Latest stories
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Presto Editor's Choices - June 2022
30th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
A tour de force of a recital from contemporary music diva and composer Héloïse Werner (plus a rich and varied roster of instrumental soloists), a revelatory Dichterliebe from Matthias Goerne and Daniil Trifonov, and a superb collection of the young Ravel's ambitious submissions for the Prix de Rome...
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Florian Sempey on Rossini
28th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
The French baritone discusses his new album Figaro? Sì! (out now on Alpha Classics), the stage-director who transformed his perspective on Rossini's wheeler-dealing barber, and how the composer's joie de vivre is often underscored by melancholy...
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Lola Descours on Bassoon Steppes
27th Jun 2022by David Smith
The bassoonist discusses her new album of transcriptions, featuring Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and more, and the unique relationship between the instrument and Russian repertoire.
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Freddie De Tommaso - Il Tenore
24th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
The young British-Italian tenor is on barnstorming form in a programme of scenes and arias from Tosca, Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Carmen, with equally impressive guest appearances from Lise Davidsen, Natalya Romaniw and Aigul Akhmetshina.
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New Release Round-Up - 24th June 2022
24th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
Massenet orchestral songs with soloists including Véronique Gens and Étienne Dupuis, Vivaldi from Les Arts Florissants, music by three Latvian composers from Kremerata Baltica, and Bach from Israeli multi-instrumentalist Alon Sariel.
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BBC Music Magazine - July 2022 Choices
23rd Jun 2022by Chris O'Reilly
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by the 'greatest recording' of Handel's 1708 oratorio La Resurrezione from Harry Bicket and The English Concert on Linn.
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Boxed Set Selections - June 2022
21st Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
This month's heavyweights include a newly remastered edition of Jacqueline du Pré's complete Warner recordings, German pianist Carl Seemann's complete recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, and Sir Mark Elder's cycle of the Vaughan Williams symphonies with the Hallé.
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Tom Poster and Elena Urioste on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's chamber music
20th Jun 2022by David Smith
The acclaimed husband-and-wife duo talk about their latest project – bringing the early chamber works of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor back into the repertoire in new editions, recorded by the Kaleidoscope Ensemble.
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Wranitzky Symphonies from Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
17th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
Bernhard Forck leads Akamus in a spirited showcase of the Moravian-born composer’s gifts as an orchestrator, featuring the overture to Oberon, the ‘Grande Symphonie caractéristique pour la Paix avec la République francaise’, and the ‘Tempest’ Symphony.
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New Release Round-Up - 17th June 2022
17th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
A musical journey 'in the footsteps of Rumi', Chopin & Rachmaninoff from Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov, Mozart & Voříšek from Herbert Blomstedt, and Strauss from Hanna-Elisabeth Müller.
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Jonathan Tetelman's debut solo recording and other forthcoming highlights
16th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
The Chilean-American tenor's album of French and Italian opera arias will be released in August, with other stand-out releases for late summer including Mahler from François-Xavier Roth & Les Siècles, Fatma Said's Kaleidoscope, and Kurtág's Kafka-Fragmente from Anna Prohaska and Isabelle Faust.
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Gramophone Editor's Choices - July 2022
15th Jun 2022by Chris O'Reilly
Chris introduces next month's selection, headed by 'extraordinary and revelatory' Ravel from Cédric Tiberghien, Stéphane Degout, Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth on Harmonia Mundi.
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Bart Van Reyn on CPE Bach's Die Auferstehung
14th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
The Belgian conductor discusses his new recording of Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, a passion-oratorio on Christ's Resurrection and Ascension which was conducted by Mozart in the presence of Beethoven and Haydn (and influenced the latter's The Creation).
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Marc-André Hamelin performs William Bolcom's complete piano rags
10th Jun 2022by David Smith
The Canadian pianist brings the 1960s' great ragtime revival into the present with a new recording of the complete rags of one of its leading lights.
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New Release Round-Up - 10th June 2022
10th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra give world premieres of music by their compatriots, plus David Lang's the writings, Grieg from Peter Donohoe, and John Ireland from John Wilson and Sinfonia of London.
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BBC Music Magazine - June 2022 Choices
8th Jun 2022by Chris O'Reilly
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by a 'mesmerising' debut recording of Lassus, Beethoven, Adès & Dowland from the Castalian String Quartet on Delphian.
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Franz Welser-Möst on Richard Strauss
7th Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
The Austrian conductor talks to Katherine about his lifelong affection for the composer's music, his new recording of Macbeth, Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel with the Cleveland Orchestra, and why their home at Severance Hall is 'the absolute perfect setting' for some of Strauss's most magical moments...
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New Presto CD titles from the Decca & DG catalogues
6th Jun 2022by Paul Thomas
Performances from Andras Schiff and music of the First Viennese School feature in the latest additions to the Presto CD range.
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John Williams conducts Anne-Sophie Mutter in his new Violin Concerto
3rd Jun 2022by James Longstaffe
John Williams continues his collaboration with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, joining forces with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere recording of his Violin Concerto No. 2.
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New Release Round-Up - 3rd June 2022
3rd Jun 2022by Katherine Cooper
Bolcom rags from Marc-André Hamelin, Hahn from Pavel Kolesnikov, Schumann from Pablo Heras-Casado, and the world premiere recording of Handel's pasticcio Caio Fabriccio from London Early Opera.