Latest News: Classical, Recording of the Week
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Recording of the Week,
Sean Shibe's Camino 20th August 2021The guitarist brings hypnotic, introspective beauty to a programme which explores connections between France and Spain via works by de Falla, Mompou, Ravel, Poulenc and Satie.
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Recording of the Week,
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla: The British Project 13th August 2021The Lithuanian conductor and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra present evocative and dramatic accounts of four works by Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten, and Walton.
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Recording of the Week,
Peter Donohoe plays Busoni 6th August 2021The British pianist is a clear-eyed but infectiously enthusiastic guide through the Italian composer-pianist's weird and wonderful world, taking in the 7 Elegien, Sonatina super Carmen, and two Toccatas.
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Recording of the Week,
A double-bill of very different Baroque violin albums 30th July 2021Nicola Benedetti makes a successful first venture into early music with a programme of Geminiani and Vivaldi, and Théotime Langlois de Swarte teams up with William Christie to bring some French Baroque gems to light.
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Recording of the Week,
Korngold's Die tote Stadt from Munich 23rd July 2021Jonas Kaufmann and Marlis Petersen both thrive under the camera's close scrutiny in Korngold's early opera about a volatile widower who attempts to refashion a new love-interest in his late wife's image.
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Recording of the Week,
Beethoven Piano Concertos from Krystian Zimerman and Simon Rattle 16th July 2021Zimerman, Rattle, and the London Symphony Orchestra present expressively exuberant performances of Beethoven's five piano concertos that are full of joy, wit, and drama.
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Recording of the Week,
Farrenc from the Insula Orchestra and Laurence Equilbey 9th July 2021The French orchestra begins its planned cycle of the symphonic works of Louise Farrenc with her Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3.
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Recording of the Week,
Sibelius from Edward Gardner, the Bergen Philharmonic, and Lise Davidsen 2nd July 2021The Norwegian soprano combines drama and delicacy in the tone-poem Luonnotar, whilst the Bergen string sound in Tapiola, Rakastava and Pelléas & Mélisande is a thing to marvel at.
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Recording of the Week,
Andris Nelsons conducts symphonies by Shostakovich 25th June 2021The latest instalment in the Boston Symphony Orchestra's cycle of Shostakovich symphonies juxtaposes the First and Fifteenth Symphonies, alongside expressive performances of the Fourteenth Symphony and the Chamber Symphony in C minor.
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Recording of the Week,
Kodály and Dvořák from Barnabás Kelemen, Nicolas Altstaedt, and Alexander Lonquich 18th June 2021The violinist and cellist display a truly remarkable synergy in Kodály's Duo from 1914, whilst all three musicians capture the 'Dumky' Trio's rapid shifts between melancholy and boisterousness to perfection.
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Recording of the Week,
Debussy from Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich and friends 11th June 2021Daniel and Michael Barenboim, Martha Argerich and Kian Soltani join forces for an all-Debussy programme, including the rarely-performed early Fantaisie for piano and orchestra.
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Recording of the Week,
András Schiff performs piano concertos by Brahms 4th June 2021The Hungarian-born pianist is joined by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for a recording of Brahms's two piano concertos that strips away performance traditions to present refreshingly original accounts of both works, full of detail and character.
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Recording of the Week,
American Quintets from the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective 28th May 2021An arresting debut album from the shape-shifting ensemble features piano quintets by Amy Beach and Florence Price, plus Samuel Barber's Dover Beach with bass Matthew Rose in superb voice.
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Recording of the Week,
Vasily Petrenko conducts Russian and Austrian symphonies and orchestral works 21st May 2021A double bill from the Russian-British conductor, with the Oslo Philharmonic performing symphonies by Prokofiev and Myaskovsky, and tone poems by Zemlinsky and Schreker with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Recording of the Week,
Handel's Rodelinda from Harry Bicket and The English Concert 14th May 2021Social distancing is no barrier to superb ensemble-playing on this terrific new recording of Handel's 1725 opera, with Lucy Crowe in the title-role and Iestyn Davies as her estranged husband Bertarido.
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Recording of the Week,
Ombra Compagna from Lisette Oropesa 7th May 2021The Cuban-American soprano delivers drama and delicacy in equal measure on this collection of Mozart concert arias, with Il Pomo d'Oro on scintillating form under Antonello Manacorda.
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Recording of the Week,
Alina Ibragimova performs Paganini's Caprices 30th April 2021The violinist releases the results of a uniquely ambitious "lockdown project" – a barnstorming new account of Paganini's fiendish Caprices, recorded in the late spring of 2020.
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Recording of the Week,
François-Xavier Roth conducts Beethoven's Eroica Symphony 23rd April 2021Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth return to the music of Beethoven with a dramatic, illuminating account of the Third Symphony, coupled with an energetic performance of an overture by Méhul.
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Recording of the Week,
Vaughan Williams from Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra 16th April 2021Pappano takes on perhaps Vaughan Williams's two most challenging symphonies, in live recordings given a heightened emotional intensity by the circumstances of their performance.
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Recording of the Week,
Stravinsky & Eötvös from Pablo Heras-Casado and the Orchestre de Paris 9th April 2021The Spanish conductor delivers a very Gallic Rite of Spring, whilst Isabelle Faust is bewitched and bewitching on the world premiere recording of Péter Eötvös's 'Alhambra' Concerto.