Studio recordings of full operas are not so common anymore, but among the few positive side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was that it did spawn several. This one sounds a bit buttoned-up, perhaps because of the restrictions of the time; the album was made in the summer of 2021, and the contributions of the Transylvania State Choir were downloaded from afar (actually, this would be hard to tell by listening), but there is a lot that is distinctive about the performance of this Verdi opera, whose tragicomic quality has made it a special favorite in modern times. Verdi moved the action from Sweden to Boston to circumvent a censorship restriction; nowadays, the Swedish setting is generally preferred, but the curious American colonial setting somehow seems to fit the mixture of elements in the opera, loading political intrigue onto the old comic trope of the masked ball. The biggest news is the presence of tenor Freddie De Tommaso in the lead role of Riccardo. He has been bubbling under the surface of the opera scene, and with this recording, he takes a major step into the spotlight. Consider one of his big numbers, like "Forse la soglia attinse" in Act III, for an idea of why his performance is bringing to mind some of the greats who have recorded this opera. He is ably backed by a strong cast, including the rougher but powerfully dramatic Lester Lynch as Renato, making a compelling contrast with De Tommaso and Saioa Hernández as Amelia. This vocally strong Un ballo in maschera is well worth the attention of Verdi lovers.© James Manheim /TiVo

Farao Classic's recording of La Traviata is revelatory, largely because of the extraordinary quality of the principals who, until this release, were largely unknown to international audiences. Anja Harteros is a stunningly effective Violetta -- fresh and young sounding, with absolute vocal security and interpretive sensitivity. Her tone is natural and unforced, she sings with beautiful intonation, and the skill and psychological range and insight with which she shapes the vocal lines make this a performance of the highest order. Her of renunciation of Alfredo and her death scene are heartbreakingly poignant, great moments of theater. Her voice and her dramatic depth clearly mark Harteros as an artist to watch out for. The same could be said for Paolo Gavanelli; his burnished, vibrant tone in service to a nuanced, compassionate characterization makes his Germont genuinely compelling. Piotr Beczala makes an intense, passionate Alfredo, and he sings with an open-throated, clarion sound, but he sounds too consistently overwrought to be completely persuasive. Zubin Mehta is in top form, in complete control of the score's tragic dramatic arc; his reading is both shapely in its details and propulsive in its theatricality. The Bayerischen Staatsorchester and the Chorus of the Bayerischen Staatsoper are fully responsive to his direction and perform with finesse and urgency. The SACD's clarity, presence, and balance are unusually good for a live recording. This fine new version should be of strong interest to anyone who loves the opera. © TiVo

There is an abundance of recordings of Schubert's two piano trios and of most of the other chamber pieces on this double album; one of them is even by the trio of players heard here, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and pianist Lars Vogt, but this one was made in the last year and a half of Vogt's life. He had not yet been diagnosed with the cancer that killed him in 2022, but he spoke of this as potentially one of his last recordings. Vogt seemed to be rushing to record as much as he could before his death, sometimes disregarding the advice of his doctors, and several of his last releases were very strong. This one is extraordinary. The brother-sister team of Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff are formidable chamber players, but here, they apply their skills to staying out of Vogt's way; he seems to direct the performances. They land somewhere between ecstatic and tragic. Sample the slow movement of the Piano Trio in E flat major, D. 929, which is something of a funeral march to begin with. Vogt's melody shines with transcendence. His lines in the Piano Trio in B flat major, D. 898, are soaring, shaped into a kind of momentum perhaps never before heard in this well-worn piece. There are several shorter pieces that are beautifully done, including a take on the comparatively rarer Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821, from Tanja Tetzlaff and Vogt. The main attraction is the pair of piano trios, and it is a bit sobering to ponder whether one must be staring death in the face to play like this.© James Manheim /TiVo

Admirers of Colin Davis' legendary Berlioz performances know that his 1974 recording of Symphonie fantastique was an outstanding LP in the Philips catalog, and that it has been reissued several times since on CD, each time to renewed praise. Davis is almost ideal for this work, which is precariously balanced on the knife edge between Classicism and Romanticism; few other conductors have the intellect and temperament to control the Apollonian and Dionysian impulses in Berlioz, and the sympathy for both the elegant and grotesque aspects so evident in this revolutionary masterpiece. This performance is a classic rendition that will satisfy both casual listeners and connoisseurs: there are no controversial choices made here (e.g., in the manner of Roger Norrington's period instrument recording, or dubious decisions, as in Paavo Järvi's wildly Romantic but distorted reading). Instead, Davis takes the Concertgebouw Orchestra through all the intense passions and hallucinations of Berlioz' over-the-top program, yet at the same time observes all the formal aspects of the work, preserving its shape and trajectory. Handled this way, Symphonie fantastique is compelling as a story of love, death, and the supernatural, and also fully convincing as a symphony, albeit one extended beyond the conventions of its time and filled with many innovations. This reissue is highly recommended.© TiVo

