Classical Reviews
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Cocteau's Music from Claire Booth and Christopher Glynn
26th Jun 2026
The British soprano and pianist explore the extraordinary legacy of French poet, playwright and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, including songs by Milhaud, Honegger and Auric, and culminating in a visceral account of Poulenc's La Voix humaine.
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Variation[s] 3 from Cédric Tiberghien
19th Jun 2026
Cédric Tiberghien's new album brings his Variation[s] series to a close with creative programming and playing of sensitive probity, including striking Ligeti and a cohesive and stimulating account of the Diabelli Variations.
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Mel Bonis from Rumon Gamba and the BBCSSO
12th Jun 2026
The Scottish orchestra delivers characterful performances of works including the Trois Femmes de Légende and Suite Orientale, with soprano Elizabeth Watts on luminous form in the Noël de la Vierge Marie.
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Robert Trevino conducts Respighi's Sinfonia drammatica
5th Jun 2026
Robert Trevino and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI make a thrilling, highly persuasive case for a work that has received relatively few recordings to date, with a performance full of rich strings, portentous brass, and beautiful woodwind solos.
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Wagner's Ring Cycle from Fabio Luisi in Dallas
29th May 2026
Recorded live at concert performances in 2024, this new Ring scores highly for the Italian conductor's lyrical, nuanced approach to the score and boasts a fine new Wagnerian hero in Swedish tenor Daniel Johansson.
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Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Mark Delavan (Wotan/Wanderer), Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), Daniel Johansson (Siegfried), Sara Jakubiak (Sieglinde), Christopher Ventris (Siegmund), Stephen Milling (Hunding/Hagen), Tómas Tómasson (Alberich), Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
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Nico Muhly's choral works from Magdalen College, Oxford
22nd May 2026
The trebles and adults of Magdalen College present a year's worth of anthems, motets and other sacred music written (mostly) for them by Nico Muhly.
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Jakub Hrůša conducts symphonies by Bohuslav Martinů
15th May 2026
The Czech conductor leads the Bamberger Symphoniker in performances of all six of the symphonies by his compatriot that are full of rhythmic vitality, magical textures, and characterful playing from every section of the orchestra.
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Martinů: The Symphonies
Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša
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Inferno from Behzod Abduraimov
8th May 2026
Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov combines the fire and virtuosity suggested by the title and cover of his new album, with a level of poetry and communication which explores the full potential of a varied and engaging solo recital.
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French orchestral favourites from John Wilson and Sinfonia of London
1st May 2026
A beautifully chosen and vividly performed collection of popular French pieces including Dukas's L'Apprenti sorcier, Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre, suites from Bizet's Carmen, and Wilson's own orchestral transcription of Debussy's Clair de lune.
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Thomas de Hartmann's Esther
24th Apr 2026
De Hartmann's 1946 opera-oratorio about the Biblical queen who thwarts a poisonous courtier's bid to annihilate the Jewish race receives its first complete professional recording courtesy of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Kirill Karabits, with Corinne Winters in the title-role.
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De Hartmann: Esther
Corinne Winters (Esther), Yuriy Yurchuk (Assuérus), Andrew Foster-Williams (Mardochée), Bernard Richter (Aman), Olga Bezsmertna (Élise), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Hydaspe /Asaph), Paul Appleby (Chantre), The Grange Festival Chorus, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits
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Arvo Pärt from Eva Ollikainen and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra
17th Apr 2026
Four very different symphonic works show Pärt's imaginative and harmonic languages changing over time - from the modernist and avant-garde early in his career through to more pensive and spiritual works.
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Jonas Kaufmann's Magische Töne
10th Apr 2026
The superstar tenor sounds in mint condition on this fascinating exploration of operetta by Hungarian-born composers including Emmerich Kálmán, Franz Léhar and Paul Abraham, supported by wonderfully idiomatic playing from the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra under Dirk Kaftan.
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Mendelssohn from Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester
3rd Apr 2026
The Latvian conductor pays homage to his predecessor in Leipzig with fresh, driven accounts of the symphonies and major oratorios which embrace the DNA of earlier approaches without ever sounding self-consciously old-school.
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Antonio Pappano and the LSO perform Holst's The Planets
27th Mar 2026
The London Symphony Orchestra and their Chief Conductor perform a powerful yet mystical account of Gustav Holst's survey of the solar system, alongside a majestic reading of Arnold Bax's Cornish tone poem, Tintagel.
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Bach's St John Passion from Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion
20th Mar 2026
Raphaël Pichon follows up his benchmark recording of the St Matthew Passion with a much-anticipated account of the St John - with the raw immediacy of the narrative tempered by moments of tenderness.
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JS Bach: Johannes-Passion
Julian Prégardien (Evangelist), Huw Montague Rendall (Jesus), Ying Fang (soprano), Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Laurence Kilsby (tenor), Christian Immler (bass-baritone), Etienne Bazola (baritone), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
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Early Puccini from Sinfonia of London and John Wilson
13th Mar 2026
With the emphasis on clean lines and rhythmic drive, this collection of student symphonic works, upscaled chamber music and orchestral excerpts from the first three operas presents a fully-rounded Portrait of the Composer As A Young Man.
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Walton from the CBSO and Kazuki Yamada
6th Mar 2026
Kazuki Yamada leads the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in rhythmically taut accounts of Walton's symphonies, demonstrating his firm understanding and love of the music, and the deep bond he has built with the masterful players of one of the UK's finest orchestras, captured live in superb sound by Deutsche Grammophon.
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Boston Symphony Chamber Players: The Deutsche Grammophon Recordings
5th Mar 2026
Our guest-writer explores a rich anthology of studio recordings from the 1970s, with highlights including a starrily-cast account of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale, Second Viennese School arrangements of Johann Strauss II, and treasurable Debussy with a young Michael Tilson Thomas as pianist.
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Strauss's Elektra from Edward Gardner in Bergen
27th Feb 2026
The Norwegian orchestra capture all the savagery and strange sensuality of Strauss's dysfunctional family drama in glorious technicolour on this live recording from 2023, with Iréne Theorin in the title-role and Iain Paterson as her avenging brother.
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Symphonic works by Elsa Barraine
20th Feb 2026
Two symphonies and a pair of pictorial tone-poems show the long-neglected twentieth-century French composer at her finest, with a musical language drawing on both watercolour Impressionism and bold modernism.
