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Presto Editor's Choices - November 2020
30th Nov 2020
Ian Bostridge's miller-lad toughens up on the tenor's third recording of Die schöne Müllerin, whilst Philippe Jaroussky and TrioW both unearth some fascinating buried treasure and Paavo Järvi begins a promising new Tchaikovsky cycle.
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New Release Round-Up - 27th November 2020
27th Nov 2020
Prokofiev and Myaskovsky from Vasily Petrenko, Puccini's Il tabarro from Marek Janowski, Martinů from Frank Peter Zimmermann, and a celebration of 'Queen of Baroque' Cecilia Bartoli.
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Grammy Nominations 2021
25th Nov 2020
The shortlist for next year's Awards was revealed yesterday - read on for full details of the contenders in the nine classical categories.
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Carnival of the Animals from the Kanneh-Masons
20th Nov 2020
The seven siblings bring Saint-Saëns’s menagerie to teeming life, with Michael Morpurgo delivering his own new narration with avuncular charm.
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Recordings of the Year 2020 - Our Top 100
19th Nov 2020
The first meeting of the Presto Awards committee is over, and it's time to reveal the 100 recordings which have most impressed our editorial team this year...
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Elīna Garanča on Schumann and Brahms
18th Nov 2020
The Latvian mezzo talks to Katherine about her first lieder recording (released earlier this month on Deutsche Grammophon, with Malcolm Martineau), and preparing to make her Wagner debut as Kundry...
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Amici e Rivali - Michael Spyres and Lawrence Brownlee
13th Nov 2020
The two American tenors trade vocal fireworks in a thrilling all-Rossini programme which pays homage to Andrea Nozzari and Giovanni David, who created major roles in several of the composer's operas for Naples.
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Lawrence Brownlee on Rossini
13th Nov 2020
The American tenor talks to Katherine about today's Recording of the Week Amici e Rivali, which sees him exploring friendship and rivalry in Rossini's Neapolitan operas with his compatriot Michael Spyres.
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Daniil Trifonov's Silver Age
6th Nov 2020
The Russian pianist is by turns balletic, poetic and dramatic in solo works by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, whilst the Mariinsky Orchestra match his precision and imagination in concertos by the the latter composer and Scriabin.
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Silver Age
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
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John Andrews on The Dancing Master
5th Nov 2020
The British conductor talks to Katherine about recording Malcolm Arnold's one-act comic opera, written at high speed for TV in the early 1950s but rejected by the BBC for being 'too bawdy'...
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BBC Music Magazine - December 2020 Choices
3rd Nov 2020
Katherine introduces this month's selection, with Diana Damrau's triptych of Donizetti's Tudor Queens on Erato as Recording of the Month.
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Presto Editor's Choices - October 2020
31st Oct 2020
Vivid, cinematic orchestral works from Anna Clyne, Reynaldo Hahn's enchanting first opera, and mesmerising musical riddles from singer-composer Stef Conner.
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Fatma Said on El Nour
29th Oct 2020
The Egyptian soprano talks to Katherine about her debut solo album on Warner Classics, featuring songs by Egyptian, French and Spanish composers.
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Mahler from Christiane Karg, Malcolm Martineau - and Gustav Mahler
23rd Oct 2020
The German soprano and her regular recital-partner beguile in the Rückert-Lieder and songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, whilst the composer himself makes an appearance (via a 1905 piano-roll) for ‘Das himmlische Leben’.
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Antonio Pappano on Donizetti's Queens
21st Oct 2020
The conductor talks to Katherine about recording the final scenes of Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux with Diana Damrau and the Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for Warner Classics.
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Bertrand Chamayou and Alexandre Kantorow
16th Oct 2020
Two contrasting recitals from award-winning French pianists - one fuelled by melatonin, the other by adrenaline.
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Didier Martin on Alpha Classics
12th Oct 2020
In the wake of their recent victory, the Artistic Director of Gramophone's Label of the Year talks to Katherine about Alpha's philosophy, the importance of building long-term relationships with artists, and some of the new signings around the corner for early 2021.
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New Release Round-Up - 9th October 2020
9th Oct 2020
Bach in lockdown from Anna Prohaska and friends, Mozart, Schubert and Liszt from Sophie Pacini, a French song recital with guitar from Laurent Naouri, and Passiontide music by Andreas Hammerschmidt from Vox Luminis.
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Joseph Calleja and Dominic Fyfe on The Magic of Mantovani
5th Oct 2020
The Maltese tenor and record-producer discuss bringing Mantovani's music back to life on a new album which sees Calleja 'duetting' with vintage recordings from the Universal Music archives.
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Presto Editor's Choices - September 2020
30th Sep 2020
Vivaldi with a twist from Patricia Kopatchinskaja, beautifully downsized Mahler from the late Reinbert de Leeuw, and a superbly atmospheric Peter Grimes from Bergen.
