Latest News: Classical, Recording of the Week
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Recording of the Week,
John Wilson conducts music from Hollywood's Golden Age 9th September 2022Sinfonia of London and conductor John Wilson present a dazzling selection of music from classic movies including Rebecca, The Wizard of Oz, Laura, How to Marry a Millionaire, My Fair Lady, and Now, Voyager.
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Recording of the Week,
Fatma Said's Kaleidoscope 2nd September 2022Featuring music by composers including Léhar, Gounod, Weill and Piazzolla, the Egyptian soprano's beguiling, wide-ranging invitation to the dance proves impossible to resist.
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Recording of the Week,
Alison Balsom's Quiet City 26th August 2022Alison Balsom and the Britten Sinfonia offer a colourful collection of works and arrangements that place the trumpet firmly at the centre of attention.
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Recording of the Week,
Anna Prohaska and Isabelle Faust perform György Kurtág's Kafka-Fragmente 19th August 2022An extraordinary tour de force from the soprano and violinist duo, performing the Hungarian composer's great song cycle setting fragments of texts by Franz Kafka.
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Recording of the Week,
American tenor Jonathan Tetelman's debut recording 12th August 2022Featuring arias by Cilea, Massenet, Verdi, Ponchielli and Mascagni, the Chile-born tenor's first album for Deutsche Grammophon reveals a powerful dark-hued voice that's allied to real interpretative subtlety.
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Recording of the Week,
Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch from Carolyn Sampson, Allan Clayton and Joseph Middleton 5th August 2022All three artists are wonderfully attuned to the wit and warmth of Wolf's set of 46 delectable miniatures, with Middleton's characterful postludes proving in a joy in themselves...
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Recording of the Week,
Chamber music from the Mendelssohns 29th July 2022The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective performs early works by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, complemented by one of Fanny's last-ever compositions.
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Recording of the Week,
Adapted and reconstructed Bach concertos from Francesco Corti and Il Pomo d'Oro 22nd July 2022Francesco Corti continues his series of Bach harpsichord concerto recordings with an album of double concertos - including his own collaborative reconstruction with Francesco Zimei of a tantalising fragment.
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Recording of the Week,
Berg, Webern and Schoenberg from the Heath Quartet 15th July 2022The UK-based string quartet bring luminous clarity and beauty to three transitional works by the Second Viennese School, with soprano Carolyn Sampson joining them for Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2.
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Recording of the Week,
Francesco Piemontesi performs works for piano and orchestra by Ravel, Messiaen, and Schoenberg 8th July 2022The Swiss pianist is joined by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and conductor Jonathan Nott for a dazzlingly characterful trio of performances.
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Recording of the Week,
Ronald Brautigam performs piano concertos by Johann Wilhelm Wilms 1st July 2022Fortepianist Ronald Brautigam is joined by the Kölner Akademie and conductor Michael Alexander Willens for the first of two volumes of concertos by the composer once described as "the Dutch Beethoven".
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Recording of the Week,
Freddie De Tommaso - Il Tenore 24th June 2022The young British-Italian tenor is on barnstorming form in a programme of scenes and arias from Tosca, Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Carmen, with equally impressive guest appearances from Lise Davidsen, Natalya Romaniw and Aigul Akhmetshina.
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Recording of the Week,
Wranitzky Symphonies from Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin 17th June 2022Bernhard Forck leads Akamus in a spirited showcase of the Moravian-born composer’s gifts as an orchestrator, featuring the overture to Oberon, the ‘Grande Symphonie caractéristique pour la Paix avec la République francaise’, and the ‘Tempest’ Symphony.
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Recording of the Week,
Marc-André Hamelin performs William Bolcom's complete piano rags 10th June 2022The Canadian pianist brings the 1960s' great ragtime revival into the present with a new recording of the complete rags of one of its leading lights.
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Recording of the Week,
John Williams conducts Anne-Sophie Mutter in his new Violin Concerto 3rd June 2022John Williams continues his collaboration with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, joining forces with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere recording of his Violin Concerto No. 2.
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Recording of the Week,
Sopranista from Samuel Mariño 27th May 2022The young Venezuelan's silvery timbre and stratospheric high notes provide thrills aplenty in arias by Mozart, Saint-Georges, Cimarosa and Gluck - most of them composed for soprano castratos.
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Recording of the Week,
Ravel Piano Concertos from François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles 20th May 2022Les Siècles continue their successful series of Ravel recordings on period instruments under François-Xavier Roth, with Cédric Tiberghien at the piano and baritone Stéphane Degout.
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Recording of the Week,
Brahms Quintets from the Pavel Haas Quartet and friends 13th May 2022Three years on from their previous album, the Pavel Haas Quartet make a triumphant recorded return with two quintets by Brahms, for which they are joined by pianist Boris Giltburg and violist Pavel Nikl.
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Recording of the Week,
Farewells from Jakub Józef Orliński & Michał Biel 6th May 2022The Polish countertenor and pianist fly the flag for their native country in a beguiling recital of songs by Karel Szymanowski, Henryk Czyż, Stanisław Moniuszko, Mieczysław Karłowicz, and Tadeusz Baird.
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Recording of the Week,
Weber's Der Freischütz from René Jacobs 29th April 2022The Belgian conductor's restoration of the original libretto's prologue lends a wonderful symmetry and coherence to Weber's supernatural Singspiel, whilst German actor Max Urlacher is properly spine-chilling in the expanded role of the demon Samiel.