Classical Reviews
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Britten Violin Concerto
30th Jan 2012
Anthony Marwood’s rich, singing tone and the impressive precision of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov combine for a tremendously touching account of Britten’s underrated concerto, whilst violist Lawrence Power is equally moving in Lachrymae.
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Beethoven Symphonies from Thielemann and Chailly
23rd Jan 2012
Thielemann offers a cycle in the grand Germanic tradition with the Wiener Philharmoniker, whilst Chailly’s interpretations with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig emphasise lightness and freshness without ever sounding too hard-driven or breathless. James puts the case for each approach.
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New Year’s Concert from Vienna
16th Jan 2012
Mariss Jansons presides over the celebrations for the second time in his career in a sparkling, imaginative-planned programme which includes two little nods to the forthcoming London Olympics as well as the perennial favourites by the Strauss Family, Ziehrer and Hellmesberger.
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Mariusz Kwiecień
9th Jan 2012
The charismatic Polish baritone’s debut solo album offers a compellingly sung and splendidly varied gallery of ‘Slavic Heroes’, including Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Mazeppa, Szymanowski’s King Roger, Rachmaninov’s Aleko and Borodin’s Prince Igor, as well as two arias from operas by his compatriot Moniuszko.
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Fritz Kreisler
2nd Jan 2012
Chris enjoys two tributes to the violin virtuoso and composer Fritz Kreisler, who died fifty years ago this month: a 10-CD vintage collection entitled The Charming Maverick and Liebesfreud, Liebesleid, in which his own recordings sit alongside accounts of his music by an array of great modern violinists.
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Fritz Kreisler: The Charming Maverick
Fritz Kreisler (violin), Thomas Petre (violins), William Primrose (viola), Laurie Kennedy (cello), with Franz Rupp (piano), with Michael Raucheisen (piano), with Arpád Sándor (piano) Berlin State Opera Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, Sir Landon Ronald, Leo Blech, Malcolm Sargent, John Barbirolli, Eugene Goossens
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Two legendary performances
19th Dec 2011
Rostropovich’s legendary account of the Dvorak Cello Concerto from the 1968 Proms, and Václav Talich’s emotionally-charged 1939 performance of Smetana’s Má Vlast, given at the National Theatre in Prague shortly after the Nazis entered the city.
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Maurizio Pollini plays Chopin
12th Dec 2011
In the run-up to the great Italian pianist’s 70th birthday, Testament release a very early recording of the Études Opp. 10 & 25 (recorded when Pollini was just 18), and Deutsche Grammophon issue his complete Chopin recordings from 1972 to 2008.
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Christmas roundup
5th Dec 2011
Arthur Honegger’s Une Cantate de Noël from Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic, Vaughan Williams from Derek Welton and Iain Burnside, traditional carols from St. John’s College Cambridge, and an eclectic retelling of the Christmas story courtesy of Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices.
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Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony
28th Nov 2011
Hyperion release a live recording of the British composer’s gargantuan first symphony, captured at a rare performance at the BBC Proms this summer and featuring an orchestra of over 200 and a choir of 600!
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Duetti da Camera: Philippe Jaroussky & Max Emanuel Cencic
21st Nov 2011
Two of today’s leading countertenors join forces with veteran baroque specialist William Christie for a programme of non-operatic secular duets by composers including Porpora, Mancini, Bononcini, Marcello, Conti, and Alessandro Scarlatti.
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Bruckner and Mahler from Haitink and Pappano
14th Nov 2011
Haitink conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, whilst Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia tackle Mahler’s Sixth in their first-ever recording of the composer’s music together.
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Haydn from the Takács Quartet
7th Nov 2011
For their fifth and sixth albums on Hyperion, the award-winning quartet tackle Haydn’s Opp. 71 and 74, recorded at Wyastone Estate Concert Hall in Monmouth, South Wales last November and showcasing their rich, rounded sounded and clarity of texture to great effect.
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Sublime Schubert from Paul Lewis
31st Oct 2011
Following his ten-year immersion in Beethoven and critically-acclaimed recordings of Schubert’s three great song-cycles with tenor Mark Padmore, the British pianist brings unrivalled poise and intimacy to the Piano Sonatas D840, 850 and 894 and the Impromptus D899.
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Franz Liszt
24th Oct 2011
Chris rounds up some of the many releases issued to commemorate the bicentenary of the Hungarian composer’s birth this week, including a song-recital from Diana Damrau and Helmut Deutsch, the Piano Concertos from Stephen Hough and the Bergen Philharmonic, and selected piano works from Lise de la Salle.
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The Decca Sound
17th Oct 2011
A beautifully-documented 50-CD box charts the extraordinary history of the record-label, spanning six decades and featuring artists including Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, András Schiff, Emma Kirkby, and Alicia de Larrocha.
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Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts from Paul McCreesh
3rd Oct 2011
With a massed choir of English and Polish singers and an orchestra which deploys as many authentic nineteenth-century instruments as possible, McCreesh plays up not only the sound and fury of Berlioz’s super-sized Requiem but also the astonishing range of textures which the young composer summons.
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Handel – Agrippina & Germanico
26th Sep 2011
Bulgarian soprano Alexandrina Pendatchanska is the scheming anti-heroine on René Jacobs’s terrific new recording of Agrippina, Max Cencic stars in Gluck’s Ezio and Vivaldi’s Farnace, and Sara Mingardo takes the title-role in the serenata Germanico, rediscovered in Florence in 2007.
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Wagner’s Flying Dutchman starts PentaTone’s 10th anniversary celebrations
19th Sep 2011
The first in a projected cycle of Wagner’s ten major operas from Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin stars Albert Dohmen in commanding form as the accursed sailor looking for love, Matti Salminen as a first-rate Daland, and Ricarda Merbeth as a stentorian Senta.
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Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer
Albert Dohmen (Der Holländer), Ricarda Merbeth (Senta), Matti Salminen (Daland), Robert Dean Smith (Erik), Silvia Hablowetz (Mary), Steve Davislim (Steuermann) Rundfunkchor Berlin & Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Marek Janowski
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Schubert's Schwanengesang from Padmore and Lewis
12th Sep 2011
Padmore’s bright, light tenor is often hauntingly beautiful in Schubert’s ‘swan-song’, combining with Lewis’s imaginative and insightful playing in a performance of great musical integrity which is a worthy successor to their superb Winterreise and Schöne Müllerin.
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Gergiev and the LSO conclude their Mahler cycle
5th Sep 2011
The Russian conductor’s painstaking attention to tiny issues of orchestral balance and uncharacteristic willingness to allow the music breathing-space make for a tremendously moving Ninth Symphony.
