Mozart on The Way to Prague

This thrilling recording around concert performances at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus is set to be a milestone in at least two ways. It marks the beginning of an extended Deutsche Grammophon collaboration with rising star Yannick Nézet-Séguin – the young French-Canadian maestro - “surely the most exciting talent of his generation” (Edward Seckerson, The Independent, January, 2011) who has already been celebrated from the Metropolitan Opera House New York to Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala Milan and the Salzburg Festival.

Erno” Dohnányi is the least celebrated of the seminal triumvirate of twentieth-century Hungarian composers; Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók have become household names, yet Dohnányi’s posthumous fame hangs upon an unrepresentative handful of compositions. This recording brings together three of his finest chamber works; the two masterful yet hugely contrasting Piano Quintets, and his remarkable essay in that most underutilized of instrumental genres, the string trio.

Don’t judge this album from the first aria – the Puccini arias are the weakest here. The French repertoire finds Kaufmann on excellent form. The most encouraging thing about him is his musical intelligence – a genuine soft high note to crown his Carmen Flower Song – and elsewhere he strives to serve the music. The voice can’t quite do all he asks yet, but it’s full of brooding, Vinay-like darkness.

If there is one thing that marks out René Jacobs’s approach to Mozart, it is the way he constantly asks himself questions – and the specifically musical brilliance of the answers he comes up with. The success of his recent version of La clemenza di Tito is proof of that! After Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro, his recording of this centrepiece of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy offers us the latest fruits of his reflections on Classical opera. Premiered at the 2006 Innsbruck Festival and recorded shortly afterwards, this production is nourished by his thoughts on Don Giovanni as taboo-breaker and on a ‘physiology of roles’ that respects Mozart’s intentions as nearly as possible. NB This set contains the arias of both versions created by Mozart (Prague 1787, Vienna 1788)

Rave reviews have garnished Jonas Kaufmann’s career the last few years. Listening to his first recital disc, due for release on 14 January 2008, the day of his first Alfredo at Covent Garden, it is easy to see why. With film-star looks to match he seems predestined for great things. He has the classy Prague Philharmonic backing him, conducted by one of the more sought after Italian opera conductors of the younger generation.

Czech composer František Vincenc Kramář-Krommer (1759 - 1831) held a pride of place on Vienna's music scene of the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, where he was initially active as an outstanding teacher of violin as well as probably of composition, after the death of Leopold Koželuh to work his way up to the prestigious post of court composer and kapellmeister of the court chamber orchestra. By coincidence, he happenned to be the last musician to have held the post. After his death it was never again occupied. His contribution to the musical spectrum of theViennese Classical school consisted in an invigorating stream of vitality which he inherited from his rustic ancestors, combined with a tender lyrical strain free from excessive sentimentality, and a sharp sense of humour.

The forthcoming season marks the 10th anniversary of Anna Netrebko’s debut with the Metropolitan Opera, New York. The new album celebrates this milestone by bringing together her greatest MET moments throughout the past 10 seasons - performances never before issued on record and most never commercially released on any format.

This set is pure joy. These are period performances, but there's nothing hair-shirt about them. Pinnock caresses the slow movements with great affection, and throughout there's a sense of fun and enjoyment. What's exciting is the sweetness of the period-instrument sound and the suppleness and flexibility The English Concert brings to the music. They play, much of the time, as if it were chamber music, particularly in second subjects – the lyrical passages, that is, where they shape the phrases with a warmth and refinement you hardly expect in orchestral music.