Latest stories

Rachel Podger on La cetra

30th Jun 2012by Chris O'Reilly

Chris visits the baroque violinist to discuss her new recording of Vivaldi's twelve concerti Op. 9, recorded with Holland Baroque and released on Channel Classics earlier this month.

Vivaldi from Rachel Podger

25th Jun 2012by Chris O'Reilly

Following her Gramophone Award-winning recording of La stravaganza in 2003, the British baroque violinist tackles La cetra with Holland Baroque Society.

Shostakovich Symphonies from Petrenko and the RLPO

11th Jun 2012by Chris O'Reilly

The seventh instalment of the Russian conductor’s acclaimed Shostakovich cycle finds his Liverpool orchestra on top form in the Second and Fifteenth Symphonies.

Hamilton Harty’s Chamber Music

30th Apr 2012by Chris O'Reilly

The Goldner String Quartet and Piers Lane bring out all the charm and flamboyance of the Irish composer’s two string quartets and piano quintet, dating from the early 1900s and composed shortly after Harty relocated to London.

Haydn from Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker

19th Mar 2012by Chris O'Reilly

Chris applauds the ‘knowledge and sound musical instincts’ on show from the German conductor on this sixteenth volume of his Haydn symphonies cycle on Hänssler, which features Symphonies nos. 90 and 92 (the ‘Oxford’).

Vivaldi: Sacred vocal works and concertos

27th Feb 2012by Chris O'Reilly

Welsh soprano Elin Manahan Thomas joins the baroque ensemble Florilegium for Laudate pueri and Nulla in mundo, whilst the group’s founder Ashley Solomon takes centre-stage in the recently-rediscovered flute concerto Il Gran Mogol (receiving only its second outing on record here).

Alison Balsom

6th Feb 2012by Chris O'Reilly

The British trumpeter’s new album Seraph takes its title from a new concertino composed for her by James MacMillan in 2010, and also includes music by Arutiunian, Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Takemitsu.

Britten Violin Concerto

30th Jan 2012by Chris O'Reilly

Anthony Marwood’s rich, singing tone and the impressive precision of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov combine for a tremendously touching account of Britten’s underrated concerto, whilst violist Lawrence Power is equally moving in Lachrymae.

Fritz Kreisler

2nd Jan 2012by Chris O'Reilly

Chris enjoys two tributes to the violin virtuoso and composer Fritz Kreisler, who died fifty years ago this month: a 10-CD vintage collection entitled The Charming Maverick and Liebesfreud, Liebesleid, in which his own recordings sit alongside accounts of his music by an array of great modern violinists.

Two legendary performances

19th Dec 2011by Chris O'Reilly

Rostropovich’s legendary account of the Dvorak Cello Concerto from the 1968 Proms, and Václav Talich’s emotionally-charged 1939 performance of Smetana’s Má Vlast, given at the National Theatre in Prague shortly after the Nazis entered the city.

Christmas roundup

5th Dec 2011by Chris O'Reilly

Arthur Honegger’s Une Cantate de Noël from Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic, Vaughan Williams from Derek Welton and Iain Burnside, traditional carols from St. John’s College Cambridge, and an eclectic retelling of the Christmas story courtesy of Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices.

Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony

28th Nov 2011by Chris O'Reilly

Hyperion release a live recording of the British composer’s gargantuan first symphony, captured at a rare performance at the BBC Proms this summer and featuring an orchestra of over 200 and a choir of 600!

Haydn from the Takács Quartet

7th Nov 2011by Chris O'Reilly

For their fifth and sixth albums on Hyperion, the award-winning quartet tackle Haydn’s Opp. 71 and 74, recorded at Wyastone Estate Concert Hall in Monmouth, South Wales last November and showcasing their rich, rounded sounded and clarity of texture to great effect.

Sublime Schubert from Paul Lewis

31st Oct 2011by Chris O'Reilly

Following his ten-year immersion in Beethoven and critically-acclaimed recordings of Schubert’s three great song-cycles with tenor Mark Padmore, the British pianist brings unrivalled poise and intimacy to the Piano Sonatas D840, 850 and 894 and the Impromptus D899.

Franz Liszt

24th Oct 2011by Chris O'Reilly

Chris rounds up some of the many releases issued to commemorate the bicentenary of the Hungarian composer’s birth this week, including a song-recital from Diana Damrau and Helmut Deutsch, the Piano Concertos from Stephen Hough and the Bergen Philharmonic, and selected piano works from Lise de la Salle.

The Decca Sound

17th Oct 2011by Chris O'Reilly

A beautifully-documented 50-CD box charts the extraordinary history of the record-label, spanning six decades and featuring artists including Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, András Schiff, Emma Kirkby, and Alicia de Larrocha.

Pavel Haas Quartet the big winners at the Gramophone Awards

10th Oct 2011by Chris O'Reilly

Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts from Paul McCreesh

3rd Oct 2011by Chris O'Reilly

With a massed choir of English and Polish singers and an orchestra which deploys as many authentic nineteenth-century instruments as possible, McCreesh plays up not only the sound and fury of Berlioz’s super-sized Requiem but also the astonishing range of textures which the young composer summons.

Wagner’s Flying Dutchman starts PentaTone’s 10th anniversary celebrations

19th Sep 2011by Chris O'Reilly

The first in a projected cycle of Wagner’s ten major operas from Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin stars Albert Dohmen in commanding form as the accursed sailor looking for love, Matti Salminen as a first-rate Daland, and Ricarda Merbeth as a stentorian Senta.

Schubert's Schwanengesang from Padmore and Lewis

12th Sep 2011by Chris O'Reilly

Padmore’s bright, light tenor is often hauntingly beautiful in Schubert’s ‘swan-song’, combining with Lewis’s imaginative and insightful playing in a performance of great musical integrity which is a worthy successor to their superb Winterreise and Schöne Müllerin.