This is the twenty-third year that MusicWeb International has asked its reviewing team to nominate their recordings of the year (a link page for the previous years is located here). Reviewers are not restricted to discs they had reviewed, but the choices must have been reviewed on MWI in the last 12 months (December 2024-November 2025), and should be releases from the last year or so.
The 100 selections have come from 19 members of the team and 54 different labels. The choices reflect, as usual, the great diversity of music and sources.
Of the selections, two have received three nominations:
• Grace Williams’s Missa Cambrensis conducted by Adrian Partington on Lyrita
• Beatrice Rana’s Bach concertos on Warner Classics
And five have received two nominations:
• Sir Simon Rattle’s Idomeneo on BR Klassik
• Sir Mark Elder’s Simon Boccanegra on Opera Rara
• Massenet’s Grisélidis on Bru Zane
• Sir Antonio Pappano’s Vaughan Williams Symphonies 5 & 9 on LSO Live
• My Fair Lady on Chandos
The leading label with 7 nominations is Chandos, with BR Klassik close behind with 6.
| MWI Recording of the Year |
We have decided to break with tradition this year and, for the first time, declare joint winners of the Recording of the Year, being the two recordings nominated by three reviewers. We felt that there was no way of choosing between them – both had been Recordings of the Month – and they were so different (core repertoire/first recording, Baroque/20th century, “big” label/smaller independent) that it seemed right to adopt this course of action on this occasion.
Johann Sebastian Bach Keyboard Concertos 1-3 & 5 – Beatrice Rana (piano), Amsterdam Sinfonietta rec. 2022 Warner Classics 2173243358
Grace Williams Missa Cambrensis – Côr Heol y March, BBC Ntl O & Ch/ Adrian Partington rec. 2024 Lyrita SRCD442
In 2017, Beatrice Rana produced a recording of the Goldbergs which dazzled our reviewers and was an easy choice as Recording of the Year. Her return to Bach, recorded while she was still in her 20s, has produced such adjectives from our reviewers as “joyous”, “vibrant, magical, haunting” and “scintillating”. Grace Williams is a minor figure compared to Bach, but this first commercial recording of her magnum opus has been described by our reviewers as “compelling and profound” and “imposing, impressive and deeply sincere”.
Reviews
Bach: David Barker ~ Ralph Moore ~ Philip Harrison
Williams: John Quinn ~ John France
Click on the cover images below to read the full reviews.
| Stephen Barber |
Bela Bartók Violin Sonatas 1 & 2 Karol Szymanowski Mythes – Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Dmytro Choni (piano) rec. 2024 BIS BIS2787 SACD
The Bartok violin sonatas are fierce but rewarding. The Szymanowski Mythes, which partly inspired them, are dreamy and impressionist. Together they make a good programme. Frank Peter Zimmermann is expert in both composers and Dmytro Choni is a worthy partner.
Magnus Lindberg & Kalevi Aho Clarinet concertos – Julian Bliss (clarinet), BBC Scottish SO/Taavi Oramo rec. 2024 Signum Classics SIGCD898
Magnus Lindberg is one of the most exciting composers around, and this concerto is a particular success – this is its fourth recording. Kalevi Aho is more prolific and more uneven but his concerto is also a good work and this is its second recording. Julian Biss and the orchestra do ample justice to the shimmering textures of the Lindberg and the very varied writing of the Aho.
Enrique Granados Goyescas, El Pelele – Dina Stojilković (piano) rec. 2023 cpo 555 677-2
I had thought no one would ever be able to rival Alicia de Larrocha in this music, but to my surprise and delight Dina Stojilković does so. She has all the fire and passion that one could want, together with an immaculate technique and a profound understanding of the work, on which she has even written a thesis.
Olivier Messiaen Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus, Petites Esquisses d’Oiseaux – Ciro Longobardi (piano) rec. 2023 Piano Classics PCL10246
There are now several excellent recordings of Vingt Regards as well as some that fail to make the grade. I did not know what to expect from this unfamiliar Italian pianist, but I was very impressed by this version. This is not surprising, as Longobardi has already won a prize for his version of Catalogue d’Oiseaux and he has also recorded Messiaen’s remaining piano works on another set. As well as having the formidable technique required, he shapes the repeated phrases, offers perfect chording and precision with no loss of the mystery and magic which are so prevalent in this cycle.
Richard Strauss Salome – Malin Bystrøm (soprano), Johan Reuter (bass-baritone),
Bergen PO/Edward Gardner rec. 2022 Chandos CHSA5356(2) SACD
I was happy to welcome a new version of Salome, as the classic recordings are now all rather old. I was not sure on first hearing that Marlin Byström was right for the title role but a second hearing convinced me. Johan Reuter as Jochanaan is a bit stiff in his imprecations from the cistern but much more flexible in his big scene with Salome. Gerhard Siegel makes something of the ungrateful part of Herod and the other parts are mostly well done. The orchestra play with a will and Edward Gardner revels in this kind of late Romantic score.
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe My Fair Lady – Scarlett Strallen, Jamie Parker, Alun Armstrong, Sinfonia of London/John Wilson rec. 2024 Chandos CHSA5358(2) SACD
It would be absurd not to nominate this carefully prepared and finely performed version of this most delightful Hollywood musical. Scarlett Strallen navigates her way through Cockney via standard English to marked RP, and her singing voice is charming. Jamie Parker is convincing as Higgins and, unlike Rex Harrison in the original, he can sing when required. Alun Armstrong is a thoroughly satisfactory Alfred Doolittle. Above all, John Wilson gets the orchestral idiom exactly right, and he includes scenes and passages which were cut from the old recordings.
| David Barker |
Johann Sebastian Bach Keyboard Concertos 1-3 & 5 – Beatrice Rana (piano), Amsterdam Sinfonietta rec. 2022 Warner Classics 2173243358
Some years ago now, I first encountered the young Italian pianist Beatrice Rana with her recording of the Goldberg Variations, and was dazzled by it. I wasn’t alone – it was MusicWeb’s Recording of the Year. After a few excursions elsewhere in the repertoire, she returned to Bach this year with a disc of keyboard concertos, giving us the most joyous performances of this wonderful music. I listened to it first in January, and knew then it would be the best recording I would hear all year. Despite some other outstanding releases, it remained that way.
Renaissance Shani Diluka (piano) rec. 2024 Warner Classics 2173251429
Sri Lankan pianist Shani Diluka takes us on an excursion through two centuries of music, arranged for the modern piano. Those looking for keyboard fireworks may feel that there is too much poetry and too much beauty, but I am not among them.
Domenico Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas – Javier Perianes (piano) rec. 2024 Harmonia Mundi HMM902768
The keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti saw quite a few releases this year, but this stood head and shoulders above the others. By coincidence, I saw Javier Perianes perform the Ravel Concerto at the same time as reviewing this recording. He was as impressive live as on record.
