Classical CDs
Classical CDs Weekly: Ives, Plakidis, ShostakovichSaturday, 18 July 2020
Ives: Universe, Incomplete (Accentus DVD)Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony, conceived for 4,000 musicians positioned on different mountain tops, never saw the light of day. Sketches for the work span his creative life, some made as late as 1948... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Coriún Aharonián, Beethoven, Humphrey Procter-GreggFriday, 10 July 2020
Coriún Aharonián: Una carta Ensemble Aventure, SWF-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden/Zoltán Peskó (Wergo)Uruguayan composer Coriún Aharonián (1940-2017) was born in Montevideo to Armenian parents. His output is described here as “a complex melange... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Holst, Nielsen, Piatti, TchaikovskySaturday, 04 July 2020
Holst: The Planets; Nielsen: Helios Overture Mythos (Bjarke Mogensen and Rasmus Schjaerff Kjøller, accordions) (Mythos)Pairing Nielsen’s Helios Overture with Holst’s The Planets makes total sense, and one’s surprised that it’s not been done... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Enescu, Mendelssohn, Tuur, Sara StoweSaturday, 27 June 2020
Mendelssohn: Octet, Enescu: Octet Gringolts Quartet & Meta4 (BIS)Mendelssohn began work on his delicious Octet at the age of 16. He’d been composing for several years previously, though this work, along with the equally miraculous overture... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Franck, Holger Falk, Ursula Paludan MonbergSaturday, 20 June 2020
Franck: Psyché, Le Chasseur maudit, Les Éolides RCS Voices, Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Jean-Luc Tingaud (Naxos)Franck by Franck: Symphony in D Minor, Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Mikko Franck... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Chopin, Rimsky-Korsakov, John Bullard, Fred ThomasSaturday, 13 June 2020
Chopin: Études Sonya Bach (piano) (Rubicon)Chopin’s solo piano études helped push the genre into uncharted territory. He would have practiced examples by Czerny and Clementi in his youth, but his own Op. 10 and Op. 25 sets make far more... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Berlioz, Markus Reuter, The MozartistsSaturday, 06 June 2020
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Rêverie et caprice, La mort d'Ophélie, Sara la baigneuse Utah Symphony/Thierry Fischer, with Philippe Quint (violin) (Hyperion)Just two big symphonies by French composers can be counted as standard repertoire.... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Korngold, Gabriel Prokofiev, Barbara HanniganSaturday, 30 May 2020
Korngold: Violin Concerto, String Sextet Andrew Haveron (violin), RTÉ Concert Orchestra/John Wilson, Sinfonia of London Chamber Ensemble (Chandos)Erich Korngold began writing his String Sextet in 1914, when he was just 17. Listeners immune to... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bizet, Gounod, Liszt, Heinz WinbeckSaturday, 23 May 2020
Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1, Symphony No. 1 in C, Gounod: Petite Symphonie Scottish Chamber Orchestra/François Leleux (Linn)Initial impressions are disconcerting, the bass thwacks at the start of the first suite extracted from Bizet’s Carmen by... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bruckner, Holst, PiazzollaSaturday, 16 May 2020
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck (Reference Recordings)I’m midway through exploring a cycle of symphonies by Heinz Winbeck, a German contemporary composer very much in the Bruckner tradition. I’ll report... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Aisha OrazbayevaSaturday, 09 May 2020
Rachmaninoff in Lucerne – Rhapsody, Op. 43, Symphony No. 3 Behzod Abduraimov (piano), Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/James Gaffigan (Sony)I’m the only person I know who rates Walton’s Symphony No. 2 as highly as his first, and I’m probably also... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Mahler, StraussSaturday, 02 May 2020
Beethoven Symphonies 1-3 – arrangements by Ries & Ebers Compagnia di Punto (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)Just Beethoven’s first three symphonies in this two-disc set, so you wonder whether he’d still be described as a genius had he stopped... Read more... |
