Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - May 2018
First among equals this month is Christian Tetzlaff, whose accounts of the Bartók violin concertos with Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra on Ondine went head-to-head with Renaud Capuçon’s recent recordings with François-Xavier Roth and the London Symphony Orchestra on Erato.
Editor’s Choices include two of our April Recordings of the Week: the first instalment of Paul Lewis’s survey of Haydn’s piano sonatas, and Rachel Podger’s exuberant Four Seasons (our best-selling album of April). And it’s great to see BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year Julien Brocal cementing his growing reputation with a evocative recital of Ravel and Mompou on Rubicon.
Recording of the Month
'Ondine’s new Bartók CD is an out-and-out winner...Tetzlaff’s account of the First Concerto elevates this work to a whole new level of musical excellence, so much so that I’m inclined to place his expertly recorded CD of the two concertos ahead of all rival versions. It’s that good!'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
'Though Vogt has all the resources of a modern Steinway at his command, and isn’t afraid to use them, there is a filigree quality to the playing...The rapport between the soloist and this highly accomplished band of musicians is everything it should be, and more. These are marvellous performances.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'It’s not just that the actual playing is superb: serene virtuoso fluency from Podger, gorgeously supported by her colleagues...It’s also that this is something genuinely, effortlessly and naturally different...I’ve never heard their every twist and turn served up as quite the succession of changing sound worlds as appears here.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Ferneyhough: La Terre est un Homme
ensemble recherche, BBC Symphony Orchestra, EXAUDI, Martyn Brabbins, James Weeks
'In the latter pieces the BBC SO never shirk that lightness of touch which makes listening a pleasure, while Martyn Brabbins directs with calm authority and, above all, a belief in this music’s potency. Ferneyhough’s 75th birthday could not have been more fittingly marked.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
'These guys have a pedigree with this unfathomably difficult score and their fresh, slick recording shows it...On top, the playing is more than secure: confident, bright and delivered on the front foot...A Drumming for this decade – and probably a few to come, too.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'It’s not that their performances are so much leisurely as they are elastic. The music breathes in their hands; and even when they stretch a phrase as if to feel its emotional weight, it still sounds natural and right...The A major Quartet is, to my ears, the jewel of the set, and the Elias play it with profound tenderness.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Paul Lewis has finally turned his attention to Haydn. Hurray for that, for it’s a superb fit; it’s also clear that he has absorbed the experience of working with Alfred Brendel as a young man, and the results are nothing if not personal...Highlights are many but the B minor Sonata (No 32) is special indeed.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Brocal is a musician of distinction whose imaginative, intelligent and cultivated piano-playing is at once seductive and authoritative. In fact, the perfection and maturity of his Ravel is little short of astonishing...The same fine ear and sensitive touch, in combination with a superb sense of timing, bring the two Mompou sets to life.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'This has to be Stile Antico’s best album to date: it’s certainly their most gripping and, as ever with this ensemble, the vocal sound is sumptuous throughout...It’s rather thrilling therefore to hear Stile Antico, who often perform Renaissance polyphony calmly, tap in to the dramatic excitement and atmospheric intensity now associated with these works.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Degout rises splendidly to the climax of ‘Monstre affreux’ from Dardanus...The Pygmalion chorus comes into its own in sections of the Requiem...Forget the ‘end of time’ conceit and marvel at the music, so winningly performed by Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Copland conducts Copland (DVD)
Benny Goodman (clarinet), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Aaron Copland
'The video shows Copland as a precise, energetic and alert conductor, smiling happily at the orchestra after each piece and enjoying himself enormously in the performance of the Hoedown from the ballet Rodeo. It’s a great watch, and a rewarding listen as well...The video direction is in the safe hands of Kirk Browning...Browning keeps the camera moving but he knows what to show and when to show it.'
Available Format: DVD Video
Copland conducts Copland (Blu-ray)
Benny Goodman (clarinet), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Aaron Copland
Picture format: HD 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Available Format: Blu-ray
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
