Colin Clarke

Early Music

Carmina Predulcia

No, not that Carmina, not Orff's Carmina Burana ...enter another world!

Beethoven

Beethoven Violin Sonatas

Previously on Classical Explorer, we looked at performances of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas by James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong on Onyx; here's a disc of three sonatas by a similarly youthful duo: Frank Peter Zimmermann and Martin Helmchen. This new BIS disc presents the Sonatas Nos. 5-7, which means it

Baroque

Discovering Bernardo Pasquini

This is music brought vibrantly alive; it is musicology of the highest order, leading to performances of both spirit and integrity

Franck

Pétur Sakari plays organ music by César Franck

The Finnish organist Pétur Sakari is something of an organ Wunderkind. He trained in Finland and in Paris, making his recording debut at the age of 18; his previous release for BIS, works by five French composers (Dupré, Duruflé, Messiaen, Tournemire, Vierne) was critically lauded. In 2017, Sakari gave his

Vocal

Isolation Songbook

This is a remarkable project fronted by one of the foremost singers in front of the public at the moment, Helen Charlston. The isolation felt by many because of the CoVID lockdowns has been felt particularly keenly by musicians, that itinerant segment of the population who depend on audience contact

Shostakovich

Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony: a plea for reappraisal

Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony is such a rewarding score, fully deserving of our attention

Early Music

Rebirth: Sonya Yoncheva sings Stradella, Monteverdi, Strozzi and ... Abba!

Born from the "global cataclysm" of CoVID, this disc offers both hope and joy

Bach

Bach: a new Well-Tempered from Aaron Pilsan

Post includes a FOUR HOUR video bonus!

Beethoven

Daniel Barenboim revisits the Beethoven Piano Sonatas

An invaluable survey of the 32 Sonatas; Barenboim is never less than stimulating, his mind as chock-full of curiosity as ever

Opera

Giordano's Andrea Chénier in Milan: Netrebko and Eyvazov

This is Netrebko's show ... arguably her perfect partner here is the conductor, Riccardo Chailly, whose command of the orchestra is total

Chamber

More Weinberg: the Piano Quintet on Oehms Classics

A fine addition to the Weinberg catalogue

Orchestral

The Music of Paul Wranitsky: Orchestral Works

Given Naxos' laudable penchant for completism, it is good to note that this is "Orchestral Works 1" ...

Monteverdi

Il delirio della passione: Anna Lucia Richter sings Monteverdi

This disc would be the ideal for an introduction to the music of Monteverdi. No fusty history lesson of a disc, it is a vibrant, muscologically-informed celebration of the Master

Opera

Malcolm Arnold: The Dancing Master

Utterly gobsmacked: a revelation!

Opera

Puccini La bohème at Covent Garden

A Bohème for the ages, then. Get it while you can; and if you've seen it at Covent Garden, this is the finest of momentos

Orchestral

Fantasy of Companionship

My, how the world needs upbeat music, expertly performed, right now. And here it is!

Chamber

Music from Proust's Salons

All in all, 83 minutes of Frenchified excellence!

Vocal

Im Abendrot: Matthias Goerne and Seong-Jin Cho (at sunset)

An absolutely unmissable disc for lovers of the late-Romantic Lied

Italian Baroque

Stradella, two ways

Two different sides of Stradella here ... Go explore, we implore!

20th Century

Folksongs à la Berio; plus Berio meets the Beatles!

If you haven't heard the Berio Folksongs, now is the time ...

Opera

Cav & Pag at Dutch National Opera; plus, the "other" Bohème

Oversized trousers, a dead chicken and broom-as-phallus ... it's got it all

Orchestral

Sir Adrian Boult: A Musical Legacy

A salutary reminder of the greatness of this most English of conductors

Early Music

Spiritato: The Taste of This Nation

Reviving, ever-appealing music, expertly performed

Beethoven

The return of Currentzis: Beethoven Seventh

There are very few discs that, when they arrive, cause one to drop everything, head to the player and listen straight away. This is one such disc. Regular readers may remember that, some nine months ago,  Classical Explorer began its journeyings with Currentzis' Beethoven Fifth. Currentzis is probably the only

Orchestral

The Curious World of C. P. E. Bach

Johann Sebastian had a lot of children - a lot. Most of them unsurprisingly composed to a greater or lesser degree: we think of Johann Christian Bach (J. C. Bach, 1735-82), the so-called "London Bach" most readily perhaps, for, his gallant, supremely well shaped music, itself a rich vein to