Philip Glass The Complete Piano Etudes – Vanessa Wagner (piano) rec. 2025 InFiné IF1099
Of the dozen or so full sets of the Glass Etudes, few have been entirely satisfying, and some downright tedious. French pianist Vanessa Wagner has jumped to the head of the queue with a poetic, and most importantly, musically intelligent set of readings. I can give her no higher praise than by saying that at least two of hers are as good as or better than those by Víkingur Ólafsson, a phrase which I never thought I would write.
Spain On Fire Quiteria Muñoz (soprano), Accademia del Piacere/Fahmi Alqhai Challenge Classics CC720018
A considerable diversion from my usual listening genres, inspired by an upcoming trip to Spain. Curiosity was rewarded by a recording that was a delight from first note to last. A mixture of old and new music, of vocal and instrumental, it is full of colour, variation and emotion, highlighted by Quiteria Muñoz’s beautiful and powerful singing.
Kevin Puts Concerto for Orchestra, Silent Night Elegy, Virelai – St. Louis SO/Stéphane Denève rec. 2019-23 Delos DE3620
American Kevin Puts writes contemporary classical music that adheres to the three basic components of music – melody, rhythm and harmony – and does so without dumbing down or writing “background” music. It is sophisticated, exciting and beautiful, and more power to him, and others – Australia’s Graeme Koehne, for example – like him.
| Nick Barnard |
2025 has not been such a vintage year for me personally in terms of the discs I have reviewed. There have been just four recordings that have met my criteria of technical and musical excellence as well as repertoire of value. In the order in which I reviewed them:
Maurice Ravel Très Franc – Emre Yavuz (piano) rec. 2024 TYXart TXA24192
As my tag-line for the review stated; “A joyful recital of great music stunningly played and recorded”. In a year full of Ravel recordings, this one by pianist Emre Yavuz stood out for me for its depth of personal engagement and musical insight. Aside from the musical accomplishments, the 24 bit/96kHz recording of the Bösendorfer 280VC – Vienna Concert is simply stunning. This has quickly become one of my favourite recitals of these wonderful scores.
Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartets 1-6 – Asasello-Quartett rec. 2024 Genuin GEN25908
The Asasello Quartet’s release of Shostakovich’s quartets nos. 7-13 made my ROTY list last year and this companion pair of discs is every bit as fine. I love their fusion of dynamic, robust playing with silky refinement and no little wit. Of course, there are many fine cycles of these masterly works but this deserves consideration alongside the best.
Ruth Gipps Orchestral Works Volume 4 – BBC Philharmonic/Rumon Gamba
rec. 2022-24 Chandos CHAN20319
Volume 2 of this revelatory series again featured in my ROTY 2022 list. This year also featured Vol. 3 and to be fair either disc would make this current list. I chose Vol. 4 as the summation of the survey of Gipps’ symphonies – I love the composer’s refusal to bend to the prevailing critical opinions of the day. Love it or loathe it, this presents Ruth Gipps’ musical creed with unapologetic certainty. Utterly convincing performances in great sound add to the delight.
Johann Sebastian Bach King of Kings Orchestrations by Sir Andrew Davis –
BBC PO/Sir Andrew Davis, Martyn Brabbins, rec. 2023/24 Chandos CHAN20400
Here, delight is tempered by sadness: delight in the joyful new orchestrations by Sir Andrew Davis of great organ works by Bach; sadness, in that he did not live to complete the recording of this project which was taken over with huge aplomb by Martyn Brabbins – the ideal ‘substitute’ conductor. As long as the idea of this music played by a full symphony orchestra does not make you break out in hives, there is so much here to enjoy and celebrate. Clearly, the accomplished BBC PO are having a ball. This is a disc to lift the spirits.
| Rob Barnett (Founding Editor) |
Whilst potential ‘futures’, such as the orchestral works of Joseph Holbrooke (whatever happened to Queen Mab?), Freda Swain and Ernest Bryson, and the impressionistic portraits by William Baines and Sam Hartley Braithwaite are locked in their distant kingdoms, there is much to absorb and excite us in the real CD release world. Amongst the ‘minors’, my record label of the year is SOMM whose wondrous compendia of broadcasts of Bliss, Holst and Janacek are joyous. Warner Classics are the other to mention for their generous and forward-driven hurricane of reissue boxes. Now; let the main event begin:
EJ Moeran Symphony, Violin & Cello Concertos – Albert Sammons (violin), Peers Coetmore (cello), BBC SO/Sir Adrian Boult rec. 19346/49 SOMM Ariadne 5045
This is a miraculous release largely because of Boult’s account of the Symphony, recorded privately in 1949. Boult went on to record it commercially. I think it is more likely than not that Richard Itter of Lyrita heard this BBC broadcast and that it was as a result of this that Boult, in his eighties, recorded it in a stupendous commercial Lyrita release. The Symphony as heard in Somm’s transfer achieves a miraculously virile balance of dynamism and poetry – a performance to match: Moeran with Boult in his sixties.
Sir Arthur Bliss Miracle in the Gorbals, Metamorphic Variations – BBC PO/Michael Seal rec. 2025 Chandos CHSA5370 SACD
I agree with JQ – not that I dissent from JW – that this is an important and excellent release. I recall listening to the BBC’s memorial programme during the Spring 1975 when Vernon Handley presided over the BBC SO for the Variations and the dazzling John Georgiadis in the Violin Concerto. Chandos have already ‘done’ the Concerto and now they and the admirable and desperately underestimated Michael Seal give us the Variations – a cellular fantasy sequence. Note that the brilliant Miracle in the Gorbals is the complete ballet score.
Grace Williams Violin Concerto, Elegy, Sinfonia Concertante – Geneva Lewis (violin), Claire Hammond (piano), BBC Ntl O Wales /Jaime Martin, Ryan Bancroft, Jac van Steen rec. 2022/23 Lyrita SRCD447
I offer no apologies for a list crowded with works by UK composers from the last century. In the 1970s I was non-plussed by Grace Williams’s Trumpet Concerto, Sea Sketches and her Fairest of Stars but her communicative gifts stood clear and free in the first two symphonies, Ballads for orchestra and Harp Song of the Dane Women. The concertante works which I know from cassettes, then CDRs, of BBC broadcasts are done proud by Lyrita. It is a joy to hear them in modern sound. Next, let’s hear her extremely moving film music Blue Scar.
Sir Arnold Bax The Blessed Damozel – Jeremy Huw Williams (baritone), Paula Fan (piano), Theodore Buchholz (cello) rec. 2022 EM Records EMRCD086
Since my 1970s discovery of ’serious music’ I have been gripped by art songs by UK composers. When this coincides with Arnold Bax I am bound to be drawn in. This record has its “less than convinced” but to be able to hear Bax’s Hardy songs and his Irish settings more than outweighs any of this CD’s demerits. Jeremy Huw Williams evidently understands these songs and can re-create and convey the sound of the meeting place between the minds of Bax and the poets.
Rued Langgaard The Early Recordings 1957-1981: Symphonies and Orchestral Works Danacord DACOCD976
The 1980s were intoxicating times for me with one music discovery after another. Martin Anderson – alongside Stephen Lloyd and Adrian Farmer one of music’s unstinting advocates – generously sent me a BASF tape reel with Danish broadcasts of three of this composer’s symphonies. They were works beyond the periphery in those long-distant days. To hear the music on these two discs is to revive the world of that time. I do recommend it especially the otherworldly symphonies 6, 16 and Music of the Spheres. There are more modern Langgaard recordings but as an evocation of a moment when a revival began, this is nonpareil.
