Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - December 2014
Plenty of twentieth-century and contemporary music this month, with the late John Tavener's 1980 Akhmatova Requiem on NMC as Re-Issue of the Month, an incandescent Brussels production of Berg's Lulu topping the DVDs, and music by Messiaen (including a world premiere recording of the recently discovered La Fauvette passerinette), Hartmann and Helen Grime among the Editor's Choices.
It's a good month for young artists, too, with Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani attracting attention with his Rameau, the Doric Quartet winning praise for their Haydn and Gramophone Young Artists of the Year the Nightingale Quartet going from strength to strength with their award-winning Langaard series.
Here's the list in full, with a snippet of the review for each title. To read the full reviews as well as loads of other interesting features are articles every month be sure to check out Gramophone Subscriptions Packages.
Recording of the Month
'Harding conducts with a superb sense of pace, weight and colour, perfectly supporting his equally fine singers in a really impressive live recording.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Editor's Choices
'A fascinating recital, built around a Messiaen premiere, from a pianist who fully inhabits the sound worlds of his assembled 20th- (and 21st-) century composers.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Unfailing wit, affection, fluency and pacing', qualities our critic attributes to Esfahani: entirely justified praise for this ever-impressive harpsichordist for the modern age.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Contrasting and compelling works which all bear the distinctive voice of this young composer, here championed with real commitment by the Hallé (and indeed NMC).'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
'A powerful piece, given an astonishing sense of drama and force by Markus Stenz, the rich orchestral playing every bit as vivid as the singing.'
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Transfixing recorder virtuosity allied with lively orchestral support, while in slow movements they achieve a delightful serenity.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'It's an age blessed with superb young string quartets and the Doric are among them. Instinctive grasp of the music and a very clear joy in performing it are evident throughout.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'A superb disc, defined throughout by brilliantly vivid (when called on to be so) dramatic string sounds in the wide variety of approaches called upon by these four composers.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC
'Gramophone's current Young Artists of the Year complete their exploration of Langaard in style, leaving those who have followed them on the journey much the richer for it.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Re-issue of the Month
Tavener: Akhmatova Requiem, Six Russian Folksongs
Nash Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
'Tavener's Akhmatova Requiem is a masterpiece...The performance is outstanding; Rozhdestvensky believed absolutely in the work and he drives the BBC SO as though his life depended on it.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD of the Month
Berg: Lulu
Barbara Hannigan, Dietrich Henschel, Charles Workman, La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Paul Daniel
'Tall, slender and chameleonic, [Hannigan] stalks the stage compellingly...Very impressive, too, are the orchestra and Paul Daniel, who is particularly adept at finding the score's drama and beauty. It's Hannigan, though, who makes this release so irresistably watchable.'
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
