The Europadisc Review
Strauss - Ein Heldenleben; Mahler - Ruckert-Lieder
Rafael Payare, Sonya Yoncheva, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
£11.95
By conductor Rafael Payare’s own admission, ‘Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben may not seem like the most obvious pairing for an album.’ Yet on this, his second disc for Pentatone at the helm of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (where he’s now in his second season as music director), he presents these two turn-of-the-century works by the leading composer-conductors of the day as complementary aspects of the same Zeitgeist. Strauss, in arguably the greatest of his tone poems, seems to encapsulate the summation of the Rom... read more
By conductor Rafael Payare’s own admission, ‘Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben may not seem like the most obvious pairing for an album.’ Yet on this, his second disc for Pentatone at the helm of the Orchestre s... read more
Strauss - Ein Heldenleben; Mahler - Ruckert-Lieder
Rafael Payare, Sonya Yoncheva, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
The Spin Doctor Europadisc's Weekly Column
Label News: Chandos goes to Naxos 14th March 2024
14th March 2024
With the recently announced acquisition of Chandos Records by the founder of Naxos Records, Klaus Heymann, another leading independent classical label has passed to a larger company. Just last year, both the Swedish label BIS and the British firm Hyperion were snapped up, by Apple Music and Universal Music respectively. The press release issued to confirm the situation with Chandos spoke of a ‘synergy’ between Chandos and Heymann’s team, and stressed that ‘the label will remain independent long-term’. Chandos is currently run by Ralph Couzens (son of its founder, Brian Couzens), who ‘will remain responsible for running the company’, and its recording schedule will be uninterrupted.
All three of these independent labels – Chandos, BIS and Hyperion – could be said to be victims of their own success. BIS, with its strong emphasis on Scandinavian and Nordic music, had... read more