Classical CDs Round-Up 10 | reviews, news & interviews
Classical CDs Round-Up 10
Classical CDs Round-Up 10
Anniversary Mahler sets, Schumann, Schubert, Messiaen and Dove, among others
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Gustav Mahler would be 150 this year: 'few other composers projected their personalities with such force and panache'
It’s the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth, so we investigate a 16-disc box containing his (almost) complete works, along with two other recordings of Mahler symphonies. There’s an impressive new set of Beethoven piano concertos, and there’s more quality keyboard playing in new discs of Schumann and Schubert, who’s also represented by a new Lieder recording. More vocal delights are found in two very different operas recordings and you could do worse than take a step back in time to celebrate the opening of St Paul’s Cathedral, or plunge into the perfumed, modernist sound-world of Olivier Messiaen.
It’s the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth, so we investigate a 16-disc box containing his (almost) complete works, along with two other recordings of Mahler symphonies. There’s an impressive new set of Beethoven piano concertos, and there’s more quality keyboard playing in new discs of Schumann and Schubert, who’s also represented by a new Lieder recording. More vocal delights are found in two very different operas recordings and you could do worse than take a step back in time to celebrate the opening of St Paul’s Cathedral, or plunge into the perfumed, modernist sound-world of Olivier Messiaen.
more Classical music
First Person: Leeds Lieder Festival director and pianist Joseph Middleton on a beloved organisation back from the brink
Arts Council funding restored after the blow of 2023, new paths are being forged
Classical CDs: Nymphs, magots and buckgoats
Epic symphonies, popular music from 17th century London and an engrossing tribute to a great Spanish pianist
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Philharmonia Chorus, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - poetic cello, blazing chorus
Atmospheric Elgar and Weinberg, but Rachmaninov's 'The Bells' takes the palm
Daphnis et Chloé, Tenebrae, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - lighting up Ravel’s ‘choreographic symphony’
All details outstanding in the lavish canvas of a giant masterpiece
Goldscheider, Spence, Britten Sinfonia, Milton Court review - heroic evening songs and a jolly horn ramble
Direct, cheerful new concerto by Huw Watkins, but the programme didn’t quite cohere
Marwood, Power, Watkins, Hallé, Adès, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - sonic adventure and luxuriance
Premiere of a mesmeric piece from composer Oliver Leith
Elmore String Quartet, Kings Place review - impressive playing from an emerging group
A new work holds its own alongside acknowledged masterpieces
Gilliver, LSO, Roth, Barbican review - the future is bright
Vivid engagement in fresh works by young British composers, and an orchestra on form
Josefowicz, LPO, Järvi, RFH review - friendly monsters
Mighty but accessible Bruckner from a peerless interpreter
Cargill, Kantos Chamber Choir, Manchester Camerata, Menezes, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - imagination and star quality
Choral-orchestral collaboration is set for great things
St Matthew Passion, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Barbican review - moving and humble
A small-forces performance of intimacy and directness
Classical CDs: Fog, overdubs and broken glass
An Easter oratorio, plus late-romantic song transcriptions and an iconic ballet score
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