Classical CDs
Classical CDs Weekly: A Walk with Ivor Gurney, Yiddish Glory, For the FallenSaturday, 10 November 2018
A Walk with Ivor Gurney Tenebrae, Aurora Orchestra, Sarah Connolly, Simon Callow, Nigel Short (conductor) (Signum Classics)Ivor Gurney was a genuine polymath, a talented composer and poet whose career was disrupted by serving with the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Josquin, Calidore String Quartet, Ronn McFarlaneSaturday, 03 November 2018
Josquin: Missa Gaudeamus, Missa L’ami Baudichon The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips (Gimell)That music composed in the 14th and 15th centuries can be enjoyed and performed today is mind-boggling. As is looking at one of Josquin des Préz’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Handel, Schmelzer, Tesla QuartetSaturday, 27 October 2018
Abbandonata: Handel Italian Cantatas Carolyn Sampson (soprano), The King’s Consort/Robert King (Vivat)The young Handel’s desire to be an opera composer prompted him to spend the years 1706-1710 in Italy. He was already a superb academician and... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bernstein, English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, Kubrick's MusicSaturday, 20 October 2018
Bernstein: The Complete Naxos Recordings Marin Alsop (conductor) (Naxos)One of the best reasons for investing in this superb Bernstein box set lasts less than two minutes and isn't even by Lennie. Turn to Disc 7 and John Corigliano’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Handel, William Howard, Professor ChillSaturday, 13 October 2018
Handel: Works for Keyboard Philippe Grisvard (harpsichord) (Audax)Mention Handel's keyboard output and most folks (including saps like me) will think of his eight imposing Suites… and that's about it. Which is why harpsichordist Philippe Grisvard’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Ligeti, Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, Svend Erik TarpSaturday, 06 October 2018
Brahms & Ligeti: Horn Trios André Cazalet (horn), Guy Comentale (violin), Cyril Huvé (piano) (Calliope)This is a reissue from the last years of the early digital era (ie 1989), but it's a seriously good one. György Ligeti’s 1982 Horn Trio... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Ivanovs, Shi-An Costello, Sean ShibeSaturday, 29 September 2018
Jãnis Ivanovs: Symphony No. 5; Juris Karlsons: Music for Symphony Orchestra 1945 Latvian National Symphony Orchestra/Andris Poga (Skani)Jãnis Ivanovs’ promising conducting career was kyboshed by the outbreak of war and the Soviet invasion of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bernstein, Rachmaninov, Jeffrey RodenSaturday, 22 September 2018
Bernstein: Wonderful Town Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn, London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle (LSO Live)Wonderful Town’s one problem is that it isn't On the Town or West Side Story. If you didn’t already know those... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Blacher, Dutilleux, MartinSaturday, 15 September 2018
Boris Blacher: Dance Suite, Hamlet, Poème, Concertante Music Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Johannes Kalitzke (Capriccio)Boris Blacher’s stock would presumably be higher had he opted to leave Germany when the Nazis came to power. He was an... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Stravinsky, Vivaldi, John WilliamsSaturday, 08 September 2018
Stravinsky: Petrushka, Agon (arranged for piano duet and two pianos by the composer) Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo (Wergo)Stravinsky's long career is traversed in black and white here, with ballet scores early and late accompanying a pair of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Berlioz, Shostakovich, Turnage, La Maîtrise de ToulouseSaturday, 01 September 2018
Shostakovich: Symphonies 4 &11 Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons (DG)Shostakovich's 4th Symphony was famously withdrawn before its 1936 premiere, the composer wisely recognising that this violent, sprawling work might not do his... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bennett, Jiří Bělohlávek, Michala Petri and Lars HannibalSaturday, 25 August 2018
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Orchestral Works, Volume 2 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/John Wilson, with Howard McGill (saxophone) (Chandos)Asked by an American journalist whether his music was ‘great’, Richard Rodney Bennett replied that “... Read more... |
