A new set of Florence Price's Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 from Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra occupy pride of place this month, impressing Edward Seckerson with the 'fire, spontaneity and poetry' of the performances and the 'honesty, emotional truth and exuberance' of the music itself; the album is currently only available as a download, but will be released on CD in the New Year and can be pre-ordered here.
Editor's Choices include Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason's joint debut album Muse (featuring cello sonatas by Rachmaninov and Barber), and British pianist Charles Owen's recording of the first year of Liszt's Années de pèlerinage and Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude: read our in-depth interview with Charles about how his relationship with Liszt's music deepened in lockdown here.
Recording of the Month
Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
'Nézet-Séguin and his Philadelphia Orchestra are body and soul into the joy and resolve of this music. Price can only have dreamt of performances like these.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Editor's Choices
Beethoven, Berg & Bartók: Violin Concertos
Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Harding, Kirill Petrenko, Alan Gilbert
'This surely has to be the version of the Berg you go to first, with the Beethoven warranting a recommendation that’s virtually as strong.'
Available format: 2 CDs + Blu-ray Audio
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4
Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann
'A performance that is both of a piece with itself and at peace with one of the most glorious of all Bruckner’s musical bequests.'
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Muse
Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano)
'[In the Adagio of the Barber] Sheku’s playing reaches the sort of lofty emotional peak you’d have expected from a du Pré or a Navarra.'
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Kurtág: Moments Musicaux; Dvořák: String Quintet No. 3
Parker Quartet, Kim Kashkashian (viola)
'Virtuosity and emotion are one; this is haunting, phenomenally accomplished playing, captured in forensic detail.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale
Isabelle Faust (violin), Alexander Melnikov (piano), Dominique Horwitz (narrator)
'Faust and her colleagues do indeed evoke the mise en scène of performers pulling up in a dusty square late one afternoon and performing from the back of an old truck.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat
Isabelle Faust (violin), Alexander Melnikov (piano), Dominique Horwitz (narrator)
French version.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Stravinsky: Die Geschichte vom Soldaten
Isabelle Faust (violin), Alexander Melnikov (piano), Dominique Horwitz (narrator)
German version.
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Première année - Suisse
Charles Owen (piano)
'Accomplished with thorough and refined pianistic skill and a wholehearted identification with Liszt’s message, Owen’s music-making is powerfully compelling.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Nostalgia
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo), Yefim Bronfman (piano)
'The Czech mezzo is in prime form in songs that could have been written for her. She catches every mood and inflection with spontaneous immediacy.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Pärt: Passio
Helsinki Chamber Choir, Nils Schweckendiek
'What impresses me immediately about this new recording is the lustrous depth of the sound of the choir and solo singers, which brings out every dissonance and resolution almost forensically.'
Available format: SACD
Josquin's Legacy
The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park
'Theirs is a very English sound, eschewing overtly dramatic interpretative touches, but the sensitivity to contrapuntal details is none the less striking.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Glass: Akhnaten (DVD)
Zachary James (Amenhotep III), Richard Bernstein (Aye), Aaron Blake (High Priest), Will Liverman (General Horemhab), Anthony Roth Constanzo (Akhnaten), Disella Larusdottir (Queen Tye), J'Nai Bridges (Nefertiti); Metropolitan Opera, Karen Kamensek
'Kamensek keeps the motors of the Met Orchestra whirring and chugging along, while the Met Opera Chorus is superb...This is an outstanding document of an outstanding production.'
Available format: DVD Video
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
Cyril Smith: The Complete Solo Recordings
Cyril Smith (piano)
'On the evidence of this wonderful collection, a real feather in APR’s cap, there is no doubt of Smith’s stature in last century’s pianistic pantheon.'
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
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