Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - September 2022
François-Xavier Roth's account of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with the period instruments of Les Siècles (and French soprano Sabine Devieilhe supplying 'bell-like clarity and directness' in the final movement) takes the top honours in the latest issue, with reviewer Edward Seckerson declaring 'it has opened my ears and my heart and there isn’t a whole lot more that one can ask for, is there?'.
Editor's Choices include the final instalment of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's survey of the Haydn piano sonatas on Chandos, a musical tour of Latin American with Louisiana-born cellist John-Henry Crawford and pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion on Orchid Classics, and the Blu-ray release of Dmitri Tcherniakov's staging of Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer from last year's Bayreuth Festival, with John Lundgren in the title-role, Asmik Grigorian as Senta, and Georg Zeppenfeld as Daland.
Recording of the Month
'I absolutely adored this performance...What registers immediately in Roth’s reading – and the deliciously honest playing of his band Les Siècles – is an open-faced, playful nature.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
'Blomstedt’s Eighth and Ninth...infuse a lifetime’s collected wisdom, experience and affection into a rather special recording.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'The key element distinguishing Jurowski’s readings is ‘movement’. His Firebird has fluidity and an innate sense of physicality. There is great suppleness to everything.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A Cembalo Certato e Violino Solo
Philippe Grisvard (harpsichord), Johannes Pramsohler (baroque violin)
'It’s not simply for the first recordings that Pramsohler and Grisvard deserve our attention...a duo at the height of their own interpretative powers.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Corazón: The Music of Latin America
John-Henry Crawford (cello), Victor Santiago Asuncion (piano), Jiji (guitar)
'The centrepiece of this all-Latin American recital is Manuel Ponce’s Cello Sonata (1922), and Crawford and pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion are persuasive advocates for this strangely neglected work.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Unless it’s my imagination, there’s a magical and deeply touching, almost nostalgic hue to this one, as if enjoying the company of a beloved old friend before parting.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'One the most intelligently programmed and distinctively played Scarlatti collections to cross my reviewer’s desk in years.'
Available Format: CD
Richard Blackford: Mirror of Perfection & Vision of A Garden
Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Roderick Williams, Stephen Gadd (baritones); Britten Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra, The Bach Choir, Ikon, David Hill
'Richard Blackford definitely has the knack of writing audience-friendly works with singable lines appealing to amateur and professional performers alike.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Massenet: Songs with Orchestra
Véronique Gens, Nicole Car, Jodie Devos, Chantal Santon Jeffery (sopranos), Cyrille Dubois (tenor), Étienne Dupuis (baritone); Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Hervé Niquet
'[Niquet] is wonderfully alert to the mood and tone of each song, and the playing is delectable throughout. It’s a lovely album, and I look forward to the second volume.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Mouton, like so many composers too easily categorised as Josquinian aftershocks, comes to life in the hands of The Brabant Ensemble and the results are eye-opening.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Blu-ray of the Month
Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (Blu-ray)
John Lundgren (Dutchman), Asmik Grigorian (Senta), Georg Zeppenfeld (Daland), Eric Cutler (Erik), Marina Prudenskaya (Mary) Bayreuth Festspiel, Oksana Lyniv, Dmitri Tcherniakov
'Lyniv’s conducting is superb in terms of pacing and tonal weight and balance...Grigorian and Zeppenfeld sing as fluently and fearlessly as they act.'
Available Format: Blu-ray + DVD Video
Archive Issue of the Month
Elgar From America, Vol. 3
Richard Lewis (tenor), Maureen Forrester (contralto), Morley Meredith (baritone); New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli
'If you’re after an extra rush of adrenalin and almost unendurable levels of intensity, this New York option [for The Dream of Gerontius] will be a likely first choice.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
