Frey: Clarinet Quintet (Another Timbre)
A new chamber work of great beauty [DHa]
Dialogos (Pentatone)
A meeting of two cultures and two mindsets: a lesson for our times [PH]
Benno Rabinof & Toscha Seidel (violins) Grieg & Franck violin sonatas (Biddulph)
Two pupils of Leopold Auer share disc space, one in terminal decline, the other vivacious and brilliant [JW]
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (Le Palais des Dégustateurs)
A routine Pictures coupled with a crude Symphonie Fantastique [NB]
Lumsdaine: White Dawn (Métier)
(Déjà Review) One of Australia’s most creative and individual musicians [AMa]
Grieg: Chasing the Butterfly (Simax)
(Déjà Review) Grieg from a different perspective – utterly fascinating [DC]
Holst: The Planets Bax: Tintagel (LSO Live)
A terrific disc [JQ]
Orgelpunkt: Historic Organ Villanueva de Huerva (MDG)
A fine contribution to our knowledge of Spanish organs and organ music [JV]
Lost American Violin Sonatas Volume 2 (Toccata Next)
Another valuable reclamation of Violin Sonatas spanning the decades from 1888 to 1944 [JW]
Chamouard: Les Concertos (Indesens)
No circus displays for Chamouard [RB]
Vine: Child’s Play (Hyperion)
A wonderful introduction to the chamber music of one of the contemporary greats [PRJ]
Dodgson: Turn Ye to Me (SOMM Recordings)
A wonderful demonstration of the craft of the song composer from Stephen Dodgson [DHa]
Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage II – Italie (cpo)
(Déjà Review) Leaves you wanting more [DC]
Leonkoro Quartet play Berg, Schulholff & Webern (Alpha Classics)
Leonkoro Quartet impress in works of Berg, Webern and Schulhoff [LW]
Mahler: Symphony No 1 (Le Palais des Dégustateurs)
An erratic, unsettling account of a symphony which needs steadier, more coherent governance [RMo]
McCormack: Chamber music (Kairos)
Unignorable instrumental works from a leading composer [DHa]
Bach: Goldberg Variations (Decca)
Lim’s Carnegie Hall Goldbergs failed to engage me at all [DJB]
Pergolesi: Sacred Works (Archiv Produktion)
(Déjà Review) Subtle and beautiful … most sensitively accompanied by Abbado [GH]
Respighi Hindermith & Schmitt: Orchestral Music (Onyx)
(Déjà Review) For those seeking exotic and erotic thrills this can hardly fail [IL]
de Hartmann: Esther (Pentatone)
The first recording of de Hartmann’s only opera, finely sung and played, in first-rate sound [EJW]
Brahms: Symphonies No.3-4 (Pristine Audio)
Romantic, free-flowing accounts somewhat compromised by indifferent sound and playing [RMo]
Higginson: Theme and Eight Variations for Solo Piano (Fand Music Press)
A very rewarding addition to the English piano repertoire [DJ]
Dvořák: Symphonies No.7-9; Janáček: Taras Bulba (Le Palais des Dégustateurs)
Performances that rarely justify their re-release or price point [NB]
Elgar: Violin Concerto, Polonia (Chandos)
(Déjà Review) Outstanding throughout [ST]
