BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - September 2021 Choices
Krystian Zimerman's complete Beethoven piano concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle on Deutsche Grammophon occupy pride of place this month, with reviewer Michael Church praising the 'transparency and elegance' of the Polish pianist's playing and observing that 'in every work the London Symphony Orchestra rises splendidly to the occasion'. (The recording was our best-selling title for July, and you can read James's full review here).
Category-choices include a triptych of one-movement symphonies from the Kansas City Symphony, a treasure-trove of songs by the under-appreciated Polish composer Simon Laks (1901–1983), and Kate Lindsey and Arcangelo's brilliant depictions of Nero and the women in his life on Alpha Classics (which the American mezzo discussed in detail with my colleague Katherine earlier this summer).
Recording of the Month
Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos
Krystian Zimerman (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
'It is appropriate that the peak of Beethoven’s orchestral artistry should be scaled by two musicians also at the height of their powers: these performances are as near-definitive as I ever expect to hear...[Zimerman's] interpretations here have a fleet grace which takes the breath away.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Orchestral Choice
'Founded in 1982, this orchestra offers here a classy standard of playing, plus the conductor-and-orchestra chemistry that’s needed to generate musical results as memorable as these, and in three very different works...But the finest listening experience comes in Sibelius’s last and perhaps greatest symphony.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Concerto Choice
Vivaldi: Concerti Per Violino IX, 'le Nuove Vie'
Boris Begelman (violin), Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
'Begelman, who currently leads Concerto Italiano, is an eloquent conveyor of the spirited and lyrical charms of these concertos. His intonation is faultless and his articulation sharply defined and communicative. No detail of Vivaldi’s palette is left unexplored, no expressive detail impoverished.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Opera Choice
'This is perfect ground for Lindsey and Cohen, both extremely accomplished and transformative performers of Baroque music...Her extraordinary vocal evocations are complemented throughout by the subtle and inflected playing of the Arcangelo group. Handel’s study of Nero’s mother, Agrippina condotta a morire, offers opportunities for Lindsey’s impressive technical control.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Choral & Song Choice
'Almost every track in this extensively annotated and superbly performed two-disc set demonstrates Laks’s special gift for capturing the emotional essence of the poetry to which he felt the closest affinity and clothing it with idiomatic vocal writing and instantly evocative piano accompaniments.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chamber Choice
'The ebb and flow of the confessional Quartet No. 3...is navigated with an assurance that speaks to their inside-out assimilation of all six scores. To have such a comprehensive programme vividly recorded and performed with such distinction is a triumph; to have it on a single disc at budget price is an utter steal.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Instrumental Choice
'Hewitt’s spacious, uncluttered approach revels unashamedly in the pianism while still letting the original songs sing. The real treats are Hewitt’s own arrangements...In all, this beautifully recorded recital is a gift to all song-loving pianists who wrestle with the instrument’s stubbornly percussive nature.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Reissues Choice
'Petrushka has received more bracingly exciting performances on disc, but none that keep dancing so infectiously, nor reveal the music’s textural intricacy so luminously and with such chamber-scale finesse. Finest of all is The Rite of Spring, in which the various tableaux unfold with a symphonic sense of inevitability, with internal detail illuminated and meticulously balanced.'
Available Format: 2 CDs
Jazz Choice
'This concert (plus one track recorded just a few months later in January 1978) finds him on expansive top form, offering some of his toughest playing, making full use of the piano’s range without ever seeming emptily virtuosic. He constantly sets the bar high, and the band matches him.'
Available Format: 2 CDs
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
