Latest stories
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Thomas Dunford and Lea Desandre on Songs of Passion
23rd Dec 2025by Katherine Cooper
The lutenist and mezzo discuss their Presto Award-winning album of music by Dowland and Purcell, their own first encounters with both composers as teenagers, and some of the friends and family-members who played a part in the project.
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Yunchan Lim's Goldberg Variations and other forthcoming highlights
22nd Dec 2025
The Van Cliburn Competition-winning South Korean pianist tackles one of the cornerstones of the repertoire, with other stand-outs for early 2026 including The Dream of Gerontius from Martyn Brabbins in Huddersfield, Schumann and Moscheles from Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih, and a prayerful operatic recital from French-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig.
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Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann from Covent Garden
19th Dec 2025by Katherine Cooper
Stuffed with references to films including Moulin Rouge, Casino Royale and Mary Poppins, Damiano Michieletto’s surreal, absinthe-drenched production of Offenbach's final opera is the perfect dark Christmas treat, with Juan Diego Flórez heading a superb cast as the eponymous poet and barfly.
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Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann (Blu-ray)
Juan Diego Flórez (Hoffmann), Ermonela Jaho (Antonia), Alex Esposito (Lindorf/Coppélius/Miracle/Dapertutto), Julie Boulianne (Nicklausse), Olga Pudova (Olympia), Marina Costa-Jackson (Giulietta), Christine Rice (Muse) Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Antonello Manacorda, Damiano Michieletto
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New Releases from Winter 2025
19th Dec 2025by Katherine Cooper
A nature-themed concept-album from The Hermes Experiment, a 150th-birthday tribute to Ravel from Cristian Măcelaru in Paris, an homage to trailblazing cellist Lise Cristiani from Sol Gabetta, and Beethoven from Jordan-born pianist Karim Said.
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Contemporary Music Round-Up - Winter 2025
18th Dec 2025by Ben Hogwood
In our latest round-up of contemporary music releases, Ben celebrates the work of two nonagenarians, explores the colour spectrum through the orchestra, enjoys pictorial British chamber music, and find the twenty-first-century symphony to be in rude health.
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Jean Rondeau on Louis Couperin
17th Dec 2025by David Smith
The French harpsichordist talks about his massive project, released in November, to record the complete works of the founder of the Couperin dynasty.
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Gramophone Editor's Choices - December 2025
16th Dec 2025by Chris O'Reilly
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by a studio recording of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor from Catania with a 'tremendous' Lisette Oropesa in the title-role and Donizetti specialist Fabrizio Maria Carminati at the helm.
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Owain Park on Radiant Dawn
15th Dec 2025by David Smith
The director of The Gesualdo Six talks about the group's new album, which sees them collaborating with trumpeter Matilda Lloyd.
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Orchestral Works by Max Reger from Jaime Martín and the Gävle Symphony Orchestra
12th Dec 2025by James Longstaffe
Released back in August, this album (one of our Top 10 Classical Recordings of 2025) presents a marvellously evocative and captivating account of two orchestral works by Max Reger: the Four Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin, Op. 128, and the Romantic Suite, Op. 125.
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New Release Round-Up - 12th December 2025
12th Dec 2025by Katherine Cooper
A Mozart Requiem with a difference from Manfred Honeck in Pittsburgh, André Tchaikowsky from Peter Jablonski, Mahler from Gianandrea Noseda in Washington, and Chopin & Scriabin from Mikhail Pletnev.
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Requiem: Mozart's Death in Words and Music
F. Murray Abraham, Jeanine De Bique (soprano), Catriona Morison (mezzo), Ben Bliss (tenor), Tareq Nazmi (bass); Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Westminster Choir, The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, Manfred Honeck
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Piers Connor Kennedy on Nowel el el
11th Dec 2025by David Smith
The composer and singer talks about his new works featured on Ensemble Pro Victoria's latest album, Nowel.
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BBC Music Magazine - Christmas 2025 Choices
9th Dec 2025by Chris O'Reilly
Chris introduces this issue's selection, headed by a 'mesmerising and disturbing' Mahler recital from mezzo Anna Lucia Richter with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln under Jordan de Souza on Myrios.
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Streaming gift vouchers available now
8th Dec 2025by Chris O'Reilly
Presto Music launches Streaming Gift Vouchers – the perfect present for music lovers - available in durations of 3, 6 and 12 months.
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David Fray on Baroque Encores and the Offrande Musicale festival
8th Dec 2025by David Smith
The pianist talks about his new album of Baroque keyboard works performed on the piano, his inspirations, and the music festival he runs in his home region in the south-west of France.
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A Franco-Italian double Baroque Christmas
5th Dec 2025by David Smith
Festive works by Alessandro Scarlatti and Marc-Antoine Charpentier offer tastes of two different Baroque Christmas flavours, with Giulio Prandi's Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri joined by a brief but glorious stellar turn from Carlotta Colombo and Christophe Rousset marshalling the Monteverdi Singers and English Baroque Soloists.
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Christmas New Releases 2025
5th Dec 2025by Katherine Cooper
Festive releases from the Choir of St John's College Cambridge, the Miró Quartet, Il Pomo d'Oro, and the brass section of the Berlin Philharmonic.
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O Holy Night
Alexander Robson, Montague Tatnell (soprano), Arthur Cobb (soprano), Bryony Macleod-Jones (soprano), Alice Markham (vocalist), Theodore Horch (tenor), Alexander Semple (bass-baritone), Nicholas Garcia (soprano), Matthew Monaghan (vocalist), Anna Morgan (vocalist), William Collison (tenor), Garbhán McEnoy (tenor), Simon Hall (bass-baritone), John Moore (bass-baritone), Amelia Crichton-Stuart (soprano), Alexander Weiss (bass-baritone), George Henty (soprano), Choir of St John's College Cambridge, Christopher Gray
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Recordings of the Year 2025 - Our Top 10
4th Dec 2025by Chris O'Reilly
The winners revealed - ten fantastic recordings which really stood out from the crowd for us over the past twelve months, plus the results of our six special category awards...
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Gifts for... Baroque and Early Music fans
3rd Dec 2025by David Smith
In the latest of our festive gift guides, we've selected some perfect presents for the early music fan in your life, from the latest albums, vinyl reissues and collections, to the best recent books about the music and society of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
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David Matthews & Jac van Steen on their musical friendship
2nd Dec 2025by Ben Hogwood
The British composer and Dutch conductor discuss their various collaborations over the last three decades, including a new album of Matthews's Symphony No. 11, Flute Concerto and Symphonic Diptych from the opera Anna (released last month on SOMM).
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The Presto Chart - November 2025
1st Dec 2025by Chris O'Reilly
Our 25 best-selling titles across all formats for November, headed by Víkingur Ólafsson's illuminating recital centring on Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 109 on Deutsche Grammophon.