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.
Stay on top of New Releases with WFMT's curated Spotify and Apple Music playlists
Bach: The Art of Fugue – Cuarteto Casals
With his Art of Fugue, Johann Sebastian Bach created one of the most important works in music history. In 14 fugues and four canons, he systematically demonstrates the wide range of contrapuntal possibilities that can be found in a single musical theme. In order to make the voice progressions visually clear, Bach notated each part on a separate staff. When ...
Inner World: Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, Lia Hakhnazaryan
Cellist Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, of the Kuss Quartet, delivers a very personal musical exploration of the emotions of a musician, away from their homeland, discovering new worlds, and searching for their inner voice and inner world. “When you leave your homeland, you leave behind something very important that is hard to describe in words. It is that light and air which ...
Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 8 – Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado
If the shadow of Mozart still haunts Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, the Eighth (in no way “unfinished” in the eyes of its creator) already looks far into the future. Pablo Heras-Casado and the musicians of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra lead us towards that Romantic style. Their flexible approach, keen and swift in the earlier symphony, making room for shadows and ...
Bologne: Violin Concertos, Opp. 2 and 7 – Fumika Mohri, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halász
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, possessed a panoply of talents – leading swordsman, athlete, virtuoso violinist, composer, and musical director – so it is not surprising that by the standards of his age he was not especially prolific. Nevertheless, Bologne’s violin concertos demonstrate a gift for writing attractive and engaging music as well as a virtuoso technique with which to ...
Music for a New Century: New Century Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Hope, Alexey Botvinov
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this season, New Century Chamber Orchestra has been resident in San Francisco’s Bay Area since its founding in 1992. As well as giving masterful performances of the core chamber repertoire, New Century is known for reviving long-lost gems, experimenting with works from genres such as rock or jazz, and championing new music by commissioning, programming, and ...
Phantasy in Blue: Alban Gerhardt, Alliage Quintet
It isn’t every day that cellist Alban Gerhardt gets to front a saxophone quartet plus piano combo, but that’s exactly what’s on offer in Phantasy in Blue. Gerhardt and the Alliage Quintet deliver their unique take on Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Falla, and Shostakovich, ending with a riotous version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Playful yet serious, imaginative yet true to the ...
Mozart: Piano Sonatas, Volume 4 – Orli Shaham
The internationally-renowned concert pianist Orli Shaham is deep into a multi-year endeavor of recording all of Mozart’s piano sonatas. “As a young musician, Mozart traveled widely and — like any good traveling salesman — needed samples to show off to prospective patrons. So, during a journey to Munich in 1774–1775, he wrote six ‘calling cards’ to play at the homes ...
A Violin’s Life, Volume 3: Frank Almond, Alexander Hersh, Victor Santiago Asunción
Frank Almond’s life is intertwined with that of his violin, the “Lipiński” Stradivari, an exceptional instrument named for the famed 19th-century Polish violinist Karol Lipiński and first owned by legendary 18th-century Italian composer-violinist Giuseppe Tartini. A Violin’s Life chronicles the extraordinary history and lineage of this instrument, which also has direct ties to Edvard Grieg, Johannes Brahms, and Robert and ...
Choral Music of Vaughan Williams, Tavener, & MacMillan – Choir of Westminster Abbey, James O’Donnell
As James O’Donnell bids farewell to the Westminster Abbey Choir to take up a post at Yale University, this album stands as both a fitting testimony to his 23 years as Organist and Master of the Choristers at the Abbey, and as a further demonstration of the magnificent standards the choir regularly achieved during his tenure. From established favorites by ...
Boulder Bach Festival
Sono Luminus releases performances from the Boulder Bach Festival. Works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his admired older contemporary Johann Christoph Bach were recorded immediately following the conclusion of the festival’s 41st year in 2022. The album includes J.S. Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Two Violins and Concerto in D minor for Harpsichord, along with J.C. Bach’s lament Ach, ...