Born 16 December 1923, today Menahem Pressler is, without a shadow of a doubt, the king of pianists, just as Mieczysław Horszowski was in the 1980s. Founder of the Beaux-Arts Trio, great and much-overlooked performer of French music, in his thirties he laid down some of the greatest recordings of Debussy (La Boîte à joujoux, Estampes, Suite bergamasque, Arabesques, La plus que lente, Rêverie) of the 1950s, for the American label MGM Records (but he also made several LPs dedicated to Prokofiev which are now completely forgotten, and the Histoires by Jacques Ibert...). Today, for Deutsche Grammophon, he has cast his mind back to that time when, standing on American soil, everything still lay ahead of him; and he has written a beautiful programme, largely centred around Debussy with the composer's greatest hits (Arabesques, Clair de lune from the Suite bergamasque, several Préludes from Livre I such as La fille aux cheveux de lin), finishing with Fauré (Barcarolle No. 6) and finally Ravel ( Pavane pour une infante défunte, Oiseaux tristes). Pressler is keeping alive another piano tradition, with his sound, his sense of style, and quite simply his spirit. His Clair de lune is full of this spirit, without ever falling into mawkishness, or losing its tone of softly-spoken confidence. But for pity's sake, Universal Music: re-release all of Pressler's solo pieces for MGM Records. Bringing back this inestimable and now-completely-inaccessible legacy would be a truly fitting tribute to this great artist. © Théodore Grantet/Qobuz

Haydn's piano trios aren't terribly often played in comparison with his instrumental works in other genres, and the general line on them has been that they are simple Hausmusik with violin and cello lines that may be omitted if desired. The Gaspard Trio, which has embarked on a complete cycle of Haydn's trios (this is the second installment), strenuously disputes this idea, and the group's playing seems designed to bring out the independence of the stringed instruments where it occurs. Perhaps the best way to look at the question is that Haydn is the true creator of the keyboard trio, and his output in the genre offers a fascinating look into his mind as he realized its possibilities. Rather than plow through the trios chronologically, the Gaspard Trio, playing modern instruments, chooses to make each volume in the series an independent release, containing music from various phases of Haydn's career, and here the group lands on three works from the mid-1790s. In these works, which Beethoven certainly would have known, the trio is indeed made up of three equal instruments, and the Piano Trio in E flat major, Hob. 15/29, is one of those Haydn works that seem to look forward to Romanticism. The Gaspard Trio gives it a warm, relaxed performance that's quite appealing, and in general, the group's Haydn is sympathetic and alert to little turns of humor or unexpected formal detail, although they apply improvised, non-notated ornaments that will be to the taste of some listeners but not others. Despite the Gaspard's belief in the importance of these works, the group does not try to put them on the plane of Haydn's quartets, which is all to the good; there is a lightness in the performances that is just right. The early Piano Trio in G major, Hob. 15/41, only occasionally assigns primary material to the violin; by the middle-period Piano Trio in B flat major, Hob. 15/8, Haydn was experimenting all over the place with the emancipation of the violin and cello. Another intriguing feature of the Gaspard Trio's series is that each volume has (and apparently will have) a newly commissioned work that comments on Haydn in some way; the one here, by the cellist-composer, Leonid Gorokhov, is intriguing. There is plenty here to make listeners look forward to what is going to be a substantial series; Haydn composed 45 piano trios. © James Manheim /TiVo

