Classical CDs
Classical CDs Weekly: Adams, Schubert, BBC LegendsSaturday, 23 December 2017
The John Adams Edition Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Alan Gilbert, Kirill Petrenko and Sir Simon Rattle (Berliner Philharmoniker)That the Berlin Philharmonic can release a lavish four-disc collection of music by... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Christmas CDs, part 2Saturday, 16 December 2017
Bach: Magnificat in E flat, Missa in F Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner (SDG)John Eliot Gardiner first recorded Bach’s joyous Magnificat in the 1980s. This revisit gives us the work’s less familiar original... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Sollazzo Ensemble, Barbara Hannigan, Zoltán KocsisSaturday, 02 December 2017
Sollazzo Ensemble: Parle Qui Veut - Moralising songs of the Middle Ages (Linn)Here, Anne Stone’s fascinating sleeve essay does get a bit Dan Brown at times: there's mention of a mysterious song collection called the Squarcialupi Codex, and talk of a... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Sofya Gulyak, The Prince Regent's Band, EsmerineSaturday, 25 November 2017
Chaconne - Sofya Gulyak (piano) (Champs Hill Records)Traditionally, a chaconne is an instrumental piece in triple time with a continually repeating bass line. Sofya Gulyak, winner of the 2009 Leeds Piano Competition, gives us seven. Best known... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Howells, Karayev, LotichiusSaturday, 18 November 2017
Herbert Howells: Music for Clavichord Julian Perkins (Prima Facie)Herbert Howells was at a low ebb in the 1920s. His energies were sapped by ongoing health issues and resultant medical treatment. A severe creative crisis followed the disastrous... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Granados, Steven IsserlisSaturday, 11 November 2017
Brahms: Symphony No. 2, Tragic Overture, Academic Festival Overture Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/Paavo Järvi (RCA)Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie’s scintillating Beethoven cycle hasn't received the acclaim it deserves in... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Erik Chisholm, Marcus Paus, Maria & Nathalia MilsteinSaturday, 04 November 2017
Erik Chisholm: Violin Concerto, Dance Suite for orchestra and piano, From the True Edge of the Great World Matthew Driver (violin), Danny Driver (piano), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins (Hyperion)Erik Chisholm’s improbable career... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Borenstein, Debussy, Fauré, LongleashSaturday, 28 October 2017
Nimrod Borenstein: Violin Concerto, The Big Bang and Creation of the Universe, If You Will It, It Is No Dream Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy, with Irmina Trynkos (violin) (Chandos)Proof of modern music’s dizzying... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Prokofiev, ScriabinSaturday, 21 October 2017
Beethoven: Symphony No 9 Park Avenue Chamber Symphony/David Bernard (Recursive Classics)My favourite recent Beethoven cycle is a largely unnoticed one from Copenhagen. This disc of No 9 is another outsider. It’s performed by a semi-professional New... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Morton Feldman, Maria MarchantSaturday, 14 October 2017
Bach: Keyboard Concertos, Italian Concerto Sonya Bach (piano), English Chamber Orchestra/John Mills and Stephanie Gonley (leaders) (Rubicon)There's no shortage of decent recordings of Bach concertos played on piano. I’d probably rescue my Murray... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Guy Johnston, Joyce El-Khoury, Michael Spyres, The ChanteuseSaturday, 07 October 2017
Guy Johnston: Tecchler’s Cello - From Cambridge to Rome (King’s College Cambridge)Acquiring a second-hand instrument always leads one to wonder what sort of a life it led before. Did said instrument enjoy a flourishing professional career, or was it... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Sibelius, Vivaldi, WeillSaturday, 30 September 2017
Sibelius: Piano Music Leif Ove Andsnes (Sony)Yes, Sibelius did write piano music, though not a lot of it gets heard. A recent BIS collection featured original pieces and transcriptions played on the composer's own piano, and Glenn Gould recorded a... Read more... |
