Janáček
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Janáček: The Diary of One Who Disappeared
Recommended& other works
Nicky Spence (tenor), Julius Drake (piano), Václava Housková (mezzo), VOICE, Victoria Samek (clarinet)
This excellently recorded performance is strikingly direct. The ebb and flow of the drama is brilliantly captured. Nicky Spence’s tenor is flexible across a huge range…Drake’s accompaniment... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, June 2019
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Record Review, 6th July 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2019, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Limelight Magazine Recordings of the Year, 2019, Nominated - Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Winner - Vocal
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Winner - Solo Vocal
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Special offer. Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Vixen), Gerald Finley (Forester), Sophia Burgos (Fox), Jan Martiník (Badger/Parson), Peter Hoare (Mosquito/Rooster/Schoolmaster), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Harašta)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
If this Vixen is good, the Sinfonietta is outstanding – arguably the best on disc, though you need to experience the work in a concert hall with the nine trumpets blazing. They’re supremely... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th September 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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Grammy Awards, 64th Awards (2022), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
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Special offer. Janáček: Katya Kabanova
RecommendedAmanda Majeski (Katya), Katarina Dalayman (Kabanicha), Simon O'Neill (Boris), Andrew Staples (Tichon), Magdalena Kozená (Varvara), Ladislav Elgr (Kudrjas), Pavlo Hunka (Dikój)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
Rattle and his recording engineers have produced a Katya that sound s magnificent both in its attention to musical detail and in those sudden orchestral climaxes that seem to sweep nature itself... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd February 2024
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2024, Recording of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2024 Shortlist, Shortlisted - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Opera
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2024
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Lieux retrouvés
RecommendedMusic for cello & piano
Steven Isserlis (cello), with Thomas Adès (piano)
Match [Ades's playing] with the mellow sound and manner of Steven Isserlis's cello, and you have something very special. Their choice of repertory here - devised as an extended upbeat to Ades's... —
Awards:
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Building a Library, January 2013, First Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2012, Chamber Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012, Disc of the Month
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…what is immediately striking about the present performance is its boldness and originality in terms of tempo contrasts, rhythmic emphasis and textural variety. Not only the playing beyond... —
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2012, First Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2006, Chamber Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2007, Winner - Chamber
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2007, Best Newcomer
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Special offer. Janáček: Jenůfa
RecommendedAgneta Eichenholz (Jenůfa), Katarina Karnéus (Kostelnička), Aleš Briscein (Laca), Nicky Spence (Števa), Jan Martiník (Starek, the Foreman/Mayor), Carole Wilson (Grandmother Buryjovka)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
It’s the conflicted characters that we ‘hear’ in this Jenůfa: Laca who cuts the eponymous heroine’s face and the Deaconess Kostelnička who murders her stepdaughter’s illegitimate infant to protect... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd May 2025
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International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Opera
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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Special offer. Janáček: Káťa Kabanová
RecommendedCorinne Winters (Kát’a), Evelyn Herlitzius (Kabanicha), David Butt Philip (Boris), Jaroslav Březina (Tichon), Jarmila Balážová (Varvara), Benjamin Hulett (Váňa), Jens Larsen (Dikój)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Jakub Hrůša, Barrie Kosky
Winters is utterly remarkable throughout, words and gestures always telling...Despite Kosky’s occasional idiosyncrasies, this is musically overwhelming. You really do need to hear it. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2023, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023, Shortlisted - DVD/Blu-ray of the Year
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Winner - Video Opera
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2023
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Gramophone Awards, 2024 Winners, Opera
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Schumann: Kinderszenen & Waldszenen & Janáček: On the overgrown path I
RecommendedMarc-André Hamelin (piano)
Hamelin has already made several fine recordings of Schumann's piano music, focusing on big virtuoso pieces. He proves to be equally adept at exploring the more intimate side of the composer's... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2014, Disc of the month
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2014, Disc of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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The finest performance here, by far, is of the Bartók sonata, one of the most demanding of his modernist works. The spontaneity which the performers speak about in their ‘conversation’ materialises... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 28th January 2023, Record of the Week
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2023, Editor's Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Nominated - Chamber Music
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…totally compelling and warmly recorded performances… —
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2012, First Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2008, Finalist - Chamber
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2008, Chamber Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2008, Editor's Choice
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Building a Library, April 2023, Also Recommended
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