Author: Laurence Slater
Mozart: Piano Concertos 21 and 22 (EMI Classics)
(Déjà Review) Thoughtful and transcendent playing. A winner on all counts [KS]
Muffat: Concertos (Channel Classics)
(Déjà Review) An eloquent and passionate plea for Muffat’s splendid music [JV]
Thieriot: Chamber Music Volume 4 (Toccata Classics)
Pleasant Brahms-influenced works, lacking much spark [DJB]
Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette (SWR Music)
Not a library choice but there’s much to enjoy [JQ]
Piano music played by Fanny Davies & Adela Verne (APR)
It is wonderful to have Davies’ Schumann back in the catalogue and Adela Verne’s discs are a delicious bonus [RCh]
Rose: Music for String Quartet (Convivium Records)
Difficult music that requires serious listening. Superb performances and recording [WH]
Charpentier: Choral music (Château de Versailles)
A carefully devised programme enabling us to understand how Italian polychoral works so heavily influenced Charpentier’s expansive, insistent idiom [RMo]
Edwards: Symphonies 1 & 4 (ABC Classics)
(Déjà Review) A first class production that deserves to find a wide audience [TP]
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius (Hallé)
(Déjà Review) A remarkable achievement [JQ]
Moeran: Orchestral Music (SOMM Ariadne)
Another treasure trove of archive broadcast performances crowned by a definitive version of the Violin Concerto from Albert Sammons [NB]
Shostakovich & Saariaho: String Quartets (Rubicon)
Compelling Shostakovich and Saariaho from the Dudok Quartet [DHa]
Beethoven: Theatre Music (cpo)
Colourful, Powerful Performances of Beethoven’s Music for the Theatre [DF]
English music for flute and piano (Da Vinci Classics)
Victorian voices revived: charm, wit and wistful song [JF]
Vaughan Williams: Mantegna (Albion Records)
A skilfully planned and beautifully executed programme reaps unexpected rewards [NB]
Blake: Orchestral Music (Sony Classics)
(Déjà Review) Once heard, you’ll not want to be without this marvellous music [BBr]
Bach: Stokowski Transcriptions (Naxos Historical)
(Déjà Review) An essential purchase for all Stokowski fans [IL]
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Pristine Audio)
Once again, Pristine breathes new life into an imperishable classic of the gramophone [RMo]
Choir of St John’s Cambridge: O Holy Night (Signum)
A most enjoyable Christmas programme, superbly performed [JQ]
Prokofiev: The Gambler (Unitel Edition)
Prokofiev’s masterly opera about greed and desperation is presented in brilliant performances and a fine if somewhat controversial production [RC]
Coleridge-Taylor: Orchestral Music (Somm)
A potpourri of largely unrecorded Coleridge-Taylor [JW]
The Jazz Album (Classics for Pleasure)
(Déjà Review) An enjoyable album of jazz-influenced music, London Sinfonietta on good form [GPu]
Rosa Ponselle: Songs and Arias (Naxos Great Singers)
(Déjà Review) We must be grateful for the opportunity to hear this great soprano [ABo]
Gouvy: Chamber Music (Farao Classics)
An album of valuable Théodore Gouvy wind chamber works [MC]
Verdi: Otello (Naxos Historical)
(Déjà Review) Among the essential recordings of this magnificent work [PBW]
