Decca
Violinist Lea Birringer does dazzlingly right by Sibelius and Szymanowski concertos and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason finds life and defiance in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2.
A conspicuously inviting account of Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, and a welcome surprise: Aram Khachaturian actually wrote a pretty good piano concerto.
The performances on the recording exhibit no conception of Shostakovich’s style – where is this music’s irony and sarcasm, let alone pathos? – not to mention any sense of how to navigate large-scale forms.
Composer Anna Clyne’s collection of works for mostly solo instruments offers enormous musical satisfaction; pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason knows how to craft an enticing program and advocate for it.
Conductor Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony deliver a conspicuously satisfying and fluent Bruckner Seventh. Dutch violinist Janine Jansen also possesses an uncommon ability to enliven the familiar.
Randall Goosby’s sophomore album proves that the violinist is the real deal.
While one is willing to grant a 27-year-old conductor some benefit of the doubt, there’s little here to suggest that the Great Nordic Hope of Classical Music isn’t simply out of his depth.
A trio of reviews of recordings that include sadly neglected pieces by Dvořák, pianist Mitsuko Uchida’s phenomenal Diabelli Variations, and a haunting, arresting round-up of new music by the Departure Duo.
Conductor Klaus Mäkelä may be young, but, on the merits of this set, he sure seems to be the real deal. Buckle up: this ought to be an exciting career.
A thoughtfully conceived, technically excellent, beautifully recorded, and expressively rich album that celebrates 20th-century piano music by (mostly) American composers.
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