Poulenc Piano Concertos

Bernard Ringeissen | Gabriel Tacchino | Georges Prêtre | Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra | Paris Conservatoire Orchestra

This is splendidly vivid music, and the performances and recording are to match. Some people—among them myself—will find some of...

Reviewed by Christopher Headington in issue: 8/1993

Mozart Symphonies Nos 39 & 41

English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner

Over 20 years after his first recordings of these symphonies, John Eliot Gardiner appears to have heeded Leopold Mozart’s words:...

Reviewed by Nalen Anthoni in issue: 6/2011

Bernstein Trouble in Tahiti; Copland Quiet City

Anne Clément | Céline Victores-Benavente | David Guerrier | Furio Zanasi | Geraldine McGreevy | Lawrence Zazzo | Letitia Singleton | Manuela Custer | Orchestre de Picardie | Pascal Verrot

It’s tempting to encapsulate Bernstein’s opera-in-miniature Trouble in Tahiti as Woody Allen meets Aaron Copland – except that his sensitive...

Reviewed by Philip_Clark in issue: 2/2007

Piazzolla for Two

Göran Söllscher | Patrick Gallois

The truth is out there, we are told. So, to judge from the continuing wave of issues of Piazzolla’s works,...

Reviewed by Lionel Salter in issue: 7/1997

Vivaldi Andromeda liberata

Andrea Marcon | Anna Bonitatibus | Katerina Beranova | Mark Tucker | Max Emanuel Cencic | Simone Kermes | Stagione Armonica (La) | Venice Baroque Orchestra

Here’s an intriguing mystery. In 2002 French musicologist Olivier Fourés came across the manuscript of this serenata, dated September 18,...

Reviewed by Richard Lawrence in issue: 1/2005

Bruch Violin Concerto No 1; Serenade

Alexandre da Costa | Bienne Symphony Orchestra | Gilad Karni | Thomas Rösner

Max Bruch had an extraordinary career. Born in 1838, he lived until 1920. He wrote his most famous work, the...

Reviewed by Edward Greenfield in issue: 6/2010

Hartmann Waxworks: Five Little Operas

Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra | Christian Gaul | Claudia Barainsky | Egbert Junghanns | Michael Kraus | Michelle Breedt | Nadya-Martina Schulz | Reinhard Ginzel | Roger Epple | Thomas Harper

The earliest seeds of Wachsfigurenkabinett‚ variously translatable as ‘Waxwork Museum’‚ or ‘Wax­dolls’ Cabinet’‚ date from Hartmann’s mid­teens. However‚ the...

Reviewed in issue 10/2001

Rutter Mass of the Children; Wedding Canticle; Shadows

Angharad Gruffydd Jones | Clare College Chamber Ensemble, Cambridge | Clare College Choir, Cambridge | Daniel Pailthorpe | Farnham Youth Choir | James McVinnie | Jeremy Huw Williams | Stewart French | Timothy Brown

Without doubt, this CD will be climbing the classical charts by the time this review appears. Choirs love to sing...

Reviewed by bwitherden in issue: 8/2006

Mathias Concertos

David Atherton | Gervase de Peyer | London Symphony Orchestra | New Philharmonia Orchestra | Osian Ellis | Peter Katin

Reviewed by Edward Greenfield in issue: 7/1995

Schubert Winterreise

Andreas Staier | Christoph Prégardien | Thomas Hampson | Wolfgang Sawallisch

The flood of performances on disc of this cycle never seems to subside. The two new ones under consideration present...

Reviewed by Alan Blyth in issue: 12/1997