January 2024
Hungarian Dances and the Hungarian Tradition (Naxos)
A delight – puts a smile on your face and a sense of joy and beauty in your heart [MMB]
Suk: Chamber Works Volume 3 (Supraphon)
(Déjà Review) One of the most enjoyable discs I have heard for a long while [CF]
Bruckner: Symphony No. 1 (Gramola)
Ballot completes his survey of Bruckner’s symphonies with another highly individual reading employing daringly extended tempi [RMo]
Chilcott: Christmas Oratorio (Delphian)
Immediately attractive music for the festive season [WH]
Corelli: Corellimania (OUR Recordings)
An excellent disc of baroque chamber music, even if in one or two cases the link to the craze for Corelli is a little tenuous [GPu]
Delibes: Lakmé (Naxos)
A musically splendid new video production of Delibes’s opera can do little to mask the more unsavoury aspects of the story [PCG]
Red Maple – Music for Bassoon & Strings (Bridge Records)
A collection of fine works for the unusual combination of bassoon and strings [GPJ]
R Schumann: Piano Trios, Vol. 2 (BIS)
Superb performances of lesser-known but deeply rewarding Schumann [PBW]
Ugoletti: Three Concertos (Brilliant Classics)
Vividly emotional, verging on the cinematic … always moving and often telling [RB]
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos (Danacord)
(Déjà Review) A perceptive coupling of thoughtful and scintillating performances recorded with warmth and clarity [PSe]
Donizetti: La favorite (Dynamic)
“La favorite” is well served in a complete new edition, well sung and staged [RWe]
Vivaldi: La Stravaganza (Transcriptions for Organ) (Brilliant Classics)
These transcriptions are nice complements to Bach’s arrangements [JV]
Shostakovich: String Quartets 7-13 (Genuin)
Blazingly impressive performances given with intense virtuosity and musical insight [NB]
Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto (Erato)
Minkowski’s second fine period-instrument recording of Mitridate [DF[
Moondog: Songs & Symphoniques (Cantaloupe)
Mystic and shaman, master of rounds and lullabies, rebirthed by arrangers and singers [JW]
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (BR Klassik)
Two disappointingly tame live performances [RMo]
Guerrero: Ecce sacerdos magnus (Hyperion)
This is another of The Brabant Ensemble’s fine recordings of music by Spain’s greatest Renaissance master [GH]
Monteverdi: Madrigali amorosi (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)
(Déjà Review) I can’t think of any better disc at budget price with which to get to know these marvellous works [TH]
Górecki M P: Orchestral Music (CD Accord)
Polish orchestral music that steps forward purposefully and beguilingly [RB]
Couperin: Les Concerts Royaux (Château de Versailles)
Elegance and refinement were highly appreciated at the time, and that is exactly what we get here [JV]
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta & The Nutcracker (C Major)
A conflation of opera and ballet, well-staged and performed, more than a seasonal song-and-dance show [RWe]
Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra (BR Klassik)
Rewarding orchestral versions of Schubert songs, most sensitively performed [SB]
Bruckner: Symphony No 5 (Capriccio)
A beautifully played recording of the Fifth Symphony for those who like their Bruckner a little leaner and faster with variations of tempi strongly contrasted [RMo]
Escher: Chamber Music (Et’cetera)
A fine survey in committed performances; a good introduction to a superbly crafted and often beautiful oeuvre [HC]
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