Lalo: Le Roi d’Ys (Bru Zane)
A welcome set which will provide considerable pleasure with one outstanding performance [PSt]
The San Carlo Opera House, Naples (1943-46) (ARS Recorded Editions)
Let’s Make an Opera: The British Army and the Teatro San Carlo [PH]
Haydn: Complete Symphonies (Hänssler Classic)
An admirable and highly desirable cycle – it goes straight to the top of my list [SG]
Verdi: Ernani (Warner Classics)
(Déjà Review) Outstanding portrayals from Domingo and Bruson to compensate for an over-parted Freni [RJF]
Vaňhal: Flute Quartets (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Beautifully played music which makes few emotional demands, but hiding a verdant garden of rich colour and variety [DC]
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 2, short orchestral works (Chandos)
A splendidly recorded disc of rare Tchaikovsky, performed with spirit and commitment [EJW]
Trio de la cour de Belgique
Discographic premières from a forgotten but elite inter-war Belgian Piano Trio [JW]
Farrenc, Firsova & Bonis: Chamber Music (cpo)
A fascinating grouping of fine, rarely heard works which deserve to be better known [GH]
Henselt: Complete Piano Études (Naxos)
An auspicious debut with these intriguing études [SB]
Bliss: The Composer Conducts. A 50th Anniversary Tribute (SOMM Recordings)
A treasure trove of key works in vintage live performances [NB]
Zemlinsky & Schulhoff: Lieder (Simax Classics)
(Déjà Review) Stene and the orchestra are magnificent in these gloriously emotion saturated songs [RB]
Smetana: Má vlast (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) For the Talich collector this 1954 set is glorious and the one that remains the most generally recommendable [JW]
Cabanilles: Organ Works (MDG)
A nice survey of Cabanilles’ organ music but compromised by the temperament of the organ [JV]
Bossi: Works for Violin and Piano (Tactus)
Well played and in good recorded sound, making clear just how interesting is the best of Bossi’s work [GPu]
Bax: Complete Music for Cello and Piano (SOMM Recordings)
My go-to version for these remarkable compositions [JF]
Brahms & Contemporaries Vol. 2 (Chandos)
Genuinely illuminating comparisons are made in this excellent recital [DHa]
Hába: Complete Piano Works (Supraphon)
A Czech pioneer of microtonal music heard in more traditional solo piano music [JW]
Sierra: New Music with a Caribbean Accent (Naxos)
(Déjà Review) Enterprising as ever, Naxos has served up another stimulating American Classic [DM]
Schubert: Piano Trios 1 & 2 (Erato)
(Déjà Review) Goes straight to the top for my recommendations of these wonderful works [TH]
Silence is Golden. Arrangements for soprano, piano & clarinet (Hänssler Classic)
An entertaining ‘dramedy’ album [DHa]
Shostakovich: Jazz Suites, Ballet Suites, Concertos (Capriccio)
An entertaining box of mostly the lighter, often hilarious, side of Shostakovich’s output, in excellent performances [GPJ]
Jolivet: Chamber Music (Brilliant Classics)
Some really worthwhile works here [SB]
Sir Thomas Beecham (conductor) Complete Stereo Recordings on Warner Classics
A Beecham stereo treasury from the 1950s in wonderful sound [LM]
Lemba: Chamber Music Vol 1
The first Estonian symphonist’s charming but rather bloodless violin works [JW]
