Chandos

Gipps Ruth: Orchestral Works Vol 2 [CD]

Richard Hickox and Opera Australia's Australian premiere production of Dvorák's Rusalka opened to spectacular reviews in March 2007. 'Hickox and the orchestra capture its sudden changeability and dramatic force, elegantly shaping the luscious, sweeping melodies while inflecting the intoxicating, folk music-inspired rhythms with grace and bite', noted The Australian. Chandos recorded the performances live and here releases the opera on a 3-CD set.<br/><br/>Inspired by Hans Christian Anderson's fairy-tale The Little Mermaid, Rusalka tells of a water-spirit who falls in love with a prince. Enlisting the help of a witch, Rusalka becomes human so as to marry him. When the prince tires of her, and is unfaithful, she tries to return to the water, but a condition of her becoming human has been violated and she eventually dies together with the remorseful prince. Her story is of human desire, self-sacrifice and the search for enlightenment.<br/><br/>By the time Dvorák came to write Rusalka, he was an experienced opera composer with nine works to his credit; Rusalka was to be his last and is now a seasoned favourite. Part of the secret of the score's magic lies in the instrumental colouring. Dvorák was always inspired in his handling of the orchestra, but in Rusalka he reaches new heights of expressive scene painting. In the hands of Richard Hickox these elements are skillfully realised.<br/><br/>Taking the role of Rusalka for the first time in this production, the Australian-born soprano Cheryl Barker won deserved plaudits for her performances throughout the Australian press. 'It is hard to imagine anyone doing the title role better" (The Australian). 'Cheryl Barker gives an astonishing performance. she manages to capture the ethereal other-worldly quality of the water spirit, both physically and vocally, and her realization that her love for the prince is not returned is heart wrenching' (The Canberra Review). She is joined in leading roles by Rosario La Spina, Elizabeth Whitehouse, Bruce Martin and Anne-Marie Owens who also received excellent reviews. The Sydney Morning Herald, for example, wrote, 'Barker is not the only star. Elizabeth Whitehouse is thrillingly venal as the rival foreign princess, and Bruce Martin, as the water sprite, has insistent potency'.

Kapp Artur / Lemba / Lüdig: Orchestral Works [CD]

Albonetti Marco: Postcards From Italy [CD]

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra / Neeme Järvi<br/><br/>The warm and tuneful music of Atterberg - one of Sweden's leading composers in the twentieth century - meets the idiomatic spirit and commitment of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi, for volume four in this series.<br/><br/>The third of his nine symphonies, featured here, is a set of three 'West Coast Pictures'. These contrasted movements ('Summer Haze', 'Storm', and 'Summer Night') were inspired by the atmosphere and landscape of the archipelago on the Swedish west coast and written between 1914 and 1916. It achieved great popularity abroad and was in Germany even considered as among the finest symphonic works written so far that century.<br/><br/>The Three Nocturnes are orchestral movements which Atterberg extracted from Fanal (The Beacon), his highly praised third opera, which received thirty performances between its premiere in 1934 and 1957 and is nowadays his most appreciated stage work.<br/><br/>Vittorioso was originally composed as the fourth movement of the Seventh Symphony (Sinfonia romantica) and, like the Three Nocturnes, shares its themes with the opera Fanal; the coupling gives a taste of Volume 5, due for release next year.

Gipps Ruth: Orchestral Works Vol 1 [CD]

Albinoni: 12 Concerti a Cinque [CD]