Editor's Choices include a 'clear, elegant and moving' Baroque album from Miloš Karadaglić (with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen) on Sony, a Puccini recital brimming with 'liquid phrasing, tenderness and ardour' from Chilean-American tenor Jonathan Tetelman on Deutsche Grammophon, and an 'utterly captivating' production of Humperdinck's dark fairy-tale Königskinder from Dutch National Opera, directed by Christof Loy and starring Daniel Behle as the King's Son & Olga Kulchynska as the Goose-Girl.
Recording of the Month
Editor's Choices
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra & Viola Concerto
Amihai Grosz (viola), Orchestre National de Lille, Alexandre Bloch
'This latest Bartók pairing confirms the potency of Alexandre Bloch and his Lille orchestra away from the French repertoire in which they might be expected to excel.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 9 & 24
Lars Vogt (piano), Orchestre de chambre de Paris
'It has to be said that, leaving the poignancy aside, the musical results speak for themselves and offer an illuminating last word to add to the extraordinary set of Schubert chamber works that Vogt made with the Tetzlaff siblings.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Dvořák: The Complete Piano Trios
Veronika Jarůšková (violin), Peter Jarůšek (cello), Boris Giltburg (piano)
'These performers bring out the rustic elements in this music; they connect with the childlike stargazers that we all are at heart, and that is a good part of Dvořák’s appeal.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Liszt: Transcendental Etudes
Haochen Zhang (piano)
'Zhang’s fingerwork, his varied articulation and his dynamic range (especially at the quiet end) stand out...Most arresting of all, though, is Zhang’s willingness to take interpretative risks.'
Available Format: SACD
Miloš - Baroque
Miloš Karadaglić (guitar), Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen
'He asks the famous question, ‘Sonata, what do you want of me?’ and listens for an answer before communicating it to us in the clearest, most elegant and most moving fashion.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Fantasia
Igor Levit (piano)
'The latest of Igor Levit’s thematically linked collections solidifies his reputation as a pianist of unflinching intellectual rigour and breathtaking technique. His finesse is unmistakable.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Mirabilis: The Music of Stephen Hough
London Choral Sinfonia, Michael Waldron
'There’s a gilded quality to much of it – bright with very high trebles (you can sense him imagining Westminster Cathedral Choir, as well as the building’s acoustic), cloudy with harmonic incense.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The Great Puccini
Jonathan Tetelman (tenor), PKF - Prague Philharmonia, Carlo Rizzi
'What a sound! Tetelman’s tenor possesses gleaming brightness, and his open vowels and excellent Italian diction make him the sunniest-sounding tenor since Luciano Pavarotti.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas
Fleur Barron (Dido), Matthew Brook (Aeneas), Giulia Semenzato (Belinda), Avery Amereau (Sorceress), Tim Mead (Spirit), Nicky Spence (Sailor), Hilary Cronin (Second Woman), Helen Charlston, Martha McLorinan (Witches); La Nuova Musica, David Bates
'It’s the orchestral playing and colouring where this recording really comes into its own. Small touches bring storytelling into sharp focus, constantly pulling the ear towards new details.'
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Humperdinck: Königskinder (Blu-ray)
Daniel Behle (Königssohn), Olga Kulchynska (Gänsemagd), Doris Soffel (Hexe), Josef Wagner (Spielmann); Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus of Dutch National Opera, Nieuw Amsterdams Kinderkoor, Marc Albrecht, Christof Loy
'Christof Loy’s production for Dutch National Opera gives it to us pretty straight, but with a stark and timeless beauty that faintly references the Holocaust while reminding us to trust the next generation even against our own instincts.'
Available Format: Blu-ray
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
Mendelssohn: Elias
Dame Margaret Price (soprano), Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo), Peter Schreier (tenor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Chor des Städtischen Musikvereins zu Düsseldorf, Wolfgang Sawallisch
'a performance of operatic sweep and irresistible sincerity, lyricism and warmth. This was clearly a night to remember, and the highest praise that I can give to this recording is that 39 years later you can still feel the glow.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
