Latest News: Classical, Recording of the Week
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Recording of the Week,
Pélleas et Mélisande from François-Xavier Roth and Les Siėcles 11th March 2022Period instruments provide revelations aplenty in Debussy's opera - and the central love-triangle is cast in an intriguing new light...
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Recording of the Week,
Dance With Me from LUDWIG Orchestra and Barbara Hannigan 4th March 2022An ensemble drawn from the Netherlands-based chamber orchestra have a ball with a selection of twentieth-century dances, taking in music by Elgar, Kurt Weill, Glenn Miller and Barry Manilow along the way...
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Recording of the Week,
Joyce DiDonato's EDEN 25th February 2022Featuring music by composers including Ives, Cavalli, Handel, Gluck and Wagner (plus a ravishing new commission by Rachel Portman), the American mezzo's eclectic new concept-album with Il Pomo d'Oro explores our relationship with 'the grammar of the earth'.
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Recording of the Week,
Weinberg solo violin sonatas from Gidon Kremer 18th February 2022The Latvian violinist celebrates his 75th birthday with impassioned recordings of Weinberg's three sonatas for solo violin.
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Recording of the Week,
Andris Nelsons completes his Bruckner cycle with the Gewandhausorchester 11th February 2022The Latvian conductor and his Leipzig ensemble complete their cycle of Bruckner symphonies with radiant, dramatic performances of Symphonies 1 and 5.
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Recording of the Week,
New choral music from Iceland and England 4th February 2022A double-bill of contemporary works for choir - Icelandic splendour from Graham Ross and the choir of Clare College, and Westminster commissions from Dove, Weir and Martin.
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Recording of the Week,
John Wilson conducts orchestral works by Ravel 28th January 2022The latest album from Sinfonia of London and John Wilson presents a dazzling collection of orchestral works by Ravel, including La valse and Pavane pour une infante défunte alongside premiere recordings of the original versions of Ma Mère l'Oye and Boléro.
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Recording of the Week,
Paul Lewis plays Brahms 21st January 2022The British pianist's interpretations of the final four sets of solo piano works are a revelation, capturing all of the poetry and drama of the music and often emphasising its kinship with Debussy and Rachmaninov.
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Recording of the Week,
Locke consort works from Fretwork 14th January 2022The acclaimed consort mark the 400th anniversary of Matthew Locke's birth with a selection of his consort works from the twilight of the English consort tradition.
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Recording of the Week,
Grieg from Lise Davidsen and Leif Ove Andsnes 7th January 2022The two Norwegians do their countryman proud in a programme which includes Haugtussa, Five Songs by Otto Benzon, and the Six Songs Op. 48.
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Recording of the Week,
Marc-André Hamelin plays CPE Bach 31st December 2021The Canadian pianist's Midas touch is everywhere in evidence on this programme of sonatas and rondos, many of which reveal the composer's delight in the new expressive possibilities offered by early pianos.
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Recording of the Week,
Presto Personal Favourites from 2021 24th December 2021Recordings from Igor Levit, Ensemble Diderot and Will Liverman & Paul Sánchez feature among the editorial team's individual picks of the year.
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Recording of the Week,
Byrd and Bull from Kit Armstrong 17th December 2021The American pianist makes the case for considering the two Tudor virginalists William Byrd and John Bull as the founding fathers of the solo piano genre.
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Recording of the Week,
Scenes from the Kalevala - Finnish Orchestral Music 10th December 2021Dima Slobodeniouk conducts the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in a quartet of compositions inspired by the great Finnish nineteenth-century work of epic poetry, the Kalevala.
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Recording of the Week,
Christmas Recordings from Fretwork and Christiane Karg 3rd December 2021The viol consort is joined by mezzo Helen Charlston for an Elizabethan Christmas, whilst Karg and her regular recital partner Gerold Huber offer a beautifully-plotted programme of Lieder and mélodies with a seasonal theme.
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Recording of the Week,
Pelléas et Mélisande from Jonathan Nott and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande 26th November 2021The world premiere recording of the British conductor's own tone-poem on Debussy's opera is coupled with Schoenberg's suite from 1905, to illuminating effect.
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Recording of the Week,
Cecilia Bartoli - Unreleased 19th November 2021The Roman mezzo is in electrifying form in a programme of operatic and concert-arias by Haydn, Mysliveček, Mozart and Beethoven with the Kammerorchester Basel, recorded back in 2013.
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Recording of the Week,
String Quartets by Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn from the Takács Quartet 12th November 2021Fiery, dramatic performances from the Takács Quartet of two string quartets by Felix Mendelssohn alongside a thrilling account of the quartet by his sister, Fanny.
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Recording of the Week,
MUSE from Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason 5th November 2021The siblings' contrasting musical personalities complement one another quite beautifully in sonatas by Barber and Rachmaninov, plus a well-chosen selection of songs by both composers.
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Recording of the Week,
Baroque fireworks from Bojan Čičić and the Illyria Consort 29th October 2021The violinist and his ensemble present four virtuosic concertos, showcasing the legacy of Vivaldi's incredible panache as a performer as well as the earliest origins of what would eventually become the solo violin caprice.