León: Orchestral works (LPO)
The music of Tania León offers a wealth of colour and a keen sense of rhythm [PH]
A & D Scarlatti: Keyboard Works (Onyx)
Revelatory first recordings of Alessandro on the modern piano, and some very fine Domenico as well [DJB]
Corigliano & Friedman: String Quartets (Naxos)
I urge lovers of the medium to be brave and sample this wonderful disc [DWa]
Chopin: Piano Sonata No 2, Scherzi (Warner Classics)
A must-hear experience [CC]
Biber: Complete Violin Sonatas 1681 (Delphian)
An excellent exploration of music from the ‘Golden Age of violin-playing’ by musicians quite at home in Biber’s idiom [MS]
Prokofiev: Romeo und Julia (Gramola)
A trio of classic “lollipops” is given the typically energised Mitropoulos treatment [RMo]
Benjamin Appl: For Dieter – Hommage à Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Alpha Classics)
A personal and touching tribute from Benjamin Appl to his mentor [DHa]
Gilbert & Sullivan: Utopia, Limited (Opus Arte)
Hurrah for the Joint Stocks Companies Act of 1862! Ulahlica! [PH]
Busoni: Violin Sonatas (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) A disc full of enjoyable material executed with style [ED]
Brahms/Strauss/Bax: The Beecham Collection (SOMM Recordings)
(Déjà Review) Another hard-to-resist entrant for the Beecham collector [JW]
Alkan: Early piano works (Piano Classics)
A considerable achievement, unlikely to be bettered any time soon – if at all [BSt]
Beethoven & Mozart: String Quartets (Biddulph)
The short-lived brilliance of the Primrose Quartet heard in 1939 broadcasts [JW]
Poulenc: Gloria & Schubert: Mass No 5 (Berlin Classics)
The youth choir Dresdner Kreuzchor struggles to produce a sound strong enough for these works [GPJ]
Eva Zaïcik (mezzo-soprano) Rebelle (Alpha Classics)
Eva Zaïcik gives a fitting tribute to the artistry of Célestine Galli-Marié who created the role of Carmen [MC]
Bach: Cantatas (Accent)
(Déjà Review) If you are partial to the ‘one voice to a part’ experience, Kuijken’s approach has much to commend it [TB]
Bacevičius: Orchestral works (Toccata Classics)
(Déjà Review) Anyone remotely interested in 20th century Eastern European Music will make a wonderful discovery [DWa]
Wilms: Symphony No.6, Overtures (cpo)
Worthy structures, still too decorative for some tastes [SV]
Sir Adrian Boult (conductor): BBC SO Pre-War Recordings Volume 3 (Pristine Audio)
Find out how fine the newish BBC SO was, and what a fine orchestral trainer Boult was [GPJ]
Concertos from the Caucasus Vol. 1 (Toccata Classics)
An infusion of folklore enlivens three mid-century violin concertos [JW]
Prokofiev: War and Peace (BSO Recordings)
An interpretation of Prokofiev’s epic for our times [DHa]
Gillian Weir (organ): On Stage at the Royal Festival Hall (Priory)
(Déjà Review) The sheer brilliance of Gillian Weir, above all, makes this an essential purchase [CB]
Russian Romantic Songs (Harmonia Mundi)
(Déjà Review) The programme is excellent, singing superb and the guitar playing complementary in accompaniment and entertaining in solo [ZT]
Torsten Mossberg (tenor): Once love was a song (Sterling)
A stimulating portrait of the most versatile Swedish poet of the late 20th century in music just as stimulating [GF]
Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht (conductor): Complete Erato Recordings (Erato)
A 16-CD slab of Inghelbrecht’s 78s, LPs and live recordings impresses through its authoritative, unsentimentalised approach [JW]
