Browse: CD, Baroque

This is now the benchmark Theodora; it is optimally cast, dramatically intense and luminously beautiful. Its world-class principals use their fine vocal qualities to deepen their characters.... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2022, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Shibe applies the musical and interpretative qualities that characterise its predecessors – energy, reflection, eclecticism, integration and emotional candour – to remind us that Bach might have... — Gramophone Magazine, June 2020 More…

With the exception of the ‘Black Pearl’ variation, which lasts almost ten minutes, this is one of the fastest sets I have ever heard, yet it’s also one of the most enjoyable. Ólafsson draws on... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2023, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

I expected this to be good; but just how good it was was still a surprise…Ólafsson creates a ravishing musical sequence. Every track has its own allure, and many reflect a virtuosity which is... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2018, 5 out of 5 stars More…

His technical strengths emerge clearly in the way in which he negotiates the switchback turns of Vivaldi’s ‘Cada pur sul capo’ (from Artabano), the cascading melodies of Porpora’s ‘Nocchier,... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…

This Agrippina jostles for top place among the opera’s complete recordings. Joyce DiDonato is matchless in the title role, most other cast members likewise outstrip their rivals and their vocal... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

the most striking aspects of Podger’s playing throughout this recital (compared to most 20th-century ‘golden-agers’), is her enhanced range of tone and articulation, her vastly more flexible... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2022, 5 out of 5 stars More…

He’s done it again…it is clear from the outset that this is no lazy selection of favourites…His playing never feels self-indulgent of inappropriate…There is never any doubt that this is Ólafsson’s... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2020, 5 out of 5 stars More…

There is no doubt about the exceptional playing of both soloist and orchestra, directed by Langlois de Swarte himself – alternately exuberant , wayward, introspective and melancholic, they move... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2024, 5 out of 5 stars More…

It is perhaps no surprise that the various 18th-century works included find DiDonato on especially thrilling form...Yet DiDonato shines, too, in the more contemporary works…This is a highly commendable... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2022, 4 out of 5 stars More…