BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - December 2024 Choices
Taking its title from Imogen Holst's Welcome Joy & Welcome Sorrow (a set of six part-songs on texts by John Keats, which was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1951), the album also includes works by Elizabeth Poston, Judith Weir, Hilary Campbell, Olivia M. Sparkhall and Shruthi Rajasekar.
Recording of the Month
Welcome Joy - A Celebration of Women's Voices
Louise Thomson (harp), Corvus Consort, Freddie Crowley
'The 12 superb sopranos and altos of the Corvus Consort sing the complex, close-knit textures of these works with delicacy and pinpoint accuracy. Louise Thomson’s immaculate, virtuosic harp playing conjures scenes that take us from scented gardens to sun-baked landscapes and haunted moonlit forests.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Orchestral Choice
Adrian Sutton: Violin Concerto and other works
Fenella Humphreys (violin), BBC Philharmonic, Michael Seal
'Sutton’s natural métier is the theatre, and even the Violin Concerto has an external programme which concerns a seagull and its appearance around various coastlines...Sutton was himself a violinist, and the writing is idiomatic, but also tricky in its demands, both athletic and lyrical, which are effortlessly met by Humphreys.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Concerto Choice
'A new version which stands comparison with the best. Frang’s initial entry is immediately soulful and introspective, intently tuning in to Robin Ticciati’s compelling account of the long orchestral introduction...Anyone interested in Elgar, or in acutely insightful violin playing , should hear it.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Opera Choice
'The first thing one notices in this wide-ranging recital from rising baritone Huw Montague Rendall is his seriousness of purpose...There’s also top-rank work from the orchestra and conductor; a real collaboration has taken place, and the results are quite something.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Choral & Song Choice
'No detail escapes her. Confiding, conversational, anguished, enraptured, she inhabits the piece whose instrumental filigree is perfectly judged by the conductorless Ensemble 360. From the delicate, perfumed intoxication of ‘Mondestrunken’ to the skittish cabaret-inflected ‘Gemeinheit ’, this is nothing short of a triumph!'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res+ FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Chamber Choice
'Here’s an archetypal recital programme which every emerging violin virtuoso would dream of recording, though few recent contenders have done so with such unerring assurance and mastery as Johan Dalene. His partnership with Peter Friis Johansson yields one of the most satisfying instrumental releases I’ve considered for some time.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Instrumental Choice
'He is an exciting artist-creative in terms of writing his own arrangements and pieces, and in his interpretations...Potentially this is a very influential album, as it showcases the wealth of expression possible, in an explosively compelling fashion, and equally the diverse styles that are offered in the cello repertoire.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
World Choice
'Lee’s familiar concern for the natural world and the damage that we ungrateful children of Mother Nature do to it is an abiding theme – possibly symbolised by the thrilling trills of the UK-endangered Eurasian curlew that thread through the song sequence in several places. Perhaps just as political is the inclusion of transgender choir Trans Voices, making their hugely welcome recording debut on several pieces.'
Available Format: CD
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
