CARL REINECKE / EMIL VON SAUER
Reinecke & Sauer: Piano Concertos Simon Callaghan, Sinfonieorchester St Gallen / Modestas Pitrėnas [ Hyperion / CD - due 31/May/2024 ] This is the fourth Romantic Piano Concerto album from Simon Callaghan, and that combination of talents which made his first three so successful - not least a flair for exploring the neglected byways of the Romantic repertoire, and the technique and... |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: String Quartets D112 & 887 Takács Quartet [ Hyperion / CD - due 31/May/2024 ] The 'heavenly lengths' Schumann loved in late Schubert are as much in evidence in the sublime G major quartet as in the other large-scale works of Schubert's final years. The Takács Quartet's earlier Hyperion recordings of Schubert were hailed as... |
EDVARD GRIEG
Grieg: Holberg Suite, Ballade & Lyric Pieces Andrey Gugnin (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 3/May/2024 ] Andrey Gugnin presents a wonderful all-Grieg recital, the elegant neo-classicism of 'From Holberg's time' (a rare and welcome opportunity to hear the original version for solo piano) contrasting with the brooding magnificence of the 'Ballade'. |
ANNIBALE PADOVANO
Padovano: Missa A la dolc' ombra & Missa Domine a lingua dolosa Cinquecento [ Hyperion / CD - released 3/May/2024 ] Celebrated in his time as a 'man of great worth', who 'really knew how to play well and compose well', Annibale Padovano's modern-day neglect doesn't reflect the high regard in which he was held. Cinquecento deliver flawless accounts of two major... |
GEORGE DE LA HELE
La Hèle: Missa Praeter rerum seriem & works by Manchicourt, Payen & Rogier El León de Oro / Peter Phillips [ Hyperion / CD - released 5/Apr/2024 ] A collection of works representative of a school of Flemish composers living in Madrid towards the end of the Renaissance and all employed by Philip II of Spain, who held composers from the Low Countries in particularly high regard. La Hèle's Mass,... |
JOHN FIELD / ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV / PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY / SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Russian Variations Piers Lane (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 5/Apr/2024 ] Three substantial sets of variations - by Glazunov, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov - plus a delightful amuse-bouche from John Field, who settled in St Petersburg in the early years of the nineteenth century, make up Piers Lane's attractive and virtuosic... |
MAURICE DURUFLE / FRANCIS POULENC
Duruflé: Requiem / Poulenc: Lenten Motets The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Stephen Layton [ Hyperion / CD - released 15/Mar/2024 ] The balance [in the Duruflé] puts you in the building in the most extraordinary way … that wonderful envelope of sound that just surrounds you as you listen to it. A shout-out for Harrison Cole-he's done an extremely good job as a young organ schola. |
PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY / ERICH KORGOLD
Tchaikovsky & Korngold: String Sextets Nash Ensemble / David Lloyd-Jones [ Hyperion / CD - released 15/Mar/2024 ] The teenage Korngold possessed a compositional fluency and maturity which belied his youth; in contrast, Tchaikovsky feared-wholly unjustifiably-his own creative powers to be on the wane when writing Souvenir de Florence. |
DAVID BRIGGS
Briggs: Hail, Gladdening Light & Other Works The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Stephen Layton [ Hyperion / CD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] Apocalyptic walls of sound cascade around the Gothic vaults of Saint-Eustache in Paris as Stephen Layton and David Briggs unleash, respectively, the full power of a top-notch Trinity Choir and the mighty van den Heuvel organ of 1989. Trinity College... |
THOMAS TELLEFSEN / FRIEDRICH KALKBRENNER
Tellefsen & Kalkbrenner: Piano Concertos Howard Shelley (piano), Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra [ Hyperion / CD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] A fascinating new name bursts into our Romantic Piano series with the two concertos by Thomas Tellefsen, here coupled with an extended concert piece by series stalwart Friedrich Kalkbrenner. All three works here enjoy Howard Shelley's trademark... |
GIOVANNI & ANDREA GABRIELI / CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI / GIACOMO FINETTI & OTHERS
Sacred treasures of Venice - Sacred motets from the Golden Age of Venetian polyphony The London Oratory Schola Cantorum, Charles Cole [ Hyperion / CD - released 9/Feb/2024 ] It's tempting to imagine that this is how the music might have sounded four centuries ago in the glorious surroundings of St Mark's. Certainly, any comparisons are unlikely to be to the disadvantage of these exceptional young singers. |
MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN
Marc-André Hamelin - New Piano Works Marc-André Hamelin (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 2/Feb/2024 ] Piano recordings do not come much more exhilarating (or entertaining) than Marc-André Hamelin's survey of some of his own recent works. Listening to one of the most formidably complex musical minds of today is a rare and rewarding privilege: prepare... |
GLUCK / HANDEL / PURCELL / MOZART / MAHLER / BACH / etc
Dame Janet Baker: A Celebration - Great recordings on Philips, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, & Hyperion Dame Janet Baker (mezzo) with Gerald Moore, Geoffrey Parsons, Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra & others [ Decca / 21 CD Box Set - released 8/Dec/2023 ] Dame Janet Baker is an artist who enjoyed seldom-matched success in the concert and recital halls as well as in the opera house - not to mention on disc. She could confidently traverse the entire territory between the well-thumbed volumes of arie... |
FRANCISCO GUERRERO
Guerrero: Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus, Magnificat & motets The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice [ Hyperion / CD - released 3/Nov/2023 ] With radiant accounts from The Brabant Ensemble of the Mass, a Magnificat and a selection of motets, this album of first recordings is a major addition to Guerrero's still select discography. |
ANONYMOUS / BYRD / HANDL / PART / PEACOCK / etc
Morning star The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park [ Hyperion / CD - released 3/Nov/2023 ] From Lassus and Byrd to Howells, Judith Bingham and Owain Park-The Gesualdo Six's exploration of Epiphany down the ages is a multifaceted compendium of musical delights. |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Études & Pour le piano Steven Osborne (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 3/Nov/2023 ] "Time and again there were details that tickled the ear with their freshness, revealing as if for the first time the anarchic brilliance of Debussy's vision." Gramophone recording of the Month Dec 2023 |
J. S. BACH
Bach: The French Suites Mahan Esfahani (early keyboard instruments) [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 6/Oct/2023 ] 'Mahan Esfahani couldn't make a routine recital of Bach's keyboard music if you paid him' was BBC Record Review's verdict on a previous release: prospective listeners to this wonderful new set should rest assured that any hint of the routine remains... |
LUDWIG DASER
Daser: Missa Pater Noster & Other Works Cinquecento [ Hyperion / CD - released 6/Oct/2023 ] Ludwig Daser's life and work encompassed both Catholic and Lutheran courts, at Munich and Stuttgart respectively. Cinquecento's programme-which, besides the substantial Missa Pater noster, includes a selection of Latin motets and German chorale... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Piano Sonatas K310-311 & 330-333 Angela Hewitt (piano) [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 6/Oct/2023 ] Angela Hewitt's voyage of discovery through Mozart's piano sonatas is proving a joy, the works sounding newly minted in vital, alert accounts which respect their scale and sensibility while revealing influences of Mozart's orchestral and concerto... |
State Choir Latvija / Maris Sirmais
Credo [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Sep/2023 ] Two opulent choral masterpieces by Richard Strauss frame an eclectic programme from one of Europe's most highly acclaimed choirs. The name of the young Slovenian composer Matej Kastelic may still be relatively little known, but the title track Credo... |