1 July 2024

Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Folk Song Arrangements
Studio Master: 4854624  Download only  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘Once into the fray, the cellist, here an amiable-sounding Sheku Kanneh-Mason, delivers first, with his equally distinctive partners in tow, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor keeping to a moderate tonal palette without compromising his distinctive playing style, violinist Nicola Benedetti sounding silvery-clean, all three attentively supported by the Philharmonia under the vital baton of Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The pulse is constant and so is the sense of dialogue, all three players serving as firsts among equals, the big tutti appearing every now and then to remind us of the main thematic agenda. Unbend the Triple with big personalities and it can topple, but here the balance is absolutely right, a model of judicious pacing, too; there’s character to spare, which is as it should be … this can be considered a benchmark Triple’ (Gramophone)
1 July 2024
The Times
Reformation
Studio Master: CDA68445  RECORD OF THE MONTH   Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘Her first solo recital, and it’s a triumph’ (The Times)

1 July 2024

Reinecke & Sauer: Piano Concertos
Studio Master: CDA68429  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘Simon Callaghan’s advocacy presents [Sauer] in the best possible light … Callaghan’s verve and insight along with a laudable response from the St Gallen forces under Modestas Pitrėnas make this version preferable to that by Oleg Marshev … this new release is the most valuable recent addition to an estimable series’ (Gramophone)
1 July 2024
The Absolute Sound, USA
Schubert: String Quartets D112 & 887
Studio Master: CDA68423  RECORD OF THE MONTH   Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘The main work here is the vast and astonishing G Major Quartet. Composed in 1826, it is close kin to the Quintet in C, D956, having the same expansiveness, the same three key-area first movement exposition, and speaking things utterly new to the language of chamber music—like the unearthly crescendos on long notes, and the Brucknerian tremolos played, seemingly, on a single hair of the bow. You sense, to paraphrase Stefan George's Rapture, that you really are feeling the air of a different planet. The Takács foursome make the whole piece interesting, similarly the early B flat quartet, with a welcome unanimity of gesture and attack. Excellent sound’ (The Absolute Sound, USA)
PERFORMANCE
RECORDING
1 July 2024

Schubert: String Quartets D112 & 887
Studio Master: CDA68423  RECORD OF THE MONTH   Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘This is exceptional musicianship by any standards … Schubert’s G major is a mammoth work that simply has to be heard. If you don’t know it and fancy a new recording of the work, then the Takács as recorded last year rival the best. Thoroughly recommended’ (Gramophone)
1 July 2024
The Times, Geoff Brown
Sibelius & Prokofiev: Violin Concertos
Studio Master: 4854748  Download only  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘From her opening note in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, the Dutch violinist … grabs our ears and never lets them go. She is anguished and ardent, gutsy and tender, or whatever else the music requires, with every emotional inflection firmly embedded in the composer’s long singing lines’ (The Times)

1 July 2024

Sibelius & Prokofiev: Violin Concertos
Studio Master: 4854748  Download only  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘So impressive. Janine Jansen essentially strips these pieces of all the years of what one might call ‘performance adornment’ and takes them back to their elemental roots. From Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic the shimmer at the start of the Sibelius is a frosty haze that you can see rather than hear and from the moment Jansen starts into her ariosa the intensity of her almost painfully true intonation fixes you with its unflinching belief’ (Gramophone)
28 June 2024
AllMusic, USA, James Manheim
Reformation
Studio Master: CDA68445  RECORD OF THE MONTH   Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘Newcomer pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen touches on various topics in her notes for this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists … every interpretation is well considered, and there is never any feeling that one is hearing a Romantic vision of the English (and Dutch) Renaissance. A wonderful outing from a pianist whom listeners are likely to get to know better’ (AllMusic, USA)

13 June 2024
The Spectator, Damian Thompson
Busoni: Late Piano Music
Studio Master: CDA67951/3  3CDs  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘Marc-André Hamelin powers through this tour de force [the Giga, bolero e variazione] in under four minutes—one of the miracles of the recorded repertoire’ (The Spectator)
11 June 2024

Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Folk Song Arrangements
Studio Master: 4854624  Download only  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘There are surely no more charismatic young performers in this country today than violinist Nicola Benedetti, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and together they make a stellar team, bursting with energy and expressive precision’ (BBC Music Magazine)

11 June 2024
Rondo Classic, Finland, Antti Häyrynen
Grieg: Holberg Suite, Ballade & Lyric Pieces
Studio Master: CDA68424  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

'Griegin sarja Hollbergin ajoilta on alun perin pianoteos, vaikka se tunnetaan paremmin säveltäjän versiona jousiorkesterille. Andrei Gugnin tunkeutuu norjalaiseen sielun- ja vuonomaisemaan virtuoosisesti virittyneenä ja romanttisesti latautuneena. Näytelmäkirjailija Ludwig Hollbergin vanhoja hyviä aikoja 1700-luvulla muisteleva sarja kuulostaa tässä aidosti pianistiselta ja nostalgiselta, paikoin sentimentaaliseltakin' (Rondo Classic, Finland)
10 June 2024
Limelight, Australia, Steve Moffatt
Russian Variations
Studio Master: CDA68428  Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

‘Australia’s foremost pianist Piers Lane is a busy man … his extensive catalogue of albums for Hyperion is being expanded with the release of this magical collection of Russian variations on folk tunes from four composers … Rachmaninov’s Variations on a theme of Chopin need little introduction. In just under 30 minutes, he squeezes the pips out of Chopin’s C minor Prelude No 20. Lane’s performance here, as elsewhere on this superb disc, is exemplary’ (Limelight, Australia)» More

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