Latest News: Classical
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Recollections,
A Flashback and a Hope, through Venezuelan Guitar 11th October 2023In the second instalment of our Recollections series, Orlando Guedez Calderin (President of the International Institute of Business Analysis in Colombia) recounts how a 1957 recording of Antonio Lauro's Guitar Concerto No. 1 stirs a host of 'memories and hopes' about his homeland of Venezuela.
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Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - Awards Issue 2023 10th October 2023
Chris introduces this issue's selection, headed by a 'lived-in and confident' account of the Monteverdi Vespers from Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon on Harmonia Mundi.
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Interview,
Anders Eidsten Dahl on Mozart and the Organ 9th October 2023
The organist talks about his new recording of Mozart gems for the organ - relatively brief single-work sonatas written for use during church services, as well as more substantial works including two dramatic Fantasias.
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Recording of the Week,
A slow-brewed Goldberg Variations from Víkingur Ólafsson 6th October 2023
The Icelandic pianist presents the results of twenty-five years of thoughtful preparation, in a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations that combines control and spontaneity, limpid gentleness and furious virtuosic energy.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 6th October 2023 6th October 2023
A tribute to the late Lars Vogt from his friends Christian & Tanja Tetzlaff, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Paavo Järvi, Baroque rarities from Jakub Józef Orliński & Il Pomo d'Oro, Bach's French Suites from Mahan Esfahani, and a recital of twentieth-century music from Johan Dalene and Christian Ihle Hadland.
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Interview,
Dominic Fyfe and Philip Siney on remastering Solti's Ring Cycle 5th October 2023
In the wake of winning Gramophone's Spatial Audio Award for their painstaking work on Die Walküre, Decca's producer Dominic Fyfe and sound-engineer Philip Siney discuss how they went about showcasing Solti's landmark achievement in all its glory.
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Awards,
Gramophone Awards 2023 - The Winners! 4th October 2023
Chris reports back from tonight's ceremony in London, with full details of the Recording of the Year, Artist of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and other special awards.
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Presto Chart,
The Presto Chart - September 2023 2nd October 2023
Our 25 best-selling titles across all formats for September, with an 'impeccably authentic' account of Monteverdi's Vespers from Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon in first place...
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Interview,
Miloš Karadaglić on Baroque (transcript) 1st October 2023
The Montenegrin guitarist explains why his upcoming album of music by Vivaldi, Marcello, Weiss, Rameau and others feels like 'standing on new ground' - and why JS Bach only came into the picture at the eleventh hour...
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Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - September 2023 1st October 2023
Jaw-dropping pyrotechnics from Isabelle Faust in Locatelli, a red-blooded Dido & Aeneas from La Nuova Musica, and an Offenbach operetta fizzing with all the fun of the fair from Paul Daniel and a sparky cast headed by Anne-Catherine Gillet and Virginie Verrez.
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Recording of the Week,
Igor Levit's Fantasia 29th September 2023
The pianist brings clear-eyed precision and cantabile beauty to a programme of works by JS Bach, Liszt, Berg and Busoni, released today on Sony Classical.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 29th September 2023 29th September 2023
Puccini from Jonathan Tetelman, French song-cycles from Marie-Nicole Lemieux, George Walker's complete sinfonias from the National Symphony Orchestra & Gianandrea Noseda, and a nocturnal organ recital from Anna Lapwood.
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Interview,
William Vann on Parry's Prometheus Unbound 28th September 2023
The conductor discusses the world premiere recording of Parry's 1880 setting of scenes from Shelley's lyrical drama - the first performance of which was described by the musicologist Ernest Walker as 'a definite birthday for modern English music'...
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Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - September 2023 27th September 2023
This month's heavyweights include Vladimir Ashkenazy's complete chamber music & Lieder Recordings on Decca, a celebration of Dame Janet Baker's ninetieth birthday, two collections released in anticipation of next year's Bruckner bicentenary, and a tribute to the late Nicholas Angelich on Erato.
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Recollections,
A Life With Shostakovich 26th September 2023In the first instalment of our Recollections series, Hoi F. Cheu PhD (Director of the Centre for Humanities Research and Creativity at Laurentian University and Director of Doran Planetarium) recounts how a teenage encounter with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony shaped his extraordinary dual career - and several close relationships...
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Presto Music Classical Podcast,
Episode 42: A Great Musical Dett - Choral Music by Black Composers with Dr Marques Garrett 23rd September 2023
A discussion of the OUP's recently-published collection of sacred and secular choral works by Black composers, with its editor Dr Marques Garrett - taking in Vicente Lusitano, Undine Smith Moore, R Nathaniel Dett (Dr Garrett's own particular labour of love) and more.
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Recording of the Week,
Dvořák from Veronika Jarůšková, Peter Jarůšek and Boris Giltburg 22nd September 2023
Six years on from their award-winning recording of Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2, the first violinist and cellist of the Pavel Haas Quartet reunite with Giltburg for the complete piano trios in interpretations bursting with colour and vitality.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 22nd September 2023 22nd September 2023
Offenbach's La princesse de Trébizonde from Opera Rara, Wagner's Siegfried from Sir Simon Rattle in Munich, a tribute to Agustín Barrios from guitarist Thibaut Garcia, and works inspired by the Amazon from Philharmonia Zurich & Simone Menezes.
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Interview,
John Corigliano and Mark Adamo on The Lord of Cries 21st September 2023
The composer and librettist discuss their spine-tingling new opera fusing elements of Bram Stoker's Dracula and Euripides's The Bacchae, released on Pentatone earlier this month and starring countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Dionysus.
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Obituary,
Stephen Gould (1962-2023) 21st September 2023
The American heldentenor, who spent almost a decade touring in The Phantom of the Opera before becoming a regular at the Bayreuth Festival, has died of bile-duct cancer aged 61.
