BIS
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One of the most versatile of all Bachians, Masaaki Suzuki still manages to spring a surprise with this outstanding recital...From its woody chuff to bright rasp, the instrument is superbly captured... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2016, Instrumental Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2015, Disc of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Finalist - Baroque Instrumental
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Missy Mazzoli: Dark with Excessive Bright
RecommendedPeter Herresthal (violin), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, James Gaffigan, Arctic Philharmonic, Tim Weiss
The orchestras here hail from Norway, where their own experience of dark light perhaps enables their instinctive response to Mazzoli’s arresting blend of apparent opposites. —
Awards:
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Grammy Awards, 66th Awards (2024), Nominee - Best Classical Compendium
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Grammy Awards, 66th Awards (2024), Nominee - Best Contemporary Classical Composition (Dark With Excessive Bright)
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2024, Shortlisted - Premiere
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Tchaikovsky & Barber: Violin Concertos
RecommendedJohan Dalene (violin), Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Blendulf
Dalene’s freshness, vitality and interpretative charisma [in the Tchaikovsky] swept me along…If anything, the Barber is finer still, perhaps the closest anyone has yet come (at least on disc)... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 25th January 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2020, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, March 2020, Concerto Choice
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Diapason d’Or, April 2020, Découverte
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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JS Bach: St Matthew Passion
RecommendedBenjamin Bruns (Evangelist), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Aki Matsui (soprano), Damien Guillon (counter-tenor), Clint van der Linde (baritone), Makato Sakurada (tenor), Zachary Wilder (tenor), Christian Immler (baritone), Toru Kaku (bass), Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
It’s fascinating how much his two recordings have in common…what principally differentiates the two sets are the solo singers…Benjamin Bruns’s Evangelist and Christian Immler’s Christus are... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2020, Recording of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Winner - Choral
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Building a Library, October 2022, Recommended Recording
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Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos 3, 4 & 5 'L'Égyptien'
Alexandre Kantorow (piano)
Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
It is no hardship to review yet another Saint-Saëns piano concerto recording when it is as good as this…Believe me, [Kantorow] is the real deal – a firebreathing virtuoso with a poetic charm... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2019, Editor's Choice
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Diapason d’Or, September 2019, Nouveauté
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Concerto
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta
RecommendedHelsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki
Mälkki and her Helsinki Philharmonic offer performances that are at once satisfying, dazzling and individual. There’s a poise, indeed an elegance, to the basic good posture of these interpretations,... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2021, Orchestral Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2021, Editor's Choice
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Building A Library, January 2022, Also Recommended
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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Instrumental theatre of affects - Hamburg Symphonies & Fantasias
Arte dei Suonatori, Marcin Świątkiewicz
The lively small-scale forces help the pungency of the sound but don’t inhibit lyricism, and the jagged rhythms are never too brittle. —
Awards:
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Baroque Instrumental
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Bartók: The Wooden Prince & The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki
[The Wooden Prince’s] essential warmth, rooted in folk-like melodies (but never folksiness) , comes across well here in Susanna Mälkki’s recording, since with a feeling for the score’s rubato... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 29th June 2019, Record of the Week
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Symphonic Music
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Beethoven: The 5 Piano Concertos
Haochen Zhang (piano), The Philadelphia Orchestra, Nathalie Stutzmann
Zhang offers some breathtakingly beautiful moments...The Philadelphia Orchestra, here conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann, is one of those rare musical juggernauts that has its musical juggernauts... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, January 2023, Editor's Choice
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Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 9 Nos. 1-3
RecommendedTrio Zimmermann: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Christian Poltéra (cello)
The playing itself is dazzling, combining expressive warmth and admirable clarity: I don't think I've ever heard the presto finale of the first Trio dashed off with quite such transparency and... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, February 2012, Disc of the month
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2013, Chamber Award Winner
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