Vocal
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Janáček: The Diary of One Who Disappeared
Recommended& other works
Nicky Spence (tenor), Julius Drake (piano), Václava Housková (mezzo), VOICE, Victoria Samek (clarinet)
This excellently recorded performance is strikingly direct. The ebb and flow of the drama is brilliantly captured. Nicky Spence’s tenor is flexible across a huge range…Drake’s accompaniment... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, June 2019
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Record Review, 6th July 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2019, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Limelight Magazine Recordings of the Year, 2019, Nominated - Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Winner - Vocal
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Winner - Solo Vocal
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Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge & other songs
Nicky Spence (tenor), Julius Drake (piano), Timothy Ridout (viola), Piatti Quartet
The famous cycle On Wenlock Edge (1909) has of ten been recorded, but this is a fine rendering with ‘Bredon Hill’ providing some particularly sublime moments. As always Julius Drake’s accompanying... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2022, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Editor's Choice, April 2022
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Song
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Chamber Music
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Davidsen’s grandly sized soprano is headed for Wagner and other dramatic operas, but we know from recital appearances that she is also a very appreciable artist in solo song. Everything here... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th January 2022
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Gramophone Magazine, January 2022, Recording of the Month
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Record Review, 15th January 2022
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Song
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Vocal Music
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2022
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2022
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Special offer. Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius & Sea Pictures
RecommendedStuart Skelton (tenor), Sarah Connolly (mezzo) & David Soar (bass), Sarah Connolly (mezzo)
BBC Symphony Chorus & BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
among the best Gerontius performances on record. Davis resists the temptation to make the work sound like a flabby, imitation Parsifal and the results are outstandingly convincing...[Skelton]... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, Disc of the month
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2015, Choral Award Winner
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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Gramophone Awards, 2015, Winner - Choral
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Whole worlds are packed into each of the 19 songs on this unmissable debut recital from Grigorian. The Lithuanian’s soprano has a steely glint and powerful intensity, but nor does she stint... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2022, Editor's Choice
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Presto Editor's Choice, March 2022
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Winner - Song
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Winner - Vocal Music
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Winner - Female Singer of the Year
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Solo Vocal
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The sequence works well as a recital-like experience, and also as a vehicle for Hough’s comprehensive mastery of his art...The idiom of his own ‘Vida breve’ Sonata, with its cogent sweep and... —
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 Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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As on his 2005 Ives collection, the Canadian baritone Gerald Finley is golden in tone, persuasive in phrasing, and unfailingly responsive to the sound and sense of the words. Julius Drake once... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2007, Choral & Song Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, January 2008, Disc of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2008, Winner - Solo Vocal
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Destination Rachmaninov - Arrival
RecommendedDaniil Trifonov (piano)
Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
In the First, he steers the music’s dramatic ebb and flow with total conviction, while also bringing tremendous clarity of fingerwork to its elaborate piano writing. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, October 2019
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Concerto
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2019, Concerto Choice
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Building a Library, January 2021
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Grammy Awards, 63rd Awards (2021), Nominee - Best Classical Instrumental Solo
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This is utterly adorable from start to finish…In the booklet Piau speaks of her joy at performing this kind of repertoire and her rapture is palpable from the breathless opening moments of Saint-Saens’s... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, May 2019
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Diapason d’Or, June 2019
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2019, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 20th December 2019
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Finalist - Vocal
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Winner - Recital
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Richard Strauss: The Complete Songs 8
RecommendedRoger Vignoles (piano), Nicky Spence (tenor), Rebecca Evans (soprano)
Evans weaves a special magic in the dying falls, with magnificent breath control at the end of 'September'. Gold, though, goes to Nicky Spence and Roger Vignoles, making a remarkable statement... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th August 2017
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2017, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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