Latest stories
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Turandot from Antonio Pappano and other forthcoming highlights
31st Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
Sondra Radvanovsky and Jonas Kaufmann head the cast in a new studio recording of Puccini's final opera, with other spring highlights including the debut recording of Djibouti-born guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre, and a brief history of the French ténor de grâce from Cyrille Dubois.
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Puccini: Turandot
Sondra Radvanovsky (Turandot), Jonas Kaufmann (Calaf), Ermonela Jaho (Liù), Michele Pertusi (Timur), Michael Spyres (Altoum), Mattia Olivieri (Ping), Gregory Bonfatti (Pang), Siyabonga Maqungo (Pong), Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
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New Release Round-Up - 27th January 2023
27th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
Schubert and Beethoven from Mark Padmore & Mitsuko Uchida, Marais from Jean-Guihen Queyras & Alexandre Tharaud, French ballet music from Les Siècles & François-Xavier Roth, and Bruckner from Paavo Järvi & the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
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Elgar's 'Viola Concerto' from Timothy Ridout
20th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
The young British viola-player's account of the Cello Concerto as transcribed by Lionel Tertis is a compelling addition to the piece's distinguished discography on its own terms, with sensitive support from the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins.
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New Release Round-Up - 20th January 2023
20th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
Joseph Jongen from Ivan Ilić, Mozart from Peter Donohoe, Mahler from Claudia Huckle and Nicky Spence, and veteran Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi in concert.
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Ivan Ilić on Joseph Jongen
19th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
Ahead of the release of his recording of two sets of Préludes on Chandos tomorrow, the Serbian-American pianist talks to Katherine about the Belgian composer and teacher's 'huge appetite for contrast'.
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Véronique Gens in Poulenc's La Voix Humaine
13th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
The great French tragedienne tackles a role that’s surely been beckoning for years, and the results are every bit as compelling as you'd expect - with the Orchestre National de Lille providing some telling insights into the other side of this fraught phone-conversation...
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New Release Round-Up - 13th January 2023
13th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
Elgar's 'Viola Concerto' from Timothy Ridout, Beethoven from Midori and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lully's Psyché from Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset, and an album commemorating the 400th anniversary of the deaths of William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes from The King's Singers & Fretwork.
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Stravinsky from Isabelle Faust and other forthcoming highlights
11th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
Other stand-out releases for early spring include a second album of English music for strings from John Wilson & Sinfonia of London, Schumann & Brahms from Benjamin Grosvenor, and world premiere recordings of Margaret Bonds's Credo & Simon Bore the Cross.
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New Release Round-Up - 6th January 2023
6th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
Poulenc from Véronique Gens, Janáček, Brahms & Bartók from Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say, Malcolm Arnold from Michael Collins, and Reinecke from Simon Callaghan.
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Bojan Čičić on La Notte
5th Jan 2023by Katherine Cooper
The Croatian violinist speaks to David and Katherine about his collection of 'Concertos and Pastorales for Christmas Night' with the Illyria Consort, released on Delphian in late November.
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Schubert Revisited from Matthias Goerne
30th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
The German baritone is on top form in this recital of nineteen Lieder in bespoke orchestrations by one of his regular recital-partners Alexander Schmalcz, with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen responding to his simple eloquence in kind.
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New Release Round-Up - 30th December 2022
30th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
A Purcell double-bill from Geneva-based ensemble Les Argonautes, an all-Mozart programme from French soprano Julie Fuchs, the conclusion of William Youn's Schubert piano sonatas project, and Italian baroque Christmas music from Dorothee Mields and Dorothee Oberlinger.
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Javier Camarena on Signor Gaetano
28th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
The Mexican tenor discusses his recent Pentatone album exploring Donizetti's Italian operas (including rarities such as Betly, Maria de Rudenz and Giovedì Grasso), and explains why singing these works leaves him 'feeling satisfied and happy, rather than mentally exhausted!'.
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Presto Personal Favourites from 2022
23rd Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
Recordings of works by Coleridge-Taylor, Meyerbeer, John Williams and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson feature among the editorial team's individual picks of the year.
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Julian Marshall and James Gilchrist on The Angel in the Forest
22nd Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
The British composer discusses his atmospheric song-cycle for tenor and chamber ensemble (released as an EP on Orchid Classics last month) with its dedicatee.
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ATMA Classique's complete Massenet songs project
19th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
The label's artistic director Michel Ferland talks to Katherine about one of the most ambitious recording-projects ever undertaken in Canada, featuring over 300 songs and a line-up of artists including Karina Gauvin, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Julie Boulianne.
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Jules Massenet - Intégrale des mélodies pour voix et piano
Olivier Godin (piano, harmonium, harpsichord), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (contralto), Antonio Figueroa (tenor), Anna-Sophie Neher (soprano), Karina Gauvin (soprano), Jean-François Lapointe (baritone), Magali Simard-Galdès (soprano), Marc Boucher (baritone), Joé Lampron-Dandonneau (tenor), Hugo Laporte (baritone), David Jacques (guitar), Florence Bourget (contralto, soprano), Julie Boulianne (mezzo-soprano), Emmanuel Hasler (tenor), Éric Laporte (tenor), Michèle Losier (mezzo-soprano), Sophie Naubert (soprano), Stéphane Tétreault (cello), Frédéric Antoun (tenor), Jean Marchand (narrator), Antoine Bareil (violin), Valérie Milot (harp), Marie-Ève Pelletier (narrator), Antoine Bélanger (tenor)
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Mavra/Iolanta from the Bayerische Staatsoper
16th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
The young artists of the Munich opera-house's training studio (including Mirjam Mesak and Freddie De Tommaso) shine brightly in Axel Ranisch's ingenious fusion of two contrasting one-act operas by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.
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Igor Stravinsky/Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Mavra/Iolanta (DVD)
Mirjam Mesak (Iolanta), Long Long (Vaudémont), Boris Prýgl (Robert), Markus Suihkonen (King René), Oğulcan Yilmaz (Ibn-Hakia); Anna El-Khashem (Parasha), Freddie de Tommaso (Vassili), Noa Beinart (Mother/Marta) Opernstudio der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Axel Ranisch, Alevtina Ioffe
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Christophe Rousset on Les Talens Lyriques at 30
15th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
As his ensemble celebrates its thirtieth birthday, the conductor and harpsichordist talks about turning people onto Lully, venturing towards Wagner, and 'opening doors' for the next generation of young musicians and music-lovers in France...
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Véronique Gens in La Voix Humaine and other forthcoming highlights
14th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
Other stand-out releases for early 2023 include Clara and Robert Schumann from Beatrice Rana, Mompou from Stephen Hough, Beethoven & Schubert from Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida, and Czech harpsichord concertos from Mahan Esfahani.
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BBC Music Magazine - December 2022 Choices
12th Dec 2022by Katherine Cooper
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by 'wonderfully refined orchestral playing' from the Bamberger Symphoniker under Jakub Hrůša on two discs of Brahms and Dvořák...