VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Verbum caro factum est - a Christmas Greeting Bach Collegium Japan Chorus / Masaaki Suzuki (direction), Masato Suzuki (organ) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Oct/2018 ] "The performances are typically classy, and punctuated by a selection of Daquin's 'Noels' for solo organ, played with peppery registrations by Suzuki" BBC Music |
FRANZ SCHUBERT / ARNOLD SHOENBERG
Can Çakmur - Schubert + Schoenberg Can Çakmur (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 2/Jun/2023 ] "I am happy to report that it more than fulfils the highest expectations...This very distinguished recording should not be missed by anyone interested in fine piano-playing and heartfelt poetic utterance." Gramophone Editor's Choice Aug 2023 |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 Carolyn Sampson, Jacquelyn Wagner (sopranos), Sasha Cooke (mezzo), Jess Dandy (contralto), Barry Banks (tenor), Minnesota Orchestra [ BIS SACD / CD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] For its final concert of the 2021-22 season and Osmo Vänskä's last as artistic director, the Minnesota Orchestra chose to present Mahler's mammoth Eighth Symphony, which calls for one of the largest complement of performers in the history of music, a... |
HERBIG / MOZART / FLEISCHER / WOLFF / HAYDN
Trennung - Songs of Separation Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] "...with immaculate German and elegant delivery, is perfectly matched by Bezuidenhout's endlessly inventive imagination...Enjoy a long soak in this luxurious bath of classy, 18th-century suffering." BBC Music |
MARIE-JOSEPH CANTELOUBE
Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne Carolyn Sampson (soprano) / Tapiola Sinfonietta, Pascal Rophé [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Sep/2021 ] "Carolyn Sampson is a delightful and highly engaging soloist. She sings the slow, lyrical songs beautifully, investing words and music with great feeling." Recording of the Month Oct 2021 MusicWeb |
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: String Quartets, Op.18 Nos 4-6 Chiaroscuro Quartet [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] The Chiaroscuro Quartet continue their Beethoven traversal. |
HASSE / PEROTTI / VIVALDI / TORELLI
A Venetian Christmas Ewa GoliĆska, Komalé Akakpo, Ruby Hughes / Arte dei Suonatori, Martin Gester [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Oct/2014 ] "Some tenuous theming here, but who cares when the music-making - tart and spicy on period-instruments - is so appealing?" (BBC Music Christmas 2014) |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos 3, 8 & 9 Freddy Kempf (piano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Oct/2019 ] Sergei Prokofiev virtually grew up at the keyboard - he composed for the piano from early childhood, and the instrument was his workshop and laboratory. Well before the end of his student days he had absorbed the virtuoso techniques of Rachmaninov... |
ALBERT SCHNELZER
Schnelzer: A Freak in Burbank Ilya Gringolts (violin), Cecilia Zilliacus (violin), Jakob Koranyi (cello), David Huang & Henrik Måwe (piano) Västerås Sinfonietta [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] Chamber and orchestral works from a leading Swedish composer. |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet and Trio / 6 Songs Martin Fröst (clarinet) with Janine Jansen ( violin), Torleif Thedéen (cello) Roland Pöntinen (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 30/May/2014 ] "Sensuous beauty and taut sinew mingle for an interpretation whose fastidious attention to internal balance and every musical detail result in sovereign excellence, in a sovereign recording. Fröst's control of instrumental colour is superfine |