I haven't come across many intriguing new recordings in the past few
months, but a flood of them have recently come to my attention:

Alexander Alexandrov - This is likely the first disc devoted to the piano
music of Alexandrov who was born in the late 1800's.  It's on Hyperion and
performed by Hamish Milne.  Although I'm not ready to provide a definitive
opinion of the music or performances, I can confidently state that those
who love the Scriabin and Medtner piano works will want this fine disc.

Francois-Joseph Gossec - Born in the early 1700's, there have been a
few discs of orchestral music by Gossec in recent years.  Now the French
label, Alpha, has released a disc of Gossec string quartets; availability
in the U.S.  is up for grabs.  At any rate, if you are further interested
in Gossec's chamber music, there's a disc of his flute quartets on the
Talent label.

Mozart's Idomeneo - This new recording of Mozart's opera comes from
Charles Mackerras conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on EMI.
Mackerras is one of the great living interpreters of Mozart, and the
superb Ian Bostridge is one of the soloists.

Haydn Solo Piano Works - Ragnar Schirmer, who recently recorded Bach's
Goldberg Variations, now takes on Haydn for Berlin Classics.  Her Bach
isn't among the best on the market, but it is highly rewarding and makes
me enthusiastic about this new recording of Haydn's music.

Evgeny Kissin - Kissin has recorded Schumann before in his recital discs;
now he offers his first recording devoted to Schumann.  It's on the RCA
label and contains Carnaval and the Piano Sonata Opus 11.

Freddy Kempf - Young and talented, Mr. Kempf has been recording for BIS.
Here is his newest BIS offering of the Liszt Transcendental Etudes.

Rachmaninov - EMI has just released a set of Rachmaninov solo piano music
performed by John Ogdon including the complete piano sonatas, preludes,
and etudes-tableaux.  According to EMI, none of the performances has been
previously published.

D'Indy - Calliope has issued a mid-priced 2cd set of D'Indy's music for
string quartet; performances are by the Joachim Quartet.  I don't claim
that D'Indy is one of the great composers, but his chamber music is the
repertoire where I feel he does his best work.

Organ & Orchestra - From Cedille comes a disc of American works for organ
and orchestra performed by David Schrader with the Grant Park Orchestra
directed by Carlos Kalmar.  Barber, Piston, Sowerby, and Colgrass are
the programmed composers, and I think of this disc as a 'sleeper'.

Handel - Sophie Yates gives us her third volume of Handel's works for
harpsichord on Chandos.  Her previous two efforts are quite good, and
she is a high-energy interpreter who is sure to please.

Major Sviatoslav Richter Project - Previously unreleased Richter
performances seem to beam in on us at a frequent rate, and the latest is
a big-time project of 17 discs from concert performances in Kiev; there
are seven 2cd sets and one 3cd set.  If preferred, you can buy them all
in one package.  The sets come from the TNC label which I've never heard
of until now; the company does have a website, so check it out.

Bach - Gerhard Weinberger has now reached Volume 12 of his complete
traversal of Bach's organ works.  His recordings of Bach on period organs
are known for their austerity.  Overall, I'm quite pleased with the series,
but many will find Weinberger oppressive.

Shostakovich - The St. Petersburg String Quartet gives us its 4th volume
of Shostakovich String Quartets(#11,13,15) on Hyperion.  The previous
volumes have been very rewarding.

Marc-Andre Hamelin - This superb pianist has been making a niche for
himself through the recording of relatively obscure piano music.  His
newest effort for Hyperion finds him playing the music of Leo Ornstein.
The disc is likely not for the faint of heart, since Ornstein is well known
for savage power and cluster-chords.  As it happens, another Ornstein piano
disc is forthcoming from Naxos and played by Janice Weber.  Someone ought
to do a review of these two Ornstein offerings, but it won't be me since I
have yet to appreciate those clusters.

Angela Hewitt - Another favorite Hyperion performer, Hewitt gives us her
renditions of the Bach Toccatas for Keyboard.  I saw her perform in Los
Alamos, New Mexico, and she's a class act in all respects.

John Cage - MDG offers a 3cd set of Cage's piano music; what a way to spend
an evening, yes? no?

Nicolaus Bruhns - Not very well known, this Baroque composer was a master
of organ composition.  The Winter & Winter label has just come out with
a disc of his organ music perfomed by Ghielmi, and I'm salivating at the
opportunity to listen to it.

Bach's Goldberg Variations - Quite a few months ago, the French label
Alpha Productions released the Goldbergs played by harpsichordist Celine
Frisch who I consider a great Bach performing artist based on her two Bach
discs for Harmonia Mundi.  This Alpha disc, previously only available in
France, now seems to have made its way to England.  Hopefully, it will
someday cross the Atlantic.

"Martha Argerich Presents" - Ms. Argerich has arranged with EMI to
champion a few young pianists touted by her.  There are four cd's, each
one devoted to one pianist: Dong-Hyek Lim, Alexander Mogilevsky, Mauricio
Vallina, and Evgheny Brakhman.  Each of the discs is at mid-price and
reviews up to this point have been mixed.  Repertoire is of the mainstream
variety which means that competition is fierce.  However, those who swear
by Argerich should certainly investigate these young favorites of hers.

Questionable Release of the Month - Giuliano Carmignola and Andrea Marcon
are exceptional Baroque performing artists, and I greatly enjoyed their
set of the Bach Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord on Sony.  Their latest
offering consists of some violin concertos by Locatelli.  Nothing against
Locatelli, but I feel there's much better baroque music out there which
these two artists could provide such as from Biber and Corelli - just one
opinion.

Don Satz
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