Classical CDs
Classical CDs Weekly: Bernstein, English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, Kubrick's MusicSaturday, 20 October 2018
Bernstein: The Complete Naxos Recordings Marin Alsop (conductor) (Naxos)One of the best reasons for investing in this superb Bernstein box set lasts less than two minutes and isn't even by Lennie. Turn to Disc 7 and John Corigliano’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Handel, William Howard, Professor ChillSaturday, 13 October 2018
Handel: Works for Keyboard Philippe Grisvard (harpsichord) (Audax)Mention Handel's keyboard output and most folks (including saps like me) will think of his eight imposing Suites… and that's about it. Which is why harpsichordist Philippe Grisvard’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Ligeti, Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, Svend Erik TarpSaturday, 06 October 2018
Brahms & Ligeti: Horn Trios André Cazalet (horn), Guy Comentale (violin), Cyril Huvé (piano) (Calliope)This is a reissue from the last years of the early digital era (ie 1989), but it's a seriously good one. György Ligeti’s 1982 Horn Trio... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Ivanovs, Shi-An Costello, Sean ShibeSaturday, 29 September 2018
Jãnis Ivanovs: Symphony No. 5; Juris Karlsons: Music for Symphony Orchestra 1945 Latvian National Symphony Orchestra/Andris Poga (Skani)Jãnis Ivanovs’ promising conducting career was kyboshed by the outbreak of war and the Soviet invasion of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bernstein, Rachmaninov, Jeffrey RodenSaturday, 22 September 2018
Bernstein: Wonderful Town Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn, London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle (LSO Live)Wonderful Town’s one problem is that it isn't On the Town or West Side Story. If you didn’t already know those... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Blacher, Dutilleux, MartinSaturday, 15 September 2018
Boris Blacher: Dance Suite, Hamlet, Poème, Concertante Music Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Johannes Kalitzke (Capriccio)Boris Blacher’s stock would presumably be higher had he opted to leave Germany when the Nazis came to power. He was an... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Stravinsky, Vivaldi, John WilliamsSaturday, 08 September 2018
Stravinsky: Petrushka, Agon (arranged for piano duet and two pianos by the composer) Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo (Wergo)Stravinsky's long career is traversed in black and white here, with ballet scores early and late accompanying a pair of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Berlioz, Shostakovich, Turnage, La Maîtrise de ToulouseSaturday, 01 September 2018
Shostakovich: Symphonies 4 &11 Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons (DG)Shostakovich's 4th Symphony was famously withdrawn before its 1936 premiere, the composer wisely recognising that this violent, sprawling work might not do his... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bennett, Jiří Bělohlávek, Michala Petri and Lars HannibalSaturday, 25 August 2018
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Orchestral Works, Volume 2 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/John Wilson, with Howard McGill (saxophone) (Chandos)Asked by an American journalist whether his music was ‘great’, Richard Rodney Bennett replied that “... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bernstein, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Mihai RitivoiuSaturday, 18 August 2018
Bernstein: Symphonies 1-3, Prelude, Fugue and Riffs Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Antonio Pappano (Warner Classics)Antonio Pappano refers to “the curse of West Side Story” in the sleeve notes to this new set of Leonard... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Berio, Brahms, Schubert, A Map of the Kingdom of IrelandSaturday, 11 August 2018
Berio: Rendering, Schubert: Symphony No 9 Soloistes Européens, Luxembourg/Christoph König (Rubicon)Schubert's unfinished Symphony No 10 has been completed by various hands. I took part in a performance of Brian Newbould’s realisation several... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Louis Couperin, Pärt, Bruce LevingstonSaturday, 04 August 2018
Louis Couperin: Dances from the Bauyn Manuscript Pavel Kolesnikov (Hyperion)We’ll get the entertaining trivia out of the way first, namely that the musical Couperin dynasty came from Chaumes-en-Brie. I’m struggling to think of another example... Read more... |
