Recommended
Schubert: Piano Trios (Ondine)
Ideal performances of great works – and a fitting memorial to Lars Vogt [RMo]
van Helmont: Leçons de Ténèbres (Ricercar)
Van Helmont’s Leçons fully deserve to be recorded, and Scherzi Musicali has done a great job of performing them [JV]
Ténèbres et Abysse (Château de Versailles Spectacles)
Excellent and often exciting performances of partly little-known music [JV]
Bruckner: Symphony No 8 (Capriccio)
Anyone wanting to hear the original version of Bruckner’s monumental Eighth Symphony given the best possible advocacy need look no further [RMo]
Janácek, Brahms, Bartók: Violin Sonatas (Alpha Classics)
Two firecracker performers strike a storm of sparks off one another [DMD]
Music for Strings (Chandos)
An absolutely outstanding disc containing some of the best of English string music [EJW]
The Monteverdi Organ (Brilliant Classics)
Groundbreaking from the perspective of performance practice [JV]
Havergal Brian: Symphonies No. 8, 9, 22, 24 (Heritage)
Brilliant re-masterings of superb, and possibly definitive, recordings [JF]
Haydn: 2032 Project, Vol. 13: Horn Signal (Alpha)
Recommended for a most enjoyable experience [SG]
Enescu: Piano Sonatas (Prospero Classical)
Enescu’s finest piano works in superb performances by a newcomer [SB]
Handel: Keyboard Suites (Deutsche Grammophon)
Moves the Korean into the elite group of pianists [DMD]
MacMillan: Christmas Oratorio (LPO)
A tremendous performance of an important new work by James MacMillan [JQ]
Verdi: Aïda (Pristine Audio)
A superlative transfer of an Aida which should be in every serious opera collection [PSt]
Mozart: Requiem (Rondeau)
A vivacious, thoroughly enjoyable, smaller-scale “period” account of Mozart’s inspired but incomplete liturgical masterpiece [RMo]
Beethoven: Christus am Ölberge (PHI)
A rewarding version of Beethoven’s only oratorio [SB]
Mozart: Piano Sonatas Vol. 5 (SOMM)
Sometimes monumental, sometimes impish, invariably engaging [MG]
Lutyens: Piano Works Vol. 2 (Resonus Classics)
Another chance to discover little known works by a significant but often derided figure of twentieth century British music [GH]
Sibelius: Symphonies 5-7 (Pristine Audio)
The finest Fifth I know, and an excellent Sixth and Seventh, all given a new lease of life by Pristine as XR Remastered Ambient Stereo [RMo]
Rachmaninov: All Night Vigil (Pentatone)
The famous Vespers, beautifully sung and more intimate than usual but with no lack of gravitas [RMo]
Gideon Klein: Don’t forget about me (Toccata Press)
The life of a young genius tragically ended by a cruel and evil regime [SG]
Bruckner: Symphony 4 (Exton)
Yet another superb Bruckner recording from a flawless Tokyo orchestra [RMo]
Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone): The Philips Recitals (Eloquence)
This is a glorious collection that should be a source for delight for many years to come [GF]