January 2025
Building A Collection: Symphonies
by Lee Denham
Yevgeny Svetlanov (conductor) Debussy & Rachmaninoff (ICA Classics)
Outstanding live performances by the great Russian conductor with three different London orchestras [GPJ]
Mahler: Symphony 2 (Exton)
A moderate but detailed approach to Mahler’s great second symphony [KC]
Ravel: Apothéose infernale (Anclef)
Anyone for a Ravel world premiere? [DC]
Lie: Complete Chamber Music (Simax Classics)
A delicious programme, excellently played, that should win Sigurd Lie a host of new admirers [GF]
Dupont: La Maison dans les Dunes (Piano Classics)
A lingering look at Gabriel Dupont’s marine imagination [JW]
György Cziffra (piano) Live in Concert (Solstice)
These live recordings make a very welcome addition to the Cziffra discography [SG]
Mendelssohn: Symphony 3 “Scottish”
by Alan George
Shostakovich: String Quartet 3
by Alan George
Shostakovich: String Quartet 2
by Alan George
R Strauss: Suites (COE Records)
(Déjà Review) Leinsdorf makes a splendid case for these two rewarding suites [TB]
Rachmaninov: Music for Two Pianos (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) More delicate and finely nuanced readings of these pieces are very hard to find [TP]
Malawski: Orchestral Works (Naxos)
A valuable disc of music by a composer writing at the height of the Stalinist terrors [NB]
Dove: On the streets and in the sky (Signum Classics)
Attractive and accessible works [SB]
Amelita Galli-Curci (soprano): Operatic arias Vol. 1 (Nimbus Records)
A truly great lyric coloratura soprano of the early 20th century, showcased in first-rate transfers [RMo]
Messiaen: Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus, Petites Esquisses d’Oiseaux (Piano Classics)
A welcome addition to the discography of Messiaen’s masterpiece, but the competition is fierce [PH]
Cécile Chaminade and her contemporaries play Chaminade (APR)
Cécile Chaminade’s 1901 recordings revisited, and a raft of shellac performances of her works by other pianists [JW]
Gipps: Orchestral Works Volume 3 (Chandos)
All the music is expertly crafted, highly attractive and, in the best sense of the word, entertaining [JQ]
Offenbach: Romantique (Archiv Produktion)
(Déjà Review) A delightful collection, with some lesser-known material [RW]
Mozart: Piano Concerti No.17, 21 (Deutsche Grammophon)
(Déjà Review) Tremendous, life-affirming Mozart playing, marking Pollini’s welcome return to this territory [CC]
Weigl: Symphony No 3, Symphonic Prelude (Capriccio)
This may appeal to those interested in the byways of Germanic composition in the early 20th century [EJW]
Schumann: Symphony No 4 & Sibelius: Symphony No 1 (SWR Classic)
Masterly direction in live performances of two disparate symphonies, in which orchestral tone is not always the most opulent, but the spirit is invariably right [RMo]
Busoni: Violin Sonatas (Chandos)
An excellent disc [WK]
Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski (Somm Recordings)
A reissued BBC broadcast, two rehearsal segments in improved sound and a never-before-released BBC interview [JW]
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Featured Naxos review |
Featured Naxos review |
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