Below is a list of all classical CD titles released in the last 120 days.
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra Vol 1 Abbey Simon (piano) / Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Heribert Beissel [ Vox Classics / CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] 'Simon plays them all as though they were first-class material, and his interpretative style is enlivening… Simon's performances can't be beat.' - The New York Times |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra Vol 2 Abbey Simon (piano) / Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Heribert Beissel [ Vox Classics / CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] The Elite Recordings for VOX by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings. |
CESAR GUERRA-PEIXE
Guerra-Peixe: A Retirada da Laguna Abner Landim (violin) / Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra, Neil Thomson [ Naxos The Music of Brazil / CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] César Guerra-Peixe is one of the leading composers associated with musical nationalism in Brazil. A Retirada da Laguna is a programmatic suite that describes one of the most dramatic moments in the Paraguayan War of 1864-70 |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Vivaldi: Sonatas for 2 Violins Alessandro Ciccolini & Domenico Scicchitano (violin) / Compagnia de Violini [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 2/Feb/2024 ] Vivaldi's Sonatas for two violins, anco senza basso se piace (also without bass if preferred), represent one of the innumerable peaks of his compositional prowess. They are structured in three movements, each of which develops in a bipartite manner,... |
GEORGE WALKER
Walker: Complete Piano Works Vol 1 Alexandre Dossin (piano) [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 19/Apr/2024 ] George Walker's unique collection of piano music ranges across his long career. The three sonatas heard here, in this the first of two volumes of Walker's complete piano works, offer compelling contrasts. Sonata No. 1 is his longest and utilizes folk... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Complete Songs Volume 5 Alina Wunderlin (soprano) Kieran Carrel (tenor) Ulrich Eisenlohr (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] In grouping his Lieder into sets with opus numbers, Brahms was concerned with thematic unity and poetic contrasts. The theme of Op. 71 is love, whether ardent, ironic or courtly, and contains one of his best-loved songs, Minnelied. |
LUDWIG PHILIPP SCHARWENKA
Scharwenka: Works For Violin & Piano Amalia Hall (violin), Christopher Park (piano) [ Atoll Records / CD - released 12/Jan/2024 ] Amalia Hall describes this music as lush, emotional, intimate, dramatic. Full of changing colours and flexibility. Evocative and gorgeous. Noted by The Strad for her "blazing insight and dazzling virtuosity", New Zealand violinist Amalia Hall... |
GIOCOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: A Te, Puccini Angela Gheorghiu (soprano) Vincenzo Scalera (piano) [ Signum / CD - released 2/Feb/2024 ] Signum Classics are proud to present Romanian-born soprano Angela Gheorghiu's first album on the Grammy award winning label. Described as "the world's most glamorous and gifted opera star" (New York Sun), Ms. Gheorghiu's magnificent voice and... |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto Nos. 2 & 3 Anna Federova (piano) / Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Laërcio Diniz & Gerard Oskamp [ Brilliant Classics / CD - released 12/Apr/2024 ] The Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova is renowned for her playing of Rachmaninoff, and in particular the four concertos which she has performed across the world. She made these recordings in 2014, at a relatively early stage in her career. |
JOHANN SIMON MAYR
Mayr: Messa solenne in D minor Anna Feith, Bogna Bernagiewicz, Freya Apffelstaedt, Markus Schäfer, Fang Zhi, Niklas Mallmann / Simon Mayr Chorus, Concerto de Bassus, Franz Hauk [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] Johann Simon Mayr's music stands on the cusp between the Classical and Romantic eras. The expressive lyrical qualities in his religious music reflects a career in which he composed nearly 70 operas. |
FLORENCE PRICE / LEO SOWERBY
Price/Sowerby: Music for String Quartet Avalon String Quartet [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 8/Mar/2024 ] Florence Price and Leo Sowerby were both prominent members of the Chicago music community in the 1930s and 1940s, and they are known to have respected each other's work. Most of Florence Price's compositions remained unpublished at her death, and her... |
DOROTHY HOWELL
Howell: Orchestral Works BBC Concert Orchestra, Rebecca Miller [ Signum / CD - released 8/Mar/2024 ] Featuring 4 works receiving their world premiere recording, Signum Classics are proud to annouce the new album 'Dorothy Howell: Orchestral Works' conducted by Rebecca Miller with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Until now these works have rarely been... |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN / FREDERIC CHOPIN
Beatrice Rana - Chopin / Beethoven Sonatas Beatrice Rana (piano) [ Warner Classics / CD - released 29/Mar/2024 ] Beatrice Rana, characterised by Gramophone as a pianist of "fire and poetry, imagination and originality, temperament and charm, all on top of fearless technical address", brings together two monumental sonatas: Beethoven's Hammerklavier Piano Sonata... |
PROKOFIEV / SAIDAMINOVA / RAVEL
Shadows of My Ancestors Behzod Abduraimov (piano) [ Alpha / CD - released 12/Jan/2024 ] "Throughout this release, one consistently gets caught up in Abduraimov's gorgeous and focused sonority, his rock-solid rhythm." Gramophone Recording of the Month February 2024 |
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... |
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... |
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. |
WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra / Partita for Violin and Orchestra / Novelette Christian Tetzlaff (violin) / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Nicholas Collon [ Ondine / CD - released 26/Jan/2024 ] "This compelling release from conductor Nicholas Collon and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra makes clear the evolutionary exuberance of Lutosławski's creative development." Five Stars BBC Music January 2024 Orchestral Choice |
RALF YUSUF GAWLICK
Ralf Yusuf Gawlick: O Lungo Drom - An oratorio for soprano, baritone and chamber ensemble Clara Meloni (soprano) Christoph Filler (baritone) / Alban Berg Ensemble Wien [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] This large-scale work, scored for a chamber ensemble including soprano, baritone, flute, clarinet, cimbalom, piano and string quartet, integrates texts from all around the world into an oratorio to create a Lied of the scattered Sinti and Roma. |
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
Piazzolla: Buenos Aires - arrangements for Violin and String Orchestra Tomás Cotik (violin) / Martingale Ensemble, Ken Selden [ Naxos / CD - released 19/Apr/2024 ] Astor Piazzolla's Nuevo tango transcends categories and represents an amalgam of international influences. All the arrangements in this album are of instrumental works that Piazzolla composed for his Quinteto Nuevo Tango. |