Warner Classics
Violinist Maria Ioudenitch seems to know how to get directly at the expressive core of this fare without devolving into showboating or histrionics.
Read MorePianist Beatrice Rana, joined by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and conductor Yanick Nézet-Séguin, plays the daylights out of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor.
Read MoreAugustin Hadelich has the feeling of this music – its bittersweet melodic phrases, dancing riffs, and restrained passion – well in hand.
Read MoreTaken together, this is a release that showcases both the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor – as well as their repertoire choices – in a brilliant light.
Read MoreThe most striking thing about violinist Augustin Hadelich’s approach to these Bach pieces is his emphasis on the music’s dancing line.
Read MoreNothing to recommend in Daniel Lozakovich’s take on the Beethoven Violin Concerto, but Midori’s performance of the piece is completely unpretentious, natural, and exciting. Gidon Kremer & friends serve up a terrifically flexible version of Carl Reinecke’s adaptation of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.
Read MoreSoprano Ruby Hughes’ album is fine, well played, sung, and programmed; baritone Christoph Prégardien delivers vocal works by Mahler, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Max Reger with warmth; soprano Diana Damrau is in her glorious prime singing the songs of Strauss.
Read MoreDiana Tishchenko’s a violinist well worth keeping an eye on; Jun Märkl leads the MSO in brisk, shapely readings of pieces by Saint-Saëns; Françoix-Xavier Roth and Les Siecles come up with some winning Berlioz.
Read MoreJohn Nelson’s La Damnation de Faust is a triumph; you will rarely encounter Villa-Lobos played with greater understanding or in better sound than here; Paavo Järvi and his orchestra’s survey of Messiaen orchestral works early and late is resplendent.
Read MoreA fresh, bracing take on Beethoven as a dramatist, Tesla Quartet serves up refreshingly direct and emotionally-complex performances of Mozart, and flautist Emmanuel Pahud has crafted an ear-catching, unpredictable program.
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