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BBC Music Magazine Awards, Britten (composer)
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This is an album that proclaims the viola as a distinctive, individual solo instrument, ideally served here by its skilled interpreter...this [Bach] Chaconne seems to sum up Ridout's whole approach... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 21st February 2025
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2025, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, June 2025, Recording of the Month
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2025, Young Talent of the Year
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Finalists, Instrumental
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2026, Shortlisted - Instrumental
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Shibe performs with superb artistry some of the now classics that Bream inspired...Prime in any such catalogue is Britten's 1963 Nocturnal after John Dowland, and Shibe gathers the listener... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2017, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2017, Instrumental Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2018, Finalist - Instrumental
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Special offer. Vaughan Williams & James Macmillan: Oboe Concertos
RecommendedNicholas Daniel (oboe & conductor), Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Nicholas Daniel (cor anglais)
Britten Sinfonia, James MacMillan
[Daniel] tends to let the tempo slacken when the harmonic pulse slows down [on the Vaughan Williams]...it's hard to complain when that leaves more space for his consistently golden tone...MacMillan... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2015, Concerto Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2015, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2015
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2016, Contemporary Winner
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Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66
RecommendedSusan Gritton (soprano), John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Christopher Maltman (baritone)
Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir, Gabrieli Young Singers Scheme, Trebles of The Choir of New College Oxford & Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh
[McCreesh's] New College choristers have the ideal mix of celestial glow and nimble impatience; his orchestra is wonderfully articulate. And the sound picture has the greatest depth of range... —
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Choral Award Winner
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Britten: Peter Grimes
RecommendedAlan Oke (Peter Grimes), Giselle Allen (Ellen Orford), David Kempster (Captain Balstrode), Gaynor Keeble (Auntie), Alexandra Hutton (First Niece), Charmian Bedford (Second Niece), Robert Murray (Bob Boles), Henry Waddington (Swallow), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs Sedley), Christopher Gillett (Rev. Horace...
[Bedford] has the sea-swell of the work deep in his bones...[Oke's] is a strong, ballasted performance, less purely plangent than many, but deeply moving in its simple strength and keen imagination...There's... —
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2013, Disc of the month
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Opera Award Winner
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Special offer. Britten: The Rape of Lucretia
Angelika Kirchschlager (Lucretia), Peter Coleman-Wright (Tarquinius), Ian Bostridge (Male Chorus), Susan Gritton (Female Chorus), Christopher Purves (Collatinus), Benjamin Russell (Junius), Claire Booth (Lucia), Hilary Summers (Bianca)
Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble, Oliver Knussen
Without hurrying, Knussen conducts a tight, vivid account, surpassing Britten's own...Ian Bostridge and Susan Gritton as Male and Female Chorus project their rhetorical commentaries with exemplary... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Opera Finalist
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2013, Opera Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2013, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Opera
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Britten: Billy Budd
Jacques Imbrailo (Billy Budd), Toby Spence (Vere), Brindley Sherratt (Claggart), Thomas Oliemans (Redburn), David Soar (Flint), Torben Jürgens (Ratcliffe), Clive Bayley (Dansker), Duncan Rock (Donald), Francisco Vas (Squeak), Sam Furness (Novice); Ivor Bolton, Deborah Warner
The strength of the production is its universality…The acting works so well in close-up that it is possible to follow this performance almost like a film…[Imbrailo’s] warm, unforced singing... —
Awards:
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Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2018, Winner - Opéra
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Winner - DVD/Blu-ray
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Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No. 2
RecommendedPieter Wispelwey (cello)
Sinfonietta Cracovia, Jurjen Hempel
Whereas Müller-Schott and Kreizberg view the Concerto as a darkly contemplative monologue that is almost suffocating in its brooding introspection, Wispelwey manages to find more light and shade... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2009, Award for Technical Excellence in Recording
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The recital's radiant heart is Sheppard's Media Vite, but there are more highlights to come, including an outstanding reading of Holst's Nunc Dimittis, the flowing textures of Harris's Bring... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2008, Choral Finalist
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2007, Choral & Song Choice
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Special offer. Britten: Billy Budd
RecommendedJohn Mark Ainsley (Captain Vere), Jacques Imbrailo (Billy Budd), Phillip Ens (Claggart), Iain Paterson (Mr Redburn), Matthew Rose (Mr Flint), Darren Jeffery (Lieutenant Ratcliffe), Alasdair Elliott (Red Whiskers), John Moore (Donald), Jeremy White (Dansker), Ben Johnson (Novice), Colin Judson (Squeak)...
[Elder paces] the developing tragedy with airily lyrical detail and brooding, ominous power. John Mark Ainsley' s plangent, dark-toned tenor and intense diction show us a more neurotic Vere... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd May 2011
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2012, DVD Finalist
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2011, DVD Choice
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