Thomas Pitfield Orchestral Music – Emma McGrath (violin), Liepaja SO/Paul Mann rec. 2025 Toccata Classics TOCC0765
Sadly, a quarter-century late – Pitfield died in 1999 – the interest of the ‘industry’ has been stirred into action with superb results here. Also an achiever in the visual and literary arts, Pitfield is no ascetic technician. Without being a duplicating follower, his music, so nicely done here by Paul Mann and a Latvian orchestra, steps from the worlds of Finzi, Butterworth and RVW. It addresses the heart. His works are tuneful and grateful to the soul – nourishing in these times.
| Michael Cookson |
I haven’t prepared as many reviews as usual this year, due to illness. Nevertheless, there have been several new releases that I have especially admired.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Idomeneo – Andrew Staples (tenor), Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano), Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Bayerischen Rundfunks SO & Ch/Sir Simon Rattle; rec. 2023 BR Klassik 900215
Sir Simon Rattle presides over a compelling, distinctive and potent performance of Mozart’s opera Idomeneo. This live recording ticks all my boxes and is my personal 2025 Record of the Year.
Théodore Gouvy Chamber Music for Wind Ensemble – Ensemble Arabesques rec. 2024 Farao Classics B108127
I greatly enjoy this engaging album of high-quality wind chamber works by Théodore Gouvy. In addition to the Septet, world premiere recordings of the Nonet and Octet Serenade are included. It’s a valuable release that has made me want to explore other Gouvy recordings.
Antonio Salieri Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari – Mirco Palazzi (bass), Timur – Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani (tenor), Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset (piano); rec. 2024 Aparté AP379
Conducted by Christophe Rousset, this most impressive recording of Salieri’s Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari deserves acclaim. An opera forgotten for over two hundred years, it is finally receiving its long-overdue time in the spotlight.
Giuseppe Verdi Simon Boccanegra – Germán Enrique Alcántara (baritone), Eri Nakamura (soprano), The Hallé/Sir Mark Elder; rec. 2024 Opera Rara ORC65
Sir Mark Elder, a cast of soloists, two choruses and the Hallé recorded this release of Simon Boccanegra at the orchestra’s Ancoats studio, Manchester. Days later, I attended their captivating concert performance of it at the Bridgewater Hall. Many Verdians, including me, consider this opera to be a greatly undervalued work and I relish the opportunity of hearing Verdi’s original 1857 version. This album, released on Opera Rara rather than the Hallé’s own label, is one to savour.
Antonín Dvořák Complete Works for Violin and Piano – Jiří Vodička (violin), David Mareček (piano) rec. 2023 Supraphon SU 43402
The duo of soloists Jiří Vodička and David Mareček performs this all-Dvořák programme admirably from start to finish. Proficient on both violin and piano, Dvořák wrote enthusiastically for this combination of instruments; all nine of his compositions for it are played here, plus Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of the Humoresque No. 7 for solo piano.
Eva Zaïcik (mezzo-soprano) Rebelle – Hommage a Célestine Galli-Marié – O National de Lille/Pierre Dumoussaud rec. 2024 Alpha Classics 1128
Mezzo-soprano Eva Zaïcik’s solo recital Rebelle, a collection of airs from French opéras comiques, is impressively sung. To mark the occasion of both the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s death and the premiere of his masterpiece, Carmen, Zaïcik honours the career of Parisian mezzo Célestine Galli-Marié (1837-1905) who made her name at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. Lauded for creating the title role of Carmen, she was admired for her gifts for dramatic characterisation. It seems that most, if not all, of the sixteen airs chosen by Zaïcik are from roles Galli-Marié created. Aside from the airs by Bizet, Thomas, Offenbach and Massenet, those by the remaining seven composers here are from overlooked operas rarely staged today and certainly new to me.
| Hubert Culot |
Among the various discs that came my way in 2025 some may be singled out for various reasons, but one stands out for sheer musical interest because it is dedicated to what is probably the most powerful and personal achievement of its composer: Grace Williams’s large-scale Missa Cambrensis.
Grace Williams Missa Cambrensis – BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales/Adrian Partington rec. 2024 Lyrita SRCD442
I do not know whether this performance and recording will ever be bettered but Grace Williams’s imposing, impressive and deeply sincere work unquestionably deserves to be better known and appreciated. I heartily welcome this recording which greatly enhances one’s appreciation of her achievement.
Jouni Kaipainen South by Northeast – Juhani Lagerspetz (piano), Tampere PO/Hannu Lintu rec. 2023 Alba ABCD472
At long last, this is a wonderful opportunity to get to know relatively recent works by a composer whose far-from-negligible output is too often overlooked and has still to receive its due. Kaipainen’s output is quite sizeable in spite of her untimely death and much of it still awaits recording. It is to be hoped that this beautifully performed and engineered disc will kindle some kindle new interest in her never-indifferent music.
Sebastian Fagerlund Autumn Equinox – Niek de Groot (double bass), Lapland CO/John Storgårds rec. 2023 BIS BIS-2090 SACD
The Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund continues to build up a wide-ranging output that is now regularly recorded by first-class performers; he might well soon be regarded as one of BIS “house composers”. The works recorded here all demonstrate the composer’s instrumental and orchestral mastery displayed in hugely varied works. The quintessential quality of the music is enhanced by committed performances in a superb recording.
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė Aletheia – Latvian Radio Choir/Sigvards Kļava rec. 2023 Ondine ODE 1447-2
Although she may have made her mark – and still does – with orchestral music and different multi-media pieces, Martinaitytė has also composed some startlingly atmospheric choral music that has been somewhat overlooked so far. Thus, this selection of quite substantial pieces of music, beautifully sung by the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Kļava, is particularly welcome.
Anna Clyne Abstractions – Baltimore SO/Marin Alsop rec. 2017-21 Naxos 8.574620
The new disc entirely devoted to Anna Clyne’s orchestral music confirms that she has a real flair for orchestral textures into which she breathes fresh air. In the longer works recorded here, she displays a true grip on long-term structure. However, her short, compact but deeply moving elegy Within her Arms dedicated to her mother’s memory definitely stands out in the present selection.
| Lee Denham |
Antonín Dvořák Symphony No 7, Scherzo Capriccioso, Op. 66 (1883) – Bavarian RSO/Bernard Haitink rec. 1981 BR Klassik 900223
This is my recording of the year, quite simply the greatest Dvořák Seventh Symphony in the entire catalogue, made all the more remarkable since the conductor, Bernard Haitink, was not particularly associated with this composer. On YouTube, there is a video that proclaims loudly that the recording of this work by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra is the ‘Greatest Ever’ – but notwithstanding its virtues, this Haitink account trumps it. The sound is warm, rich and natural, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (led previously for many years by Rafael Kubelík) faultless and alive in every bar, while Haitink’s interpretation is by turns imperious, lyrical, driving and sparkling – in short, indisputably magnificent.
