Recordings of the Month
Wagner: Parsifal (Marston)
The Holy Grail available complete at last: The 1938 Met Parsifal [PH]
P Glass: The Complete Piano Etudes (InFiné)
A compelling balance of technical finesse with expressive depth [PB]
Elgar & Adès: Violin Concerti (Ondine)
A thrusting, brilliant Elgar Concerto, informed by early recordings, and a great Adès [JW]
Puzzi: Messa a quattro voci (Ramée)
Puzzi’s mass is one of the discoveries of this year [JV]
Lindberg & Aho: Clarinet Concertos (Signum Classics)
Two modern classics in excellent performances [SB]
Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano) Belle époque! (Alpha Classics)
An elegant, sophisticated mélange of mélodies, beautifully sung and played, incorporating some pleasing surprises and novelties [RMo]
Lerner & Loewe: My Fair Lady (Chandos)
A great show, vividly brought to life in this superb recording [JQ]
Puts: Orchestral Music (Delos)
Sophisticated, emotional, beautifully crafted and a delight from first to last [DJB]
Brahms & Wolf: Lieder (Linn)
Marvellous and treasurable, the finest song disc to have come my way in some considerable time [ST]
Schoenberg: Orchestral & choral music (Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings)
Superb performances of orchestral and choral music by Schoenberg [DHa]
Field: Complete Nocturnes (Deutsche Grammophon)
Field’s exquisite nocturnes in wonderfully personal performances [RCh]
Salieri: Cublai, Gran Kan De’ Tartari (Aparté)
The buffa side of Italian Opera in the heyday of Vienna’s pre-eminence [PH]
Jewish Vienna (Onyx)
A beautiful programme, exquisitely performed, with Chen Reiss in top form [GF]
Mitra Kotte (piano) Herstory (Genuin)
One of the most enjoyable recitals I have heard this year, let alone one featuring just female composers [RCh]
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Deutsche Grammophon)
Richter in his prime in Beethoven from the archives of Deutsche Grammophon [PH]
Alma: Ibero-American Songs (SOMM Recordings)
A song-recital recording to convert those who think they are not keen on song-recital recordings [DC]
French School Pianists play French concertos (APR)
A great piano tradition is celebrated in style [PH]
Benjamin Appl (baritone) Hommage à Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Alpha Classics)
A cornucopia of wonderful songs, superbly sung, for every lover of art songs to delve into [GF]
Pitfield: Orchestral Music (Toccata Classics)
A magnificent new release of unjustly neglected British music [DJ]
Bach: King of Kings (Chandos)
A celebration of the unassuming genius of Sir Andrew Davis [NB]
G Schumann: Ruth (cpo)
An outstanding release of a major oratorio of late German Romanticism ripe for rediscovery [PH]
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (BIS)
A very fine, deeply satisfying account of Brahms’ great masterpiece [JQ]
R & C Schumann & Liszt: Piano Works (Danacord)
A thought-provoking recording of Schumann and Liszt on an 1856 Erard [RMas]
Puccini: Le Villi (BR Klassik)
As satisfying an account of the youthful Puccini’s first success as one could wish to encounter [RMo]
