As December is a comparatively lean time in terms of new releases, this month’s chart sees plenty of reappearances from albums released earlier in the autumn, including award-winners such as Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla’s Weinberg symphonies with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, John Wilson’s Korngold triptych with Sinfonia of London, and András Schiff’s mesmerising late Schubert recital on ECM (all of which featured in our Top 10 Recordings of the Year). Pride of place, though, goes to Gautier Capuçon and Yuja Wang’s fresh-sounding, vital accounts of cello sonatas by Franck and Chopin, released on Erato on 6th December – you can read David’s full review of the album here.
No. 1 (new entry)
Gautier Capuçon (cello), Yuja Wang (piano)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 2 (No. 16 last month)
James Ehnes (violin), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 3 (new entry)
Marlis Petersen (Leonore), Maximilian Schmitt (Florestan), Dimitry Ivashchenko (Rocco), Johannes Weisser (Pizarro), Robin Johannsen (Marzelline), Johannes Chum (Jaqino), Tareq Nazmi (Don Fernando), Florian Feth, Julian Popken (Two Prisoners)
Freiburger Barockorchester, René Jacobs
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 4 (No. 9 last month)
Stile Antico
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 88.2 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 5 (No. 8 last month)
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 6 (No. 6 last month)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 7 (No. 3 last month)
Michael Spyres (Faust), Joyce DiDonato (Marguerite), Nicolas Courjal (Méphistophélès), Alexandre Duhamel (Brander)
Coro Gulbenkian, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, John Nelson
Available formats: 2 CDs + DVD Video, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 8 (No. 5 last month)
Beatrice Rana (piano)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 9 (No. 15 in June chart)
András Schiff (fortepiano)
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 10 (No. 21 last month)
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 11 (No. 17 in August chart)
Gidon Kremer (violin), Kremerata Baltica, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 12 (No. 1 last month)
The Godfather
Masters of the German & Italian Baroque
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 13 (No. 15 last month)
Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor), Il Pomo d’Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 14 (new entry)
Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo), Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 15 (No. 12 in September chart)
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 16 (new entry)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 17 (new entry)
Derek Jacobi (narrator), Septura
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 18 (new entry)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Seiji Ozawa, Paavo Järvi, Herbert Blomstedt, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Christian Thielemann, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle
Available formats: 9 CDs + 1 Blu-ray Audio + 3 Blu-ray Videos, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 19 (No. 10 last month)
Daniil Trifonov (piano), Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 20 (No. 17 in June chart)
Sandrine Piau (soprano), Le Concert de la Loge, Julien Chauvin
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 21 (No. 24 last month)
Robert Murray, Cody Quattlebaum, Elizabeth Watts, Ruby Hughes, Tim Mead, Gwilym Bowen, Nicky Spence
Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 22 (No. 12 last month)
Bertrand Chamayou (piano), Orchestre National de France, Emmanuel Krivine
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 23 (new entry)
Joshua Ellicott, Sophie Bevan, Fflur Wyn, Mary Bevan, Jess Dandy, Hugo Hymas, Matthew Brook, Vitali Rozynko
Dunedin Consort, John Butt
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 24 (new entry)
Angela Hewitt (piano)
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 25 (No. 2 last month)
Pavel Haas Quartet
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