Pierre Sancan: A Musical Tribute
Pierre Sancan was a tremendously influential figure in French musical life, as a composer, pianist, teacher, and conductor, but remains relatively unknown outside France. Born in Mazamet in 1916, he received his early musical training in Morocco and, later, Toulouse. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1934, won the Prix de Rome in 1943, and eventually joined the Conservatory staff ...
Isata Kanneh-Mason: Childhood Tales
Isata Kanneh-Mason’s latest album evokes the magic of childhood in a charming collection of nostalgic music. The album is centered around Ernő Dohnányi’s rarely performed Variations on a Nursery Song, expanding “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” into a truly virtuosic work. From a young age, Kanneh-Mason has had a special affinity with Mozart and recalls playing the composer’s Variations on the French ...
And So Flows the River: Ronn McFarlane, Carolyn Surrick
With their newest album, And So Flows the River, Ronn McFarlane and Carolyn Surrick have taken the lute and viola da gamba away from the realm of the repertoire that one might expect from these ancient instruments. They weave a tapestry of music, seamlessly held together by the timelessness of their instruments and their extraordinary musicianship. The eighteen tracks range from ...
Zlata Chochieva: Im Freien
Naïve Classics presents pianist Zlata Chochieva’s Im Freien, the second of her three albums for the label. Chochieva conceived Im Freien as a personal tribute to her love of nature and the emotions it inspires, where works by Schumann, Ravel, Liszt, and Bartók and the lesser known Draeseke and Schulz-Evler come together to paint a picture of the natural world ...
Max Bruch, Florence Price: Violin Concertos – Randall Goosby, Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Dynamic American violinist Randall Goosby releases his keenly awaited second album on Decca Classics. The recording is a collaboration with the Grammy Award-winning partnership of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Building on his debut album Roots (2021), which celebrated Black classical composers, this album showcases concertos by the trailblazing composer Florence Price and German romantic composer Max Bruch. Goosby ...
Mozart’s Mannheim: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Gottfried von der Golz
Mozart’s Mannheim has been carefully curated to give 21st-century listeners an idea of the sound world experienced by Mozart when he visited Mannheim in the late 1770s. The southern German city’s legendary court orchestra made it a go-to destination for 18th-century cultural pilgrims and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra has painted a musical portrait of Mannheim for its debut Deutsche Grammophon album. The ...
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4, Paganini Rhapsody – Boris Giltburg, Brussels Philharmonic, Vassily Sinaisky
Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto was composed while he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory, then fully reworked twice. It is hard to explain why it never achieved a higher level of popularity – it has all of the melodic beauty, passion, and brilliance found throughout the composer’s music. The Fourth Piano Concerto was much revised after harsh criticism at ...
Dowland: Lachrimae – Musicall Humors
A set of 21 dances dating from 1604, John Dowland’s Lachrimæ was his most ambitious work to date, composed after he had left England in disappointment at not being named court composer to Elizabeth I and entered the service of the Danish court. The work was dedicated to Anne of Denmark, who by that time had herself become Queen of ...
Seasons: Étienne Gara, Delirium Musicum
Delirium Musicum is an award winning self-conducted chamber orchestra dedicated to providing impassioned and engaging musical performances. Led by Music and Artistic Director Étienne Gara, Delirium Musicum represents the artistic excellence and leadership of the young generation of musicians in Los Angeles. On “Seasons,” they perform works of Max Richter and Philip Glass. Gara says, “In a world where climate ...
Home: Eric Whitacre, Voces8
Two branches of choral royalty entwine with majestic harmony on the latest Decca release from Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre and the acclaimed vocal ensemble Voces8. The album includes a world premiere, All Seems Beautiful To Me, and a new recording of Whitacre’s deeply moving 2019 cantata The Sacred Veil. Voces8 has long had an ardent admirer in Whitacre. “Their sound is glassy ...
