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SACD, Handel (composer)
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Handel: Messiah
RecommendedErin Wall (soprano), Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Staples (tenor), John Relyea (bass-baritone)
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
Astonishingly well controlled…the solo voices are rich and weighty…[the] flute provides a charming obbligato to ‘How beautiful are the feet’, while the tenor’s ‘Thy rebuke…’ is intensely moving…a... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd December 2016
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2017, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Grammy Awards, 60th Awards (2017), Nominee - Choral Performance
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Handel: Acis and Galatea
Lucy Crowe (Galatea), Allan Clayton (Acis), Benjamin Hulett (Damon), Jeremy Budd (Coridon) & Neal Davies (Polyphemus)
Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn
Curnyn has hit on a secret that eluded previous interpreters of this work: it was conceived specifically to showcase the beauty of the English language…Channelling Handel’s enthusiasm, Curnyn... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 16th June 2018, Recording of the Week
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Finalist - Opera
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2019, Winner - Opera
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Handel: Messiah
Susan Gritton (soprano), Sara Mingardo (contralto), Mark Padmore (tenor), Alastair Miles (bass)
Tenebrae Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
Sir Colin Davis's way with Messiah, as recorded live at the Barbican last December, is old-fashioned by present-day standards. His soloists are all good. The Tenebrae Choir, with its thirty-odd... —
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Special offer. CANTATA - yet can I hear...
Handel, Vivaldi, and Bach
Bejun Mehta (countertenor)
Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin
Mehta’s voice remains light and graceful, and his general ability to move around the small notes is only occasionally compromised by untidiness. The period-instrument orchestra’s flautist, Christoph... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, March 2018
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Diapason d’Or, May 2018, Nouveauté
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Handel: Amadigi di Gaula
Tim Mead (Amadigi), Mary Bevan (Melissa), Anna Dennis (Oriana), Hilary Summers (Dardano), Patrick Terry (Orgando), Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn
Handel took a less-is-more approach to his Amadigi di Gaula. Christian Curnyn’s answering restraint reveals the stark solos, shimmering textures, ringing silences and stunning one-to-a-part... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2022, Opera Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2022, Editor's Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2022
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An outstanding disc which I foolishly overlooked back in 1993, not realising Savall et al. were such fine Handelians; it sounds spectacular now, remastered from stereo to effective but not overblown... —
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There are some intriguing novelties on this fine debut recording by BachWerkVokal, which brings together (unnamed) musicians from all over Europe as a concert ensemble under the direction of... —
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Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
Recreation of the 1868 Bremen Premiere
Kate Lindsey (mezzo-soprano), Jóhann Kristinsson (baritone), Veronika Eberle (violin), Thomas Cornelius (organ), Chor der KlangVerwaltung, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Kent Nagano
Nagano seeks to recreate the circumstances of the premiere, on Good Friday 1868, of a near-complete work...The integrity of the recreation is unimpeachable, and the distinction of the performance... —
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Kožená’s dramatic and vocal powers are wonderfully displayed in Gasparini’s kaleidoscope aria ‘Ombre, cure, sospetti’ (with its unrestrained runs and the bursts of emotion in its recitative-like... —
Awards:
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Baroque Vocal
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Female Singer of the Year
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It's not just intelligent programme planning...that makes Piemontesi stand out; this is seriously classy pianism. Clarity of thought is complemented by clarity of touch, incisive intellect by... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2012, Newcomer of the Year
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