classical cds

The first of two releases on the Somm label this weekend (in their “Ariadne’ series), this is also the first in their stunning ongoing Bruckner From the Archives series. It seems to have a twofold […]

After Alfvén, Borgstrøm. Hjalmar Borgstrøm (1861-1925) might not be the best-known of Scandic composers, although some of his most important works were performed in his native Norway until the Second World War. Now, with he […]

Continuing our ongoing survey of the symphonies of Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960), we reach the richly complex Fourth symphony in C-Minor, Op. 39 of 1919. The subtitle is, in Swedish, “Från Havsbandet”; in English, “From the […]

  BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA 2025 Antonio Salieri La locandiera (‘The Landlady’) (1773) Performances: The Deanery Garden, Bampto, Oxfordshire, Friday 18, Saturday 19 July Westonbirt School, Gloucestershire: Monday 25 August The Barn at Old Walland, Wadhurst, Sussex: Saturday […]

One of the great choral works, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem is often thought of as a humanist requiem, a work for the bereaved passages form teh Bible sleeked by Brahms himself. It takes a great […]

Toshio Hosokawa’s music recalls the calligraphic lines of Japanese script, but, as he puts it, ‘at the limit of time and space’. Hosokawa reframes the very way we experience the guitar; traditional folk music retains […]

Here is a disc of three magnificent performances of three Bach cantatas on the Signum label. superbly recorded in Norwood, London. The Oxford Bach Soloists is directed by Tom Hammond-Davies; Nick Pritchard is the fervent […]

LSO Futures: Homage to Pierre Boulez Debussy, Neuwirth, Arcaro, Agar, Boulez London Symphony Orchestra / Maxime Pascal (conductor). Barbican Hall, 26.01.2025  Debussy Trois Images pour Ochestre (interspersed)  Neuwirth Tombeau II Hommage à Pierre Boulez (World premiere, LSO […]

Respighi, Tubin, Falla, Ravel Will Dearden (double-bass); RCM Symphony Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko (conductor). Royal College of Music, London, 23.01.2025 Respighi Fontane di Roma, P. 106 (1916)  Tubin Double-Bass Concerto (1948)  Falla El sombrero de […]

“The idea is simple: instead of constantly travelling from one concert venue to another, I want to focus on each city for a full month and offer as much as I can to the local […]