Herbert von Karajan (conductor) Live in Berlin 1953-1969 Berliner Philharmoniker BPHR240291 SACD
This rather expensive, twenty-four CD collection is my box-set of the year. Who would have thought Herbert von Karajan would programme and perform Ralph Vaughan Williams, Richard Rodney Bennet or György Ligetti in concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic? Except he did (along with Britten’s War Requiem and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder in the late 1960s, which are not included in the box) – and very persuasively, too. Since the box is “Live in Berlin 1953-1969”, it is to be hoped that follow-up boxes for the years 1970-1989 will appear – and indeed a further one covering the 1970’s is scheduled to be released in early 2026. These are priceless documents of one of the greatest conductor-orchestra relationships in musical history.
Klaus Tennstedt (conductor) Live Vol. 6 Doremi DHR-8253/4
Doremi’s releases of live concerts with Klaus Tennstedt can be criticised as variable, but at their best they reveal a conductor who, when on top form, could storm the heavens. The Beethoven Choral Symphony from Minnesota on this release is absolutely electrifying, while the Mahler First from Volume 1 can lay claim to being one of the greatest accounts of all.
Sergio Fiorentino (piano) The Complete SAGA Album Collection rec. 1958-60 Rhine Classics RH-033
Sergio Fiorentino is the greatest pianist you have probably never heard of. He gave up a burgeoning career as a concert pianist for one of domestic bliss, quietly teaching students in his Italian homeland at the Naples Conservatoire, before coming out of ‘retirement’ for a final, golden, half a dozen years until his death in 1998. You owe it to yourself to hear these early live recordings.
John Field Complete Nocturnes – Alice Sara Ott (piano) rec. 2024 Deutsche Grammophon 4866238
The composer John Field is not the first name that springs to mind when one thinks of one of Beethoven’s contemporaries. Beautifully played by Alice Sara Ott and warmly recorded by DG, this release deserves much attention and plaudits.
| Göran Forsling |
I have reviewed fewer discs than usual during 2025 but still found five that qualify for inclusion in this year’s list. I present them in strict chronological order. Three of them were actually chosen as “Recordings of the Month”.
Benedict Sheehan Ukrainian War Requiem – Axios Men’s Ensemble, Pro Coro Canada/Michael Zaugg rec. 2024 Cappella Records CR 432
This beautiful and deeply moving work was released to commemorate the Russian attack on Ukraine three years and will forever help to remind the world of this tragedy.
Franz Schubert Licht und Schatten – Samuel Hasselhorn (baritone), Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano) rec. 2024 Harmonia Mundi HMM902747
Hasselhorn is without doubt one of the foremost present-day Lieder singers, and this Schubert programme is constantly fascinating and illuminating.
Giacomo Puccini Tosca – Eleonora Buratto (soprano), Jonathan Tetelman (tenor), Ludovic Tézier (baritone), Ch & O dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma/Daniel Harding rec. 2024 Deutsche Grammophon 4866997
Although this new Tosca may not be the best recording ever, as I wrote in my original review, it still offers superb singing of the three central characters.
Benjamin Appl (baritone) For Dieter: Hommage à Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – James Baillieu (piano) rec. 2024 Alpha Classics 1131
For the centenary celebrations of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, his pupil Benjamin Appl has issued this double-bill with a lavishly illustrated biography and a CD with excerpts from the master singer’s enormous repertoire, proving that Appl himself is a worthy heir to his mentor.
Jewish Vienna Chen Reiss (soprano), Jewish CO Munich/Daniel Grossmann rec. 2024 Onyx 4253
The composers on this disc knew Mahler, and his spirit permeates all the music here in one way or other. Therefore, it is logical that the Adagio from his unfinished 10th symphony takes centre stage in this programme in a touching performance arranged for chamber orchestra. The other principal part is played by Chen Reiss, who sings wonderfully in songs by Zemlinsky and Korngold.
| Philip Harrison |
2025 yielded some very fine new recordings. I reviewed quite a few but heard many more still. A couple I rate very highly – although some take a very different view – include Sir Simon Rattle’s new reading of Dvořák’s Slavonic dances with the Czech PO and the new disc from the group De Profundis on Hyperion, which focussed on the glorious music of Cristóbal de Morales. In selecting my favourite six of the year I am particularly sorry to leave out three records that we did review: Alexandre Kantorow’s disc of Brahms and Schubert (BIS), Thomas Adès on the LPO label and the Schoenberg set from Petrenko in Berlin.
Grace Williams Missa Cambrensis – BBC National Ch & O Wales/Adrian Partington rec. 2024 Lyrita SRCD442
In a happy year of new releases devoted to or including music by Williams, this one obviously stands out. The mass was her late masterwork and this Lyrita recording is its premiere on record. Lavishly orchestrated and symphonically constructed with highly skilled orchestration it will repay the initial investment of your time and effort with dividends. Adrian Partington, his Welsh choirs and instrumentalists and a quartet of soloists make a sterling job of it.
Georg Schumann Ruth – Marcelina Román (soprano), Julie-Marie Sundal (contralto), Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt/Jörg-Peter Weigle
rec. 2023 cpo 555 666-2
Another big choral piece for the concert hall, I reviewed this one in May and to date have not seen a peep about it anywhere else in the musical press. I stand by my initial assessment of Schumann’s magnum opus however and the convincing performance it gets here on the magnificent cpo label.
Johann Sebastian Bach Keyboard Concertos 1-3 & 5 – Beatrice Rana (piano), Amsterdam Sinfonietta rec. 2022 Warner Classics 2173243358
Beatrice Rana’s Bach was covered by us in March, April and May. All three reviews share a common theme and returning to it at the end of the year, my own assessment of the disc’s merit and stature is undampened. There is a cohesive, shared sense of purpose and commitment from everyone involved in this project and the results are at once vibrant, magical, haunting and profoundly satisfying.
Alexander Scriabin Orchestral Works – Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano), Danish National Concert Ch & SO/Fabio Luisi rec. 2023-25 Deutsche Grammophon 4867954
This splendid set from DG honours both Scriabin and the Danish orchestra who celebrate their centenary season this year. The sonics are glowingly radiant, which is entirely appropriate for this colourful sparkling music. I hope the label can be persuaded to schedule a physical CD release of this set which is only available on streaming platforms or as a download option at the moment. The performances deserve it.
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe My Fair Lady – Scarlett Strallen, Jamie Parker, Alun Armstrong, Sinfonia of London/John Wilson rec. 2024 Chandos CHSA5358(2) SACD
Does anyone else remember the BBC Proms season of 2012? It was the Olympics in London that summer. Both concert season and games were of the best vintage. At the Proms, John Wilson, his orchestra and many fine singers and dancers presented this adorable show at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a triumph. Now, over a decade has passed and Wilson returns to the musical with a different cast but equally memorable results. This really is one of my records of the year. Now Mr. Wilson, please can we talk about Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan?
