Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - November 2015
Igor Levit's mighty trio of variations by Bach, Beethoven and Rzewski (which Katherine reviewed in our newsletter a few weeks ago) leads the pack this month, with fellow pianists Dong-Hyek Lim, Yuja Wang and the late Ivan Moravec also making appearances. In the choral camp, there's Sébastien Daucé's celebration of Louis XIV, and The Sixteen's Poetry in Music, which includes four settings of 'When David heard'.
Recording of the Month
'There is, if you care to rationalise, a Russian depth of sound and eloquence of phrasing, tempered by Germanic intellectual grasp...Levit’s musical personality is as integrated and mature as his technique. And both of these are placed at the service of the music’s glory rather than his own.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
'As with the series as a whole, the performances are exemplary. Noseda’s familiar combination of rigour and emotional extremism is in evidence throughout...Gillian Keith is the aptly glacial-sounding soprano, and the playing throughout is terrific in its intensity and panache. Highly recommended.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'The Introduction is entrancing...It’s pulsating, yet rhythmically crisp...Tam-tams in ‘The Dance of the Earth’ almost leap out from the speakers. It’s not all about power and speed...But when Currentzis asks his orchestra to let rip, they do so with savage abandon.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
'The Dudok Quartet’s gift is to hear Ligeti in Ligeti even when he couldn’t hear it in himself...The First Quartet is Tom and Jerry in black and white, the Second is their Technicolor reincarnation, but the Dudok give us remastered Ligeti, blacker and whiter than ever before.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'The outer movements are so deliciously light, like the most perfect soufflé, executed with disarming insouciance by pianist and orchestra alike...You could not wish for a more atmospheric account of this concerto – nor a more thrilling one...The same applies to the Left Hand Concerto with an opening that is truly sinister.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'It is clear that this is something really special. That specialness comes not just from the fact that The Sixteen elevate everything they perform through their opulent musicality and supreme clarity of tone, but from Harry Christophers’s intuitive grasp of the marriage of music and words.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'To listen to Moravec is to be reminded of another era, one in which there was no political correctness surrounding Bach and the modern piano. He gives a warm, richly rhetorical reading of the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, one that is seemingly without ego and entirely compelling. The Mozart sonata is another highlight.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
'His approach might best be described as close reading: Chopin’s markings are observed to the letter, including impeccable phrasing that lives and breathes. Unrushed tempi and sparse pedalling reveal a wealth of detail...Lim’s Preludes alone are worth the purchase price.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Daucé invokes the privilege of creative licence with the interpolation of numerous extracts from operas by Italians invited to Paris by Cardinal Mazarin during the early years of the Sun King’s reign... A rotating team of up to 52 musicians traverse the musical spectrum from whispered intimacy to jovial ceremony.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'It is hard to imagine hearing another performance as convivial and life-affirming as this. The Orchestra of Classical Opera play supremely well...Page’s unobtrusive pacing of the pastoral mini-drama and sage weighting of orchestrally accompanied recitatives pull the listener along gently.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Reissue of the Month
'This is, finally, the memorial that all of us who were admirers of Steve Martland’s music have been waiting for..Anyone interested in the variety of British music of the 20th century should explore this outstanding release.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
DVD
'Befitting its extraordinary subject, Anne-Kathrin Peitz and Youlian Tabakov’s brilliant film about the French composer and hardline agent provocateur Erik Satie aims at more than a standard life-and-works biography.'
Available Format: DVD Video
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
