Classical CDs
Classical CDs Weekly: Telemann, Alban Gerhardt, Wiener SymphonikerSaturday, 11 March 2017
Telemann Fantasias for solo violin Aisha Orazbayeva (violin) (Prah Recordings)Telemann, too readily dismissed as a plodding hack, gets a radical makeover here; the tracklisting makes it seem as if Aisha Orazbayeva is giving us six of the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Prokofiev, Strauss, WeinbergSaturday, 04 March 2017
Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas 2, 6 and 8 Alexander Melnikov (Harmonia Mundi)These three sonatas provide a neat overview of Prokofiev’s compositional career, 1912’s No 2 blending heady romanticism with smiling, percussive modernism. I’d not realised... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Rasmussen, Shostakovich, TchaikovskySaturday, 25 February 2017
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op.110 and Op.111, with music by András Szöllösy and Gyula Csapó Gábor Csalog (piano) (BMC)Two Beethoven sonatas coupled with shorter pieces by a pair of contemporary Hungarian composers makes for an engaging mixture.... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Ghedini, Ives, Vaughan WilliamsSaturday, 18 February 2017
Ghedini: Orchestral Music Orchestra della Toscana/Daniele Rustione (Sony)Yet more music you’ve never heard by a composer who really should be better known. Giorgio Federico Ghedini (1892-1965) wrote an opera based on Melville’s Billy Budd... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Julius Eastman, ÜberbachSaturday, 11 February 2017
Brahms: Symphonies 3 and 4 NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester/Thomas Hengelbrock (Sony)Brahms’s name is tucked away in disappointingly smallish print on this disc’s imposing cover. In case you’ve missed it, there’s a glitzy new concert hall in the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Debussy, Smetana, Cincinnati Symphony OrchestraSaturday, 04 February 2017
Debussy: Images, Jeux, La plus que lente San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas (SFS Media)Debussy’s tennis-themed Jeux would surely have made a bigger splash had its 1913 premiere not been overshadowed by a certain Stravinsky premiere. This... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Kabeláč, Ligeti, ShostakovichSaturday, 28 January 2017
Miloslav Kabeláč: Complete Symphonies Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra/Marko Ivanović (Supraphon)Finding an imposing cycle of eight symphonies by a 20th century composer you’ve never heard of is an event. There’s precious little of Miloslav Kabeláč’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Strauss, John Bullard, Tania StavrevaSaturday, 21 January 2017
Strauss: Suites from Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck (Reference Recordings)Manfred Honeck’s extended slice of Richard Strauss's Elektra was made in collaboration with the Czech composer Tomáš Ille, Honeck’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Gavin Higgins, Christopher Simpson, Pina NapolitanoSaturday, 14 January 2017
Gavin Higgins: Dark Arteries and other works Tredegar Town Band/Ian Porthouse (Tredegar Town Band)The heavy industries associated with British brass bands may be close to extinction, so it’s reassuring to encounter evidence that so many of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Fauré, Poulenc, Franui, Sami JunnonenSaturday, 07 January 2017
Aubade – Music by Fauré and Poulenc Västerås Sinfonietta/Howard Shelley (piano and conductor) (dB Productions)January blues? Those afflicted should self-medicate with this collection instead of nipping down to the nearest off-licence. Nothing cheers... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Glazunov, Dunja Lavrova, Norwegian Radio OrchestraSaturday, 31 December 2016
Glazunov: Violin Concerto, with music by Tchaikovsky, Chausson, Sarasate and Saint-Säens Hideko Udagawa (violin), London Philharmonic Orchestra/Kenneth Klein (Nimbus)Here’s another outing for Glazunov’s charmer of a violin concerto, which should be... Read more... |
Classical LPs Weekly: Corker, Sveinsson, TchaikovskySaturday, 24 December 2016
Adrian Corker: The Have-Nots OST (SN Variations)German director Florian Hoffmeister’s debut film The Have-Nots is a European exploration of the emotional after-effects of 9/11. The score comes from the British musician Adrian Corker. He’s worked... Read more... |
