Rediscoveries highlight this week’s new releases: Juliana Koch revisits the underappreciated works for oboe by Ruth Gipps, Brett Dean continues finding inspiration from the 16th century in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” and the Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann gets his due from some big names in classical music.
Gipps: “Piper of Dreams”
Juliana Koch, oboe
Michael McHale, piano
Julian Bliss, clarinet
Chandos
English composer and oboist Ruth Gipps may not be a household name in most parts of the world, but she had a very productive career that spanned more than 50 years in the 20th Century, composing five symphonies, seven concertos, and various chamber works. In this album, London Symphony principal oboist Juliana Koch highlights several of Gipps’ lush and evocative works for her instrument. “Fat Pigeon” in Gipps’ “Kensington Gardens Suite” is worth the price of admission on its own.
Dean: “Rooms of Elsinore”
Jennifer France, soprano
Lotte Betts-Dean, mezzo-soprano
Juho Pohjonen, piano
Andrey Lebedev, guitar
James Crabb, accordion
Brett Dean, viola and conductor
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
BIS
Brett Dean can’t shake Shakespeare. The Australian composer and violist wrote his opera based on “Hamlet” nearly a decade ago, and this album continues Dean’s fascination with exploring the Bard’s Danish prince in five musical theater works composed between 2016 and 2019. As with the original play and the opera, the results are dark, powerful, and intriguingly complex.
Hartmann: “Rediscovered”
Violin Concerto:
Joshua Bell, violin
Dalia Stasevska, conductor
INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra
Cello Concerto:
Matt Haimovitz, cello
Dennis Russell Davis, conductor
MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
Pentatone
Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann lived from 1884-1956, so he experienced plenty of war in and around his homeland. His Violin Concerto from 1943 was inspired by the Nazi invasion of Ukraine two years earlier, making it a timely work to revisit while the nation is under attack by Russian forces. Violinist Joshua Bell and conductor Dalia Stasevska leading the Ukrainian INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra present the work with exceptional sensitivity. Hartmann Cello Concerto from 1935, also inspired by political forces of the era — this time the persecution of Jews in mid-1930s Germany — rounds out the album with virtuosic tunes and Jewish klezmers.
