Editor's Choices include period-instrument Bruckner from Pablo Heras-Casado and Anima Eterna, the late Lars Vogt's final recording, and a collection of orchestral works and songs by the winner of Gramophone's Lifetime Achievement Award, Michael Tilson Thomas.
Recording of the Month
Elgar: Violin Concerto
Vilde Frang (violin), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Robin Ticciati
'Every lover of Elgar’s masterpiece should try to hear this magnificent addition to the library.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Editor's Choices
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4
Anima Eterna, Pablo Heras-Casado
'With the right kind of instruments to hand, Heras-Casado understands well the nature of Bruckner’s orchestrations.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Shostakovich Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6
Oslo Philharmonic, Klaus Mäkelä
'This has to be the best-sounding Fourth on disc – a vivid sense of acoustic and scale but with thrilling immediacy, too.'
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3
Lars Vogt (piano), Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Barbara Buntrock (viola), Tanja Tetzlaff (cello)
'Passion and fragility combine to form the essence of Vogt’s art, especially in the context of this wonderful music.'
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Brian Elias: Music For Strings
Castalian Quartet, Natalie Clein (cello), Danny Driver (piano), Thomas Kemp (violin)
'I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this is the finest album of contemporary chamber music I have encountered this year.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Souvenirs
Johan Dalene (violin), Peter Friis Johansson (piano)
'The prodigy violinist Johan Dalene (born August 2000) claims a level of tonal distinction that many of his peers, even the best of them, lack.'
Available format: SACD
André Campra: Messe de Requiem & Les Maîtres de Notre-Dame de Paris
Ensemble Correspondances, Sébastien Daucé
'This is a superb recording from one of today’s best ensembles to specialise in French Baroque music.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Tyler Futrell: Stabat Mater
Eirin Rognerud, Astrid Nordstad, Ingvild Nesdal Sandnes, Ulrikke Henninen, TERJUNGENSEMBLE, Lars-Erik ter Jung
'What it also does, above all, is convey compellingly the special power of Martin≤’s remarkable score: simultaneously tender and strong, beautiful and unflinching, tautly argued with not a single unnecessary note.'
Available format: SACD
Grace: The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas
San Francisco Symphony, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Bay Brass, Isabel Leonard, Audra McDonald, New World Symphony, Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, John Wilson
'For listeners whose musical lives have been inexorably shaped by MTT the conductor (and I count myself as one of those), perhaps it’s high time we should be giving MTT the composer the respect and consideration that he deserves.'
Available formats: 4 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Angele Dei
Latvian Radio Choir Sigvards Kļava, Kaspars Putniņš
'The miracle – beyond the choir’s combination of technical expertise and human soul – is that we hear once again from composers with contrasting experiences, outlooks and technical habits who nonetheless so often manage to sound wholly Latvian.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Bohuslav Martinů: The Greek Passion (Blu-ray)
Gábor Bretz (Priest Grigoris), Sebastian Kohlhepp (Manolios), Sara Jakubiak (Katerina), Charles Workman (Yannakos), Christina Gansch (Lenio), Łukasz Goliński (Fotis); Wiener Philharmoniker, Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Simon Stone, Maxime Pascal
'What it also does, above all, is convey compellingly the special power of Martinů's remarkable score: simultaneously tender and strong, beautiful and unflinching, tautly argued with not a single unnecessary note.'
Available format: Blu-ray
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
Louis Lane & The Cleveland Orchestra
The Complete Epic and Columbia Album Collection
'Listen to the best of Lane’s recordings (whether with the parent orchestra, the Cleveland Pops or the Cleveland Sinfonietta) and the standards match up to Szell’s own, meaning disciplined ensemble, soaring lines and firm rhythms.'
Available format: 14 CDs
