Dolce World

The Brodsky Quartet, continuing to pioneer unique repertoire on Chandos Records, presents a programme of works from the ‘New World’ that explores an American sound in the string quartet. The earliest piece on the disc is the American String Quartet, in F major by Antonín Dvořák, the only non-American composer in the release.

Together with the Filarmonica della Scala, Riccardo Chailly explores the iconic film scores of Nino Rota in a new collection, The Fellini Album. Slated for release on June 7 to mark 40 years since Rota’s death in April 1979, the album contains music from classic Federico Fellini films that capture the spirit of Italian cinema in the 1950s and 60s. The Fellini Album includes brand new recordings of music from La Dolce Vita, Amarcord, 8 ½, The Clowns and Il Casanova. The Fellini Album is available to pre-order now and will be released on Decca Classics/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company on June 7.

Known for her idiosyncratic performances of baroque repertoire and eccentric personal style, the German coloratura soprano Simone Kermes trained in her native Leipzig, with early successes including the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. Bach has not, however, figured prominently in her career since then – Kermes gravitated towards Vivaldi, Handel and the Neapolitan composers who wrote for the great castrati, such as Riccardo Broschi, Alessandro Scarlatti and Porpora. (She has recorded several solo albums of such repertoire for Sony, including Dramma, and Colori d’Amore – reviewing the latter, BBC Music Magazine described her as ‘a remarkable artist, charming, fascinating and boldly risk-taking by turns’).