Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - March 2022
Théotime Langlois de Swarte's 'wild and beautiful' accounts of concertos by Vivaldi, Leclair and Locatelli with Les Ombres are pick of the crop in this month's latest issue, with reviewer Mark Seow (himself a distinguished baroque violinist) promising that the young Frenchman's playing 'will infuse your life with joy' - a sentiment which we wholeheartedly echo!
Editor's Choices include Peter Jablonski's recital of piano works by Grażyna Bacewicz on Ondine, John Wilson's Ravel programme with Sinfonia of London on Chandos, and Joyce DiDonato's eclectic concept-album EDEN on Erato - you can watch our video-interview with Joyce about the project (filmed from her dressing-room shortly before the launch-concert in Brussels) here.
Recording of the Month
Editor's Choices
'His playing is joyful; it is wild and beautiful, inventive and efficient...These are performances so special that I feel a changed man from listening to them. Buy it, tell all your friends.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Dohnányi: Concertos & Variations On A Nursery Song
Sofja Gulbadamova (piano), Silke Aichhorn (harp), Andrei Ioniţă (cello), Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rehinland-Pfalz, Modestas Pitrenas
'A truly superb performance of this unjustly neglected and once-popular work [Variations On A Nursery Song]...All in all, Modestas Pitrėnas inspires orchestra and soloists alike on a disc that stands with the best.'
Available Format: CD
'What really shines here is the illumination of so many colouristic permutations, sounding for all the world as if Ravel had just in this moment heard them.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Especially valuable here is the superbly articulate and memorably affectionate advocacy lent to the disarming Piano Trio...this enterprising anthology yields copious rewards and can be welcomed without reservation.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'van der Zwart exploits the disruptive contrasts between registers, and between stopped and open notes, as vividly as I’ve ever heard...A winner, and not only for horn fanciers.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'The two-fold pleasure of this release is experiencing the interesting if unfamiliar music of an important woman composer, played by a pianist in the full flower of his mature, imaginative artistry.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'The listener is quickly drawn into a sonic and musical feast...An outstandingly good release and a perfect combination of repertory, player and organ.'
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Bach: St. John Passion
Nick Pritchard (Evangelist), William Thomas (Christus), Alex Ashworth (Pilatus), Julia Doyle (soprano), Alexander Chance (countertenor), Peter Davoren (tenor); English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
'Don’t expect polish at every corner as one would a studio recording; both the deliberate and undeliberate rough edges are part of possibly the most incandescently full-blooded interpretation to date.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'I’m brought to tearful wonder by the album’s close. DiDonato’s farewell, ‘Ombra mai fù’ from Handel’s Serse, is a performance so beautiful that it makes your insides ache.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
'The players’ sympathy with a range of styles is well established and Konradi’s idiomatic Russian (first of her many languages) is an obvious asset...Strongly recommended.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Mondonville: Titon et l'Aurore
Reinoud van Mechelen (Titan), Gwendoline Blondeel (L'Aurore), Emmanuelle De Negri (Pales), Marc Mauillon (Eole), Julie Roset (Amour), Renato Dolcini (Promethee); Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
'One can only imagine how hard it must have been for the performers to play without an audience: they succeed brilliantly...Another triumph for William Christie.'
Available Format: DVD Video
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano), Elisabeth Höngen (alto), Hans Hopf (tenor), Otto Edelmann (bass); Festspielorchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Wilhelm Furtwängler
'Nothing else in the realms of recorded music is quite like it and I would urge you to share the experience...I’m not claiming that this performance will suit every mood or even every taste, but if and when it does hit target it will leave you changed for ever.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
