Awards, International Classical Music Awards 2020

'Successfully conceived as a musical companion to an exhibition of paintings at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, this CD perfectly reflects the magnificence of the works of Adrian Willaert, a Flemish composer who was in charge of the music at San Marco in the 16th century. The Cappella Marciana does full justice to the extreme complexity of this repertoire, with a Mediterranean touch of melodic beauty.'

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'Offering a thrilling and stylish tour through nocturnal music across the ages, the German recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger and Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca present various facets of the night. The well selected repertory from Middle Ages to the twentieth century requires a wide spectrum of styles and techniques. The result of this nocturnal exploration is fascinating: the sophisticated, colourful playing and the rhetoric performances reveal Dorothee Oberlinger’s creative intelligence, which is stimulatingly paired with much poetry and charm.'

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'The phenomenal mastery of Franco Fagioli, who is in the prime of his talent, is framed by an excellent cast and supported by the bright and impeccable performance of Pomo d'Oro. Maxim Emelyanychev's conducting is fresh and stylish, powerfully engaging his creative partners thanks to his charisma and great talent.'

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'Bostridge's third recording of Schubert's Winterreise shows many developments in the singer’s view of this cycle. Bostridge’s voice is richer now, and in the lower range also darker, which allows more colours and a correspondingly greater expressive potential to make every important word meaningful. Supported by Thomas Adès, who fully shares his emotional view, Bostridge succeeds in creating a rare unity of the music by combining the individual songs into a single trajectory of thought. He is fully immersed in the devastating melancholy and merciless irony of Schubert's music.'

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'This CD highlights Tchaikovsky's role as an innovator of Orthodox music. The Latvian Chamber Choir sings Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and other sacred works with an angelic purity and brightness that emphasizes the universality of the music. The harmonies seem to glow and the melodies create a long, intense arc that combines beauty, spirituality and passion.'

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'The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam has a great reputation for music from the French tradition. Under the baton of Stéphane Denève, orchestra, choir and a wonderful cast deliver an exciting interpretation of Arthur Honegger's dramatic oratorio. The Concertgebouw Orchestra’s reading is rich in detail and impresses with a wonderful palette of colours. The live recording from 2018 also has a very good sound quality.'

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'Rousset's recording of Salieri’s Tarare is characterized by strong dramatic musical flow and full of a splendid virtuosity that is absolutely essential in an 18th century opera. The orchestra as well as the singers convey plenty of esprit and finesse, with results that make the recording very impressive and highly recommendable. In such a performance, this revival of one of the most important operas of its time is a real revelation.'

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'This very first CD by the young Turkish pianist Can Çakmur is a distinctive achievement. Comprising a wide range of works from Haydn to modern Turkish and Japanese composers, it is a wonderful tribute to the vision and depth of this already mature artist. Based on an analytical approach that doesn’t affect the spontaneity of his interpretations, Can Cakmur’s soundscapes and his ability to share energies with the listener makes this a superb release.'

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'"In this music, time occasionally seems to stand still”, Dina Ugorskaja wrote about Schubert. In her double album, she bares the very soul of the Moments Musicaux, not shying away from the moments of deep sorrow and loneliness in Schubert’s Sonata in B flat Major. Dina Ugorskaja died far too young. This Schubert album is a great pianist’s legacy.'

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'The violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien are a consistently impressive musical duo. In this recording devoted to French and Belgian composers, they revisit the famous Sonata of César Franck and also let us discover rarer scores by Louis Vierne and Eugène Ysaÿe. The entire programme shows the deep musicality of Ibragimova and Tiberghien. Their lovely performances are tasteful and stylish.'

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'Busoni's monumental Piano Concerto is a very challenging work. Kirill Gerstein upholds the highest standards in its rarefied performance history. Neither the barnstorming power nor the Mediterranean playfulness that are equally important components of Busoni’s music are missing in this incredibly attractive interpretation. With perfect harmony between pianist Kirill Gerstein and conductor Sakari Oramo, this recording of Busoni’s Piano Concerto is a precious addition to the catalogue.'

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'Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra present a very convincing, coherent and meaningful set of Beethoven's symphonies whose main characteristic is the rhetorical diversity showing all Beethoven’s various facets. This eloquence is achieved with a consistently slender, low-vibrato music-making and a wide range of tempi, rhythm and dynamics. Exciting contrasts, powerful accents, expressive rubato let Beethoven ‘speak’ in a most persuasive way.'

Available Formats: 5 CDs, MP3, FLAC

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'In Penthesilea, Pascal Dusapin presents one of the greatest operas of our time. Exploring human desire, the score is a masterpiece of exceptional musical and dramatic strength. Recorded under the concentrated conducting of Franck Ollu at the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie in Brussels, a world-class place for contemporary opera, it is musically impeccable, with a wonderfully clear and spacious sound.'

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'The debut recording of Jupiter (a group formed in 2018 by the young lute player Thomas Dunford) is destined to become an inevitable reference point for lovers of Antonio Vivaldi's music, not only in the vocal pieces (with a fine selection of arias superbly performed by the mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre), but also in the orchestral works. This is the very latest generation of Baroque musicians, ready to break down any kind of barriers.'

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'This 2018 Salzburg Festival production of Richard Strauss’s provocative opera Salome has many high qualities. Romeo Castellucci’s incredibly imaginative staging is characterized by its intense symbolism. With her strong and agile voice, Asmik Grigorian is a triumphantly successful interpreter of the title role, musically and dramatically. John Daszak is an excellent Herod, and the rest of the cast is of the finest Salzburg standard. Under the commanding and sympathetic baton of Franz Welser-Möst the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra provides a rapturously successful musical support.'

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SOUND FORMAT: BD: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD MA 5.1

PICTURE: NTSC, 16:9

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'Paul Smaczny’s film about the Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer, certainly one of the most unconventional and exciting musicians of our time, accompanies the violinist on tour and looks back on important moments of his life. Smaczny explores the musician's many artistic, intellectual and emotional facets with great empathy and deep understanding for an artist with an exceptional sense of mission and moral responsibility. In addition to the incredibly enriching documentary film, the DVD also includes a recording of a concert at Moscow's Gogol Centre, with Gidon Kremer playing Weinberg’s 24 Preludes, originally for cello, arranged by Kremer for violin.'

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