20th Century - Classical Explorer

Charles Ives meets Spiderman

A most stimulating release. Ahonen is a fine pianist, captured in fabulous BIS sound

Penderecki Complete Music for String Quartet

A disc shot full with life and adventure: absolutely what Classical Explorer is all about!. The vivid performances are self-recommending

Villa-Lobos

Villa-Lobos Violin Sonatas

... in a sense a South American Schubert, music just flowed out of Villa-Lobos

Piano

Khachaturian Piano Music

Farrugia is a fine advocate for Khachaturian

Stravinsky

Ballets Russes from Roth

Rediscover Stravinsky's seminal ballets on authentic instruments; discover some new friends in "Les Orientales"

Cello

Voyage: Christine J. Lee and Henry Karmer's exceptional journey

After the Chandos disc of American Quintets - which included Samuel Barber's Dover Beach - it seems a good idea to use some more Barber as a launching-off point for exploration. This time, it's the Cello Sonata which, in the secure hands of Christine J. Lee and Henry Kramer on

Opera

Malcolm Arnold: The Dancing Master

Utterly gobsmacked: a revelation!

20th Century

Folksongs à la Berio; plus Berio meets the Beatles!

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

Choral

Arvo Part: Miserere

A timely reminder of the importance of the Arvo Pärt's music

20th Century

Robert Simpson's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies

Robert Simpson's symphonies have long had a small but die-hard following who, rightly, believed in their greatness ...

Opera

Es gibt ein Reich: Ariadne auf Naxos in Vienna

An act of pure joy as well as compositional virtuosity, Richard Strauss' opera Ariadne auf Naxos almost guarantees enjoyment

Clarinet

Caprices & Laments

A great combination of pieces, brilliantly performed with great understading

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

20th Century

Sing like a Nightingale: Vagn Holmboe and the string quartet

The virtuosity demonstrated by the Nightingale Quartet is astonishing. Recommended.

Americana

My Father Knew Charles Ives: The Music of John Adams

Those champions of new American music, the Nashville Symphony and Giancarlo Guerrero, turn their attention to the music of John Adams (born 1947; not to be confused with the composer John Luther Adams). Regular readers of Classical Explorer might wish to see this post as a logical extension of our

Orchestral

More than an Iron Foundry: the music of Alexander Mosolov

If you were expecting gritty dissonances with this disc, you'll be disappointed: it is full of fascination and, yes, joy

Strings

Plaisirs illuminés: Camerata Bern delivers a sensational programme

Fans of the music of Bartók who wonder what to listen to next need look no further than fellow Hungarian Sándor Veress' Musica concertante per 12 archi (Concertante music for twelve strings). Veress (1907-1992) was a student of both Bartók and Kodály; he taught the major Hungarian composers Ligeti and