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Gramophone Awards 2013 Disc of the Year: Violin Concertos by Bartók, Eötvös & Ligeti

23rd Sep 2013by Chris O'Reilly

New Verdi releases from Jonas Kaufmann and others

16th Sep 2013by Katherine Cooper

The German tenor brings ‘nuanced psychological drama* to a collection of portraits including a foretaste of Otello, whilst Thomas Hampson is profoundly moving as a ‘care-worn and conflicted’ Simon Boccanegra.

Arias for countertenor/male soprano from Fagioli, Hansen, and Jaroussky

9th Sep 2013by Katherine Cooper

Argentine sopranist Fagioli scales the high Cs in a jaw-dropping recital of arias penned for the notorious star castrato Caffarelli, whilst Jaroussky explores music written by for his rival Farinelli by their mutual singing-teacher Nicola Porpora.

Piers Lane Goes To Town: Piano encores and lollipops

2nd Sep 2013by James Longstaffe

The Australian pianist’s ‘pot pourri of pianistic palate-cleansers and party pieces’ includes music by figures as diverse as Dudley Moore, Percy Grainger, Billy Mayerl and Arthur Benjamin, as well as several pieces written especially for Lane.

Rachmaninov from Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker

26th Aug 2013by James Longstaffe

The Berliners afford luxurious treatment to the choral symphony The Bells (with soloists Luba Orgonášová and Mikhail Petrenko), whilst Rattle’s spacious approach to the Symphonic Dances pays huge dividends.

Dame Janet Baker celebrates her eightieth birthday

19th Aug 2013by Katherine Cooper

Curated to mark the great English mezzo's birthday, this 20-disc set from EMI includes classic recordings of music by Berlioz, Elgar, Mahler and Schubert as well as previously-unreleased material including Monteverdi and Scarlatti with Raymond Leppard.

Verdi arias from Anna Netrebko

12th Aug 2013by Katherine Cooper

The Russian soprano marks the composer’s bicentenary with arias and scenes from Don Carlo, Macbeth, Il trovatore, Giovanna d’Arco and I vespri siciliani in a recital which reveals a voice reaching glorious full bloom.

Schubert works for violin and piano from Ibragimova and Tiberghien

5th Aug 2013by Chris O'Reilly

The duo’s intimate and restrained approach scores highly for pure beauty of tone and natural rapport, but doesn’t preclude plenty of playfulness and bite in the faster movements - fantastically vibrant playing, technically brilliant and always stylish.

Tudor Church Music from Stile Antico

29th Jul 2013by David Smith

The conductorless British vocal ensemble’s rich lower voices and effortless, ethereal sopranos bring an almost regal broadness to music by Gibbons, Tallis, Byrd, Morley, Taverner and White.

Dame Janet Baker at 80

25th Jul 2013by Katherine Cooper

In the lead-up to her eightieth birthday, the great English mezzo reflects on her career.

Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration Concert

22nd Jul 2013by Katherine Cooper

The American summer festival celebrates its three-quarter century in eclectic fashion, with Haydn from Emanuel Ax, Bernstein from the Boston Pops Orchestra, Ravel from Andris Nelsons, and excerpts from The Great American Songbook from James Taylor.

Isabelle Faust performs Bartók Violin Concertos

15th Jul 2013by Chris O'Reilly

Faust combines technical brilliance with a performance full of bite and character, and demonstrates a natural affinity with Daniel Harding and his orchestra, who offer vivid accompaniment throughout and no shortage of incisive rawness of their own where required.

Handel Chandos Anthems from Stephen Layton and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge

8th Jul 2013by Katherine Cooper

Transparent textures and stylish but unfussy phrasing are the order of the day in these buoyant accounts of the anthems which Handel composed during his year-long musical residency at the home of James Brydges, the Paymaster General during the War of Spanish Succession.

Claudio Abbado conducts Schumann's Second Symphony

1st Jul 2013by James Longstaffe

On the cusp of his eightieth birthday, Abbado brings the chamber-like qualities of his Mozart recordings to the music of Schumann in performances which are shot through with vivacious sparkle and evident love for the music.

Wagner from Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra

24th Jun 2013by Chris O'Reilly

Wonderfully balanced and beautifully characterised accounts of the Overture to Die Meistersinger, the Siegfried Idyll and three excerpts from Götterdämmerung, including an Immolation Scene of laser-sharp accuracy and thrilling power from Petra Lang.

The Complete Works of Pierre Boulez on Deutsche Grammophon

17th Jun 2013by James Longstaffe

Assembled under the composer’s personal supervision (and featuring many of his own recordings with Ensemble InterContemporain), this 13-CD collection includes several works which have not previously appeared on CD and features fearless pianism from Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Maurizio Pollini.

Neeme Järvi conducts Richard Strauss’s ballet, Josephslegende

10th Jun 2013by Chris O'Reilly

Strauss himself may have spoke slightingly of this work (commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1914), but Chris is won over by the range and combinations of orchestral colours, and Järvi’s carefully calculated tempos and tempo relationships.

Valery Gergiev and the LSO begin a cycle of Szymanowski symphonies

3rd Jun 2013by James Longstaffe

The richness of the London Symphony Orchestra’s string section is showcased to great effect in the tender, lyrical slow movements of both symphonies, whilst Gergiev responds to the music’s more volatile moments extremely well.

100th anniversary of the première of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring

27th May 2013by James Longstaffe

The centenary of one of the most controversial premieres in musical history is marked by a new recording from Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker, and a mammoth Collector’s Edition comprising 38 recordings dating from 1946 to 2010.

Cecilia Bartoli sings Bellini’s Norma

20th May 2013by Katherine Cooper

Giovanni Antonini recreates Bellini’s masterpiece as it would have been heard at its 1831 premiere, with period instruments, a light soprano Adalgisa, and a high mezzo in the formidable title-role – Bartoli, radiating neurotic intensity and raw pathos as the infanticidal Druid priestess.