May 2, 2022 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
Thirty-three Haydn Symphonies, which for sheer innovation, ingenuity, variety and pure pleasure take some beating. Originally on the Philips label and now branded Decca, the attractive original LPs’ and CDs’ artwork is retained, Neville Marriner and his trusty ASMF...
Apr 29, 2022 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
Marvel upon marvel informs Steven Osborne’s performance of Piano Sonata No.1 (D-minor, Opus 28), a big beast, a complex work that is an obvious challenge for any pianist – and, I find, the listener – but Osborne is very revealing of the work’s...
Apr 29, 2022 | Recording Reviews
Originally published on April 23 Dora Pejačević (1885-1923). For the Symphony, I refer you to my review of the concert performance that preceded the recording sessions:...
Apr 23, 2022 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
I have long had a soft spot for Nielsen’s Violin Concerto, a very early discovery, a BBC broadcast recording with Ralph Holmes (Bryden Thomson conducted), an infectious/earworm piece – poignant, swashbuckling and capricious. Johan Dalene gives an impressive account of...
Apr 22, 2022 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
Originally published on April 18 Although there is no shortage of Sir Adrian Boult conducting Vaughan Williams’s music – including two cycles of the Symphonies and four recordings of Job – there is still room for this ICA release of Symphonies 5 and 6, both from BBC...
Apr 13, 2022 | Outstanding [category w.e.f. January 2021], Recording Reviews
The first two (F-major, Opus 6; E-flat, Opus 20) of Woldemar Bargiel’s three Piano Trios make for delightful and diverting listening. Bargiel (1828-1897) was Clara Schumann’s half-brother and his music was greatly admired by Brahms. It’s easy to hear why in this pair...
