The classical albums of note this month found our reviewers covering both the familiar in new ways and the unfamiliar. Among the former are orchestrations of Brahms’ music by later composers, conducted by Michael Stern. Among the latter is the third volume of Haydn’s Piano Trios from Trio Gaspard (pictured). The ensemble always includes a new piece as well, that reflects on the original Classical-era music. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, one of the earliest operas ever written, is also familiar, but Stéphane Fuget and his group Les Épopées give it an immediacy rarely heard. Finally, cellist Laura van der Heijden gives us a new, attractive, nature-themed concerto by Cheryl Frances-Hoad.
Below are the reviews of the classical albums of the month:
- Are We Dreaming the Same Dream? by Akropolis Reed Quintet
- Stradella: Mottetti by Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
- Margaret Brouwer: Rhapsodies by Marin Alsop, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Florent Schmitt: La Tragedie de Salome; Chant Élégiaque by Alain Altinoglu, Frankfrut Radio Symphony
- Wonder Women by L’Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar
- Casta Diva by Cecilia Bartoli
- Beethoven: Triple Concerto by Nicola Benedetti, Benjamin Grosvenor, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Philharmonia Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali
- Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860”; The St. Gaudens (“Black March”) by Donald Berman
- Arnold Schoenberg: Expressionist Music by Claire Booth, Christopher Glynn
- The Lost Generation: Apostel, Kauder, Busch by Leon Botstein, The Orchestra Now
- Mozart: Concertos pour Cor by Dennis Brain, Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
- Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 87: Reinecke, Sauer by Simon Callaghan, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Modestas Pitrenas
- Cage2 by Bertrand Chamayou
- Sonatas & Myths: Bartók, Szymanowski, Dohnányi by Elizabeth Chang, Steven Beck
- How Are the Mighty Fallen: Choral Music by Giovanni Bononcini by Helen Charlston, Guy Cutting, Rowan Pierce, Academy of Ancient Music, Choir of the Queen’s College, Oxford, Owen Rees
- Conversation: Gaspard Le Roux – Suites pour deux clavecins by William Christie, Justin Taylor
- Mozart: Sinfonia Concerante KV 364; Rondos KV 382 & 386; Horn Concerto No. 2 KV 417 by Johan Dalene, Eivind Ringstad, Ariel Lanyi, Alexandre Zanettam Howard Griffiths
- Gabriela Ortiz: Revolución diamantina by María Dueñas, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel
- Daron Hagen: Heike Quinto by Duo Yumeno
- Lukas Foss: Symphony No. 1; Renaissance Concerto; Three American Pieces; Ode by JoAnn Falletta, Nikki Chooi, Amy Porter, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
- Beethoven: The Mahler Re-Orchestrations by Michael Francis, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
- Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine by John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists, His Majesties Sagbutts and Cornetts
- Queen of Hearts by The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park
- Debussy: Images by Saskia Giorgini
- Messiaen by Barbara Hannigan, Bertrand Chamayou
- Urlicht: Songs of Death and Resurrection by Samuel Hasselhorn, Poznan Philharmonic, Lukasz Borowicz
- Sibelius, Prokofiev 1: Violin Concertos by Janine Jansen, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä
- Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. 1 by Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
- Mozart: Die Zauberflöte by Otto Klemperer, Nicolai Gedda, Gundula Janowitz
- Ravel: Piano Concerto; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4 by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
- W.A. Mozart: Adagio and Fugue KV 546; Sinfonia Concertante KV 364; Symphony No. 27 KV 199 by Alessandro Milani, Luca Ranieri, Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni, Massimo Belli
- Reformation by Mishka Rushdie Momen
- Johannes Brahms: The Symphonies by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Chamber Orchestra of Europe
- Gluck: Orfeo & Euridice by Jakub Jozef Orlinski, Elsa Dreisig, Fatma Said, Stefan Plewniak
- Mozart Symphonies by Tarmo Peltokoski, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
- The Muses Restor’d by Rachel Podger, Brecon Baroque
- My Peace I Give You by Poor Clares of Arundel
- Mozart: Mass No. 7 ‘Missa in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis’; Missa Brevis in D major; Missa Brevis in B flat major by Christoph Poppen, WDR Radio Choir, Cologne Chamber Orchestra
- Monteverdi: L’Orfeo by Julian Prégardien, Les Épopées, Stéphane Fuget
- Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Complete String Quartets by Quartetto Adorno
- Rachel Baptist: Ireland’s Black Syren by Rachel Redmond, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Peter Whelan
- George Lloyd: The Piano Concertos by Martin Roscoe, Kathryn Stott, George Lloyd
- Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 5 by Gil Rose, Sarah Brady, Gabriela Díaz, Boston Modern Orchestra Project
- Clear Voices in the Dark by Skylark
- Ernesto Lecuona: Piano Music by Pierre Solot
- Brahms: Reimagined Orchestrations by Michael Stern, Kansas City Symphony
- Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 “Babiy Yar”; Arvo Pärt: De profundis by John Storgårds, Albert Dohmen, Estonian National Male Choir, BBC Philharmonic
- Glazunov: Raymonda by Gavin Sutherland, English National Ballet Philharmonic
- Schubert: String Quartet in G major D887; String Quartet in B flat major D112 by Takács Quartet
- Songs for Peter Pears by Robin Tritschler, Philip Higham, Malcolm Martineau, Sean Shibe
- Bridge: Oration; Frances-Hoad: Earth, Sea, Air; Walton: Cello Concerto by Laura van der Heijden, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ryan Wigglesworth
- Mahler 3 by Osmo Vänskä, Minnesota Orchestra
- Jules Massenet: Werther (Version Baryton) by György Vashegyi, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
- To Sing of Love by VOCES8 Foundation Choir & Orchestra
- Maria Herz: Piano Concerto; Cello Concerto; Orchestral Works by Konstanze von Gutzeit, Oliver Triendl, Christiane Silber
- Kenneth Fuchs: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 by John Wilson, Sinfonia of London
- Robert Saxton: Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh by Kenneth Woods, English Symphony Orchestra, English String Orchestra
- Between Two Worlds: Prokofiev, Engel, Ben-Haim by Guy Yehuda
Which of these albums would you like to learn more about? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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