Chamber - Classical Explorer

Schubert Late String Quartets from the Fitzwilliam Quartet

Superbly immediate Schubert, fresh, full of contrasts and raw power

Moeran Chamber Music

Moeran's voice is brilliantly individual. It's a fair but though, that those readers who enjoy the English Pastoralist tradition will enjoy this!

Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn The Three String Quintets on Chandos

I really cannot recommend the Doric/Ridout performances highly enough

Baroque

Leclair Violin Sonatas on Naxos

A simply lovely disc, beautifully performed

Chamber

Auftakt: Trio Vision in Beethoven, Brahms and Hans Gál

What better way to spend a Sunday than with some chamber music performed at the highest level? This is a lovely litle programme ("Auftakt" means "Prelude," or "Upbeat" in teh musical sense. so I hope there's more to come!). Here, two towering masters of the Austro-Germanic tradition sandwich a fascinating

Paganini

Paganini Quartets for Strings & Guitar

Lesser-known works can sometime be revelatory ... Paganini's Quartets for Strings and Guitar fit snugly into that category

Dvorak

Dvořák String Quartets, Volume 4

The Vogler Quartet is a major ensemble, and utterly dedicated to the music of Dvořák. A wonderful release

Chamber

Egyptian Nights: an Arensky ballet (plus a PIano Trio!)

The music of Anton Arensky has long been due serious reappraisal. Perhaps these two discs can point us in that direction ...

Chamber

Of All Joys: from the Renaissance to Minimalism

Every inch an album for our times yet full of timelss music, this is a toucing and thought-provoking release

Chamber

Dmitri Klebanov's Chamber music on Chandos

Chandos continues to introduce us to composers whose music is more than worthwhile, all in performances and recordings of the very highest qualit

Chamber

Ignaz Pleyel's Haydnesque Prussian Quartets Nos. 10-12

Delightful music, superbly performed and rrecorded. What's not to like?

French

Dutilleux's Wolf

A superb addition to the Dutilleux discography

Beethoven

Beethoven's "Eroica": arranged Scharwenka!

Beethoven's Third Symphony, the "Eroica," is embedded in any musician's consciousness. It has been played regularly since the date of its composition and in the recorded era has unsurprisingly generated a cornucopia of recordings. Small surprise the market is flooded. And yet here is an arrangement of the mighty "Eroica"

Beethoven

Beethoven 251: Violin Sonatas on Challenge Classics

These new recordings of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas were recorded in Mechelen, in the heart of Flanders, home of Beethoven's grandfather, a bass singer who inspired the great composer. These are performances of great spirit and expertise from Martin Foyle and Maksim Štšura. Volume One contains the first two sonatas from

Mozart

Mozart "Prussian" Quartets, Volume 1

A superb new release from one of the finest string quartets around

Chamber

Ravel and Saint-Saëns Piano Trios from the Sitkovetsky Trio

A glorious coupling here from the Sitkovetsky Trio: plus an animated cartoon!

Beethoven

Hope amid Tears: Beethoven Cellos Sonatas from cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Ailbhe McDonagh

Two vibrant, complementary recordings of Beethoven Cello Sonatas ...

Stanford

Stanford Piano Quintet and Fantasies

This is perfectly crafted chamber music, beautifully realised

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

Mozart

Mozart Sonatas for Four Hands with Rados & Gerstein

An absolute joy: two top musicians, beautfully attuned, both to each other and to Mozart

Schumann

Schumann Complete Piano Trios, plus more treats ...

One of the finest sets of chamber music in recent years

Chamber

The King's Alchemist: British Works for String Trio

Both the Hugh Wood and the Beamish are World Premiere recordings - the catalogue is now all the richer for them

Chamber

American Quintets: Music by Beach, Price and Barber

A veritable cornucopia of American chamber music

Bach

Bach Sonatas for Viola da Gamba (and some Marais)

Robert Smith specialises in Baroque cello and viola da gamba. I enjoyed his contribution to the group Concerto Delaborde in France in 2019, and to La Gazette Musicale in a fabulous performance of Boccherini as part of the same Baroque Itinéraire 2017 Festival (review). Today we're focusing on Smith's most

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