Hyperion
-
Hyperion's new release is full of music that mixes Chopinesque grace with Russian-bear grandiosity. Driver is the sort of pianist who can handle both, delivering performances of poise, power... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, June 2011, Instrumental Choice
-
-
Gombert - Tribulatio et angustias
Four- & five-part motets
The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice (director)
This is the first disc to focus on the core of Gombert, his motets. What we know of his troubled life and extant music suggests that he was not a 'Laetentur coeli' sort of composer, and so the... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 2008, Finalist - Early Music
-
Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2007, Editor's Choice
-
-
Steven Osborne has long been a Schubertian, and this recording is unmissable. Schubert wrote his A major Sonata, D959 during his final year in 1828, and given the biographical background, it's... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, August 2025, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
-
-
A French Baroque Diva
RecommendedArias for Marie Fel
Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Ex Cathedra, Jeffrey Skidmore
Sampson is quite remarkable. She has the capacity to soften the vocal line with carefully controlled vibrato, but also deploys tone of crystalline clarity...bright, vibrant, responsive and entirely... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, July 2014, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
-
Gramophone Awards, 2015, Winner - Recital
-
-
Musical lines pass in a single, continuous breath from one instrument to the next, and the sensual, dreamlike soundscapes are tinged with immaculately drawn moments of both despair and joy.... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, February 2025, Editor's Choice
-
BBC Music Magazine, March 2025, Chamber Choice
-
-
One feature of his music is its wide range of historical reference…clothed in Park’s own musical language, which is contemporary in orientation but with resonant harmony which falls easily on... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, November 2018, Choral & Song Choice
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Finalist - Choral
-
-
[Zarebski] wrote [his Piano Quintet] in the year of his premature death, dedicating it to his teacher Liszt, and the virtuosity that implies is caught here in a performance of passionate warmth...Again,... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, Chamber Choice
-
-
Schumann: Kinderszenen & Waldszenen & Janáček: On the overgrown path I
RecommendedMarc-André Hamelin (piano)
Hamelin has already made several fine recordings of Schumann's piano music, focusing on big virtuoso pieces. He proves to be equally adept at exploring the more intimate side of the composer's... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, July 2014, Disc of the month
-
Gramophone Magazine, June 2014, Disc of the Month
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
-
-
Britten: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra
RecommendedSteven Osborne (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov
Steven Osborne and Ilan Volkov launch into the Piano Concerto's opening 'Toccata' at a headlong pace… For all the remarkable velocity, the playing has weight and incisiveness too, and Osborne's... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 2009, Winner - Concerto
-
Building a Library, March 2018, Recommended Recording
-
-
New. Elgar & Dvořák: Cello Concertos
Alban Gerhardt (cello), WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Andrew Manze
Cellophiles who swear by the interpretations of Paul Tortelier will find Gerhardt's pacing less novel than his insistence on freshness and immediacy...his well-nigh flawless solo playing is... —
