Author: Laurence Slater
Strauss: Intermezzo (Naxos)
A strikingly effective, imaginative production of Strauss’s rarely seen bourgeois comedy opera [EJW]
Handel: Arias of Love and Madness (Channel Classics)
(Déjà Review) Successfully mixes familiar and unfamiliar and performed with style, charm and a nice poignancy. What more could you want? [RH]
Trumpet Concertos by Gruber, Eötvös and Turnage (Deutsche Grammophon)
(Déjà Review) Hardenberger is a soloist without equal, cruising through bruising technical passagework as if it were Handel or Haydn [DC]
Oswald: Orchestral Music (Naxos)
So much enjoyment to be gained from these three contrasting works [DJB]
Elgar: Choral Music (SOMM Recordings)
Essential listening if you love Elgar’s choral music [JQ]
Erling Bloch: Pioneering Danish chamber musician (Danacord)
The restored recordings of Erling Bloch – sonata and trio player, quartet leader, eminent teacher and committed exponent [JW]
Handel: Messiah (Pristine Audio)
A grand, classic, sui generis recording of ‘Messiah’ in revitalised sound [RMo]
Sir Adrian Boult: Complete Warner Stereo Recordings (Warner Classics)
79 CDs of Warner’s Boult stereo legacy offering the known and the overlooked alike [JW]
Arnold: Ballet Music (Chandos)
(Déjà Review) A disc that no admirer of Arnold’s music will want to be without [JQ]
Britten: The Beggar’s Opera (Chandos)
(Déjà Review) Must now be first choice for this work [MG]
Verdi: Otello conducted by Toscanini (Pristine Audio)
(Déjà Review) Pick this one with confidence [ST]
Schumann: Chamber Music (Hyperion)
(Déjà Review) Seek it out, lend it not [DC]
Sir Adrian Boult: Complete Warner Stereo Recordings (Warner Classics)
A cornucopia of patrician music-making that has rarely been rivalled [RMo]
Noskowski & Rytel: Piano Music (Chopin University Press)
Attractive romantic pieces from this little known teacher and pupil magnificently played [RCh]
Watkins: Orchestral Music (Hallé CD)
Magnificent performances of approachable, brilliant and enjoyable works recently commissioned by this famous orchestra [GH]
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Pristine Audio)
Pristine delivers a top notch refurbishment of this classic recording [MP]
Weill: Love Life (Capriccio)
A marvellous premiere recording of an unfairly neglected show [JQ]
Holst: Orchestral Music (Pristine Audio)
Sargent’s music-making can still take you by the throat [RB]
The Golden Age of Singing Vol 1, 1900 – 1910 (Nimbus Prima Voce)
There is a reason why “The Golden Age of Singing” is so named here… [RMo]
Conti: l trionfo della Fama (cpo)
A fine musical performance brings to life an act of homage to the 18th century Habsburg monarchy [CRo]
Ruders: Six Symphonies (Bridge)
This impressive symphony cycle is now complete [SB]
A Tchaikowsky: Piano Concertos (Ondine)
Disillusion, bleakness, sombre and occasionally irate flamboyance [RB]
Mendelssohn & Bach: Magnificats (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) A very interesting combination of Bach’s Magnificat and a little-known setting by Mendelssohn [JV]
The Mozart Album – Daniele de Niesse (Decca)
(Déjà Review) An interesting and enjoyable collection from a young singer on the crest of a wave [RJF]
