Editor's Choices include 'one of the finest Bruckner recordings in recent times' from Pablo Heras-Casado and Anima Eterna Brugge on Harmonia Mundi, 'taut, disciplined' Shostakovich from Rafael Payare in San Diego on Delos, and 'passionate and articulate' Enescu from the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective on Chandos.
Recording of the Month
Handel: Giulio Cesare
Christophe Dumaux (Cesare), Louise Alder (Cleopatra), Paula Murrihy (Sesto), Beth Taylor (Cornelia), John Holiday (Tolomeo), Morgan Pearse (Achilla), The English Concert, Harry Bicket
'An outstanding addition to the 'Handel for All' collection and an album that surely captures Dumaux at the top of his game.'
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Editor's Choices
Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 'Wagner Symphony'
Anima Eterna Brugge, Pablo Heras-Casado
'The Heras-Casado is now a clear frontrunner where recordings of the original version of the Third are concerned. What's more, it's likely to remain so for some time to come.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7
San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Payare
'Payare cannot offer us all the possible virtues, but his taut, disciplined approach is a fresh view worthy to take its place among the essential recorded accounts of the symphony.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Ernest Bloch: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2
Boris Brovtsyn (violin), Diana Ketler (piano)
'Both players function as a single expressive unit, and clarity, precision and understated virtuosity offset emotional directness throughout...A wonderful album, every second of it.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Brahms & Reger: Clarinet Quintets
Michael Collins (clarinet), Escher String Quartet
'No one acquiring this new release will come away disappointed by the interpretative insights of Collins and the Escher - for whom the immediate and well-balanced sound might well tip the balance in their favour.'
Available format: SACD
Enescu: String Octet, Piano Quintet
Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
'Even at its most intense (and these players don't lack power), this performance [of the Octet] always sounds like eight individual musicians in passionate and articulate conversation, each contributing something to the texture.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Johannes Brahms: Klavierstücke
András Schiff (piano)
'Its timbral distinction between registers yields a telling variety of colours, together with the kind of textural transparency that underlines Arthur Rubinstein's apt description of these works as 'chamber music for solo pianist'.'
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Benjamin Britten: Cello Suites
Pieter Wispelwey (cello)
'That this is his third traversal in 35 years confirms their centrality to his music-making, and comparison with those earlier recordings underlines an interpretative outlook that is constantly being reassessed.'
Available format: CD
Roland de Lassus: Requiem
Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier
'The album shows the qualities we have come to expect from Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis: flawless intonation, beautifully transparent balance, the clearest diction and perfectly judged musical phrasing.'
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Frank Loesser: Guys and Dolls
Sierra Boggess (Sarah Brown), Nathaniel Hackmann (Sky Masterson), Louise Dearman (Miss Adelaide), David Seadon Young (Nathan Detroit), Sir Thomas Allen (Arvide Abernathy), Damian Humbley (Nicely-Nicely Johnson) Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
'Wilson works his time-machine magic to spirit us back to opening night, recreating an exact replica of the sound and style and precise pit-band proportions that give it its unique flavour.'
Available formats: 2 SACDs, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
Dvořák: Rusalka
Ludmila Červinková (Rusalka), Beno Blachut (Prince), Eduard Haken (Water Goblin), Marta Krásová (Witch), Marie Podvalová (Foreign Princess), Prague National Theatre Orchestra, Jaroslav Krombholc
'Surely the best-ever recording of Dvořák's most famous opera...A great performance, no doubt about that, and the transfer from original mastertapes (by Miloš Guth) is superb.'
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
