Recommended
Couperin: Pièces de violes avec la basse chiffrée (Challenge Classics)
Excellent in every way [DC]
Enescu: Octet & Piano Quintet (Chandos)
I was bowled over by this one [SB]
Sinner, Don’t Let This Harvest Pass (Métier)
Variations for piano that cannot fail to inspire awe and catharsis [ACG]
In Search of Lost Time — Shchedrin, Stravinsky, Sergei Taneyev (Genuin)
Monumental input from each composer, and recording and performance quality to match [DC]
Adès, Kurtág & Tippett: Concertos (Hallé)
Modern masterpieces in superb accounts [LW]
Dvořák: Symphony 9 (Reference Recordings)
Two highly contrasting orchestral pieces in stellar performances and sound [JQ]
Aigul Akhmetshina (mezzo-soprano): Mujer Fatal (Decca)
A very welcome addition to the catalogue [MP]
Bloch: Violin Sonatas, Baal Shem (Naxos)
Remarkably wide-ranging repertoire, performed with passion and skill [NB]
Taneyev: Complete Trios (Northern Flowers)
Magisterial performances and unique understanding of the composer: unequaled [WK]
Dmytro Choni (piano) Heartlands (Naïve)
Marvellous performances by an outstanding young pianist [PBW]
Alexandre Tharaud (piano) Mémoire (Erato)
Balm in a troubled world [DJB]
Stephen Hough’s Piano Postcards (Hyperion)
Magical from start to finish [RCh]
Mentor and Muse (Albion Records)
Women who shaped RVW’s musical world [JF]
Giordano: Marina (Decca)
A taut, highly dramatic and skilfully crafted verismo melodrama, which certainly justifies its revival [RMo]
Hillborg: Orchestral & Concertante Works, Vol 1 (BIS)
A magnificent release on all counts and the Cello Concerto is a true masterpiece [HC]
Elgar: Elgar From the Archives, Vol 3 (SOMM Ariadne)
A release of great importance for all Elgar lovers [JQ]
Black Mozart: Jazz-inspired reinterpretations (Decca)
Listening to these brilliant Mozart reinterpretations is a sheer delight [ACG]
Bach: Cantatas Vol. 54 (JS Bach-Stiftung)
How can I have missed the first 53 volumes of this series? [DJB]
Arriaga: Complete String Quartets (Cobra Records)
A superb recording of Arriaga’s masterly quartets [SB]
McCabe: Symphony 2 & 3, Cello Concerto (Signum)
Each of these commanding works surely merits the epithet ‘masterpiece’ [WH]
Dupré: Symphonie-Passion (Base2 Music)
The music-making and the engineering make this a memorable disc [JQ]
Fusions: Kapustin, Gershwin & Wild (SOMM)
Jazz‑charged virtuosity meets classical brilliance [JF]
Dodgson: Songs Vol. 3 (SOMM Recordings)
More Dodgson songs, some weighty, some less so, all superb, from Somm [WH]
JS Bach: The Cello Suites · Guitar Transcriptions (IBS Classical)
A thoroughly convincing, beautifully played, and sensitively transcribed version of these masterworks [RMo]
