SOMM
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[the Introduction and Fugue] is given a fiery account by Mark Bebbington and Rebecca Omordia. Their thunderous triple forte chords strike with terrifying force in the close recording…an essential... —
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Special offer. Mark Bebbington plays Gershwin
Mark Bebbington (piano)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leon Botstein
Bebbington brings a nice balance of swagger and thoughtfulness to this all-Gershwin programme. He has said he finds a “Mahlerian melancholy” in the second movement of the Concerto in F...and... —
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In London Town
A Musical Tour of the Historic Sights of London
Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Iain Sutherland
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In songs which seem perilously sentimental to the modern ear…Rudge is deft at dialing back the whimsy, and distilling genuine emotion…Glynn’s fluid accompaniment is a model of supportive sensitivity. —
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Brahms: Sonatas for Cello & Piano Four Serious Songs
Alexander Baillie (cello) & John Thwaites (piano)
Thwaites/Baillie absorb Fanny Davies’s wonderful image of Brahms lingering ‘not on a note, but on a whole idea, as if unable to tear himself away from its beauty’ —
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The Gluepot Connection
Choral Music by Ireland, Rawsthorne, Warlock, Bax, Alan Bush, Lutyens, Walton & EJ Moeran
Londinium Chamber Choir, Andrew Griffiths
Tenuous links to alcohol apart, there is some fine music-making on this disc. A rapt performance of Peter Warlock’s The Full Heart opens it, the discomfiting harmonies and eerie suspensions... — -
Directed by William Vann, the Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with its clear, ringing tone, provides beautifully nuanced performances, especially of the a cappella items, Stanford’s numinous... —
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Valerie Tryon plays Debussy, Fauré & Ravel
Valerie Tryon (piano)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jac van Steen
A breath of springlike air arrives with this programme of French works for piano and orchestra: subtle, sparkling and poised, the three pieces complement one another very well…Tryon's playing... —
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The first disc includes admirable education pieces — a twin series covering sharp keys then flat — but it is the second that contains the deep, original substance...The Chaconne, Op 32, is profoundly... —
