Stanhope: Requiem (ABC Classic)
This touching new Requiem from Australia haunts the mind [WH]
Janáček: The Makropulos Affair (SOMM Recordings)
A very fine and fitting centenary tribute to Sir Charles Mackerras [JQ]
Alfvén: Complete Orchestral Songs (dB Productions)
A perfect disc in almost every respect [WK]
Schubert & Hummel: Piano Quintets (Somm)
A ‘Trout’ to challenge classic versions, exhibiting a welcome sense of forward drive, paired with a Hummel novelty [RMo]
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Challenge Classics)
(Déjà Review) Scaled down, placid, serene, delightful, immediate and colourful [MS]
Pleyel: Clarinet Concertos 1 & 2 (cpo)
(Déjà Review) Most listeners will succumb immediately [RB]
Vivaldi: La Gloria e Imeneo (Naïve)
A revelatory addition to the ongoing series of the complete works of Vivaldi [MP]
My Other Family. The London Philharmonic Orchestra
A unique, absorbing behind-the-scenes look at a top professional orchestra [JQ]
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Pristine Audio)
A classic recording, with a great conductor and stellar singers, gets the Pristine treatment [RMo]
Fortea: Guitar music vol.2 (Op Cit Id)
Welcome additional acknowledgement of a past champion of the guitar [ZT]
Palestrina: Missa Fratres ego enim accepi (Ars Produktion)
An unusual, exciting performance of a Palestrina mass [JV]
Clementi: The Complete Piano Sonatas Volume 4 (Hyperion)
(Déjà Review) Easily lives up to the very high standards of the earlier volumes [MS]
Brahms: Symphony No.2 (High Definition Tape Transfers)
(Déjà Review) So alive, so full of electricity, and there’s a passionate verve in evidence in almost every bar [BBr]
Schloss Husum 2024: Rarities of Piano Music (Danacord)
This wonderful festival never lets us down [RCh]
Strauss R: Elektra (Solo Musica)
Listeners seeking a completely unabridged Elektra may want to give this haphazard ‘karaoke version’ a miss [SSc]
Miró Quartet: Hearth (Pentatone)
Wonderfully imaginative arrangements of Christmas favourites; something to enliven even the jaded palette – or ear [PRJ]
Mozart: Requiem & Say: Mozart & Mevlana (Warner Classics)
An intriguing piece of cross-cultural programming combining an energised performance of Mozart’s Requiem with an exotic new work [RMo]
Martucci: Four Piano Pieces, Piano Sonata (Piano Classics)
An enjoyable disc of Martucci’s juvenalia which prompts reflections on his later, more substantial works [GPu]
Bartók: Orchestral Works, Dances (Deutsche Grammophon)
(Déjà Review) A good addition to your Bartók collection – some performances will be difficult to improve on [GH]
Bruch: Arminius (cpo)
(Déjà Review) This recording is very welcome [CF]
Swans: Music for cello & piano (Hyperion)
An intriguing collection of pieces with some welcome rarities [RCh]
Chausson: Le roi Arthus (Erato)
Heavily derivative of its Wagnerian models, Chausson’s sole opera intermittently impresses but is overlong and somehow remains unmemorable [RMo]
Shostakovich: Symphony 13 (LSO Live)
Much to admire in Noseda’s reading of this profound symphony [JQ]
Felix Mendelssohn & Dvořák: String Quartets (Genuin)
“Promising, but doesn’t quite meet expectations.” [SV]
