novelty and success is in the balance between the slapstick and the ravishing Gesualdo-esque writing for the lovers.

I Fagiolini is one of Europe’s most passionate and entertaining solo-voice ensembles, with a core repertoire of Renaissance and contemporary music. Their innovative productions of music theatre works lead the field and they have an enviable following throughout the UK and abroad.

I Fagiolini

REVIEWS

‘[I Fagiolini] are consummate actors as well as fine singers, and, while maintaining the highest musical standards, bring to brilliantly characterised life such standard figures of politically incorrect fun as senile legislators, inebriated and incomprehensible pedlars from darkest Friuli, and foreigners trying to speak Italian.’
The Daily Telegraph

‘…the sort of entertainment that could bring entirely new audiences to early music…’
Early Music Review

‘There are first-rate musical actors at work here… They can also sound quite gorgeous.’
American Record Guide

AUDIO DISCS FROM I FAGIOLINI
Andrea Gabrielli:The Madrigal in Venice CHAN 0697
Thomas Tomkins: Music Divine CHAN 0680
The Triumphs of Oriana CHAN 0682
Carnevale veneziano:The Comic Faces of Giovanni Croce CHAN 0665

Richard Strauss
(1864 –1949)

Symphonic Poems,Volume 2

COMPACT DISC ONE
Symphonia domestica, Op. 53
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28
Macbeth, Op. 23
COMPACT DISC TWO
Don Quixote, Op. 35*
Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30

Raphael Wallfisch cello*
Scottish National Orchestra
Neeme Järvi

CHAN 10206(2)X

Volume 2 of Chandos’ important recordings of Strauss’s symphonic poems is now available on its Classics label.

The disc features some of Strauss’s most brilliant and popular works.

These recordings were enthusiastically reviewed when first released for the quality of sound and interpretation.

The recordings by Järvi and the Scottish National Orchestra of Richard Strauss’s music were considered by many to be top choice for the repertoire.

Notes on the music

REVIEWS

‘Järvi’s interpretation of Domestica is both genial and sharply characterised, with remarkable playing by the SNO.’
Gramophone on Symphonia domestica

‘Järvi’s is a strongly characterised, good-natured account… gutsy and committed…’
The Penguin Complete Guide on Symphonia domestica

‘…a sense of joy right to the end…’
BBC Music Magazine ‘Building a Library’ on Symphonia domestica

‘The orchestra plays magnificently, whether in powerful outbursts or lyrical moments of aching beauty like the strings, violin and viola solo in the Grablied… Järvi’s Strauss series is an important set of recordings that will hold an honoured place alongside Chandos’ Prokofiev and Bax cycles.’
Fanfare on Also sprach Zarathustra

CHAN 10208X

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)

Requiem Mass, K. 626

Yvonne Kenny soprano
Sarah Walker contralto
William Kendall tenor
David Wilson-Johnson bass

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge
English Chamber Orchestra
George Guest

Chandos’ acclaimed recording of Mozart’s Requiem is now available at mid-price.

The recording features distinguished soloists and one of England’s most respected church choirs under the baton of the late George Guest.

Few works have been surrounded by the mystery and speculation which attends the Requiem. Set in Mozart’s personal ‘tragic’ key of D minor and written to a commission received at a time of desperation – when his health was precarious and his finances more so – it became his own musical epitaph.

Mozart's Requiem

‘George Guest’s new recording is distinguished by its deliberate tempos but also its very powerful rhythmic momentum and an expressive intensity of a kind one might not expect from a conductor and choir who belong to the English cathedral tradition. The choir is first class… Throughout the choral singing has a rare strength and vigour. I was very much struck by the clarity and balance of the recording…’
Gramophone

CHAN 6689(2)

Marilyn Hill Smith (soprano)
Peter Morrison (baritone)
Ambrosian Singers
The Chandos Singers
The Chandos Concert Orchestra
Barry Knight

Music by Ziehrer, Johann Strauss II, Oscar Strauss, Emmerich Kálmán, Richard Tauber, André Messager, Victor August Herbert, Franz Lehár, Carl Zeller, Lionel Monckton, Victor Jacobi, George Posford, Carl Millöcker, Edward German, Robert Stoltz, Harold Fraser-Simon, Edmund Eysler, Leslie Stuart, Sidney Jones and Louis Ganne

London Symphony Orchestra
John Georgiadis

Huldigung der Königin Victoria von Grossbritannien, Op. 103 Johann Strauss I • Frederika Polka, Op. 239 Johann Strauss I • March of the Royal Horse Guards Johann Strauss, orch. J. Georgiadis • Alice Polka, Op. 238 Johann Strauss I • Almack’s Quadrille,Op. 243 Johann Strauss I • Krönungs-Walzer,Op. 40 Johann Strauss III • Exeter-Polka, Op. 249 Johann Strauss I • Erinnerung an Covent-Garden, Op. 329 Johann Strauss II • Old England for ever Polka, Op. 239 Eduard Strauss, orch. J. Georgiadis • Greeting Valse, on English Airs Eduard Strauss • Potpourri-Quadrille Johann Strauss II, orch. E. Peak

CHAN 6691