Jonathan Tetelman’s “Arias” ranks, to who currently writes, among the most sensational debuts in recent years. With a program tailored to his velvety and, at times, dusky tenor voice it made the heavy hitters from both the French and Italian repertoires sound as fresh and untainted as if one had heard them for the very first time. Yet its successor, {…}
Illustrated, on the cover, with a close-up of Leonardo’s world-famous Salvator Mundi, the newest installment in Les Épopées’ series of “Grands Motets” is superlative, both in scope and in terms of its execution. Titled “Benedictus,” after Lully’s composition from 1685, it features four more motets, including one by Henri Du Mont which together make for a stunning fresco of French {…}
No doubt Musica Solis’ newest release is a labor of love initiated in 2010 by writer and musical scholar Lucy Miller Murray whose well curated selection of 15 of her own poems lies at the very heart of “Turning into Song.” Thematically, they are inspired by the likes of Paul Verlaine and French writers from the Symbolist orbit. Miller Murray {…}
Had there been no Franz Schubert, the German Carl Loewe would have had the monopoly on 19th century art songs. His songs are melodious, witty, and with an unfailing blend of Romanticism and comely Biedermeier aesthetics. The most famous are “Die Uhr” and ballads like “Der Erlkönig” or “Herr Oluf.” All are based on German and Nordic folklore. Yet in {…}
The forces behind the Dutch label Pentatone are deserving of every accolade for producing beautifully engineered recordings. This is especially important considering that heavy hitters like Warner and Sony only hesitatingly, and with big marketing efforts, venture into the operatic realm, knowing that its share of profitability has long become a calculated and somewhat unwanted risk. Critics will surely remember {…}
The music of Reiko Füting is far from being easily accessible. If anything, his self-declared aim to “explore the psychological nature of memory” makes the music seem more cryptic or, conversely, less ascribable to a given style or even school. There are in fact a lot of isms: punctualism, serialism, minimalism, etc. which fit under the postmodernist umbrella. Each describe {…}
It has been a while since Decca released a solo recital with Joseph Calleja. “The Magic of Manotvani,” some sort of a crossover, dates from 2020 while his last properly operatic release, “Verdi,” goes all the way back to 2018. Yet the British label has all but forgotten about its spearhead tenor who, with “Ave Maria,” makes a beautifully toned but no less {…}
“The poem with this music is complete.” The final line to composer Shawn E. Okpebholo’s “Romance” reveals, in essence, the method behind Lawrence Brownlee and pianist Kevin J. Miller’s newest release, “Rising,” on Warner Classics: Setting poetry from the Harlem Renaissance to song. With its 29 tracks, the album includes texts from writers such as Langston Hughes, Alice Dunbar Nelson, {…}
Interest in Rossini is famously tied to Maria Callas and the renaissance, both technical and stylistic, of the Belcanto tradition which in the wake of the Divina has inspired as diverse a roster as Teresa Berganza, Marilyn Horne, and Montserrat Caballe to name but a few. Yet in addition to her live performances, her recorded legacy has marked our ear {…}