Opera
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Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer
RecommendedLise Davidsen (Senta), Gerald Finley (The Dutchman), Brindley Sherratt (Daland), Stanislas de Barbeyrac (Erik), Anna Kissjudit (Mary), Eirik Grøtvedt (Steersman)
Orchestra and Chorus of Norwegian National Opera, Edward Gardner
Finley and Davidsen sound like sleep-walkers as they plumb the depths of their shared predicament, and they are supported by a first-class cast. Stanislas de Barbeyrac’s agonised Erik and Brindley... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 18th April 2025
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2025, Recording of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Winners, Opera
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International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Winner - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2025
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Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2025, Opéra
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2026, Shortlisted - Opera & Stage
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Puccini: Turandot
RecommendedSondra Radvanovsky (Turandot), Jonas Kaufmann (Calaf), Ermonela Jaho (Liù), Michele Pertusi (Timur), Michael Spyres (Altoum), Mattia Olivieri (Ping), Gregory Bonfatti (Pang), Siyabonga Maqungo (Pong), Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
It is the attention Pappano pays to crafting the contrasts between passages of intense sensuality and of mechanistic brutality, casting new light on a familiar score in the process, which really... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2023, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recording of the Week, 10th March 2023
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Opera, April 2023, Disc of the Month
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Record Review, 18th March 2023, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2023, Recording of the Month
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Female Singer of the Year (Jaho/Radvanovsky)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Male Singer of the Year (Kaufmann/Spyres)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Conductor of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2023 Finalists, Finalist - Opera
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International Opera Awards, 2023, Nominated - Recording (Complete Opera)
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Winner - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2023
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Sunday Times, 10 Best Classical Albums of 2023
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2024, Shortlisted - Opera
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Musicians are big on postcards...But none are as beautifully written as those by Stephen Hough, a reliable scribe wherever he is in the world. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2026, Editor's Choice
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Special offer. Baritenor
RecommendedMichael Spyres (baritenor), Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Marko Letonja
Spyres has a remarkable range and is a consummate vocal chameleon too...in a truly remarkable finale to his ‘Largo al factotum’, Rossini’s Figaro is indeed all things to all men vocally. What... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 24th September 2021
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2021, Opera Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2021, Recording of the Month
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Diapason d’Or, October 2021, Nouveauté
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Opera, December 2021, Disc of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2021
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated - Vocal
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Sunday Times, 10 Best Classical Albums of 2021
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Vocal
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Winner - Voice & Ensemble
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Special offer. Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle
RecommendedGábor Bretz (Bluebeard), Rinat Shaham (Judith)
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina Canellakis
Gábor Bretz as Bluebeard and Rinat Shaham, his Judith, are magnificent...Karina Canellakis conducts the orchestra as if her life depended on it Philharmonic as if her life depended on it, understanding... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, June 2025, Opera Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2026, Winner - Opera & Stage
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New. Barber: Vanessa
Nicole Heaston (Vanessa), J'Nai Bridges (Erika), Matthew Polenzani (Anatol), Susan Graham (The Old Baroness), Thomas Hampson (The Old Doctor), National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda
This new live Kennedy Center recording hits the mark. Noseda draws playing of real lustre from the National Symphony Orchestra. He is alert, too, to the score's unease...The more compelling... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 30th May 2026, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2026, Opera Choice
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His technical strengths emerge clearly in the way in which he negotiates the switchback turns of Vivaldi’s ‘Cada pur sul capo’ (from Artabano), the cascading melodies of Porpora’s ‘Nocchier,... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, April 2023
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2023, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2023 Finalists, Finalist - Voice & Ensemble
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Nominated - Vocal Music
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2023
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Verdi: Aida
RecommendedAnja Harteros (Aida), Jonas Kaufmann (Radamès), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Amneris), Ludovic Tezier (Amonasro), Erwin Schrott (Ramfis), Marco Spotti (Il Re d'Egitto), Paolo Fanale (Un Messaggero), Eleonora Buratto (Sacerdotessa), Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
Anja Harteros can boast both the high-octane tone and the necessary level of dramatic expression to make Aida credibly three dimensional…[Ekaterina Semenchuk makes] many subtle observations... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd October 2015
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Sunday Times, 2015, Albums of the Year
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2015, Recording of the Month
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2016, Winner (Opera) and Recording of the Year
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2015, Recording of the Month
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Record Review, October 2015, Record of the Week
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Building a Library, April 2017, Also Recommended
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Winner - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2015
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Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2015, Winner - Opéra
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Special offer. Meyerbeer: Robert Le Diable
RecommendedJohn Osborn (Robert), Nicolas Courjal (Bertram), Amina Edris (Alice), Erin Morley (Isabelle), Nico Darmanin (Raimbaut)
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Chœur de l'Opera National de Bordeaux, Marc Minkowski
It all adds up to a formidable re-evaluation of a seminal if neglected work, as well as being a remarkable achievement in its own right. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2022, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Opera
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd December 2022
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Limelight Magazine, January 2023, Recording of the Month
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Conductor of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2023 Finalists, Finalist - Opera
Purchase product
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Offenbach Colorature
RecommendedJodie Devos (soprano)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Laurent Campellone
This is a marriage made in musical heaven with the young Dutch soprano Jodie Devos reminding us just how gifted Jacques Offenbach was as a composer…She’s a gravity-defying coloratura soprano... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, February 2019, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2019, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2019, Opera Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2019, Finalist - Recital
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Vocal
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