Harmonia Mundi
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Beethoven & Berg: Violin Concertos
RecommendedIsabelle Faust (violin)
Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado
listening to these wonderful performances side by side is cathartic...The journey is vividly delineated from the outset of the Berg. With Abbado drawing sonorities from his first-rate orchestra,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 13th February 2012
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Building a Library, October 2015, First Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2013, Orchestral Finalist
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2012, Disc of the month
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2012, Disc of the Month
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Gramophone Awards, 2012, Winner - Concerto
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Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5
Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano), Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Casado
These are invigorating performances of Beethoven’s first and last concertos, conveying an admirable sense of spontaneity…The entire performance [of No. 2] radiates energy and enjoyment… Bezuidenhout... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 15th February 2020, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, Concerto Choice
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Conductor of the Year
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Instrumentalist of the Year
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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Mozart: Requiem
RecommendedChadi Lazreq (treble), Ying Fang (soprano), Beth Taylor (mezzo), Laurence Kilsby (tenor), Alex Rosen (bass)
Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
Pichon and his superb choir and period instrument orchestra, Pygmalion, move the discussion on by sensitively adding their own interpretive layer in this beautiful and truly moving programme. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th October 2024
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Choral
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2024
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2025, Shortlisted - Choral
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Shortlist, Choral
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Mozart: Piano Concertos, K.413-15
Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)
Freiburger Barockorchester, Gottfried von der Goltz
These are dazzling and at times unusually searching performances. —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2016, Concerto Choice
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Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2016, Winner - Concerto
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2016, Editor's Choice
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ECHO Klassik Awards, 2017, Winner
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Special offer. Weber: Der Freischütz
RecommendedMaximilian Schmitt (Max), Polina Pasztircsák (Agathe), Kateryna Kasper (Ännchen), Dimitry Ivashchenko (Kaspar), Yannick Debus (Kilian), Matthias Winckhler (Kuno), Christian Immler (Hermit), Max Urlacher (Samiel)
Freiburger Barockorchester, Zürcher Sing-Akademie, René Jacobs
If it all convinces that’s because Jacobs has an absolute instinct for Weber’s score. The horns of the Freiburger Barockorchester are almost a character in their own right in this Romantic opera... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 29th April 2022
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Record Review, 29th April 2022, Record of the Week
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Opera, July 2022, Disc of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Opera
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Winner - Opera
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New. Beethoven: Complete Variations For Piano, Vol. 3
RecommendedBeethoven - Ligeti - Kurtág
Cédric Tiberghien (piano)
Ligeti's Music ricercata makes a striking opening to the album - Tiberghien's commitment to thoroughly exploring this structural element is unwavering, yet so is his beguiling way with Ligeti's... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 19th June 2026
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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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Schubert: Octet
Isabelle Faust (violin), Anne Katharina Schreiber (violin), Danusha Waskiewicz (viola), Kristin von der Goltz (cello), Lorenzo Coppola (clarinet), Javier Zafra (bassoon), Teunis van der Zwart (horn), James Munro (double bass)
There is much to admire here: some exquisitely wistful clarinet phrasing from Coppola, and a frightening fierceness in the sudden outburst that heralds the finale, where Schubert seems momentarily... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, May 2018
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, K620
RecommendedDaniel Behle (Tamino), Marlis Petersen (Pamina), Daniel Schmutzhard (Papageno), Sunhae Im (Papagena), Anna-Kristiina Kaappola (Königin der Nacht), Marcos Fink (Sarastro), Kurt Azesberger (Monostatos)
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs
...this is a total experience, perfectly tailored for private listening. René Jacobs thinks of it as a Hörspiel: it's a play to be heard - I don't know a recorded Zauberflöte more thrillingly... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 13th September 2010
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Sunday Times, 2010, Albums of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2011, Finalist - Opera
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2010, Opera Choice
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Record Review, December 2010, Critics' Disc of the Year
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2011, Opera Award Winner
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Building a Library, November 2020, Recommended Recording
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Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K492
RecommendedSimon Keenlyside (Count), Véronique Gens (Countess), Patrizia Ciofi (Susanna), Lorenzo Regazzo (Figaro), Angelika Kirchschlager (Cherubino), Marie McLaughlin (Marcellina)
Collegium Vocale Gent, Concerto Köln, René Jacobs
René Jacobs always brings new ideas to the operas he conducts, and even to a work as familiar as Figaro he adds something of his own. First of all he offers an orchestral balance quite unlike... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2004, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2004, Recording of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2004, Winner - Opera
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Grammy Awards, 47th Awards (2004), Best Opera Recording
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Building A Library, April 2022, Recommended Recording
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -