Jack Body, Songs of Death and Desire (Atoll)
Atoll Records has provided handsome packaging for the late Jack Body's moving tribute to transgender icon, Carmen Rupe. Emotionally gripping stories, in Maori and Spanish, sung by Mere Boynton and Anna Pierard, sit alongside Chinese countertenor Xiao Ma who revels in Body's quirky takes on arias from Bizet's Carmen, all accompanied by the NZSO at its most dazzling.
Jack Body, Passing By (Rattle, through Ode Records)
Rattle Records' tribute to Jack Body is a double album that embraces the staggering range of a composer who did so much for NZ music. You can hear his electroacoustic works, old and new, including the stutter-toccata of Sssteve; solo violin and cello pieces and top international musicians including Kronos Quartet who create cotton candy magic with Body's Arum Manis.
Berg & Wellesz, Emerson Quartet with Renee Fleming (Decca)
Renee Fleming's latest proves that the American diva does much more than dish out lollipops at a Wellington-only NZSO concert. Working with the illustrious Emerson Quartet, she uses her lustrous voice to unlock the emotional intensity of Alban Berg's 1926 Lyric Suite, along with intriguing rarities by Egon Wellesz and Eric Zeisl.
NZTrio Lightbox (Rattle, through Ode Records)
Jim Speers' hip, fluoro CD cover matches the zest and high spirits of one of our top chamber ensembles in a collection of inspired and inspiring Kiwi contemporary. The disc's title comes from Karlo Margetic's prize-winning, high-energy score - just one superb offering from composers including Alex Taylor, Rachel Clement, Claire Cowan and Chris Gendall.
Gerald Barry, The Importance of Being Earnest (NMC, through Ode Records)
This wacky operatic take on Oscar Wilde's masterpiece of brittle is ideal holiday fare for the adventurous. Its 70 sometimes frenetic minutes encompass everything from the lusty smashing of crockery to Alan Ewing revealing hidden basso profondo depths in Lady Bracknell.
Schubert, The Great C major Symphony (Deutsche Grammophon)
Claudio Abbado, conducting his own Orchestra Mozart in one of his last recordings, finds the bold and beautiful in Schubert's ultimate symphonic triumph. Schumann once spoke of this work's "heavenly lengths" - this recording, with just the right balance of the monumental and lyrical, proves him right.
Philippe Jaroussky, Green (Warners Classics)
French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky presents 43 settings of poems by Paul Verlaine in an unfailingly elegant journey into the heart of French song. Pianist Jerome Ducros is a simpatico soulmate, tackling classics from Debussy, Faure and Hahn to ballads by chansonniers Georges Brassens and Leo Ferre.
Franz Schubert Andras Schiff (ECM, through Ode Records)
Pianist Andras Schiff has described his attraction to the classical fortepiano as a "metamorphosis of the Saul to Paul kind" and his 1820 instrument here certainly illuminates new worlds of sound in this Schubert release. A double album, with fascinating booklet essays, contents run from an awe-inspiring B flat major Sonata to heart-stopping miniatures.
Robin Tritschler, No Exceptions, No Exemptions (Signum Classics, through Ode Records)
With too much bombast marking the Great War centenary, this CD is the perfect corrective. Irish tenor Robin Tritschler has compiled a two-CD set of songs, many by composers who died in or were affected by war. The naturalness of his voice, together with Malcolm Martineau's smooth piano stylings, make for a winning combination.
