Latest stories
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New Release Round-Up - 5th March 2021
5th Mar 2021
Elgar from Renaud Capuçon, French piano duets from Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne, a Parisian album from Hilary Hahn, and the world premiere recording of Chaya Czernowin’s opera Heart Chamber.
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R+R=NOW - LIVE
5th Mar 2021
Keyboardist Robert Glasper brings together the cream of the modern jazz crop with R+R=NOW's 'LIVE', a killer live recording featuring the likes of Christian Scott and Derrick Hodge.
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The Presto Chart - February 2021
4th Mar 2021
Our 25 best-selling titles across all formats for February, with the fifth instalment of Andris Nelsons's Bruckner cycle from Leipzig on Deutsche Grammophon in first place...
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Clare Hammond on Variations
3rd Mar 2021
The pianist talks about her new album, that sees her draw together numerous different sets of variations from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
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Variations
Clare Hammond (piano)
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Chris Barber (1930-2021)
3rd Mar 2021
The trombonist and bandleader, who helped popularise skiffle and revive the trad-jazz sound, has passed away aged 90.
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Johan Dalene on Nordic Rhapsody
2nd Mar 2021
The Swedish violinist talks about his new album of music from Northern Europe, with pianist Christian Ihle Hadland.
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Stan Getz & João Gilberto
2nd Mar 2021
American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist/vocalist João Gilberto's collaborative record, Getz/Gilberto is a classic cool jazz recording that helped bring the sounds of bossa nova to an international audience.
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Presto Editor's Choices - February 2021
1st Mar 2021
A breathtaking Liszt recital from Benjamin Grosvenor, three electrifying orchestral works by Raymond Yiu, and a highly enjoyable trip to the zoo with Ashley Riches and Joseph Middleton.
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Trish Clowes on Wayne Shorter's 'Footprints Live!'
1st Mar 2021
In the second of our new series of videos, British saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, Trish Clowes, tells us about Wayne Shorter's Footprints Live!, The Record That Changed Her Life.
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Biber's Requiem from Vox Luminis
26th Feb 2021
Lionel Meunier's ensemble explore a time of religious and musical flux in Europe, with an album centred around Heinrich Biber's Requiem and less-heard works by his contemporaries.
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Biber: Requiem
Freiburger Barockconsort, Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier
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New Release Round-Up - 26th February 2021
26th Feb 2021
Piazzolla from Lucienne Renaudin Vary, Bartók from Thomas Dausgaard, Brahms from Antoine Tamestit and Cédric Tiberghien, and French theatre music from Neeme Järvi.
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Elephant9 - Arrival of the New Elders
26th Feb 2021
Jazz-rock trio Elephant9's Arrival of the New Elders is a carefully composed hard-rocking romp, offering a healthy blend of the rawness of rock, the improvisatory chops of jazz and the spacey, outer-space sounds of psychedelia.
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Emmanuel Despax on Spira, Spera
25th Feb 2021
The pianist talks about his new album of Bach transcriptions, inspired in part by his personal reaction to the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of 2019.
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Jazz New Release Round-Up - 25th February 2021
25th Feb 2021
Cameron Graves' 'thrash-jazz', experimental vocal jazz-meets-pop, and a series of singles from up-and-coming Russian jazz talent are among our picks for this week's new release round-up.
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A Stanford Organ Album
25th Feb 2021
A superb volume comprising of a selection of twenty pieces by Charles Villiers Stanford, the hugely influential composer, conductor, and teacher from the late-Victorian and Edwardian age. Providing the repertoire-hungry organist with preludes, postludes, and shorter descriptive works, suitable for either liturgical or recital use. Find out more here.
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BBC Music Magazine - March 2021 Choices
24th Feb 2021
Chris introduces this month's selection, with a 'sexy, sparkling' account of John Eccles's Semele from the Academy of Ancient Music and Julian Perkins in pride of place.
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New Decca and Deutsche Grammophon titles added to Presto CD
23rd Feb 2021
Featured artists on our latest batch include Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jorge Bolet, Martha Argerich, and Erich Kleiber.
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Pure Exotica: As Dug By Lux and Ivy
23rd Feb 2021
A new compilation from Cherry Red offers an ideal entry point into the weird and wonderful world of Exotica.
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Pure Exotica: As Dug By Lux and Ivy
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Francesca Dego on Paganini's Violin
22nd Feb 2021
The violinist talks about her new recording on Paganini's own violin, featuring works by, dedicated to and responding to the great composer.
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New Music Book Publications - 22nd February 2021
22nd Feb 2021
An introduction to Western musical notation; a new translation of Richard Wagner's essays on the art of conducting; a biography of blues singer, Bessie Smith; an encyclopedia of historical performance practice; a look behind the scenes at the Ballets Russes; a guide to piano fingering; a study of concert life in nineteenth-century America; an exploration of music in Ancient Greece; and the history of the ballad singer in Georgian and Victorian London.
