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
ORA Singers: The Mystery of Christmas
The story of Christ’s birth has prompted generations of composers to expressions of joy and mystical reflection. The ORA Singers’ selection of carols for this album unveils a whole treasure chest of offerings, all giving voice to various elements of the Nativity story. Highlights include Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium and a carol by John Rutter written specifically for ORA’s ...
Hirundo Maris: Silent Night
Since the founding of their ensemble Hirundo Maris in 2009, Catalan harpist and singer Arianna Savall and Norwegian tenor and violist Petter Udland Johansen have committed themselves to music from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period. For Silent Night, the musicians have chosen Christmas songs from Mediterranean and Nordic traditions, entering into the magical world of centuries-old holiday music.
Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony – Utah Symphony, Thierry Fischer
The Utah Symphony under Music Director Thierry Fischer launches a recording cycle of works by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns on Hyperion Records. This three-volume set will be the first complete commercial recording of the composer’s five symphonies by an American orchestra, as well as the orchestra’s first recording project with the independent British label. Volume 1 comprises Symphony No. 3 in C minor (“Organ”), featuring Paul Jacobs; ...
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge: 100 Years of Nine Lessons and Carols
For many music lovers, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the sound of carols from King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. Each year, millions around the world enjoy the Choir’s Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. This two-part collection celebrates 100 years of the famous service with a mix of brand-new performances and historical recordings not heard since the original BBC broadcasts.
Alexandre Tharaud: Beethoven Piano Sonatas
For his first album devoted entirely to Beethoven, Alexandre Tharaud has chosen the composer’s last three sonatas: No. 30 in E major, No. 31 in A flat major, and No. 32 in C minor. These formidable works were composed between 1820 and 1822, shortly before the Ninth Symphony, and belong to the ‘late period’ that produced such mighty landmarks as the ...
Juan Diego Flórez: Bésame Mucho
Peruvian star tenor Juan Diego Flórez goes back to his roots on his new album Bésame Mucho, which reflects his personal story. His love of Latin American music started at an early age, when he was still a child. It was a deep and lasting passion and his initial encounter with it turned into a lifelong interest. “I grew up with vals criollos, Marineras, boleros, ...
Italian Masterworks – Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Riccardo Muti
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s label, CSO Resound, offers a collection of Italian overtures, choruses, and intermezzos drawn from masterworks by Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, and Boito. Music Director Riccardo Muti has presented these works numerous times over his career, including countless performances during his tenure as music director of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The performances heard on this album ...
Wayward Sisters: A Restless Heart
The American period instrument ensemble Wayward Sisters came onto the scene in 2009, bringing “distinctive freshness” (Early Music Review) and “alert, stylish performances”(Chicago Classical Review) to audiences around the country. They went on to win first prize in the 2011 Early Music America/Naxos recording competition. The ensemble’s latest album, A Restless Heart, weaves together some of the best and favorite pieces from ...
Light Eternal: The Choral Music of Morten Lauridsen
Morten Johannes Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943) is an American choral composer. A National Medal of Arts recipient (2007), he was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California for more than 40 years. On the occasion his 75th birthday in 2018, the Chamber Choir of Europe and ...
Music of the Baroque: On This Night
Long recognized as one of Chicago’s leading classical groups, Music of the Baroque is a modern instrument orchestra and chorus specializing in music from the 18th century and before. The ensemble’s popular holiday brass and choral concerts have been an important Chicago tradition for nearly four decades. On This Night features highlights from Music of the Baroque’s holiday concerts of ...
Yuja Wang: The Berlin Recital
This live recording from the Berlin Philharmonie’s Chamber Music Hall showcases Yuja Wang’s exceptional artistry, technical perfection, and boundless imagination. The thrilling recital program features three late-Romantic and 20th-century Russian composers. It is compelling repertoire that strikes a chord with Wang’s impassioned temperament and has accompanied her since the start of her career. Rounding out the program are three fascinating ...
Libera: Beyond
The young singers of Libera who are aged seven to sixteen attend many different local schools in South London and come from a variety of backgrounds. Although they are boys and they sing, they do not think of themselves as choirboys, but rather as an alternative kind of boy band. The distinctive sound of Libera has traveled the world in the ...
Seong-Jin Cho Plays Mozart
Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 International Chopin Competition, has long been steeped in the music of Mozart. “I always fell happy, I always enjoy it, when I play Mozart,” he says. “For me, Mozart has everything; his music has so many layers.” For this album, Cho collaborates with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, who are ...
Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette – San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony bring unsurpassed storytelling to their latest recording on the Grammy Award-winning SFS Media label: Berlioz’s dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette. With a narrative that Berlioz deemed “too beautiful, too musical” to not be performed, this impassioned orchestral score is further enriched by the voices of Sasha Cooke, Nicholas Phan, Luca Pisaroni, and the SFS Chorus. Tilson Thomas says, “Roméo et Juliette is a true ...
Igor Levit: Life
In January 2018, pianist Igor Levit was named the recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, which is given every four years. The jury said, “Levit is not only a superb pianist but also a deeply thoughtful and insightful artist.” His latest release on Sony Classical is a very personal selection of works born out of profound loss. Sparked by the ...
Mendelssohn: Complete Symphonies – London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
LSO Live presents Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s award-winning Mendelssohn series together in its entirety for the first time. Captured over three seasons during critically-acclaimed concerts in the Barbican Hall, this box set offers listeners the definitive account of Gardiner’s unique take on Mendelssohn with the London Symphony Orchestra: a blend between the conductor’s wide-ranging expertise and the Orchestra’s signature sound. ...
Stravinsky: Petrushka, Jeu de cartes – Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev
The Mariinsky Label presents Valery Gergiev’s first recording of Stravinsky’s iconic ballet Petrushka, paired with one of the composer’s hidden gems, the witty Jeu de cartes. Stravinsky’s score to Petrushka is one of his most celebrated works and a product of his famous collaboration with Serge Diaghilev that also produced The Firebird and The Rite of Spring. Presented here in the composer’s original 1911 version, it tells the ...
Puccini in Love – Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna
The husband and wife duo of tenor Roberto Alagna and soprano Aleksandra Kurzak have made the most poignant duets from Puccini’s operas the focus of their first collaborative album, Puccini in Love. The album features excerpts from Manon Lescaut, La Fanciulla del West, Madama Butterfly, Il Tabarro, and, of course, La Bohéme. The performances are brimming over with passion and ...
Eric Lu: Music of Chopin & Beethoven
Warner Classics and Askonas Holt announce the signing of 20-year old American pianist Eric Lu, winner of the prestigious 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition. As part of this year’s prize, the winner receives worldwide management with Askonas Holt, one of the world’s leading arts management agencies, and an international album release on Warner Classics, one of the foremost global classical music recording companies. Lu’s ...
Neave Trio: Celebrating Piazzolla
The Neave Trio celebrates Astor Piazzolla’s rich legacy through arrangements, by one of Piazzolla’s longtime colleagues and by a younger protégé. “All three of us wear many musical hats, emulating other sounds and instruments,” says Anna Williams. “Sometimes we provide percussion. At times we were inspired by the sounds of bandoneón, accordion, guitar, viola, and double bass.” Mezzo-soprano Carla Jablonski ...
