The Munich Philharmonic at the Proms

Behzod Abduraimov | Munich Philharmonic Orchestra | Valery Gergiev

If the indefatigable Valery Gergiev remains controversial for reasons as much political as musical, the Munich Philharmonic, which prospered artistically...

Reviewed by David Gutman in issue: 06/2018

Liszt Symphonic Poems, Vol 4

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra | Gianandrea Noseda

Volume 4 of Chandos’s superb cycle of Liszt’s symphonic poems takes us through Hungaria, Hamlet and Hunnenschlacht (The Battle...

Reviewed by Bryce Morrison in issue: 1/2009

Liszt Symphonic Poems, Vol 2

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra | Gianandrea Noseda

Volume 2 in Chandos’s series of Liszt’s orchestral works includes the Faust Symphony, his crowning masterpiece, in a performance of...

Reviewed by Bryce Morrison in issue: 8/2006

MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition, Songs and Dances of Death

Ferruccio Furlanetto | Mariinsky Orchestra | Valery Gergiev

There are now at least 20 orchestrations of Mussorgsky’s Pictures, a good half of which have been recorded, but Ravel’s...

Reviewed by John Warrack in issue: 04/2015

Cyprien Katsaris: Elective Affinities

Die Wahlverwandt-schaften is claimed by the booklet writer to be ‘possibly the best novel’ by Goethe. ‘It refers to the...

Reviewed by Jeremy Nicholas in issue: 03/2017

Furtwängler Symphonic Concerto

Alfred Walter | David Lively | Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice

Furtwangler was the performing musican who, more than any other, provided the criteria by which Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel, the...

Reviewed in issue 12/1991

Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition - Alexander Kobrin

Alexander Kobrin | Joyce Yang | Sa Chen

The 2005 12th International Van Cliburn International Piano Competition ended in the now familiar furore, with its top prize-winners launched...

Reviewed by Bryce Morrison in issue: 2/2006

75 Years of the Ysaÿe & Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition

Andrei Nikolsky | Anna Vinnitskaya | Cécile Ousset | Denis Kozhukhin | Frank Braley | Jeffrey Swann | Leon Fleisher | Malcolm Frager | Pierre-Alain Volondat | Valery Afanassiev

Muso’s five-disc album of performances dating from 1952 to 2010 commemorates 75 years of the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition in...

Reviewed by Bryce Morrison in issue: 09/2013

Mussorgsky Songs and Dances of Death

Galina Vishnevskaya | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Mstislav Rostropovich

Culled from three vintage recitals, these groups of songs show Galina Vishnevskaya, if not in her prime, certainly still in...

Reviewed by John Warrack in issue: 13/2003

Voyage Central Park

Aquarelle Guitar Quartet | Craig Ogden | Lisa Friend

Piazzolla originally composed his Histoire du tango for flute and guitar but it’s just as frequently taken up by violinists...

Reviewed by Andrew Farach-Colton in issue: AW2019