July

11 – 15 July
BEETHOVEN: FIDELIO
Nina Stemme, Jonas Kaufmann
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Claudio Abbado
DECCA 478 2551 (2 CD)

Recorded live at the Lucerne Festival 2010 with the Festival Orchestra, this Fidelio is led by the legendary conductor Claudio Abbado. The central tenor role of Florestan is known as one of the most demanding and difficult in the operatic repertoire. For his first complete opera recording for Decca, tenor Jonas Kaufmann, delivers everything the role demands: fearless tone, peerless style, and heart-stopping dramatic intensity.

4 – 8 July
RAKHMANINOV
Leslie Howard
Melba Recordings MR 301 127

Renowned Australian pianist Leslie Howard presents the first recording of this coupling of the two Rachmaninov Piano Sonatas featuring the original 1913 version of the Sonata no 2, regarded as unplayable by performers of the composer’s time. Following the premier performance the devastated Rachmaninov radically simplified the work, but on this release the Sonata can be enjoyed in its original splendour, alongside the mighty Sonata no 1 of 1907, inspired by a reading of Goethe’s Faust.

The recording also includes four exquisite miniatures, among them three piano pieces composed by Rachmaninov as he was about to leave Russia forever.