Latest News: Classical
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Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - April 2023 1st May 2023
An irresistible collection of Roberto Sierra's orchestral music from Domingo Hindoyan and the Liverpool Philharmonic, Baroque fireworks from vocal chameleon Michael Spyres, and a ravishing debut album from young British countertenor Alexander Chance with lutenist Toby Carr.
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Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - April 2023 29th April 2023
Two anthologies celebrating the ninetieth birthday of 'Dutch Nightingale' Elly Ameling, a fiftieth-anniversary collection of The English Concert's recordings with founder Trevor Pinnock, and Rachel Podger's complete Vivaldi recordings on Channel Classics.
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Recording of the Week,
Fantasie from Alexander Melnikov 28th April 2023
The Russian pianist performs seven fantasias by composers from JS Bach to Schnittke on seven historically-appropriate instruments, including an extraordinary tangent piano from 1790 and two fortepianos from his own personal collection.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 28th April 2023 28th April 2023
CPE Bach from Rachel Podger & Kristian Bezuidenhout, Roberto Sierra from Domingo Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, English lute songs from Alexander Chance & Toby Carr, and Schnittke from Cappella Amsterdam.
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Interview,
Raider of the Lost Archives - Michael Spyres on Contra-Tenor 27th April 2023
The American singer discusses becoming 'the Indiana Jones of the tenor voice' on his latest album for Erato, which charts the evolution of the Baroque tenore assoluto and features rarities by composers including Latilla, Mazzoni & Piccinni...
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Early Music Round-up,
Early Music Round-Up - Spring 2023 27th April 2023
A Baroque programme mirroring the texts of Brahms's German Requiem from Vox Luminis, Schütz's jubilant Easter Oratorio from Ensemble Polyharmonique, transcriptions of Bach organ works from Holland Baroque, a retracing of Telemann's wanderings through Central and Eastern Europe from Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien, and more.
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Interview,
Eric Whitacre at... 30! 26th April 2023
Looking back over three decades of music, the world-renowned composer talks Whitman, musical hits and misses, and the correlation between a piece's length and the age of the composer's children...
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Presto CD,
New Sony Titles added to our Presto CD range 25th April 2023
Guitarists Julian Bream and John Williams feature in the latest additions to our Presto CD range from Sony Classical.
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BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - April 2023 Choices 24th April 2023
Chris introduces this month's choices, headed by a 'sumptuous and revelatory' conclusion to Phantasm's Well-Tempered Consort series on Linn...
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Presto Music Classical Podcast,
Episode 36: I've Started, So I'll Finish – A Return to Mozart with Robert Levin 22nd April 2023
Pianist, conductor, musicologist and Mozart reconstructionist Robert Levin talks about the resumption of his complete survey of Mozart's works for keyboard and orchestra.
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Recording of the Week,
Gustavo Dudamel conducts Dante, a new ballet by Thomas Adès 21st April 2023
Based on Dante's La Divina Commedia, Thomas Adès's three-part ballet receives a virtuosic performance from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with music that moves from the grotesque to the sublime, incorporating a touch of Franz Liszt along the way.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 21st April 2023 21st April 2023
Reich's Music for 18 Musicians from The Colin Currie Group, Baroque rarities from Michael Spyres & Il Pomo d'Oro, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 from Semyon Bychkov, and the physical release of Fabio Luisi's acclaimed Nielsen cycle with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
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Favourites,
John Eliot Gardiner at 80 20th April 2023
A look back over the conductor's long and illustrious recording career - from Monteverdi operas and Bach cantatas to Romantic rediscoveries and more.
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Awards,
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2023: The Winners! 19th April 2023
A live update from tonight's ceremony at Kings Place, including details of the Recording of the Year and Personality of the Year Awards...
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Interview,
David Skinner on Byrd's 'Songs of Sundrie Natures' 18th April 2023
The artistic director of Alamire talks about his new recording with Fretwork of Byrd's 1589 collection of church and domestic songs, complementing an album from two years ago in which they explored the previous volume from 1588.
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Coming Soon,
Katie Mitchell's staging of Handel's Theodora and other forthcoming highlights 17th April 2023
Julia Bullock, Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński star in the British director's hard-hitting Covent Garden production from 2022, with other highlights including Dvořák and Coleridge-Taylor from the Takács Quartet, scenes of childhood from Isata Kanneh-Mason, and American countertenor Reginald Mobley's debut recording of spirituals on Alpha Classics.
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Recording of the Week,
Anime Immortali from Franco Fagioli 14th April 2023
The Argentinian countertenor is at the top of his game in a programme exploring Mozart's writing for castrati, including the motet Exsultate, jubilate and arias from La finta giardiniera, Lucio Silla and La clemenza di Tito.
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Interview,
Franco Fagioli on Anime Immortali 14th April 2023
The Argentinian countertenor discusses his new album of sacred and secular Mozart (out today on Pentatone) - and recounts how his love-affair with singing the composer's music was ignited when he was cast as First Boy in Die Zauberflöte aged 11...
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 14th April 2023 14th April 2023
Mercadante's Il Proscritto from Carlo Rizzi & Opera Rara, a German Baroque Requiem from Vox Luminis & Lionel Meunier, an eclectic Marian-themed recital from Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Anna Prohaska, and Bruckner from François-Xavier Roth in Cologne.
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Interview,
Florian Deuter on Biber's sonatas "for altar and court" 13th April 2023
The violinist talks about his recent album of ensemble music by Biber - twelve sonatas for various combinations of instruments, interleaved with twelve duos for trumpets, all coming from Biber's time in the service of the Salzburg court.
