BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - December 2022 Choices
The two latest instalments of Jakub Hrůša's Brahms and Dvořák project with the Bamberger Symphoniker on Tudor share the honours this month, with Erik Levi praising the series for 'enabling the listener to engage in a closer appreciation of the complex musical relationship that existed between these two formidable composers'; previous volumes coupling Brahms's Symphony No. 3 and Dvořák's Symphony No. 8 and Brahms Symphony No. 4 and the 'New World' were also warmly received, with the latter featuring as the magazine's Orchestral Choice back in late 2018.
Recordings of the Month
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 & 8 Hungarian Dances & Dvořák: Symphony No. 6
Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša
'Hrůša, served by wonderfully refined orchestral playing from the Bamberger Symphoniker, has a great deal to say about all these works. The two Dvořák symphonies are particularly exciting. Hrůša injects lots of energy and colour into the outer movements of the Sixth.'
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC
'The Seventh Symphony is no less compelling, a performance teeming with fierce intensity, especially in the Finale. As in previous releases by these performers, I noted Hrůša’s painstaking efforts to follow Dvořák’s scrupulously placed dynamic markings to the letter.'
Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC
Orchestral Choice
Berg: Violin Concerto, Three Pieces for Orchestra
James Ehnes (violin), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
'Ehnes gives a hauntingly elegiac account of Berg’s Violin Concerto...[He] makes it sound like a requiem not only for Manon Gropius, but also for Berg himself...His mellow tone is ideally captured on the recording, as is his readiness to play the role of accompanist when the main melodic line lies in the orchestra.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Concerto Choice
'It is the Ginastera Concerto that is the real star item here...Hahn hurls herself into the fray with scintillating abandon, matched by stunningly articulate and rhythmically beguiling playing from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under Andrés Orozco-Estrada.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Opera Choice
Lully: Acis et Galatée
Cyril Auvity (Acis/Apollon), Ambroisine Bré (Galatée/Diane), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Polyphème); Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset
'Rousset’s mesmerising conducting binds chorus to band in Lully’s most striking passages...The principals are equally arresting...The palm, however, goes to the band and chorus of the Les Talens Lyriques, whose 30th anniversary this recording marks, as they deliver in spades the utmost precision, energy and passion which Lully’s opera demands.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Choral & Song Choice
John Luther Adams: Sila - The Breath of the World
The Crossing, JACK Quartet, University of Michigan Chamber Musicians, University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble
'John Luther Adams’s music is like nobody else’s...57 minutes, the work’s gradual transformations in pitch and mood happen imperceptibly, moving from deeply sonorous rumbles to celestial shimmers. With a stellar line-up of performers and crystal-clear recording quality, this is a profoundly arresting album.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chamber Choice
'Plaudits to violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte and his Le Consort colleague, harpsichordist Justin Taylor, and Alpha Classics for this truly commanding documentation of 18th-century French music...the album takes us on an enchanting journey through repertoire which to many will be unfamiliar...This is unmissable listening.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Instrumental Choice
'Few, if any, duos are better equipped to take on this mantle than Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich.Aimard’s exceptionally close association with Messiaen and Loriod goes back to his youth when he studied with both of them...Stefanovich is also thoroughly immersed in Visions and, unusually, they have alternated parts in their numerous performances.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Screen Choice
'I’m not sure there’s another musician working today who truly ‘gets’ what the ‘Hollywood Sound’ was, or indeed so successfully champions its place in music culture...Music from the likes of Laura, Rebecca, The Wizard of Oz and Now, Voyager might be familiar, but it has never sounded so good thanks to Chandos’s super high quality recording. A dazzlingly rich and ravishing treat.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Jazz Choice
'Some retain his lugubrious delivery, allowing the songs’ poetic language to do the heavy lifting, while others treat them as springboards for more inflected interpretations, but all are compelling in their different ways. Unique, unmissable and very welcome.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
