We reveal who’s recording what, and where…
Grieg’s Second Piano Concerto has been recorded for the first time, by pianist Mark Bebbington and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Somm. The Norwegian le! us some of the right notes, not necessarily in the right order, but Robert Matthew-walker has turned the 150 existing bars into a single movement. ‘The jaunty opening idea shares a similar character to the main Allegro theme of the A minor Concerto’s Finale,’ says Bebbington, ‘but elsewhere there are tantalising glimpses of what might have been.’
When Mozart spent 15 months in London from 1764, he kept himself busy. He was only eight years old, yet four days a!er arriving in the city he performed for King George III. It was in the British capital, too, that he began to compose symphonies. Now Ian Page and the Classical Opera Company have put together a a musical portrait of this trip. The Signum Classics two-disc set includes over a dozen premiere recordings, and features performers including soprano Rebecca Bottone and tenor Robert Murray.
Kyung Wha Chung has returned to Brahms’s Violin Concerto on disc. She has recorded the piece for Warner Classics with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Antonio Pappano, 17 years a!er her first recording of it with the Vienna Philharmonic and Simon Rattle.
Thomas S ndergard and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra are about to embark on a new series of recordings together on Linn, kicking o" with a Richard Strauss disc. The conductor’s programme is set to include the tone poem Ein Heldenleben and the orchestral Suite from Der Rosenkavalier.
Contrary to what we said in last month’s ‘Rewind’, we’re happy to report that Sharon Isbin’s album Dreams of a World is in fact still available. It can be found in the Sharon Isbin: 5 Classic Albums set on Warner Classics.