Latest News: Classical, Recording of the Week
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Recording of the Week,
Steven Isserlis explores the cello's Golden Decade 4th November 2022Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih take us on a journey to uncover some lesser-known works from an astonishingly fruitful decade for the cello - sonatas from Strauss and Le Beau, Bruch connections and more.
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Recording of the Week,
Handel's Theodora from Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo d'Oro 28th October 2022A starry cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Joyce DiDonato offers a wealth of fresh insights into Handel’s oratorio about religious persecution and intolerance in ancient Rome on this new studio recording, made after a run of concert-performances across Europe.
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Recording of the Week,
Hans Rott's Symphony in E major from Jakub Hrůša 21st October 2022The Czech conductor and his Bamberg orchestra offer a magnificent account of a work not heard until more than a century after it was written, by a composer described by Gustav Mahler as "the founder of the new symphony".
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Recording of the Week,
Rossini's Messa di Gloria from Antonio Pappano 14th October 2022The Cinderella of Rossini's sacred works goes to the ball in fine style, with stand-out performances from tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres, and some delectable obbligatos from the woodwind principals of Pappano's Roman orchestra.
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Recording of the Week,
Telemann Fantasias from Alina Ibragimova 7th October 2022The violinist adds a fourth album of unaccompanied repertoire to her tally - following Bach, Ysaÿe and Paganini up with Telemann's twelve fantasias, written to be technically approachable yet musically satisfying.
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Recording of the Week,
Krystian Zimerman performs piano music by Szymanowski 30th September 2022The Polish pianist offers a selection of pieces by his compatriot, in performances that are often highly idiosyncratic yet always thoughtful, intelligent, and full of staggering technical and expressive mastery.
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Recording of the Week,
Leoncavallo's Zingari on Opera Rara 23rd September 2022Carlo Rizzi conducts a scintillating account of the Pushkin-inspired one-act opera from 1912, starring Krassimira Stoyanova and Arsen Soghomonyan.
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Recording of the Week,
Igor Levit's Tristan 16th September 2022Hans Werner Henze's brilliant, baffling set of ‘Preludes for piano, electronic tapes and orchestra’ sits at the heart of this Wagner-inspired recital, which also includes music by Liszt and Mahler via Ronald Stevenson.
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Recording of the Week,
John Wilson conducts music from Hollywood's Golden Age 9th September 2022Sinfonia of London and conductor John Wilson present a dazzling selection of music from classic movies including Rebecca, The Wizard of Oz, Laura, How to Marry a Millionaire, My Fair Lady, and Now, Voyager.
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Recording of the Week,
Fatma Said's Kaleidoscope 2nd September 2022Featuring music by composers including Léhar, Gounod, Weill and Piazzolla, the Egyptian soprano's beguiling, wide-ranging invitation to the dance proves impossible to resist.
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Recording of the Week,
Alison Balsom's Quiet City 26th August 2022Alison Balsom and the Britten Sinfonia offer a colourful collection of works and arrangements that place the trumpet firmly at the centre of attention.
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Recording of the Week,
Anna Prohaska and Isabelle Faust perform György Kurtág's Kafka-Fragmente 19th August 2022An extraordinary tour de force from the soprano and violinist duo, performing the Hungarian composer's great song cycle setting fragments of texts by Franz Kafka.
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Recording of the Week,
American tenor Jonathan Tetelman's debut recording 12th August 2022Featuring arias by Cilea, Massenet, Verdi, Ponchielli and Mascagni, the Chile-born tenor's first album for Deutsche Grammophon reveals a powerful dark-hued voice that's allied to real interpretative subtlety.
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Recording of the Week,
Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch from Carolyn Sampson, Allan Clayton and Joseph Middleton 5th August 2022All three artists are wonderfully attuned to the wit and warmth of Wolf's set of 46 delectable miniatures, with Middleton's characterful postludes proving in a joy in themselves...
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Recording of the Week,
Chamber music from the Mendelssohns 29th July 2022The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective performs early works by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, complemented by one of Fanny's last-ever compositions.
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Recording of the Week,
Adapted and reconstructed Bach concertos from Francesco Corti and Il Pomo d'Oro 22nd July 2022Francesco Corti continues his series of Bach harpsichord concerto recordings with an album of double concertos - including his own collaborative reconstruction with Francesco Zimei of a tantalising fragment.
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Recording of the Week,
Berg, Webern and Schoenberg from the Heath Quartet 15th July 2022The UK-based string quartet bring luminous clarity and beauty to three transitional works by the Second Viennese School, with soprano Carolyn Sampson joining them for Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2.
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Recording of the Week,
Francesco Piemontesi performs works for piano and orchestra by Ravel, Messiaen, and Schoenberg 8th July 2022The Swiss pianist is joined by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and conductor Jonathan Nott for a dazzlingly characterful trio of performances.
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Recording of the Week,
Ronald Brautigam performs piano concertos by Johann Wilhelm Wilms 1st July 2022Fortepianist Ronald Brautigam is joined by the Kölner Akademie and conductor Michael Alexander Willens for the first of two volumes of concertos by the composer once described as "the Dutch Beethoven".
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Recording of the Week,
Freddie De Tommaso - Il Tenore 24th June 2022The young British-Italian tenor is on barnstorming form in a programme of scenes and arias from Tosca, Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Carmen, with equally impressive guest appearances from Lise Davidsen, Natalya Romaniw and Aigul Akhmetshina.