Author: Laurence Slater
Handel, Blow and Boyce: Choral Music (Hyperion)
Déjà Review) Certainly worth hearing for the music itself, especially the Blow and Boyce [JS]
Beethoven: Symphonies 5, 6 & 7 (Harmonia Mundi)
Some good things here but a Pastoral I wish I’d not heard [DJB]
Vaughan Williams: From Ursula, with Love (Albion Records)
A treasury of Vaughan Williams, preserved with Ursula’s love [JF]
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (Signum Records)
A brave experiment in exemplary and intelligent singing, but go to Roderick Williams’s earlier recording for a more traditional pairing [SGa]
Schwindl: Symphonies (Capriccio)
One of those new classical discoveries that don’t come along every day [DC]
Gordon: Field of Vision (Cantaloupe)
A vast sonic experience that is worth encountering [DC]
Aldridge & Copland: Clarinet Concertos (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) An enjoyable new concerto and an old favorite, played with love and wit [BR]
Bridge, Britten & Bax: Sonatas for cello and piano (Hänssler Classic)
(Déjà Review) A very special issue [BBr]
Ladies First (Indésens Calliope)
A skilfully planned and beautifully played recital showcasing music of real quality [NB]
House of Wonder: Sally Beamish Celebrates 70 Years (Delphian)
A fondly compiled, superbly performed 70th birthday celebration of Sally Beamish [PC]
Schubert: Songs (Harmonia Mundi)
A very pleasing third instalment of this Schubert project – interesting and beautifully performed [DJa]
Salieri: Il mondo alla rovescia (Dynamic)
(Déjà Review) A fascinating work in a pleasing debut recording [GPu]
Wagner: Operatic Excerpts (Naxos Historical)
(Déjà Review) Reference pointers to incandescent live performances which, incredibly, take the drama and even the sound to a higher level [DH]
Chamouard: Orchestral Works (Indésens Calliope)
Slow and meditative music which could have been orchestrated for greater colour and effect [EJW]
Saxophobia: Celebrating the saxophone craze of the 1920s (Chandos)
A fun disc for lovers of the saxophone or the 1920s [SB]
Orff: Carmina Burana (Pentatone)
An individual vision that doesn’t quite come off [DJB]
Duruflé: Messe Cum Jubilo (Psalmus)
Duruflé’s sacred masterpiece, restored in context [JF]
Strange Loops: Clarinet Quintets (Signum Classics)
Lyric rhapsody, looping modernity, dazzling bravura [JF]
Bruckner: Symphony No 9 (Gramola)
Ballot’s somewhat pacier re-make of the Ninth combines grandeur with a certain deliberateness, while the finale fragments provide scholarly interest [RMo]
Royer: Harpsichord Works (Ambroise)
(Déjà Review) Works, varying from tender to tumultuous, are given brilliant performances on a splendid historical harpsichord [JV]
Plácido Domingo – The First Recital (Warner Classics)
Déjà Review) Open-toned, virile and expressive singing [RJF]
Beethoven: Symphony 5 & Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (BR Klassik)
First releases of the second of only two appearances by Ozawa with the BRSO in satisfying, if unremarkable, performances [RMo]
Milestones (Signum Records)
A very nice thing to have around, or to give as a gift to more musically conservative friends [DC]
Malin Byström (soprano): German Opera Scenes and Arias (BIS)
Byström is an estimable artist but voices are a very personal thing – hers is not for me [ST]
