These two Tenth Symphonies represent powerful statements by composers undergoing the greatest of crises in their eventful lives. Gustav Mahler’s last and incomplete symphony was kept a secret by his widow Alma for many years after his death, the desperate scrawl of ‘Almschi!’ on its final page an outburst at her betrayal of their marriage. Shostakovich’s intense and deeply symbolic SymphonyNo.10, considered by many to be his finest, was kept hidden by the composer for fear of Soviet reprisals, and was only performed after Stalin’s death in 1953.

This release, containing all nine of Bruckner’s symphonies, is one of Challenge Classics’ greatest achievements so far. The quality of the performances- by both conductor and orchestra- and of the recordings makes this Bruckner’s complete survey a primary reference for anyone interested in such repertoire. Each one of these symphony recordings has received positive press. Of the Seventh: “Conductor and orchestra bring out the structural and thematic complexity of the final movement, in a fine end to another very strong and recommended performance.” (Classical Net Review) Of the Third: “This is a resplendent addition to an important cycle in the making.” (Gramophone) And of the Sixth: “Exceptional engineering achieved by Challenge Classics, with natural-sounding timbres and an extremely realistic sense of acoustic space.” (International Record Review) Jaap van Zweden has risen rapidly in the past decade to become one of today’s most sought-after conductors. He has been Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2008, and Music Director of the Honk Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012. Earlier this year he was announced as the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Premiered in 1937, Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony proved to be an overwhelming success, returning the composer to temporary favor in the eyes of Soviet authorities. It remains one of the most performed symphonies of the 20th century. The jaunty, neo-classical Ninth Symphony offers a stark contrast in size and mood to its companion work on this disc.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is regarded as one of the leading orchestras in Asia. The orchestra turned professional in 1974, and is celebrating its 50th anniversary during the 2023/24 concert season. The orchestra has toured Europe, Asia, Australia, and extensively across Mainland China with music director Jaap van Zweden. In 2019 the HK Phil won the prestigious Gramophone magazine Orchestra of the Year Award – the first orchestra in Asia to receive this accolade.

For anyone new to opera, the first question is often: where to start? The 'Best Loved' series offers an easy answer to that question with a perfect introduction to the wonderful, varied world of operatic music. Highlighting some of the best-loved arias ever written, the series provides a convenient introduction to opera's extensive variety of sounds and styles. Opera can be defined as drama told through music and, at the height of it's popularity, conventions arose in which certain voice types came to share features of the characters they represented. This series presents the main vocal categories (soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass) by dividing them across four albums. The 'Best Loved' Arias series aims to demonstrate why opera as an art form remains as relevant and entertaining today as it was at it's inception 400 years ago.

Also available on Blu-ray Audio

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is one of the most remarkable achievements in all music, and Siegfried, the third in the cycle, contains some of the greatest moments in Wagner’s entire output. Wagner conceived Siegfried as a heroic ‘man of the future,’ and his fantastical tale is one in which the human dramas of treachery and violent struggles for power become magnified in a world of gods, dragons and magic. The previous opera in this cycle, Die Walkure, was acclaimed in The Guardian as “thrillingly vivid... easily maintains the high standard and promise of Das Rheingold.” (Naxos NBD0049).

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REVIEW:

The Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden once again has assembled an international cast with a background of Wagnerian stage appearances. Siegfried is sung by the New Zealand-born Simon O’Neill, one of today’s most sought after Heldentenor’s, his forging scene, at the close of the first act, superbly sung after the rather pedestrian opening tempo. David Cangelosi is the type of whining Mime that was given birth by Gerhard Stolze in Solti’s recording, and has been copied ever since, and as such he is a perfect foil to O’Neill’s vibrancy. Matthias Goerne’s Wotan, who here appears on earth as ‘The Wanderer’, is smooth, dignified and without exaggeration. In Werner van Mechelen’s Alberich we have a vocally likeable character whose second act enraged confrontation with The Wanderer becomes a beautifully sung sociable meeting. I particularly enjoyed Valentina Farcas’s Forest Bird, and, later in that act, her immaculate intonation comes with the ideal silvery sound that is required. In the third act Deborah Humble’s Erda is suitably tired and old as she counsels Wotan as to his future, and maybe Goerne had been ‘saving’ his voice for the subsequent angry encounter with Siegfried. The Australian dramatic soprano, Heidi Melton, sings Brunnhilde, her big and powerful voice heard at its best in the outgoing passages, and, with O’Neill’s voice untiring, the finale scene is as good as I have heard in recent times.

It hardly seems fifty-four years ago that I was reviewing Solti’s revelatory recording, and there have been so many more to review since then. Now Hong Kong is placing a performance on disc that is a major achievement, and in unparalleled recorded sound.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

‘Gotterdammerung’ (Twilight of the Gods) is the epic fourth and final opera of Wagner’s great Ring cycle, with a plot that depicts the fall of heroes, gods, and the entire world. As ever with the Ring, the joys of love are all too fragile and fleeting, and the drama of ‘Gotterdammerung’ revolves around dark and unsettling reversals of fortune and illusions of hope that synthesize thrilling and powerful grand opera traditions with Wagner’s revolutionary techniques. Containing all of the Ring’s essential elements, ‘Gotterdammerung’ possesses a profoundly satisfying sense of inevitability that makes it both a towering climax and a unified summation of the Ring’s abundant variety.

Launched by its prologue Das Rheingold (8660374-75), Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) - one of the supreme works in the history of music - continues with Die Walküre. Part II of the tetralogy centres on the young lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde, whose relationship angers Ficka, goddess of marriage, and on the disobedience of the Valkyrie Brünnhilde who is sent to carry out Fricka’s wishes. Performed by an all-star international cast, the work features thrilling set-pieces such as Wotan’s Farewell and the Ride of the Valkyries.