LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos.4 & 8 (with Mehul: Symphony No. 1 & Cherubini: Lodoiska Overture) Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 9/Sep/2022 ] The least famous of Beethoven's symphonies? Yet these two works are genuine tours de force: the composer takes the listener on a journey whose destination never seems to be known in advance, one brimming over with structural innovations subtly... |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas nos. 1, 3 & 5 - Visions fugitives Alexander Melnikov (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 6/May/2022 ] "With the three so-called 'war' sonatas 6, 7 and 8 covered in the two previous releases, you might think that the third instalment of Alexander Melnikov's Prokofiev cycle is a mopping-up job." BBC Music Five Stars |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Violin Sonatas Vol 1 Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano) [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2016 ] "It is difficult to imagine [these sonatas] better played" (Five Stars BBC Music) |
HENRY PURCELL / GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Sound the Trumpet - Royal Music Of Purcell And Handel Alison Balsom (natural trumpets) / The English Consort, Trevor Pinnock [ Warner Classics / CD - released 19/Oct/2012 ] "For historical accuracy, she plays the valve-less "natural" trumpet: it really does appear to offer a more direct access to the human voice, a quality confirmed when she duets with countertenor Iestyn Davies" (The Independent) |
RICHARD WAGNER / ALBAN BERG / GUSTAV MAHLER
Anja Harteros - Wagner Berg Mahler Anja Harteros (soprano), Münchner Philharmoniker, Valery Gergiev [ Münchner Philharmoniker / CD - released 6/Aug/2021 ] Critics and audiences alike have nothing but rapturous praise for the voice of Anja Harteros. Some experts even regard her as the greatest female singer of the present day. |
CILEA / PURCELL / TCHAIKOVSKY / VERDI / PUCCINI / WAGNER
Anna Netrebko - Amata dalle tenebre Anna Netrebko (soprano) / Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Chailly [ Deusche Grammophon / CD - released 19/Nov/2021 ] "She's in her element [as Manon Lescaut], as she is with Tchaikovsky's Lisa, where the voice sounds beautiful and the emotional trajectory is wonderfully plotted and detailed." Gramophone |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Verbum caro factum est - a Christmas Greeting Bach Collegium Japan Chorus / Masaaki Suzuki (direction), Masato Suzuki (organ) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Oct/2018 ] "The performances are typically classy, and punctuated by a selection of Daquin's 'Noels' for solo organ, played with peppery registrations by Suzuki" BBC Music |
5552512
Goldmark: Symphonic Poems, Vol. 2 Bamberger Symphoniker, Fabrice Bollon [ CPO / CD - released 30/Oct/2020 ] Carl Goldmark was not a symphonist - and that is no secret. His few attempts in this field - an early work, in part lost, and his second symphony, his op. 35, did not add up to much, and the Ländliche Hochzeit, to which the generic label 'symphony'... |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Piano Music, Vol. 6 Barry Douglas (piano) [ Chandos / CD - released 2/Dec/2022 ] This sixth volume in Barry Douglas's acclaimed Schubert series features two major works. The Sonata in A minor, D 845 was completed in 1825, just before Schubert started work on his 'great' Symphony in C major. As in so much of his later writing,... |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Piano Works Vol.5 Barry Douglas (piano) [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Oct/2020 ] For his fifth volume of Schubert's piano works, Barry Douglas turns to a contrasting pair of sonatas composed in the 1820s. |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Works for Solo Piano, Vol.4 Barry Douglas (piano) [ Chandos / CD - released 31/May/2019 ] Barry Douglas's critically acclaimed series of Schubert's piano works reaches its fourth instalment. For this recording, Douglas has chosen to present three piano sonatas from the middle of Schubert's short life: No. 5 (D 537) and No. 11 (D 575),... |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: Études Op. 25 / 4 Scherzi Beatrice Rana (piano) [ Warner Classics / CD - released 24/Sep/2021 ] 'Beatrice Rana set a new standard. She made the Chopin sound as poetic and colorful as anything he ever wrote. Her playing was refined and soft-spoken in its brilliance throughout. She had the audience rapt.' - The New York Times |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: String Sextets Belcea Quartet, Tabea Zimmermann, Jean-Guihen Queyras [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 11/Mar/2022 ] BBC Music AWARD NOMINATION 2023 - CHAMBER |
JANACEK / LISZT / LYAPUNOV / GRIEG / etc
Bertrand Chamayou - Good Night! Bertrand Chamayou (piano) [ Erato / CD - released 2/Oct/2020 ] "The danger with this kind of CD is that you end up with so much slow, quiet music that you find yourself drifting off into the most pleasant slumber…But not here, for the programme is full of surprises. A treasure-trove of an album." Gramophone |
BELLINI / BERLIOZ / DELIBES / HANDEL / OFFENBACH / PUCCINI
Flower Duet: The World's Most Beautiful Duets Brigitte Fassbaender, Marilyn Horne, Dame Joan Sutherland, Renata Tebaldi [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 1/Oct/2009 ] Since the beginning of opera, the convention of the duet, in which two characters simultaneously express their feelings, has been one of the staple ploys of musical dramatists. Collected here are all the most beautiful opera duets ever written. |
JOHN RUTTER
Rutter: The Gift of Life and seven sacred pieces The Cambridge Singers / The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, John Rutter [ Collegium / CD - released 20/Oct/2015 ] "The composer has worked for years with the Cambridge Singers and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and their ease and familiarity here makes for a beautifully performed and recorded listen." (ClassicFM) |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV / FRANCIS POULENC
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini / Poulenc: Organ Concerto Cameron Carpenter (International touring organ) / Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach [ Sony Classical / CD / CD - released 29/Mar/2020 ] "Cameron Carpenter (1981- ) is a spectacular musician and showman. But don't let his showmanship fool you. He is a brilliant and disciplined musician and arranger and belongs to a tradition of flashy virtuosos. He is also not the first organist to... |
HERBIG / MOZART / FLEISCHER / WOLFF / HAYDN
Trennung - Songs of Separation Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] "...with immaculate German and elegant delivery, is perfectly matched by Bezuidenhout's endlessly inventive imagination...Enjoy a long soak in this luxurious bath of classy, 18th-century suffering." BBC Music |
BEETHOVEN / MOZART / HAYDN
Cecilia Bartoli - Unreleased Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano), Kammerorchester Basel, Muhai Tang [ Decca / CD - released 17/Dec/2021 ] "..much of her more delicate singing combines beauty of tone with expressiveness...the orchestral accompaniments are beautifully managed under Muhai Tang." BBC Music |
FRANZ LISZT
Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse Charles Owen (piano) [ Avie / CD - released 17/Sep/2021 ] "Accomplished with thorough and refined pianistic skill and a wholehearted identification with Liszt's message, Owen's music-making is powerfully compelling." - Editor's Choice, Gramophone November 2021 |