PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY / FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Tchaikovsky & Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos (LP) Nathan Milstein (violin) / Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon / LP - due 26/Aug/2026 ] "This recording has a sweetness, warmth and seemingly effortless virtuosity that produce deeply satisfying results." International Record Review |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Calm Classical [LP] Alexandre Tharaud (piano) / New College Oxford Choir / Alison Balsom (trumpet) / Jacqueline du Pre (cello) / Tasmin Little (violin) & more [ Warner Classics LP / 2 LP - released 13/Oct/2023 ] musicCALM means "calm," "serene," or "tranquil. Take your time and enjoy 25 relaxing neo-classical, film, and classical pieces selected from the catalogs of Warner Classics and Erato. From gentle solo piano to uplifting symphonic daydreams and serene... |
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos (LP) Alina Ibragimova (violin), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Vladimir Jurowski [ Hyperion / LP - released 13/Sep/2024 ] The young violinist Alina Ibragimova is already established as an admired recording artist, standing alongside great artists of the past and present with her versions of Bach and Beethoven's violin works. She appears on this new vinyl release with... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Goldberg Variations (LP) Angela Hewitt (piano) [ Hyperion / 2 LP - released 13/Sep/2024 ] Sixteen years have passed since Angela Hewitt's first, justly celebrated, version of the 'Goldbergs'. She here commits to record her ever-evolving response to a work which contains the 'shadowed lesson of the whole world', and which continues to play... |
Anja Lechner and François Couturier
Lontano (LP) [ ECM / LP - released 12/Feb/2021 ] After their highly acclaimed 2014 debut album as a duo, Moderato cantabile, Anja Lechner and François Couturier widen the scope of music even further. The duo sings in a voice of its own, be it with original compositions, free improvisations, drawing... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 (LP) Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) / Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon Vinyl / LP - released 25/Feb/2022 ] "...no one can deny the sheer beauty that this pair lovingly conjures." ClassicalNet |
BRYCE DESSNER
Bryce Dessner - Solos Bryce Dessner (guitar), Katia Labèque (piano), Anastasia Kobekina (cello), Colin Currie (percussion), Pekka Kuusisto (violin), Lavinia Meijer (harp) + [ Sony Classical Vinyl / CD - released 4/Oct/2024 ] "Dessner himself takes the stage in two short pieces for guitar, Francis and Walls. These are in the best tradition of guitar solos, the latter reminiscent of the Spanish guitar masters, and it is good to have Dessner performing in person." Fin.Times |
J. S. BACH
Bach Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1 - 6 (LP) Concentuis Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Warner Classics / 2 LP - released 11/Jun/2021 ] Nikolaus Harnoncourt remains a beacon for performing Bach's works. Most of his recordings are true milestones of the discography. |
Danish String Quartet
Keel Road (LP) [ ECM New Series / LP - released 30/Aug/2024 ] The Danish String Quartet's new album is a "retracing of musical pathways across the North Sea, a journey through the sounds of traditional music from Northern Europe, taking us from Denmark and Norway to the Faroe Islands, and to Ireland and... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Keyboard Concertos BWV 1052, 1055, 1056 & 1058 (LP) David Fray (piano) [ Erato Classics Vinyl / 2 CD - released 26/Aug/2022 ] 'Fray's debut is marked by an imaginative collation, Bach and Boulez, played with vibrant imagination. He pushes the boundaries but resists the merely quirky. Impeccable technique allows him to speak from the heart with deceptive ease.' BBC Music... |
HILDEGARD von BINGEN
Hildegard of Bingen: A feather on the breath of God (LP) Gothic Voices / Christopher Page [ Hyperion / LP - released 13/Sep/2024 ] Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honour. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground... |
GEORGES I. GURDJIEFF
Gurdjieff: Zartir (LP) The Gurdjieff Ensemble, Levon Eskenian [ ECM / LP - released 24/Nov/2023 ] The third album from Levon Eskenian's remarkable ensemble is its most adventurous to date. As well as reclaiming the music of esoteric teacher G. I. Gurdjieff for folk instrumentation, Zartir situates Gurdjieff in a tradition of Armenian bards and... |
FRANZ LISZT / HANS WERNER HENZE / RICHARD WAGNER / GUSTAV MAHLER
Igor Levit: Tristan (LP) Igor Levit (piano), Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Franz Welser-Möst [ Sony Classical / 3 LP - released 9/Sep/2022 ] On Igor Levit's "Tristan" the pianist explores nocturnal themes of love and death, fear, ecstasy, loneliness & redemption in the music of Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Gustav Mahler & Hans Werner Henze. |
JOHN ADAMS
