Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
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Johannes Brahms: Piano Concertos
RecommendedAndrás Schiff (piano/director), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Schiff conducts from the keyboard...securing crisp ensemble and cogent longer-term grasp of structure in his forward-moving tempos...The wiry tone of his restored circa-1859 Blüthner grand may... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, Critics' Choice 2021
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th June 2021
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2021, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated - Concerto
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2021
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Concerto
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Rossini: Semiramide
RecommendedAlbina Shagimuratova (Semiramide), Daniela Barcellona (Arsace), Mirco Palazzi (Assur), Barry Banks (Idreno), Gianluca Buratto (Oroe), Susana Gaspar (Azema), David Butt Philip (Mitrane), James Platt (L’ombra di Nino)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Opera Rara Chorus, Sir Mark Elder
Semiramide has more than its share of grandness, and in the trumpet-crowned procession as the Queen of Babylon prepares to announce her choice of king you can't help but hear a pre-echo of Verdi's... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th September 2018
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2018, Recording of the Month
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Record Review, 6th October 2018, Recording of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2018, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2018
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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Opera, January 2019, Disc of the Month
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2018
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Finalist - Opera
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International Opera Awards, 2019, Winner - Complete Opera Recording
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2019, Winner - Opera (19th century)
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Gramophone Awards, 2019, Finalist - Opera
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Winner - Opera
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Bach, J S: St John Passion, BWV245
RecommendedIan Bostridge (Evangelist), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), Neal Davies (bass), Iestyn Davies (countertenor) & Roderick Williams (baritone)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Polyphony, Stephen Layton
this new recording's credentials border on the unassailable...Layton's pacing is compelling - there's no mistaking the gambling fever as the soldiers cast lots for Christ's garment...[Neal Davies]... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 18th February 2013
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2013, Editor's Choice
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Boccherini: Music of the Angels
RecommendedCello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets
Steven Isserlis (cello), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
in the String Quintet in D minor G280 – the album’s centrepiece – Isserlis and friends entwine Boccherini’s lyrical strands into a felicitous musical conversation: balanced, measured and fully... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st November 2024
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Sunday Times, 20 Best Classical Albums of 2024
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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
RecommendedSarah Connolly (Dido), Gerald Finley (Aeneas), Lucy Crowe (Belinda), Patricia Bardon (Sorceress), William Purefoy (Spirit), Sarah Tynan (2nd Woman), John Mark Ainsley (Sailor), Carys Lane & Rebecca Outram (Witches)
Choir & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Steven Devine and Elizabeth...
This new Dido… enshrines Connolly as one of the most affecting Carthaginian Queens since Janet Baker's account nearly half a century ago. From the outset, Connolly exudes imposing presence,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd February 2009
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2009, Editor's Choice
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Building a Library, November 2019, Recommended Recording
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Handel: Chandos Anthems Nos 5a, 6a & 8
RecommendedSusan Gritton (soprano), Thomas Hobbs (tenor) & Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Trinity College Choir Cambridge & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Stephen Layton
It says much for Layton's skill that he has managed to retain their companionable intimacy despite super-sizing his own resources to a choir of more than 30 singers with orchestra to match...Layton... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 8th July 2013
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Special offer. Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z629
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Juno/Mystery), Claire Debono (Spring/First Fairy), Anna Devin (Second Fairy), Helen-Jane Howells (Eve), Carolyn Sampson (Night), Robert Burt (Mopsa), Sean Clayton (Summer), Ed Lyon (Secrecy/Adam), Adrian Ward (Autumn), Lukas Kargl (Phœbus), Desmond Barrit (Drunken Poet), Andrew Foster-Williams...
Jonathan Kent's joyous Glyndebourne production burst[s] with opulent stagecraft...Kent is abetted by William Christie in the pit, a man of the theatre down to his gainfully-employed fingertips...Altogether... —
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2011, First Choice (Blu-ray)
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2010, DVD Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2010, DVD of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2010, Winner - DVD Performance
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2011, DVD of the Year
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Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos
Alina Ibragimova (violin)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Vladimir Jurowski
what was the thinking behind teaming together a soloist who uses vibrato, albeit tastefully, and a string band who don't? Not that I necessarily object to the result...Ibragimova's sensitive... —
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Special offer. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: Handel Arias
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (mezzo-soprano), Stephen Stubbs, Phoebe Carrai, Margriet Tindemans, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket
If you knew nothing about the background to this 2003 recording it would still be one of the most poignant albums of Handel arias, for the intensity of engagement and communicative power of... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2025, Archive Choice
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Donizetti: Les Martyrs
RecommendedMichael Spyres (Polyeucte), Joyce El-Khoury (Pauline), David Kempster (Sévère), Brindley Sherratt (Félix), Clive Bayley (Callisthènes), Wynne Evans (Néarque)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Sir Mark Elder
galvanising, period-instrument playing...Spyres sings stylishly as Polyeucte...Joyce El-Khoury is his silvery-toned Pauline. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th May 2015
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2015
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Shortlisted - Opera
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Opera, June 2015, Recording of the Month
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