Harmonia Mundi
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This is an album that proclaims the viola as a distinctive, individual solo instrument, ideally served here by its skilled interpreter...this [Bach] Chaconne seems to sum up Ridout's whole approach... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 21st February 2025
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2025, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, June 2025, Recording of the Month
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2025, Young Talent of the Year
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Finalists, Instrumental
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2026, Winner - Instrumental
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J. S. Bach: Mass in B Minor, Bwv 232
RecommendedJulie Roset (soprano), Beth Taylor (mezzo). Lucile Richardot (alto), Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenor), Christian Immler (bass), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
Choral and instrumental passages are impressively disciplined and well-characterised throughout...There are countless recordings of this work from which to choose, but every choral music enthusiast... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2025, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, June 2025, Choral Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Winners, Recording of the Year & Choral Winner
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International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2025
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The New York Times, Best Classical Music Albums of 2025
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2026, Shortlisted - Choral
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JS Bach: Matthäus-Passion
RecommendedJulian Prégardien (Evangelist), Stéphane Degout (Christus), Sabine Devieilhe & Hana Blažiková (sopranos), Lucile Richardot (mezzo), Tim Mead (countertenor), Reinoud Van Mechelen & Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenors), Christian Immler (bass-baritone)
Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
The choirs are razor-sharp in their ensemble, and if they seem initially soft-grained (in keeping with Pichon’s essentially intimate approach), their incisiveness eventually locates real venom... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2022, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recording of the Week, 15th April 2022
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Recording of the Year and Choral Award
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Building a Library, October 2022, Also Recommended
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2022
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Approaching the repertoire with a shared musical vision, they produce ravishingly expressive accounts from curtain up to lights down...De Swarte plays a noble Jacob Stainer violin from 1665... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2021, Chamber Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Winner - Baroque Instrumental
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Chamber
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JS Bach: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord
RecommendedIsabelle Faust (violin) & Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord)
The music should always wear its deft counterpoint lightly, wide-eyed as a spring day. In their new recording Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout understand this perfectly…However uplifting... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, January 2018
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2018, Editor's Choice
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Record Review, 13th January 2018, Recording of the Week
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
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Limelight Magazine Recordings of the Year, 2018, Nominated - Chamber
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Vivaldi: Concertos for 2 violins
Giuliano Carmignola (violin) & Amandine Beyer (violin)
Gli incogniti
The musical chemistry between Carmignola and Beyer is intuitive and gratifying. Outer movements sparkle with playful vigour while centrally placed solo movements are poetically declaimed...soloists... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2017, Concerto Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2016, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2017, Finalist - Baroque Instrumental
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[Degout] possesses the rare facility to mix raw muscle with the subtlest caresses…In the infernal symphonies that pepper Enfers, the band attacks the score with an almost fiendish ferocity…Don’t... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, March 2018
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2018, Editor's Choice
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Record Review, 24th February 2018, Recording of the Week
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Finalist - Vocal
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International Opera Awards, 2019, Winner - Recital Album
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Vivaldi: Concerti Per Una Vita
RecommendedThéotime Langlois de Swarte (violin/director), Le Consort
There is no doubt about the exceptional playing of both soloist and orchestra, directed by Langlois de Swarte himself – alternately exuberant , wayward, introspective and melancholic, they move... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 16th February 2024
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BBC Music Magazine, March 2024, Concerto Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Baroque Instrumental
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Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons)
Théotime Langlois de Swarte (violin), Julie Roset (soprano), Le Consort
Above all, it’s Swarte’s solo playing (on a 1733 fiddle by Carlo Bergonzi) that steals the show: pliant, expressive, wild and virtuosic. Particularly admirable is his elastic, almost jazzy flexibility... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, February 2025, Recording of the Month
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International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Baroque Instrumental
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2026, Shortlisted - Concerto
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JS Bach: Johannes-Passion
RecommendedJulian Prégardien (Evangelist), Huw Montague Rendall (Jesus), Ying Fang (soprano), Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Laurence Kilsby (tenor), Christian Immler (bass-baritone), Etienne Bazola (baritone), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
You feel it in the gut like few other accounts, alongside unalloyed human observation and unyielding quality. Pygmalion have now served us with a trilogy of Bach masterpieces throwing down the... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 20th March 2026
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Recording of the Month
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