Latest News: Classical
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Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - April 2020 15th April 2020Vintage Beethoven string quartets from Melodiya, a sixtieth-birthday celebration from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and forty years of recordings from the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.
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Interview,
Penelope Thwaites on her choral music and songs 14th April 2020The pianist and composer talks to David about her eclectic new album with Carolyn Sampson, James Gilchrist and Ex Cathedra, recently released on Somm.
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Recording of the Week,
Purcell's Fairy Queen from Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli 10th April 2020A glorious return to the Restoration stage, with a semi-opera if anything even more vivid than King Arthur - featuring a cast of gods, fairies, peasants, poets and... monkeys?
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up 10th April 2020 10th April 2020Bach albums from Alisa Weilerstein and Benjamin Alard, Beethoven from Cuarteto Casals, four-hand Schubert from Richard Egarr and Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya, and a recital themed around the figure of Eve from Anna Prohaska and Julius Drake.
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Interview,
Nigel Short on Gesualdo and Couperin 9th April 2020David talks to conductor Nigel Short about Tenebrae's new album of atmospheric Holy Week responsories by Couperin and Gesualdo.
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Interview,
Damien Guillon on Stradella 8th April 2020The French conductor and countertenor talks to Katherine about recording the Italian composer's dramatic 1675 oratorio San Giovanni Battista with Le Banquet Céleste.
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Interview,
Richard Egarr on Handel's Brockes-Passion 7th April 2020The conductor talks to David about his recording of Handel's visceral Passion setting, which was taken from a live performance at the Barbican on Good Friday 2019 and released on the Academy of Ancient Music's own label last autumn.
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Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - April 2020 6th April 2020Chris introduces this month’s Choices, headed by Masaaki Suzuki's second account of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Bach Collegium Japan as Recording of the Month.
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Recording of the Week,
Korngold's Violin Concerto from John Wilson, Andrew Haveron and the RTE Concert Orchestra 3rd April 2020A bracing, unsentimentalised take on the composer's most popular work, plus an exuberant account of the youthful String Sextet from the Sinfonia of London Chamber Ensemble.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 3rd April 2020 3rd April 2020Brahms from Lars Vogt and the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Shostakovich from Gianandrea Noseda and the London Symphony Orchestra, and world premiere recordings of two new works by Sir James MacMillan
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Presto Chart,
The Presto Chart - March 2020 2nd April 2020Our 25 best-selling titles across all formats for March, with Víkingur Ólafsson's hypnotic new album of Rameau and Debussy on Deutsche Grammophon out in front by a country mile...
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Interview,
Peter Jablonski on Scriabin 2nd April 2020The pianist talks to David about his recently-released album of Scriabin mazurkas on Ondine.
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Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - March 2020 1st April 2020Ripping yarns from Stéphane Degout and Simon Lepper, an exuberant Diabelli Variations with a twist from Rudolf Buchbinder, and an affectionate tribute to Leopold Godowsky from the brilliant young Russian pianist Andrey Gugnin.
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Hi-Res Highlights,
Hi-Res Highlights - March 2020 31st March 2020Beethoven from Andreas Staier, Dvořák from Jakub Hrůša and the late Jiří Bělohlávek, and reconditioned archive recordings from Yehudi Menuhin and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
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Presto Playlist,
The Presto Playlist - Week One 30th March 2020With our main office and Leamington shop currently closed, our staff share their personal soundtracks for working from home.
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Obituary,
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020) 29th March 2020The Polish composer, whose talent for creating uncanny sonorities inspired film-directors including Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese, has died aged 86.
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Recording of the Week,
Víkingur Ólafsson performs piano music by Debussy and Rameau 27th March 2020The Icelandic pianist releases his third album on Deutsche Grammophon: an exquisitely-performed programme of music by Debussy and Rameau.
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New Release Round-up,
New Release Round-Up - 27th March 2020 27th March 2020Korngold from John Wilson, Fauré from Louis Lortie, Mozart from Peter Donohoe, and an intriguing programme of Haydn, Grisey and Nono from soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan with Ludwig Orchestra.
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Interview,
Alain Lanceron 26th March 2020The President of Warner Classics and Erato talks to Katherine about his fifty-year career.
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Box Set Selections,
Boxed Set Selections - March 2020 25th March 2020Anniversary celebrations of Guido Cantelli and Collegium Vocale Gent, plus Beethoven from Jonathan Biss, Rudolf Buchbinder and the Kuss Quartet, and an anthology of film scores from Charles Gerhardt.