Gramophone Editor's Choice: May 2021

Friday, April 16, 2021

Editor Martin Cullingford introduces outstanding new recordings from Phantasm, Sandrine Piau, Johan Dalene & Christian Ihle Hadland, Anna Lucia Richter, Peter Jablonski, Ludovic Tézier, and much more...

Recording of the Month

‘Proust, Le concert retrouvé’

Théotime Langlois de Swarte vn Tanguy de Williencourt pf

Harmonia Mundi

A truly delightful and lovingly performed recital, recreating a 1907 private concert held by Proust, and using two instruments of glorious character and colour held in Paris’s Musée de la Musique.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


Carter The Minotaur. Pocahontas

Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose

BMOP/sound

Another significant contribution to our understanding of modern and American music from the Boston Modern Orchestra Project under their conductor Gil Rose.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


JS Bach ‘The Well-Tempered Consort, Vol 2’

Phantasm

Linn

This is an album of completely compelling collaboration from the Gramophone Award-winning viol consort, a richly rewarding immersion into the complexity and beauty of Bach’s world. 

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


‘Nordic Rhapsody’

Johan Dalene vn Christian Ihle Hadland pf

BIS

Violinist Johan Dalene – winner of the prestigious Carl Nielsen Competition in 2019 – and pianist Christian Ihle Hadland mesmerise in Nordic music old and new.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


Stanchinsky Piano Works

Peter Jablonski pf

Ondine

Early 20th-century composer Alexey Stanchinsky’s music will be a discovery for many if not most, and it can ask for no better advocacy than that of Peter Jablonski in this wonderful recording.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


Berg. R Strauss. Zemlinsky ‘Clair-obscur’

Sandrine Piau sop Orchestre ‘Victor Hugo’ Franche‑Comté / Jean‑François Verdier

Alpha

Soprano Sandrine Piau offers a beautifully crafted and movingly sung recital.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


Monteverdi ‘Il delirio della passione’

Anna Lucia Richter sop Ensemble Claudiana / Luca Pianca

Pentatone

Anna Lucia Richter embodies all the drama and tragedy of these Monteverdi heroines with gripping immediacy, backed by equally expressive instrumental colleagues.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


Pergolesi Stabat mater

Giulia Semenzato sop Lucile Richardot mez Ensemble Resonanz / Riccardo Minasi

Harmonia Mundi

There’s an incredible intensity and individuality to these performances – a Pergolesi Stabat mater of real poignancy.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


‘The Sweetest Songs’ Music from the Baldwin Partbooks, Vol 3

Contrapunctus / Owen Rees

Signum

An exquisite album of early music from Contrapunctus, concluding a superb survey of works from the Baldwin Partbooks, a major collection of Tudor church music.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


Verdi Arias

Ludovic Tézier bar Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale, Bologna / Frédéric Chaslin

Sony Classical

Ludovic Tézier’s baritone voice and interpretative flair makes this a vivid journey through some of the key Verdi roles he’s thrilled opera houses with.

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


DVD/blu-ray

‘A Legend Reborn: The Voice of King’s’

Fugue State Films

A story of a famous instrument, of an institution, of devoted craftsmen and builders … the interwoven worlds which meet in music are brought brilliantly to life in the latest film from Fugue State Films. 

Read the review in Gramophone's Reviews Database


Reissue/archive

Emma Boynet ‘The Complete Solo 78rpm Recordings and Fauré LPs’

Emma Boynet pf

APR

‘A beautiful and often exhilarating set’, writes Rob Cowan in Replay of this collection drawing on 78s by French pianist Emma Boynet, in a breadth of repertoire.


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