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The Presto Chart - February 2025
Our 25 best-selling titles across all formats for February, headed by the complete nocturnes of John Field from Alice Sara Ott on Deutsche Grammophon.
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Presto Team Choices - February 2025
Staff favourites from February include Rachmaninov from Boris Giltburg, new works by Gavin Higgins, an impressive debut album from soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, and twentieth-century French music for flute, harp and cello from Trio Mirages.
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John Wilson and Sinfonia of London perform works by William Walton
A characterful collection of works including a suite from Troilus and Cressida alongside the overture Portsmouth Point and a dazzling account of the Violin Concerto performed by the orchestra's leader, Charlie Lovell-Jones.
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New Release Round-Up - 28th February 2025
Malcolm Arnold rarities from the London Choral Sinfonia, Stephen Hough's new piano concerto 'The World of Yesterday', Khachaturian from Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the debut solo recording from South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha.
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Fatma Said on Lieder
In the wake of her recent recording of songs by Schubert, Brahms, Robert Schumann and the Mendelssohns, the Egyptian soprano discusses how her passion for the German language and literature was ignited during her childhood in Cairo, the joy of making music with true friends - and why her heart lies in the concert-hall rather than the opera-house for the moment...
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BBC Music Magazine - March 2025 Choices
Chris introduces this month's selection, headed by Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Camerata Bern's Exile (featuring music by Panufnik, Ysaÿe, Schubert, Wyschnegradsky and Schnittke) on Alpha Classics.
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Lise Davidsen and Gerald Finley in Der fliegende Holländer
A live recording from Oslo captures what will be the Norwegian soprano's only assumption of the role of Senta, with other stand-outs for spring including Tosca from Rome (with Eleonora Buratto, Jonathan Tetelman and Ludovic Tézier), Havergal Brian's one-act opera Agamemnon, and Liszt from Leif Ove Andsnes.
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Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer
Lise Davidsen (Senta), Gerald Finley (The Dutchman), Brindley Sherratt (Daland), Stanislas de Barbeyrac (Erik), Anna Kissjudit (Mary), Eirik Grøtvedt (Steersman) Orchestra and Chorus of Norwegian National Opera, Edward Gardner
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Benjamin Appl on Lines of Life
The German baritone discusses working with György Kurtág (who turned 99 last week) on his Hölderlin-Gesänge and other works - and why the resulting album 'turned out to be the most extensive (and expensive) recording I’ve ever made'...
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Timothy Ridout goes solo
The British violist displays a bullet-proof technique and vast tonal palette allied to formidable musical intelligence in a programme of unaccompanied works by Telemann, JS Bach, Britten and Shaw.
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Telemann - Bach - Britten - Shaw
Timothy Ridout (viola)
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New Release Round-Up - 21st February 2025
The original version of Brahms's German Requiem from Kent Nagano, Abel Selaocoe's Hymns of Bantu, Ravel's piano concertos from Seong-Jin Cho with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, and Sibelius & Barber from Renaud Capuçon, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Daniel Harding.
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Abel Selaocoe on Hymns of Bantu
The award-winning South African cellist discusses his new album (out tomorrow on Warner Classics), which sets traditional Bantu music alongside compositions by Bach and Marais.
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Boxed Set Selections - February 2025
February heavyweights include an anthology of Viennese music from David Atherton and the London Sinfonietta, Irmgard Seefried's complete recital recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, and Antal Doráti's early Mercury recordings with Philharmonia Hungarica.
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Christian Li on Tchaikovsky
The young Australian violinist (who signed to Decca when he was just twelve) discusses his 'coming of age' recording, which is released this Friday and sees him joining forces with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and a selection of miniatures.
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Tom Coult on Pieces That Disappear
The British composer discusses the inspirations behind the works on his debut album, released on NMC at the end of last year and including the violin concerto Pleasure Garden (written for Coult's friend Daniel Pioro).
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Caprices from María Dueñas
The violinist presents a sparkling double album of caprices - a dazzling rendition of Paganini's famous set of twenty-four is complemented by works by Cervelló, Ortiz, Saint-Saëns and others.
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New Release Round-Up - 14th February 2025
Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé from the London Symphony Orchestra and Antonio Pappano, Kurtág and Schubert from Benjamin Appl, Haydn's Die Schöpfung from Simon Rattle in Munich, and Stravinsky's Le rossignol from Paris (with Sabine Devieilhe in the title-role).
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Early Music Round-Up - February 2025
Thrilling concertos by WF Bach, CPE Bach and Georg Benda from Francesco Corti and Il Pomo d'Oro, folksy Scandinavian repertoire from The Curious Bards, a vivid Francesco Scarlatti premiere from Armonico Consort, an English solo lute recital from Elisa La Marca, and more.
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Christopher and Geoffrey in the Lions' Den
Conductor Christopher Monks and musicologist Geoffrey Webber talk about their work bringing Francesco Scarlatti's dramatic Biblical oratorio Il Daniele nel Lago de' Leoni back to life - featuring dragons, demons and more.
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Edith Mathis (1938-2025)
The Swiss soprano, who was widely regarded as one of the finest Mozart singers of the twentieth century, has died aged 86.
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Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
Hermann Prey (Figaro), Edith Mathis (Susanna), Gundula Janowitz (Contessa Almaviva), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Conte Almaviva), Tatiana Troyanos (Cherubino), Patricia Johnson (Marcellina), Peter Lagger (Bartolo), Erwin Wohlfahrt (Basilio) Deutschen Oper Berlin, Karl Böhm
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Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen on Uncharted
In the wake of his debut solo album on Avie Records (featuring songs by Brahms, Robert & Clara Schumann and Korngold), the American countertenor recounts how cantoring at a local synagogue in his early teens and supporting Elton John at Madison Square Gardens both helped to shape his artistry...
