Chamber, Octets
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Recorded in the warm, generous acoustic of Schloss Elmau, this meeting of two flagship quartets sounds less like a joint venture than eight players sharing a single imagination...Few octet recordings... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 9th January 2026
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2026, Winner - Orchestra/Ensemble of the Year
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Schubert: Octet
Isabelle Faust (violin), Anne Katharina Schreiber (violin), Danusha Waskiewicz (viola), Kristin von der Goltz (cello), Lorenzo Coppola (clarinet), Javier Zafra (bassoon), Teunis van der Zwart (horn), James Munro (double bass)
There is much to admire here: some exquisitely wistful clarinet phrasing from Coppola, and a frightening fierceness in the sudden outburst that heralds the finale, where Schubert seems momentarily... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, May 2018
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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The Nash ensemble have a natural feeling for the music's ebb and flow, and while they're not afraid of big gestures and the bite of horsehair and rosin, they play beautifully as an ensemble...Together,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 31st March 2017
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2017, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2017, Finalist - Chamber
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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The sound for this inwardly rewarding performance is warm and spacious, the performance blending a sense of scale with an intimacy, even cosiness, that's part of the Octet's spirit. —
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James Ehnes plays Mendelssohn
RecommendedJames Ehnes (violin)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Seattle Chamber Music Octet, Vladimir Ashkenazy
The Octet has rarely sounded more symphonic as Ehnes and his Seattle friends demonstrate all the energy and wit of chamber playing at its most dazzling. Ehnes gives an elegant, refined account... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2011, Editor's Choice
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Building A Library, October 2021, Recommended Recording
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Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1 & Enescu: Octet for strings
RecommendedVilde Frang (violin), Erik Schumann (violin), Gabriel Le Magadure (violin), Roseanne Philippens (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Lily Francis (viola), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Jan-Erik Gustavsson (cello)
Orchestre de Radio France, Mikko Franck
Frang rises to the works' passionate lyricism and dazzles in partnership with Mikko Franck and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2018
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2018, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2018, Concerto Choice
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Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2018, Winner - Concerto
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A spacious performance, enthralling and poetic: it leaves behind the world of happy Viennese music-making. Instead, we have a view of the Octet as one of Schubert's major achievments, sharing... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2006, Editor's Choice
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A beautifully engineered recording which simply exudes the joy of music-making. —
Awards:
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Building a Library, June 2002, First Choice
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Featuring two of Hungary's finest quartets, this performance captures all the youthful fervour of the opening Allegro moderato, the brilliant delicacy of the Scherzo and the driving perpetual... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2007, Chamber Finalist
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Varèse: The Complete Works
RecommendedSarah Leonard (soprano), Mireille Delunsch (soprano), François Kerdoncuff (piano), Jacques Zoon (flute)
Concertgebouw Orchestra, ASKO Ensemble, Men of the Prague Philharmonic Choir, Riccardo Chailly
Riccardo Chailly's 1996 account [of Amériques] is unlike any of its competitors in that it reconstructed for the first time Varèse's original version of the score from 1918-21, which uses a... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1999, Winner - 20th Century Orchestral
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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