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Beethoven & Beyond from María Dueñas
5th May 2023
The 20-year-old Spanish violinist combines a sense of almost childlike wonder with absolute technical mastery on her debut recording of the Beethoven concerto with the Wiener Symphoniker & Manfred Honeck, supplemented with shorter pieces by composers who wrote cadenzas to the work.
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New Release Round-Up - 5th May 2023
5th May 2023
Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde from Piotr Beczala, Christian Gerhaher & Gerold Huber, Spontini's La vestale from Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset, Stanford's Requiem from Martyn Brabbins, and an eclectic East-meets-West recital from Karim Sulayman & Sean Shibe.
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Jocelyn Freeman on The Poet's Echo
4th May 2023
The pianist discusses her album of works with a Pushkin connection (including a new version of Britten's eponymous song-cycle, Shostakovich's Cello Sonata and Prokofiev's Three Romances), recently released on Rubicon and also featuring soprano Gemma Summerfield, baritone Gareth Brynmor John & cellist Abi Hyde-Smith.
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Presto Editor's Choices - April 2023
1st May 2023
An irresistible collection of Roberto Sierra's orchestral music from Domingo Hindoyan and the Liverpool Philharmonic, Baroque fireworks from vocal chameleon Michael Spyres, and a ravishing debut album from young British countertenor Alexander Chance with lutenist Toby Carr.
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Fantasie from Alexander Melnikov
28th Apr 2023
The Russian pianist performs seven fantasias by composers from JS Bach to Schnittke on seven historically-appropriate instruments, including an extraordinary tangent piano from 1790 and two fortepianos from his own personal collection.
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New Release Round-Up - 28th April 2023
28th Apr 2023
CPE Bach from Rachel Podger & Kristian Bezuidenhout, Roberto Sierra from Domingo Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, English lute songs from Alexander Chance & Toby Carr, and Schnittke from Cappella Amsterdam.
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Raider of the Lost Archives - Michael Spyres on Contra-Tenor
27th Apr 2023
The American singer discusses becoming 'the Indiana Jones of the tenor voice' on his latest album for Erato, which charts the evolution of the Baroque tenore assoluto and features rarities by composers including Latilla, Mazzoni & Piccinni...
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New Release Round-Up - 21st April 2023
21st Apr 2023
Reich's Music for 18 Musicians from The Colin Currie Group, Baroque rarities from Michael Spyres & Il Pomo d'Oro, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 from Semyon Bychkov, and the physical release of Fabio Luisi's acclaimed Nielsen cycle with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
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Katie Mitchell's staging of Handel's Theodora and other forthcoming highlights
17th Apr 2023
Julia Bullock, Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński star in the British director's hard-hitting Covent Garden production from 2022, with other highlights including Dvořák and Coleridge-Taylor from the Takács Quartet, scenes of childhood from Isata Kanneh-Mason, and American countertenor Reginald Mobley's debut recording of spirituals on Alpha Classics.
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Anime Immortali from Franco Fagioli
14th Apr 2023
The Argentinian countertenor is at the top of his game in a programme exploring Mozart's writing for castrati, including the motet Exsultate, jubilate and arias from La finta giardiniera, Lucio Silla and La clemenza di Tito.
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Franco Fagioli on Anime Immortali
14th Apr 2023
The Argentinian countertenor discusses his new album of sacred and secular Mozart (out today on Pentatone) - and recounts how his love-affair with singing the composer's music was ignited when he was cast as First Boy in Die Zauberflöte aged 11...
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New Release Round-Up - 14th April 2023
14th Apr 2023
Mercadante's Il Proscritto from Carlo Rizzi & Opera Rara, a German Baroque Requiem from Vox Luminis & Lionel Meunier, an eclectic Marian-themed recital from Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Anna Prohaska, and Bruckner from François-Xavier Roth in Cologne.
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Mercadante: Il Proscritto
Ramón Vargas (Giorgio Argyll), Irene Roberts (Malvina Douglas), Elizabeth DeShong (Odoardo Douglas), Sally Matthews (Anna Ruthven), Iván Ayón-Rivas (Arturo Murray), Goderdzi Janelidze (Guglielmo Ruthven) Britten Sinfonia, Opera Rara Chorus, Carlo Rizzi
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John Wilson conducts Rachmaninoff
7th Apr 2023
The spotlight is squarely on the strings on this clear-eyed, almost Classical account of Rachmaninoff's 1908 symphony, with balance and restraint the order of the day until the final few minutes of the piece...
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New Release Round-Up - 7th April 2023
7th Apr 2023
Messiaen's Des canyons aux étoiles... from the Utah Symphony & Thierry Fischer, Schubert from Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton, Byrd from Fretwork & Alamire, and a sacred album from Joseph Calleja.
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Presto Editor's Choices - March 2023
3rd Apr 2023
Sleek but savage Stravinsky from the Orchestre de Paris & Klaus Mäkelä, Haydn red in tooth and claw from René Jacobs, and world premiere recordings of works for piano and orchestra by Maconchy, Lutyens & Wallen.
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New Release Round-Up - 31st March 2023
31st Mar 2023
Rachmaninoff from John Wilson & Sinfonia of London, Solti's Siegfried in newly-remastered glory, Berlioz from John Nelson & Joyce DiDonato, and a Pushkin-inspired recital from Gemma Summerfield, Gareth Brynmor-John, Abi Hyde-Smith and Jocelyn Freeman.
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Tim Mead on Beauteous Softness
30th Mar 2023
The countertenor discusses his new album of songs by Henry Purcell, John Blow, Pelham Humfrey and William Webb with La Nuova Musica & David Bates (released last week on Pentatone).
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James Bowman (1941-2023)
28th Mar 2023
The trailblazing English countertenor, who created the role of the Voice of Apollo in Britten's Death in Venice and opened up a wealth of new possibilities for his voice-type, has died aged 81.
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Britten: Death in Venice
Peter Pears (Aschenbach), John Shirley-Quirk (Traveller/Elderly Fop/Old Gondolier/Hotel Manager/Hotel Barber/Leader of the Players/Voice of Dionysus), James Bowman (Voice of Apollo) English Opera Group Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra, Steuart Bedford
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Episode 34: Golden Oldies - The Brodsky Quartet at 50
26th Mar 2023
Katherine is joined by cellist Jacqueline Thomas and viola-player Paul Cassidy for a whistle-stop tour through the quartet's first fifty years - including their landmark Shostakovich cycle in the 1990s and collaborations with Issey Miyake, Sting, Elvis Costello & Sir Paul McCartney
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New Release Round-Up - 24th March 2023
24th Mar 2023
Previously unreleased recordings by Jessye Norman, Stravinsky from Klaus Mäkelä in Paris, variations by Beethoven and others from Cédric Tiberghien, and Beethoven & Ravel from Martha Argerich in Israel.
