GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony no.5 Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Daniel Harding [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 11/Jan/2019 ] "In a market where modern rivals sound pedestrian or perfumed with finesse by comparison, this Fifth raises high hopes for what the graphic cover artwork implies may become a complete cycle." Gramophone |
BEETHOVEN / RIES / PUNTO / DANZI
Horn and Piano: A Cor Basse Recital Teunis van der Zwart (horn), Alexander Melnikov (paino) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 28/Jan/2022 ] "van der Zwart exploits the disruptive contrasts between registers, and between stopped and open notes, as vividly as I've ever heard...A winner, and not only for horn fanciers." Gramophone Editor's Choice March 2022 |
JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: Paris Symphonies & Violin Concerto No. 1 Théotime Langlois de Swarte (violin) / Les Arts Florissants, William Christie [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 15/Sep/2023 ] "Christie's enthusiasm for the symphonies is never in doubt, but he can be curiously down to earth at times." BBC Music |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Piano Trios nos 1 & 2 Trio Wanderer [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 3/May/2019 ] Rachmaninoff's output of chamber music is small but all the more precious for that. Two absolute gems bear witness to the fact: these 'elegiac trios', which were produced by a young composer still indisputably under the influence of Tchaikovsky. But... |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet & Seven Romances of Alexander Blok Trio Wanderer / Ekatarina Semenchuk (mezzo-soprano), Catherine Montier (violin), Christophe Gaugué (viola) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 2/Oct/2020 ] "The individual members of Trio Wanderer capture the cycle's contrasting moods of despair, passion, violence, mystery and gentle lyricism with playing of magnetic power and imagination." BBC Music Five Stars - Chamber Choice. Dec 2020 |
CESAR FRANCK
Franck: Piano Trio & Quintet, Violin Sonata - Louis Vierne: Piano Quintet Trio Wanderer & Vierne Quintette [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 26/May/2023 ] The Trio Wanderer follows up its multi-award-winning Schumann set with an exploration of the fascinating world of César Franck. The gulf between his youthful trios and the prodigious works of his maturity reveals a fundamental turning point in the... |
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Piano Sonatas opp.37 & 80 Vadym Kholodenko (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/Jun/2021 ] After Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Prokofiev, Vadym Kholodenko continues his exploration of the Russian repertory with a pair of rarely recorded works: Tchaikovsky's two solo piano sonatas. Imaginative, colourful and dreamy, capable of an infinite... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
A Christmas Night Classical and Traditional Favourites (LP) Various Artists [ Harmonia Mundi / LP - released 2/Dec/2022 ] With selections ranging from Praetorius to Britten, plus all-time favourites by J.S. Bach (The Christmas Oratorio) and Handel (Messiah), this album brings together some of the most beautiful and justly famous musical settings of the Nativity story.... |
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
Piazzolla: Nuevo Tango! [ Harmonia Mundi / 3 CD - released 1/Oct/2020 ] A century closer to immortality. "The music of Buenos Aires" is how Astor Piazzolla characterised his own work, informed by years of study first with Alberto Ginastera in Argentina, and later with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. By bringing together... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 30/Apr/2020 ] Perfect Synthesis. Bach's exploration of the Italian concerto grosso took the principles of instrumental 'rivalry' to the point of paroxysm, bringing to the form an unprecedented harmonic and contrapuntal refinement. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos.1 & 2 (with CPE Bach: Symphonies Wq 175 & 183/4) Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 2/Jul/2020 ] BBC Music Award Nomination 2021 - Orchestral |
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Mozart: Gran Partita - Wind Serenades K. 361 & 375 Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 7/May/2021 ] "For those wanting the music played on the kinds of instruments that Mozart himself knew, this beautifully recorded new version sweeps the field." Gramophone Editor's Choice July 2021 |
J.S. BACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bach: Triple Concerto BWV1044; Harpsichord Cto. BWV 1052 Akademie far Alte Musik Berlin [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/Oct/2002 ] "the gestures bold and the virtuosity glittering." - International Record Review |
ANTONIO VIVALDI / JEAN-FERY REBEL
Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni [The Four Seasons] / Rebel: Les Eléments Midori Seiler (solo violin) / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 14/Jun/2019 ] "..[Midori Seiler] and the Berliners have simply insisted on taking nothing for granted...the sheer flair of this new release dazzles as much as it delights." BBC Music |
VIVALDI / GABRIELI / PORTA / MARCELLO / etc
A Venetian Journey Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, with Xenia Löffler (baroque oboe) - Amandine Beyer, Gli Incogniti - Concerto Palatino [ Harmonia Mundi / 3 CD - released 18/Jan/2019 ] From the late Renaissance until the middle of the eighteenth century, Venice was the scene of unrivalled musical splendour, encompassing the magnificent ceremonial music heard at Saint Mark's Basilica and the virtuoso music-making at the charitable... |
PAUL WRANITZKY
Wranitzky: Symphonies Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck [ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 17/Jun/2022 ] Bernhard Forck leads Akamus in a spirited showcase of the Moravian-born composer's gifts as an orchestrator, featuring the overture to Oberon, the 'Grande Symphonie caractéristique pour la Paix avec la République francaise', and the 'Tempest' Symphony. |
JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn: Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Marie Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin & Justin Doyle - RIAS Kamerchor [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 15/Nov/2019 ] "Altogether, there is much to discover in this little-known work, and the conductor Justin Doyle with his talented team of soloists and the RIAS Chamber Choice and Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik do it proud. Recommended." BBC Music Five Stars |
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
Scarlatti: Griselda Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi / 3 CD Box Set - released 19/Jul/2019 ] Scarlatti's Griselda, premiered in Rome in 1721, received a single performance at the Teatro Capranica, and was never taken into the repertoire elsewhere, both for financial reasons and because of the changing tastes of the time. The tragic story of... |
J.S. BACH
Bach: Mass In B Minor Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, René Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 2/Sep/2022 ] A composition as brilliant as it is protean - the earliest sections date back to 1724, others were written in 1733 in the hope of obtaining a post in Dresden - the Mass in B minor occupied Bach until the end of his life. The work, which is more... |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: Complete Nocturnes Alain Planès (piano) [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 25/Jun/2021 ] His Debussy and Chopin recordings for harmonia mundi already offer ample evidence that Alain Planès is highly adept at selecting a period instrument best suited for the repertoire. For this complete recording of the Chopin Nocturnes, he has chosen a... |