Clarinet Caprices & Laments A great combination of pieces, brilliantly performed with great understading
Flute Bonus Post! Trail of the Angels: Ireland meets China At once a celebration of diverse cultures and a gift to the World to raise flagging spirits, there's no doubt that enterprises such as this should be encouraged
Baroque Settecento: Baroque Instrumental Music of the Italian States A fascinating, intelligently programmed disc; well worth the investment
Baroque Opera Hercules In Love: Cavalli in Paris A rare opportunity hear Francesco Cavalli's Ercole Amante (Hercules in Love)
Baroque Purcell Royal Odes from The King's Consort I can't help wondering if this is one of the crowning achievements of lockdown music
Choral The Dead in the Square: Allan Pettersson's Twelfth Symphony If you like Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, Orff Carmina Burana, the Nordic symphonists in general or Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony, 'Babi Yar,' and perhaps even Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, you'll most likely love this
Vocal Where All Roses Go: Apollo5 in Romantic mood A wonderful, generously filled disc that will surely bring great joy and solace
Early Music Lassus' matrimonial marathon: Le nozze in Baviera The disc's journey from religiosity to bawdiness is both involving and fascinating
Baroque Opera Underworld, ghosts, revivification: Gluck's Alceste in Bavaria (All production images copyright Wilfried Hösl; Classical Explorer would like to express its thanks to Bayerische Staatsoper for access to the photos used in this article.) An Early Music weekend
Schubert Schubert's Women: a Lieder recital with a difference Schubert's Women is at once a self-contained offering and also an invitation to seek out more
Orchestral Islands of Happiness: a Trio of Serenades from Zurich A trio of serenades that will appeal to afficionados and newcomers alike
Chamber Free concert! LUNA: Orchestra of the Swan Do take advantage of this terrific opportunity to experience a full, phenomenally inventive hour-long film of the Orchestra of The Swan in action
Choral Celebrating Josquin's 500th A celebration of the Mother Mary, Decca's The Golden Renaissance offers a simply gorgeous - and vocally flawless - experience
Vocal Der Rosenband: Richard Strauss meets Latvia A new disc from the Latvian label Skani (itself a division of the Latvian Music Information Centre) concentrates on fin-de-siècle, Art nouveau songs by Richard Strauss and two Latvian composers,
20th Century Sing like a Nightingale: Vagn Holmboe and the string quartet The virtuosity demonstrated by the Nightingale Quartet is astonishing. Recommended.
Baroque Exploring the lesser-known works of Frescobaldi The more one listens, the more this music gives back
A tale of "two" operas: when is a Fidelio not a Fidelio? So, when is a Fidelio not a Fidelio? The answer is not quite when it's a Leonore, as the more Beethovenianly-attuned readers might guess, although that is certainly true. Read
Copland Conductor Richard Stamp in interview: Copland and Strauss Richard Stamp, conductor It was a pleasure for Classical Explorer to chat with conductor Richard Stamp: this recent Signum disc presents the first release of recordings from 1990 (Copland) and
Baroque Opera Cesti's 'La Dori' from Innsbruck: gender fluidity and tragicomedy Unjustifiably neglected today, Pietro Antonio Cesti (1623-1669) was one of the most respected composers of Venetian Baroque opera
Piano York Bowen Piano Concertos Hyperion's series of recordings The Romantic Piano Concerto is one of the glories of our age. This is volume 46 and presents two concertos by a composer whose name is
Italian Baroque Corelli's Concerti grossi, Op. 6 Back in December, Classical Explorer reviewed a Naxos Christmas disc, Per la Notte di Natale; on it was Corelli's so-called "Christmas Concerto," just one of the twelve concertos that make
Vocal Strong Son of God: Songs of Faith, Love and Nonsense Previous posts on Classical Explorer have centred around Somm Recordings' releases of string quartets - and indeed, there will be more. But let's pause and celebrate his vocal music in
94 Seconds of New Mozart: A Mozart Premiere On February 27, 2021, the web-based platform DG Stage brought is that rarest of phenomena, a modern premiere of a piece by Mozart, performed in the Great Hall of the
Vocal English Songs à la française, with love from Canada What a lovely idea! Songs with English texts set by French composers sung by British Columbia born (now New York resident) baritone Tyler Duncan and his wife, pianist Erika Switzer.
