BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
-
Ravel: Piano Concertos & Falla: Nights in the gardens of Spain
RecommendedSteven Osborne (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ludovic Morlot
Full of colour, both Osborne’s poetry and his exceptional touch are to the fore, the sparkling cascades in the final movement being especially breathtaking…strong performances of a programme... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd June 2017
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
-
Record Review, 22nd July 2017, Recording of the Week
-
-
The Romantic Piano Concerto 70 - Beach, Chaminade & Howell
RecommendedBeach, Chaminade & Howell: Piano Concertos
Danny Driver (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rebecca Miller
Pick of the bunch is the Concerto by Amy Beach…Danny Driver is a highly accomplished soloist, if occasionally lacking in Romantic flexibility; the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Rebecca... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, March 2017, Editor's Choice
-
Gramophone Awards, 2017, Finalist - Concerto
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
-
The New York Times, Recordings of the Year 2017
-
Building A Library, January 2022, Featured Recording
-
-
Tippett: Symphonies Nos 3, 4 & B flat
RecommendedRachel Nicholls (soprano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
What the new accounts have are the virtues of Brabbins’s versions of Tippett’s First and Second…: a purposeful intentness, with care for dynamics and rhythmic precision…though with no lack of... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
-
The Times Records of the Year, 2019
-
Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
-
-
Lassen, Scharwenka & Langgaard: Violin Concertos
The Romantic Violin Concerto Volume 22
Linus Roth (violin)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Antony Hermus
The D major Concerto by Lassen is the real find here, gorgeously melodious and full o unexpected twists and turns. Roth is on fine form. —
Awards:
-
Presto Editor's Choice, May 2019
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Concerto
-
-
New. Mel Bonis: Orchestral Works
RecommendedElizabeth Watts (soprano), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba
Gamba and the BBCSSO perform everything wonderfully well. Trois femmes is gorgeous in its heady immediacy and kaleidoscopic detail...It's an album that adds much to our understanding of Bonis's... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 12th June 2026
-
-
Stravinsky - The Fairy’s Kiss & Scènes de ballet
RecommendedBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov
What a joy...to hear a conductor with the right instinct for tempo co-ordination and continuity...If only there were more truly sympathetic conductors out there such as Volkov to observe Stravinsky's... —
Awards:
-
Building a Library, July 2010, First Choice
-
Sunday Times, 2010, Albums of the Year
-
-
Michael Tippett: New Year
RecommendedRhian Lois (Jo Ann), Ross Ramgobin (Donny), Susan Bickley (Nan), Roland Wood (Merlin), Robert Murray (Pelegrin), Rachel Nicholls (Regan), Alan Oke (The Presenter)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
the tautness of the score more than makes up for the loose weave of the narrative. Fostered teenager Donny’s identity crisis is represented by syncopated lines and a guitar part influenced by... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, May 2025, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2025, World Premiere Recording (Rediscovery)
-
Gramophone Awards, 2025 Finalists, Opera
-
-
Britten: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra
RecommendedSteven Osborne (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov
Steven Osborne and Ilan Volkov launch into the Piano Concerto's opening 'Toccata' at a headlong pace… For all the remarkable velocity, the playing has weight and incisiveness too, and Osborne's... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 2009, Winner - Concerto
-
Building a Library, March 2018, Recommended Recording
-
-
The Romantic Violin Concerto 20 - Stojowski & Wieniawski
RecommendedBartłomiej Nizioł (violin)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Łukasz Borowicz
Nizol posseses an ideal silvery sound for this late-Romantic work, enhanced by gently, cushioned bow-strokes, ear-ringingly true intonation and a fast and narrow vibrato that gives his cantabile... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 5th August 2016
-
-
The Romantic Violin Concerto 2 - Stanford
Anthony Marwood (violin)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
This is a discovery of major importance. Hubert Parry (no mean critic) regarded Stanford's Violin Concerto as one of his finest works, yet it has been played rarely, if at all, since his death... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, February 2001, Disc of the Month
-
