Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

“Few singers would give over a whole evening to Fauré's songs on the concert platform, and choosing a way of presenting them on disc obviously poses problems. Previous sets had all the songs in chronological order; others chose poets or moods: Graham Johnson and company have begun with songs about water. This means a lot of dreaming and melancholy, whether in Gautier's Chanson du pêcheur ('Ma belle amie est morte', also set by Berlioz), or Richepin's Aucimitière. The latter is given a most beautiful rendition by John Mark Ainsley, who otherwise only sings on two tracks, with Jennifer Smith in the sentimental Pleurs d'or, and the homage to Venice and its lovers in Marc Monnier's Barcarolle.
Three cycles are the main items here. Felicity Lott sings the Cinq Mélodies de Venise, which includes some of Fauré's best-known songs, 'Mandoline', 'En sourdine' and 'Green'. She brings to bear on them a lifetime's devotion to French song. Her other contribution is Au bordde l'eau, to a poem by Sully-Prudhomme. This is made to sound very sad; taken faster it can be quite merry; it's a celebration of love, as well as a meditation on the passing of time.
Stephen Varcoe sings Mirages, Fauré's penultimate cycle (1919). As Graham Johnson writes in his fascinating notes, these poems by Brimont permitted Fauré 'uneventful passion'. Christopher Maltman is the other featured singer, in five separate songs and L'horizon chimérique. All the performances are elegant and well-balanced, but one misses the extra slight note of acid that native French singers bring to Fauré's songs.
Hyperion's sound is impeccable and in both his playing and accompanying essay, Graham Johnson penetrates to the heart of one of music's most subtle and enigmatic geniuses.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A memorable account of the Trout Quintet. This group may not project the warmth and bonhomie of the famous Curzon/Boskovsky recording, nor does it have the searching quality of the performance led by Alfred Brendel, but for verve and refinement it's hard to beat. The happy, carefree nature of the music is captured perfectly on a beautifully clear recording; it's especially notable how every detail of the double bass's very spirited contribution, is clearly heard yet with no sense that Alois Posch is 'bringing out' his part. Especially enjoyable is the Scherzo – a fast tempo, but finely poised, and with a subtle, effective relaxation of the trio – and the Variations.
In Variation 2 Renaud Capuçon's figuration is so delicate that the viola melody can create a particularly strong expressive effect, and the following variation is just as magical – Frank Braley's demisemiquavers are quite brilliant, with a lovely, silvery tone, and the bass melody has, for once, nothing elephantine about it.
The elaborate, showy set of variations on 'Trockne Blumen' from Die schöne Müllerin, dating from 1824, is an unhackneyed choice of filler. It's curious that the current catalogue lists only two recordings, and one of these, like the present version, substitutes violin for the original flute. It certainly makes a virtuoso violin and piano piece, and played with the precision and delicacy that Capuçon and Braley bring to it is highly effective, though with only occasional touches of the melancholy we expect in late Schubert. After this extravagant music, the touching simplicity of the song arrangement is the more striking.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The absorbing six songs that make up Op 86 are all easily encompassed by Marie-Nicole Lemieux, not least because her technique is so secure that she can pay attention to the meaning of each song. Feldeinsamkeit, so inwardly sung, and Todessehnen receive particularly thoughtful readings, all supported finely by Michael McMahon's perceptive playing.
The nine songs of Op 69 are expressly designed for a woman and have their moments, but they're among the less inspired in Brahms's large output of Lieder. Not so, of course, the two songs with viola – the admirable Nicolò Eugelmi here. To these gently lulling, timeless pieces, Lemieux brings the sovereign virtues of firm line and apt phrasing.
The CD reaches its zenith in Brahms last and greatest Lieder, his Vier ernste Gesänge. Lemieux rises to their challenge. The interpretations are properly earnest, but intimate, never overblown.
Her partner is again exemplary in his discreet yet positive playing.
A natural acoustic adds to the pleasure to be gained from this sensibly planned recital, which is highly recommended.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

"All five sonatas are in my view really extraordinary." Alfred Brendel in the Guardian (London) June 2004.

“Angela Gheorghiu delivers some of her finest singing on a disk full of Puccinian gems” BBC Music Magazine, April 2005

“The English title of Kálmán's most celebrated operetta is a misnomer. The heroine is a princess not of gypsies but (as the German title, DieCsárdásfürstin, indicates) of the csárdás; she's a Budapest cabaret-singer in love with a young aristocrat. Its score shows Kálmán at his most fluent, with a succession of gloriously tuneful hit numbers that mix spicy Hungarian rhythms with the more graceful strains of the Viennese waltz.
Individual numbers have often been committed to disc, but complete recordings have been much less frequent. Yet to appreciate the overall structure of Kálmán's operetta scores you really need to hear his elaborately constructed act finales, in which musical reprises are interspersed with passages of dialogue and melodrama.
Apart from sensibly reducing the opening orchestral flourishes from three to one, Bonynge typically gives us total fidelity to what Kálmán actually wrote. He brings out to the full Kálmán's highly charged rhythms, every detail of the exotic orchestration, and the contrasts of mood between the fiery big numbers and the moments of melancholy and sadness in the Acts 1 and 2 finales. Among a wholly admirable cast, Yvonne Kenny provides the vocal strength, fire and beauty required by the title role. A wonderful bargain.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“the modern Beethoven recording par excellence” (The Financial Times )

“It was during Osmo Vänskä's time with the BBC Scottish SO that his Beethoven began winning golden opinions. His reading of the Fourth is fiery but not relentless. Metronome marks are important but not mandatory. Transparent textures and a rigorous way with dynamics also feature. Of particular interest is the skill with which he continuously keeps in view the bass line, and thus the music's harmonic contour, never easy, given the 'open' nature of Beethoven's scoring.
The Minnesota Orchestra are extraordinarily proficient: fleet-footed and articulate, though tonally they have less in reserve than the Berlin or Vienna orchestras. This can be a limitation in the Fifth, where the sound occasionally edges towards coarseness but it makes little or no difference in the Fourth, even in the Adagio. What Vänskä sacrifices in lyric poetry he makes up for in justness of rhythm and chasteness of texture.
Skilful as BIS's engineers are in dealing with the quietest passages, finding an optimum playback level for the vibrant but pianissimo-strewn Fourth takes time and patience.
The performance of the dynamically less problematic Fifth also also bristles with character.
Typically, Scherzo and finale are bound to one another structurally but not tamed emotionally.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Osmo Vänskä's readings are full of character and imagination and, in his Minnesota orchestra, he has the perfect ensemble to support his approach.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2005