Latest News: Classical
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Awards,
Gramophone Awards 2020 - The Shortlist 2nd September 2020This year's six contenders in each of the ten categories were revealed yesterday.
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Obituary,
Claudio Cavina (1962-2020) 1st September 2020The Italian countertenor, conductor and co-founder of La Venexiana, whose Monteverdi recordings were particularly acclaimed, has died aged 58.
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Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - August 2020 31st August 2020Gothic operas from Missy Mazzoli and Saint-Saëns, Fazil Say's complete works for violin, and a startlingly atmospheric song-cycle for mezzo and orchestra by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen.
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Recording of the Week,
Marc-André Hamelin plays Liszt and Thalberg 28th August 2020The Canadian pianist is on jaw-dropping form in a programme inspired by the 1837 'duel' between the two composer-virtuosos, which also includes the mighty collaborative Hexaméron - a set of variations on Bellini by composers including Chopin, Czerny and Pixis.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 28th August 2020 28th August 2020Mahler from Vladimir Jurowski, Shostakovich from Alban Gerhardt, Mozart from Francesco Piemontesi and Andrew Manze, and Melly Still's Glyndebourne production of Rusalka on DVD and Blu-ray.
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Interview,
Nicholas Collon on Music of the Spheres 27th August 2020Aurora Orchestra's Principal Conductor talks to Katherine about their debut recording on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring music by Mozart, Thomas Adès, Max Richter, Dowland/Nico Muhly and David Bowie.
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Interview,
Luís Toscano on Duarte Lobo's choral music 26th August 2020Luís Toscano, director of Portuguese vocal consort Cupertinos, talks about the group's new recording of two previously unrecorded masses by Duarte Lobo plus Christmas responsories and motets.
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Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - August 2020 25th August 2020Beethoven from the Smetana Quartet, a 75th birthday tribute to Itzhak Perlman, and a DVD collection celebrating the centenary of the Salzburg Festival.
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Presto CD,
26 new Sony titles added to Presto CD 24th August 2020Including Rachmaninov from Ruth Laredo, Glenn Gould live in Leningrad, Nielsen from Esa-Pekka Salonen and Richard Strauss from Zubin Mehta.
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Recording of the Week,
Tallis, MacMillan and more from ORA Singers 21st August 2020ORA Singers pair Tallis's mighty Spem in Alium with a newly-composed forty-part motet by James MacMillan, alongside a treasure-trove of choral works commissioned by Tudor nobility.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 21st August 2020 21st August 2020Beethoven from Kristian Bezuidenhout & Pablo Heras-Casado, Schumann from François-Xavier Roth and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, vintage Elgar from America, and a French recital from oboist François Leleux.
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Interview,
Anna Patalong and Benedict Nelson on Miss Julie 20th August 2020The British soprano and baritone (and real-life couple) discuss bringing William Alwyn's unjustly neglected opera to life last year for a concert-performance at the Barbican followed by a studio recording, released on Chandos last month.
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Presto Music Classical Podcast,
Episode 3: A Scandinavian Sojourn with Andrew Mellor 20th August 2020Music writer Andrew Mellor takes our host Paul Thomas on a musical grand tour of the Nordic nations, spotlighting several contemporary composers as well as pieces by Nielsen, Grieg and Sibelius.
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Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - September 2020 18th August 2020Chris introduces this month's Choices, headed by Vladimir Jurowski's recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Sarah Connolly, Robert Dean Smith and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra on Pentatone.
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Interview,
Joan Enric Lluna on Rodrigo 17th August 2020Spanish conductor Joan Enric Lluna talks to David about his new album celebrating the breadth of Joaquín Rodrigo's compositional output.
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Obituary,
Julian Bream (1933-2020) 14th August 2020The pioneering British guitarist and lutenist, who catalysed a widespread revival of interest in both instruments and inspired a huge body of new music for guitar, has died aged 87.
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Recording of the Week,
John Williams conducts the Vienna Philharmonic 14th August 2020Joined by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, John Williams conducts excerpts from scores such as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War Horse, Hook, Jurassic Park, Jaws, The Witches of Eastwick, and more.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 14th August 2020 14th August 2020Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini on DVD from Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Handel concerti grossi from the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, early Beethoven from Jos van Immerseel, and Bernard Haitink’s farewell to Salzburg.
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Interview,
Eric Whitacre on The Sacred Veil 13th August 2020Eric Whitacre talks about his forthcoming album, the deeply personal choral work The Sacred Veil, written in collaboration with Charles Anthony Silvestri.
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Favourites,
Shelf Discovery: Dame Janet Baker 12th August 2020In the third instalment of our new series, Paul revisits the great English mezzo's legacy on disc.