Sir Michael Tippett New Year – Rhian Lois (soprano), Robert Murray (tenor), BBC Singers & Scottish SO/Martyn Brabbins rec. 2024 NMC D291
I reviewed fifteen opera recordings this year but choose this one from the crop as it is a first recording and an important contribution to the revival of interest we are currently seeing in the music of this great British composer. New Year, his fifth and last operatic work has its issues, but it was written from the heart, it is deeply honest and has real conviction. It touches me profoundly. Martyn Brabbins, with his BBC musician colleagues, are thoroughly convincing advocates of the work. I wonder who will win the race to bring us that new recording of The Mask of Time, we Tippett lovers yearn for? Brabbins or Gardner? I would gladly accept it from either one.
| Dominic Hartley |
It’s strange how in retrospect a pattern of one’s listening emerges. Looking back this year, I was surprised to see the number of string quartet recordings I’d reviewed and admired. Some superb Shostakovich from a number of groups, and memorable Haydn from the Chiaroscuro Quartet, for example, but three discs of contemporary quartets have proved even more indelible.
Naresh Sohal String Quartets – Piatti String Quartet rec. 2024 Toccata Classics TOCC0754
Four of Naresh Sohal’s quartets received performances of great radiance from the Piatti Quartet. Timely reminders of what a gifted composer he was, they are part of the impressive efforts being made by Toccata Classics and Heritage Records to ensure that Sohal’s music is not neglected. It is salutary to note that the recordings of the Quartets No. 4 and 5 here were also the first performances of these fantastic works some fifteen years on.
A Dark Flaring Signum Quartett rec. 2022 ECM 2787
ECM’s A Dark Flaring provides essential accounts by the Signum Quartett of works by South African born composers. In repertoire that spans 80 years, a dazzling range of styles and influences is demonstrated, as are the possibilities enabled in the meeting of cultural traditions.
Kory Reeder Homestead – Apartment House rec. 2024 Another Timbre at-236
Kory Reeder’s Homestead is a long-form work of nearly an hour’s length which rewards repeated listening. An exploration of history and its consequences, it’s a work of real beauty. Reeder asks for one of the movements of the work to be played in a way which is ‘blurry…but not sentimental’, and in a way that’s a defining characteristic of the work as a whole. A sense of poignancy, nostalgia (possibly misplaced) and something darker is powerfully conveyed throughout, but not over-elaborated, a compositional judgment which is triumphantly vindicated in the marvellous performance by Apartment House.
Arnold Schoenberg Orchestral Works – Berlin Philharmoniker/Kirill Petrenko rec. 2019-24 Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings BPHR250511
My other recordings are more miscellaneous. ‘Essential’ has become an overused word in reviewing generally but I absolutely believe no other word will do for the Berlin Philharmonic’s new set of Schoenberg recordings. It presents a riveting parallel narrative of the development of Schoenberg as a composer alongside the thrilling relationship forming between the Orchestra and Kirill Petrenko.
Timothy McCormack mine but for its sublimation – Jack Yarbrough (piano) Another Timbre at239
I suppose ‘extraordinary’ falls into the same category of overuse as ‘essential’, moreover a sin I am definitely very guilty of, but I will hold out for its use in describing Timothy McCormack’s single movement piano composition mine but for its sublimation. If you give yourself over to it, the experience as a listener is transformative; you truly feel as if you’ve made the same journey as the composer and the pianist. McCormack wrote the work for Jack Yarbrough, whose playing is out of this world.
Sir Edward Elgar The Dream of Gerontius – Allan Clayton (tenor), Jamie Barton (mezzo-soprano), James Platt (bass-baritone), London PO & Ch/Edward Gardner rec. 2022 LPO 0138
Finally, whilst wishing to avoid the tendency one sometimes sees in end of year lists where a reviewer thinks the last thing heard is the best, I have to recommend the LPO Dream of Gerontius. I am always so overawed by the otherworldly combination of words and music – has ever a writer been better served than Newman was here? – that I find it hard to be objective about any performance, but that delivered by the LPO and Edward Gardner at the Proms was surely special. Luckily for me, my distinguished colleague John Quinn also thought highly of it. Phew.
| Rob Maynard |
A decade ago the worldwide archives of previously-unreleased films of older ballet performances were still being productively mined. These days, however, they seem either to have been completely emptied or else not considered worth releasing from a commercial point of view. Meanwhile, although a good number of new and often high quality productions are still making it to their own national TV stations and thence, thank goodness, to YouTube, hardly any are being released to wider audiences on DVD or Blu-ray. This has not, therefore, been an especially memorable year for collectors of filmed ballet. There is, nevertheless, a handful of exceptions that have come my way and I have also had the pleasure of encountering some interesting and highly enjoyable recordings on CD.
Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Swan lake – The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House O/Martin Georgiev rec. 2024 Opus Arte OABD7326D Blu-ray
While the Royal Ballet’s signature Tchaikovsky ballet remains, of course, The Sleeping Beauty, in 2018 the late Liam Scarlett added a new and world-beating production of Swan Lake to the company’s repertoire. Notable for both its imaginative choreography and its stunning designs, it is danced to the highest standard on this occasion by Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball. This well-filmed performance now becomes the top recommendation for watching Swan Lake at home.
MacMillan Celebrated Royal Opera House O & Ballet/Koen Kessels
rec. 2024 Opus Arte OABD7325D Blu-ray
Kenneth MacMillan’s choreographic legacy goes from strength to strength as companies all around the world take an increasing interest in his ballets. While his full-length story-led creations – Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Mayerling – are obvious crowd-pleasers, MacMillan’s shorter works are sometimes overlooked. All three presented on this new disc are well worth watching, but the standout for me is Different Drummer, in which Marcelino Sambé delivers a powerful and revelatory portrayal of the soldier Woyzeck. We must be grateful that his utterly gripping performance has been preserved on film.
The Glass Menagerie Hamburg Ballet & SO/Luciano Di Martino rec. 2024 C Major 769008 DVD
John Neumeier was principal choreographer at Hamburg Ballet for more than five decades and has left a lasting impact not just on that particular company but on the world of dance as a whole. The Glass Menagerie is a late work that was intended to showcase the talents of Alina Cojocaru and her performance as the tragic character Laura Rose Wingfield can be considered pretty well definitive. This is a ballet that warrants several viewings to uncover its full complexity, so we should be grateful that this recording provides the opportunity to watch it repeatedly and easily at home.
