Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - October 2023
William Vann conducts the London Mozart Players, Crouch End Festival Chorus and a cast headed by Welsh bass-baritone Neal Davies in an account of the work which impressed Peter Quantrill with its 'energy, precision and conviction'; look out for our deep-dive discussion with Will about the piece next week!
Recording of the Month
Parry: Scenes from Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound'
Sarah Fox (soprano), Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo), David Butt Philip (tenor), Neal Davies (bass-baritone); Crouch End Festival Chorus, London Mozart Players, William Vann
'Worthy and welcome as earlier recordings are, they pale in energy, in precision and conviction beside the performances here.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
'The Sinfonia of London and their conductor were born for this music and they execute it with aplomb.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Liszt: A Faust Symphony & Mephisto Waltz No. 3
Airam Hernández (tenor), Staatskapelle Wiemar, Kirill Karabits
'It’s Bernstein’s vividly characterised and impassioned interpretation that I’m most reminded of when listening to this new recording.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
From Mannheim to Berlin: Sonatas for Cello Piccolo
Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde (cello piccolo), Artem Belogurov (fortepiano), Victor García García (cello)
'I assure you that it is worth hearing for itself, but this recital goes well beyond the attractiveness of curiosity.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
'The Emersons come to [the Schoenberg] as if it were new, hot from the press, and in doing so they recreate the sense of inordinate extravagance that made early audiences so uneasy.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Hearing Hamelin play Fauré is like observing the workings of a luxury-brand wristwatch with its many interdependent and intricately connected parts working in perfect harmony to produce the movement you see on the clockface.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Rodgers & Hammerstein: Oklahoma!
Nathaniel Hackmann (Curly), Sierra Boggess (Laurey), Rodney Earl Clarke (Jud Fry), Jamie Parker (Will Parker), Louise Dearman (Ado Annie), Sandra Marvin (Aunt Eller), Nadim Naaman (Ali Hakim); Sinfonia of London, Oklahoma! Ensemble, John Wilson
'Honestly, listening to John Wilson’s super-stylish recreation is like setting the time machine to March 31, 1943, and taking your seat in the St James Theatre just as the overture is about to strike up.'
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'There’s certainly no shortage of outstanding recordings of this cycle but this new one – considered, refined and beautifully sung, played and recorded – is among the most satisfying and quietly moving to come my way for a long time.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'One would have to travel very far to find an album of British a cappella (mostly) music as beautifully sung as this...The Sixteen’s singing, like Mike Hatch’s recording, is as excellent as one would expect. This is truly an album to transport one to another place.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'This is a delight of a disc. Short and slight – pared back to the essentials of both texture and repertoire – it’s a lunchtime recital rather than a full evening’s commitment, something to send you back to your day lighter and livelier than before.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Janáček: Káťa Kabanová (Blu-ray)
Corinne Winters (Kát’a), Evelyn Herlitzius (Kabanicha), David Butt Philip (Boris), Jaroslav Březina (Tichon), Jarmila Balážová (Varvara), Benjamin Hulett (Váňa), Jens Larsen (Dikój); Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Jakub Hrůša, Barrie Kosky
'Winters is utterly remarkable throughout, words and gestures always telling...Despite Kosky’s occasional idiosyncrasies, this is musically overwhelming. You really do need to hear it.'
Available Format: Blu-ray
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
'The Op 25 Études are of special interest, the real prize being No 7 in C sharp minor, a reading of the rarest refinement and flexibility...Lortat’s exquisite touch draws from the instrument a limitless range of shades and nuances.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
