Latest stories
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Abel Selaocoe on Hymns of Bantu
20th Feb 2025by Katherine Cooper
The award-winning South African cellist discusses his new album (out tomorrow on Warner Classics), which sets traditional Bantu music alongside compositions by Bach and Marais.
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New Release Round-Up - 14th February 2025
14th Feb 2025by Katherine Cooper
Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé from the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano, Kurtág and Schubert from Benjamin Appl, Haydn's Die Schöpfung from Simon Rattle in Munich, and Stravinsky's Le rossignol from Paris (with Sabine Devieilhe in the title-role).
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Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen on Uncharted
10th Feb 2025by Katherine Cooper
In the wake of his debut solo album on Avie Records (featuring songs by Brahms, Robert & Clara Schumann and Korngold), the American countertenor recounts how cantoring at a local synagogue in his early teens and supporting Elton John at Madison Square Gardens both helped to shape his artistry...
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Lieder from Fatma Said and friends
7th Feb 2025by Katherine Cooper
The Egyptian soprano is joined by pianists Malcolm Martineau and Joseph Middleton (and an array of special guests including clarinettist Sabine Meyer and rising young baritone Huw Montague Rendall) for a programme of favourite Lieder by Schubert, Brahms, Robert Schumann and the Mendelssohn siblings.
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New Release Round-Up - 7th February 2025
7th Feb 2025by Katherine Cooper
John Field from Alice Sara Ott, Shostakovich from the Jerusalem Quartet, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius from Nicholas Collon and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Vivaldi's Arsilda from Andrea Marcon and La Cetra Basel.
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Sonya Yoncheva on George
6th Feb 2025by Katherine Cooper
The Bulgarian soprano discusses her musical tribute to George Sand (out tomorrow on Naïve), featuring extracts from the French novelist's correspondence interwoven with music by Chopin, Viardot, Liszt, Leoncavallo and Tosti.
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Terra Mater from Christina Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata
31st Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
The experimental early music ensemble is joined by Swedish mezzo (and climate-change activist) Malena Ernman for an eclectic programme celebrating Mother Earth, taking in pictorial Baroque sonatas, English folksongs and dances, early Italian opera and a soupçon of jazz...
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New Release Round-Up - 31st January 2025
31st Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
Richard Rodney Bennett from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and John Wilson, Strauss from Renaud Capuçon, Schumann from Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien, and rare Italian piano concertos from Roberto Prosseda.
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New Release Round-Up - 24th January 2025
24th Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
Orff's Carmina Burana from Paavo Järvi in Zürich, a programme of music by refugee composers from Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Camerata Bern, Busoni from Peter Donohoe, and Weinberg's The Passenger from Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla at the Teatro Real de Madrid.
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Christina Pluhar on Terra Mater
23rd Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
The director of L'Arpeggiata discusses the early music ensemble's 25th-birthday plans and their new album with Swedish mezzo Malena Ernman (released on Erato next Friday) which celebrates the natural world.
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New Release Round-Up - 17th January 2025
17th Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
Vivaldi's Four Seasons from Théotime Langlois de Swarte and Le Consort, a 500th-birthday tribute to Palestrina from Stile Antico, Rufus Wainwright's Dream Requiem, and Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins from the London Symphony Orchestra and Simon Rattle.
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Sergei Babayan on Rachmaninoff for Two
16th Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
The Armenian-American pianist talks about the art of transcription, late nights with Martha Argerich, recording with his former pupil Daniil Trifonov - and why he believes that teachers can learn as much from their students as vice versa...
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New Release Round-Up - 10th January 2025
10th Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
Francesco Scarlatti from Armonico Consort, French harpsichord music from Sophie Yates, Beethoven's Missa solemnis from Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and Jérémie Rhorer, and Debussy from The Nash Ensemble.
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Ruth Gipps from Rumon Gamba and the BBC Philharmonic
3rd Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
This third volume of the British composer's orchestral works on Chandos features the world premiere recordings of Symphony No. 1, the Coronation Procession from 1953 and the elegy Ambarvalia, plus the Horn Concerto and Cringlemire Garden.
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New Release Round-Up - 3rd January 2025
3rd Jan 2025by Katherine Cooper
Four nineteenth-century bassoon concertos from the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Bach transcriptions from David Ponsford and David Hill, Karl Weigl's Symphony No. 3 from Jürgen Bruns, and a second volume of Schreker's orchestral works from Steven Sloane in Bochum.
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Benjamin Appl on Christmas in Regensburg
24th Dec 2024by Katherine Cooper
The German baritone discusses returning to his old choir for his new Christmas album on Alpha Classics, and shares some of his childhood memories of the festive season.
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Barrie Kosky's phantasmagorical Fledermaus from Munich
20th Dec 2024by Katherine Cooper
Georg Nigl, Diana Damrau and Katharina Konradi lead a stellar cast in the maverick Australian director's fever-dream production of Johann Strauss II's operetta about disguise, revenge and champagne, filmed last Christmas at the Bayerische Staatsoper with Vladimir Jurowski conducting.
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New Releases from Winter 2024
20th Dec 2024by Katherine Cooper
Schubert Lieder from Philippe Jaroussky and Jérôme Ducros, Yuletide Treats from Duo Pleyel, Bruckner piano works from Mari Kodama, and a Bach-inspired recital from accordionist Ksenija Sidorova.
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Robert Treviño on American Opus
19th Dec 2024by Katherine Cooper
The American conductor discusses his new album of works by George Walker, George Crumb and Silvestre Revueltas with the Basque National Orchestra, released on Ondine last month and described as 'thoroughly satisfying' by Limelight Magazine.
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Pene Pati on Rodolfo (and rugby!)
17th Dec 2024by Katherine Cooper
As he makes his Covent Garden debut in Puccini's La bohème, the ebullient Samoan tenor discusses why he finds Puccini's impoverished poet such a relatable character, playing for the Cardiff Saracens when he moved from New Zealand to study in Wales, and how Kiri Te Kanawa helped to kickstart his international career.