mon 06/10/2025

Classical CDs

Classical CDs: Voice flutes, flugelhorns and froth

 Corelli/Handel: Sonatas Michaela Koudelková (recorders), Monika Knoblochová (harpsichord), Libor Mašek (cello), Jan Krejča (theorbo) (Supraphon)This disc’s bright, piquant flavour makes it an irresistible acquisition. I dived...

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Classical CDs: Shrouds, silhouettes and superstition

 Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto No. 2, Schumann: Cello Concerto Theodor Lyngstad (cello), Copenhagen Phil/Eva Ollikainen (OUR Recordings)This disc’s sleeve note suggests that Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto No. 2 “owes an obvious debt to the composer’s...

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Classical CDs: Sleigh rides, pancakes and cigars

 Joan Sutherland: The Complete Decca Recordings - Operas 1959-1970 (Decca)The legend of "La Stupenda" was born at Covent Garden in 1959, when Joan Sutherland sang and – by all accounts – acted her socks off as Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor....

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Classical CDs: Dungeons, microtones and psychic distress

 Shostakovich: Symphonies; Concertos; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District Yuja Wang (piano), Baiba Skride (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons (DG)Shostakovich: The Symphonies Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/Dmitrij...

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Classical CDs: Hamlet, harps and haiku

 Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Ravel: La Valse Orchestre de Paris/Klaus Mäkelä (Decca)Rereading the composer’s memoirs and performing the Symphonie Fantastique have rekindled my interest in all things Berliozian, so this new album arrived at...

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Classical CDs: Hens, Hamburg and handmaids

 Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht: The Complete Erato Recordings (Erato)We’re fortunate that Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht (1880-1965) actually got as far as making a career in music. The aspiring violinist and composer was expelled from the Paris...

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Classical CDs: Bells, birdsong and braggadocio

 Thomas Adès, Oliver Leith, William Marsey: Shanty, Aquifer et al Hallé Orchestra/Thomas Adès (Hallé)This album on the Hallé’s own label, rounds up recent works by Thomas Adès, alongside pieces by two British composers he has...

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Classical CDs: Bells, whistles and bowing techniques

 Michel Béroff: Complete Erato Recordings (Erato)My associating French pianist Michel Béroff with ‘modern’ music says more about my age than it does about Béroff’s actual specialities. If you were looking for Messiaen in an early 1980s record...

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Classical CDs: Cannons, culverts and mooching cattle

 Antal Doráti in London: The Mercury Masters Vol. 1 (Decca Eloquence)A couple of recent YouTube videos show DG engineers hard at work remastering Karajan’s 1970s Bruckner and Mahler recordings for new vinyl LP pressings. The process looks...

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Album: Anna Lapwood - Firedove

This album Firedove (Sony Classical), surely, has to be seen as part of a bigger story: that of organist, choir director and broadcaster Anna Lapwood, who, still in her twenties – just – has become an essential part of the (often cautious and...

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Classical CDs: Jelly Babies, porridge and kazoos

 Brahms: Lieder Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Gerold Huber (piano) (Sony)The concert I attended of Brahms Lieder in the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford in October 2024, with Christian Gerhaher in fabulous voice and Gerold Huber at the peak of his...

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Classical CDs: Chinese poetry, rollercoasters and old bookshops

 Jürg Frey: Voices EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble/James Weeks (Neu Records)A new CD from EXAUDI is a guaranteed treat for all the senses: the sound quality is always impeccable, the CD presentation a tactile pleasure. Heck, it even smells good (a...

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