Classical CDs
Classical CDs Weekly: Sibelius, Strauss, Bernstein the PianistSaturday, 28 July 2018
Sibelius: Finlandia, The Swan of Tuonela, En Saga, The Oceanides BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Thomas Søndergård (Linn)Earlier releases in Thomas Søndergård’s ongoing Sibelius cycle were marred by indifferent engineering, so it’s nice to report... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Sverre Indris Joner, John McLeod, Poulenc, StravinskySaturday, 21 July 2018
Sverre Indris Joner: Con cierto toque de tango Henning Kraggerud (violin), Norwegian Radio Orchestra/Sverre Indris Joner, with Tango for 3 (Lawo Classics)Sverre Indris Joner is described in this disc’s notes as “the doyen of Latin American... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Berio, Maderna, Mozart, Matthew GeeSaturday, 14 July 2018
Mozart: Piano Concertos nos 12 and 13, Double Concerto in Eb Marie-Pierre Langlamet and Joan Rafaelle Kim (harps), Varian Fry Quartet (Indésens)Mozart himself adapted three of his piano concertos for soloist and string quartet. Here, two of them are... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Handel, Holloway, Korngold, NielsenSaturday, 07 July 2018
Handel: Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo The Brook Street Band (Avie)A slimmed-down Brook Street Band give us nine of Handel's violin sonatas on this disc. Autograph manuscripts only survive for five of them, but the other four sound... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Olivia De Prato, Kärt Ruubel, Third Coast PercussionSaturday, 30 June 2018
Streya: New works for solo violin and violin with electronics Olivia De Prato (violin) (New Focus Recordings)Combining acoustic instruments with electronics is a dark art, and tantalisingly few details about the process are revealed in the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Prokofiev, Moonkyung LeeSaturday, 23 June 2018
Sei Solo: Bach's Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Alone Thomas Bowes (Navona)Have a look at violinist Thomas Bowes’ IMDB page. You’ve almost certainly heard him play on a giddying range of film soundtracks, and, given the frenetic pace of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Martin, Martinů, Vivaldi, 4 Girls 4 HarpsSaturday, 16 June 2018
The Secret Mass: Choral works by Frank Martin and Bohuslav Martinů Danish National Vocal Ensemble/Marcus Creed (OUR Recordings)We're lucky to be able to hear Frank Martin’s Mass for two four-part choirs at all; this most fastidious and self-... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Haydn, Poulenc, VarèseSaturday, 09 June 2018
Haydn: Piano Sonatas 32, 40, 49, 50 Paul Lewis (Harmonia Mundi)One of the many good things about Haydn's piano sonatas is their brevity. You can easily squeeze four or five on to a single disc, though the ones chosen by Paul Lewis for his... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Messiaen, Shostakovich, Berlin Philharmonic OrchestraSaturday, 02 June 2018
Messiaen: Catalogue d’Oiseaux Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Pentatone)The title Catalogue d’Oiseaux suggests a dusty ornithological textbook. And Messiaen implied that all he’d done to compose this ear-tickling sequence of piano pieces was to... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Scarlatti, StradihumpaSaturday, 26 May 2018
Beethoven Revisited: Symphonies 1-9 Taschenphilharmonie/Peter Stangel (Sony)The most enjoyable recent Beethoven symphony cycle I've heard is Yury Martynov’s set of the Liszt piano arrangements. Closely followed by this one. It’s also a left-... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bernstein, Bruckner, SchmittSaturday, 19 May 2018
Bernstein: On the Waterfront Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Christian Lindberg (BIS)There's much to enjoy in this Bernstein compilation, the first recorded collaboration between trombonist Christian Lindberg and the Royal Liverpool... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Delius, Grieg, Martinů, Simon HöfeleSaturday, 12 May 2018
Grieg: Piano Concertos 1 and 2, Delius: Piano Concerto Mark Bebbington, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Jan Latham-Koenig (Somm)I’m not a big Delius fan – those exquisitely perfumed miniatures don’t quite do it for me, and the tone poems leave me... Read more... |
