No need to abandon hope here, for all those who enter will be guided through Dante's Divina Commedia ("The Divine Comedy") in a score by Thomas Adès fitting of the epic tale. Adès' success as an opera composer translates well to the ballet form, as the writing is full of the drama and scale associated with that genre, reminiscent of the ballets of Stravinsky. Adès' ballet exists in several versions concurrently, co-commissioned by the Royal Ballet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The Dante Project is the name of the fully realized ballet, while Dante, as heard here, is the complete concert score. Inferno, also co-commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for concert performances, received its concert and staged debuts in 2019; The Dante Project premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2021 (and is available on video from Opus Arte); and Dante, in its full concert version, is taken from its debut performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in 2022. It will be unsurprising to those with any general knowledge of Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia that Inferno ("Hell") takes up a significant amount of the whole (the entire first disc and roughly half of the overall playing time). The importance and weight of the first cantica of the Divina Commedia is profound, and Adès provides some thrilling moments as the orchestra surmounts the depths of despair and suffering, though he does include a good amount of wit and humor (listen to "The Thieves" movement for an example). Of course, listeners don't want to forget the rest of Dante's journey through Purgatorio ("Purgatory") on his way to salvation in Paradiso ("Paradise"). The pre-recorded voices featured in Purgatorio are Khazan Gabriel A. Shrem, whose invocation to morning prayer ushers Dante into this second cantica. He is later joined by the congregation of the Great Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem as this section takes on a distinct Middle Eastern soundscape. The final cantica, Paradiso, is presented on a single track to maintain the energy and drive to the culminating triumph. The Los Angeles Master Chorale joins the orchestra near the end of the work as an off-stage ethereal choir. This recording is nothing short of remarkable, and there is only one thing that could fittingly be said of Dudamel and Adès: They are stars.© Keith Finke /TiVo

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The series of recordings with Kirill Karabits conducting the Staatskapelle Weimar, continuing a tradition dating back to Liszt's years as Kapellmeister there, have been strongly acclaimed. With this release, listeners can sample a fine performance of one of the major Liszt tone poems, Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo, and hear some lesser-known works. The latter includes a pair of world premieres (for online listeners, at least), which will be motivation enough for perfect Lisztians. The first is the Künstlerfestzug zur Schillerfeier, S. 114, a sort of festive overture composed for a celebration of Schiller's work. This is thoroughly enjoyable, and it's a rare mood for Liszt. That work served as an overture to the melodrama Vor Hundert Jahren, S. 347, a little play with background music showing two characters, Germania and Poesie, being guided by the spirit of Schiller; the music quotes the finale theme of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Op. 125, several times along the way. This work was performed previously by Karabits in English with the Bournemouth Symphony, but this reading, available online or as a download only, is apparently the first recording of the original German (the German text does not appear to be available anywhere online). To see what Karabits can really do, sample Tasso, and especially the Dante Symphony, with its gloomy evocation of the Inferno in its opening movement. Karabits's performance of this large work is several minutes longer than average, without dragging in the least: he gets the moody quality that is lost in splashier readings. A very strong Liszt release, with fine sound from the Congress Centrum Neue Weimarhalle.© TiVo

These Années de pèlerinage by Franz Liszt (1811-1856) – the monumental piano work in three books that he composed over four decades – invites us on a threefold voyage: a journey through the thought and the art of a composer who gifted all his visionary genius to the piano; here he transcribes an actual physical geography, and transcends it with some of the most accomplished piano writing ever crafted. Our radiant guide on this great adventure is French-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal. From the bucolic Swiss scenes of nature to the evanescent mysticism of the final book, via the sudden flashes of the well-known Orage (Storm) and Après une lecture du Dante (After reading Dante), the pianist – one of the rare performers to present a complete recording of this dense, demandingly virtuosic masterwork – opens up astounding perspectives of sound and vision. ‘What I wanted was to translate this mixture of inspiration and technical brilliance so as to highlight the poetic aspect of these pieces,’ she says. ‘My core aim is to guide the listener through this poetic journey in all its incredible variety, by clearly defining the character of each piece so as to recreate their different worlds.’ © naive classique

When Max Cavalera left Sepultura in 1997, fans figured that some of the group's metallic fury would be lost. But this certainly proved not to be the case, as the "Derrick Green version" of the group continued to churn out such angst-filled releases as Against, Nation, and Roorback. On their fourth studio set with Green, 2006's Dante XXI, the group continues to bring the rage. While it's not the same groundbreaking work as their last few albums with Cavalera were -- Chaos A.D. and Roots -- much of the elements that made Sepultura stand out from the metal pack are still present. Andreas Kisser's penchant for penning rubbery/elastic riffs is still a main focus for the group (why Kisser remains one of metal's most overlooked guitarists remains a mystery), as evidenced by such tracks as "False" and "Buried Words," while Sepultura's desire to visit new musical avenues is evident by "Ostia," which introduces strings to the group's sound. And from a lyrical standpoint, Sepultura continues to be one of the more challenging metal bands on the scene, as Green has looked to The Divine Comedy by Italian poet/philosopher Dante Alighieri for inspiration. Overall, Dante XXI is easily one of Sepultura's strongest releases to feature Green on vocals.© Greg Prato /TiVo

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