Latest News: Classical, Recording of the Week
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Recording of the Week,
Nadia & Lili Boulanger - Les heures claires 24th February 2023French pianist Anne de Fornel is joined by Lucile Richardot, Stéphane Degout and Raquel Camarinha for this spellbinding anthology of the two sisters' complete songs, including a number of world premiere recordings.
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Recording of the Week,
Biber's Rosary Sonatas from Amandine Beyer and Gli Incogniti 17th February 2023Inspired by a dance project for the stage, Beyer and her fellow musicians rediscover the vitality of Biber's cycle of devotional sonatas.
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Recording of the Week,
Voyage intime from Sandrine Piau and David Kadouch 10th February 2023The French soprano and pianist are beguiling companions on this 'intimate journey' via songs by Schubert, Liszt, Wolf, Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Duparc and Debussy.
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Recording of the Week,
John Wilson and Sinfonia of London perform music for strings by English composers 3rd February 2023Following on from their 2021 album of English music for strings, John Wilson and his orchestra offer a spectacular selection of works by Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Herbert Howells, and Delius.
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Recording of the Week,
Well-tempered Bach on the clavichord from András Schiff 27th January 2023An oft-neglected early keyboard instrument finally gets its moment in the sun in an intimate programme of Bach that plays to its strengths, built around the two-part and three-part inventions.
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Recording of the Week,
Elgar's 'Viola Concerto' from Timothy Ridout 20th January 2023The young British viola-player's account of the Cello Concerto as transcribed by Lionel Tertis is a compelling addition to the piece's distinguished discography on its own terms, with sensitive support from the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins.
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Recording of the Week,
Véronique Gens in Poulenc's La Voix Humaine 13th January 2023The great French tragedienne tackles a role that’s surely been beckoning for years, and the results are every bit as compelling as you'd expect - with the Orchestre National de Lille providing some telling insights into the other side of this fraught phone-conversation...
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Recording of the Week,
The Takács Quartet perform string quartets by Ravel, Dutilleux, and Stephen Hough 6th January 2023Stylish and refined performances of two pillars of the twentieth-century French quartet repertoire sit alongside a newly-composed gem by Stephen Hough.
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Recording of the Week,
Schubert Revisited from Matthias Goerne 30th December 2022The German baritone is on top form in this recital of nineteen Lieder in bespoke orchestrations by one of his regular recital-partners Alexander Schmalcz, with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen responding to his simple eloquence in kind.
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Recording of the Week,
Presto Personal Favourites from 2022 23rd December 2022Recordings of works by Coleridge-Taylor, Meyerbeer, John Williams and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson feature among the editorial team's individual picks of the year.
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Recording of the Week,
Mavra/Iolanta from the Bayerische Staatsoper 16th December 2022The young artists of the Munich opera-house's training studio (including Mirjam Mesak and Freddie De Tommaso) shine brightly in Axel Ranisch's ingenious fusion of two contrasting one-act operas by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.
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Recording of the Week,
A piano double-bill from Leeds winners Alim Beisembayev and Eric Lu 9th December 2022Masterful Liszt and delicate Schubert from the 2021 and 2018 winners of the Leeds International Piano Competition.
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Recording of the Week,
Christmas with Diana Damrau 2nd December 2022The German coloratura soprano's festive album is definitely a cracker rather than a turkey, with a first half of traditional German songs and carol medleys followed by a disc of seasonally-appropriate Baroque and Classical arias.
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Recording of the Week,
Baroque instrumental music for Christmas from Bojan Čičić and the Illyria Consort 25th November 2022Bojan Čičić and the Illyria Consort present an alternative Christmas sound-world, replacing vocal and choral music with string concertos and sonatas from around Europe.
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Recording of the Week,
Berlioz's Les nuits d'été & Harold en Italie from John Nelson in Strasbourg 18th November 2022Vocal shape-shifter Michael Spyres tackles the song-cycle in the original orchestral keys, whilst viola-player Timothy Ridout is a warmly collegiate soloist in Harold on this clear-eyed, affectionate recording from Strasbourg.
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Recording of the Week,
Signor Gaetano from Javier Camarena and Gli Originali 11th November 2022On the first of two albums devoted to the many and varied operas of Donizetti, the Mexican tenor brings fresh-faced charm to the comic heroes of L'elisir d'amore and Betly - but also excels in the darker and stormier waters of Roberto Devereux, Caterina Cornaro and Maria de Rudenz.
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Recording of the Week,
Steven Isserlis explores the cello's Golden Decade 4th November 2022Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih take us on a journey to uncover some lesser-known works from an astonishingly fruitful decade for the cello - sonatas from Strauss and Le Beau, Bruch connections and more.
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Recording of the Week,
Handel's Theodora from Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo d'Oro 28th October 2022A starry cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Joyce DiDonato offers a wealth of fresh insights into Handel’s oratorio about religious persecution and intolerance in ancient Rome on this new studio recording, made after a run of concert-performances across Europe.
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Recording of the Week,
Hans Rott's Symphony in E major from Jakub Hrůša 21st October 2022The Czech conductor and his Bamberg orchestra offer a magnificent account of a work not heard until more than a century after it was written, by a composer described by Gustav Mahler as "the founder of the new symphony".
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Recording of the Week,
Rossini's Messa di Gloria from Antonio Pappano 14th October 2022The Cinderella of Rossini's sacred works goes to the ball in fine style, with stand-out performances from tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres, and some delectable obbligatos from the woodwind principals of Pappano's Roman orchestra.