Classical CDs
Classical CDs Weekly: Adventures in Sound, Tora Augestad, Ashley FrippSaturday, 02 February 2019
Adventures In Sound (él records)Dipping in and out of this highly desirable box set recalls 1950s sci-fi visions of the future, looking forward to a time when we'd all be driving flying cars and living under a benevolent one-world government.... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Couperin, Dutilleux, RossiniSaturday, 26 January 2019
Couperin: Les Nations Réunies & autres sonades La Simphonie du Marais/Hugo Reyne (Musiques à la Chabotterie)François Couperin was one of the baroque era’s greatest keyboard composers. Did he write any orchestral music? Er, no. Though... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mia Brentano, Wim Henderickx, Saint-SaënsSaturday, 19 January 2019
Mia Brentano’s Hidden Sea – 20 Songs for 2 Pianos Benyamin Nuss & Max Nyberg (pianos) (Mons Records)Hiddensee is a car-free German island in the Baltic Sea. It's mentioned as one possible inspiration for the pieces on this beguiling disc;... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Joe Cutler, Elgar, SepturaSaturday, 12 January 2019
Joe Cutler: Elsewhereness (NMC)The titles drew me in. Karembeu’s Guide to the Complete Defensive Midfielder is a great name for a piece, Joe Cutler tangentially inspired by the great French footballer’s passing skills to create a brilliant ten... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Bernstein in ParisSaturday, 05 January 2019
Mendelssohn: Symphonies 1-5, Overtures, A Midsummer Night’s Dream London Symphony Orchestra/Sir John Eliot Gardiner (LSO Live)That Mendelssohn wrote five symphonies is widely known, though I'd wager that 99% of listeners only know 40% of them... Read more... |
Best of 2018: Classical CDsSaturday, 29 December 2018
Record shops may be thin on the ground, but CDs are still very much with us. No sensible soul would ever rate listening to a recording over experiencing music live. But if, like me, time, money and geography limit one’s opportunities to nip out to... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Strauss, La Symphonie de Poche, Temple Church ChoirSaturday, 22 December 2018
Beethoven: Symphony No 3, Strauss: Horn Concerto No 1 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck, William Caballero (horn) (Reference Recordings)Funny how one's first experience of encountering a piece can still cast a shadow decades on; I... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Christmas, part 2Saturday, 15 December 2018
Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain Apollo’s Fire/Jeannette Sorrell (Avie)Subtitled "an Irish-Appalachian celebration", this disc follows the Scottish and Irish immigrants who pitched up in rural Virginia in the 19th century, fleeing unemployment... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Cage, JanáčekSaturday, 17 November 2018
Beethoven: Symphonies 2 and 7 Wiener Symphoniker/Philippe Jordan (WS/Sony)Philippe Jordan’s cheery face adorns this third volume of Beethoven symphonies from Vienna’s other orchestra, setting the tone fairly well. These are overwhelmingly... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: A Walk with Ivor Gurney, Yiddish Glory, For the FallenSaturday, 10 November 2018
A Walk with Ivor Gurney Tenebrae, Aurora Orchestra, Sarah Connolly, Simon Callow, Nigel Short (conductor) (Signum Classics)Ivor Gurney was a genuine polymath, a talented composer and poet whose career was disrupted by serving with the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Josquin, Calidore String Quartet, Ronn McFarlaneSaturday, 03 November 2018
Josquin: Missa Gaudeamus, Missa L’ami Baudichon The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips (Gimell)That music composed in the 14th and 15th centuries can be enjoyed and performed today is mind-boggling. As is looking at one of Josquin des Préz’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Handel, Schmelzer, Tesla QuartetSaturday, 27 October 2018
Abbandonata: Handel Italian Cantatas Carolyn Sampson (soprano), The King’s Consort/Robert King (Vivat)The young Handel’s desire to be an opera composer prompted him to spend the years 1706-1710 in Italy. He was already a superb academician and... Read more... |
