d’Albert: Piano Music 1 (Grand Piano)
A neglected Romantic voice revived [JF]
Durey: Mélodies (MDG)
A most welcome release shedding light on a little-known byway of French art song and its composer [HC]
Olsen: Orchestral Works (BIS)
(Déjà Review) Much in common with Grieg perhaps spliced with Saint-Saëns and even Bizet [RB]
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (Opus Arte)
(Déjà Review) The young Bulgarian bass Orlin Anastassov will surely grow into one of the great interpreters of Boris [RJF]
Portraits and Serenades (Pixaudio)
A delightfully eclectic programme of string music and song, beautifully played and united by a prevailingly elegiac mood [RMo]
Hingeston: Fantasy-Suites (cpo)
Hingeston is “something of an inside secret” [DC]
Franck: Symphony & Khachaturian: Violin Concerto (Audite)
A splendid double treat, with everyone at the top of their game [SGa]
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Hänssler)
(Déjà Review) A marvellous reading overall, though with one curious and questionable characteristic [WH]
Weber: Overtures (BIS)
(Déjà Review) A very distinguished collection which avoids any hint of the routine [JS]
Hedges: Complete Piano Music, Vol 1 (Divine Art)
The beginning of what promises to be an important, recorded survey [MMl]
Lassus: Requiem (Ricercar)
Expert singing of de Lassus’ sinuous polyphonic writing in two contrasting funeral masses, but marred throughout by growling basses [RMo]
Prokofiev, Villa-Lobos & Poulenc (Fuga Libera)
Three delightful Neo-classical gems [DJB]
Stracchi: Shakespeare’s Mirror (Hunnia Records)
A gentle interweaving of Shakespeare and music [DC]
Chopin & Stravinsky: Piano Concertos (Pristine Audio)
(Déjà Review) Mewton-Wood is a pianist who demands investigation, especially for one of the finest performances on disc of the Chopin [CH]
Venables: Chamber Music (SOMM Recordings)
(Déjà Review) This impressive disc deserves the widest possible exposure [DJ][RB]
Vaughan Williams: From Ursula, with Love (Albion Records)
An interesting but unremarkable collection [NB]
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (Arts)
Warm, lyrical, natural playing, slightly soft-edged in manner and acoustic but so very musical [RMo]
Rachmaninov and Stravinsky played on two pianos (SOMM)
(Déjà Review) The pianism is superb [BBr]
Elina Garanca – Habanera (Deutsche Grammophon)
There are a few records every year where everything is right. This is one of them [GF]
Fauré: Sonatas for Violin and Piano – Transcriptions (Alpha Classics)
Leong and Fournel show Gallic sensibility [LW]
Liszt: Complete Piano Music Vol.70 – Marches (Naxos)
Another superb release in the ongoing Naxos series, showcasing a very neglected corner of Liszt’s output, magnificently played throughout [JWe]
Trevor Bača: Stirrings Still (ECM)
A thrilling realisation of Samuel Beckett’s last prose work. [DHa]
History of the Russian Piano Trio Vol 9 (Naxos)
The curiosity value far exceeds the musical quality [DJB]
Sinding: Piano Trios (cpo)
Interesting, different, fun, rarely heard and very well played [JWe]
