Smyth The Wreckers (semi-staged, sung in French) Cast; The Glyndebourne Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Robin Ticciati (conductor). Royal Albert Hall, 24.07.2022 Cast: Pasko – Philip Horst Avis – Lauren Fagan Thurza – Karis Tucker Marc – Rodrigo Porras Garulo Jacquet – Marta Fontanals-Sommons Laurent – James Rutherford Harvey – Donovan Singletary Tallan – Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Production:

This is the famous Visconti production of Verdi's Don Carlo, performed in its Itlaian five-act version (so including the first act set in  the forest of Fontainebleu that sets up the love between Carlo and Queen Elisabetta). Thsi is a four act version, ane Abbado famously recorded teh

The Jette Parker Young Artists at 20 Soloists; Elaine Kidd (presenter); Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Antonio Pappano, Michael Papadopoulos, Edo Frenkel. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 23.07.2022 (CC) Director: Mathilda du Tillieul McNicol Lighting Designer: Allan Ramsay Fight Director: Rich Gittins Massenet: Manon, Act

Any release by Víkingur Oláfsson is a cause for celebration. Here on Classical Explorer, we have already covered three releases by the Icelandis pianist: Refllections, a disc of Debussy and Rameau, and a disc of Mozart and his Contemporaries. On release day, Friday October 7, it will be a pleasure

Verdi Atilla (concert performance). Soloists; Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House,Covent Garden / Spreanza Scappucci. Royal Opera House, London, 19.07.2022 Atilla – Ildar Abdrazakov Uldino – Egor Zhuravskii Odabella – Maria José Siri Ezio – Simon Keenlyside Foresto – Stefan Pop Leone – Alexander Köpeczi Lighting Direction – Matt Mulberry Verdi’s “lyric

Not a single  overlap, but two new discs of Haydn PIano Trios, both with much to recommend them. Haydn's Piano Trios mark a couple of transitions in music history - from harpsichord to pianoforte, and the emergence of what we now know as sonata-allegro form. The Naxos disc

The recent revival of Keith Warner’s Otello at Covent Garden occasioned a look around the DVDs/Blurays available, and a lighting upon Steven Langridge’s production of Otello; remember one of our first posts on Classical Explorer was Otello, also: Pappano on Sony, with Jonas Kaufmann in the title

Herheim is never going to please everyone, but he never fails to stimulate!

Lucky indeed the person who comes to Beethoven’s Second Symphony in this performance; the Dean, too, is magnificent

Borni n 1856, Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev is one of those composers one is more likely to emcounter in history books or referenced in booklet notes than to actaually hear the music. Mikhail Pletnev released a significant DG recording of John of Damascus (coupled with Rachmaninov's The Bells)  and

This is a disc that could easily slip between the cracks, but as pure Baroque entertainment goes, it takes some beating

Goerne and Trifonov offer a disc that takes a while to recover from, such is its intensity

Schubert Winterreise (sung in English (transl. Jeremy Sams) Roderick Williams (baritone); Ella O’Neill (piano). Opera Holland Park, London 1.7.2022 There is little doubt that Jeremy Sams’ translations of Schubert into English are little works of art in themselves: Sir John Tomlinson sang Sams’ translation of Schwanengesang at