Adolphe Adam Griseldis, ou Les cinq sens – Sofia PO & Ch/Dario Salvi rec. 2024 Naxos 8.574621-22
Eschewing familiar repertoire, conductor Dario Salvi continues to explore the by-ways of mid-19th century opera and ballet. Very unusually, we find both genres combined on this occasion as, from time to time, the composer Adolphe Adam requires his leading dancer to burst into a verse or two of lyrical song – though, thankfully, the medium of CD allows a professional singer to take on that responsibility here. Griseldis is tuneful, engaging and an altogether welcome rediscovery from ballet history that adds to our growing appreciation of its composer’s adeptly crafted work for the stage.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber Overtures Vol. 7 – Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava/Dario Salvi rec. 2023 Naxos 8.574597
The ongoing Naxos series of Auber overtures – which actually extends much further than just those – is now well established. I have most recently encountered volume 8, but am offering a particular recommendation to volume 7 as an entry that’s an excellent example of the enterprise and style that have characterised all the discs. Dario Salvi favours brisk tempi and lighter, more transparent orchestral textures than used to be the norm. His performances thereby sound absolutely right for music that was composed simply to offer audiences an entertaining night out at the theatre. Much – but not all – of Auber’s music may be essentially ephemeral stuff but, all the same, it’s often hugely enjoyable and a real, smile-inducing delight.
| Ralph Moore |
I have in previous years observed that new operatic issues which I consider noteworthy have become increasingly rare, so I am pleased to note that this year I included several operas in my initial list before whittling them down to my final six. Not all have made the cut, but I would commend in particular Bru Zane for the innovation and enterprise of their programme, especially as there is a dwindling supply of first-rate voices from which to cast their revivals. The same is true of Opera Rara, who are similarly tasked and challenged, so I have made a point of nominating one each of their recordings among my six. It would be an unusual year for me if I did not include some Bruckner, especially since the issue of recordings made to celebrate his bicentenary drew to a close, hence my selection of a recording from the superb set from China, where Bruckner continues to enjoy great and increasing popularity. I could have included more of Gerd Schaller’s ongoing project but I have already previously endorsed that enthusiastically; the same is true of the conclusion to Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s Sibelius symphonic cycle. I thought, too, of including two new excellent recordings of Ravel’s balletic masterpiece Daphnis et Chloé, by either Aziz Shokhakimov on Warner, or Sir Antonio Pappano on LSO Live, but there are already so many fine recordings of it that I decided to go for more recherché repertoire – and I note that one of those is among my colleague JQ’s choices. Rafael Payare’s Symphonie fantastique on might have been a final late entry, but like the Ravel work, we are already awash with great recordings of it and it is hardly neglected. That left a final choice from the chamber music genre, offering as it does two seminal works of the Romantic era played to remarkable technical and artistic standards.
Giuseppe Verdi Simon Boccanegra – Germán Enrique Alcántara (baritone), Eri Nakamura (soprano), The Hallé/Sir Mark Elder rec. 2024 Opera Rara ORC65
This becomes the best option for hearing this wisest and darkest of Verdi’s operas in its original form before its revision.
Jules Massenet Grisélidis – Vannina Santoni (soprano), Alain: Julien Dran (tenor), Ch & O Opéra national Montpellier Occitanie/Jean-Marie Zeitouni rec. 2023 Bru Zane BZ1058
My choice here was the result of a toss-up between it and the more recent L’Ancêtre by Saint-Saëns, but this, I think, has the wider appeal. One of the excellent singers here is Adèle Charvet, whose recital Belle époque! I also considered for nomination.
Giacomo Puccini Le Villi – Anita Hartig (soprano), Kang Wang (tenor), Munich RO/Ivan Repušić rec. 2024 BR Klassik 900359
My third operatic choice is Puccini’s Le Villi which, like the other two operas here, is a rarer bird, musically undeserving of the neglect to which it has been treated but so dramaturgically deficient that it is best heard as a recording.
Johann Sebastian Bach Keyboard Concertos 1-3 & 5 – Beatrice Rana (piano), Amsterdam Sinfonietta rec. 2022 Warner Classics 2173243358
Beatrice Rana’s joyous and scintillating Bach recital was “Recommended” by me and a colleague and under a third review it was made a “Recording of the Month” so it’s choice here is natural.
Le Temps suspendu Franz Schubert String Quintet Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 15 – Katok Ensemble rec. 2024 B Records LBM076
I could hardly forego choosing this having stated in my review, “This will undoubtedly feature in my list of the best recordings of 2025.” So here it is and you cannot go wrong with it.
Anton Bruckner Symphony 4 – China NCPA Orchestra/Lü Jia rec. 2024 NCPA Classics 81620220-1
I appreciate that availability of the complete cycle, of which this Fourth is part, continues to be something of an obstacle to prospective purchases but its consistent excellence and unexpected provenance prompt me to include it regardless.
| Mike Parr |
2025 brought with it several releases which I feel are among the top of the heap. I was lucky enough to be able to review several of them myself.
Giuseppe Verdi Complete Ballet Music – Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Ivan Repušić rec. 2022-24 BR Klassik 900341
First we have an utterly delightful collection of Verdi’s ballet music from BR Klassik. This CD is musical glamour at its finest.
Antonio Vivaldi La fida ninfa – Chelsea Zurflüh (soprano), Elieen Welle (mezzo), Barockorchester: Jung/Chiara Catani rec. 2023 cpo 5556462
Then cpo came out with this lively and beautifully sung recording to rival the older Naïve Vivaldi Edition’s studio effort of Vivaldi’s opera La Fida Ninfa . This live recording captured the music with a vivacity and utter charm missing from the dry, studio-bound Spinosi recording. This was the most surprising success of the year, in that it delivered far more than I expected of it.
Jules Massenet Grisélidis – Vannina Santoni (soprano); Julien Dran (tenor), Ch & O Opéra national Montpellier Occitanie/Jean-Marie Zeitouni rec. 2023 Bru Zane BZ1058
Two of this year’s finest releases came from the well-stocked stables at the Palazetto Bru Zane. This adventurous label still maintains the gold standard in the presentation of operas on CD. The first is Massenet’s operatic rarity Griselidis. This opera has appeared on CD more than once, but this recording is the first to be a true success in every regard.
Édouard Lalo Le Roi d’Ys – Judith van Wanroij (soprano), Kate Aldrich (mezzo-soprano), Cyrille Dubois (tenor), Hungarian National PO & Ch/György Vashegyi
rec. 2024 Bru Zane BZ1060
I also derived great pleasure from Bru Zane’s version of Lalo’s rarely staged opera Le Roi d’Ys. This is not the first recording or the finest but the cast is generally quite good and the sound is superb. This version, as much as any, gives a good impression of this strangely compelling opera’s peaks and valleys.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Idomeneo – Andrew Staples (tenor), Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano), Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Bayerischen Rundfunks SO & Ch/Sir Simon Rattle rec. 2023 BR Klassik 900215
I had a couple of important qualms with BR Klassik’s new recording of Idomeneo. It is not perfect, yet it still emerges as one of this opera’s top recordings, and it was certainly among the best releases of this past year.
