August 2025
Verdi: Il trovatore (Pristine Audio)
This fast and furious performance of Il trovatore will please some more than others [PT]
Gassmann: Gli Uccellatori (Dynamic)
A pleasant diversion which does not engage one’s deeper emotions [MP]
Bacewicz: Orchestral Works Vol. 2 (Chandos)
Volume 2 reaffirms all the qualities of its predecessor [NB]
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Ravel: La valse (Decca)
Mäkelä disappoints in French music [LD]
Grieg: Lyrical Travels (Simax Classics)
(Déjà Review) A fresh and thought-provoking approach to these well-known but often castigated pieces [GF]
Berg: String Quartet, Lyric Suite; Wolf: Italian Serenade (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Interpretative stature and technical prowess [CC]
Quartetto Noûs’s Shostakovich – a more detailed appraisal
by Alan George
Shostakovich: String Quartets, Vol 4 (Brilliant Classics)
Seriously impressive Shostakovich from Quartetto Noûs [AG]
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No 3 (Decca)
Lim’s superb musicianship and technical brilliance do not quite match the magic of the Horowitz-Ormandy live performance [RMo]
Bliss: Cello Concerto (Onyx)
The first recording of the Bliss concerto in thirty years is a stunning account [PH]
Klaus Tennstedt (conductor): Live – Vol 6 (Doremi)
Masterful Beethoven from a great interpreter [LD]
Grieg: Orchestrated Piano Pieces (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Piano works by Grieg in orchestral garb by some important colleagues superbly played [GF]
Benda: Six Violin Sonatas (cpo)
(Déjà Review) The first recording ever entirely devoted to the technically demanding and musically enthralling violin sonatas by Franz Benda [JV]
Cesti: Cantatas & Arias (Brilliant Classics)
Disappointing performances of some enjoyable 17th century Italian vocal music [CRo]
Veni Creator Spiritus – Second Vespers of the Solemnity of Pentecost (Ad Fontes)
As much an adjunct to spiritual elevation as a musical experience which will appeal to practising Catholics and lovers of liturgical music alike [RMo]
Reeder: Homestead (Another Timbre)
A beautiful, reflective new work for string quartet [DHa]
Poulenc: Piano Works (Meridian)
Pianistic sophistication, sentiment, wit and wonder [JF]
Dvořák: String & Piano Quintets (Supraphon)
Two very fine performances [MC]
Bax: Symphony 6, Overtures (Lyrita)
The symphony is essential Bax in performance and recording terms [RB]
Traetta: Rex Salomon (CPO)
Vivid recording of a rewarding forgotten oratorio [CRo]
Shostakovich: Orchestral Songs (Capriccio)
A wonderfully varied collection, in mostly excellent performances [GPJ]
Donizetti: Il diluvio universale (Naxos)
A pleasing, generally very well sung performance of what remains essentially second-rank Donizetti but one with some rewarding passages [RMo]
Carulli: Rediscovered Vol. 2 (Dynamic)
Rarely recorded music by Ferdinando Carulli, superbly played by a master guitarist on a period instrument [ZT]
Bach: Organ Works Volume 8 (Challenge Classics)
(Déjà Review) Those who like big-sounding Bach will enjoy this more than those who expect a lighter touch [BW]
