For the first time in the Presto Chart’s history, we have an album maintaining its foothold at No. 1 from the previous month – namely Víkingur Ólafsson’s beguiling recital of Debussy and Rameau on Deutsche Grammophon, which was one of our March Recordings of the Week and received five stars in The Times as well as a rave review in this month’s Gramophone. If you missed it first time round, you can read James’s in-depth interview with Vikingur about what he describes as ‘a conversation between two composers across almost two hundred years’ here. The runaway success of this latest album seems to have also given a new lease of life to the Icelandic pianist’s previous release, an all-Bach programme which was BBC Music Magazine’s 2019 Recording of the Year and is currently sitting pretty at No. 6.
No. 1 (No. 1 last month)
Víkingur Ólafsson (piano)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 2 (new entry)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 3 (new entry)
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Anna Dennis (soprano), Mhairi Lawson (soprano), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone), Roderick Williams (baritone), Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 4 (new entry)
Andrew Haveron (violin), RTE Concert Orchestra, John Wilson, Sinfonia of London Chamber Ensemble
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 5 (new entry)
Véronique Gens (soprano), I Giardini
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 6 (No. 24 last month)
Víkingur Ólafsson (piano)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 7 (new entry)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
(currently download-only - due for physical release on 12th June)
MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 8 (new entry)
Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Symphony No. 7
(currently download-only - due for physical release on 8th May)
Daniel Barenboim (piano/conductor), Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 9 (No. 2 last month)
Isabelle Faust (violin), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Harding
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 10 (No. 5 last month)
Isabelle Faust (violin), Bernhard Forck, (violin), Xenia Loeffler (oboe), Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 11 (new entry)
Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Isabelle Faust (violin) & Alexander Melnikov (piano)
Prague Philharmonia, Jirí Belohlávek
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
No. 12 (new entry)
Alisa Weilerstein (cello)
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 13 (new entry)
Yuja Wang (piano), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 14 (No. 21 last month)
Benjamin Bruns (Evangelist), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Aki Matsui (soprano), Damien Guillon (counter-tenor), Clint van der Linde (baritone), Makato Sakurada (tenor), Zachary Wilder (tenor), Christian Immler (baritone), Toru Kaku (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
Available format: 2 SACDs
No. 15 (new entry)
Lars Vogt (piano), Northern Sinfonia
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 16 (No. 12 last month)
La Passione
Works by Grisey, Nono & Haydn
Ludwig Orchestra, Barbara Hannigan
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 17 (No. 6 last month)
Escales
French Orchestral Works
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 18 (No. 16 last month)
Chouchane Siranossian (violin), Venice Baroque Orchestra, Andrea Marcon
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 19 (new entry)
Mary Bevan (soprano), The Sixteen, Britten Sinfonia, Genesis Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 20 (No. 9 last month)
Estonian Festival Orchestra, Paavo Järvi
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 21 (No. 17 last month)
Choir of Clare College Cambridge, Dmitri Ensemble, Graham Ross
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 22 (new entry)
Tenebrae, Nigel Short
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 23 (new entry)
Cuarteto Casals
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 24 (new entry)
Singing In Secret
Clandestine Catholic Music by William Byrd
Marian Consort, Rory McCleery
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
No. 25 (new entry)
Rachel Mahon (organ)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
