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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Horn Concertos Alec Frank-Gemmill (horn) / Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 8/Nov/2024 ] "His virtuosity is remarkable, not only in terms of surmounting the technical challenges that Mozart threw at his favourite horn player, Joseph Leutgeb, but also for the expressive and dynamic range of his playing." Gramophone Editor's Choice Jan 202 |
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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 |
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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. |
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SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Poltéra Plays Prokofiev Christian Poltéra (cello) / Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 12/Jul/2024 ] "Poltéra has all the warmth and variety of tone, plus technical address, the score demands...There are plenty of distinguished versions of this repertoire on CD, but at bargain price none that I would prefer to this newcomer." BBC Music August 2024 C |
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J. S. BACH
Bach - Secular Cantatas VIII: Celebratory Cantatas Hana Blažíková (soprano), Hiroya Aoki (alto), Charles Daniels (tenor) & Roderick Williams (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 24/May/2017 ] "This is a superb issue in a superb series." MusicWeb December 2017 |
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EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA / KALEVI AHO
Einojuhani Rautavaara & Kalevi Aho: Joy & Asymmetry Helsinki Chamber Choir, Nils Schweckendiek [ BIS SACD / CD - released 30/Aug/2024 ] Einojuhani Rautavaara and Kalevi Aho, teacher and pupil, are both key figures in the Finnish music of their respective generations. Rautavaara's musical language evolved from neoclassicism through dodecaphony and the stylistic freedom of the 1960s... |
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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. |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Secular Cantatas Vol V: Birthday Cantatas [BWV213 & BWV214] Joanne Lunn (soprano) Robin Braze (counter-tenor) Makoto Sakurada (tenor), Dominik Wörner (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan directed by Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2015 ] "Makoto Sakurada's lucid tenor is particularly effective in the rhetorical and declamatory recitatives, while bass Dominik Wörner paints the words to vivid effect." BBC Music |
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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... |
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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) |
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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 |
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KREISLER / PENDERECKI / PROKOFIEV / REGER / SCHNITTKE etc
Journey Through A Century: Solo Violin Works Sueye Park (violin) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - 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 |
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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.' |
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GABRIEL FAURE
Faure: The Complete music for cello & piano Andreas Brantelid (cello) & Bengt Forsberg (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 22/May/2017 ] In French music, Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924) forms a link between Romanticism and modernism: in Paris in the year of his birth, Chopin was still composing, and by the time of his death, jazz was all the rage, while Stravinsky was championing... |
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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... |
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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 |
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J. S. BACH
Bach: Secular Cantatas, Vol. 9: The Contest Between Phoebus and Pan [BWV 201 & BWV 207a] Joanne Lunn, Robin Blaze, Nicolas Phan, Katsuhiko Nakashima, etc / Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/Dec/2017 ] Most of Johannes Sebastian Bach's secular cantatas were written for specific political, academic or private festive occasions. In the case of Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde, BWV 201, however, it may well be that Bach composed it for his own sake:... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Ann-Helen Moen (soprano), Roxana Constantinescu (mezzo-soprano), James Gilchrist (tenor) / Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 9/Feb/2018 ] "All performers are in superb form and recorded with pristine clarity and balance. This is a must-listen - a different Beethoven comes forth with sublime beauty and insights beyond the symphony." (Nicholas Butler) |
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J. S. BACH
Bach, (J.S.): Secular Cantatas, Vol. 10 - Cantatas for contentment Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki, Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Makoto Sakurada (tenor) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Aug/2018 ] The two cantatas recorded here conclude a project that the Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki started in 2004, in which Bach's secular cantatas formed the basis of numerous concerts and recordings. As the team completed recording the church... |
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ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: ymphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106 (1881 Version) Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "This persuasively played work could be no better served. I look forward with relish to the subsequent releases in this cycle." MusicWeb Recommended |
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WOLF / BRAHMS / SCHUBERT / PARRY / BERNSTEIN / MENDELSSOHN / MARX / FRANCK / STROHL / etc
'but I like to sing...' Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Nov/2023 ] "It's a portrait of an artist who has shown us many faces on those 100 discs but whose voice remains a constant: sweet, flexible, alive to the text. And always intelligent" Gramophone Award Finalist 2024 - Song |
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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... |
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HUGO WOLF
Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor), Joseph Middleton (piano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 1/Jul/2022 ] Composed in feverish bouts interrupted by long periods of inaction, Hugo Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch was brought to completion in 1896. The 46 songs are settings of poems in German by Paul Heyse, after Italian folk songs - miniatures with a... |
