Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

Michael Collins further entrenches his place among the first rank of clarinettists with this rather heavenly recording of Mozart Serenades. He leads the London Winds with great sensitivity and, when called for, virtuosic flair. A class act. A classy disc. - Gramophone Magazine

“Led with flair and imagination by Michael Collins, London Winds give a vital, refined performanceof the Gran Partita, exceptionally transparent in texture and full of felicitous detail: the wonderfully veiled pianissimo coda of the Romanze fifth movement, for instance; or the eloquently phrased oboe cantilena against the dulcet murmurings of clarinets and basset horns in the adagio variation.
Outer movements are crisp and athletic, with an easy, quick-witted sense of instrumental interplay; and the two minuets are sharply contrasted, the first done as a stately menuetto galante, its G minor Trio more elegiac than agitated, the second as a perky Ländler. Some may raise an eyebrow at the use of contrabassoon instead of Mozart's prescribed double bass (contrabassoons had notoriously unreliable plumbing in the 1780s). But there are gains in overall blend, even if you might miss the double bass's pizzicato twangs in the second minuet's beery Trio. The only reservation comes with the Adagio third movement, the work's emotional core, where the pulsing accompaniment impinges too prominently on the soaring exchanges of oboe, clarinet and basset horn.
As a fill-up London Winds offer that most undiverting of serenades, K388, in a fine performance, amply powerful and urgent but notable for its poetry and inwardness, whether in the sorrowful, syncopated variant of the 'second subject' in the opening Allegro's recapitulation, or the Trio's exquisite 'mirror canon', celestially floated here by oboes and bassoons.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

An endlessly fascinating disc, this. Rachmaninov’s Liturgy – in a deeply atmospheric rendition by the Flemish Radio Choir – plunges you right into the heart of an ancient Russian church tradition. It breaths devotion, mystique and faint menace. It’s one of those seldom-recorded works that not only grabs the interest; it’s actually extremely hard to stop listening to it. - Gramophone Magazine

“Rachmaninov's Liturgy is less well known than his Vigil ('Vespers'), but has nevertheless gained in popularity with western choirs as a concert item in recent years, though the double-choir setting of the Lord's Prayer has always enjoyed a certain renown, often being sung in an English paraphrase. It is far more than a mere sketch for the more famous work, too, though the links are clear – anyone hearing the opening psalm, 'Blagoslovi, dushe moya', for the first time will immediately make the connection.
The Flemish Radio Choir's rendition is very fine indeed, reverent, well paced and at the same time electrically atmospheric (and also including sufficient of the celebrant's petitions that it comes across neither as an artificial celebration nor a concert suite) and the magnificent SACD sound is just what such a riveting performance merits. The only criticism is of their very light 'l' sound, which truly gives them away as non-Russians.
There is strong competition but, curiously, none is Russian; indeed, the King's College recording is as unrepentantly and beautifully English as you could wish for. In an ideal world one would have to have all of them, and if you have room on your shelves for one more, do add this new recording to your collection. There is one aspect in which the other three score, however – they include full texts and translations, while for the new disc they must be downloaded.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Tugan Sokhiev is still 29, so it seems ludicrously early to talk of a “comeback”. Nevertheless, after his early departure from Welsh National Opera, this triumphant disc feels very much like one. At a stroke, in his vivid, supple and stylistically on-thebutton readings, he announces himself as a man to watch. - Gramophone Magazine

“Every so often a disc comes along that really makes you sit up. This is such a disc. Tugan Sokhiev is back in his element dispensing star quality with almost every bar of this coupling. If the ability to create atmosphere, to transport, to excite, to provoke reassessment of a piece, are the first signs of greatness then Sokhiev's beautifully heard and richly imagined account of Mussorgsky's Pictures is very much the promise of things to come. It is the case throughout that the subtlety, the piquancy, the Frenchness of Ravel's colourations appear disarmingly pristine – as in 'why have I never noticed that before?' One quibble amid everything that is so well judged (and so well played) is the increasing of tempo as 'The Great Gate of Kiev' is finally flung wide. Why? No quibbles at all about the Tchaikovsky, though. Seriously, this is one of the most impressive accounts since the days of Markevitch and Mravinsky. Sokhiev makes real musical and emotional sense of the notoriously hazardous first movement. The listless, febrile nature of it reaches great heights in the development and coda where the hair-raising tremolando restatement of the first subject achieves real catharsis. Indeed, Sokhiev's songful Toulouse woodwinds – so poetic in the Andantino – cannot for long disguise an air of desperation. The whizz-bang finale delivers that in spades.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Although the work of dramatist Carlo Goldoni tends to be revived fairly often, his opera-writing partner, composer Baldassarre Galuppi, remains relatively obscure. Yet his work, as exhibited here, has a directness and drama that is most compelling. In Catherine King, bell-voiced and committed, he has a most worthy champion. - Gramophone Magazine

“Avie here marks his 300th anniversary – largely forgotten amid the Mozart and Shostakovich junketings – with a clutch of opera seria arias from the 1730s and '40s, before he teamed up with the playwright Carlo Goldoni to become the most successful opera buffa composer of the day.
Metastasio, doyen of opera seria librettists, once complained that Galuppi's music failed to express fully the emotions of the poetry. He may have thought again if he had heard the gravely eloquent E minor aria from Antigono, where soft trumpets add their mournful gloss to the strings.
If Galuppi's fiery bravura arias, à la Vivaldi, are less distinctive, his pathetic or soulful aried'affetto reveal his feeling for graceful, shapely melody and delicate orchestral textures: say, in a touching aria from Scipione in Cartagine (again, subtly coloured by trumpets), or a number ('Voi che languite') from an unknown opera.
Though caught in an uncomfortably swimmy church acoustic, Catherine King sings these attractive arias with firm, clear tone (her predominantly 'straight' sound selectively warmed with vibrato), elegant phrasing and agile, precise coloratura. She is splendidly vehement in the virtuoso castrato aria 'Benché giusto a vendicarmi' from Antigono, tenderly musing in 'Voi che languite', and smoothly negotiates the wide leaps between registers in the Scipione aria.
Il Canto di Orfeo accompany with verve and imagination, and on their own give vivid performances of two of Galuppi's Concerti a quattro for solo strings: the sober, Corellian G minor, and the more galant concerto in B flat, whose racy finale the players deck out with all sorts of jokey effects, right up to their zany, Stravinskified ending. Outrageous, but fun.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“If, as the disc’s title seems to suggest, the organ is the star first and foremost here, it’s apt. The St Paul’s organ has got guts and fire in its belly – despite being scheduled for a major overhaul. But then there’s attack and a sense of scale to the whole of this recital, with Huw Williams delivering organ playing writ large (I’m not sure, having said that, any organ could deliver music writ small)” Gramophone Magazine