Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - August 2022
A survey of Fauré's complete songs from Cyrille Dubois and Tristan Raës on Aparté which 'should have all lovers of French mélodies salivating' takes the top honours in next month's issue, with Mark Pullinger praising the French lyric tenor's 'instantly recognisable voice' and 'superb' diction, and describing Raës as 'every inch the poet at the piano, always sensitive to the text'.
Editor's Choices include Pavel Kolesnikov's selection of Reynaldo Hahn's Poèmes & Valses on Hyperion, 'absolutely fascinating' accounts of three early Ravel cantatas from the Choeur et Orchestre National des Pays de La Loire and an outstanding line-up of singers including Véronique Gens, Sophie Koch, Michael Spyres and Julien Behr on BIS, and a fascinating programme built around a meditation of St John Henry Newman from The Sixteen on Coro. The DVD/Blu-ray of the Month captures Dmitri Tcherniakov's 2018 staging of Tristan und Isolde from Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden, conducted with 'care, love and excitement' by Daniel Barenboim and featuring Andreas Schager and Anja Kampe as the doomed lovers.
Recording of the Month
'He is a stylish, cultured performer and is as fine an advocate for Fauré’s mélodies as any of the best. Recommended for those who love indulging in French song at its finest.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6; Steven Stucky: Silent Spring
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck
'This Pastoral delivers something to outrage partisans of every stripe...Strongly recommended, provided you are up for an interpretation with a capital I.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Piano Sonata
Alexander Ullman (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton
'These performances are not out to dazzle their listeners but to pull back the curtain on the unique imagination of one of the foremost architects of musical Romanticism. Very highly recommended.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Devotees of Beethoven on period instruments will need no further encouragement. But sceptics, too, could do a lot worse than start here.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'In an increasingly mad world, there is much to be said for the sanity of Holmboe’s music...new, original interpretations of one of Denmark’s hidden gems, on which they are casting much-deserved light.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
'Here’s hoping that this is just the first volume of a broader survey of Hahn’s piano output. He could hope for no finer advocate than Kolesnikov and no subtler response to the cultural ambience of belle époque Paris.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Ravel: Cantates pour Le Prix de Rome
Véronique Gens (soprano), Vannina Santoni (sopranos), Sophie Koch, Janina Baechle (mezzos), Julien Behr, Michael Spyres (tenors), Jacques Imbrailo (baritone), Choeur et Orchestre National des Pays de La Loire, Pascal Rophé
'What a delicious surprise this has turned out to be...what is beyond doubt in the three cantatas and handful of elaborated choruses presented here is his supremely affecting way with the voice above and beyond his already considerable orchestral skills.'
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'As with all of The Sixteen’s releases, this new one manages to magically bridge the old and the new with ingenuity and complete integrity...A generous programme both in length and breadth and a joyful inspiration.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Easy songs, simple sentiments simply sung by an easy voice. But what a voice! I’m deeply impressed with Reinoud Van Mechelen, so clearly a protégé of Le Jardin des Voix’s powerhouse for young singers.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (DVD)
Andreas Schager (Tristan), Anja Kampe (Isolde), Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Boaz Daniel (Kurwenal), Stephen Milling (King Marke), Stephan Rügamer (Melot); Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, Dmitri Tcherniakov
'This has always been a special score for Barenboim, who continues – in fact even more now – to conduct it with a Furtwängler-like fluency that sounds inevitable thanks to the great secret of never over-emphasising climaxes or motifs.'
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
Scriabin: 150th Anniversary – Piano Works
Vladimir Sofronitsky (piano) - Historical Recordings 1946-1962
'This is a fascinating sequence, as valuable for its musical comprehensiveness as for the opportunity it grants to hear just how differing tonal shades can alter the effect that this supreme colourist has in store for his most discerning interpreters and listeners.'
Available Formats: 12 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
