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The Presto Chart - November 2018
1st Dec 2018
Our 25 best-selling titles across all formats for November, with Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna's Mahler Six in first place...
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Presto Editor's Choices - November 2018
30th Nov 2018
Schumann from Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber, Beethoven from Maxim Emelyanychev and the Nizhny Novgorod Soloists, and Elgar from Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé.
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100 Years of Nine Lessons & Carols from King's
30th Nov 2018
David enjoys a retrospective recording from the choir of King's College, looking back on a century of festive music-making and forward to a new era.
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New Release Round-Up - 30th November 2018
30th Nov 2018
Verdi from Fabio Biondi (yes, really!), Berlioz from Michael Tilson Thomas and the late Sir Colin Davis, and Debussy centenary tributes from pianists Javier Perianes and Roger Muraro.
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Recordings of the Year - Special Category Nominees
29th Nov 2018
In advance of the final verdicts next Friday, we reveal the shortlists for our six new special awards - including Rising Star, Conductor of the Year, and two separate categories of world premiere recordings.
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Colin Currie on The Scene of the Crime
26th Nov 2018
Trailblazing percussionist Colin Currie talks to David about his recent duo recording with trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger.
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Vivaldi from Cecilia Bartoli and Ensemble Matheus
23rd Nov 2018
Nearly twenty years after her landmark album devoted to the operas of the 'Red Priest', the Italian mezzo is as dazzling as ever in arias from works including Orlando furioso, Il Giustino and Ottone in Villa.
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New Release Round-Up - 23rd November 2018
23rd Nov 2018
Highlights from Porpora’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel from Sabine Devieilhe and Léa Desandre, Debussy and Ravel from Joseph Moog, and the final instalment of Chloë Hanslip and Danny Driver’s Beethoven Violin Sonatas.
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Recordings of the Year 2018 - Our Top 100
22nd Nov 2018
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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Adams: Doctor Atomic
Gerald Finley (Robert Oppenheimer), Julia Bullock (Kitty Oppenheimer), Brindley Sherratt (Edward Teller), Samuel Sakker (James Nolan), Andrew Staples (Robert Wilson), Jennifer Johnston (Pasqualita) BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, John Adams
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Boxed Set Selections - November 2018
22nd Nov 2018
Jaap van Zweden’s Ring Cycle with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Colin Davis’s complete recordings of Berlioz with the London Symphony Orchestra, and collections celebrating Carlos Kleiber, Henryk Szeryng, Riccardo Chailly and Claudio Abbado.
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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Matthias Goerne (Wotan), Petra Lang (Brünnhilde - Die Walküre), Heidi Melton (Sieglinde/Brünnhilde - Siegfried), Gun-Brit Barkmin (Brünnhilde - Götterdämmerung), Daniel Brenna (Siegfried - Götterdämmerung), Simon O’Neill (Siegfried - Siegfried); Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden
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Palmarès des Diapason d'or 2018
21st Nov 2018
Chris introduces the winners of this year's Awards, revealed at a ceremony last night in Paris.
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Choral Works by Owain Park
20th Nov 2018
The young singer, conductor and composer talks to David about his choral works as recently recorded on Hyperion by Stephen Layton and The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge.
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Late Debussy sonatas from Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov and friends
16th Nov 2018
Harmonia Mundi's ten-album series commemorating the centenary of Debussy's death continues with the Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata, and Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp.
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New Release Round-Up - 16th November 2018
16th Nov 2018
Schumann from Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber, Mahler from Daniel Harding, and Sir David McVicar's staging of Bellini's Norma from the Metropolitan Opera, starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato and Joseph Calleja.
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Rory McCleery on Pater Peccavi
15th Nov 2018
The Marian Consort's conductor talks to David about his new recording exploring a fascinating and unique corner of Iberia's musical history.
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BBC Music Magazine - December 2018 Choices
14th Nov 2018
Chris introduces this month's selection, including albums from Vilde Frang, the Tesla Quartet, Leif Ove Andsnes, and The Tallis Scholars.
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Rossini: Semiramide
Albina Shagimuratova (Semiramide), Daniela Barcellona (Arsace), Mirco Palazzi (Assur), Barry Banks (Idreno), Gianluca Buratto (Oroe), Susana Gaspar (Azema), David Butt Philip (Mitrane), James Platt (L’ombra di Nino) Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Opera Rara Chorus, Sir Mark Elder
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Jaap van Zweden on the Hong Kong Philharmonic's Ring Cycle
13th Nov 2018
As the final instalment of the cycle on Naxos is released, the conductor talks to Katherine about the project's origins, and the challenges and rewards of tackling Wagner's epic with an orchestra whose primary home is the concert-hall rather than the opera-house.
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Wagner: Götterdämmerung (CD)
Gun-Brit Barkmin (Brünnhilde), Daniel Brenna (Siegfried), Eric Halfvarson (Hagen), Shenyang (Gunther), Amanda Majeski (Gutrune), Peter Kálmán (Alberich), Michelle DeYoung (Waltraute) Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus & Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden
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John Wilson conducts Copland's Third Symphony and Connotations
9th Nov 2018
Chandos's superb survey of the American composer's orchestral music with the BBC Philharmonic continues to raise the roof as the Fanfare for the Common Man returns transformed.
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New Release Round-Up - 9th November 2018
9th Nov 2018
The final instalment of Jaap van Zweden’s excellent Ring Cycle with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, thrillingly raw Beethoven from Maxim Emelyanychev, Mozart from Faust and Melnikov, and Christopher Maltman’s role-debut as Berg's Wozzeck.
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Dame Sarah Connolly on A Walk with Ivor Gurney
8th Nov 2018
The great English mezzo talks to David about her new album exploring the music and poetry of the wartime composer Ivor Gurney, with Tenebrae and the Aurora Orchestra.
