Latest News: Classical, Recording of the Week
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Recording of the Week,
Mavra/Iolanta from the Bayerische Staatsoper 16th December 2022The young artists of the Munich opera-house's training studio (including Mirjam Mesak and Freddie De Tommaso) shine brightly in Axel Ranisch's ingenious fusion of two contrasting one-act operas by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.
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Recording of the Week,
A piano double-bill from Leeds winners Alim Beisembayev and Eric Lu 9th December 2022Masterful Liszt and delicate Schubert from the 2021 and 2018 winners of the Leeds International Piano Competition.
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Recording of the Week,
Christmas with Diana Damrau 2nd December 2022The German coloratura soprano's festive album is definitely a cracker rather than a turkey, with a first half of traditional German songs and carol medleys followed by a disc of seasonally-appropriate Baroque and Classical arias.
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Recording of the Week,
Baroque instrumental music for Christmas from Bojan Čičić and the Illyria Consort 25th November 2022Bojan Čičić and the Illyria Consort present an alternative Christmas sound-world, replacing vocal and choral music with string concertos and sonatas from around Europe.
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Recording of the Week,
Berlioz's Les nuits d'été & Harold en Italie from John Nelson in Strasbourg 18th November 2022Vocal shape-shifter Michael Spyres tackles the song-cycle in the original orchestral keys, whilst viola-player Timothy Ridout is a warmly collegiate soloist in Harold on this clear-eyed, affectionate recording from Strasbourg.
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Recording of the Week,
Signor Gaetano from Javier Camarena and Gli Originali 11th November 2022On the first of two albums devoted to the many and varied operas of Donizetti, the Mexican tenor brings fresh-faced charm to the comic heroes of L'elisir d'amore and Betly - but also excels in the darker and stormier waters of Roberto Devereux, Caterina Cornaro and Maria de Rudenz.
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Recording of the Week,
Steven Isserlis explores the cello's Golden Decade 4th November 2022Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih take us on a journey to uncover some lesser-known works from an astonishingly fruitful decade for the cello - sonatas from Strauss and Le Beau, Bruch connections and more.
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Recording of the Week,
Handel's Theodora from Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo d'Oro 28th October 2022A starry cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Joyce DiDonato offers a wealth of fresh insights into Handel’s oratorio about religious persecution and intolerance in ancient Rome on this new studio recording, made after a run of concert-performances across Europe.
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Recording of the Week,
Hans Rott's Symphony in E major from Jakub Hrůša 21st October 2022The Czech conductor and his Bamberg orchestra offer a magnificent account of a work not heard until more than a century after it was written, by a composer described by Gustav Mahler as "the founder of the new symphony".
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Recording of the Week,
Rossini's Messa di Gloria from Antonio Pappano 14th October 2022The Cinderella of Rossini's sacred works goes to the ball in fine style, with stand-out performances from tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres, and some delectable obbligatos from the woodwind principals of Pappano's Roman orchestra.
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Recording of the Week,
Telemann Fantasias from Alina Ibragimova 7th October 2022The violinist adds a fourth album of unaccompanied repertoire to her tally - following Bach, Ysaÿe and Paganini up with Telemann's twelve fantasias, written to be technically approachable yet musically satisfying.
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Recording of the Week,
Krystian Zimerman performs piano music by Szymanowski 30th September 2022The Polish pianist offers a selection of pieces by his compatriot, in performances that are often highly idiosyncratic yet always thoughtful, intelligent, and full of staggering technical and expressive mastery.
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Recording of the Week,
Leoncavallo's Zingari on Opera Rara 23rd September 2022Carlo Rizzi conducts a scintillating account of the Pushkin-inspired one-act opera from 1912, starring Krassimira Stoyanova and Arsen Soghomonyan.
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Recording of the Week,
Igor Levit's Tristan 16th September 2022Hans Werner Henze's brilliant, baffling set of ‘Preludes for piano, electronic tapes and orchestra’ sits at the heart of this Wagner-inspired recital, which also includes music by Liszt and Mahler via Ronald Stevenson.
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Recording of the Week,
John Wilson conducts music from Hollywood's Golden Age 9th September 2022Sinfonia of London and conductor John Wilson present a dazzling selection of music from classic movies including Rebecca, The Wizard of Oz, Laura, How to Marry a Millionaire, My Fair Lady, and Now, Voyager.
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Recording of the Week,
Fatma Said's Kaleidoscope 2nd September 2022Featuring music by composers including Léhar, Gounod, Weill and Piazzolla, the Egyptian soprano's beguiling, wide-ranging invitation to the dance proves impossible to resist.
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Recording of the Week,
Alison Balsom's Quiet City 26th August 2022Alison Balsom and the Britten Sinfonia offer a colourful collection of works and arrangements that place the trumpet firmly at the centre of attention.
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Recording of the Week,
Anna Prohaska and Isabelle Faust perform György Kurtág's Kafka-Fragmente 19th August 2022An extraordinary tour de force from the soprano and violinist duo, performing the Hungarian composer's great song cycle setting fragments of texts by Franz Kafka.
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Recording of the Week,
American tenor Jonathan Tetelman's debut recording 12th August 2022Featuring arias by Cilea, Massenet, Verdi, Ponchielli and Mascagni, the Chile-born tenor's first album for Deutsche Grammophon reveals a powerful dark-hued voice that's allied to real interpretative subtlety.
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Recording of the Week,
Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch from Carolyn Sampson, Allan Clayton and Joseph Middleton 5th August 2022All three artists are wonderfully attuned to the wit and warmth of Wolf's set of 46 delectable miniatures, with Middleton's characterful postludes proving in a joy in themselves...