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Wagner from Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra
24th Jun 2013
Wonderfully balanced and beautifully characterised accounts of the Overture to Die Meistersinger, the Siegfried Idyll and three excerpts from Götterdämmerung, including an Immolation Scene of laser-sharp accuracy and thrilling power from Petra Lang.
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Neeme Järvi conducts Richard Strauss’s ballet, Josephslegende
10th Jun 2013
Strauss himself may have spoke slightingly of this work (commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1914), but Chris is won over by the range and combinations of orchestral colours, and Järvi’s carefully calculated tempos and tempo relationships.
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Martha Argerich and Friends Live from Lugano
13th May 2013
Highlights from the pianist’s month-long annual festival in southern Switzerland include Mozart with Maria João Pires, Schumann with Gautier Capuçon, Brahms with Nicholas Angelich, and piano quartets by Mahler and Dvořák.
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Mendelssohn from the Quatuor Ebène
7th Jan 2013
The award-winning young French quartet bring their trademark commitment and passion to chamber-music by the Mendelssohn siblings, including Felix’s ‘quartet-Requiem’ for his beloved sister.
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Quatuor Ebène play Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn
Quatuor Ebène
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Wispelwey and Schiff re-visit Bach
17th Dec 2012
For his third recording of the Suites, the Dutch cellist tunes his instrument down by a whole tone to the pitch which was commonly used in Cöthen where Bach composed the works, whilst Schiff’s second take on The Well-Tempered Clavier is more direct and less sentimental than its predecessor.
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Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty from Neeme Järvi
10th Dec 2012
A new trilogy of complete Tchaikovsky ballet scores from the veteran Estonian conductor and the Bergen Philharmonic gets off to a glittering start, with outstanding solo contributions from violinist James Ehnes and cellist Robert deMaine.
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Christmas roundup
3rd Dec 2012
The Choir of King’s College Cambridge launch their own record-label with a collection of music commissioned for their Nine Lessons and Carols services over the decades, plus Zelenka’s Missa Nativitatis Domini from Musica Florea and Britten’s St Nicolas from Trinity College Cambridge.
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Belcea Quartet launch their Beethoven cycle
19th Nov 2012
Excellent ensemble and complete sympathy and understanding between the players are the hallmarks of this projected complete cycle by the former BBC New Generation Artists, who have been winning plaudits galore for their live performances of these works over the past few years.
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Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets Vol. 1
Belcea Quartet
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George Hurst
22nd Oct 2012
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Glenn Gould
24th Sep 2012
To mark the eightieth anniversary of the birth of the extraordinary Canadian pianist, Sony Classical present two sets celebrating his legacy: The Schwarzkopf Tapes from 1966 (previously unreleased), and a handsomely-documented 38-CD box of his legendary Bach recordings.
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Mendelssohn's Elijah from McCreesh
27th Aug 2012
A super-sized, historically-aware account of Mendelssohn’s Old Testament oratorio (with Simon Keenlyside offering a nuanced portrayal of the irascible prophet) sets a new benchmark for this oft-recorded work, with an orchestra of almost 100 and a choir of over 300!
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Rhapsody in Blue – Grosvenor and Kempf
6th Aug 2012
Two former BBC Young Musician of the Year prize-winners record Gershwin’s best-known work – Kempf as part of an all-Gershwin programme, Grosvenor alongside Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2.
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Holst and Delius on Naxos
16th Jul 2012
JoAnn Falletta conducts the Ulster Orchestra in Holst’s Cotswolds Symphony, and David Hill directs Delius’s Nietzsche-inspired Mass for Life with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
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Rachel Podger on La cetra
30th Jun 2012
Chris visits the baroque violinist to discuss her new recording of Vivaldi's twelve concerti Op. 9, recorded with Holland Baroque and released on Channel Classics earlier this month.
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Vivaldi: La cetra
Rachel Podger (violin) Holland Baroque Society
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Vivaldi from Rachel Podger
25th Jun 2012
Following her Gramophone Award-winning recording of La stravaganza in 2003, the British baroque violinist tackles La cetra with Holland Baroque Society.
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Shostakovich Symphonies from Petrenko and the RLPO
11th Jun 2012
The seventh instalment of the Russian conductor’s acclaimed Shostakovich cycle finds his Liverpool orchestra on top form in the Second and Fifteenth Symphonies.
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Hamilton Harty’s Chamber Music
30th Apr 2012
The Goldner String Quartet and Piers Lane bring out all the charm and flamboyance of the Irish composer’s two string quartets and piano quintet, dating from the early 1900s and composed shortly after Harty relocated to London.
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Haydn from Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker
19th Mar 2012
Chris applauds the ‘knowledge and sound musical instincts’ on show from the German conductor on this sixteenth volume of his Haydn symphonies cycle on Hänssler, which features Symphonies nos. 90 and 92 (the ‘Oxford’).
