Classical New Releases

Curating the best new classical recordings

There’s always wonderful music to discover, from instrumental to vocal music, new recordings of old favorites, or albums featuring cutting-edge contemporary works. Discover more about each selection below.

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Something Like This – Emily Granger, Sally Walker

October 23, 2023

American-Australian harpist Emily Granger made an indelible impression with her solo debut recording, In Transit. She follows up with Something Like This, a beautiful collaboration with flutist Sally Walker, featuring original music for flute and harp alongside adaptations and arrangements for the instrumental combination. Woven among classics by J. S. Bach and Mozart are works by living composers including Australians ...

Rachmaninoff: A Reflection – Yekwon Sunwoo

October 20, 2023

Pianist Yekwon Sunwoo, the winner of the Van Cliburn Competition in 2017, is returning to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff with the release of a new album. The recording features repertoire by a composer whose works played a pivotal role in his Van Cliburn victory. Yekwon curated the album to include pieces that best represent the composer’s brilliance. He chose ...

Napoli! – Ophélie Gaillard, Pulcinella Orchestra

October 19, 2023

Continuing her exploration of the cello repertoire, Ophélie Gaillard takes us on a fascinating tour of Baroque Naples. With Napoli!, we dive into the atmosphere of the Mediterranean city, as it takes us in search of some of its emblematic figures. We meet virtuoso cellists Fiorenza, Lanzetti, and Francischello, the composers Durante, Leo, the Spaniard Ortiz, and Corselli, and even, ...

Mozart: Piano Sonatas – Angela Hewitt

October 18, 2023

Mozart Piano Sonatas K. 310-311 and 330-333 make up the second installment of Angela Hewitt’s chronological survey. These works date from Mozart’s twenties and include his first masterpieces in the genre (K. 331, with its famous Alla turca finale, for example). This is repertoire which calls for—and here receives—unfailingly immaculate pianism, and the perfectly judged performances in this set are ...

Handel: Israel in Egypt – Apollo’s Fire

October 17, 2023

Apollo’s Fire’s founder and director Jeannette Sorrell’s new adaptation of Handel’s Israel in Egypt “gives the work a compelling dramatic arc” (Seen and Heard International), that is “presented with a sense of theatre as Handel intended…scintillating and superb” (Cleveland Classical). Sorrell and her acclaimed Baroque orchestra add to their distinguished Avie discography – which includes Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah ...

Miloš Karadaglić: Baroque

October 16, 2023

Miloš Karadaglić – the superstar musician who has led today’s classical guitar revival – begins a new era in his exceptional career with a debut album for Sony Classical. Titled simply “Baroque,” the album presents his carefully curated selection of Baroque works especially transcribed and arranged for the guitar, both solo and in collaboration with Jonathan Cohen and his ensemble ...

Julien Martineau: O Sole Mio

October 13, 2023

Mandolinist Julien Martineau’s latest album, O Sole Mio, fulfills his dream of recording concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and Raffaele Calace with the Toulouse Capitole National Orchestra under conductor Wilson Ng. In addition to performing works with orchestra, Martineau collaborates with baritone Florian Sempey, guitarists Éric Franceries and Philippe Mouratoglou, double bassist Yann Dubost, and mandolinist Anna Schivazappa ...

Ola Gjeilo: Dreamweaver

October 12, 2023

Norwegian composer and pianist Ola Gjeilo releases his latest choral album, Dreamweaver, via Decca Classics, featuring several world premiere recordings. Gjeilo is one of the most frequently performed composers in the world, his previous albums having garnered over 170 million streams, and with his recent solo piano releases, his global streams have surpassed 230 million. This album marks Gjeilo’s first venture into ...

Schubert: The Complete Impromptus – Gerardo Teissonnière

October 11, 2023

Following his acclaimed solo debut album of the late sonatas of Beethoven, pianist Gerardo Teissonnière brings his “crystalline sound, formidable technique, and exquisite musical taste” (Cleveland Classical) to the complete Impromptus of Schubert, out on the Steinway & Sons label. Schubert’s Impromptus, D 899 and D 935, comprise two sets of four pieces each written in the last year and a ...

