Browse: SACD, BIS (label)
New, Offer, Schubert: String Quartets; Nos 9 & 14
Chiaroscuro Quartet
The Chiaroscuro Quartet are particularly good at capturing the more forward-looking moments…Their use of gut strings and a historically-informed approach produces focused tone throughout; the... — More…
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Offer, Alfred Schnittke & Arvo Pärt: Choral Works
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Raul Mikson (tenor), Maria Melaha (soprano), Karolina Kriis (soprano), Marianne Pärna (alto), Ave Hännikäinen (alto), Toomas Tohert (tenor), Kaia Urb (soprano)
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Kaspars Putniņš
The performance by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Kaspars Putiniņš is really impressive with a particularly rich and sonorous bass sound that is absolutely tailor- made for this... — More…
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Kamu offers an [easy] sense of movement… intense quiet dynamics and clarity in perfect equilibrium with atmosphere. There's plenty of excitement too: the scherzo of the Second is truly vivacissimo…Three,... — More…
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Bach - Motets
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Yukari Nonoshita & Aki Matsui (soprano), Damien Guillon (counter-tenor), Satoshi Mizukoshi (tenor) & Dominik Wörner (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
The performance is, as you'd now expect from [Suzuki's] Collegium, excellent. Voices range from delicate soloists to a splendidly light and transparent 18-strong chorus. Instrumental support... — More…
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Victorious Love - Songs by Henry Purcell
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Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Laurence Cummings (harpsichord & spinet), Elizabeth Kenny (archlute / theorbo), Anne-Marie Lasla (bass viol), Sarah Sexton (violin I), Andrea Morris (violin II) & Jane Rogers (viola)
Her tone is extraordinarily beautiful: natural, warm and unforced, with almost superhuman vocal athleticism — More…
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New, Bach - Secular Cantatas X
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Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Makoto Sakurada (tenor), Dominik Wörner (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan Chorus, Masaaki Suzuki
The partnership of BIS (namely Robert von Bahr) and BCJ could indeed be one of the very last recording investments of this nature and length in the modern digital era. We celebrate it here with... — More…
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Offer, Bernstein: On The Waterfront
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Orchestral Works
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Christian Lindberg
They’re completely on fire, chiselling hot rhythms out of the percussion, melting their lips on ritzy brass cascades. They also obviously relish the tenderness of those rare moments when Bernstein... — More…
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Brahms: Clarinet Quintet
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Martin Fröst (clarinet), with Janine Jansen (violin), Boris Brovtsyn (violin), Maxim Rysanov (viola), Torleif Thedéen (cello), with Roland Pöntinen (piano), with Torleif Thedéen (cello) & Roland Pöntinen (piano)
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Fröst revels in the deep-plush velvet of his chalumeau regions - and, indeed, sustains this timbre throughout the instrument's register...the ensemble creates cutting-edge rhythmic urgency, and... — More…
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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... — More…
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Rhythmically very taut, clean and just a little unusual…The conductor holds focus in what can sometimes be a turgid sequel to the opening funeral march; the scherzo flies…And the finale is just... — More…
