Latest News: Classical
-
Recording of the Week,
Francis Xavier and Jordi Savall 7th January 2008The viol player, conductor and musicologist pays homage to the sixteenth-century saint and Catholic missionary, who was a co-founder of the Jesuit Order.
-
Awards,
Discs of the Year 17th December 2007 -
Obituary,
Stockhausen 10th December 2007 -
Coming Soon,
Christmas music worth hearing 19th November 2007 -
Recording of the Week,
The forgotten Maria 12th November 2007Cecilia Bartoli explores the legacy of the nineteenth-century Spanish mezzo Maria Malibran, who created the title-role in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda and was particularly associated with the heroines of Rossini.
-
Recording of the Week,
Bach B minor Mass from Suzuki 29th October 2007Part-way through his cycle of the complete sacred cantatas, the Japanese conductor and Bach Collegium Japan pause to tackle one of the composer’s large-scale choral masterpieces.
-
Recording of the Week,
New Mahler 8 from Pierre Boulez 22nd October 2007A ‘challenging and enlightening’ account of the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’. with the Staatskapelle Berlin and soloists including Erin Wall, Johan Botha and Robert Holl.
-
Awards,
Julia Fischer and the Gramophone Awards 8th October 2007 -
Recording of the Week,
Mozart - Don Giovanni from René Jacobs 1st October 2007The final instalment of the Belgian conductor’s ‘refreshing and intelligent’ Mozart-Da Ponte cycle has Chris questioning his preconceptions about the eponymous libertine, sung here by 27-year-old Johannes Weisser.
-
Recording of the Week,
Natalie Clein and the Elgar Cello Concerto 24th September 2007The 1994 BBC Young Musician of the Year records the concerto which propelled her to victory with Vernon Handley and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
-
Recording of the Week,
Joshua Bell 17th September 2007Following his recent performance at the Last night of the Proms, the American violinist gives the world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s ‘Red Violin’ Concerto, composed for the 1998 film of the same name.
-
Obituary,
Luciano Pavarotti 10th September 2007 -
Recording of the Week,
Kate Royal 3rd September 2007The English soprano’s debut album on EMI includes songs by Strauss, Rodrigo, Granados and Canteloube, plus extracts from works by Ravel, Stravinsky and Debussy.
-
Awards,
Gramophone Awards - finalists revealed 27th August 2007 -
Recording of the Week,
Exciting new baroque rediscovery - Conti's David 20th August 2007Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco record the Italian baroque composer’s ‘azione sacra’ (which predates Handel’s Saul by 15 years), with contralto Marjana Mijanovic as the eponymous hero and Furio Zanasi as Goliath.
-
Recording of the Week,
Haydn - the most underrated great composer 30th July 2007An ‘uplifting, overwhelming, charming and comforting’ account of Haydn’s most popular oratorio, sung in a new English adaptation, with soloists including Miah Persson and Mark Padmore.
-
Recording of the Week,
Elin Manahan Thomas 9th July 2007The young Welsh soprano’s debut solo album, Eternal Light, features music by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Arne, Pergolesi and Hildegard von Bingen.
-
Recording of the Week,
Padmore and Bostridge sing Handel 11th June 2007Two leading English tenors tackle opera and oratorio arias, including Jupiter’s ‘Where’er you walk’ from Semele, Jephtha’s ‘Waft her, angels’, and Samson’s ‘Total eclipse’.
-
Recording of the Week,
Elgar's Enigma Variations 4th June 2007Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra mark the 150th anniversary of the English composer’s birth with a marvellous new live recording of his tribute to ‘my friends pictured within’.
-
Recording of the Week,
Debussy's new champion 14th May 2007The French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet begins a new Debussy cycle with arresting performances of the Préludes and Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon.