A Musical Picture - up to 25% off selected titles
Until 9th September, we are offering up to 25% off selected titles from participating labels, on CD, SACD, Vinyl, Blu-Ray & DVD, & Downloads. Please note, some downloads are excluded from this offer
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Phantasm here offers the same flawless playing that has earned its members consistent, well-deserved accolades. Despite the brooding nature of the music, their sound is luminous and tempos are... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2016, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2017, Winner - Early Music
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Building a Library, October 2017, First Choice
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Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2017, Winner - Musique Ancienne
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Special offer. Handel: Samson
RecommendedJoshua Ellicott (tenor), Sophie Bevan(soprano), Fflur Wyn (soprano), Mary Bevan (soprano), Jess Dandy (contralto), Hugo Hymas (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), Vitali Rozynko (bass-baritone)
Dunedin Consort, John Butt
Butt has created the best Samson ever...These choral forces make for a vibrancy unique among Samson recordings…Butt’s deep grasp of both Handel’s rhetoric and of large-scale structure turns... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Baroque Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist - Choral
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Choral
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Special offer. BACH: Heinrich, Johann Christoph, Johann Michael, Johann Sebastian
RecommendedKantaten
Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier
One of the key differences between Vox Luminis and many other such ensembles…is how homogeneity is challenged as the default priority…The strong identities within the ensemble allow for new... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 15th June 2019, Record of the Week
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Presto Recording of the Week, 14th June 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2019, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Finalist - Choral
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International Classical Music Awards, 2020, Nominee - Baroque Vocal
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Special offer. Telemann: Ouvertures à 8 for 3 oboes, bassoon, strings and continuo
Zefiro Baroque Orchestra, Alfredo Bernardini
The much-vaunted lean muscularity of the Ensemble Zefiro...produces a freshly balanced sonority that alters our experience of these works...Special praise is due to the superb, unstinting continuo... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2014, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2014, Shortlisted - Baroque Instrumental
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New. Lully: Proserpine
Marie Lys (Proserpine), Ambroisine Bré (Arethusa), Jean-Sébastien Bou (Crinise), Véronique Gens (Ceres), Nick Pritchard (Mercury), Laurence Kilsby (Alphée); Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset
Marie Lys makes much of the few opportunities she is given...this penultimate instalment in Christophe Rousset's magnificent survey of Lully's operas should not be missed. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, Editor's Choice
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Record Review, 27th June 2026, Record of the Week
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Special offer. Schütz: Musicalische Exequien
RecommendedMasato Suzuki (organ)
Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier
The 12 voices of Belgian ensemble Vox Luminis put their faith in tonal focus and sweetly balanced textures. Though one might expect from that a certain coolness, their singing produces music-making... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st October 2012
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Gramophone Awards, 2012, Recording of the Year
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Building A Library, December 2021, Also Recommended
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Special offer. Handel: Messiah
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca (countertenors), Guy Cutting (tenor), Frederick Long, Edward Grint (bass-baritones), Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Peter Whelan
My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music...Complementing the instrumental vitality is the invigorating choral singing... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2026, Choral Choice
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Special offer. Chopin: Piano Concertos
RecommendedIngrid Fliter (piano)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jun Märkl
True, she sails perilously close to over-sentimentalising the opening Romanza...but Fliter plays with grace and heartfelt sincerity - abetted by some lovely duetting with the SCO's bassoonist... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2014, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2014, Shortlisted - Concerto
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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Special offer. Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245
Stephan Gähler, Philipp Kaven, Magdalena Podkościelna (soprano), Krešimir Stražanac, Robin Tritschler (tenor), Damien Guillon, Dorothee Mields (soprano), Peter Kooij (bass), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe
Herreweghe’s unswerving focus is evident from the opening chorus, whose elemental summons is exactingly calibrated, dark-grained and resolute…Schmitt’s Evangelist narrates with exemplary pacing... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2020, Editor's Choice
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Record Review, 22nd February 2020, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2020, Choral & Song Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Shortlisted - Choral
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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Special offer. Handel: Serse
Emily D’Angelo (Serse), Lucy Crowe (Romilda), Paula Murrihy (Arsamene), Mary Bevan (Atalanta), Daniela Mack (Amastre), Ariodate (Neal Davies), William Dazeley (Elviro), The English Concert, Harry Bicket
With his ravishing, hilarious and profound recording of Serse, conductor Harry Bicket once again puts all rivals in the shade...The suave assurance of Bicket and the English Concert is expressed... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 10th June 2023, Record of the Week
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2023, Recording of the Month
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2023, Opera Choice
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