Latest stories
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New Mahler 8 from Pierre Boulez
22nd Oct 2007
A ‘challenging and enlightening’ account of the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’. with the Staatskapelle Berlin and soloists including Erin Wall, Johan Botha and Robert Holl.
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Mozart - Don Giovanni from René Jacobs
1st Oct 2007
The final instalment of the Belgian conductor’s ‘refreshing and intelligent’ Mozart-Da Ponte cycle has Chris questioning his preconceptions about the eponymous libertine, sung here by 27-year-old Johannes Weisser.
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Natalie Clein and the Elgar Cello Concerto
24th Sep 2007
The 1994 BBC Young Musician of the Year records the concerto which propelled her to victory with Vernon Handley and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Joshua Bell
17th Sep 2007
Following his recent performance at the Last night of the Proms, the American violinist gives the world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s ‘Red Violin’ Concerto, composed for the 1998 film of the same name.
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Luciano Pavarotti
10th Sep 2007
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Kate Royal
3rd Sep 2007
The English soprano’s debut album on EMI includes songs by Strauss, Rodrigo, Granados and Canteloube, plus extracts from works by Ravel, Stravinsky and Debussy.
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Exciting new baroque rediscovery - Conti's David
20th Aug 2007
Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco record the Italian baroque composer’s ‘azione sacra’ (which predates Handel’s Saul by 15 years), with contralto Marjana Mijanovic as the eponymous hero and Furio Zanasi as Goliath.
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Haydn - the most underrated great composer
30th Jul 2007
An ‘uplifting, overwhelming, charming and comforting’ account of Haydn’s most popular oratorio, sung in a new English adaptation, with soloists including Miah Persson and Mark Padmore.
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Elin Manahan Thomas
9th Jul 2007
The young Welsh soprano’s debut solo album, Eternal Light, features music by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Arne, Pergolesi and Hildegard von Bingen.
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Padmore and Bostridge sing Handel
11th Jun 2007
Two leading English tenors tackle opera and oratorio arias, including Jupiter’s ‘Where’er you walk’ from Semele, Jephtha’s ‘Waft her, angels’, and Samson’s ‘Total eclipse’.
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Elgar's Enigma Variations
4th Jun 2007
Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra mark the 150th anniversary of the English composer’s birth with a marvellous new live recording of his tribute to ‘my friends pictured within’.
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Debussy's new champion
14th May 2007
The French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet begins a new Debussy cycle with arresting performances of the Préludes and Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon.
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Schütz's Legacy
7th May 2007
Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent performed the German baroque master’s ‘Opus ultimum’, a series of eleven motets for double choir setting Psalm 119.
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Mstislav Rostropovich
30th Apr 2007
The great Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor has died aged 80.
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BBC Music Magazine Awards
16th Apr 2007
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Harpsichord or Piano?
26th Mar 2007
In the wake of French pianist Alexandre Tharaud’s superb recent album of Couperin, Tic Toc Choc, Chris considers the implications of performing baroque keyboard music on a modern piano.
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Strauss's Four Last Songs
19th Mar 2007
A new recording of Strauss’s late reflections on mortality from EMI’s new signing, Swedish dramatic soprano Nina Stemme, stands comparison with the very best.
