Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Some good news & some bad...

The bad news not being news as such, but rather an apology. Obviously I've been posting less and less here, it doesn't mean that music has a less important place in my life now, even if my mind is mostly busy with the art/art history field. I'm still a very devoted listener and I love to discover new music - though sometimes (...most of the time) when I try to put my feelings on these discoveries into words, my courage fails me. Especially when it comes to classical music.

What classical training do I have in music? None.
Do I play any instrument? Nope.
Can I read music? Nope.
Do I have the vocabulary and trained ear of the experienced opera tourist? Sadly, no.
Because of this I feel that my so-called reviews - ie ravings - of my personal classical music discoveries fall short of the many good opera blogs out there, so much so that I would be embarrassed to publish it online, even though this blog doesn't have many readers.

On the other hand I've had this blog for many years now and it would indeed be sad to let it go, so I will continue to post my discoveries and recommendations, but perhaps more in the form of links and videos instead of words.

Now on to the good news:
It seems that a handful of the singers I like have albums coming out within the first months of this year - mostly in the classical category.

First up we have no less than three countertenors: Xavier Sabata, Max Emanuel Cencic and Valer Barna-Sabadus.

I've heard and seen all of these singers in action in various operas (sadly, not live!) - their paths also cross in that they have been in some productions together. In the case of Cencic and Barna-Sabadus it's Vinci's Artaserse, recorded both on CD and filmed in Nancy last year, that comes to mind, not least because Valer Barna-Sabadus was completely unknown to me until then.
Sabata's disc was scheduled for release today, however iTunes may be a little behind as I couldn't find it this morning (that left me quite disappointed actually); in the case of Cencic's Venezia I've heard both January 25 and February 4, whereas I'll have to wait until January 25 to hear Valer Barna-Sabadus sing Purcell.

And the line of angelic voices continues with Julia Lezhneva, whose second album comes out March 4. It never ceases to amaze me how young she is and how her voice combines elements of maturity and innocence.



And in between there is also a new CD from Jonas Kaufmann - a Wagner disc, appropriately enough, it being the "Wagner & Verdi year" 2013. Had you asked me a few years ago if I would have looked forward to such a release with excitement, I would have said NO.... However, Kaufmann is the main reason why Wagner became first tolerable and then actually enjoyable for me, after I saw the DVD of Lohengrin. (His Gralerzählung is a wow-moment)



In addition to Julia Lezhneva, March also brings a new album from L'Arpeggiata, seemingly in the vein of the previous South American project, but with a different geographical center: It's entitled Mediterraneo and features collaborations with Vincenzo Capezzuto , among others.




Of the albums scheduled to be released the first half of this year we also find Barbara Furtuna, a group dedicated to the art of traditional Corsican polyphony. However this album, whose title is yet to be announced, doesn't have a set release date - but their facebook page states it will be released within the first half of the year if all goes to plan.

And this year really seems to be the year of CD releases for countertenors, because internet sources say Franco Fagioli (who was also in the brilliant cast of Vinci's Artaserse) has signed a recording contract with Naive and will release a CD in September, centered around works written for the castrato Caffarelli. I'm growing impatient already!