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 |
CROFT / ELGAR / PARRY / WOOD / LUTHER / HOWELLS
An English Coronation, 1902-1953: Edward VII, George V, George VI, Elizabeth II Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh [ Signum / 2 CD - released 9/May/2019 ] "One can imagine the virtuosity required by every contributor, at every turn, to make this a reality, let alone a dazzling triumph." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Choral |
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 |
GYORGY KURTAG
Kurtag: Zwiegesprache Heinz Holliger (oboe/cor anglais/piano), Marie-Lise Schüpbach (cor anglais/oboe), Ernesto Molinari (bass clarinet/ contrabass clarinet), Sarah Wegener [ ECM New Series / CD - released 19/Jul/2019 ] explores his interpretative gifts as a performer rather than his full range as a composer, its focus on the dialogues between his own music and that of György Kurtág makes for a beautifully rounded double portrait - Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |