Andrew Staples reviews
Proud Songsters – English Solo Song
Michael Chance, Lawrence Zazzo, Tim Mead (countertenor), et al, Simon Lepper (piano) (King's College)
Massenet: Thaïs
Erin Wall, Joshua Hopkins et al; Toronto Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Davis
(Chandos)
Elgar: The Music Makers; The Spirit of England
BBC Symphony Chorus; BBC Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Davis (Chandos)
Stravinsky: Perséphone
Andrew Staples, Pauline Cheviller; Finnish National Opera Chorus, Children’s Chorus & Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen (Pentatone)
Honeck directs The Epic of Gilgamesh
From 1940 until his death in 1959, having lost both his Czech homeland and his beloved composer-muse Vitezslava Kaprálová who died aged only 25, Bohuslav Martinů was preoccupied with thoughts of death and possible transfiguration.
Daniel Harding conducts Henze's Kammermusik
Titles can be misleading. Part song cycle, part chamber concerto, and part series of quasi-lute reflections, Henze’s masterly Kammermusik 1958 is a beatific setting of Hölderlin’s In lieblicher Bläue for tenor, guitar and small ensemble.