Browse: SACD, Early 20th Century
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Janáček: Katya Kabanova RecommendedAmanda Majeski (Katya), Katarina Dalayman (Kabanicha), Simon O'Neill (Boris), Andrew Staples (Tichon), Magdalena Kozená (Varvara), Ladislav Elgr (Kudrjas), Pavlo Hunka (Dikój)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
The LSO are on tremendous form throughout, and what follows is an unflinching journey into both beauty and darkness, as sensuousness repeatedly collides with incipient violence. — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd February 2024
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2024, Recording of the Month
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Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Vixen), Gerald Finley (Forester), Sophia Burgos (Fox), Jan Martiník (Badger/Parson), Peter Hoare (Mosquito/Rooster/Schoolmaster), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Harašta)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
If this Vixen is good, the Sinfonietta is outstanding – arguably the best on disc, though you need to experience the work in a concert hall with the nine trumpets blazing. They’re supremely sophisticated... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th September 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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Grammy Awards, 64th Awards (2022), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
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Shostakovich: The Nose
RecommendedVladislav Sulimsky, Alexei Tanovitski, Tatiana Kravtsova, Andrei Popov, Sergei Semishkur, Gennady Bezzubenkov, Vadim Kravets, Sergei Skorokhodov, Yevgeny Strashko, Elena Vitman & Zhanna Dombrovskaya
Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus, Valery Gergiev
…Gergiev… wrings superb playing from his band, bringing real panache to the rapid alternations of contrast and grotesquerie and to the brilliantly inventive interludes. Vladislav Sulimsky as... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st June 2009
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2010, Opera Finalist
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Opera, August 2009, Recording of the Month
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Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle
RecommendedMika Kares (Bluebeard), Szilvia Vörös (Judith), Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki
Both Kares and Vörös offer a subtle, understated approach…As well as conveying the piece’s taut structure and the orchestral writing’s sheer sweep, conductor Susanna Mälkki seeks out the detail... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2021, Editor's Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated - Opera
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Grammy Awards, 64th Awards (2022), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
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Britten: Peter Grimes RecommendedStuart Skelton (Grimes), Erin Wall (Ellen), Roderick Williams (Balstrode), Susan Bickley (Auntie), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley), Robert Murray (Bob Boles), James Gilchrist (Horace Adams), Marcus Farnsworth (Ned Keene)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
The best feature of this new Grimes is the orchestral playing, similar in tempo and character to Britten’s own recording. Where Edward Gardner really scores is the Bergen Philharmonic’s precision,... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Recording of the Month
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2020
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Opera, November 2020, Disc of the Month
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Winner - Opera
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Recording of the Year
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Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex & Apollon Musagète
RecommendedJennifer Johnston (Jocasta), Stuart Skelton (Oedipus), Gidon Saks (Creon) & Fanny Ardant (narrator)
Gentlemen of the Monteverdi Choir & London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Johnston's superb interpretation lifts the whole performance up a couple of notches...But John Eliot Gardiner's conducting somehow misses the work's elusive power. — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th April 2014
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Building a Library, May 2018, Recommended Recording
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Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11
RecommendedElena Zhidkova (Judith) & Sir Willard White (Bluebeard)
London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev
…Gergiev and his superlative orchestral forces and vocal soloists, supported by magnificent sound quality, present the enigmatic piece with great power, leaving us, as adequate performances always... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 10th August 2009
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BBC Music Magazine, September 2009, Opera Choice
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Opera, December 2009, Recording of the Month
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This is a big voice with a warm Italianate tone and a fitting sense of the legato required for this repertoire. Verismo sobbing is kept to a minimum. Beczala knows exactly how to build the drama... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 15th May 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2020, Recording of the Month
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Opera, July 2020, Disc of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Opus Klassik, 2021, Male Singer of the Year
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Smyth: The Prison RecommendedSarah Brailey, Dashon Burton, Experiential Orchestra and Chorus, James Blachly
Smyth was much influenced by neo-Platonism and appended a line from Plotinus to The Prison, suggesting that music was a means to releasing the divine in us, Soloists and chorus convey that very... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, July 2020
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Grammy Awards, 63rd Awards (2021), Winner - Best Classical Solo Vocal Album
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Choral
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Strauss, R: Elektra
RecommendedJeanne-Michèle Charbonnet (Elektra), Angela Denoke (Chrysothemis), Dame Felicity Palmer (Clytemnestra), Matthias Goerne (Orestes), Ian Storey (Aegisthus)
London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev
[Gergiev] conveys passions and tensions with compelling, sometimes deafening power...[Charbonnet is] strongly involved without, thankfully, overplaying the weirdness...[Palmer's Klytaemnestra... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 9th July 2012
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