FRANZ SCHUBERT / ARNOLD SHOENBERG
Can Çakmur - Schubert + Schoenberg Can Çakmur (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 2/Jun/2023 ] "I am happy to report that it more than fulfils the highest expectations...This very distinguished recording should not be missed by anyone interested in fine piano-playing and heartfelt poetic utterance." Gramophone Editor's Choice Aug 2023 |
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... |
HERBIG / MOZART / FLEISCHER / WOLFF / HAYDN
Trennung - Songs of Separation Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] "...with immaculate German and elegant delivery, is perfectly matched by Bezuidenhout's endlessly inventive imagination...Enjoy a long soak in this luxurious bath of classy, 18th-century suffering." BBC Music |
MARIE-JOSEPH CANTELOUBE
Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne Carolyn Sampson (soprano) / Tapiola Sinfonietta, Pascal Rophé [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Sep/2021 ] "Carolyn Sampson is a delightful and highly engaging soloist. She sings the slow, lyrical songs beautifully, investing words and music with great feeling." Recording of the Month Oct 2021 MusicWeb |
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: String Quartets, Op.18 Nos 4-6 Chiaroscuro Quartet [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] The Chiaroscuro Quartet continue their Beethoven traversal. |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos 3, 8 & 9 Freddy Kempf (piano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Oct/2019 ] Sergei Prokofiev virtually grew up at the keyboard - he composed for the piano from early childhood, and the instrument was his workshop and laboratory. Well before the end of his student days he had absorbed the virtuoso techniques of Rachmaninov... |
ALBERT SCHNELZER
Schnelzer: A Freak in Burbank Ilya Gringolts (violin), Cecilia Zilliacus (violin), Jakob Koranyi (cello), David Huang & Henrik Måwe (piano) Västerås Sinfonietta [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] Chamber and orchestral works from a leading Swedish composer. |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet and Trio / 6 Songs Martin Fröst (clarinet) with Janine Jansen ( violin), Torleif Thedéen (cello) Roland Pöntinen (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 30/May/2014 ] "Sensuous beauty and taut sinew mingle for an interpretation whose fastidious attention to internal balance and every musical detail result in sovereign excellence, in a sovereign recording. Fröst's control of instrumental colour is superfine |
The Norwegian Soloists' Choir, Grete Pedersen
Veni: Songs of Christmas II [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 4/Nov/2023 ] December is a time of anticipation. We wait and we hope - veni, come! The songs on this album encompass many nuances and moods - from joy and jubilant celebration to deep melancholy and longing. They move between folk tunes, English carols and... |
BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Variations & Bagatelles, etc. Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) [ BIS SACD / 6 CD Box Set - released 6/Sep/2019 ] Between 2003 and 2015, Ronald Brautigam recorded all of Beethoven's music for solo piano - a huge undertaking resulting in a grand total of 15 highly acclaimed discs. Choosing to perform the works on the fortepiano, Brautigam began with a sonata... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 24 and 25 Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) / Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Sep/2011 ] "Bis has given all performers excellent surround sound that is wide, deep, and comforting to the ear. A most definite recommendation." (AudAud.com) |
J. S. BACH / PURCELL / WATKINS / TRADITIONAL / FRANCES-HOAD / etc
Ruby Hughes - Echo Ruby Hughes (soprano), Huw Watkins (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 4/Nov/2022 ] "An exquisite release touched with poignant pleasures and depth-plumbing reflections that echo, re-echo, linger and endure." Five Stars BBC Music Recording of the Month Feb 2025 |
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN
Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy / Piano Sonata No. 5 / Prometheus Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan Shui, with Yevgeny Sudbin (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 2/Sep/2022 ] One of the boldest and most radical composers of all time, Alexander Scriabin had a lifelong obsession with occult and mystical ideas. Initially under the influence of Chopin, Wagner and Liszt, his music later became more complex, taking on an... |
KREISLER / PENDERECKI / PROKOFIEV / REGER / SCHNITTKE etc
Journey Through A Century: Solo Violin Works Sueye Park (violin) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 2/Jul/2021 ] "This is sensational!...at no point in the programme do you feel that the technical and intellectual demands are in any way compromising her interpretations, which are wholly excellent." Recording of the Month - Gramophone September 2021 |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: 6 Bagatelles / Piano Sonatas Nos. 31 & 32 Yevgeny Sudbin (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Mar/2019 ] Yevgeny Sudbin has previously recorded Beethoven's piano concertos - releases which have received international acclaim, for instance on the website ClassicsToday.com: 'A Beethoven experience you will not want to miss.' |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 / etc Alexandre Kantorow (piano) / Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Apr/2022 ] "...this disc completes a Saint-Saëns piano concerto set that has few peers and none that are better." Five Stars BBC Music Concerto Choice July 2022 |
BEETHOVEN / BERG / LISZT / MUSSORGSKY
Perspectives 7 Andreas Haefliger (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/May/2018 ] Since 2004, Andreas Haefliger has been devising a series of recital programmes named Perspectives, presenting them in concert and on disc. Each programme focusses on one or two Beethoven sonatas, juxtaposed with works by other composers (ranging from... |
BRETT DEAN / SOFIA GUBAIDULINA / SERGEI RACHMANINOV / RICHARD WAGNER / etc
Voices of Angels - chamber works Andrej Power (violin) Lawrence Power (viola) Christianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano) / Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Jul/2020 ] The Stockholm Syndrome Ensembleis -as the name implies -based in Stockholm, and consists of five of the city's leading musicians. Project-based and often inviting guest performers, the SSE is known for its imaginative programmes built around a... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
A Summer's Day - Swedish Romantic Songs Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano) Bengt Forsberg (piano), with Fredrik Zetterström, baritone [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/May/2012 ] Anne Sofie von Otter, accompanied by Bengt Forsberg and joined by baritone Fredrik Zetterström for two duets, performs works by four Swedish composers whose works were all composed within a century of each other. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Verbum caro factum est - a Christmas Greeting Bach Collegium Japan Chorus / Masaaki Suzuki (direction), Masato Suzuki (organ) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Oct/2018 ] "The performances are typically classy, and punctuated by a selection of Daquin's 'Noels' for solo organ, played with peppery registrations by Suzuki" BBC Music |