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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Angela Hewitt: Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas
After the success of Angela Hewitt’s first album of Scarlatti sonatas, she has released a second on the Hyperion label. As Hewitt herself writes: “The first recording was such a great experience that, inevitably, I couldn’t stop there. Not with another 540 or so to choose from!” Of this latest selection, many are new to her repertoire and are performed ...
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet: Mozart Piano Concertos
The effervescent and communicative energy of pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy is encapsulated again in this second volume of their series devoted to Mozart’s piano concertos. The two concertos presented here are among the six that Mozart composed in Vienna in an extraordinarily productive year. As Bavouzet states in the notes, they “share their association with operatic and ...
Music of Nimrod Borenstein
The legendary conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and the promising young violinist Irmina Trynkos, presents the premiere recording of three works by Nimrod Borenstein. The past few years have seen a number of Borenstein’s compositions presented at prestigious venues in London, Zurich, Paris, and New York. If You Will It, It Is No Dream was written especially ...
Choir of Clare College: Reformation, 1517-2017
In 1517, indignant at the mercenary abuses of the Church and convinced that a public debate was needed to restore faith in the founding texts of the Bible, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door of Wittenberg Castle. This marked the beginning of the Reformation, which was to spread all over Europe. Five hundred years later, Graham ...
George Li: Live at the Mariinsky
Pianist George Li celebrates his newly-signed exclusive Warner Classics contract with his recording debut, the solo recital ‘Live at the Mariinsky.’ The young American, winner of the silver medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2015, offers an enthralling program of Haydn, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Liszt. It was recorded live at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in that other ...
Takacs Quartet: Dvorak Chamber Works
Recognized as one of the world’s great ensembles, the Takács Quartet plays with a unique blend of drama, warmth and humor, combining four distinct musical personalities to bring fresh insights to the string quartet repertoire. A new release from the Takács Quartet is guaranteed to be a highlight of the musical year. Their latest features two works by Dvořák: the American ...
Ivan Ilic: Reicha Rediscovered
Pianist Ivan Ilić has signed a new multi-album recording contract with Chandos Records. His first project on the label is a series devoted to the solo piano works of the Czech composer Antoine Reicha (1770-1836), a contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven. Although best known for his contributions to the repertoire for wind quintet, Reicha wrote vast quantities of solo ...
Steven Osborne Plays Debussy
Steven Osborne is one of Britain’s most highly regarded pianists. His awards and prizes have included Gramophone Awards in 2009 and 2013, three German Schallplattenpreise, and the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year in 2013. Osborne’s unerring command of the elusive ambiguities of Debussy’s piano-writing has already been amply confirmed by his earlier recording of the two books of Preludes. ...
Danish String Quartet: Last Leaf
Widely recognized as one of today’s most exciting chamber groups, the Danish String Quartet not only brings new insights to contemporary composition and core classical repertoire. The group also explores folk music, beguiling listeners with these sounds on record and in concert. For “Last Leaf,” the group returns to the texturally rich, emotionally resonant world of Nordic folk music, from ...
Richard Narroway: Bach’s Six Cello Suites
Recognized for his stylistic versatility and wide-ranging musical interests, Australian cellist Richard Narroway has proven himself to be equally at home with repertoire both new and old. For his debut recording, he journeys through the six cello suites of Bach. Narroway says, “There is something truly remarkable about the way Bach was able to conjure a complete, multi-layered sound world ...
Jonas Kaufmann: L’Opera
Jonas Kaufmann pays homage to a magnificent era of opera that defined musical splendor and elegance, in his new album of 19th-century French opera arias and duets. “The French operatic repertory is very close to my heart,” says Kaufmann. “This fascinating music reflects a period in European culture. I didn’t want to choose only highlights for this album but also ...
Tasmin Little: Szymanowski & Karlowicz Violin Concertos
After widely acclaimed recordings of Walton’s and Lutosławski’s violin concertos, Tasmin Little again joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner, in intensely expressive interpretations of the concertos by the Polish composers Karłowicz and Szymanowski. All were written within the space of a generation, and yet they belong to quite different worlds. One was composed at a time of national ...
Nelson Freire: Brahms
An artist who clearly stands among the greatest pianists of our time or any other (The New York Times), Nelson Freire made his recording debut in 1967 with Brahms’ Sonata No 3 in F Minor. Half a century later, Freire returns with unrivaled color and imagination to this monumental work and other pieces from the Romantic composer in his new ...
Ave Maria: The Boys of St Paul’s Choir School
Having recently celebrated their 50th anniversary, Saint Paul’s Choir School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, strives to engage young men in the development of their intellectual and musical talents. Located in the heart of Harvard Square, the school has had a large presence and impact within the Harvard community. The school seeks to develop the diverse musical talents of each boy so that ...
Elizabeth Hainen: Home – Works for Solo Harp
Philadelphia Orchestra Solo Harpist Elizabeth Hainen paints a varied and innovative portrait of private moments in this ode to the pleasures of home. The program features favorite pieces from those enjoyable hours spent playing her instrument alone or in partnership with her percussionist husband – a collection of cherished gems alongside new creations including a world premiere arrangement of Sting’s St ...
Brahms: The Piano Trios – Kavakos, Ma, Ax
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his longtime collaborator, pianist Emanuel Ax, are joined by violinist Leonidas Kavakos in their first recording together of all three of the piano trios of Johannes Brahms. Ma and Ax have built together a distinguished catalog of Brahms recordings, but this is their first of the Piano Trios and their first collaboration with Kavakos.
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra: Mendelssohn
After the mystical Hebrides Overture and the masterly Reformation Symphony, Mendelssohn embarked on his second violin concerto. After a long gestation in which he polished the orchestration and meticulously revised the solo part, the work was finally premiered in Leipzig in 1845. Isabelle Faust, accompanied by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado, offers us a miracle of purity and lyricism in this new ...
Norman Krieger: Beethoven Piano Concertos
A native of Los Angeles, Norman Krieger is highly regarded as an artist of depth, sensitivity and virtuosic flair. As the Los Angeles Times put it, “Krieger owns a world of technique. He always knows exactly where he is going and what he is doing. He never for an instant miscalculates." Krieger is joined by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta for this new recording of Beethoven's Third and Fifth Piano Concertos.
Novak: Orchestral Works
Emerging from the fertile background of Bohemian nationalism, Vítĕzslav Novák’s music achieved cult status in his homeland for its richness of melody and orchestral color. In the Tatra Mountains was inspired by the composer’s journeys in this magnificent region. Eternal Longing is based on a poem by Hans Christian Andersen, while the dramatic Lady Godiva Overture is considered one of his most powerful works.
Evgeny Kissin: Beethoven
After a break of 25 years, Evgeny Kissin has signed a new exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The partnership resumes with the release of Kissin’s first solo recital recording in over a decade. The double-disc set is a program of Beethoven works personally chose by Kissin from recitals given over the past ten years.