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FRANZ SCHUBERT
Elysium - A Schubert Recital Carolyn Sampson (soprano) / Joseph Middleton (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Mar/2023 ] "The last years of Schubert's life were clouded by illness, so thoughts of the afterlife cannot have been far from his mind. For their latest recital for BIS, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton present an all-Schubert recital themed around Elysium,... |
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PURCELL / SCHUMANN / QUILTER / etc
Fleurs Carolyn Sampson (soprano) / Joseph Middleton (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/Feb/2015 ] "A sweetly scented posy, this...Perfect, too, for all who love Sampson's fragrant, light-filled, warmly communicative soprano." (Gramophone Award Nomination 2015 - Solo Recital) |
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SCHUBERT / SCHUMANN / BRAHMS / STRAUSS / etc
Reason In Madness Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 10/Mar/2019 ] "All performed with Sampson's wonted freshness of tone, superb control and subtle sensuality, with Middleton offering vibrant support." The Guardian |
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WILHELM STENHAMMAR
Stenhammar: Sangen [symphonic cantata] / Reverenza / Romeo and Hulia / Romances Charlotta Larsson (soprano) Martina Dike (alto) Lars Cleveman (tenor) Frederik Zetterstrom (baritone) / Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Jarvi (c [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Sep/2018 ] In a way it is odd that Stenhammar may be best known for a comparative trifle - the Entr'acte from the huge cantata Sången ('The Song'). This is an encore for basically all Swedish orchestras touring abroad. So why limit oneself to recording just... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: String Quartets Op.18, Vol.1 Chiaroscuro Quartet [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "Sensitively considered, wonderfully detailed and engagingly scintillant." MusicWeb Recommended |
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ROBERT & CLARA SCHUMANN / JOHANNES BRAHMS
Schumann & Brahms - Sonatas and Songs Christian Poltéra (cello) Kathryn Stott (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Jan/2020 ] During the eighteenth century the cello gradually emerged from the anonymity of the continuo group, and by the beginning of the Romantic era the instrument had become an indispensable tool for composers. |
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SZYMANOWSKI / BIRTWISTLE / COPLAND / ADAMS / HINDEMITH
Variations Clare Hammond (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 5/Feb/2021 ] From Szymanowski to Adams - a century and more of piano variations. |
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EDWARD GRIEG
Grieg: Choir Music Det Norske Solistkor (The Norwegian Soloists' Choir), Grete Pedersen [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Aug/2007 ] "A superb choir with a warm, clear sound does full justice to these luscious choral works and arrangements of pieces by Grieg" (Classic FM) |
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BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN
B. A. Zimmermann - Complete Works for Piano Eduardo Fernández (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/Jun/2020 ] It was in the 1960s, with the opera Die Soldatenand his Requiem füreinenjungen Dichter, that Bernd Alois Zimmermann became known as one of the leading composers of the German post-war generation. |
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DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Works Unveiled Ekaterina Bakanova, Alexandros Stavrakakis (bass), Nicolas Stavy (piano), Florent Jodelet (percussion), Sueye Park (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 6/Jan/2023 ] This release is the fruit of the French pianist Nicolas Stavy's efforts to uncover unknown works by Dmitri Shostakovich. Spanning some fifty years of the composer's career, these rarities include early piano pieces influenced by Chopin and the... |
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EDVARD GRIEG
Grieg: The Three Violin Sonatas Eldbjørg Hemsing (violin) Simon Trpčeski (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 6/Mar/2020 ] "Hemsing and Trpceski give Grieg a wonderful rendering! Kudos to Sound Engineer Ingo Petry for a disc well done." AudAud |
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CHRISTIAN LINDBERG / OSVALDO GOLIJOV
Emil Jonason plays Lindberg and Golijov Emil Jonason (clarinet), Vamlingbo Quartet / Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Christian Lindberg [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 24/Mar/2017 ] Two imaginative works for clarinet performed by a leading young player. Selected by ECHO (the European Concert Hall Organisation) as one of its 'Rising Stars' of the 2009/10 season, the Swedish clarinettist Emil Jonasonhas become increasingly visible... |
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LENNOX BERKELEY / RICHARD ARNELL / STEPHEN DODGSON / CONSTANT LAMBERT
Tournament for Twenty Fingers - piano duets Emma Abbate & Julian Perkins (piano four hands) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 8/Jul/2022 ] A high-spirited journey through English music for piano four hands. |
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CONSTANTINIDIS / ZEMLINSKY / KALOMIRIS / SCHOENBERG etc
Affinities: Greek and German Art Songs Fanie Antonelou (soprano), Kerstin Mörk (piano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Oct/2019 ] The Greek soprano Fanie Antonelou and German pianist Kerstin Mörk here join forces in an exciting project, entitled 'Affinities'. In a carefully constructed sequence of 23 songs, they explore the kinship between Greek and German art songs - a varied... |
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MOMPOU / LLOBET / MANEN
Cancons i Danses Franz Halász, guitar [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/Feb/2016 ] Catalonia is among the most distinctive of the various Spanish regions, partly because of the Catalan language and its rich literary tradition. Catalan music and dance are also unique, however, and have little in common with stereotypically 'Spanish'... |
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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... |
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PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 2 in C minor, op. 17 'Little Russian' / Overture in F major / The Storm / etc Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi [ BIS SACD / SACD - released 1/Jun/2006 ] "Topped off by in-depth liner notes, everything is executed at the highest level." (MusicWeb August 2006) |