Editor's Choice: August 2023 | The best new classical recordings

Friday, July 7, 2023

Hilary Hahn's album of Ysaÿe's Six Solo Violin Sonatas is our Recording of the Month, alongside several other outstanding new classical releases

Editor's Choice

In every issue of Gramophone, Editor Martin Cullingford chooses 12 albums (10 new releases, plus one DVD/blu-ray and one archive recommendation) as his Editor's Choice. Below, you will find the albums selected as Editor's Choice in the August 2023 issue, beginning with the Recording of the Month. 

We've included links to the album reviews in Gramophone's Reviews Database, a digital archive of all of our reviews from 1983 to today. To find out more about subscribing to Gramophone and the Reviews Database, please visit: magsubscriptions.com

Recording of the month

Ysaye

Ysaÿe Six Solo Violin Sonatas 

Hilary Hahn vn 

DG 

An artist of intense virtuosity meets repertoire which pushes the violin to its communicative limits: Hilary Hahn’s album of Ysaÿe sonatas is an extraordinary achievement. 

Read the Gramophone review


Bruckner Symphony No 7

Bruckner Symphony No 7 

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Lahav Shani 

Warner Classics 

From his vision of this magisterial symphony to the orchestral sound world he draws from the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Lahav Shani’s Bruckner 7 is an impressive release indeed. 

Read the Gramophone review


Rachmaninov Symphonies Nos 2 & 3

Rachmaninov Symphonies Nos 2 & 3 

The Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin 

DG 

The links between Rachmaninov’s music and the Philadelphia Orchestra were clear in the cycle’s riveting first set from 2021; the spirit of excellence is just as alive here. 

Read the Gramophone review


Sancan ‘A Musical Tribute’

Sancan ‘A Musical Tribute’ 

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet pf BBC Philharmonic / Yan Pascal Tortelier

Chandos 

This little-heard music is given sparkling advocacy by one of the composer’s pupils, the brilliant Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, superbly partnered by the BBC Philharmonic.

Read the Gramophone review


Vaughan Williams Job: A Masque for Dancing

Vaughan Williams Job: A Masque for Dancing

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Andrew Manze 

Onyx 

The textural detail from Andrew Manze and the RLPO in this Vaughan Williams album is compelling and beautiful. 

Read the Gramophone review


Reich Music for 18 Musicians

Reich Music for 18 Musicians 

Synergy Vocals; Colin Currie Group 

Colin Currie Records 

The extraordinary control that Steve Reich’s fascinating work requires is matched by exquisite musicality from Colin Currie and colleagues – the result is a sublime and reflective recording.  

Read the Gramophone review


Ligeti Complete Études

Ligeti Complete Études

Han Chen pf 

Naxos 

The superb pianist Han Chen draws on an equal affinity with Romantic and contemporary repertoire to bring us a survey of Ligeti’s Études which, writes reviewer Jed Distler, stands among the best.

Read the Gramophone review


Schubert Piano Sonatas Nos 4 & 20 Schoenberg Drei Klavierstücke

Schubert Piano Sonatas Nos 4 & 20 Schoenberg Drei Klavierstücke 

Can Çakmur pf 

BIS 

A masterly and moving pair of Schubert sonatas from Can Çakmur, with an attractive attention to colour; in between comes equally inspiring Schoenberg. 

Read the Gramophone review


Vinders Masses

Vinders Masses 

The Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge / David Skinner 

Inventa 

This rare advocacy of 16th-century Jheronimus Vinders’s music from the Choir of Sidney Sussex College under David Skinner is fascinating and enjoyable.

Read the Gramophone review


Ravel L’heure espagnole. Boléro

Ravel L’heure espagnole. Boléro 

Sols; Les Siècles / François-Xavier Roth 

Harmonia Mundi 

Everything that François-Xavier Roth and his superb Les Siècles musicians turn their hands to seems to emerge as riveting and revelatory, and this Ravel recording is no exception. 

Read the Gramophone review


DVD/blu-ray

Lully Acis et Galatée

Lully Acis et Galatée 

Sols; Maggio Musicale, Florence / Federico Maria Sardelli 

Dynamic 

The only DVD currently available of Lully’s final opera makes this release a valuable addition to the catalogue. 

Read the Gramophone review


Reissue/archive

Schubert Songs   Ian Partridge

Schubert Songs 

Ian Partridge ten Jennifer Partridge pf

Somm 

James Jolly caught up with the tenor Ian Partridge in last issue’s Carte Blanche to mark the singer’s 85th birthday, and this splendid tribute to his art is a timely reminder of this fine musician’s special qualities.

Read the Gramophone review


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