Classical Reviews

Santiago a cappella

30th Aug 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Sir John Eliot Gardiner takes us on a journey through medieval and Renaissance Spain as he and the Monteverdi Choir follow in the footsteps of the pilgrims who travelled to the shrine of Saint James the Great.

Elīna Garanča goes Spanish

23rd Aug 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The Latvian mezzo sings the title-role in Bizet’s Carmen from the Metropolitan Opera on DVD, and explores gypsy music still further on her new recital Habanera, which includes music from zarzuela, operetta and musical theatre.

Rued Langgaard - Music of the Spheres

16th Aug 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Composed during World War One when the Danish composer was just 26, this experimental and forward-looking work received its UK premiere only last week – Thomas Dausgaard does it proud in this new recording with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

50 Years of the Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg

2nd Aug 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The Austrian festival celebrates its half-century by re-issuing a25-CD boxed set featuring five complete operas, ten orchestral concerts and two recitals – including the first release of an Alfred Brendel recital from 2007.

Gustav Mahler

26th Jul 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Deutsche Grammophon and EMI commemorate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth with lavish complete editions featuring performances from artists including Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Otto Klemperer and Simon Rattle.

Beethoven - Paul Lewis and the BBC Proms

12th Jul 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Ronald Brautigam's Beethoven

28th Jun 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The Dutch fortepianist completes his outstanding cycle of the complete sonatas on BIS, with revelatory accounts of Opp. 101 and 109-111.

Handel's Berenice

14th Jun 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Alan Curtis presides over a highly persuasive account of Handel’s late opera with Il Complesso Barocco, starring Klara Ek in the title-role and Argentine countertenor Franco Fagioli as Demetrio.

Alfredo Casella

31st May 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Gianandrea Noseda and Francesco La Vecchia offer sterling advocacy for the Italian composer’s first two symphonies, composed in the first decade of the twentieth century and full of ‘imaginative orchestration and dark sonorities’.

Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues from Melnikov

24th May 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The Russian pianist brings atmosphere, mystery, weight and solemnity to the 24 Preludes and Fugues dedicated to Tatiana Nikolayeva.

The multi-talented Julia Fischer

17th May 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The German violinist joins Martin Helmchen at the keyboard for the F minor Fantaisie for Piano Four Hands in her debut recording as a pianist, following the Grand Duo D574 and the Fantasie in C for violin and piano D934.

Frédéric Chopin

26th Apr 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Stephen Hough and Nelson Freire pay homage to the bicentenary of the Polish composer’s birth, and Warner Classics and Deutsche Grammophon issue extensive anniversary editions.

Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique

12th Apr 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Jos van Immerseel and the Flemish period-instrument orchestra Anima Eterna bring transparency and raw excitement to Berlioz’s ‘episodes in the life of an artist’ on Zigzag.

Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia and Joyce DiDonato

5th Apr 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The American mezzo sings an astonishing Rosina from a wheelchair after breaking her ankle on the opening night of Covent Garden’s production, with Juan Diego Flórez as her suitor Count Almaviva and Pietro Spagnoli as the eponymous Spanish barber.

Romantic Piano Concertos

29th Mar 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Hyperion’s venerable series reaches its fiftieth volume and enters more familiar territory with Stephen Hough joining the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä for the Tchaikovsky concertos.

Robin Ticciati and Brahms' Choral Works

22nd Mar 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The 27-year-old conductor brings a wonderful Brahmsian glow to the Alto Rhapsody (with Alice Coote as soloist), Nänie, Gesang der Parzen and the Schicksalslied with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Mozart Symphonies from Mackerras - Volume 2

15th Mar 2010by Chris O'Reilly

The much-anticipated second volume of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s Mozart series with their conductor laureate features joyous and life-enhancing accounts of Nos. 29, 31, 32, 35 and 46.

Thomas Adès

1st Mar 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker (who commissioned the piece) in Tevot, premiered in 2007, and the composer himself conducts the violin concerto Concentric Paths, with its dedicatee Anthony Marwood as soloist.

Strauss: Alpine Symphony

22nd Feb 2010by Chris O'Reilly

Bernard Haitink and the London Symphony Orchestra celebrate the awe-inspiring force of nature and Strauss’s ability to depict that in his writing.

Handel: Giulio Cesare and the Brockes Passion

15th Feb 2010by Chris O'Reilly

A stylish account of Handel’s best-known opera from the young Greek conductor George Petrou (with Swedish mezzo Kristina Hammarström in the title-role), and a ‘superbly played and sung’ reading of an early rarity from Peter Neumann.