Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - June 2022
A 'superlative' account of Handel's 1708 oratorio La Resurrezione on Linn from Harry Bicket and The English Concert takes top honours in the June issue, with reviewer Richard Wigmore praising Bicket's direction as 'rhythmically lively, supple, always sensitive to Handel’s often original textures' and describing his cast of 'expert Handelians' (which includes Lucy Crowe, Sophie Bevan and Iestyn Davies) as 'self-recommending'.
In case you missed it last week, you can read David's extensive interview with Bicket about why he considers this early work to be 'at the roots of everything that Handel ever wrote' and his own 'very Handelian solution' to the impact of lockdown restrictions on his recording plans here.
Recording of the Month
Handel: La Resurrezione
Lucy Crowe (Angel), Sophie Bevan (Mary Magdalene), Iestyn Davies (Mary Cleophas), Hugo Hymas (John the Evangelist), Ashley Riches (Lucifer); The English Concert, Harry Bicket
'Forced to choose a single recording of Handel’s flamboyant Roman oratorio, I’d plump for this new version: for Crowe and Bevan, for the consistently superlative instrumental playing and for the idiomatic rightness of Bicket’s direction.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3
Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano), Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Casado
'As a whole, these recordings stand as an important benchmark among original-instrument interpretations.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Alexandre Kantorow (piano), Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
'There is a palpable exuberance and joy in the way these works come across, none more so in the four concertante works for piano and orchestra.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'an account of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony where the feeling is refreshingly one of rediscovery. From bar one there is an inescapable and unremitting tension.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'This is a genuinely remarkable disc. I say this not from any association of its contents with current events, but simply because both performances and recording are so good.'
Available Format: CD
'Simon Trpčeski’s new Linn recording of masters of the variation is likely to inspire admiration and astonishment in equal measure.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'One is left wondering where, in the first quarter of the 21st century, one might turn for more idiomatic, more intelligent or more beautiful Rachmaninov-playing.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'This is a magical recording...Hats off to The Sixteen, and I look forward to the possibility of more recordings of English Romantic repertoire.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Le Concert de la Loge provides support that is virile and tender, as appropriate. And the two singers are magnificent.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Beethoven: Fidelio (DVD)
Lise Davidsen (Leonore), David Butt Philip (Florestan), Georg Zeppenfeld (Rocco), Simon Neal (Don Pizarro, Amanda Forsythe (Marzelline), Robin Tritschler (Jaquino), Egils Siliņš (Don Fernando); Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Antonio Pappano, Tobias Kratzer
'For a musically excellent Fidelio married to a thought-provoking, challenging production, this can be safely recommended.'
Available Format: DVD Video
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
'A truly excellent release, superbly transferred.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
