CD, Britten (composer)
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This is an album that proclaims the viola as a distinctive, individual solo instrument, ideally served here by its skilled interpreter...this [Bach] Chaconne seems to sum up Ridout's whole approach... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 21st February 2025
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2025, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, June 2025, Recording of the Month
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2025, Young Talent of the Year
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Finalists, Instrumental
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2026, Winner - Instrumental
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English Music For Strings
RecommendedBritten, Bliss, Bridge, Berkeley
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
Here in [the Bridge Lament] is a prime example of the heartfelt precision and beauty of tone that typifies John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London. There’s plenty of heart, too, in their superlative... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, Critics' Choice 2021
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2021, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 29th January 2021
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Orchestral
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2021
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Sunday Times, 10 Best Classical Albums of 2021
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Britten: Songs & Proverbs of William Blake
Recommendedand other songs
Gerald Finley (baritone) & Julius Drake (piano)
[Finley] just seems to be singing naturally, but at the same time he colors and inflects with astonishing specificity. He manages to vary the repeats in those folk-song settings where verses... —
Awards:
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Sunday Times, 2010, Albums of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2011, Winner - Solo Vocal
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Britten & Korngold: Violin Concertos
RecommendedVilde Frang (violin)
Frankfurt Radio Symphony, James Gaffigan
Frang has a beautiful tone and superb intonation, and in both concertos applies a satisfying range of colour - there's much to enjoy, technically speaking. The spiky, lonely atmosphere of the... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2016, Disc of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Winner - Concerto
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Building A Library, July 2024, Recommended Recording (Korngold)
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Shibe brings a lively charisma and a vibrant array of musical colour to the album, conjuring everything from 17th-century lute to Arabic oud across this wide-reaching programme. Sulayman’s performance... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 12th May 2023
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Grammy Awards, 66th Awards (2024), Nominee - Best Classical Solo Vocal Album
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Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66
RecommendedGalina Vishnevskaya (soprano), Peter Pears (tenor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) & Simon Preston (organ)
London Symphony Orchestra, Melos Ensemble, London Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Highgate School Choir & The Bach Choir, Benjamin Britten
Britten was writing personally for three muses who had all shared the wartime experience...His incandescent commitment to pacificism and horror at the failure of humanism blazes forth...As you... —
Awards:
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Building a Library, November 2009, First Choice
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Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1960s
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Grammy Awards, 6th Awards (1963), Best Choral Performance
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Grammy Awards, 6th Awards (1963), Best Contemporary Classical Composition
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Grammy Awards, 6th Awards (1963), Best Contemporary Classical Composition
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Devos’s genuine affection for this repertoire shines through…With Britten’s cycle On this Island, Devos’s sheer accuracy and panache outshines many sopranos on record. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, Critics' Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2021, Editor's Choice
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Presto Editor's Choice, February 2021
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Song
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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:
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Gramophone Awards, 2009, Winner - Concerto
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Building a Library, March 2018, Recommended Recording
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This debut solo album brilliantly played by the rising young organist Anna Lapwood should certainly engage organ aficionados, especially fans of the grand Harrison & Harrison instrument in Ely... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Finalist - Spatial Audio
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Shibe performs with superb artistry some of the now classics that Bream inspired...Prime in any such catalogue is Britten's 1963 Nocturnal after John Dowland, and Shibe gathers the listener... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2017, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2017, Instrumental Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2018, Finalist - Instrumental
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