Beethoven: Symphony 3 (Warner Classics)
(Déjà Review) One of the essential Beethoven recordings [CH]
Shostakovich: Symphonies 12 & 15 (Chandos)
Well played and well engineered but lacking character [NB]
Amadeus Quartet (Alto)
Deeply felt and beautifully played, flawless intonation and ensemble, but inferior balance and sound [RMo]
Visions Illuminées (Signum Classics)
Mary Bevan spreads her golden tones over the whole programme [GF]
Bristow & Fry: Symphonies (Bridge)
Early American romanticism – golden-age verve rather than dutiful museum revival [RB]
Wennäkoski: Sigla, Flounce, Sedecim (Ondine)
Brilliantly imagined, often beautiful works in splendid, committed performances [HC]
Their Voices (Dux)
A Polish-Jewish chamber programme focusing on the 1930s [JW]
A Bird Came Down the Walk (BIS)
(Déjà Review) One of those rare recital recordings that actually plays best as a recital [PSh]
JC Bach: Complete Opera Overtures (cpo)
(Déjà Review) Anthony Halstead’s marvellous players have caused me to spend several hours exploring this and related repertoire [DBi]
Ysaÿe: Légende norvégienne (Simax)
A raft of previously unrecorded works – or adaptations – by Ysaÿe [JW]
Wellesz: Chamber Music (Toccata Classics)
Fine performances of rare chamber music by an unfashionable composer whose music has much to communicate [GH]
Villa-Lobos: Complete Works for Solo Guitar (Proprius)
New light on old gems [ZT]
Schubert: Piano Sonatas (Hyperion)
Aesthetically wholly coherent and technically excellent accounts of the first complete and penultimate of Schubert’s sonatas that do not oust my favourites [RMo]
Franck: Trois pièces pour grand orgue (RecArt)
Powerful, exciting, dramatic and sometimes introspective music played on a remarkable organ [JF]
Miładowski and Chopin: Known and Unknown Romantics (Dux)
Unknown but attractive piano music by Miładowski but not my top choice for the Chopin [RCh]
The Stuyvesant String Quartet (Bridge)
(Déjà Review) A worthy salute to a fine quartet [JW]
Mahler: Symphony 1 (Audite)
(Déjà Review) Simply indispensable [TD]
Weinberg: Chamber Symphonies 1 & 4 (Alto)
A fine re-issue of music by one of the 20th century’s most important symphonic composers [GT]
Chasins: Complete Music for Solo Piano (Toccata Classics)
Numerous premiere recordings in an Abram Chasins twofer [JW]
Schubert: “Death and the Maiden” Symphony (High Definition Tape Transfers)
Enthusiastic but flawed performances by student orchestras [NB]
The Nannette Streicher Fortepiano (Gramola)
A fresh perspective of solo piano music during the Vienna Classic period [DF]
Brodsky Quartet – Golden Oldies (Chandos)
A highly diverting selection of lighter pieces to celebrate the Brodsky Quartet’s fifty-year anniversary [RMo]
Gál: Works for viola & piano (RecArt)
An ideal balance of humour, warmth, lyricism and introspection in these appealing works [JF]
Dvořák: Serenades (Warner Classics)
A heart-warming disc of the Dvořák serenades, played and recorded beautifully [JP]
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