Editor's Choices include an 'outstanding' account of Sibelius's Symphony No. 5 from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Collon on Ondine, the live recording of Yunchan Lim's winning performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 from the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition on Decca, and a new 'benchmark version' of Puccini's first opera Le Villi from Munich (with Anita Hartig as Anna and Kang Wang as her faithless lover Roberto).
Heinrich Biber: Complete Violin Sonatas - 1681
Bojan Čičić (violin), The Illyria Consort
'For me, this release is a triumph and pretty much everything about it speaks of an artist entering the golden phase of his career. If it doesn’t win awards, I’ll be astonished.'
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Editor's Choices
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Yunchan Lim (piano), Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop
'The excitement of the occasion, when everyone knew that a new star was appearing before their very eyes, is conveyed on disc. Your hardened reviewer is not ashamed to admit that, once again, it moved him to tears.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5, Two Serenades, Two Serious Melodies, Swanwhite
Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon
'This is outstanding. The longest sunrise in music emerges through crisp clean air in Nicholas Collon’s wonderfully lucid account of the Fifth Symphony... a real contender in an impossibly crowded field.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique' & Souvenir de Florence
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Domingo Hindoyan
'It’s well prepared, and very well recorded, in richer sound than Onyx captured in 2015, the woodwinds, in particular, better focused. It perhaps also draws a line under Petrenko’s tenure, a signal that there’s a new sheriff in town.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps & Ravel: Ma mère l'Oye
Pavel Kolesnikov (piano), Samson Tsoy (piano)
'Kolesnikov and Tsoy vindicate the piano arrangement [of Le Sacre du printemp] as a concert piece...However many or few piano duet albums you want on your virtual or actual shelves, I’d struggle to recommend any above this one.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Complete Solo Works for Guitar
Franz Halász (guitar)
'There are arguably few players today better placed than German guitarist Franz Halász to imbue Villa-Lobos’s musical language with an entirely modern sensibility that is both respectful and idiosyncratic.'
Available format: SACD
Ellis Island
Julia Hamos (piano)
'She provides her own extensive and thoughtful annotations, discussing what characterises the selections and why the music is important to her. More important to us, however, are the sheer finesse, innate musicality and total commitment informing every note she plays, not to mention the gorgeous recorded sound.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Bizet: Les Mélodies
Cyrille Dubois, Marianne Croux, Coline Dutilleul, Guilhem Worms
'The most familiar name here is Cyrille Dubois, who sings with his usual class...With full texts and translations, this is a valuable addition to the Bizet discography and one that should provide many hours of listening pleasure.'
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
L'extase: Debussy & Messiaen
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo), Mitsuko Uchida (piano)
'A pity both books of Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi (1937) could not be included, but Kožená makes a persuasive case for the second of these as an integrated unity...Mitsuko Uchida responds at all times with a poise and insight to make one regret that she has not played more French music... ‘L’extase’ indeed!'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Puccini: Le Villi
Anita Hartig (Anna), Kang Wang (Roberto), Boris Pinkhasovich (Guglielgmo); Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Ivan Repušić
'This new Le Villi from Munich, it should be said at the outset, is the finest recording of Puccini’s first opera since Lorin Maazel’s 1979 performance, long regarded as the benchmark version of this uneven if oddly compelling work.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
French School Pianists Play French Concertos
Alfred Cortot, Francis Poulenc, Marcelle Herrenschmidt, Jean Françaix, Marguerite Roesgen-Champion et al (piano)
'Here, recorded between 1930 and 1949, are 14 works for piano and orchestra played either by their composer or by someone well acquainted with them...Another invaluable set that puts pianophiles in APR’s debt once more.'
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
