Browse: Presto Recordings of the Year, Haydn (composer)

The Basel Chamber Orchestra present a sound that is a touch sweeter than Il Giardino Armonico’s, although that familiar period-instrument ‘spit’ is still never absent...That sweetness suits these... — Gramophone Magazine, January 2018 More…

the performance matches the high standards of McCreesh's previous grand choral projects...McCreesh revels in Haydn's masterly skills in writing for orchestra, choir and soloists...The choir's... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2017 More…

In performances of such freshness, verve and chamber transparency, the concept works...You’d go far to find performances of the Haydn concertos that match Alisa Weilerstein’s mix of stylistic... — Gramophone Magazine, October 2018 More…

His interpretations, graceful and finely-etched before, now have a more rugged depth, and the new variants on his own cadenzas speak of experience…His own arrangement of Mozart’s heavenly ‘Geme... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2017, More…

While holding in reserve the sonorous depths and gradations of pedalling offered by the modern grand piano, his touch is predominantly light, with an evenness of figuration and crispness of attack... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2018, More…

The Chiaroscuro Quartet revel in the composer's play of ideas...It was the interpretation of No. 5 that blind-sided me on a first listening...This is a deeply absorbing reading, and can make... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2017, More…

both of these artists know how to deliver popular material with skill and grace...[in the Haydn] DiDonato's interpretative imagination matches Tony Pappano's thoughtful and pianistic approach...[Pappano]... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2015, More…

What makes these performances special is Antonini’s knack for subtly drawing attention to Haydn’s powers of harmonic and rhythmic invention: the development sections of the sonata-form movements... — Katherine Cooper, Presto Classical, 15th June 2018 More…

The performance is notably warmer and more personal [than his earlier accounts], it glows with affection for this life-enhancing music...[the Adagio of No. 99] unfolds with a sublime serenity... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2014, More…

Five songs from Finzi’s incomparable Let us Garlands Bring see the tenor’s head voice floating sympathetically through the melismatic vowels and ever-shifting metres of Finzi’s most sensitive... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2016 More…