MARCELLE de MANZIARLY
Marcelle de Manziarly - Chamber Works Cecilia Zilliacus (violin) Kati Raitinen (cello) Bengt Forsberg, Peter Friis Johansson (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 19/Apr/2024 ] De Manziarly - a major musical force to rediscover |
LEO & LASZLO WEINER / ZOLTAN KODALY / ERNO DOHNANY
Hungarian String Trios Trio Boccherini [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 12/Apr/2024 ] Early 20th-century chamber music with a Hungarian touch. |
C. P. E. BACH
Bach, (C.P.E.) - Instrumental Theatre of Effects Arte dei Suonatori, Marcin Świątkiewicz (harpsichord, pianoforte, conductor) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 5/Apr/2024 ] Subversive music by C.P.E. Bach that surprises, moves and speaks to us |
J. S. BACH
Bach - Die Kunst der Fuge [The Art of Fugue] Masato Suzuki (harpsichord), with Masato Suzuki (harpsichord) [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 22/Mar/2024 ] Masaaki Suzuki performs Bach's ultimate masterpiece |
J. S. BACH
Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier I Masato Suzuki (harpsichord) [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 15/Mar/2024 ] Masato Suzuki tackles the Pianists' Old Testament |
J. S. BACH
Bach - Sonatas and Partitas Franz Halász (guitar) [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 8/Mar/2024 ] Bach's Sonatas and Partitas performed on the guitar |
J. S. BACH
Bach Organ Works, Volume 5 Masaaki Suzuki (organ) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Mar/2024 ] Bach's Orgel-Büchlein on an eighteenth-century organ. |
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... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS / ROBERT SCHUMANN
Brahms: Cello Sonatas / Schumann: Fünf Stücke im Volkston Christian Poltéra (cello), Ronald Brautigam (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] "Superbly recorded, Poltera's cello of 1711 and Brautigam's modern copy of an 1868 piano appear to be in the room with you. The first sonata wins the top prize, culminating in a fantastic fugal allegro." The Times |
HENRIK HELLSTENIUS
Hellstenius - Public Behaviour / Together Nordic Voices, Hans-Kristian Kjos Sörensen (percussion) Ellen Ugelvik (piano) / Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 9/Feb/2024 ] "Looking for something to blow the musical cobwebs away? Try Henrik Hellstenius...Potent, powerful stuff." Gramophone |
JEAN SIBELIUS
Sibelius - Suites Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 2/Feb/2024 ] "Mälkki and the orchestra remarkably conjure the dark, swirling soundworld of 'Lemminkäinen in Tuonela' (the Hades of Finnish legend). And the concluding 'Lemminkäinen's Return' canters along in roistering style." BBC Music |
IGOR STRAVINSKY / BELLA BARTOK / BOHUSLAV MARTINU
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto (with works by Bartók & Martinů) Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) / Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 19/Jan/2024 ] "With Jakub Hrůša and his super-attentive Bamberg orchestra, Frank Peter Zimmermann trumps the self-confident projection of his younger self." Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Overtures Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 19/Jan/2024 ] "The Kölner Akademie is in period instrument guise, and the sound is of ten suitably thrilling and zippy" BBC Music |
BRIAN ELIAS / CAROLINE SHAW / JOHN TAVENER / ERROLLYN WALLEN / MAURICE RAVEL / GUSTAV MAHLER / etc
End of My Days Ruby Hughes (soprano) / Manchester Collective [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 19/Jan/2024 ] "Imaginative, sensitive programming has been a constant feature of Ruby Hughes's collaborations; and this latest with the perennially adventurous Manchester Collective is no exception...A disc to concentrate the mind and enfold the soul." Choral & So |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings / Souvenir de Florence / Andante Cantabile United Strings Of Europe, Julian Azkoul [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 2/Dec/2023 ] "So many inspired melodies, ravishingly harmonised, on a single disc...The inwardness of the 'Elegie' and the crescendos from pp to ff are superbly done." BBC Music Feb 2023 - Orchestral Choice |
FRANZ SCHUBERT / JOHANNES BRAHMS
Schubert + Brahms Can Çakmur (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2023 ] For his series called Schubert+, pianist Can Çakmur juxtaposes the complete major piano solo compositions by the Viennese composer with works by other composers who were inspired by his music, thus providing the opportunity to see these works in a... |
MICHAEL JARNEFELT
Jarrell: Orchestral Works Ilya Gringolts (violin), Florent Jodelet (percussion), Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Pascal Rophé [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2023 ] "The excellent Pays de la Loire Orchestra, who accompany the two concertos in exemplary fashion, take centre stage in the album's centrepiece, the Sechs Augenblicke...A very strong recording." Gramophone Editor's Choice Jan 2024 |
HELVI LEIVISKA
Leiviskä - Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 [Incls 'Symphony No.2'] Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Dec/2023 ] "Whatever the reason Leiviskä has remained a shadowy figure, conductor Dalia Stasevska has now brought to light three of her orchestral works in fine performances by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, that give a strong flavour of what we've missed." BBC |
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... |
Carolyn Sampson
'but I like to sing...' [ BIS SACD / CD - released 3/Nov/2023 ] Carolyn Sampson presents an ode to music-making. Songs by Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Hubert Parry, Leonard Bernstein, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Joseph Marx, César Franck, Rita Strohl, Émile Paladilhe,... |