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New Release Round-Up - 17th October 2025
17th Oct 2025
Bliss ballet music from the BBC Philharmonic with Michael Seal, a wide-ranging debut recital from countertenor Hugh Cutting with Audrey Hyland, Schubert piano sonatas from Martin Helmchen, and Debussy and Szymanowski from the Belcea Quartet.
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Sir Thomas Allen reflects on his career
16th Oct 2025
In the wake of receiving Gramophone's Lifetime Achievement Award last night, the beloved British baritone shares insights and anecdotes from his five decades on stage - and picks out four favourite recordings from his vast discography...
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Mozart: Don Giovanni
Thomas Allen (Don Giovanni), Carol Vaness (Donna Anna), Maria Ewing (Donna Elvira), Elizabeth Gale (Zerlina), Keith Lewis (Don Ottavio), Richard van Allan (Leporello), John Rawnsley (Masetto), Dimitri Kavrakos (Il Commendatore) Glyndebourne Chorus & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
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Gramophone Awards 2025 - The Winners!
15th Oct 2025
Chris reports back from tonight's ceremony in London, with full details of the Recording of the Year, Artist of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and other special awards.
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Clare Hammond on Tippett, Britten and Walton
14th Oct 2025
British pianist Clare Hammond spoke to Matthew Ash about her new album dedicated to the music of Tippett, Britten and Walton, and her tireless work to provide musical opportunities and exposure for everyone, irrespective of background, race or gender.
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Presto Presents... Alexandra Whittingham
13th Oct 2025
The guitarist joined us last week to celebrate the release of her new album Letters from Paris, a quintessentially French-tinged collection of miniatures and chanson arrangements.
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Letters From Paris
Alexandra Whittingham (guitar), Carducci Quartet (stringquartet, string quartet), Thea Sayer (doublebass), Matthew Denton (violin), Michelle Fleming (violin), Eoin Schmidt-Martin (viola), Emma Denton (cello), Margarita Balanas (cello), Stephanie Jones (guitar), Jess Gillam (sopranosaxophone)
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Bracing Brahms from Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon
10th Oct 2025
A fresh new recording of Brahms's quasi-sacred masterwork combines hints of past approaches - both the luxuriant and the austere - for an overall impression that's clear and light but deep and profound when it counts.
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New Release Round-Up - 10th October 2025
10th Oct 2025
Golden Age duets and arias from Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee, early Mozart from Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Tippett, Britten and Walton from Clare Hammond, and a collection of recent secular choral works by Sir John Rutter.
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Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee on Golden Age
9th Oct 2025
In a break from rehearsals for Laurent Pelly's production of La fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera, the American soprano and tenor discuss their new album of arias and duets by Donizetti, Bizet, Delibes, Adam and Rossini (out tomorrow on Pentatone).
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Anna Clyne and Marin Alsop on Abstractions
8th Oct 2025
The composer and conductor talk about their long history of working together, including their first collaboration at the Cabrillo Festival back in 2010, the Last Night of the Proms in 2013, and their latest album of four pieces with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
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Francesco Piemontesi on Brahms and Alchemy
7th Oct 2025
A deep-thinking and communicative pianist, Francesco Piemontesi spoke to Matthew Ash about his new Brahms album, the support that made it possible, and the things that need to come together to create music on the most orchestral of instruments.
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BBC Music Magazine - November 2025 Choices
6th Oct 2025
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by 'thoughtful and on occasion provocative' Bach from Isabelle Faust with Kristian Bezuidenhout and Kristin von der Goltz on Harmonia Mundi.
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Tchaikovsky from Daniil Trifonov
3rd Oct 2025
The Russian pianist combines deft dexterity with a vivid musical imagination across a programme which includes Album for the Young and Mikhail Pletnev's transcription of The Sleeping Beauty Suite.
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New Release Round-Up - 3rd October 2025
3rd Oct 2025
A lute song recital with a difference from countertenor Reginald Mobley, Dvořák from Sir Simon Rattle and the Czech Philharmonic, a Parisian love-letter from guitarist Alexandra Whittingham, and Elgar & Adès from Christian Tetzlaff.
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The Presto Chart - September 2025
2nd Oct 2025
Our 25 best-selling titles across all formats for September, headed by John Wilson's hyper-complete recording of Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady with Sinfonia of London on Chandos.
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Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady
Scarlett Strallen (Eliza Doolittle), Jamie Parker (Henry Higgins), Alun Armstrong (Alfred P. Doolittle), Malcolm Sinclair (Colonel Pickering), Laurence Kilsby (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Julia McKenzie (Mrs Pearce), Penelope Wilton (Mrs Higgins) Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
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Martin Neary (1940-2025)
1st Oct 2025
The organist and choirmaster, famous primarily for his role in directing and shaping the music for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, has died aged 85.
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Presto Team Choices - September 2025
30th Sep 2025
An affectionate, wide-ranging birthday tribute to Arvo Pärt from Paavo Järvi, an heroic triptych from Jakub Hrůša in Bamberg, an anniversary homage to Mikolajus Čiurlionis from Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and an 'unfailingly engaging' Idomeneo from Sir Simon Rattle in Munich.
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The Pavel Haas Quartet on Martinů
29th Sep 2025
Violinist Veronika Jarůšková and cellist Peter Jarůšek discuss how the composer's music featured in their first meeting as children on a TV talent show, Martinů's relationship with fellow composer Vítězslava Kaprálová, and surmounting the technical challenges of music that is 'almost impossible to play'.
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Martinů: String Quartets Nos. 2-3-5-7
Pavel Haas Quartet
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Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady from John Wilson and Sinfonia of London
26th Sep 2025
Jamie Parker and Scarlett Strallen head a luxury cast on this luscious recording of the Pygmalion-inspired 1956 musical about an irascible phonetician who gives a Cockney flower-girl a socio-linguistic makeover.
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Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady
Scarlett Strallen (Eliza Doolittle), Jamie Parker (Henry Higgins), Alun Armstrong (Alfred P. Doolittle), Malcolm Sinclair (Colonel Pickering), Laurence Kilsby (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Julia McKenzie (Mrs Pearce), Penelope Wilton (Mrs Higgins) Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
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New Release Round-Up - 26th September 2025
26th Sep 2025
Neapolitan songs from Pene Pati, a celebration of John Rutter from Clare College Cambridge, Telemann from Isabelle Faust and friends, and Vaughan Williams from the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano.
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Craig Ogden on Tango at Tetbury, Dancing with Piazzolla and Latin Connections
25th Sep 2025
Ahead of opening the 2025 Tetbury Music Festival with the London Tango Quintet, and the release of a new Aquarelle Guitar Quartet album in October, Craig Ogden chatted with Matthew Ash about the breadth of his musical passions, the joys of chamber music and his choice of strings, giving insight into an instrument that is all too often unfairly viewed as sitting at the periphery of classical music.
