BIS
-
Rautavaara & Martinů: Piano Concertos No. 3
RecommendedOlli Mustonen (piano), Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Dalia Stasevska
BIS is to be commended for producing an imaginatively programmed disc and giving the music brilliant performances and superb recorded sound. To round out the picture, Jean-Pascal Vachon’s program... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 29th December 2023
-
-
Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas Vol. 3
Sonatas 8-10
Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Martin Helmchen (piano)
Frank Peter Zimmermann and Martin Helmchen are an outstanding team, whose latest release brings their three-disc survey to an uplifting conclusion...Finest of all is the reading of the elusive... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, December 2021, Chamber Choice
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Winner - Chamber Music
-
-
It was during Osmo Vänskä's time with the BBC Scottish SO that his Beethoven began winning golden opinions. His reading of the Fourth is fiery but not relentless. Metronome marks are important... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, March 2005, Orchestral Choice
-
Gramophone Magazine, March 2005, Editor's Choice
-
-
Jean Sibelius: Karelia Suite; Rakastava; Lemminkäinen
RecommendedHelsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki
Mälkki and the orchestra remarkably conjure the dark, swirling soundworld of ‘Lemminkäinen in Tuonela’ (the Hades of Finnish legend). And the concluding ‘Lemminkäinen’s Return’ canters along... —
Awards:
-
Grammy Awards, 67th Awards (2025), Nominated - Best Orchestral Performance
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Symphonic Music
-
-
Another instalment in Osmo Vänskä's next-generation Sibelius cycle, turning from the poetic Lahti orchestra to the full-blooded Minnesota sound. And full-blooded the First certainly is...Altogether,... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, August 2013, Editor's Choice
-
Grammy Awards, 56th Awards (2013), Best Orchestral Performance
-
-
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 52 'Lobgesang'
RecommendedJudith Howarth (soprano), Jennifer Larmore (mezzo-soprano) & Christoph Prégardien (tenor)
Bergen Philharmonic Choir, KorVest (Bergen Vocal Ensemble), The Danish National Vocal Ensemble DR & Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Litton's live recording is outstanding: observant of Mendelssohn's tempi, with beautifully detailed orchestral textures and lithe but robust choral work from the Danish National Vocal Ensemble... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2010, Award for Technical Excellence
-
-
Igor Stravinsky, Bartók & Martinů
RecommendedFrank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša
With Jakub Hrůša and his super-attentive Bamberg orchestra, Frank Peter Zimmermann trumps the self-confident projection of his younger self...Stravinsky’s framing movements seem defter now,... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Concertos
-
-
…these are performances that can hold their own with the best, and the quality of the recording… immaculate. …a superb conclusion to a worthwhile cycle. —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 2009, Finalist - Orchestral
-
Gramophone Magazine, January 2009, Editor's Choice
-
-
I Am a River
Nils Schweckendiek, Joel Ward, Jukka Jokitalo, Veera Kuusirati, Elmeri Uusikorpi, Heikki Parviainen, Linnéa Sundfær Casserly, Helsinki Chamber Choir
As with Reconnaissance, the Helsinki Chamber Choir and Nils Schweckendiek's stunning disc of Saariaho's music released shortly after her death in 2023, this is compelling listening. —
-
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3
Thierry Escaich (organ), Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
[In Urbs Roma] Kantorow elicits vigorous playing, with sharp contrasts, and manages the imaginative die-away ending with sensitivity...this performance [of the Organ Symphony] is almost entirely... —
Awards:
-
Diapason d'Or, September 2021, Nouveauté
-
