Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - Awards Issue 2015
This month's Editor's Choices see Jonas Kaufmann storm to victory - but not with the disc you might have been expecting! Alongside a splendid Anja Harteros in the title role, it's his Radames in Antonio Pappano's Aida that wins the day.
Elsewhere Paavo Järvi's acclaimed Bruckner series goes from strength to strength with a recording of the Sixth Symphony with, as the editors simply put it, 'a feeling of rightness'; Sir Mark Elder impresses with his account of Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony with Roderick Williams, the Hallé and a combined choir drawn from several top English ensembles; and the girls' choir of Wells Cathedral excel with a collection of new British music for upper voices.
Recording of the Month
Editor's Choices
'Järvi’s Sixth has a feeling of rightness that comes from a full understanding of the work’s architecture as well as its distinctive emotional orbit, all realised with playing of exceptional refinement and expressiveness. The virtues of the performance are too many to detail, but the splendour of the first movement coda and the unforced eloquence of the Adagio stand out.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
'With rhythmically taut and well-drilled orchestral support under Jakub Hrůša, Johannes Moser projects a full tone with no loss of presence when he ventures among the instrument’s higher reaches...The recorded sound is, like the playing, absolutely top-notch...this new version is up there with the best of them and could happily serve as a credible first choice.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Nicely crafted and highly enjoyable music, played with all the life and fizz it requires by Järvi and his Scottish-based colleagues.What he lacks in memorable melody he makes up for with swagger, immense charm and foot-tapping brio – and, my goodness, this career bandmaster certainly knew how to orchestrate. The sound picture is a Chandos spectacular.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony
Katherine Broderick, Roderick Williams, Hallé, Hallé Choir, Hallé Youth Choir, Schola Cantorum of Oxford, Ad Solem, Sir Mark Elder
'Elder presides over a majestic performance, brimful of lofty spectacle, abundant temperament and stunning accomplishment...Roderick Williams is on customarily refulgent and intelligent form; soprano Katherine Broderick, too, sings with heaps of passion and drama...The superbly honed choral and orchestral contribution surely testifies to many hours of painstaking preparation..'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'None of these pieces was written for cello and harpsichord, and at no stage does that matter one bit...Isserlis makes no attempt to make his cello imitate the wispy resonance of the gamba, instead claiming the music for his instrument with vigorously articulated lines, robust technical athleticism and ravishing cantabile.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'He seems to me to bring qualities of freshness and joie de vivre to the Goldbergs that have often been much less marked. He is not reverential and he has noted – correctly, surely – how entertaining the Variations are...Vogt is an artist with much to communicate, and this is a distinguished addition to the discography of the Goldberg Variations in all their glorious elegance..'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Playing on an 1847 Streicher fortepiano – a direct descendant of the kind of instrument Beethoven knew – Berner relishes t[the Bagatelles'] quirkiness, explosive energy and rarefied lyricism...Güra’s mellifluous tenor has lost none of the freshness of a decade and more ago. He sings An die ferne Geliebte with a wondering, confiding intimacy, punctuated by surges of excited urgency.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame
Misha Didyk, Tatiana Serjan, Larissa Diadkova; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons
'Serjan is a vibrant, fearless Lisa...Hers is a voice with plenty of ‘blade’ when required, yet she can shade it beautifully...[Didyk] surprises with his baritonal depths here as Herman, as well as a ringing top...Diadkova’s Countess happily relies more on secure vocal technique than scary histrionics and Oksana Volkova is a rich-voiced Polina..'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'It’s impossible to express too emphatically just how good the girls of the Wells Cathedral School Choralia sound on this new collection of music for upper voices. The 24 singers together create a sound that is both blended and impeccably balanced, completely consistent throughout widely varied repertoire, but also capable of such constant reinvention.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Reissue of the month
'Throughout, the set testifies to the courage of those for whom music became an existential assertion of identity in the face of atrocity...The sincerity of Pameijer’s playing impresses and moves throughout... this is a major issue...It breaks your heart, and opens minds and ears to much we haven’t encountered before. Outstanding.'
Available Format: 10 CDs
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
