Welcome to our guide to the best new classical releases this week. We’ve provided links to the albums on Apple Music, so you can dive straight in and enjoy the best new classical albums in great sound, and links to the Gramophone reviews where possible.

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Recorded at the Watford Colosseum with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Renato Balsadonna, Freddie De Tommaso's debut album for Decca Classics is a tribute to four great tenors who all have significant anniversaries this year: Mario Lanza (1921-59), Franco Corelli (1921-2003), Giuseppe Di Stefano (1921-2008) and Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). The album features a selection of arias made famous by these legendary singers in arrangements by by Henry Mancini, Mantovani and Giancarlo Chiaramello, among others, as well as some new arrangements and a premiere recording of Respighi’s 'Nebbie', orchestrated by Salvatore Di Vittorio.

Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja invariably brings a fresh approach to all of the music that she performs and her new album of Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire in which she plays the narrator is no different. You can read a full, fascinating interview with Kopatchinskaja in the May issue of Gramophone (out now). Kopatchinskaja also takes up her instrument for accounts of Webern's Four Pieces for Violin & Piano, Op 7, and Schoenberg's Phantasy for Violin and Piano, Op 47, with pianist Joonas Ahonen.

Kopatchinskaja's concept album 'Time and Eternity' was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2020, with Mark Pullinger noting: 'She is never afraid to produce a harsh, uningratiating sound – the Concerto funebre is properly aggressive at times – but there is sweetness too, especially from Camerata Bern in those Bach chorales. Not easy listening, but strongly recommended.' (Read the full review in the Gramophone Reviews Database)

Recently revealed as the London Symphony Orchestra's next Chief Conductor, Sir Antonio Pappano joins James Jolly for the latest episode of the Gramophone Podcast to discuss this new recording of Vaughan Williams's Fourth and Sixth Symphonies for LSO Live. You can listen to the Podcast below.

To hear other Gramophone podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'Gramophone Magazine' in your Podcast application of choice, or visit Gramophone's page on Apple Music podcasts. 

When Matthias Goerne won the 2017 Gramophone Solo Vocal Award for his album of Brahms Lieder alongside Christoph Eschenbach, Hugo Shirley wrote: 'An intense, almost tortured performer on stage, Goerne seems himself to embody a wanderer seeking answers to questions different from those posed by many other singers in the repertoire. The familiar mellow, burnished beauty of the voice has now gained a new gnarly intensity. The phrases are broad and generous, sustained by big breaths, great lungfuls snatched as if he’s coming up from the deep; words are communicated naturally. Goerne’s world is one of unrushed reflection.' 

Goerne's new album of songs by Wagner, Pfitzner and Strauss for Deutsche Grammophon features Seong-Jin Cho (winner of the First Prize at the Chopin International Competition in 2015) and promises to be very special indeed.

The first volume of 'Magnificat'  from Glen Dempsey, the Choir of St John's College Cambridge and Andrew Nethsingha was an Editor's Choice back in 2019, and as our reviewer Andrew Mellor observed at the time, 'Nethsingha dangles the prospect of future volumes dependent on market response. So if you all listen to this, we’ll get more.' It would seem that many of you did listen to Volume 1 because Volume 2 is released today and continues the musical journey, with Mags and Nuncs from Howells, Walton, Pärt, Lennox Berkeley and others.

The Listening Room

Gramophone’s The Listening Room is an Apple Music playlist featuring hand-picked selection of the most interesting new classical releases chosen by Editor-in-Chief James Jolly. It’s the essential classical playlist:

Specialist Classical Chart

The Official Specialist Classical Chart Top 20 appears on the Gramophone website and is updated every Friday at 6pm (UK time). It’s a great way of exploring the new classical releases: 

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