As if trying to prove that opera's centre of gravity has changed, this new Traviata is from Latvia. Recorded in Riga between 24 March and 3 April 2019, it's the first studio recording of a Verdi opera for... 26 years. This production shows off today's great voices, with a moving Violetta from Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka, who has been singing this role very successfully on the great stages of the world since 2007 and meeting with great acclaim (she has already featured in a Naxos DVD of a live performance of La Traviata in Hanover). At her side, Alfredo is played by Charles Castronovo, one of the world's most sought-after lyrical tenors. He sang this role (also for a DVD recording) alongside Natalie Dessay at Aix-en-Provence. As for the Verdian baritone George Petean, he is also seen at Vienna, and at Covent Garden, the Metropolitan, Dresden and Zurich. At the stand, the young German lyrical orchestra conductor Michael Balke is on the up and up. After having led the Magdeburg Opera, he is currently the musical director at St. Gallen, in German- speaking Switzerland. And today he is gradually becoming more and more in- demand on the Tokyo stage and on stages across Europe. For musicians, making a record often means running a gauntlet. Following her international success, Marina Rebeka, like a great many artists today, turned the tables by creating Prima Classic, her own independent label, keeping her intellectual property rights and artistic independence over her work: all in order to enjoy total freedom in her own artistic choices. This Traviata is very polished both vocally and instrumentally, and it's one of the first outings for the new label. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Comprised of pianist Pauline Chenais, violinist Clémence de Forceville and cellist Angèle Legasa, Trio Sōra may well be a new name to many Qobuz listeners, when this is a debut album. That said, the name is likely to ring bells for anyone who keeps an eye on Europe's various young artist programmes and festival academies, because this young French ensemble's notable achievements of recent years include the Special Prize of the Verbier Festival Academy in 2018, and in 2020 a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. Spread across three opus numbers, Beethoven's piano trios begin with the three-strong Op. 1 set, published in 1795 when he was in his mid-twenties, and stylistically still firmly rooted in the Viennese Classicism of Haydn. However Romanticism is thoroughly in the picture by the time he returned to the genre in 1808, shortly after completing the “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6, penning the Op. 70 pair with its famous “Ghost” Trio No. 1. Finally there's the grand Op. 97 “Archduke” Trio of 1811 - technically another middle period work, but one which with the almost symphonic scope of its four movements and complex emotional world feels feels well ahead of its time. What Trio Sōra bring to the set is immensely enjoyable. In performance practice terms, these are broadly “modern” readings, employing unobtrusive vibrato, and even subtle portamento at the most Romantic and impassioned end of the set. Beethoven's stormy switchings on the flip of a coin between dynamic extremes are realised with both clarity and charm: pianissimos are true whispers, and while sforzandos and fortissimos come with punch, it's never at the expense of beauty of tone; with the Opus 1 set in particular, Viennese elegance reigns supreme. As a result, the impression across the set is overwhelmingly of lightness of touch, sprightly and precise articulation. Yet don't interpret that description as “one flavour”, because these readings are anything but; not least because these three musicians are not shy about making this music their own. Take the “Archduke” Scherzo, where playful metrical tugs and pushes, and the odd slight second-beat emphasis, sometimes create an almost off-kilter effect, which then serves as a brilliant foil to other sections of rhythmically steady, joyous swing. Also mention-worthy is the poetry and technical aplomb with which Pauline Chenais rises to the demanding piano role, her tone beguilingly soft-focus and pearly one moment, and brightly crisp the next. A strong first recording. Bravo! © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz

No one knows better than Rinaldo Alessandrini that Monteverdi's madrigals – to which he has dedicated a major part of his work and recordings over the past thirty years – were above all texts where the music was the servant, and not the mistress. This form of a cappella vocal polyphony, responding sensitively to the inflections of a highly expressive poetry, was born in the full flowering of Renaissance humanism and developed in the 17th century by composers such as Monteverdi, Marenzio and Gesualdo, before being supplanted by the opera. As the Italian maestro explains, in the Third Book of Madrigals, "we can already see how carefully the twenty-fiveyear-old Monteverdi chooses poetry, e.g. by Guarini and Tasso, which is capable of 'responding to the needs of the drama, of truth, humanity and emotionality, culminating at the end of his life in the lustrous triumph of his final works". This is the fifth collection of madrigals Rinaldo Alessandrini has recorded with Concerto Italiano, and it is the cornerstone of his quest for an intimate understanding of Monteverdi's repertoire – and all the music that came after it. These madrigals have "the power to allow the performers to read the human passions, perceive them empathetically, and restore them in the very finest dress" (Esteban Hernández Castelló). Their analytical yet sensitive approach leads to a precise intonation, a direct transmission of naked emotions, and the restoration of details we can only glimpse behind the words, revealing in all its beauty what lies hidden in the music: mirror images of the soul. © naive classique

It was time for Ludovic Tézier to finally provide his admirers with a recital. His performances as a Verdian baritone are impressive: Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, Giorgio Germont (La Traviata), Posa (Don Carlo), Le Conte De Luna (Il Trovatore), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Iago (Otello). And almost all of these are reprised in this solo album. To this impressive list of stage roles, Tézier brings the welcome addition of arias from Ernani, Macbeth and Nabucco all accompanied by Frédéric Chaslin at the head of the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. It was in 1998 in Tel Aviv that the French baritone played his first Verdian role. He was thirty years old when he was Ford in a production of Falstaff. "There is an absolutely fascinating energy in Verdi, both for the audience and for the singers", he admits. "His roles are usually very challenging, but his music acts at the same time as a fountain of youth. Verdi is brimming with vitality, which is what allowed me to return to the stage just two days after my father's death". Now with a fully-matured voice, Ludovic Tézier is in demand all over the world for his Verdi roles. He is one of the best performers of Verdi's work, standing alongside the late Piero Cappuccilli who remains his great role model. This record offers timely confirmation of his stature. © François Hudry/Qobuz