Latest stories

Carmen from Berlin with Kaufmann and Kožená

20th Aug 2012by Katherine Cooper

The light-voiced Czech mezzo and heavyweight German tenor are an appropriately chalk-and-cheese pairing as the free-spirited gypsy and her obsessive soldier lover, with Kožená’s husband Simon Rattle conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in a performance which emphasises the score’s opéra comique pedigree.

Mahler Symphony No. 1 from Iván Fischer

13th Aug 2012by James Longstaffe

The Hungarian conductor and his Budapest orchestra bring a wonderfully rustic, unrefined flavour to Mahler’s völkisch central movements, in an interpretation which benefits from Fischer’s ear for balance and attention to the smallest details of orchestration.

Rhapsody in Blue – Grosvenor and Kempf

6th Aug 2012by Chris O'Reilly

Two former BBC Young Musician of the Year prize-winners record Gershwin’s best-known work – Kempf as part of an all-Gershwin programme, Grosvenor alongside Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2.

Hans Rott’s First Symphony

30th Jul 2012by Katherine Cooper

Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra make a great case for the sole symphony by a composer who was described by his friend Gustav Mahler as ‘the founder of the new symphony as I understand it.’

L’Olimpiade: The Opera

23rd Jul 2012by Katherine Cooper

The Venice Baroque Orchestra and a fine line-up of singers present a pasticcio setting of a libretto by Metastasio, with contributions from composers including Caldara, Vivaldi, Galuppi, Hasse and Paisiello.

Holst and Delius on Naxos

16th Jul 2012by Chris O'Reilly

JoAnn Falletta conducts the Ulster Orchestra in Holst’s Cotswolds Symphony, and David Hill directs Delius’s Nietzsche-inspired Mass for Life with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Richard Strauss round-up

9th Jul 2012by James Longstaffe

Elektra from Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra, Die Frau ohne Schatten from the 2011 Salzburg Festival, and the Four Last Songs from Anne Schwanewilms.

New Shostakovich discovery - Orango

2nd Jul 2012by Katherine Cooper

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the world premiere recording of an embryonic opera which Shostakovivch abandoned partway through the Prologue, fleshed out and orchestrated here by Gerard McBurney.

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.

Two terrific Italian Renaissance reconstructions

18th Jun 2012by Katherine Cooper

A new Venetian Coronation from Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort, and a reconstruction of a typical Italian Vespers programme from circa 1612 from Robert Hollingworth and I Fagiolini.

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.

Bach's St Matthew Passion

4th Jun 2012by Katherine Cooper

Peter Sellars’s ‘ritualization’ of the work with Simon Rattle conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker packs a powerful punch, thanks in no small part to Mark Padmore’s harrowing central performance as the Evangelist.

Bruckner Symphonies from Rattle and Barenboim

28th May 2012by James Longstaffe

Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin in the Seventh Symphony, whilst Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker tackle the Ninth.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

21st May 2012by Katherine Cooper

Handel in England

14th May 2012by Katherine Cooper

The Edinburgh-based Dunedin Consort record Esther, Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company make a fine case for the incidental music for Smollett’s Alceste, and a legendary Glyndebourne Theodora makes its first appearance on CD.

Britten: War Requiem

7th May 2012by James Longstaffe

Gianandrea Noseda leads an Italianate performance of Britten’s great depiction of ‘the pity of war’, with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soloists Sabina Cvilak, Ian Bostridge and Simon Keenlyside.

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.

Kathleen Ferrier

23rd Apr 2012by Katherine Cooper

On the centenary of Ferrier’s birth, Katherine pays to tribute to the great Lancashire contralto and explores her legacy on disc via two comprehensive commemorative sets from Decca and EMI, which includes folksongs, Bach and Mahler.

Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique from Ticciati and the SCO

16th Apr 2012by James Longstaffe

Now several years into his tenure as principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the young British conductor presides over a ‘deliriously orgiastic’ account of Berlioz’s ‘episodes in the life of an artist’.