Adams: Piano Music (LP) Jeroen van Veen (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / LP - released 19/Jan/2024 ] The LP version of a highly successful CD issue of the complete piano music by John Adams (born 1947). "Minimalism, but not as you know it", thus described The Guardian the John Adams' music. John Adams is active in almost every musical genre,... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI / AMILCARE PONCHIELLI / GIUSEPPE VERDI
Insieme - Opera Duets (LP) Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Ludovic Tézier (baritone), Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano [ Sony Classical Vinyl / 2 LP - released 28/Oct/2022 ] On stage they're usually rivals, but in real life Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier share a close friendship. After many live performances together these two extraordinary artists have recorded their first duet album: "Insieme".. |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: The Firebird - Complete Ballet (LP) London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti [ Mercury / LP - released 25/Feb/2022 ] Revolutionary in its time, 'The Firebird' is a story in musical textures and dynamics perfectly suited to the Mercury technique. Dorati and The LSO present each nuance in perfect scale and balance. |
ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: Symphony No.1 (LP) Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Accentus / LP - released 14/Mar/2016 ] "Abbado uncovered the radical nature of the work with its fascinating accumulations of intensity and abrupt interruptions … Long and enthusiastic standing ovations at the end for the conductor and orchestra." (Die Welt) - The audience experienced... |
THREE TENORS
The Three Tenors in Concert 1994 in Los Angeles (complete on CD & DVD) Luciano Pavarotti / Jose Carreras / Placido Domingo / Zubin Mehta [ Warner Classics / 2 LP - released 21/Jun/2024 ] On Saturday July 16, 1994, The 3 Tenors performed a concert in Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium that was acknowledged as "probably the biggest single musical event in history" with an estimated worldwide audience of more than one billion viewers. This... |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos (LP) Marc-André Hamelin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Litton [ Hyperion / LP - released 13/Sep/2024 ] The two piano concertos of Shostakovich, though strikingly different from each other, have both become twentieth-century classics. The first has long been one of Marc-Andre Hamelin's party pieces and we are delighted to have paired him with Andrew... |
PHILIP GLASS
Glass Essentials: An 80th Anniversary Tribute (LP) Nicolas Horvath (piano) [ Grand Piano / LP - released 13/Jan/2017 ] This compilation celebrates Philip Glass's 80th birthday through his unique contribution to the solo piano repertoire. It features a selection of the intricately melodic Etudes which are both technique-expanding and intimately personal statements.... |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Orchestral Works [Includes 'Bolero'] (LP) Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, André Cluytens [ Warner Classics Vinyl / LP - released 1/Jun/2020 ] This LP includes three of Maurice Ravel's masterpieces, the Boléro, La Valse and the Rapsodie espagnole. The recordings where painstakingly remastered in 24-bit/96kHz sound from original tapes for the Cluytens Edition made in 2017 |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 'From the New World' (LP) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt [ Warner Classics Vinyl / LP - released 15/Oct/2021 ] "Harnoncourt eschews tradition for tradition's sake in the symphony. He approaches the score afresh, and the result is a reading both idiomatic and illuminating." MusicWeb |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: The Complete Waltzes (LP) Stephen Hough [ Hyperion / LP - released 13/Sep/2024 ] Stephen Hough has a unique affinity for the music of Chopin, whose music has always been a central part of his repertoire. His earlier Chopin recordings for Hyperion garnered huge critical acclaim. Hough's name has become synonymous with pianistic... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
A Christmas Night Classical and Traditional Favourites (LP) Various Artists [ Harmonia Mundi / LP - released 2/Dec/2022 ] With selections ranging from Praetorius to Britten, plus all-time favourites by J.S. Bach (The Christmas Oratorio) and Handel (Messiah), this album brings together some of the most beautiful and justly famous musical settings of the Nativity story.... |
PHILIP GLASS
Glass: Piano Works (2LP) Víkingur Ólafsson (piano) / Siggi String Quartet [ Deutsche Grammophon LP / 2 LP - released 31/Jul/2002 ] "Ólafsson's interpretations inhabit a unique, distinct and extraordinary world all their own...[he] possesses that rare gift of illuminating a familiar work in unexpected ways, revealing hidden depths and drawing out its best qualities." Gramophone |
ERIC SATIE
Satie (LP) Aldo Ciccolini (piano) [ Erato / LP - released 13/May/2022 ] A special re-release for Record Store Day 2016, this LP of Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes and other piano pieces by Erik Satie salutes Aldo Ciccolini, the Italian-born pianist who launched the Satie 'boom' when this album first appeared in 1956. Whether... |
ROBERT SCHUMANN / CARL MARIA von WEBER
