September 2024
Brahms: Reimagined Orchestrations (Reference Recordings)
A fitting valedictory to a long partnership between orchestra and conductor [NC]
Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn: Chamber works (Chandos)
Assured playing, let down by the recording [SV]
Stuyvesant String Quartet: In Concert at the Library of Congress (Bridge Records)
A splendid American string quartet caught on the wing in concert in 1946 [JW]
Lou: Near Distant (Kairos)
Three and a half hours of challenging new music, most of which deserves further investigation [RH]
Bosso: Brothers (Da Vinci Classics)
An odd, somewhat awkward mix of the moving and the meandering [DJB]
Pizzetti: Requiem (Dynamic)
The Pizzetti Requiem is a ravishingly beautiful work and this is a lovely performance [SB]
Butler: American Rounds (NMC)
One of the loveliest discs I have heard recently [HC]
Berlioz: Te Deum (Profil)
Sir Colin’s performance of the Te Deum is a hugely impressive account of a great pièce d’occasion [JQ]
Thomas Pitfield, His Friends and Contemporaries (Divine Art)
An appropriately inspired selection of works that illustrate brilliant compositional skills [SA]
Bruckner: Symphonies Nos 3-5 (Pristine Audio)
Pristine offers three great Bruckner recordings from Kna in a handy, sound-enhanced set [RMo]
Baron: Music for Lute Solo & Lute and Recorder (Brilliant Classics)
It is good to have a disc entirely devoted to the music of Ernst Gottlieb Baron, but my welcome for this disc comes with a few reservations [GPu]
Franchetti and Wolf-Ferrari: Symphony & Sinfonia da camera (Naxos)
Music of promise, well performed [NB]
Holmboe: String Quartets Nos 4, 5 & 16 (Dacapo)
A third Dacapo cycle of Holmboe’s string quartets repay close listening [JW]
Lindberg: Viola Concerto, Absence & Serenades (Ondine)
Rewarding recent works by the Finnish master [SB]
Korngold and Marx: Piano Concertos (Hyperion)
Exciting compositions, sumptuously played by Hamelin and the BBC Scottish Orchestra. The Marx work is a real find and the recording companies should explore his music further [GL]
Turnage: Orchestral Collection (Decca)
One of the most individual voices in British contemporary music [CT]
HOLST 150 (SOMM Recordings)
A worthy 150th anniversary tribute to Gustav Holst [JQ]
Karajan Conducts French Music (Pristine Audio)
Familiar recordings, probably skippable [SV]
Vaughan Williams: The Complete String Quartets (cpo)
Generous and intelligent coupling, but the performances are not competitive [NB]
Rachmaninov: Symphony No 3 (Fuga Libera)
The symphony is here given the best possible advocacy and Ravel’s nightmarish La Valse makes the perfect pendant [RMo]
Ewald & Tcherepnin: Brass Quintets (cpo)
A surprising and captivating disc, played with obvious glee [SA]
Britten: Billy Budd (Orfeo)
An interesting Billy Budd, but not a library choice [ST]
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 4 & 7 (Sony Classical)
(Déjà Review) As a coupling of the symphonies, this disc is unbeatable [TP]
Norwegian Heartland (Simax Classics)
(Déjà Review) Intense enjoyment if you are prepared to try something a little out of the normal run [JP]
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