Album Release: March 2016

Since 2015, Krzysztof Urbański has been principal guest conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, one of the leading German orchestras. They are currently preparing together the inauguration in January 2017 of Hamburg’s new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, a major musical event in Germany with which Alpha Classics will be associated. Krzysztof Urbański is also music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. A resolutely international career for a young conductor who recently earned praise from the Chicago Tribune for ‘his keen musical instincts and vigorous way of translating his ideas into orchestral sound that has both shape and meaning’.
For this first recording, he was keen to celebrate a great composer, one of the most eminent of the twentieth century and a Pole like himself, who, like Stravinsky, Bartók, Berg, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, gloried in the sound material of the orchestra and displayed boundless imagination. Though less well known than his illustrious colleagues for the moment, Lutosławski amply deserves to meet a wider public, for his music can speak as directly to connoisseurs as to simple music-lovers. We hope that this programme will help to further his reputation.

Tracklist of the album:
CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA
1 I. INTRADA
2 II. CAPRICCIO NOTTURNO E ARIOSO
3 III. PASSACAGLIA, TOCCATA E CORALE

LITTLE SUITE (MAŁA SUITA)
4 I. FUJARKA (PICCOLO)
5 II. HURRA POLKA
6 III. PIOSENKA (SONG)
7 IV. TANIEC (DANCE)

8 SYMPHONY NO.4

LUTOSLAWSKI // Concerto for Orchestra - I. Intrada by Krzysztof Urbański & NDR Symphony Orchestra

Luca Marenzio was the most brilliant representative of the sublime art of the madrigal during the last twenty years of the sixteenth century. Whereas the style of his early works is light, fluid and transparent, in his maturity Marenzio’s language turned towards a more complex, introspective attitude that made him the most emblematic musical exponent of Late Renaissance melancholy. L’amoroso & crudo stile brings together some of Marenzio’s finest madrigals, aiming to reproduce the most intimate expressive facets of a music of extraordinary beauty and profound humanity. With the emotional intensity and deep respect for the poetic text that distinguishes the ensemble, RossoPorpora begins in this debut recording its personal exploration and celebration of the madrigal,
the earliest and still unsurpassed representation of Italian musical identity.

Learn more : https://lnk.to/MarenzioLAmorosoSo

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Luca Marenzio // Quai vive Salamandra

Alpha has been a noted reference in the world of classical music since its inception twelve years ago. Today, the label is broadening its horizons, welcoming outstanding new artists and opening its doors to an array of innovative projects.

Vocal repertoire becomes a major focus of the new ALPHA: Véronique Gens has just recorded a recital of French songs with Susan Manoff as part of an ongoing collaboration with the label. The baritone Georg Nigl also joins Alpha. He will collaborate with Andreas Staier on a Bach album. The new generation is represented by Gaëlle Arquez and the soprano Mari Eriksmoen. She will record a programme of songs by Grieg, Strauss and Wolf in April in the framework of the partnership between ALPHA and the Academy of the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Outstanding instrumental soloists have also signed with ALPHA: the pianist Anna Vinnitskaya presents the Shostakovich concertos with Kremerata Baltica. Others will be announced soon.

Collaborations with major orchestras are being finalised, but we can announce multi-year projects with Hervé Niquet and with Le Concert Spirituel (Vivaldi Gloria & Magnificat for double choir to be released this fall). Equally noteworthy are the Beethoven symphonies recorded by Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie in the halls where they were first performed.

ALPHA is also expanding its chronological scope, since the label is launching a series with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Matthias Pintscher and will release a program by Peter Eötvös. For the twentieth century, Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher has just appeared, with an incredibly intense narrator, the actress Marion Cotillard.

As part of the new series ALPHA OPERA, a DVD collection has been created in conjunction with major institutions such as the THEATRE ROYAL DE LA MONNAIE in Brussels and the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, featuring top ensembles including Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset and Le Concert Spirituel under Hervé Niquet (Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse by Boismortier, directed by Corinne et Gilles BENIZIO, aka SHIRLEY & DINO).

ALPHA remains faithful to the artists who have made its history and its reputation. Vincent Dumestre and Le Poème Harmonique will present a disc of Airs de Cour in the autumn. Bruno Cocset has recorded a second volume of works by Barrière, and Olivier Fortin, Alexis Kossenko, Lucille Boulanger, Arnaud de Pasquale, Céline Frisch and Café ZIMMERMANN will also offer new releases. The ambitious Haydn 2032 project continues under the direction of Giovanni Antonini, while the ‘Château de Versailles’ collection presents recordings of Campra and Leclair by Olivier Schneebeli and Sébastien d’Hérin respectively.

In order to strenghten the label on the international scene, ALPHA will bring together all its house artists with those who recorded for ZIG-ZAG TERRITOIRES. This merger will make for greater coherence among the 600 recordings in the existing catalogues (especially in the field of early music, the strong point of both labels) and the new releases. By the end of 2015 ALPHA will thus offer a chance to renew acquaintance with such major artists as the Belcea Quartet, Doulce Mémoire and Denis Raisin Dadre, Nelson Goerner in Chopin, Tedi Papavrami in Bartók, Amandine Beyer, Mario Ceccato, and Alexei Lubimov and many others. Another highlight of the year is the seventieth birthday of Jos Van Immerseel: with Anima Eterna Brugge, he will present a magnificent Schubertiade as well as a symphonic programme with Janácek and Dvoràk.

Since December 1st 2014, the label is directed by Didier Martin.

LUTOSLAWSKI // Concerto for Orchestra - I. Intrada by Krzysztof Urbański & NDR Symphony Orchestra

Alpha Classics

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