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor / Weber: Konzertstück in F minor (LP) Alfred Brendel (piano) / London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado [ Philips / LP - released 6/May/2016 ] Presented with original artwork and pressed at optimal GmbH, this release has been carefully mastered from original analogue sources at Abbey Road Studios. Every effort has been made to faithfully reproduce the original intentions of the musicians an |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Messiah (LP) Alice Coote, Stephen Cleobury, Academy of Ancient Music [ Warner Classics / 3 LP - released 18/Sep/2020 ] In 2009 in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel, and the 800th anniversary of the University of Cambridge, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge performed Handel's best known work, Messiah, on Palm Sunday,... |
AARON COPLAND / LEONARD BERNSTEIN / GEORGE GERSHWIN / CHARLES IVES / etc
Alison Balsom - Quiet City (LP) Alison Balsom (trumpet) / Britten Sinfonia, Scott Stroman [ Warner Classics / LP - released 26/Aug/2022 ] "As an entity it creates a varied album in every kind of mood. It will delight anyone, not only the trumpet expert, who admires Balsom's eclecticism and musical brilliance...Balsom's virtuosity is spellbinding throughout." Guardian |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Etudes (LP) Anne Queffelec (piano) [ Warner Classics / LP - released 7/Jul/2023 ] Anne Queffélec is consistently notable for her insight and eloquence. Gramophone magazine has described her recordings thus: 'Delicious playing …', 'Outstanding … thoughtful, poetic …', 'Articulate, clear-textured and vivacious … |
EDOUARD LALO / PABLO SARASATE
Lalo: Symphonie espagnole / Sarrasate: Zigeunerweisen (LP) Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Orchestre National de France, Seiji Ozawa [ Warner Classics LP / LP - released 10/May/2024 ] "...pure intonation, the sweet tone and the warmly emotional and committed treatment that this much admired young artist gives the work." Gramophone |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor Op. 102 (with Clara Schumann: Piano Trio) (LP) Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Pablo Fernandez (cello), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Manfred Honeck, Lambert Orkis (piano) [ Sony Classical Vinyl / 2 LP - released 4/Nov/2022 ] An aristocrat of the string world is united with one of its most exciting newcomers for this major new concerto release on Sony Classical. First joint album by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Pablo Ferrández - a musical team for many years. |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Stabat Mater (LP) Antwerp Symphony Orchestra & Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe [ PHI / 2 LP - released 9/Mar/2018 ] For its second vinyl release, PHI has chosen to reissue one of Philippe Herreweghe's most masterly interpretations: Antonín DvoĆák's ineffable Stabat Mater, for which the conductor and his ensembles, the Collegium Vocale Gent and the Royal Flemish... |
Anu Komsi (soprano), Marzi Nyman (organ)
Duke Ellington: Sacred Concert (LP) [ Alba / LP - released 14/May/2020 ] Duke Ellington wrote the Sacred Concert in the mid-1960's and performed the work with his orchestra and various soloists between 1966 and 1974 at Churches around the USA and Europe. Ellington never wrote a score of Sacred Concerts, and it wasn't... |
W. A. MOZART
Rudolf Barshai Vol.1 (LP) The Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai [ Melodiya / LP - released 7/Oct/2014 ] Firma Melodiya revisits the art of the Rudolf Barshai, an outstanding domestic musician and founder of the first chamber orchestra in the USSR. Once the Moscow Chamber Orchestra founded by Barshai and a few other enthusiasts in the Thaw period... |
ARVO PART
Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel (LP) Benjamin Hudson (violin) Sebastian Klinger (cello) Jurgen Kruse (piano) [ Brilliant Classics / LP - released 1/Aug/2023 ] An LP reissue for a critically acclaimed best-seller of the Brilliant Classics catalogue, and an ideal introduction to the unique, meditative world of Arvo Pärt. The gentle piano arpeggios introducing Spiegel im Spiegel calm the pulse and invite... |
EDVARD GRIEG
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite Nos.1 & No.2 / Sigurd Jorsalfar (LP) Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan [ Deutsche Grammophon / LP - released 25/Feb/2022 ] "Very impressive indeed. Somehow one feels that one could stretch out and touch the players, so vivid is the sound here." Gramophone |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites - Sleeping Beauty & Swan Lake (LP) Berliner Philharmoniker, Mstislav Rostropovich [ Deutsche Grammophon Vinyl / LP - released 25/Feb/2022 ] Rostropovich's accounts of the gorgeous Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake Ballet Suites. |
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
Haydn 2032, Vol. 10: Les heures du jour (LP) Bernarda Fink (mezzo) / Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini [ Alpha Classics / 2 LP - released 24/May/2024 ] The HAYDN2032 edition celebrates the release of the tenth volume in the complete recording of Haydn's 107 symphonies. Entitled 'The Times of Day', this programme is devoted to Symphonies nos. 6, 7 and 8, whose individual names translate as 'Morning',... |