BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - January 2017 Choices
Masaaki Suzuki's limpid account of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor (released on BIS in December) arrived just a shade too late to make it into our own Top 100 Discs of 2016, so we're delighted to see it leading the pack as Recording of the Month in the January issue of BBC Music Magazine.
Also good to see two of our other recent favourites in amongst the Choices: Andrew Davis's supersized Messiah on Chandos, and the latest instalment (Die Walküre) of the Naxos Ring Cycle from Hong Kong. Siegfried is being recorded later this week, with Heidi Melton, Falk Struckmann and Matthias Goerne all returning and Simon O'Neill making his debut in the title-role.
Recording of the Month
Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427 'Great'
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Olivia Vermeulen (alto), Makoto Sakurada (tenor), Christian Immler (bass), Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
Suzuki grasps the directness of Mozart's Catholic faith...Stripping the score right back, [he] makes musicianship dominate. He taps into the subtle arts of his fellow performers, especially Carolyn Sampson, to create a benchmark performance.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Concerto Choice
Vivaldi: Concertos for 2 violins
Giuliano Carmignola (violin) & Amandine Beyer (violin), Gli incogniti
'The musical chemistry between Carmignola and Beyer is intuitive and gratifying. Outer movements sparkle with playful vigour while centrally placed solo movements are poetically declaimed...soloists and ripieno alike respond to this wonderful music with passion, insight and a feeling for the idiom that emerges as second nature.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Orchestral Choice
'Schreker combines Wagnerian passion with Debussyan subtlety. Lawrence Renes and the Royal Swedish Orchestra revel in the music’s extravagance, delivering strongly committed and full-blooded performances supported by a crystal clear recording that allows you to hear every detail in these intricate scores.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Opera Choice
Wagner: Die Walküre
Matthias Goerne (Wotan), Petra Lang (Brünnhilde), Michelle DeYoung (Fricka), Stuart Skelton (Siegmund), Heidi Melton (Sieglinde); Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden
'[van Zweden] drives the drama excitingly [and] his singers respond superbly…Goerne brings Wotan’s fearful conflicts of love and desperation alive…[Lang’s] high notes soar with cutting power…Skelton and Melton are well established Volsungs, but both their voices seem to have taken on fresh lustre and clarion ring, giving memorably intense performances.'
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Matthias Goerne (Wotan), Petra Lang (Brünnhilde), Michelle DeYoung (Fricka), Stuart Skelton (Siegmund), Heidi Melton (Sieglinde); Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden
Available Format: Blu-ray Audio
Choral Choice
Handel: Messiah
Erin Wall (soprano), Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Staples (tenor), John Relyea (bass-baritone); Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Sir Andrew Davis
'Davis calls on some wonderfully imaginative orchestral techniques in his arrangement...The solo voices are rich and weighty…[the] flute provides a charming obbligato to ‘How beautiful are the feet’, while the tenor’s ‘Thy rebuke’ is intensely moving…A remarkable choral achievement.'
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Chamber Choice
Schubert: Piano Trios Opp. 99 & 100
Andreas Staier (fortepiano), Daniel Sepec (violin), Roel Dieltiens (cello)
'The players catch just the right balance of poise and profundity...There is never any lack of momentum … There’s plenty of colour, from subtly glassy on-the-bridge effects to a full-on stamping and jangling the scherzo of Op. 100...A gorgeously sustained account of the Nocturne (D897) completes this set.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Instrumental Choice
'Impressive, both in the quality of the playing and the variety of the music…in Ysaye's Third Sonata she yields nothing to the finest recordings in her accuracy and passion, the recording capturing the full range of her tone in a rich but not over-resonant acoustic.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
