• With nice defiance, the South African soprano Golda Schultz has called her latest album Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy! (Alpha Classics). Joining forces with Antonello Manacorda (currently conducting the Royal Opera’s Carmen) and Kammerakademie Potsdam, along with other soloists, Schultz explores female characters from Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. As Schultz says: “These characters are an absolute gift to a performer, but they are also exceptionally challenging, both technically and emotionally. As performers, we are continually driven by the pursuit of perfection and the relentless concealing of our vocal flaws, but Mozart has no patience for our vanity.” Any flaws in these spirited, thoughtful performances are hidden. More than a nice set of highlights, this album makes you think.
• Anyone passionate about choral works on a grand scale should try the Requiem in E flat minor by Józef Kozłowski (Pentatone), written by this Russian-Polish composer in 1798, seven years after Mozart’s Requiem. It is now available in a new edition recorded by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and soloists, Singapore Symphony Chorus and Singapore Symphony Youth Choir, conductor Hans Graf, who give it their all. The work was commissioned by the abdicated King of Poland, Stanisław, and performed at his funeral in St Petersburg (a short version of its complex history). It combines big choruses, memorable solos and vivid orchestral writing in a style that mixes Viennese, Polish and Slavonic accents. Graf, the Singapore SO’s music director, has edited the manuscript after locating it in a library in St Petersburg. Worth investigation.
• The Essay: Letters to a Young Composer: inspired by Rilke’s letters to an aspiring poet, five composers consider their craft and discuss things they wish they’d known starting out. Featuring Tarik O’Regan, John Rutter, Benbrick, Sally Beamish and Errollyn Wallen. Monday-Friday, 9.45pm, Radio 3/BBC Sounds.
