A snapshot of Cecil Taylor on the cusp of breaking free from all conventions, *The World of Cecil Taylor* is the sound those very conventions being stress tested in the jazz lab, with a young Archie Shepp doing his best to keep up.
Wilhelm Furtwängler’s complete recordings on Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, Beethoven sets from Wilhelm Kempff, Igor Levit and Ronald Brautigam, and the fruits of a 2018 Hamburg festival centring on the artistry of Martha Argerich.
Chris introduces this month’s selection, headed by the Beethoven and Sibelius violin concertos from Christian Tetzlaff, Robin Ticciati and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
A discussion of the importance of orchestral conductors; insights into performing great piano works from renowned pianist Menahem Pressler; a comprehensive guide to the maintenance, repair, and restoration of violins; the first collection of academic essays devoted to The Rolling Stones; and an analysis of the poetry behind popular song lyrics.
The sheng virtuoso discusses his fusion project with Holland Baroque (released earlier this summer on Pentatone), which features Chinese traditional tunes alongside music by Rameau, Telemann and Vivaldi.
The Czech mezzo is joined by her husband and assorted colleagues for a programme of songs for voice and chamber ensemble by Ravel, Brahms, Stravinsky, Chausson, Strauss, Dvořák and Janáček.
New albums from Jan Lisiecki, Michael and Daniel Barenboim, Igor Levit, and Marie-Nicole Lemieux, plus a Rossini rarity starring Pretty Yende and Juan Diego Flórez on DVD and Blu-ray.
A terrific compilation unearthing some gems from producer Bob Shad's Mainstream Records imprint, and including artists as diverse as Stanley Clark and Sarah Vaughan.
The conductor talks to Katherine about his third recording of French repertoire with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, which pairs the Duruflé Requiem with Debussy's Nocturnes.
The Italian mezzo pays tribute to the most celebrated castrato of them all, plus a Viennese whirl with Jonas Kaufmann, Beethoven from Leonidas Kavakos and Masaaki Suzuki, and Purcell's *King Arthur* from Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli.
Erroll Garner's *Concert by the Sea* is a hardy perennial that became one of the best selling jazz albums of all time. An expanded edition was issued in 2015, finally allowing us to savour in full that magical September evening in 1955 at the Sunset School, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
The French conductor talks to Katherine about recording three 'mosaics' of music which Mozart composed or encountered during the period leading up to his life-changing collaboration with Lorenzo Da Ponte, including extracts from his abandoned operas *Lo sposo deluso* and *L'oca del Cairo*, and music by Salieri, Paisiello and Soler.
Riccardo Chailly conducts the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in thrillingly-detailed and impassioned performances of four orchestral works by Richard Strauss.
New albums from Imogen Cooper, Emmanuelle Bertrand, The Sixteen and Mr McFall's Chamber, plus Simon Rattle's inaugural concert as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra on DVD and blu-ray.