GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No. 9 Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 5/May/2023 ] "This is one of those special listening experiences where the world afterwards is a different place." BBC Music July 2023 - Recording of the Month |
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 |
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. |
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:... |
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... |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: The Symphonies / Scythian Suite / Romeo and Juliet, Suites Nos 1-3 / etc Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton [ BIS SACD / 5 Hybrid SACD - released 3/Sep/2021 ] "Litton and the Bergen players brilliantly point up the wit, elegance and joy of this great work, turning out one of its finest performances on record...this superb set of Prokofiev's symphonies. Highly recommended!" MusicWeb Recommended |
ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (original 1873 version) Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 6/Aug/2021 ] Bruckner's 'Wagner Symphony' from Bergen and Dausgaard. |
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 |
GYORGY LIGETI
Ligeti: Concertos Joonas Ahonen (piano) Christian Poltera (cello) / Bit20 Ensemble [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 16/Dec/2016 ] Described as 'one of the most innovative and influential among progressive figures of his time', György Ligeti (1923 - 2006) was able to constantly reinvent himself. In his earliest works, written in Communist Hungary, the musical language is often... |
BERG / KORNGOLD / MAHLER / SCHOENBERG / ZEMLINSKY
Jugendstil - Songs 1898-1916 Camilla Tilling (soprano) Paul Rivinius (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Jan/2020 ] Vienna around 1900 was a melting-pot in several ways: a city attracting artists from the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire where bohemian writers and musicians rubbed shoulders with aristocrats and establishment figures, and where late-Romanticism... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Great Mass in C minor, K427 / Exsultate, jubilate, K165 Carolyn Sampson, Olivia Vermeulen, Makoto Sakurada, Christian Immler / Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 20/Nov/2016 ] "The choir are well drilled and the two female soloists are matched as well as any on disc...Suzuki is no speed merchant, and maintains the through line in more strenuous movements" Gramophone Award WINNER 2017 |
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... |