Classical

Jonathan Aasgaard, BBC Scottish SO, John Wilson
Richard Rodney Bennett: Concerto For Orchestra, Sonnets To Orpheus, Diversions
Chandos CHSA5266 (SACD; downloads to 96kHz/24-bit resolution)

RR Bennett’s legacy needed addressing properly, after his death in 2012, and John Wilson is unquestionably the man for the job. Here by turns is Bennett the modernist, the post-Romantic and the entertainer, and Wilson has the measure of all three disparate idioms. The terse and gripping Concerto For Orchestra (1973) wears its dissonance at a rakish angle, a worthy sequel to Bartók and Lutosławski. The five Sonnets (after Rilke, 1978) amount to a half-hour cello concerto in the tradition of Elgar and Walton – try the rapt central Arioso. Finally, the Diversions (1990) bear an easy smile and Malcolm Arnold-ish swagger. PQ

Sound Quality: 95%

Teatro Lirico Di Cagliari/Cilluffo
Cilea: Gloria
Naxos 8660568 (downloads to 96kHz/24-bit resolution)

Gloria was a notorious flop at its 1907 premiere (led by Toscanini, no less), so much so that Cilea turned his back on writing opera. Did the composer of Adriana and L’Arlesiana really lose his touch? This stylish revival says otherwise. The tragedy-by-numbers plot and libretto probably told against it, but the opulence and drive of Cilea’s score deserves better, and its sheer brevity (85m) should win over modern audiences. Anastasia Bartoli brings nobility and a gleaming top register to the title role. The tenor makes for uncomfortable listening, but the rest of the cast is fine, and the recording captures a night of blood and thunder in Cagliari (with applause). PQ

Sound Quality: 80%

Hamburg Chs & State PO/Nagano
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem – Bremen version
BIS BISCD2720 (two discs; downloads to 96kHz/24-bit resolution)

This live reconstruction of the Requiem’s premiere (on Good Friday 1868) omits the soprano movt which became an expressive pivot for the piece. Mezzo Kate Lindsey still has a prominent role, singing Bach and Handel arias with thoughtful inflection and a subtly ‘Romantic’ accompaniment. The real draw is the unfashionable but authentic weight of choral numbers (at least 400). Set against rocky moments in the fugues, and a distant recording perspective, is a rare sense of the numinous: a rite of memory in the making. With several radiantly played interludes of her own, violinist Veronika Eberle is no less prominent than baritone Jóhann Kristinsson. PQ

Sound Quality: 80%

Quartetto Di Cremona
Bach: The Art Of Fugue
Orchid Classics ORC100342 (downloads to 96kHz/24-bit resolution)

This Italian ensemble has reinvented itself in 18th-century style after its forceful Beethoven cycle on Audite. Heavy bowing and hectic phrasing in the first four contrapuncti suggest they are dancing against the clock. As if trying to make late Bach exciting, they bring choppy articulation and a jaunty step to No.8, mixing in extra strings and recorders elsewhere. The lively narrative approach pays dividends in tracing an Ariadne’s thread through the later contrapuncti. The final fugue makes a persuasive culmination, with rhythmically free and intricately woven phrasing, and relaxed ornamentation that comes freshly off the page. PQ

Sound Quality: 80%