Review
Protopopov: Piano Sonatas 1-3 (TRPTK)
The three piano sonatas of this bold Russian Futurist together on one disc [SB]
Berg: Violin Concertos (Elatus)
(Déjà Review) The Violin Concerto gets the emotionally involved reading and lush sonorities it seems to call for [VM]
Debussy: La Mer & Ravel: Daphnis et Chloë (Warner Classics)
(Déjà Review) I have never heard textures with such cloud-like softness and insubstantiality [GPJ]
Scott: Orchestral Music Vol. 4 (Toccata Classics)
Kick off your shoes and take to the dancefloor with Scott’s tapestry of orchestrated dances [JW]
From Byrd (Seulétoile)
A thoroughly enjoyable tribute to English Elizabethan composers from a gifted, highly musical, French ensemble [RMo]
Beck: Requiem (Acis)
An original, accessible approach to the Requiem Mass [JQ]
War Silence – Rare Italian Piano Concertos (Hyperion)
Dallapiccola’s unfamiliar masterpiece is a highlight: rarely was the cliché “something for everyone” more apt [RHa]
Dvořák: Symphony 7, Scherzo capriccioso (BR Klassik)
Two praiseworthy performances under Haitink [MC]
Arnold: Symphony 4 (Lyrita)
Riches to be discovered here [CC]
JS Bach: Organ Works (Danacord)
I cannot imagine anyone who loves the organ being disappointed by this top-quality release [MC]
Blodek: V studni (Supraphon)
A comic Czech opera recorded in 1959 heard for the first time in stereo [JW]
Sur le nom d’Alain: Organ Music by Alain and Duruflé (Ad Fontes)
An outstanding disc in every way [JQ]
Hevel: Polish piano works of the 20th and 21st centuries (Dux)
Wachowski’s excellent selection of works makes for a disc I shall be enjoying for a long time to come [SA]
de Séverac: Piano Music (Piano Classics)
Séverac’s impressionism played with technical brilliance, tremendous sympathy and vivid imagination [JF]
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (Chandos)
A recording which has a lot going for it but which just misses the mark [JQ]
Dos Santos: In Parasceve (Passacaille)
Highly expressive settings from the classical period [JV]
R Strauss: Music for Piano Quartet (MDG)
(Déjà Review) A marvellously performed release that will surely win these Strauss chamber scores many admirers [MC]
Williamson: Orchestra Works Vol. 1 (Chandos)
(Déjà Review) It is wonderful to have the first disc of this series [IL]
Bruckner: Symphony 7 (Janus Classics)
The first two movements here of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony are mostly fine and measured – but the Scherzo and finale are erratic [RMo]
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (BIS)
A recreation of the 1868 Bremen Cathedral premiere of Brahms’ German Requiem with massed choirs and players [PH]
Bennett: Orchestral Works Vol. 5 (Chandos)
The excellence of the first four volumes is triumphantly maintained [NB]
Music for viola de gambe (Alpha Classics)
Outstanding in terms of programming, performance and sound quality, will delight all interested in the viol [GPu]
In the Cabinet of Wonders (False Azure Records)
A Hamburg organ-and-violin duo of the Baroque comes alive [JW]
Shostakovich: Symphony 10 (Signum Classics)
Very well played and engineered, but only intermittently achieving the drive and intensity of Barshai, Shipway and Karajan [RMo]
