jw
Jonathan Woolf
Boult and the BBC Symphony – The Pre-war Recordings Vol. 2 (Pristine Audio)
A sequence of overtures demonstrates the versatility and virtuosity of Boult’s pre-war BBC Symphony [JW]
Buxtehude: Cantatas (Carus)
(Déjà Review) Diligently, impressively and with consistent success this company is building up a portfolio of very fine discs [JW]
Beethoven: Symphony No 3; Schubert: Symphony No 9 (ICA Classics)
Boult in spirited form in his twilight years: no let-up in authority from the doyen of British conductors [JW]
Brahms: Symphony No 1; Haydn: The Creation (And God created man…In native worth), L’Isola Disabitata (Guild)
(Déjà Review) Barbirolli’s 1954 Proms performance of the Brahms C minor is a lithe, vital and convincing document [JW]
Bowen & Clarke: Viola Sonatas (Alba)
Engineering sabotages decent enough performances of two British viola sonatas [JW]
Mendelssohn: Elijah (Divine Art)
(Déjà Review) And above all else, above even Baillie, you’ll have a double dose of Williams, a magnificent colossus of an Elijah [JW]
Handel: Trio Sonatas op. 5 (Avie)
(Déjà Review) Intoxicating, sometimes quixotic, but always entertaining [JW]
British String Miniatures Vol 1 (ASV)
(Déjà Review) Lithe and insightful traversals [JW]
The Spohr Collection Vol. 3 (Channel Classics)
A delightful selection of flute works played on a variety of original instruments [JW]
Constantinescu: Piano Concerto & Wedding in the Carpathians (Hänssler Classic)
The post-Enescu Romanian generation is exemplified by the colourful Paul Constantinescu [JW]
Villa Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No 4 (Bridge)
(Déjà Review) Colourful, saturated, brittle, heavily rhythmic, laced with ostinato and swooning strings [JW]
Coates: Orchestral Works Volume 4 (Chandos)
The leading contemporary champion of Eric Coates continues to impress [JW]
Ginastera: Orchestral music (Bridge)
(Déjà Review) Saturated in swaying delicacy: lyricism with a capital L, voluptuous and unmistakable [JW]
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano): Czech Songs (Pentatone)
An inventive orchestral song recital, the orchestrations of some of which may provoke unease [JW]
Isolde Menges (violin) (Biddulph)
A great artist’s important legacy restored, including first recordings of Beethoven, Bach and Vaughan Williams [JW]
Philippe Gaubert (conductor) Rimsky-Korsakov & Dukas (Forgotten Records)
An early electrically recorded Scheherazade from a distinctive Parisian orchestra and conductor [JW]
Manziarly: Chamber Works (BIS)
The troubling art of a pupil of Nadia Boulanger [JW]
René Benedetti (violin): In Concert (Biddulph)
Suave, stylish, scintillating and virtuosic; René Benedetti in his prime [JW]
Mendelssohn: Complete String Quartets (Cedille)
(Déjà Review) A suitably warm and wonderfully detailed recording matches insight, imagination and colouristic sensibility [JW]
Braunstein: Abbey Road Concerto (Alpha Classics)
The Beatles rub shoulders with Delius and RVW’S The Lark [JW]
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (conductor): Orchestral Anthology Vol 1 (Forgotten Records)
Schmidt-Isserstedt on light duties, pre-war, in an overture sequence [JW]
Ernst Viebig (conductor) 1933: Les chefs proscrits (Forgotten Records)
A lesser light in German conducting flourishes in light overtures and waltzes in Weimar Berlin [JW]
Recording British Music (Vocalion Books)
The immense contribution to British Music made by a ‘librarian-hobbyist’ [JW]
Wilhelm Grosz (conductor) 1933: Les Chefs proscrits (Forgotten Records)
The protean but short-lived Wilhelm Grosz in popular fare from Weimar Berlin [JW]
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