Awards, International Classical Music Awards 2023

'El collar de la paloma ('The necklace of the dove') alternates moments of pure improvisation with dance movements — the ones that sustain the musical framework of this programme in which the nay flute, the kanun or the rebec are always allowed to play freely.'

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'Esfahani, the indefatigable missionary of the harpsichord, has added another brilliant recording to his ever-growing discography...Esfahani brings his habitual attentive playing to the Italian Concerto, French Overture and last but not least the wonderfully melodious Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo.'

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'This recording of Handel's Semele under the conducting of Leonardo García Alarcón is an exceptional success and an interpretative triumph. It was made on the stage of the Grand Manège in Namur, a new concert hall in Wallonia, with an outstanding international cast, the Choeur de Chambre de Namur and the Millenium Orchestra.'

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'Slavic emotional expression never boils over but remains precisely at the service of the music. Grigorian's instrumental soprano conveys the feelings of loneliness, pain and ecstasy in an intense way and delicately emphasizes the meanings of the poem. Geniušas finds all the colours and moods of the piano textures, ranging from lyrical nature painting to psychological drama.'

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'An inspired Antonio Pappano and the superb choral and orchestral forces of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia give radiant operatic character to Rossini's Messa di Gloria. Outstandingly brilliant soloists and a well-balanced sound recording give this masterpiece the finishing touch.'

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'Roth’s conducting brings new magic into Debussy’s music. He conducts it more dramatically than many other conductors, and thus drives the action ceaselessly forward. The period instruments of Les Siècles provide wonderful colours, perfect clarity and the greatest possible transparency.'

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'Josu de Solaun is one of the most impressive discoveries of the past decade. Not only is this pianist technically impressive, but his interpretative imagination also knows no limits. These readings ideally reflect de Solaun's ability to engage with works symbiotically and on the highest energy levels. Free of aesthetic dogma, the pianist creates here a cosmos of a solitary nature.'

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'With their first album German violinist Tassilo Probst and American pianist Maxim Lando play themselves right into the first league. Probst and Lando prove to be equal, technically superior partners whose real strength lies in their rhetoric. Their interpretations are outstandingly expressive, spontaneous, and bring seldom-heard meaningfulness to the works on this CD.'

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'Vilde Frang and Pekka Kuusisto's new recording combines the best values of traditional interpretation and contemporary musicianship...The declamatory style narrates both Beethoven's late-classical sonic monument and Stravinsky's neoclassical structures with fascinating freshness. One of the highest achievements of modern style in violin playing and conducting.'

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'Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberger Symphoniker didn’t exactly rediscover Rott’s Symphony in E major – others recorded it before – but their interpretation is so convincing that we can say that no one else has advocated Rott’s music as profoundly as the performers on this recording. Works by Bruckner and Mahler, who both admired Rott’s work, complete this superb CD.'

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'Genius and madness – a theme that has always fascinated Heinz Holliger. A song cycle with diary notes by the poet Nikolaus Lenau was created for the baritone Christian Gerhaher. The composer expanded this into the opera Lunea. The result is a work full of playful creativity, coupled with a great sense for the most subtle tonal colours. This exemplary recording was made during the premiere at Opernhaus Zürich.'

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'What Nicolas Altstaedt and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Dima Slobodeniouk draw from Esa-Pekka Salonen's multi-layered Cello Concerto is fascinating – an exciting expedition into a colourful cosmos of sound. The addition of Ravel's Duo Sonata for violin and cello may come as a surprise, but is gripping in the unconventionally approached dialogue between the two instruments.'

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'Haydn's Symphony No. 99 is sparkling with vitality and perfection, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 is marked by a deep, tragic sense of the inevitability of fate. John Ogdon superbly contributes Schönberg's Piano Concerto. This historic recording is released while Russian tanks are rolling again, and one hears these sounds of all-embracing, defiant and comforting persuasiveness with different ears…'

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'Sensational readings of two of the fifteen string quartets written by Conrado del Campo, a key composer in twentieth-century Spanish music, unjustly neglected since his death in 1953. This important premiere recording is the beginning of an exciting integral cycle, championed by the young Spanish label MarchVivo, which belongs to the prestigious Fundación Juan March, one of Spain's leading cultural and musical centres.'

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'The winter music of Hans Abrahamsen finds in the tale of Hans Christian Andersen the appropriate framework for a writing torn between complexity and simplicity...The orchestra, conducted with great inspiration by Cornelius Meister, allows us to hear the icy sound of music with an elusive character, while the filming of Christoph Engel shows us the very beautiful scenography of Harald B. Thor.'

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'The music documentary Metanoia sets new standards in terms of content and form. Alongside original musical selections, a trip to Italy and prominent interlocutors, the protagonists explore basic philosophical aspects of music and music reception. By linking the subject with other disciplines such as visual arts, sociology, architecture, dance or technology, they generate new ways of thinking around the topic.'

Also available on Blu-ray.

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