Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - April 2024
Recordings mentioned in despatches include an 'effortless and unmanufactured' account of Smetana's Má Vlast from Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on Pentatone, a recital of mélodies and songs by French composer and music-critic Louis Beydts from former Gramophone Award-winners Cyrille Dubois and Tristan Raës on Aparté, and Shai Wosner's 'completely idiomatic' transcription of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 (performed by an all-star line-up in the form of Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos).
Recording of the Month
'It feels lived-in, inhabited, and like the recent Ninth blessed by playing from an orchestra which not only shares his vision but brings it off the page with extraordinary artistry.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
'This a symphony whose every detail is fixed in the conductor’s mind and imagination. And in the orchestra’s, too: for this is an immaculately prepared performance, as any score-reader will confirm.'
Available Format: 2 CDs
Stravinsky: Petrushka & Debussy: Jeux & Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune
Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä
'The headline feature of this terrific Petrushka is characterisation. It’s a performance full of animation and incident and from the Orchestre de Paris and their impressive line-up of wind soloists a dancer’s sensibility.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'I think it’s Bychkov’s ability to relate phrasing to sound that is at the heart of his success here. He plainly relishes the orchestra’s natural blend while celebrating the beauty of its soloists.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'These are big-hearted, bear-hug performances, full of passion. The Second Symphony is given a dramatic, propulsive reading...The Symphonic Dances come off terrifically.'
Available Format: 2 CDs + Blu-ray
Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4 & 'Archduke' Trio
Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Emanuel Ax (piano)
'The more you explore this arrangement, the more you appreciate the way Wosner respects the original without being hemmed in by it.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Another superb disc, in short, from a singer and pianist who always seem to think and feel as one. Its rediscoveries may prove significant, too.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater & Vivaldi: Nisi Dominus
Shira Patchornik (soprano), Maarten Engeltjes (countertenor), Prjct Amsterdam
'All in all a very moving and engaging performance from one of the newest and slickest ensembles on the scene.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
'Her soprano is in remarkably good shape, supple and elegant, her diction exemplary and her phrasing exquisite, deftly capturing the mood of each song.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wagner: Parsifal
Jonas Kaufmann (Parsifal), Ludovic Tézier (Amfortas), Elina Garanča (Kundry), Georg Zeppenfeld (Gurnemanz), Wolfgang Koch (Klingsor), Stefan Cerny (Titurel), Wiener Staatsoper, Philippe Jordan
'This is not conducting that draws attention to itself by means of extremes of tempo or hyper-refined textures. For a Parsifal to be led so vividly by the personalities on stage makes a welcome change.'
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Donizetti: Chiara e Serafina (Blu-ray)
Pietro Spagnoli (Don Meschino), Matías Moncada (Don Alvaro/Don Fernando), Fan Zhou (Serafina), Greta Doveri (Chiara), Hyun-Seo Davide Park (Don Ramiro), Sung-Hwan Damien Park (Picaro), Orchestra Gli Originali, Coro Dell’accademia Teatro Alla Scala, Sesto Quatrini, Gianluca Falaschi
'As revivals of forgotten operas go this is a gem: a clever staging, finely sung, of an opera that owes its 200 years’ neglect more to the circumstances of its making than to the music.'
Available Format: Blu-ray
Archive Issue of the Month
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 and other works
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, USSR Symphony Orchestra, Arvīds Jansons
'To these ears, then as now, Jansons was in essence a loyal ambassador for Mravinsky’s interpretation and the Leningraders followed him every step of the way.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
