Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices December 2019
François-Xavier Roth’s second recording of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique with Les Siècles takes pride of place this month, thanks to the ‘colour and characterisation’ provided by the period instruments and Roth’s own ‘emotional hotline’ to the composer’s fever-dream.
Canadian violinist James Ehnes and British conductor Andrew Manze each get two mentions in dispatches (including one in which they share the billing), whilst DVD/Blu-ray of the Month goes to Laurent Pelly’s modernist production of Il barbiere di Siviglia from the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
Recording of the Month
'The success of this account is not just through the conductor’s close study of the autograph manuscript. Roth seems to have an emotional hotline to Berlioz, alive to every twist and turn of the composer’s fevered passions… this is not just my favourite ‘historically authentic’ recording. I strongly believe this is the finest account of the Fantastique to emerge from France since Charles Munch and the newly formed Orchestre de Paris in 1967 … and it probably trumps that too.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5
Martin Helmchen (piano), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Andrew Manze
'Theirs is to all appearances a straight-down-the-middle approach. Yet it does stand high and proud for its artistry, poetry, stylish musicianship and, perhaps above all, rapport between soloist and conductor. This really does feel like a meeting of minds… Not only has Helmchen matured in his pianism but he is given wings by an orchestra that shares intimate moments with the piano at one point and twirls with it at the next.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending & Fantasia on a Theme By Thomas Tallis
James Ehnes (violin), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
'The clarity of James Ehnes’s playing, with virtually flawless intonation, is relaxed and profoundly lyrical…The strings of the RLPO have a rich purple hue and Manze’s control of the balance of the orchestra’s rounded tone is beautifully judged and symptomatic of the deep sympathy he has for this music and these treasured scores. For all Vaughan Williams ‘Liebhabers’, this is a must!'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
CPE Bach: Complete Original Works for Violin & Keyboard
Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin), James Baillieu (piano)
'What we discover – immediately and sustained for 153 minutes and 12 seconds – is that CPE not only does justice to his father but also is a superb composer in his own right. [Baillieu’s] lines are full of breath, intimate and expansive, shaped with a microscopic sensitivity. Trills glisten over Waley-Cohen, the perfect partner to transform this into bowed song. Waley-Cohen’s achievement of pure legato is wondrous…Three discs of wonderful music-making, enough to make any father proud.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'With some discs, you can just tell that everything’s going to go like a dream… The freshness and spontaneity of these interpretations is unfaltering, as is the instantaneous rapport and subtle, crystal-clear tonal beauty of the pair’s playing… These are, after all, ‘Sonatas for Pianoforte and Violin’ – a paradox that I’ve rarely heard so masterfully resolved on modern instruments. These players are simply on the same page as each other.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'If ever there were a piano sonata with a symphony lurking inside, it is the Brahms F minor. To Goerner’s immense credit, he doesn’t detonate the instrument in an effort to accommodate the occasionally overblown writing but has mastered its details so thoroughly that, for all the breadth and heft of the musical ideas, the piece sounds proportionate to the piano…In Goerner’s hands the Paganini Variations, Brahms’s tribute to the virtuosity of his friend Carl Tausig, becomes an exploration of the piano’s expressive and sonorous potential.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Hantaï never makes the mistake of tearing into these pieces and wrestling them. If the music itself seems to approach organised chaos in places, his playing is always controlled, seeking out lyricism and humanity, no matter how fast the notes fly… And when Scarlatti explicitly sings his soul, so does Hantaï…With every superb new release, the Frenchman is laying further claim to a position as perhaps the best Scarlatti harpsichordist of all.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'With the sound of their Award-winning Monteverdi madrigals fresh in our ears, this new disc, also made from live recordings, offers fresh views of that famous madrigalian fork-in-the-road: Monteverdi’s experimental laboratory veered towards monody, Gesualdo’s led him to push further into the polyphonic web, fracturing texts and harmonies. The sheer inquisitive delight that these singers bring to Gesualdo’s extraordinary world indicates a very exciting series ahead.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Handel: Samson
Joshua Ellicott, Sophie Bevan, Fflur Wyn, Mary Bevan, Jess Dandy, Hugo Hymas, Matthew Brook, Vitali Rozynko; Dunedin Consort, John Butt
'This new Samson now becomes the top recommendation: for its uniformly excellent soloists, its excitingly ‘present’ choral singing and, above all, its more urgent sense of theatre…Sophie and Mary Bevan, both natural Handelian stylists, are well-nigh ideal… Jess Dandy, a true contralto, is the oratorio’s voice of balm, singing the sublime prayer ‘Return, O God of hosts’ with warm, even tone and broad phrasing.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Iestyn Davies (Orfeo), Sophie Bevan (Euridice), Rebecca Bottone (Amor) La Nuova Musica, David Bates
'The chorus has much to do, and I lost count of the number of times it ravished the ear… The orchestra, too, is extremely accomplished… The soloists are magnificent. Iestyn Davies sings smoothly throughout… Sophie Bevan comes across powerfully, getting more and more stroppy as she rails at Orfeo for not looking at her. Rebecca Bottone has a perfect voice for Amore (Cupid), light and bright… High praise, then, for David Bates and his ensemble.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Florian Sempey (Figaro), Catherine Trottmann (Rosina), Michele Angelini (Almaviva), Péter Kálmán (Bartolo), Robert Gleadow (Basilio), Annuziata Vestri (Berta); Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Jérémie Rhorer, Laurent Pelly
'Given that Pelly works with players of quality, while ensuring that the production’s every detail is of a piece with itself, it’s not surprising that this is a wonderfully well-acted Il barbiere…The final salute, however, must go to Jérémie Rhorer and the period instrumentalists of his Le Cercle de l’Harmonie…This, by any measure, is premier cru conducting… My, what skills are on display in every department of this astonishing production!'
Available Format: DVD Video
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Blu-ray)
Florian Sempey (Figaro), Catherine Trottmann (Rosina), Michele Angelini (Almaviva), Péter Kálmán (Bartolo), Robert Gleadow (Basilio), Annuziata Vestri (Berta); Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Jérémie Rhorer, Laurent Pelly
PCM stereo and DTS-MA 5.0
HD 16:9
Available Format: Blu-ray
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
