We reveal who’s recording what and where...
Yo-yo Ma’s inspiring online performances during the spring and summer have inspired a new album for Sony Classical. Songs of Comfort and Hope sees Ma unite (albeit at a distance) with pianist Kathryn Stott. The duo, who have been performing partners for over 30 years, have recorded 21 pieces including arrangements by Stephen Hough and Caroline Shaw.
Pianist Clare Hammond has recorded her fi h album for BIS Records. The new disc, called Variations, features 20th- and 21st-century piano works by a diverse range of composers including Copland, Hindemith and Sofia Gubaidulina. The album release, scheduled for March, coincides with a lecture-recital tour.
Staying at the keyboard, Italian pianist Alfonso Soldano is currently working on a fourth album for Divine Art. Transfigurations finds the young performer flexing his muscles as a transcriber, the programme featuring his own takes on songs by Rachmaninov, Pabst and Debussy. More familiar transcriptions, including Liszt’s version of Wagner’s Liebestod, complete the set, due this year.
Also recording in Italy is violinist Francesca Dego who is one of only a handful of musicians to record on Paganini’s own 1743 Guarneri violin. The instrument, known as
‘Il Cannone’, is so valuable that Dego had to record under the watchful eyes of security o cers. Chandos will release the recording, which features works by Schnittke, Kreisler and John Corigliano, in February.
Decca has signed 24-year-old violinist Randall Goosby. The dynamic young player, a protégé of Itzhak Perlman, has recorded a debut album set for release in the spring. The recording is a celebration of Africanamerican composers, taking in a century of works from William Grant Still and Florence Price to young composer Xavier Foley.