FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: 24 Etudes, Opp. 10 & 25 Yunchan Lim (piano) [ Decca / CD - released 3/May/2024 ] "His Chopin is as flexible and feather-light as it is fluent and fiery, as compelling in its sense of structure as in its relishing of detail. The whole experience radiates joyful, youthful exuberance." Gramophone Award Finalist 2024 - Piano |
EDWARD ELGAR
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius Nicky Spence, Anna Stéphany, Andrew Foster-Williams /Angel of the Agony), Polish National Youth Choir, Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh [ Signum Records / 2 CD - released 26/Apr/2024 ] "Even if you are a dyed-in-the-wool Elgarian with special loyalties to a particular interpretation, this CD is brimful of edifying delights and surprises worthy of repeated listening." Gramophone Award Finalist 2024 - Choral |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Britten: Violin Concerto & Chamber Works Isabelle Faust, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jakub Hrůša [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 12/Apr/2024 ] "In the Concerto, Faust digs deep and her tone has a visceral immediacy that goes straight to the heart of the music...unafraid and unflinching, and vividly unleashes the passion in these pages with mesmeric power." Gramophone Award Finalist 2024 |
KAIJA SAARIAHO
Saariaho: Maan Varjot, Chateau de l'Ame, True Fire, Offrande Olivier Latry (organ), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hannu Lintu, Ernest Martínez Izquierdo [ Radio France / CD - released 9/Feb/2024 ] Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023), featured in 2017 at Radio France's Festival Presences of contemporary music, was a central figure in a generation of internationally renowned Finnish composers and performers. |
ERIK SATIE / JOHN CAGE
Letter(s) to Erik Satie Bertrand Chamayou (piano) [ Erato / CD - released 8/Dec/2023 ] "the challenge with these deceptively simple pieces is to maintain perfect balance, weight, poise and equilibrium in the music throughout, alongside a clear sense of line and unswerving tempo." Gramophone WINNER 2024 - Concept Album |
GIOCOMO PUCCINI
The Great Puccini Jonathan Tetelman (tenor) / PKF - Prague Philharmonia, Carlo Rizzi [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 17/Nov/2023 ] 'What a sound! Tetelman's tenor possesses gleaming brightness, and his open vowels and excellent Italian diction make him the sunniest-sounding tenor since Luciano Pavarotti.' Gramophone Award Finalist 2024 - Voice & Ensemble |
EUGENE YSAYE
Ysaÿe: Six Sonatas for solo violin Op. 27 Hilary Hahn (violin) [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 4/Aug/2023 ] "...her imagination and her ability to present the music as freshminted inclines me towards her recording as the finest currently available.' - Gramophone Award WINNER 2024 - RECORDING OF THE YEAR |
EUGENE YSAYE
Ysaye: 6 sonatas for violin solo (LP) Hilary Hahn (violin) [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 LP - released 14/Jul/2023 ] "...her unabashed confidence, her imagination and her ability to present the music as freshminted (she seems to have located a hotline to Ysaÿe's muse) - inclines me towards her recording as the finest currently available." Gramophone |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin Konstantin Krimmel (baritone), Daniel Heide (piano) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 7/Jul/2023 ] "...beautifully sung, played and recorded - is among the most satisfying and quietly moving to come my way for a long time." Gramophone Award Finalist 2024 - Song |
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Vaughan Williams: Job / Old King Cole / The Running Set Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze [ ONYX / CD - released 30/Jun/2023 ] "Scrupulously prepared and boasting some superbly coordinated, infectiously dedicated playing from the RLPO, it's a thoroughly absorbing interpretation [of *Job*]...Overall, this is unquestionably a very fine achievement." Gramophone Awards Finalist |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: String Quintets K.515 & 516 Quatuor Ébène, with Antoine Tamestit (viola) [ Erato / CD - released 17/Mar/2023 ] "While it's always dangerous to nominate an outright 'winner' in this inexhaustible music, the Ébène are second to none in colour and vitality, and unrivalled in their lyrical tenderness. For me they become a new benchmark." Gramophone Award Finalist |
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / HERBERT HOWELLS / FREDERICK DELIUS / SIR EDWARD ELGAR
Music for Strings John Wilson, Sinfonia Of London [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Feb/2023 ] "I expect it has been said before, but the Sinfonia of London belongs in the Formula 1 class of orchestras, and in this repertoire sits in pole position." Gramophone Award Finalist 2023 - Orchestral |
JOHN CAGE
Cage: Choral Works Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava (conductor) [ Ondine / CD - released 19/Aug/2022 ] "one is unsurprised by the unconventionality but taken aback by the richness and variety of the final musical result. It must be said as well that the singers sound as though they are enjoying themselves enormously." Gramophone Award WINNER 2023 |
J. S. BACH
Bach: St Matthew Passion Julian Prégardien, Stéphane Degout, Sabine Devieilhe, Hana Blažiková, Tim Mead / Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon [ Harmonia Mundi / 3 CD Box Set - released 29/Apr/2022 ] "With its glowing inner vitality and penetrating observations, this is a Passion that makes a very definite statement about what this work can communicate in our times." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Choral |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Dissonance Asmik Grigorian (soprano), Lukas Geniušas (piano) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Apr/2022 ] "Grigorian is utterly compelling throughout. Even on disc, without the visuals, you can hear how Grigorian lives and breathes each song...Pianist Lukas Geniušas is an equal partner dramatically." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Song |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Diabelli Variations Mitsuko Uchida (piano) [ Decca / CD - released 8/Apr/2022 ] 'If her performance comes across as a breathtakingly extravagant display of intellect and imagination, that's because this is what Beethoven's music is.' Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Piano |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Orchestral Works (Incls Ma Mère L'oye, Boléro & La Valse) Sinfonia of London, John Wilson [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 28/Jan/2022 ] "What really shines here is the illumination of so many colouristic permutations, sounding for all the world as if Ravel had just in this moment heard them." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Spatial Audio |
HENRI DUTILLEUX / ARNOLD SCHOENBERG / RAPHAEL MERLIN
'round Midnight Quatuor Ébène, with Antoine Tamestit (viola) and Nicolas Altstaedt (cello) [ Erato Classics / CD - released 15/Oct/2021 ] "With sound of unsparing immediacy and Merlin's typically provocative notes, this release testifies to the Ébène's ambition and, moreover, its attainment." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Chamber |
MOZART / MEHUL / OFFENBACH / LEONCAVALLO / LEHAR / WAGNER / RAVEL / etc
Michael Spyres - BariTenor Michael Spyres (baritone/tenor) / Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Marko Letonja, Choeur d'hommes de l'Opéra national du Rhine [ Erato Classics / CD - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "The range of roles is astonishing, but then so are these performances...Spyres really is a tenor - and a baritone, it seems - who has the operatic world at his feet." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Vocal & Ensemble |
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD
Korngold: Die tote Stadt (complete opera recorded in 2019) Bayerische Staatsoper / Jonas Kaufmann, Marlis Petersen, Andrej Filonczyk, Jennifer Johnston / Kirill Petrenko (cond) [ BSO Recordings DVD / 2 DVD - released 30/Jul/2021 ] GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE YEAR - WINNER - "There's a depth and emotional intelligence to this staging that disarmed my initial resistance...on every level, a glorious achievement." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Opera |