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 |
SIR CHARLES HUBERT H. PARRY
Parry: Judith, or The Regeneration of Manasseh (complete oratorio recorded in 2019) Toby Spence, Kathryn Rudge, Sarah Fox, Henry Waddington / London Mozart Players, William Vann [ Chandos SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 20/Mar/2020 ] "Conductor William Vann, who avoids any suggestion of bombast or sentimentality, and builds Parry's great paragraphs so eloquently and with such assurance that you'd think he'd been conducting this music all his life" Gramophone Award 2020 Short List |
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 |
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 |
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
J.S. Bach: St Matthew Passion Benjamin Bruns, Christian Immler, Carolyn Sampson, Damien Guillon, etc / Bach Collegium Japan chorus & orchestra / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "The musicians convey it with infectious zeal...Generic early music politesse is relegated to the shadows" Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Choral |
CARLO GESUALDO
Gesualdo: Madrigali, books 1 & 2 Les Arts Florissants, Paul Agnew [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "The sheer inquisitive delight that these singers bring to Gesualdo's extraordinary world indicates a very exciting series ahead" Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Early Music |
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 |
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 |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Agrippina (complete opera) Joyce DiDonato, Elsa Benoit, Biagio Pizzuti, Franco Fagioli, Andrea Mastroni, Jakub Józef Orliński / l Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev [ Erato Classics / 3 CD - released 31/Jan/2020 ] "With DiDonato nonpareil in the title-role and a uniformly strong cast, this now becomes a first choice for Handel's Venetian masterpiece." Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Opera |
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 |
HAYDN / HANDEL / SCARLATTI
L'Arianna Kate Lindsey (mezzo-soprano) / Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 24/Jan/2020 ] "what really make the project spark...The playing of Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen is typically high-quality, and often heartbreakingly attendant to the drama." Gramophone Awards 2020 - Short List - Recital |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 Martin Helmchen (piano) / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Andrew Manze [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 13/Dec/2019 ] As the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth approaches, and following a much admired version of the Diabelli Variations (Alpha 386 - Gramophone Editor's Choice), Martin Helmchen has decided to record his complete piano concertos... |
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 |
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Samson Joshua Ellicott, Sophie Bevan, Fflur Wyn, Mary Bevan, Jess Dandy, Hugo Hymas / Dunedin Consort, John Butt [ Linn / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "This new Samson now becomes the top recommendation: for its uniformly excellent soloists, its excitingly 'present' choral singing and, above all, its more urgent sense of theatre" Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Choral |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |