February 2024

Fine performances for the most part, but the documentation is problematic [LW]

A fine demonstration of some of the main aspects of performance practice in music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque [JV]

If the programme appeals you can invest with confidence, despite the short playing time [JQ]

Beautiful sounds in big-boned arrangements which are best sample piecemeal rather than all at once [MP]

A splendid calling card for a largely forgotten Cremonese master [RHa]

A poetic, refined, beautifully played account from a remarkable young Finnish pianist [RMo]

Three fulfilling works interconnected by pedagogical history [JF]

Alsop’s Brahms series has gotten off to an excellent start [PCW]

Fine performances, but do we really need any more? [MBu]

An arrangement for smaller forces that still makes as much impact [DJB]

This SACD presents music, in fine performances, that is well worth getting to know [JQ]

This disc documents the strong Italian influence on the Portuguese late Baroque [JV]

An impressive account of this once notorious work [SB]

Vänskä’s performance of Symphony of a Thousand; a rave review [EJW]

Auspicious beginning to a series of Mozart’s Masses [DF]

(Déjà Review) A reminder of all the strengths of this cruelly-underrated conductor/composer. Certainly, this is a major addition to the Strauss discography [CC]

A typical Järvi performance for good or ill [NB]

This remains a powerful experience 49 years after its initial release [MP]

This release will be of great interest to all Mahler devotees [JQ]

Committed performances of two mid-twentieth-century German works [WK]

A fascinating juxtaposition of the familiar and the unfamiliar [PJ]

Pianism of the highest calibre [SG]

Not my cup of tea – in spite of some sensitive, nuanced singing, Gheorghiu’s vibrato is now too much to stomach [GF]

(Déjà Review) I’ve been returning to this superb disc again and again over the past few weeks [GS]