IGOR STRAVINSKY / MAURICE RAVEL
Stravinsky: Petrushka & The Firebird / Ravel: Miroirs & La Valse Beatrice Rana (piano) [ Warner Classics / CD - released 25/Oct/2019 ] International Classical Music Awards 2021 Winner - Solo Instrumental |
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann - Myrthen Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Camilla Tilling (soprano), Gerold Huber (piano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 18/Oct/2019 ] "Certainly a top choice for this wonderful cycle." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Solo Vocal |
LEOS JANACEK
Janácek: The diary of one who disappeared & other works Nicky Spence (tenor), Julius Drake (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 28/Jun/2019 ] "Not only does Spence's voice offer a rare mix of steely strength and velvety tenderness but his bright, vibrant timbre communicates a touching, wide-eyed sense of ardent longing, tinged with melancholy." Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Solo Vocal |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis [ Sony Classical / CD - released 12/Jun/2020 ] "In this most celebrated of symphonies the players sound at times as though they might explode with excitement." BBC Music Orchestral recording of the Month July 2020 |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: The Final Piano Pieces Stephen Hough (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 31/Jan/2020 ] "'One of the finest accounts of Brahms's late piano works on record, one that stands head and shoulders above most contenders in an ever-growing catalogue." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Instrumental |
ERNO DOHNANYI
Dohnányi: Piano Quintets & String Quartet No 2 Takács Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "...They allow every passionate detail to come across yet preserve a sense of nobility and innate grace that I always associate with Dohnányi." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Chamber |
PER NORGÅRD
Norgard: Whirl's World / Spell / Babettes Gaestebud Suite / Trio Breve Ensemble MidtVest [ Dacapo / CD - released 1/Aug/2019 ] "Different facets-or rather, perhaps, a broad portrait-of this Danish composer's beguiling music, performed with passion and complete affinity with his sound world by Ensemble MidtVest" (Shortlisted - Chamber Gramophone Awards 2020) |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN / JEAN SIBELIUS
Beethoven / Sibelius: Violin Concertos Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Robin Ticciati [ Ondine / CD - released 27/Sep/2019 ] If Beethoven's Concerto emerges as uncompromisingly provocative, Tetzlaff's Sibelius also errs on the side of danger…In many respects, a real knock-out." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Concerto |
FRANCISCO LANDINI
Landini: L'Occhio del Cor The Heart's Eye / La Reverdie, Christophe Deslignes [ Arcana / CD - released 24/Apr/2019 ] "They do everything with verve and commitment,...there is a quality of musical exchange, of understanding where the pressure-points must come and of clear projection that is a rare pleasure to hear." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Early Music |
HENRY PURCELL / JOHN BLOW
Purcell/Blow: Elegy - Countertenor duets by Purcell & Blow Iestyn Davies, James Hall (countertenors) The King's Consort, Robert King [ Vivat / CD - released 27/Sep/2019 ] "This is surely one of the best countertenor performances on disc…This whole disc is a trove of bittersweet delights." Shortlisted - Recital Gramophone Awards 2020 |
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice Iestyn Davies, Sophie Bevan, Rebecca Bottone / La Nuova Musica, Davis Bates [ Pentatone / CD - released 4/Oct/2019 ] "High praise, then, for David Bates and his ensemble." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Opera |
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
Schoenberg: Violin concerto / Verklärte Nacht [Transfigured Night] Isabelle Faust (violin) / Daniel Harding, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, A. Tamestit & J-G. Queyras [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 28/Feb/2020 ] "Faust brings a fabulous range of colour and expressive nuance to this music, and Daniel Harding matches her understanding in the way he teases out the wiry orchestral textures around her violin lines." The Guardian Five Stars |
CAVALLI / BONONCINI / HANDEL / MATTEIS / SCARLATTI / HASSE / etc
Jakub Józef Orliński - Facce d'Amore Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor) / Il pomo d'oro, Maxim Emelyanchev [ Erato Classics / CD - released 8/Nov/2019 ] Gramophone Awards 2020 Shortlisted - Recital International Opera Awards 2021 - Winner (Solo recital) |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven Violin Sonatas Op. 12 James Ehnes (violin), Andrew Armstrong (piano) [ Onyx / CD - released 8/Nov/2019 ] Editor's Choice Gramophone December 2019 |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique / Les Francs-juges Overture, Op. 3 Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "Roth seems to have an emotional hotline to Berlioz, alive to every twist and turn of the composer's fevered passions." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Orchestral |
FRANCISCO de PENALOSA
Peñalosa: Lamentationes New York Polyphony [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 6/Sep/2019 ] "It's wonderful to hear more music from Francisco de Peñalosa, and particularly pleasing that it comes on this stylish release from New York Polyphony complete with superb booklet notes by Ivan Moody" Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Early Music |
CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN
Alkan: Concerto and Symphony for Solo Piano Paul Wee (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "What is almost incredible is that the soloist Paul Wee is not a professional pianist but a highly successful international commercial London lawyer." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Instrumental |
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD
Korngold: Symphony in F Sharp / Straussiana / Theme & Variations Sinfonia of London, John Wilson (conductor) [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 30/Aug/2019 ] "The playing of the Sinfonia of London is astonishingly brilliant, with Hollywood-dream glories in the string tone" BBC Music Magazine Awards 2020 WINNER - Orchestral |
C.P.E. BACH
C.P.E. Bach: Oboe Concertos Xenia Löffler (oboe), Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [ Hamonia Mundi / CD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "Mingling athletic precision and devil-may-care abandon, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin relish the music's seething energy and harmonic and dynamic shocks" - Gramophone Award 2020 Short List - Concerto |
THOMAS ADES
Adès Conducts Adès Mark Stone (baritone), Kirill Gerstein (piano), Christianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano), Boston Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 28/Feb/2020 ] "...for proof that Adès does what he does with mind-boggling brilliance, look no further." Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Contemporary |