Holding the fort while we were off on our travels, Presto's David Smith enthused that 'Ollikainen and her Icelandic musicians show all four works in the best possible light, and there wasn’t a single moment on the album when I wasn’t engaged and gripped by the music', whilst Gramophone's Pwyll ap Siôn described the set as 'a recording that will do much to seal Pärt's symphonic legacy for years to come'.
Raphaël Pichon's hyper-theatrical account of Bach's Johannes-Passion with Pygmalion (released in March on Harmonia Mundi) retained its place in the top five, with other big hitters including Seymon Bychkov's complete Mahler cycle with the Czech Philharmonic on Pentatone, Jonas Kaufmann's selection-box of Austro-Hungarian operetta arias and duets on Sony, and Sean Shibe's ear-opening album of solo guitar works by Harrison Birtwistle, James Dillon and Thomas Adès (also on Pentatone).
No. 1 (new entry)
Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Eva Ollikainen
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 2 (No. 1 last month)
Julian Prégardien (Evangelist), Huw Montague Rendall (Jesus), Ying Fang (soprano), Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Laurence Kilsby (tenor), Etienne Bazola (baritone), Christian Immler (bass-baritone)
Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 3 (new entry)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov
Available Formats: 11 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 4 (new entry)
Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Dirk Kaftan
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 5 (new entry)
Sean Shibe (guitar)
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 6 (new entry)
The Romantic Piano Concerto (1991 - 2007 Edition)
Stephen Hough, Seta Tanyel, Piers Lane, Nikolai Demidenko, Martin Roscoe, Howard Shelley, Peter Donohoe, Marc-André Hamelin and Steven Osborne
Placeholder description
Available Format: 50 CDs
No. 7 (No. 2 last month)
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 8 (new entry)
L'Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 9 (No. 3 last month)
London Symphony Orchestra, Tenebrae, Antonio Pappano
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 10 (No. 18 last month)
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca (countertenors), Guy Cutting (tenor), Frederick Long, Edward Grint (bass-baritones)
Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Peter Whelan
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 11 (No. 25 last month)
I Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworth
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 12 (No. 6 last month)
Georg Zeppenfeld (Paulus), Andrè Schuen (Elias), Julia Kleiter (soprano), Golda Schultz (soprano), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (alto), Werner Güra (tenor)
Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons
Available Formats: 7 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 13 (new entry)
Ava Bahari (violin), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 14 (No. 15 in December)
Radu Lupu (piano), Tel Aviv String Quartet, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Kazimierz Kord
Available Formats: 6 CDs, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 15 (new entry)
Corinne Winters (Esther), Yuriy Yurchuk (Assuérus), Andrew Foster-Williams (Mardochée), Bernard Richter (Aman), Olga Bezsmertna (Élise), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Hydaspe /Asaph), Paul Appleby (Chantre)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The Grange Festival Chorus, Kirill Karabits
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 16 (new entry)
Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Ryan Bancroft
Available Formats: CD, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 17 (No. 5 last month)
Julie Roset (soprano), Beth Taylor (mezzo). Lucile Richardot (alto), Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenor), Christian Immler (bass-baritone)
Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 18 (No. 7 last month)
Capella Sollertia, Johanna Soller
Available Formats: 4 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 19 (new entry)
Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Orchestra e Coro dell'Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Massimo Zanetti
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 20 (new entry)
Rocío Pérez (Ifigenia), Rafal Tomkiewicz (Oreste), Suzanne Jerosme (Pilade), Alasdair Kent (Toante), Karolina Bengtsson (Dori)
Les Talens Lyriques, Novo Canto, Christophe Rousset
Available Formats: 2 CDs, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 21 (new entry)
Jan Lisiecki (piano), Bamberger Symphoniker, Manfred Honeck
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 22 (new entry)
Colin Currie Group
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 23 (new entry)
BBC Philharmonic, CBSO Chorus, John Storgårds
Available Formats: SACD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 24 (No. 15 last month)
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Nancy Zhou, Ye-Eun Choi, Muriel Razavi, Pablo Ferrández (cello), Stephanie Gonley (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
No. 25 (new entry)
Cyrille Dubois (tenor), Brussels Philharmonic, Pierre Dumoussaud
Available Formats: CD, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
