Editor's Choice: April 2024 | The best new classical recordings
Friday, March 22, 2024
Mahler's Symphony No 6, Smetana's Má vlast, Stravinsky's Petrushka, Bruckner's Symphony No 8, Wagner's Parsifal and much more
In every issue of Gramophone, Editor Martin Cullingford chooses 12 albums (10 new releases, plus one DVD/blu-ray and one archive recommendation) as his Editor's Choice. Below, you will find the albums selected as Editor's Choice in the April 2024 issue, beginning with the Recording of the Month.
We've included links to the album reviews in Gramophone's Reviews Database, a digital archive of all of our reviews from 1983 to today. To find out more about subscribing to Gramophone and the Reviews Database, please visit: magsubscriptions.com
Recording of the month
Mahler Symphony No 6
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (BR-Klassik)
Decades spent with this music bear fruit in a powerfully expressive performance; the second Recording of the Month in a row from a truly wonderful conductor.
Bruckner Symphony No 8
Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra / Stanisław Skrowaczewski (Dabringhaus und Grimm)
Following our recent Icons, Skrowaczewski has been the subject of several letters of tribute, which makes this Bruckner 8 from the close of his life all the more timely.
Stravinsky Petrushka Debussy Jeux. Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune
Orchestre de Paris / Klaus Mäkelä (Decca)
Klaus Mäkelä once again justifies the plaudits so early in his career with a revelatory Petrushka, rich in thrilling characterisation, caught in luxurious sound.
Smetana Má vlast
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov (Pentatone)
A performance of this Czech masterpiece rooted in a relationship between Semyon Bychkov at his finest and players steeped in the musical and cultural world in which the work was written.
Rachmaninov Orchestral Works
Kirill Gerstein pf Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Kirill Petrenko (Berliner Philharmoniker)
Kirill Petrenko’s selection of Rachmaninov works is striking both for the vividness of its detail and for its compelling rhythmic drive.
Beethoven Piano Trio No 7, ‘Archduke’. Symphony No 4
Leonidas Kavakos vn Yo‑Yo Ma vc Emanuel Ax pf (Sony Classical)
Three star soloists clearly enjoying a project as fascinating as it is rewarding: this time it’s Beethoven’s Fourth transcribed.
Beydts Mélodies & Songs
Cyrille Dubois ten Tristan Raës pf (Aparté)
What a wonderful discovery: the major song cycles from a 20th-century composer whose music has lyrical beauty, but is rarely recorded. If anything can change that, this can.
Pergolesi Stabat mater Vivaldi Nisi Dominus
PRJCT Amsterdam / Maarten Engeltjes counterten (Pentatone)
‘A vital and heartfelt recording … from one of the newest and slickest ensembles,’ says Edward Breen of this moving release.
‘Paysage’
Véronique Gens sop Munich Radio Orchestra / Hervé Niquet (Alpha)
A rich feast of late-Romantic French orchestral song from our Artist of the Year, Véronique Gens; her skills of story-telling and of shaping atmosphere are compelling from the start.
Wagner Parsifal
Vienna State Opera / Philippe Jordan (Sony Classical)
Last month’s cover artist Jonas Kaufmann’s insight into Parsifal is born of immense reflection; his fellow soloists and conductor Philippe Jordan are equally superb in their contributions too.
DVD/blu-ray
Donizetti Chiara e Serafina
La Scala, Milan; Orchestra Gli Originali / Sesto Quatrini (Dynamic)
Once again, we have a DVD to thank for a splendid revival of a forgotten work, in this case some wonderful early Donizetti.
Reissue/archive
Tchaikovsky. Prokofiev Orchestral Works
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra; USSR Symphony Orchestra / Arvīds Jansons (ICA Classics)
These excellently remastered performances are a valuable reminder of the superb music-making of Arvīds Jansons.
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