November 2024
The Memory Garden – Guitar Music from England (Deux-Elles)
A great programme of solo guitar music by English composers, played with a special sensitivity and depth [KT]
Mussorgsky: Symphonic Transcriptions (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Whatever superlatives you hear about this disc I urge you to believe them [MC]
Martinů: The Six Symphonies (BIS)
(Déjà Review) A well documented, brilliantly recorded, excellently played and broadly sympathetic set of readings [JW]
Campkin: I Saw Eternity (Convivium Records)
An enjoyable disc of choral music by an English composer of whom we will surely hear more [GPu]
Encircling: Works for Viola (Acis)
A viola-fanciers’ delight with a well-balanced recital offering two sonatas and two smaller, but compelling, pieces [JW]
Aleksandra Kurzak (soprano): Falcon (Aparté)
Aleksandra Kurzak is in striking form with an album of arias sung by legendary French soprano Cornélie Falcon [MC]
Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum 2023 (Danacord)
Treats galore in this annual release that never disappoints [RCh]
Tippett: Piano Concerto & Symphony No 2 (LPO)
British works you should know from a conductor establishing a reputation as a master of the genre [PH]
Vaughan Williams: Carols from Herefordshire (Albion Records)
Vaughan-Williams’s two versions of carols collected in Herefordshire in the early twentieth century [GH]
Riisager: Ballet Music (Dacapo)
(Déjà Review) Brilliantly orchestrated and balanced – moving forward in a blizzard of detail; the very antithesis of drab [RB]
Telemann: Don Quixote Suite (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Pure delight, this. Buy it [KS] – Thoroughly enjoyable fare. This is a most approachable coupling. [CC]
Thomazeau/Baudimant: Errer (Claves)
Smoothly arranged, expertly performed, yet utterly saccharine, stumbling awkwardly into New Age territory [RHa]
Kolisch Quartet: Mozart, Schubert & Schumann (Biddulph)
Fine transfers of the Kolisch Quartet’s 1930s discography [JW]
Crumb: Complete Crumb Edition Vol 21 (Bridge Records)
An important document of Crumb’s artistic journey in spectacular sound [MBu]
Fritz Kreisler (violin/piano) American Portrait (Rhine Classics)
Of limited interest to Kreisler collectors [SG]
Rameau: The Sound of Light (Sony Classical)
Put aside preconceptions of “authenticity” and enjoy this for what it is – a celebration of some of Rameau’s most appealing music [RMo]
Raff: Samson (Schweizer Fonogramm)
An operatic discovery which delivers a musical and dramatic feast despite some deeply flawed vocal performances [MP]
Mozart: Fantasias & Sonatas (Apex)
Absolutely first-rate Mozart keyboard playing [PSh]
Hoffmann: Chamber Music (cpo)
Be surprised by the restraint and elegance of Hoffmann’s chamber music [DS]
Dvořák: Symphonies Nos 7-9 (Pentatone)
An attractive package [JQ]
Howells & Wood: String Quartets (SOMM Recordings)
Splendid performances of an early version of a Howells quartet and a jaunty, attractive work by Charles Wood [JW]
The King’s Singers: Close Harmony (Signum Classics)
I recommend this issue with all possible enthusiasm [GF]
Farrenc: Complete Piano Works, Vol 3 (Grand Piano)
Maria Stratigou is winning once more in this third volume of Farrenc’s complete piano music [RCh]
Waley-Cohen: Spell Book (NMC)
Double, double toil and trouble – a witches’ brew from Freya Waley-Cohen [PH]
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