Hyperion
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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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Shostakovich: Violin Concertos
RecommendedAlina Ibragimova (violin), State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia 'Evgeny Svetlanov', Vladimir Jurowski
Ibragimova is the latest to make you think you’ve never heard [the First Concerto] played better, and her intense relationship with Vladimir Jurowski and the current incarnation of Yevgeny Svetlanov’s... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 29th May 2020
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Record Review, 6th June 2020, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2020, Recording of the Week
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2020, Editor's Choice
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Diapason d’Or, July/August 2020, Nouveauté
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Concerto
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Winner - Concerto
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Alina Ibragimova makes a strikingly distinctive contribution, albeit subtle and restrained…she introduces minute expressive emphases and nuances into her solo line, sustaining the hypnotic motoric... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd October 2015
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2015, Disc of the month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2015
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Building a Library, November 2023, Also recommended - BWV1041
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From the first note, Osborne’s kinship with the composer is everywhere apparent and he conveys the vast contrasts of the last three sonatas unerringly...What is particularly winning about this... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2019, Recording of the Month
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Record Review, 18th May 2019, Record of the Week
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Limelight Magazine Recordings of the Year, 2019, Nominated - Instrumental
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Solo Music
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2019, Critics' Choice
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The Romantic Piano Concerto 27 - Saint-Saëns
RecommendedStephen Hough (piano)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
If Saint-Saëns's idiom once answered – and maybe still does – to qualities fundamental to the French musical character, it must be said straight away that Hough sounds the complete insider.... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2002, Recording of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2002, Winner - Concerto
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2001, Editor's Choice
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Gramophone Awards, 2008, Gold Disc
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In the end, this repertoire has rarely sounded so rich and so substantial—and even so, it has rarely sounded so exciting. The quality of the performances is supported by typically first-rate... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 28th August 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Piano
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Ravel: Piano Concertos & Falla: Nights in the gardens of Spain
RecommendedSteven Osborne (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ludovic Morlot
Full of colour, both Osborne’s poetry and his exceptional touch are to the fore, the sparkling cascades in the final movement being especially breathtaking…strong performances of a programme... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd June 2017
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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Record Review, 22nd July 2017, Recording of the Week
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Where Ibragimova is often at her most appealing is when addressing dance metres. Here her lightly articulated bowing and her softly spoken melodic declamation make for considerable appeal...Elsewhere... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th October 2022
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Baroque Instrumental
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Under Mahan Esfahani’s fleet fingers, and even fleeter imagination, the toccatas positively fly. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd August 2019
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2019, Instrumental Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Baroque Instrumental
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Musicians are big on postcards...But none are as beautifully written as those by Stephen Hough, a reliable scribe wherever he is in the world. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2026, Editor's Choice
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