Kaleidoscope: Paul Huang, Helen Huang

October 10, 2023

Kaleidoscope is the solo debut recording by violinist Paul Huang. A recipient of both the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, Huang plays on the legendary 1742 “ex-Wieniawski” Guarneri del Gesù on extended loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. The instrument has not been performed on a commercial recording in more than two ...

Agave: In Her Hands

October 9, 2023

Following Agave’s Grammy-nominated success with American Originals: A New World, A New Canon, the ensemble offers another powerful recording of music by underrepresented composers: In Her Hands. Acclaimed soprano Michele Kennedy joins Agave for her solo recording debut in a celebration of music by women from throughout history. The works range from an emotionally-charged lament by Baroque virtuosa Barbara Strozzi ...

Plínio Fernandes: Bacheando

October 6, 2023

Acclaimed Brazilian virtuoso guitarist Plínio Fernandes debuts his sophomore recording, Bacheando, via Decca Gold. The album sees Fernandes pay tribute to centuries of artistry by exploring the enduring genius of J.S. Bach, the vibrant musical culture of Brazil, and all the richness in between. Fernandes embarks on a captivating exploration of his favorite composer’s legacy on Bacheando. A dynamic inheritor of ...

Rachmaninoff, Gershwin: Transcriptions by Earl Wild – John Wilson

October 5, 2023

If the second solo album by young American pianist John Wilson had a title, it might well be “Virtuoso,” for that description permeates his musical selections as well as his dynamic interpretations. Wilson follows in the footsteps of previous pianistic giants Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, and Earl Wild, all of whom have contributions on this new release – indeed the pedigree of these composer–arranger–pianists ...

Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 – London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

October 4, 2023

Conducting Bruckner, says Sir Simon Rattle, is a lifelong quest for some “extraordinary vista, some wonderful moment which leads you out of this world.” This certainly rings true for Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, the opening theme for which is said to have come to him in a dream, played by an angel. This huge, glowing mountain-range of sound is all at ...

Carlos Simon: Together

October 3, 2023

Carlos Simon’s new album Together is a celebration of life and music, honoring some of the world’s greatest songs through carefully crafted reimaginations alongside some of his own compositions. Each track tells a unique story, showcasing Simon’s diverse musical influences, and provides deeper insights into the artist’s history. To create this new body of work, Simon took the opportunity to ...

De Hartmann: Cello Concerto – Matt Haimovitz, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies

October 2, 2023

Cellist Matt Haimovitz, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies present the first commercial recording of Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann’s Cello Concerto. De Hartmann was an important compositional voice in his own time, connected to the greatest musicians and artists of his era, but disappeared after his death in 1956. This release is ...

For Clara: Works by Schumann and Brahms – Hélène Grimaud, Konstantin Krimmel

September 29, 2023

“I’ve always had a special relationship with the German Romantics,” says Hélène Grimaud (in a recent interview for Deutsche Welle). “These are worlds in which I feel I can express what the composer intended.” That affinity is very much in evidence on her latest album, For Clara, which focuses not only on the pianist’s own relationship with the music of both Robert Schumann and his ...

Vivaldi: Violin Concertos ‘Per Anna Maria’ – Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante

September 28, 2023

Fabio Biondi and his ensemble Europa Galante return to the Naïve label’s Vivaldi Edition with Concerti per violino XI ‘Per Anna Maria’. The 71st album in Naïve’s ambitious Vivaldi Edition features seven concertos likely composed between 1710 and the 1720s. This eleventh volume of Vivaldi’s violin concertos bears the name of one of the most famous performers of the early ...

Aux étoiles: French Symphonic Poems – Lyon National Orchestra, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

September 27, 2023

Many Romantic composers owe their fame to one of their symphonic poems. Alongside acknowledged French masterpieces in the genre, the fifteen tracks presented here include four previously unrecorded works and several rarities by women composers. The Lyon National Orchestra, a great champion of French Romantic music, offers a palette of shimmering colors under the baton of Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider as it ...

Thibaut Garcia: El Bohemio

September 26, 2023

Thibaut Garcia pays tribute to the Paraguayan guitar virtuoso and composer Agustín Barrios. As Garcia explains, “Barrios is an essential composer in the guitarist’s repertoire. His music can be described as a skillful mix of South American popular music – inspired by the jungles of Paraguay – and the Romanticism of Chopin and Schumann, composers he idolized.” El Bohemio complements ...

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