Chandos
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Special offer. Britten: Peter Grimes
RecommendedStuart Skelton (Grimes), Erin Wall (Ellen), Roderick Williams (Balstrode), Susan Bickley (Auntie), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley), Robert Murray (Bob Boles), James Gilchrist (Horace Adams), Marcus Farnsworth (Ned Keene)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
The best feature of this new Grimes is the orchestral playing, similar in tempo and character to Britten’s own recording. Where Edward Gardner really scores is the Bergen Philharmonic’s precision,... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Recording of the Month
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2020
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Opera, November 2020, Disc of the Month
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Winner - Opera
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Recording of the Year
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Finzi: Cello Concerto, Op. 40
RecommendedPaul Watkins (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
Sir Andrew Davis’s feeling for the composer’s sensitive, harmonically conservative language is abundantly clear in these vivid readings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Soloists too are well... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2018, Concerto Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
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Presto Recording of the Week, 21st December 2018
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Walton: Symphony No. 2 & Cello Concerto
RecommendedPaul Watkins (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner
If a new Walton release can finally put paid to the notion that his music somehow 'went off' after his move to the Italian island of Ischia in 1956, then this must be it. And the performances... —
Awards:
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Building a Library, May 2015, First Choice
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Sunday Times, 2015, Albums of the Year
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2015, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2015
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Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 3
RecommendedJean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano)
BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda
Bavouzet relishes the high-octane energy of the outer movements of the first two concertos but through his imaginatively varied use of colour manages to avoid the trap of making Bartók's percussive... —
Awards:
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Building a Library, November 2015, First Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2011, Orchestral Finalist
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Gramophone Awards, 2011, Finalist - Concerto
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2010, Orchestral Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010, Editor's Choice
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Building a Library, February 2020, Recommended Recording
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The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Rumon Gamba give warm- hearted, energetic, well-paced accounts, and their oboist deserves a special accolade. —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2018
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
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This Bax symphony cycle comes under the baton of the composer's doughtiest champion, and superlatives are in order. Even seasoned Baxians will be startled by the propulsive vigour and sinewy... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, 100 Greatest Recordings
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2003, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2004, Winner - Orchestral
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays Ravel, Debussy & Massenet
RecommendedJean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yan Pascal Tortelier
[Bavouzet] turns in a performance of the Fantaisie that illuminates this uneven yet magical work like no other. As to the Ravel concertos, I have no hesitation in saying these are the greatest... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2011, Winner - Concerto
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2012, Orchestral Award Winner
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Marvellously done by John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London, played with such frequently thrilling breadth of operatic emotion as to make you immediately want to reach for one of Puccini’s... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 13th March 2026
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Editor's Choice
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In John Wilson's account [of The Sorcerer's Apprentice] the drama is calibrated to a T with virtuosity and precision aplenty, from the first purposely placed pizzicato 'plop' to that unearthly... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st May 2026
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This latest instalment of Chandos’s survey of Holst’s orchestral works is far more than a predictable beachcomber’s delight. The quality of the performances is a feast in itself, the BBC Philharmonic... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2018, Orchestral Choice
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Diapason d’Or, January 2019, Nouveauté
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