Classical Reviews
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Mark Simpson's Geysir and Mozart's Gran Partita for Winds
4th Dec 2020
Mark Simpson leads an ensemble in radiant performances of two works for wind instruments: his own composition, Geysir, alongside Mozart's Gran Partita.
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A Christmas double-bill from Mexico and Ireland
27th Nov 2020
Two glorious albums from Siglo de Oro and the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin bring us onto the final straight to Christmas – focusing on Central American and Gaelic festive celebrations.
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Carnival of the Animals from the Kanneh-Masons
20th Nov 2020
The seven siblings bring Saint-Saëns’s menagerie to teeming life, with Michael Morpurgo delivering his own new narration with avuncular charm.
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Amici e Rivali - Michael Spyres and Lawrence Brownlee
13th Nov 2020
The two American tenors trade vocal fireworks in a thrilling all-Rossini programme which pays homage to Andrea Nozzari and Giovanni David, who created major roles in several of the composer's operas for Naples.
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Daniil Trifonov's Silver Age
6th Nov 2020
The Russian pianist is by turns balletic, poetic and dramatic in solo works by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, whilst the Mariinsky Orchestra match his precision and imagination in concertos by the the latter composer and Scriabin.
Featured product
Silver Age
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
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Vasily Petrenko conducts Stravinsky & Respighi
30th Oct 2020
Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform two contrasting ballets from Diaghilev's Ballets Russes - Stravinsky's unnerving Petrushka and Respighi's sparkling Boutique fantasque.
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Mahler from Christiane Karg, Malcolm Martineau - and Gustav Mahler
23rd Oct 2020
The German soprano and her regular recital-partner beguile in the Rückert-Lieder and songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, whilst the composer himself makes an appearance (via a 1905 piano-roll) for ‘Das himmlische Leben’.
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Bertrand Chamayou and Alexandre Kantorow
16th Oct 2020
Two contrasting recitals from award-winning French pianists - one fuelled by melatonin, the other by adrenaline.
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Giovanni Antonini conducts Haydn's Die Schöpfung
9th Oct 2020
The Italian conductor makes a slight detour from his project to record all of Haydn's symphonies with an incisive, characterful account of the Creation oratorio.
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Handel's Semele from John Eliot Gardiner
2nd Oct 2020
John Eliot Gardiner revisits Handel's tempestuous tale of gods and mortals, with show-stopping performances from Louise Alder, Hugo Hymas and Lucile Richardot.
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Ermonela Jaho's Anima Rara
25th Sep 2020
The Albanian soprano's debut solo recording on Opera Rara pays tribute to Rosina Storchio, who created the role of Madama Butterfly and was also muse to Leoncavallo, Giordano and Mascagni.
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Beethoven and Gossec from François-Xavier Roth & Les Siècles
18th Sep 2020
François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles put a revolutionary new spin on Beethoven's immortal Fifth, and make the case for his much-neglected contemporary Gossec.
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Jonas Kaufmann & Helmut Deutsch: Selige Stunde
11th Sep 2020
Recorded 'in private quarters' during lockdown, the German tenor and pianist's recital of songs by Schubert, Strauss, Grieg, Zemlinsky, Mahler and others is a 'blessed hour' indeed.
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Selige Stunde
Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Helmut Deutsch (piano)
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Simon Rattle conducts Janáček's Sinfonietta and The Cunning Little Vixen
4th Sep 2020
Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and a cast including Lucy Crowe and Gerald Finley in an exquisitely characterful performance of Janáček's opera.
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Marc-André Hamelin plays Liszt and Thalberg
28th Aug 2020
The Canadian pianist is on jaw-dropping form in a programme inspired by the 1837 'duel' between the two composer-virtuosos, which also includes the mighty collaborative Hexaméron - a set of variations on Bellini by composers including Chopin, Czerny and Pixis.
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Tallis, MacMillan and more from ORA Singers
21st Aug 2020
ORA Singers pair Tallis's mighty Spem in Alium with a newly-composed forty-part motet by James MacMillan, alongside a treasure-trove of choral works commissioned by Tudor nobility.
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John Williams conducts the Vienna Philharmonic
14th Aug 2020
Joined by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, John Williams conducts excerpts from scores such as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War Horse, Hook, Jurassic Park, Jaws, The Witches of Eastwick, and more.
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Nicola Benedetti plays Elgar
7th Aug 2020
The Scottish-Italian violinist embraces the heart-on-sleeve qualities of a work which the composer ruefully described as 'awfully emotional', her passion and responsiveness matched by Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
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John Wilson and Sinfonia of London perform Respighi's Roman Trilogy
31st Jul 2020
For his third album with Sinfonia of London, John Wilson turns to Respighi's dazzling triptych of orchestral works depicting the city of Rome through the ages.
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Beethoven songs and folksongs from Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano
24th Jul 2020
The tenor and pianist are joined by violinist Vilde Frang and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt for selections from the Scottish and Irish folk-songs, following an exquisitely tender account of An die ferne Geliebte.