Carl Maria von Weber Der Freischütz – Mauro Peter (tenor), Christof Fischesser (bass), Nikola Hillebrand (soprano), Wiener Symphoniker/Enrique Mazzola rec. 2024 C Major 768308 DVD
My top choice for 2025 is a truly fabulous Blu-ray of Weber’s fright-night opera from the Bregenz Festival. Director Philipp Stölzl conjures up a gothic fantasy world which entertains and yet remains mostly faithful to the original stage directions. What has been updated or modernized really works in the context of this opera. The filming is superb and the singing of a surprisingly high quality from an outdoor performance.
| John Quinn |
I’ve had the good fortune to review many excellent recordings during 2025, during which time I compiled a shortlist of fourteen recordings which I especially enjoyed and admired. Whittling down that list to the limit of six choices has not been easy. Those that narrowly failed to make the cut included: Gavin Higgins’ The Faerie Bride (Lyrita); Matthew Martin’s recital of organ music by Alain and Duruflé (Ad Fontes); Tenebrae’s A Prayer for Deliverance album (Signum); John Wilson’s recording of My Fair Lady (Chandos); the Crouch End Festival Chorus’s very fine production of Elgar’s The Kingdom (Signum); Edward Gardner’s excellent Dream of Gerontius with Allan Clayton memorably singing the title role (London Philharmonic); and Simon Rattle’s spirited account of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (BR Klassik)
Here are my nominations in alphabetical order of composer:
Johannes Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem – Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki rec. 2024 BIS BIS2751 SACD
A very fine, deeply satisfying account of Brahms’ great choral masterpiece. The orchestral playing and choral singing are superb and the two soloists are excellent. Masaaki Suzuki conducts with great understanding. Captured in outstanding sound, Suzuki’s account of this magnificent, moving work is one of the finest I’ve heard in a long time.
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 7 – Bavarian RSO/Sir Simon Rattle rec. 2024 BR Klassik 900225
A compelling, insightful performance of Mahler’s Seventh, which enthralled me from start to finish. Rattle’s conducting is inspirational and the BRSO plays fantastically, conveying every nuance of this fascinating work. The recorded sound is superb.
Maurice Ravel Daphnis et Chloé – Tenebrae, London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano rec. 2024 LSO Live LSO0899 SACD
In the year that we marked the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth I didn’t hear a better recording of his music than this. Pappano leads a wonderful performance of Ravel’s masterpiece; he shapes and characterises the music with a great theatrical sense. The LSO is on absolutely top form and Tenebrae make a telling contribution.
Franz Schubert Schubert’s Four Seasons – Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano) rec. 2024 BIS-2073 SACD
A delectable recital that covers a wide emotional range and which blends well-known and slightly less familiar Lieder. Carolyn Sampson is an ideal interpreter and her singing gives consistent pleasure. Pianist Joseph Middleton contributes skilful, perceptive accompaniments.
Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphonies 5 & 9 – London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano rec. 2024 LSO Live LSO0900 SACD
I make no apology for including in my selection two discs by the exciting team of the LSO and Antonio Pappano. Their coupling of VW’s Fourth and Sixth symphonies was one of my 2021 Recordings of the year and this second instalment of their cycle of the composer’s symphonies is no less distinguished. The performance of the Fifth is outstanding while that of the underrated Ninth is enthralling.
Grace Williams Missa Cambrensis – BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales/Adrian Partington rec. 2024 Lyrita SRCD442
Largely, but not exclusively, thanks to the BBCNOW and Lyrita, this has been a very good year for Grace Williams’s music on CD, but this recording of her magnum opus tops the lot. It’s a work that doesn’t give up its secrets easily but it’s well worth the effort. The music consistently challenges the musicians but here it’s superbly performed. Adrian Partington conducts with great understanding and evident commitment.
| Simon Thompson |
Unusually for me, three of my six discs of the year have been of song, and it’s heartening that they’re from artists at such different stages of their careers. Jonas Kaufmann, probably the world’s most famous operatic tenor, brings depth and insight to Schumann and Schubert, and Florian Boesch continues to be one of the finest lieder singers anywhere, but in Nick Pritchard and Iain Tindale we have a marvellously promising pair towards the start of their careers, who might just be a whole new hope for song in the English language.
Little Wanderer Nick Pritchard (tenor), Ian Tindale (piano) rec. 2025 Signum Classics SIGCD952
A marvellous song recital from young British artists who, let’s hope, suggest the arrival of a major partnership in English-language song.
Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) Doppelgänger – Helmut Deutsch (piano) rec. 2023 Sony 19439781382 CD/DVD
Kaufmann’s interpretations have deepened alongside his voice in marvellous performances of Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Kernerlieder. Not everyone will warm to his theatrically produced Schwanengesang, but you don’t have to in order to appreciate an artist who is growing into a serious and engaging lieder interpreter.
Johannes Brahms & Hugo Wolf Lieder – Florian Boesch (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano) rec. 2023 Linn CKD751
This, however, is the finest song disc in any language to have come my way this year. Boesch and Martineau, recording in a remote location on the west coast of Scotland, bring poetry and inwardness to songs by Brahms and Wolf, two composers who hated each other but whose music sounds wonderful on this disc. They even beat Christian Gerhaher’s 2025 disc that contains some similar repertoire.
Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 3 – Catriona Morison (mezzo soprano), Prague Phiharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov rec. 2024 Pentatone PTC5187363
I haven’t heard any of the rest of Semyon Bychkov’s Mahler series, but this performance of the Third Symphony was so persuasive that I’ll definitely be looking out for the others.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Complete Works With Clarinet Vol. 1 – Nicholas Baldeyrou (clarinet) rec. 2024 Alpha Classics 1040
Juicy, fluid, beguilingly attractive Mozart wind playing from Nicholas Baldeyrou on clarinet and his partnership of equals. And this is only volume one!
Franz Schubert Symphonies 5 & 8, Rondo in A – Stephanie Gonley (violin), Scottish CO/Maxim Emelyanychev rec. 2023 Linn CKD748
I get to hear the Scottish Chamber Orchestra playing in Edinburgh most weeks, so maybe I’m biased about this one, or maybe I’m spoilt because they’re so dependably excellent. Either way, this disc showcases their marvellous partnership with Maxim Emelyanychev, and it’s worthy to set alongside their stupendously good disc of Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony.
| Johan van Veen |
What makes a disc a candidate for the label ‘Recording of the Year’? Obviously, the performances need to be good, but not necessarily perfect (if something like that exists). I also look for the repertoire that is performed. A very fine performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos is unlikely to be included in the list: do we need the 100th recording of those works? So in my list the repertoire takes an important place and may be the main reason to include a recording.
Francesc Valls con afecto – BachWerkVokal/Gordon Safari rec. 2024 MDG 92323686 SACD
A highly interesting and surprising addition to the discography of Valls’ oeuvre. It is an impressive demonstration of his qualities as a composer, but also of his independence in the way he sets texts and uses harmony for expressive reasons (as is indicated by this disc’s title, “con afecto”). That is perfectly realized here by the Ensemble BachWerkVokal. The singing of the entire ensemble is of the highest order, and thanks to the precise intonation, the many harmonic peculiarities come off perfectly.
Solo un salterio Franziska Fleischanderl (salterio) rec. 2022/24 Note One NO26001
An example of a disc which is included for the repertoire in the first place. The second reason is the instrument. The salterio now and then appears in recordings, but this is the first time that it is presented as a solo instrument. Franziska Fleischanderl completely devotes her time to the salterio, and shows here its qualities on a historical instrument from 1725. This is a happy marriage of scholarly research and engaging musicianship.
