Ravel: L’Enfant et les Sortileges/Ma Mere l’Oye | Naxos 8.660336
Mother Goose: Little Ugly Girl, Empress of the Pagodas
Leonard Slatkin & the National Orchestra of Lyon
Four Hands | Sony 88875064162
Franz Schubert Fantasia in F- for four hands: iv. finale
Leon Fleisher & Katherine Jacobson
Nessun Dorma: The Puccini Album | Sony 88875092492
Recondita Armonia from Tosca & Nessun Dorma from Turandot
Jonas Kaufmann w/ Antonio Pappano & the National Academy Orchestra and Chorus of Santa Cecilia
Kaufmann is a Tenor whose star is still on the rise, but he clearly feels comfortable performing the most daunting arias; works that have been definitively performed and recorded many times over by the biggest tenors in opera. It’s a risk to subject one’s self to such comparison, but Kaufmann tackles Puccini’s melodies with aplomb and passion, and our two very romantic selections provide ample opportunity to do so.
Canadian Brass “Perfect Landing” Opening Day | ODR 7450
“Memories of the Alhambra” by Francisco Tarrega.
There are plenty of good recordings of this work for solo guitar, but the Canadian Brass play a distinctive arrangement for brass quintet. The brass setting brings a new flavor of wistfulness to the work.