CDs/DVDs
theartsdesk
This month's round-up of the latest classical CDs takes in a major new Schubert recording by Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis, a pair of Shostakovich symphonies brought to fresh life in Liverpool under a young Russian conductor from the composer's home-town, a Mahler symphony recorded by the German orchestra that premiered it, a Kipling-inspired satire on artistic epigones by the half-forgotten Charles Koechlin, rare Rossini arias from Joyce DiDonato, a 60th-anniversary box-set from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and more.CD of the Month
Schubert: Winterreise, Mark Padmore/Paul Lewis ( Read more ...
theartsdesk
This month's roundup of new music CDs is a selection of the most interesting releases and compilations to come our way in October, from Céu to Mariah Carey, Patrick Cowley to Julian Casablancas, Bob Dylan to Seasick Steve. Our reviewers this month are Peter Culshaw, Adam Sweeting, Joe Muggs, Robert Sandall, Thomas H Green, Russ Coffey, Veronica Lee, Sue Steward and Marcus O'Dair.If you are enjoying theartsdesk.com, please spread the word on your sites, e-lists, Twitters, Facebook etc.
CD of the Month
Céu, Vagaros (Six Degrees Records)
by Peter Culshaw
The São Paulo scene, dubbed in some Read more ...
theartsdesk
After theartsdesk's round-ups of new music and classical releases on CD, this week we offer our choice of the most interesting new releases on DVD of recent films, and also of box sets and re-issues. Not forgetting this month's stinker. The selection was made by Anne Billson, Ryan Gilbey, Sheila Johnston, Jasper Rees and Adam Sweeting. Click on a DVD cover to find it for sale. DVD of the Month Sleep Furiously, dir. Gideon Koppel (New Wave Films)by Jasper ReesThe wider world is possibly not aware of such a thing as Welsh cinema. The Principality’s export drive has produced several Read more ...
mark.pappenheim
Following last week's new music CDs round-up, The Arts Desk introduces our monthly pick of the latest classical music CDs, ranging from vocal showpieces and rare opera to viola transcriptions and string quartets.Disc of the Month
Vivaldi: Farnace, Le Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall (3 CDs; Naïve)
For anyone who still thinks of Antonio Vivaldi simply as the composer of The Four Seasons, it may come as a shock to learn not only that the manuscripts of over 450 of his other works are currently preserved in the archives of the National University Library in Turin but that since the year 2000 the Read more ...
Adam Sweeting
Having brought John Dowland to the masses with his album Songs from the Labyrinth, Sting takes another shot at presenting classical music to a wider audience which has developed the infuriating habit of not taking any notice of it. In this live performance, Sting portrays the passionate and tragically short-lived Robert Schumann by reading from his letters, while his wife Trudie Styler enacts the role of Robert’s spouse Clara Schumann (formerly Wieck).In between, selections from the Schumanns' music are played by an ensemble comprising cellist Natalie Clein, pianists Iain Burnside and Natasha Read more ...
theartsdesk
Welcome to the first in theartsdesk's monthly CD round-ups of new music. The selection is of the most interesting releases (and re-releases) to come our way in the last month, and spans Metal to Muse, ambient Krautrock to folk, via voodoo funk from Benin and the latest electronica. Some of these have been covered in the national prints, others overlooked. Feel free to comment on the selection or the reviews, or both.CD of the MonthDavid Sylvian, Manafon (Samadhi Sound)by Robert SandallAt first sight the cover of David Sylvian’s new record looks like a sly, camp joke on its elusive creator. Read more ...
igor.toronyilalic
Early on in Phil Grabsky's documentary In Search of Beethoven (out today on DVD), handy fortepiano player and Ludwig van-lookalike Ronald Brautigam starts screwing up a section of Beethoven's very first, unpublished piano concerto. "If I concentrate on playing it," he laughs nervously, his hands covering his reddening face, "I might be able to do it." Brautigam is not just screwing up for our amusement. He's making a valuable point.The point is this: right up into his twenties, Beethoven wasn't first and foremost the great European composer; he was the great European pianist, a Lisztian Read more ...