Senfter: Complete works for viola & piano (Hänssler Classic)
Regerian inheritances haunt Johanna Senfter’s unsettled and largely melancholic viola works [JW]
Michael Studer (piano) The Legacy (Claves)
(Déjà Review) Buy it for the Bach, and become enthralled by the rest [DC]
Puccini: Turandot (Warner Classics)
(Déjà Review) The pleasure that Caballé’s beautiful tone and imaginative approach gives is enormous [JS]
Dove: In Exile (Lyrita)
Music and performance can be recommended without reservation [JQ]
Nebra & Corselli: Cantatas (Pan Classics)
Another step toward full appreciation of Spanish music of the 18th century [JV]
Glière: String Quartets (DUX)
Attractively confident and assured quartets in dramatic, virtuosic readings [NB]
Bronisław Gimpel (violin) Violin Concertos (Biddulph)
Gimpel’s Vox concertos: rich in virtuosity, glamour and colour [JW]
Malipiero, Ghedini & Casella: Cello & Orchestra (Naxos)
Ghedini’s work is the standout on this well-played, interesting disc [GPu]
Claudio Arrau (piano) The Complete Warner Classics Recordings (Warner Classics)
Aristocratic, authoritative and poetic performances [SG]
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Piano Music (SOMM)
(Déjà Review) All credit to Bebbington and Somm for opening this stimulating door [RB]
Mussorgsky: Symphonic Transcriptions by Stokowski (Deutsche Grammophon)
(Déjà Review) A fine new recording of Stokowski’s vividly orchestrated responses to Mussorgsky’s music [CT]
Barrueco: Complete Recordings (Warner Classics)
A goldmine for guitar aficionados, and general music lovers, too; the excellence of the playing can be taken for granted [GF]
Dukas: Complete Piano Music (Piano Classics)
Maltempo captures the romantic sweep of the music and its nuances wonderfully well [JF]
Iannaccone: Looking Back, Moving On (Navona Records)
Aureate radiance: radiant in calm; radiant in storm [RB]
Kapustin: Piano Concerto 5 (Capriccio)
Kapustin’s jazz-based music brought to life in brilliant fashion [JW]
Maskats: Tango (Ondine)
Attractive, often beautiful works in superb performances and recordings, worth repeated hearing [HC]
Schreker: Irrelohe (Sony Classical)
Exotically scored but melodically diffuse, this melodrama is given the best possible advocacy [RMo]
Allegri: Miserere (Coro)
(Déjà Review) Those famous tumbling high Cs in the Allegri are piercing in their exaltation – tonal splendour and vocal blend a joy throughout [TH]
Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-5 (Warner Classics)
(Déjà Review) A revelation of what can still be revealed by dedicated musicians [RB]
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 7 & 9 (Hyperion)
Vividly recorded and handsomely played accounts of two great, but challenging, symphonies [RMo]
Yuja Wang (piano) The American Project (Deutsche Grammophon)
Yuja Wang scintillates in an exciting new large-scale American concerto [NB]
Hildegard of Bingen: Sacred Chants (Signum Classics)
This disc goes straight to my list of recordings of the year [JV]
Ida Haendel & Josef Hassid (violins) (Parnassus)
Polish contemporaries – violinistic brilliance [JW]