Northern Light – Echoes from 17th-century Scandinavia Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Ensemble Correspondances/Sébastien Daucé rec. 2022 Harmonia Mundi HMM905368
Another impressive testimony to the profound expression of German Lutheran sacred music. Equally impressive is the way it is performed here. Lucile Richardot takes central stage; she has a unique voice, unlike any other. Her interpretations are highly expressive. The playing of the instrumental ensemble is brilliant and profound, and entirely based on the content of each piece. This is expressive playing of the highest order, and exactly what this repertoire needs.
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier Sonatas for 2 Pardessus de viole – Dialogue Viols rec. 2023 First Hand Records FHR159
The best-possible case for an instrument that many music lovers may not have heard before. There is something special about it and I wish many to discover it. They may well fall in love with it. Boismortier’s music is very good, and Dialogue Viols’ interpretation is simply superb, both technically and in the exploration of the qualities of music and instruments.
Vicente Lusitano Liber Primus Epigramatum – Arte Minima/Pedro Sousa Silva rec. 2024 Pan Classics PC10466
Vicente Lusitano is not an entirely unknown quantity, but has been known mainly as a theorist; his music has not been given much attention. Since 2022, the ensemble Arte Minima focuses on the studying, performing and recording the only collection of music by Lusitano that has been printed, the Liber Primus Epigramatum of 1551. The performances are outstanding, and the participation of a consort of recorders is unusual, but works well.
Another kind of Rossi Arparla rec. 2023 Stradivarius STR37325
In the 16th and 17th centuries music for keyboard, harp and plucked instruments was largely interchangeable. That justifies these unusual performances of Michelangelo Rossi’s keyboard works on the arpa doppia. It lends these pieces a different dimension, due to the instrument’s dynamic possibilities. These are fully explored by Maria Christina Cleary, and the temperament she uses guarantees that the harmonic peculiarities in Rossi’s pieces come off perfectly. The result is an exciting disc.
| Jim Westhead |
Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphonies 5 & 9 – London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano rec. 2024 LSO Live LSO0900 SACD
This SACD presents two Vaughan Williams masterpieces in performances of exceptional quality. Recorded in the notoriously unforgiving acoustic of the Barbican, the sound has been masterfully balanced by the LSO Live engineers, allowing the music to shine with clarity and impact. Both symphonies are given top‑flight interpretations, with the Ninth standing out as especially compelling—indeed, more impressive than any other recorded performance I have encountered.
Mantegna – Hymnody and beyond Dulwich Choral Society, London Mozart Players/William Vann rec. 2025 Albion Records ALBCD067
Anyone familiar with Vaughan Williams’s biography will know that, early in his career, he was commissioned to edit the music for The English Hymnal. This CD, accompanied by scholarly notes, not only traces the history of that work but also offers fine performances of several hymns and, most strikingly, imaginative arrangements of the tunes by other composers. Among the highlights is a notable 17‑minute orchestral set of variations on the little‑known tune Mantegna by the distinguished organist Francis Jackson. For any devotee of RVW, this recording is essential listening.
| Jonathan Woolf |
Albert Sammons (violin) and William Murdoch (piano) The complete sonata recordings (1916-17) rec. 1916-17 Biddulph 85055-2
This is specialist territory but represents one of the very first concerted efforts by a recording company to build up a body of sonata recordings by two artists. In the midst of the First World War, Albert Sammons and William Murdoch set the template for future recordings – their own included.
Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht (conductor) The Complete Erato Recordings rec. 1929-62 Erato 2173251689
16 CDs cover the years 1929-62 and include discs made for Pathé, Ducretet-Thomson and Columbia, now subsumed under the ‘Erato’ umbrella. They include almost all the conductor’s Debussy recordings, some lovely Fauré, and delicious pieces by Inghelbrecht himself. It’s a foundation box.
Sir Edward Elgar & Thomas Adès Violin Concertos – Christian Tetzlaff (violin), BBC PO/John Storgårds rec. 2024 Ondine ODE1480-2
I’ve been waiting for Franz-Peter Zimmermann to record the Elgar concerto but here is his fellow German Christian Tetzlaff to blow away all cobwebs in this defiant, lithe, stunning new recording coupled with an admirable Adès’ Violin Concerto (‘Concentric Paths’).
Robert Russell Bennett Violin Concerto, Hexapoda Vernon Duke Violin Concerto – Chloë Hanslip (violin), Singapore SO/Andrew Litton rec. 2023 Chandos CHSA5371 SACD
Robert Russell Bennett’s long-overlooked Violin Concerto is coupled with Vernon Duke’s example, both from the fertile period of the early 40s. The former is associated with the inimitable Louis Kaufman, the latter has been recorded in recent years, but both are in excellent hands here.
| Leslie Wright |
I have selected four recordings this year, two of which I reviewed, and chose others that nearly made the cut. The latter include the second issue in Robert Treviño’s Americascapes series with works by Walker, Crumb, and Revueltas (Ondine); Ligeti and Bartók string quartets performed by the Marmen Quartet (BIS); and a Pentatone disc, titled Milestones, of Lera Auerbach’s First Violin Concerto and other works with violinist Philippe Quint.
Florence Price & Antonín Dvořák Piano Quintets – Takács Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin (piano) rec. 2024 Hyperion CDA68433
An unusual, but appropriate, coupling of two piano quintet masterpieces. Florence Price’s has much in common with Dvořák’s in its folk music flavour, but each contains the distinct sound of its respective composer. Marc-André Hamelin and the Takacs Quartet turn in performances that could hardly be bettered and Hyperion has produced their usual top-quality product.
Béla Bartók Duke Bluebeard’s Castle – Gabor Bretz (bass-baritone), Rinat Shaham (mezzo-soprano), Netherlands RPO/Karina Canellakis rec. 2024 Pentatone PTC5187225
A new recording of Bartók’s early masterpiece that as a performance can stand with István Kertész’s classic account, but with state-of-the art sound. The soloists are utterly convincing in their roles, and having the spoken introduction by the bass-baritone only enhances the recording. Karina Canellakis and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic are equally outstanding.
Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 5, Two Serenades, Two Serious Melodies, Suite from Swanwhite – Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Finnish RSO/Nicholas Collon rec. 2022/24 Ondine ODE14682
An impressive release by Nicholas Collon and the Finnish Radio Symphony which makes Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony sound new-minted. I haven’t heard one in quite a while the with freshness of this one, relating the venerable work more to the composer’s later symphonies. Added attractions are the occasionally recorded violin pieces with the stellar Christian Tetzlaff and the Swanwhite Suite that has a pre-echo of a theme in the symphony’s slow movement.
Arvo Pärt Credo – Kalle Randalu (piano), Estonian National Male Ch, Ellerhein Choirs, Estonian Festival O/Paavo Järvi rec. 2025 Alpha Classics 1158
This 90th birthday tribute to Arvo Pärt is special. Although it contains primarily orchestral works, there is a fine range of his style from some of his earliest works to his later ones. The performances are all superb and easily the equal to those on the famous ECM discs that first made Pärt’s name known to a wide audience. This is an essential release for all fans of Pärt’s music.
