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CD, Berlioz (composer)
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Special offer. Paganini: 24 Caprices
Recommendedplus Caprices by Berlioz, Cervelló, Kreisler, Ortiz, Saint-Saëns, Sarasate, Wieniawski
María Dueñas (violin), Itamar Golan (piano), Boris Kuschnir (violin), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Mihhail Gerts
The Paganini Caprices have energy in the bowing from the outset, confident octaves and portamento, and impeccable double stops...You could listen straight through, but I’d recommend random shuffling... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 14th February 2025
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2025, Recording of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2025 Winners, Instrumental
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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The New York Times, Best Classical Music Albums of 2025
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This is utterly adorable from start to finish…In the booklet Piau speaks of her joy at performing this kind of repertoire and her rapture is palpable from the breathless opening moments of Saint-Saens’s... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, May 2019
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Diapason d’Or, June 2019
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2019, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 20th December 2019
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Finalist - Vocal
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Winner - Recital
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Special offer. El Nour
Fatma Said (soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano), Burcu Karadag (flute), Rafael Aguirre (guitar), vision string quartet (string quartet)
Clever arrangements allow us to encounter shared visions across France, Spain and North Africa...There’s no tacky Orientalism here...The breathy, soft-voiced ney (a Middle Eastern flute) brings... — More…
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2020, Choral & Song Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Winner - Vocal
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Winner - Newcomer Award
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Winner - Song
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Opus Klassik, 2021, Newcomer of the Year
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Special offer. Benjamin Bernheim
Benjamin Bernheim (tenor)
PKF Prague Philharmonia, Emmanuel Villaume
The first thing to say is that Bernheim has an immaculate natural voice – rich, flexible, mellifluous and nuanced. He is at his very best in French items from the later 19th century…Moreover,... — More…
Awards:
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Diapason d’Or, November 2019, Nouveauté
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The Times Records of the Year, 2019
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Presto Editor's Choice, November 2019
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International Opera Awards, 2020, Nominated - Solo Recital Recording
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Opera, April 2020, Disc of the Month
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Male Singer of the Year
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Winner - Newcomer of the Year
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Special offer. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Ravel: La valse
RecommendedOrchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä
What is there left to say about Symphonie fantastique? Plenty, on the evidence of this vibrant new recording of Berlioz’s extraordinary masterpiece...Mäkelä gets the strings to shun the comfort... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 6th June 2025
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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Special offer. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
RecommendedLondon Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
Davis is always lithe and nuanced, somehow eliciting a diaphonous glow even in the forceful moments and charming the ear — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, October 2011, First Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2001, Editor's Choice
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Régine Crespin: Shéhérazade
RecommendedRégine Crespin (soprano)
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Sumptuous of tone, supremely sensitive, Crespin was born to illuminate the art of French song. Whether floating the seductive allure of Ravel or revelling in the wit of Poulenc these recordings... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2007, First Choice
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Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1960s
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust
RecommendedMichael Spyres (Faust), Joyce DiDonato (Marguerite), Nicolas Courjal (Méphistophélès), Alexandre Duhamel (Brander)
Coro Gulbenkian, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, John Nelson
Nelson has a great feel for the weird structure of the piece, with its sudden lurches of pace and location...Nelson’s pacing is uncannily ‘right’; he’s not one to force Berlioz, period-style,... — More…
Awards:
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Diapason d’Or, November 2019, Nouveauté
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Presto Recording of the Week, 22nd November 2019
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The New York Times, Recordings of the Year 2019
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Female Singer of the Year (DiDonato)
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Special offer. Berlioz: La damnation de Faust
Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Bryan Hymel (tenor), Christopher Purves (baritone), Gábor Bretz (bass)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Guildhall School Singers, Tiffin Children's Chorus, Tiffin Girls' Choir, Tiffin Boys' Choir, Sir Simon Rattle
The work and its style – especially the virtuosity and panache required – have clearly remained in the orchestra’s collective memory…Overall it’s a tightly organised and carefully paced achievement... — More…
Awards:
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Record Review, 23rd March 2019, Record of the Week
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Opera
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Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été & Harold en Italie
RecommendedMichael Spyres (baritenor), Timothy Ridout (viola), Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, John Nelson
This is special. Two extraordinary masterpieces...Two outstanding soloists thoroughly immersed in Berlioz’s music, partnered by an orchestra and conductor with an unsurpassed pedigree in the... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 18th November 2022
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Male Singer of the Year, Solo Vocal & Conductor of the Year
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