Classical Reviews
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Pélleas et Mélisande from François-Xavier Roth and Les Siėcles
11th Mar 2022
Period instruments provide revelations aplenty in Debussy's opera - and the central love-triangle is cast in an intriguing new light...
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Dance With Me from LUDWIG Orchestra and Barbara Hannigan
4th Mar 2022
An ensemble drawn from the Netherlands-based chamber orchestra have a ball with a selection of twentieth-century dances, taking in music by Elgar, Kurt Weill, Glenn Miller and Barry Manilow along the way...
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Joyce DiDonato's EDEN
25th Feb 2022
Featuring music by composers including Ives, Cavalli, Handel, Gluck and Wagner (plus a ravishing new commission by Rachel Portman), the American mezzo's eclectic new concept-album with Il Pomo d'Oro explores our relationship with 'the grammar of the earth'.
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EDEN
Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
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Weinberg solo violin sonatas from Gidon Kremer
18th Feb 2022
The Latvian violinist celebrates his 75th birthday with impassioned recordings of Weinberg's three sonatas for solo violin.
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Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Sonatas For Violin Solo
Gidon Kremer (violin)
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Andris Nelsons completes his Bruckner cycle with the Gewandhausorchester
11th Feb 2022
The Latvian conductor and his Leipzig ensemble complete their cycle of Bruckner symphonies with radiant, dramatic performances of Symphonies 1 and 5.
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New choral music from Iceland and England
4th Feb 2022
A double-bill of contemporary works for choir - Icelandic splendour from Graham Ross and the choir of Clare College, and Westminster commissions from Dove, Weir and Martin.
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John Wilson conducts orchestral works by Ravel
28th Jan 2022
The latest album from Sinfonia of London and John Wilson presents a dazzling collection of orchestral works by Ravel, including La valse and Pavane pour une infante défunte alongside premiere recordings of the original versions of Ma Mère l'Oye and Boléro.
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Paul Lewis plays Brahms
21st Jan 2022
The British pianist's interpretations of the final four sets of solo piano works are a revelation, capturing all of the poetry and drama of the music and often emphasising its kinship with Debussy and Rachmaninov.
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Brahms: Late Piano Works
Paul Lewis (piano)
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Locke consort works from Fretwork
14th Jan 2022
The acclaimed consort mark the 400th anniversary of Matthew Locke's birth with a selection of his consort works from the twilight of the English consort tradition.
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Grieg from Lise Davidsen and Leif Ove Andsnes
7th Jan 2022
The two Norwegians do their countryman proud in a programme which includes Haugtussa, Five Songs by Otto Benzon, and the Six Songs Op. 48.
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Grieg
Lise Davidsen (soprano), Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)
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Marc-André Hamelin plays CPE Bach
31st Dec 2021
The Canadian pianist's Midas touch is everywhere in evidence on this programme of sonatas and rondos, many of which reveal the composer's delight in the new expressive possibilities offered by early pianos.
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Presto Personal Favourites from 2021
24th Dec 2021
Recordings from Igor Levit, Ensemble Diderot and Will Liverman & Paul Sánchez feature among the editorial team's individual picks of the year.
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Byrd and Bull from Kit Armstrong
17th Dec 2021
The American pianist makes the case for considering the two Tudor virginalists William Byrd and John Bull as the founding fathers of the solo piano genre.
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The Visionaries of Piano Music
Kit Armstrong (piano)
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Scenes from the Kalevala - Finnish Orchestral Music
10th Dec 2021
Dima Slobodeniouk conducts the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in a quartet of compositions inspired by the great Finnish nineteenth-century work of epic poetry, the Kalevala.
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Scenes from the Kalevala
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Dima Slobodeniouk
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Christmas Recordings from Fretwork and Christiane Karg
3rd Dec 2021
The viol consort is joined by mezzo Helen Charlston for an Elizabethan Christmas, whilst Karg and her regular recital partner Gerold Huber offer a beautifully-plotted programme of Lieder and mélodies with a seasonal theme.
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Pelléas et Mélisande from Jonathan Nott and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
26th Nov 2021
The world premiere recording of the British conductor's own tone-poem on Debussy's opera is coupled with Schoenberg's suite from 1905, to illuminating effect.
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Pelléas et Mélisande
Orchestre de La Suisse Romande, Jonathan Nott
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Cecilia Bartoli - Unreleased
19th Nov 2021
The Roman mezzo is in electrifying form in a programme of operatic and concert-arias by Haydn, Mysliveček, Mozart and Beethoven with the Kammerorchester Basel, recorded back in 2013.
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String Quartets by Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn from the Takács Quartet
12th Nov 2021
Fiery, dramatic performances from the Takács Quartet of two string quartets by Felix Mendelssohn alongside a thrilling account of the quartet by his sister, Fanny.
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Felix & Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartets
Takács Quartet
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MUSE from Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason
5th Nov 2021
The siblings' contrasting musical personalities complement one another quite beautifully in sonatas by Barber and Rachmaninov, plus a well-chosen selection of songs by both composers.
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Baroque fireworks from Bojan Čičić and the Illyria Consort
29th Oct 2021
The violinist and his ensemble present four virtuosic concertos, showcasing the legacy of Vivaldi's incredible panache as a performer as well as the earliest origins of what would eventually become the solo violin caprice.
