Somm Recordings
Wood: String Quartets 2 & 4 (SOMM)
Accomplished and enjoyable music in excellent performances [JQ]
Howells: Partsongs (SOMM Recordings)
A valuable collection of first recordings reveal Howells the skilled miniaturist [NB]
Songs of love, beauty and the passing of time (SOMM)
Immaculate performances [JQ]
Leon McCawley (piano): Recital (SOMM Recordings)
An excellent recital of major romantic period piano works [SB]
Aplvor, Swain and Finzi: Clarinet Concertos (SOMM Recordings)
Beguiling clarinet playing showcases two fine works and one masterpiece [NB]
Berlioz & Wagner: Orchestral Excerpts (SOMM Recordings)
Beecham live at the Royal Festival Hall, galvanizing in Berlioz and Wagner [JW]
Elgar: From the Archives, Vol 3 (SOMM Ariadne)
Compelling live Elgar from Sir Adrian Boult in SOMM’s essential archive series [DHa]
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (SOMM Recordings)
A live Beecham Scheherazade that generates the heat and drive sometimes missing from his commercial recording [JW]
Berlioz: Les Troyens (SOMM Beecham)
(Déjà Review) No enthusiast for Les Troyens should be without this set [JS]
Wood: String Quartets No.2, 4 (SOMM Recordings)
Continued reclamation of Charles Wood’s string quartets in generous performances [JW]
Finzi, Swain & ApIvor: Clarinet Concertos (SOMM Recordings)
Imaginative programming presents two Clarinet novelties and an established classic [JW]
Dodgson: Turn Ye to Me (SOMM Recordings)
A wonderful demonstration of the craft of the song composer from Stephen Dodgson [DHa]
Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila & Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (SOMM Recordings)
A fabulous live performance of Scheherazade, caught on the wing [JQ]
Sir Thomas Beecham (conductor) Schubert, Wagner & Delius (SOMM)
The realisation of this current disc is everything the conductor’s admirers could wish for [JW]
Chopin: Piano Works (SOMM)
An outstanding recital [RBe]
Elgar: Choral Music (SOMM Recordings)
Essential listening if you love Elgar’s choral music [JQ]
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Beethoven: Symphony No.8 (SOMM Recordings)
Beecham full of flair but with somewhat foggy sonics in live Royal Festival Hall broadcasts [JW]
Elgar: The Songs (SOMM Recordings)
A welcome digital release of a collection of Elgar’s songs [JQ]
Coleridge-Taylor: Orchestral Works (SOMM Recordings)
Captivating performances of forgotten British gems [JF]
D Matthews: Orchestral Works (SOMM)
First recordings of three fascinating, recent works by perhaps the UK’s leading symphonic composer [GH]
Janáček: The Makropulos Affair (SOMM Recordings)
A very fine and fitting centenary tribute to Sir Charles Mackerras [JQ]
Schubert & Hummel: Piano Quintets (Somm)
A ‘Trout’ to challenge classic versions, exhibiting a welcome sense of forward drive, paired with a Hummel novelty [RMo]
Janáček: The Makropulos Affair (SOMM Ariadne)
An invaluable release [DHa]
Coleridge-Taylor: Orchestral Works (SOMM Recordings)
A worthy 150th anniversary tribute to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor [JQ]
