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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Aizuri Quartet: Earthdrawn Skies
The Aizuri Quartet, “a quartet of expert collaborators” (The New York Times), releases a new album, Earthdrawn Skies. The program explores deep connections between humankind and the natural world through the distinct lenses of four composers forging personal relationships with the soil and the stars. These works by Hildegard von Bingen, Eleanor Alberga, Komitas Vardapet, and Jean Sibelius are rooted ...
Vaughan Williams: Job: A Masque For Dancing, Old King Cole – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Manze
Following their highly acclaimed cycle of the nine symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Andrew Manze and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra have recorded Job: A Masque for Dancing, taken from a live performance at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool. Vaughan Williams’ inspiration for Job arose from William Blake’s illustrations for The Book of Job, a collection of water colors from ...
Franck: Piano Trio, Piano Quintet, Violin Sonata – Trio Wanderer, Catherine Montier, Christophe Gaugué
Trio Wanderer follows up its multi-award-winning Schumann set with an exploration of the fascinating world of César Franck. The gulf between his youthful trios and the prodigious works of his maturity reveals a fundamental turning point in the history of French chamber music. Continuing along the trail that Franck blazed with such brio, Louis Vierne’s deeply moving Quintet offers an ...
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 – Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahav Shani
Lahav Shani, Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for the past five years, conducts the Dutch ensemble in Bruckner’s epic Symphony No. 7. Shani first encountered Bruckner’s music as a young double bass player in Israel. He admires the Austrian composer for his proverbially grand symphonic architecture, but also for his vision and the atmosphere he creates. Shani emphasizes ...
Mozart: Violin Sonatas – Renaud Capuçon, Kit Armstrong
Renaud Capuçon’s exciting new Mozart project comprises three albums, all to come before the end of the year. The project gets underway with the release of the complete violin sonatas recorded with pianist Kit Armstrong. The works have been central to the duo’s partnership since they made their debut together at the 2016 Salzburg Mozartwoche. Their creative vision brings to ...
Il Boemo Soundtrack
Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and soprano Emőke Baráth appear on the soundtrack of a 2022 film by the award-winning Czech director Petr Václav. Called Il Boemo (The Bohemian), it tells the story of the Prague-born composer Josef Mysliveček (1737–1781). He became a major figure on Europe’s operatic scene, achieving particular renown in Venice, Naples, and Munich and composing more than two ...
Camille Thomas: The Chopin Project
“The Chopin Project” is French-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas’s most ambitious project to date, comprising a trio of albums that pay tribute to Chopin’s connection to the cello. In “The Franchomme Legacy,” the first chapter of the trilogy, Thomas explores the relationship between Chopin and his close friend and cellist Auguste Franchomme. She reveals the influence Franchomme had on Chopin’s music ...
Ravel: L’Heure espagnole, Bolero – Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Since 2003, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles have made a distinctive mark presenting an orchestra for the 21st century. Les Siècles is one of the only orchestras which plays each piece of the repertoire on the appropriate period instruments. Its flexible and historically informed work delivers a unique strand of creative programming. Continuing their exploration of Maurice Ravel’s output, Roth and Les ...
Music of Poulenc, Schumann, and Chaminade – Martina Consonni, Sarah Jégou-Sageman, Jeein You
Cellist Gautier Capuçon, acting through the foundation he established in early 2022, presents three outstanding young musicians, all prize winners in international competitions: the Italian pianist Martina Consonni, the French violinist Sarah Jégou-Sageman, and the South Korean cellist Jeein You. Capuçon says: “This philanthropic project is close to my heart and extends my long-standing commitment to music education and charitable ...
Ashley Jackson: Ennanga
Harpist Ashley Jackson explores the musical and spiritual connections between various forms of American musical expression in her new album, Ennanga. Through the works of notable Black composers who have redefined musical landscapes, the album celebrates the centrality of the African American spiritual to the history of American music. Ennanga features the Harlem Chamber Players and Jackson’s harp transcriptions of ...
Pablo Sáinz-Villegas: The Blue Album
“Blue stands for a particularly intimate mood,” says renowned Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas. Correspondingly, his latest recording is titled The Blue Album. “Blue symbolizes a mysterious intermediary realm: one thinks of the moment when the sun rises and night slowly withdraws,” Sainz-Villegas goes on to explain. “These are exceptional moments, between silence and waking, between heaven and earth, between light ...
Conciertos Románticos: Jorge Federico Osorio, Minería Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Miguel Prieto
In his ninth recording with Cedille Records, pianist Jorge Federico Osorio has chosen to feature composers Ricardo Castro and Manuel Ponce. Both composers made significant contributions to the development of classical music in Mexico, and their compositions reflect a synthesis of Mexican and European traditions with influences from Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy. Both composers exemplify the highest point of the ...
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 ...