MDR Leipzig Radio Choir - Choral Works - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

Recorded during the 2020 lockdown, Richard Boothby explores the solo and duo Viol music of Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger. The lyra viol and it's music is one of the last undiscovered gems of music, and Alfonso Ferrabosco is it's greatest exponent. It is in the category of 'hard to define, easy to recognise' it is at once an instrument, a style of playing and a genre of instrumental music, and, while not exclusively English, by far the largest part of it's repertory is from these isles. A composer favoured by Queen Elizabeth I and James I, Ferrabosco also wrote music for stage works by playwright Ben Jonson, some of which would by heard in performance at Shakespeare's Globe. Added to this he was a renowned player of the viol - a visiting court musician declaring that there was no player of 'La lyre' in Italy Inchwho was fit to be compared with the great 'Farabosco d'Angleterre'.Inch Richard Boothby has been playing the viol ever since David Fallows handed him a tenor viol in 1977. After further study with Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Salzburg, he helped to found The Purcell Quartet in 1984 and Fretwork in 1985. He has endeavoured to enrich the viol-consort repertory with new music from today's finest composers, from Elvis Costello to George Benjamin, from Alexander Goehr to Nico Muhly. With the Purcell Quartet, he recorded nearly 50 albums for Hyperion and Chandos; and with Fretwork over 40 albums for Virgin Classics, Harmonia Mundi USA and most recently, Signum Classics.

The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and it's chief conductor Philipp Ahmann present motets by Anton Bruckner and Michael Haydn. While Bruckner's Locus iste, Christus factus est and Ave Maria enjoy great popularity and can be heard frequently in concerts, Michael Haydn's contributions to the same genre are far less known. The younger brother of Joseph and successor of Mozart as Salzburg organist has, however, had a huge impact on religious composition in the German-speaking world, and particularly in Austria. As such, Bruckner's motets, composed about a century later, are still firmly grounded in the tradition of Michael Haydn. By combining their motets, this album allows the listener to discover this uniquely Austrian church-musical style, while simultaneously showing how both composers' gave a highly personal substance to it. The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir is the largest German radio choir with the richest tradition. Since 2020, Philipp Ahmann serves as it's chief conductor. After having featured on several PENTATONE recordings, including Il Tabarro, Cavalleria rusticana (both 2020), Der Freischütz (2019) and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (2017), the choir now presents it's first solo album with the tag.

After their acclaimed Cavalleria rusticana recording, Marek Janowski and the Dresdner Philharmonie now present Puccini's Il Tabarro. Puccini composed this piece as the first panel of his Trittico (1918), a novel work combining three one-act operas, and also containing Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. The explosive story about illicit love and revenge on the banks of the Seine recalls the Verismo of Mascagni's Cavalleria. Beneath the Verismo surface, however, Il Tabarro is a highly modern piece, full of Impressionist harmonies, allusions to Stravinsky and dramatically significant self-borrowings. In this recording, Janowski and the orchestra particularly showcase the symphonic quality of Puccini's music. They are supported by an outstanding cast of soloists, including Melody Moore as Giorgetta, Brian Jagde as Luigi and Lester Lynch as Michele, as well as the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir. Marek Janowski is one of the most celebrated conductors of our times, and enjoys a vast PENTATONE discography including a recent recording of Weber's Der Freischütz (2019) with the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir. This is the second PENTATONE of the Dresdner Philharmonie with Janowski, after Cavalleria rusticana (2020), which also featured the same three main soloists. Melody Moore and Lester Lynch both have participated in several PENTATONE recordings, including Verdi's Otello (2017).