New Release Saturdays

Given the doom and gloom that currently surrounds the classical recording industry, it might come as a surprise that there are still first-class recordings being made, let alone a substantial number to choose from. In fact, there are a wealth of strong new releases are hitting the record store shelves this fall. Each Saturday through December, host Margaret Juntwait spotlights some of the most noteworthy of these.
Listening Guide for Saturday, November 30: Beethoven, Sibelius, and three Early-Music Gems

On Saturday's Evening Music we spotlight three gems from the Medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque periods. From a new Harmonia Mundi release comes the "English Country Dances" from the publications of English song collector John Playford (1623-86). Violinist David Douglass with baroque guitarist Paul O'Dette and harpist Andrew Lawrence-King bring these sprightly dances with a mixture of trailblazing scholarship and gutsy, passionate music-making.

Violinist Rachel Podger has received much praise for her period instrument recording of the great Bach Partitas and Sonatas, and her recent release of Telemann's Twelve Fantasies for unaccompanied Violin (Channel Classics 18298) makes for a lovely companion piece: In contrast to Bach's rigorously Germanic solo violin works, Telemann plays the entertainer, more interested in accessibility than in pure intellectual satisfaction. Each of the selections in this collection has an improvisatory dash, almost jazz-like.

We also present Songs of Angels, a new recording from renowned early-music specialist Philip Pickett and the New London Consort (Decca 460 794-2). The beautiful and unusual works on this disc capture the legacy of Gautier de Coincy (c.1177-1236), considered to be one of the first composers of sacred songs and one of the greatest poets of the French language during the 13th century.

Rounding out this special look at new releases is a stunning performance of Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A minor ("Kreutzer"), performed by longtime collaborators Augustin Dumay and Maria Joao Pires (DG 471495) and a magisterial rendition of Sibelius's Symphony No. 7, by Leif Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic (Ondine 1007).