Classical Recommendations
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Presto Editor's Choices - January 2024
31st Jan 2024
A white-hot world premiere recording of Louise Bertin's 1831 opera Fausto from Christophe Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques, a dizzying spin around the dance-floor with Martin James Bartlett, and an open-hearted celebration of Tosti from Javier Camarena.
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Presto Editor's Choices - October 2023
1st Nov 2023
A terrific debut recital centring on female experiences from British-Australian soprano Samantha Crawford with pianist Lana Bode, forgotten Baroque gems from Philippe Jaroussky at the very top of his game, and a rich and strange new chamber-work from Thomas Adès.
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Presto Editor's Choices - September 2023
1st Oct 2023
Jaw-dropping pyrotechnics from Isabelle Faust in Locatelli, a red-blooded Dido & Aeneas from La Nuova Musica, and an Offenbach operetta fizzing with all the fun of the fair from Paul Daniel and a sparky cast headed by Anne-Catherine Gillet and Virginie Verrez.
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Presto Editor's Choices - August 2023
31st Aug 2023
Early music meets French cabaret in an intriguing collaboration between Stéphanie d'Oustrac and Le Poème Harmonique, Liam Bonthrone and Benjamin Mead explore salon-culture in Paris and New York, and Antoni Wit champions the music of his compatriot Zygmunt Noskowski.
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Presto Editor's Choices - July 2023
1st Aug 2023
Matchless Mahler from Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton, a starkly beautiful album of new works by Stuart MacRae from mezzo Lotte Betts-Dean & Sequoia, and a stylish Spanish recital from violinist Francesco Fullana.
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Presto Editor's Choices - June 2023
29th Jun 2023
An eclectic album exploring temptation and taboo from Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu, high-octane Khachaturian from the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie and Frank Beermann, and a beguiling recital of Lieder from fin-de-siècle Vienna from Robyn Allegra Parton and Simon Lepper.
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Presto Editor's Choices - May 2023
1st Jun 2023
A spine-tingling programme of macabre ballads from Georg Nigl and Olga Pashchenko, weird and wonderful Royer from Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, and a swashbuckling quartet of Venetian violin concertos from Chouchane Siranossian and the Venice Baroque Orchestra.
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Presto Editor's Choices - April 2023
1st May 2023
An irresistible collection of Roberto Sierra's orchestral music from Domingo Hindoyan and the Liverpool Philharmonic, Baroque fireworks from vocal chameleon Michael Spyres, and a ravishing debut album from young British countertenor Alexander Chance with lutenist Toby Carr.
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Presto Editor's Choices - March 2023
3rd Apr 2023
Sleek but savage Stravinsky from the Orchestre de Paris & Klaus Mäkelä, Haydn red in tooth and claw from René Jacobs, and world premiere recordings of works for piano and orchestra by Maconchy, Lutyens & Wallen.
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Presto Editor's Choices - February 2023
2nd Mar 2023
Superb song-recitals from Kitty Whately and Mary Bevan, meditative Mompou from Stephen Hough, and two arresting large-scale choral works by Margaret Bonds from The Dessoff Choirs and Malcolm J. Merriweather.
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Presto Editor's Choices - January 2023
1st Feb 2023
A rip-roaring night in Paris with Les Siècles & François-Xavier Roth, a superb recital for unaccompanied works for viola by female composers from Rosalind Ventris, and the world premiere recording of a likeable operatic rom-com by George Alexander Macfarren.
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Presto Editor's Choices - November 2022
30th Nov 2022
Orchestral lieder by composer and mathematician Hans Sommer, a centenary tribute to George Walker from The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst, warm and witty Poulenc from the late Bramwell Tovey, and a searing all-Russian recital from Gabriel Schwabe & Roland Pöntinen.
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Presto Editor's Choices - October 2022
1st Nov 2022
A consummately creepy Isle of the Dead from John Wilson and Sinfonia of London, thrillingly-sung Verdi from Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier, a celebration of the Francœur brothers from Théotime Langlois de Swarte and Justin Taylor, and Montgeroult's rich and varied études from pianist Clare Hammond.
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Presto Editor's Choices - September 2022
1st Oct 2022
An irresistible Coleridge-Taylor collection from Chineke!, an exciting all-French programme from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under their dynamic new Music Director, and an almost unbearably poignant Schwanengesang from Ian Bostridge and Lars Vogt.
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Presto Editor's Choices - August 2022
31st Aug 2022
Mahler from François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles, a beguiling 'emporium of curiosities' from Sean Shibe, and Wolf Lieder in full orchestral technicolour from Benjamin Appl and the Jenaer Philharmonie.
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Presto Editor's Choices - July 2022
30th Jul 2022
World premiere recordings of works by Jörg Widmann, Lennox Berkeley and John Frederick Lampe, plus an outstanding Respighi recital from Timothy Fallon & Ammiel Bushakevitz.
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Presto Editor's Choices - June 2022
30th Jun 2022
A tour de force of a recital from contemporary music diva and composer Héloïse Werner (plus a rich and varied roster of instrumental soloists), a revelatory Dichterliebe from Matthias Goerne and Daniil Trifonov, and a superb collection of the young Ravel's ambitious submissions for the Prix de Rome...
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Presto Editor's Choices - May 2022
2nd Jun 2022
Starkly beautiful Purcell, Strozzi, Eccles and Park from Helen Charlston and Toby Carr, plus a vivid, vulnerable Violetta from Lisette Oropesa on Pentatone's new Traviata, and punch-packing Rachmaninov from Steven Osborne on Hyperion.
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Presto Editor's Choices - April 2022
3rd May 2022
South African soprano Golda Schultz emerges as a compelling story-teller on her debut recording of songs by five female composers, whilst Véronique Gens and Sandrine Piau pay vivid tribute to two French baroque divas of an earlier generation.
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Presto Editor's Choices - March 2022
31st Mar 2022
White-hot Rachmaninov from Asmik Grigorian and Lukas Geniušas, four vivid orchestral works by American composer James Lee III, some riveting new commissions from Manchester Camerata, and a macabre but mesmerising 'Celebration of Life in Death' from Anna Prohaska.
