EUGENE YSAŸE
Ysaye: Sonatas For Solo Violin, Op.27 James Ehnes (violin) [ Onyx / CD - released 26/Mar/2021 ] 'Ehnes's 'centrist' approach keeps your attention focused on the music, leaving you to marvel at his technique only after you've stopped listening.' Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Instrumental |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Jonas Kaufmann - Wagner Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) / Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Donald Runnicles, with Markus Brück (bass-baritone) [ Decca / CD - released 21/Feb/2013 ] BBC Music Magazine Awards 2014 - Vocal WINNER |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Agrippina (complete opera) Joyce DiDonato, Elsa Benoit, Biagio Pizzuti, Franco Fagioli, Andrea Mastroni, Jakub Józef Orliński / l Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev [ Erato Classics / 3 CD - released 31/Jan/2020 ] "With DiDonato nonpareil in the title-role and a uniformly strong cast, this now becomes a first choice for Handel's Venetian masterpiece." Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Opera |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony no. 2 in c minor 'Resurrection' Lisa Milne / Birgit Remmert / Budapest Festival Orchestra / Ivan Fischer [ Channel Classics SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 20/Oct/2006 ] "This Budapest band have reserves aplenty, and the cumulative effect is overwhelming. As all good performances of this work must be. I listened to it three times in three days." (Gramophone Magazine Recording of the Month Awards Issue 2006) |
LEOPOLD GODOWSKY
Godowsky: The Complete Studies on Chopin's Etudes Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano) [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 12/Jun/2000 ] "It is quite stunning, an extraordinary schievement even by Hamelin's own standards. No one with an interest in the piano should pass this by." Rosette (Highest Rating) - Penguin Stereo Guide |
THOMAS ADES
Adès Conducts Adès Mark Stone (baritone), Kirill Gerstein (piano), Christianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano), Boston Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 28/Feb/2020 ] "...for proof that Adès does what he does with mind-boggling brilliance, look no further." Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Contemporary |
MOZART / MEHUL / OFFENBACH / LEONCAVALLO / LEHAR / WAGNER / RAVEL / etc
Michael Spyres - BariTenor Michael Spyres (baritone/tenor) / Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Marko Letonja, Choeur d'hommes de l'Opéra national du Rhine [ Erato Classics / CD - released 1/Oct/2021 ] "The range of roles is astonishing, but then so are these performances...Spyres really is a tenor - and a baritone, it seems - who has the operatic world at his feet." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Vocal & Ensemble |
CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN
Alkan: Concerto and Symphony for Solo Piano Paul Wee (piano) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2019 ] "What is almost incredible is that the soloist Paul Wee is not a professional pianist but a highly successful international commercial London lawyer." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Instrumental |
J. S. BACH
Bach: St Matthew Passion Julian Prégardien, Stéphane Degout, Sabine Devieilhe, Hana Blažiková, Tim Mead / Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon [ Harmonia Mundi / 3 CD Box Set - released 29/Apr/2022 ] "With its glowing inner vitality and penetrating observations, this is a Passion that makes a very definite statement about what this work can communicate in our times." Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Choral |
FREDERICK DELIUS
Delius: Sea Drift / Cynara (with Holst - The Hymn of Jesus) Roderick Williams (baritone) / Hallé Choir & Hallé Youth Choir, Halle Orchestra, Mark Elder [ Halle / CD - released 15/Nov/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014 |
GEORGE BENJAMIN
Benjamin: Written on Skin (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Victoria Simmonds / George Benjamin (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Aug/2014 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD WINNER 2014 - Contemporary |
J. S. BACH
Sean Shibe: Bach Sean Shibe (guitar) [ Delphian / CD - released 22/May/2020 ] GRAMOPHONE Award WINNER 2021 - Instrumental |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Beethoven: Songs Stephan Genz (baritone) Roger Vignoles (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 19/Sep/2003 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 1999 PREIS DER DEUTSCHEN SCHALLPLATTENKRITIK |
J. S. BACH
Bach: The Cello Suites Steven Isserlis (cello) [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 26/May/2007 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD WINNER 2007 'Isserlis asserts the music's dance roots, whether through his thrusting accents or by sweeping through with a winning lilt … Just listen to Isserlis, Bach and your heart, and the music that never dies' (Times) |
GIACHES DE WERT
Giaches de Wert: Divine Theatre - Sacred Motets Stile Antico [ Harmonia Mundi SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Mar/2017 ] "It is a testament to Werts's emotional immediacy that this album is one of their (Stile Antico's) most engaging recording; polyphony to grab one's attention rather than to carpet a devotional daydream" Gramophone Award Nomination 2017 - Early Music |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Late Quartets Opus 95, 127, 130-133, 135 Takacs Quartet [ Decca Records / 3 CD Box Set - released 12/Dec/2004 ] "Excellent recordings too: sonorous, and with well-judged sense of four-voices-in-one. It doesn't feel all risky to say that this is probably the finest modern set of these great quartets." (BBC) |
TAVERNER / CORNYSH / ANONYMOUS / HENRY VIII
Western Wind: Music by John Taverner & Court Music for Henry VIII Taverner Choir & Players, Andrew Parrott [ Avie / CD - released 1/Mar/2016 ] "Parrott is perhaps more persuasive in conveying its pacing...the sound recording successively juggles a wide range of distributions, from harpsichord to choir, with no apparent discontinuity." (Gramophone Award WINNER 2016 - Early Music) |
JOSEF HAYDN
Haydn: Piano Trios [Nos 14, 18, 21, 26 & 31] Trio Wanderer [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 20/Apr/2018 ] "There is enough clarity around each instrument to make every line audible, which hasn't necessarily been the case in the Wanderer's previous recordings of Romantic music" Gramophone Editor's Choice June 2018 |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: 24 Etudes, Opp. 10 & 25 Yunchan Lim (piano) [ Decca / CD - released 3/May/2024 ] "His Chopin is as flexible and feather-light as it is fluent and fiery, as compelling in its sense of structure as in its relishing of detail. The whole experience radiates joyful, youthful exuberance." Gramophone Award Finalist 2024 - Piano |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: The Piano Concertos / Valses nobles et sentimentales (orchestral version) Krystian Zimerman (piano) Cleveland Orchestra / London Symphony / Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 20/Jul/2001 ] 1999 Gramophone Award Winner: Concerto - A Penguin Stereo Guide Rosette recording |