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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Chineke! Orchestra: Florence Price
Chineke! Orchestra, the trailblazing ensemble which is Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, presents a new album celebrating the music of the pioneering Chicago composer Florence Price. Noted as being the first African American female composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, Price is celebrated with this recording marking the 70th anniversary of her death. ...
Vox Clamantis: Music by Henrik Ødegaard
After dedicating past ECM New Series recordings to the works of contemporary composers Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Helena Tulve, and most recently Cyrillus Kreek, the Vox Clamantis choir, under the direction of Jaan-Eik Tulve, turns its attention towards Norwegian composer Henrik Ødegaard with a fine-drawn program of liturgical choral music. Vox Clamantis is at home in the worlds of both ...
Avi Avital: Concertos
“This is how I want to make music!” That was Avi Avital’s reaction when he first saw Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini play live in Jerusalem. Now famed worldwide for his own charismatic and passionate performances, the mandolinist is delighted to be joined by this exciting period-instrument ensemble and its conductor and co-founder on his latest album. Together they perform ...
London circa 1740 (Handel’s Musicians) – La Rêveuse
For this new installment of their series devoted to British music of the eighteenth century, the musicians of La Rêveuse take us to London in the 1740s. The leading Italian and German virtuosos that Handel invited to play in his orchestra brought a powerful wind of change to English musical life, while the Scot James Oswald achieved the tour de ...
Rachel Barton Pine: Dependent Arising
Acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton Pine releases her 26th recording for Cedille Records. Dependent Arising reveals surprising confluences between classical and heavy metal music by pairing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Earl Maneein’s Dependent Arising, performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Tito Muñoz. Known for her virtuosity, expressive playing, and extensive repertoire, Pine discovered her love for heavy ...
Anton Rubinstein: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 – Anna Shelest, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
The breadth of Anton Rubinstein’s contribution to the development of Russian culture in the 19th century cannot be overstated. His multifaceted genius can be divided into three areas: Rubinstein the composer, the pianist, and the educator. This third release of recordings of his works for piano and orchestra focuses on Rubinstein’s role as a pianist. A champion of esoteric repertoire, ...
Summer Night Concert 2023 – Vienna Philharmonic, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Elīna Garanča
Vienna’s Summer Night Concert was performed this year on June 8th, 2023. The annual open-air event has been held since 2008 in the magical setting of the park of the Schönbrunn Palace. The Vienna Philharmonic devoted the concert to works from French Romanticism to Impressionism. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted and guest mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča performed arias by Georges Bizet, Charles Gounod, ...
Su Yeon Kim: Mozart Recital
The Korean pianist Su Yeon Kim achieved international acclaim when she won the first prize at the 2021 Montreal International Music Competition and the second prize at the 2020 International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. For her debut album on the Steinway & Sons label, Su Yeon Kim displays her passion and gift for performing the music of Mozart with some ...
Malakai: Golden
The astonishing young singer and Britain’s Got Talent 2023 finalist, Malakai, has secured a record deal with Universal Music and released his debut album in association with Classic FM, the United Kingdom’s most popular classical music station. The 14-year-old chorister started singing at the age of seven with St. George’s Cathedral Choir in London. He attends the state school Cardinal Vaughan Memorial ...
Robert & Clara Schumann: Chamber Music for Horn – Louis-Philippe Marsolais, David Jalbert
For his latest recording, horn player Louis-Philippe Marsolais has chosen a selection of chamber music by Clara and Robert Schumann composed for various instruments, some of which have been transcribed for horn. He is joined by pianists Philip Chiu and David Jalbert, and cellists Stéphane Tétreault and Cameron Crozman. “The Op. 70, 73, and 94 presented on this album are ...
Chorinho: Music for Viola and Piano from Brazil – Georgina Rossi, Silvie Cheng
The new album by violist Georgina Rossi and pianist Silvie Cheng is saturated with Brazil’s rich musical heritage. Chorinho presents alluring yet under-recognized works for viola, including world-premiere recordings of music by João de Souza Lima, Lindembergue Cardoso, and Ernani Aguiar. A solo piano interlude honors Heitor Villa-Lobos, the titan of Brazil’s 20th century musical scene. The concluding track is ...
Haydn: Late Symphonies, Volume 1 – Danish Chamber Orchestra, Adam Fischer
Fresh from their critically acclaimed series of the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms, the Danish Chamber Orchestra and Adam Fischer turn to Haydn’s late symphonies, beginning with the first three of the twelve “London” symphonies, composed during Haydn’s first visit to the capital. Arguably his greatest achievements in the genre, they include the enduringly popular “surprise” in the slow ...
Keith Jarrett: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Keith Jarrett’s account of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Württemberg Sonatas is a revelation. “I’d heard the sonatas played by harpsichordists, and felt there was a space left for a piano version,” says Jarrett today. This outstanding recording, made in May 1994 and previously unreleased, finds the pianist attuned to the expressive implications of the sonatas in every moment. The younger ...
ORA Singers: Sanctissima
This album marks the ORA Singers’ 10th release, presenting a fantasy construction of a Vespers and Benediction service in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It weaves hypnotic plainchant around Renaissance gems and modern masterpieces. The music of the great Renaissance masters Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Francisco Guerrero, and Felice Anerio sit alongside distinctive voices from the 21st ...
Martin Owen Plays Strauss, Schumann, Weber
Regarded as one of Europe’s leading horn players, Martin Owen appears as a soloist and chamber musician around the world and is currently principal horn with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Weber’s Concertino was written for the old, valveless “natural horn.” The technical demands are testament to the extraordinary facility of the hornists of the period. The first Horn Concerto by ...
Anna Lapwood: Midnight Sessions at the Royal Albert Hall
Organist Anna Lapwood recently signed a major label deal with Sony Classical and has released an EP of film transcriptions recorded on the organ of the Royal Albert Hall. Lapwood says, “Over the last 11 months, I’ve been lucky enough to be let into the Royal Albert Hall in the middle of the night for practice sessions on the hall’s ...
Alice Sara Ott: Beethoven
Earlier this year, pianist Alice Sara Ott became the face of the Apple Music Classical app when she starred in its launch video, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Karina Canellakis. The recording of it now becomes the headline work in Ott’s latest Deutsche Grammophon album. The pianist has paired ...
Sergei Kvitko: Schubert by Candlelight – Live in Madrid
Pianist, composer, and producer Sergei Kvitko’s new album, Schubert by Candlelight — Live in Madrid, is a stunning collection of thirteen piano works that showcase the beauty and depth of Franz Schubert’s music. The album was recorded in 2022 at Hinves Pianos in Madrid, Spain, before a live audience under the gentle glow of candlelight. The recording captures the intimate and ...
Sphinx Virtuosi: Songs for Our Times
Songs for Our Times introduces the Sphinx Virtuosi to a worldwide audience. Hailed as “top‑notch” by The New York Times, this groundbreaking self-conducted American string ensemble comprises 18 exceptional Black and Latinx artists. Sphinx Virtuosi’s Deutsche Grammophon debut recording is built from works by outstanding composers and artistic visionaries of color. Its strikingly diverse tracks include the world premiere recordings ...
Berlin Stories: Trio Gaspard
Berlin Stories is the first in a new series of recordings by Trio Gaspard, focused on different cultural capitals and composers associated with them. The album features three composers who lived and worked in Berlin for a period of their lives. Felix Mendelssohn’s grandfather, Moses, was a philosopher who established a preeminent position for the family in Berlin and created ...