Mar 13, 2021 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
Priceless individuality and imagination inform the eighteen piano Etudes that György Ligeti left us (at the time of his death in 2006 he was drafting some more). If these gems are very much the preserve of Pierre-Laurent Aimard, it’s good to have a challenge to the...
Mar 10, 2021 | Recording Reviews, Unexpected
One of the great conductors, George Szell (1897-1970) remains synonymous with the Cleveland Orchestra, the ensemble he moulded into one of the World’s elite during his tenure as music director from 1946 until his death. This Somm twofer “features eight historic...
Mar 7, 2021 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
Judging from the repertoire on this superbly recorded BIS release, produced and engineered by Thore Brinkmann at Potton Hall in Suffolk (December 2019), Clare Hammond is a pianist who stimulates the interest of the adventurous music-lover – and then delivers top...
Mar 7, 2021 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
The Concerto (Elgar’s Opus 61, for Fritz Kreisler) was recorded during September last year at LSO St Luke’s, the London Symphony Orchestra photographed in the booklet as adopting social-distancing seating. The sound is excellent, spacious yet tangible, the orchestra...
Mar 7, 2021 | Recording Reviews
I like JoAnn Falletta’s forward-moving yet shapely way with the first movement of the ‘Eroica’ – music that under her direction is going places and she persuasively omits the exposition repeat to underline momentum and ongoing achievement. With dedicated playing from...
Feb 21, 2021 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
It’s good to have a record of some recent orchestral music by Raymond Yiu (born 1973). In these BBC Symphony Orchestra concert tapings (applause removed), the first work, The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured (2012), is a scintillating scherzo, neon-coloured,...