Classical CDs
Best of 2022: Classical CDsSaturday, 31 December 2022
At the risk of sounding like a scratched record (or a cracked CD), it’s reassuring to know that you can still buy new recordings in physical formats. Granted, CDs do take up shelf space, but in most cases they sound better than most downloads and... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Canons, castles and a converted chapelSaturday, 17 December 2022
In Márta’s Garden Katharina Weber (piano) (Intakt)The Márta of the title of this solo piano album by many-faceted Swiss pianist, composer and teacher Katharina Weber (b. 1958) is Márta Kurtág (1927 -2019). Weber first got to know the... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Christmas discs 2022Saturday, 03 December 2022
GoldMund, Anna Veit: Mehr Oder Weniger Lametta – arrangements of Tchaikovsky, Bach, Humperdinck, Martin Luther, John Rutter (Solo Musica)What works best here are the classy, and occasionally witty and wacky brass arrangements, plus some very... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Masses, maths and memoriesSaturday, 19 November 2022
Secret Love Letters – music by Franck, Szymanowski, Chausson and Debussy Lisa Batiashvili (violin) Giorgi Gigashvili (piano), Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin (DG).The concept and the packaging had made me far too sceptical. Once I... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Bells, birthdays and elephantsSaturday, 05 November 2022
Hélène de Montgeroult: Études Clare Hammond (piano) (BIS)“How can music of this quality and vision be forgotten so comprehensively for so long?”, asks pianist Clare Hammond. It is the right question. The piano music of Hélène de Montgeroult (... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Death, dragons and sea shantiesSaturday, 22 October 2022
The Playhouse Sessions: Bjarte Eike, Barokksolistene (Rubicon)The Playhouse Sessions is a follow-up to the irresistible Alehouse Sessions, in which Bjarte Eikke and his Barokksolistene recreate a 17th century London pub gig, where sea shanties... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Dragonflies, harmoniums and folded paperSaturday, 08 October 2022
Colourise London Choral Sinfonia/Michael Waldron, with Roderick Williams (baritone), Andrew Staples (tenor), Elena Urioste (violin) (Orchid)Colourise, the latest album from by the London Choral Sinfonia, proved revelatory: I came for the... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Civil service, bassoon laments and a historic keyboardSaturday, 24 September 2022
Mozart: The Piano Sonatas (Robert Levin, playing Mozart’s fortepiano) (ECM New Series)There is no doubt about the brilliant uniqueness of pianist, conductor, musicologist and one-time Nadia Boulanger pupil Robert Levin, an influential Harvard... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Five-pointed stars, unspecified instrumentation and talented siblingsSaturday, 10 September 2022
Brahms Lieder Anna Lucia Richter (mezzo-soprano), Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano) (Pentatone)Ein süßes Deingedenken: A Tender Memory of Thee – Lieder by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn Kateryna Kasper (soprano), Dmitry Ablogin (piano) (TYXArt)These two... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Horn player Sarah Willis on returning to CubaSaturday, 03 September 2022
Berlin Philharmonic Horn player Sarah Willis’s Mozart y Mambo caused a stir in 2020, its mixture of Mozart and traditional Cuban music making it a bestselling crossover disc.Two years on and the second volume has just been released, the sessions... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Symmetrical storms, basset horns and a happy workshopSaturday, 27 August 2022
Jacqueline du Pré: The Complete Warner Recordings (Warner Classics)There’s something both humbling and miraculous that a great musician’s recorded output can be squeezed into a neat box. Most of the material in Warner Classics’ latest... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Snowy wastes, Alpine schleps and sand dunesSaturday, 13 August 2022
Fauré: Complete Songs Cyrille Dubois (tenor), Tristan Raës (piano) (Aparté/ Palazzetto Bru Zane)Forget streaming. Go and buy albums. This 3-CD box set of Fauré songs by tenor Cyrille Dubois and pianist Tristan Raës comes to life when it is... Read more... |
