Italian Baroque Manfredini: Twelve Concertos, Op. 3 Once in a while a composer comes along who you just have to ask why don't we hear more of him? Francesco Manfredini is one such
Violin Martinů and Bartók from BIS A wonderful disc. The repertoire choices could hardly be bettered ...
Italian Baroque Per la notte di Natale: Italian Christmas Concertos The period instrument Danish group Concerto Copenhagen has appeared on a variety of labels; they offer impeccably polished, beautiful performances of the most famous of instrumental Christmas music here under
Sibelius Complete Sibelius Symphonies from Minnesota A little while ago, Classical Explorer looked at Sibelius' Kullervo and, with it, Osmo Vänskä's second recording in the single-disc format. All of which coincides nicely with the release of
Mahler Youth's Magic Horn ... Boulez conducts Mahler A little while ago, Classical Explorer undertook a comparison post of five recordings of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. Just one disc today: but what a coupling, Mahler's setting
Piano An American Celebration: Gershwin, Harbison, Tower, Piston Glorious Americana in powerful performances
Clarinet Reawakened: Clarinet Concertos from England and Scotland The title of this disc is lovely and perfectly apt: a reawakening of music that really deserves currency. There is a rich vein of gems to be mined in the
Britten Britten Sinfonia da Requiem in a remarkable performance from Birmingham The Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla has already made huge waves in the record industry, what with her Weinberg DG recording receiving the coveted Gramophone "Record of the Year" Award, 2020.
Violin Britten's Violin Concerto Britten's operas - rightly - receive a huge amount of attention, and one should perhaps mention that the recent Peter Grimes on Chandos is remarkable as well as acknowledging with
Contemporary The heady, complex and beautiful music of Thomas Adès No-one is going to pretend the music of Thomas Adès is going to be easy. Like much of the best music, it reveals its secrets over time. I was very,
Vocal Sir Mark Elder conducts Vaughan Williams The Hallé Orchestra has long been associated with English music, and Sir Mark Elder has done much to extend this tradition. Here we have a mouthwatering coupling of songs (Songs
Orchestral Paavo Jarvi and the joy of Franz Schmidt This is when the idea of exploration of the repertoire really comes into its own
Shostakovich Mariss Jansons' live Shostakovich 5 The passing of Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons in Saint Petersburg in November 2019 was a huge loss for the music world. His father, Arvīds Jansons (more often known to the
Tchaikovsky The Philharmonia's new conductor, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, in Tchaikovsky Exciting times at the Philharmonia: the Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali takes over from his compatriot, Esa-Pekka Salonen, at the helm of the Philharmonia Orchestra in the 2021/22 (currently, his
Brahms New Brahms 4s from Sweden and Austria Some mellow Brahms for a Sunday, his beautiful Fourth Symphony
Tchaikovsky Claudio Abbado and a Little Russian ... The so-called "Little Russian" was my introduction to Tchaikovsky's earlier symphonies, in the incandescent performance we recommend today
Orchestral East meets West: The Music of Airat Ichmouratov What do you get when a Tartarstan-born, Kazan-raised composer-kletzmer clarinettist-conductor meets the eclectic life of North America?
Elgar Internationalist Elgar: Barenboim and Garanca's Sea Pictures Daniel Barenboim and Elīna Garanča in simply beautiful performances of Elgar
Orchestral Discovering Schumann, and more ... Hear Schumann's Cello Concerto in a new light; explore the music of Alfredo Piatti.
