BELA BARTOK
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra / Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra / Susanna Mälkki (conductor) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "Mälkki and her Helsinki Philharmonic offer performances that are at once satisfying, dazzling and individual." Five Stars BBC Music Christmas 2021 Orchestral Choice |
BACH / GERHARD / HOLLIGER / PAUSET
Ciaccona Ilya Gringolts (violin) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 2/Jul/2021 ] Ilya Gringolts juxtaposes Bach and the avantgarde. Throughout his career, Ilya Gringolts has devoted himself to performing contemporary music as well as the great concert repertoire, while also developing a keen interest in historical performance... |
ARAM KHACHATURIAN
Khachaturian: Piano Works Iyad Sughayer (piano) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] Born in 1903, Aram Khachaturian became the most significant twentieth-century musical figure in the then Soviet Republic of Armenia. Many of his most important works date from the first half of his career. The expressive immediacy of his music,... |
JOEL BONS
Bons: Nomaden Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Atlas Ensemble [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 22/Feb/2019 ] "Nomaden can be regarded as world music and contemporary composition, accessible and challenging, reflective and upbeat. The listener is lead upon an absorbing journey. Highly recommended." Nicholas Butler/Marbecks |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Secular Cantatas Vol VI [BWV212 'Peasant', BWV209 & BWV203] Monica Erdmann, Dominik Worner / Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Oct/2016 ] "The director's own keyboard playing adds to the intimate and rolling spontaneity, surely Bach's most tantalising example of what opera might have afforded him" Gramophone |
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 |
CARL NIELSEN / JEAN SIBELIUS
Nielsen & Sibelius: Violin Concertos Johan Dalene (violin), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra / John Storgårds [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Mar/2022 ] BBC MUSIC AWARD NOMINATION 2023 - Concerto |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Variations on a Hungarian Song / Klavierstücke / Waltzes Jonathan Plowright (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 31/Dec/2015 ] "The results are often unexpected, yet always apt and never less than convincing…I have a feeling this is going to be the benchmark Brahms survey for some time to come" (Gramophone Award Nomination 2016 - instrumental) |
MACMILLAN / VERBEY / BERIO
MacMillan, Verbey & Berio: Trombone Concertos Jörgen van Rijen (trombone), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra [ BIS SACD / CD - released 4/Oct/2019 ] Principal trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jörgen van Rijen is also much in demand as a soloist with a special commitment to promoting his instrument. Various composers have written new pieces for him, including James MacMillan and... |
CORELLI / VIVALDI/ LOCATELLI / PAGANINI
Carnival - a violin and guitar recital Karen Gomyo (violin), Ismo Eskelinen (guitar) [ BIS SACD / CD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] For her début album, Karen Gomyo has joined forces with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen in a programme offering fireworks as well as graceful tenderness. A violin virtuoso as well as an expert guitar player, Niccolò Paganini wrote a number of works for the... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Serenades - 'Haffner' Kölner Akademie / Michael Alexander Willens, with Alexander Janiczek (violin solo) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 28/Feb/2020 ] "Rhythms are nicely pointed, the phrasing elegant but never precious, and the ensemble sonority never turns crude in pursuit of "authenticity."...The engineering, as so often with BIS, is ideal." ClassicsToday |
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Schumann: Piano Trios, Vol.1 Kungsbacka Piano Trio [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] With passion, fire and heartfelt expression - the first two of Schumann's trios |
EGON KORNAUTH / ROBERT FUCHS
Kornauth & Fuchs: Works for viola and piano Litton Duo (Katharina Kang Litton, viola; Andrew Litton, piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 5/Nov/2021 ] "Ultimately, though, it is the sheer musical quality and attractiveness of the works themselves that should ensure the success of this release." MusicWeb Recommeded |
JOHANN GOTTFRIED MUTHEL
The Five Keyboard Concertos Marcin Świątkiewicz (harpsichord) / Arte dei Suonatori [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 25/May/2015 ] "If you like C.P.E. Bach or just harpsichord concertos in general then this is something with which you truly need to become acquainted." (MusicWeb) |
JALBERT / BACH / PART / VASKS
Jalbert, Bach, Pärt & Vasks: Music for violin and orchestra Margaret Batjer (violin), Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra / Jeffrey Kahane [ BIS SACD / CD - released 2/Aug/2019 ] Making their first appearance on BIS, Margaret Batjer and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) cross great distances in both time and space in this programme of concertante violin works. The disc opens with a Violin Concerto by the American... |
W. A. MOZART
Martin Fröst: Mozart (Incls 'Clarinet Concerto in A major, K622') Martin Fröst (basset clarinet & clarinet), with Leif Ove Andsnes, Janine Jansen, Antoine Tamestit, Boris Brovtsyn, Maxim Rysanov & Torleif Thedéen [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 30/Sep/2013 ] "The recorded sound is excellent and the notes contain thorough essays about all three works, as well as biographies of most of the performers. Even if you already have a recording of the concerto, this disc is definitely worth catching." (MusicWeb) |
J.S. BACH
Bach: Musikalisches Opfer Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord), Members of the Bach Collegium Japan [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 13/Oct/2017 ] Johann Sebastian Bach's appearance on 7th May 1747 at the court of Frederick the Great is the best documented event in the composer's otherwise unglamorous career. During the proceedings, Frederick provided Bach with an exceptionally difficult theme... |
J. S. BACH
Bach Organ Works, Volume 4 Masaaki Suzuki (organ) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 4/Aug/2023 ] The fourth volume of Masaaki Suzuki's Bach works for organ series features one of the most important surviving instruments of Bach's time, made by the German organ builder Christoph Treutmann the Elder. Widely known for its extraordinary tonal... |
JOSEF HAYDN
Tullochgorum - Haydn: Scottish Songs Masako Art, James Graham, Edin Karamazov, Pierre-Augustin Lay / The Poker Club Band [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 31/Jan/2020 ] Between 1791 and 1804, Joseph Haydn arranged some 400 traditional songs for publishers in Scotland and England. Almost all of the songs were Scottish and the most common setting was for voice and piano trio. |
LOUIS SPOHR
Spohr: 3 Sonatas For Harp & Violin Masumi Nagasawam Cecilia Bernardini [ BIS SACD / CD - released 10/May/2018 ] In 1805, on the basis of his brilliant yet expressive playing, the 21-year-old Louis Spohr was appointed Konzertmeister at the ducal court in Gotha. By this time he had also begun to make his mark as a composer, and during his years at the court he... |