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

Friday, May 12, 2023

Vox Luminis's 'Ein Deutsches Barockrequiem', Randall Goosby plays Bruch and Price concertos, Rafael Payare conducts Mahler's Symphony No 5, Carolyn Sampson sings Schubert

Recording of the month

Barockrequiem

Ein Deutsches Barockrequiem

Vox Luminis / Lionel Meunier 

Ricercar 

The new project from Vox Luminis (Recording of the Year winners in 2012) takes the texts used by Johannes Brahms in A German Requiem as the inspiration for a new Baroque journey.

Read the Gramophone review


Bruch. Price Violin Concertos

Bruch. Price Violin Concertos 

Randall Goosby vn Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet‑Séguin

Decca Classics

Randall Goosby follows his 2021 debut ‘Roots’ with this impressive advocacy for Florence Price’s two violin concertos, alongside the more familiar one by Bruch.

Read the Gramophone review


Mahler Symphony No 5

Mahler Symphony No 5 

Montreal Symphony Orchestra / Rafael Payare 

Pentatone 

Rafael Payare and his Montreal Symphony players offer a reading of Mahler’s Fifth of intensity and rich orchestral exploration, a real marker in their ongoing partnership.

Read the Gramophone review


Schreker Orchestral Works

Schreker Orchestral Works

Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra / Christoph Eschenbach 

DG 

A ‘meticulously prepared and wonderfully idiomatic’ survey of Schreker works spanning the composer’s career, thoroughly recommended by critic Christian Hoskins.

Read the Gramophone review


Grime. Newland. Turnage ‘Bracing Change 2’

Grime. Newland. Turnage ‘Bracing Change 2’ 

Bozzini, Heath & Piatti Quartets 

NMC 

The NMC label offers us another superb insight into contemporary quartet-writing – three composers, three ensembles, and three compelling performances. 

Read the Gramophone review


‘Im Freien’

‘Im Freien’ 

Zlata Chochieva pf 

Naïve 

Zlata Chochieva beautifully inhabits these composer’s very different sound worlds – including superb interpretations of Schumann’s Waldszenen and Ravel’s Miroirs – with pianism of elegance, insight and virtuosity.

Read the Gramophone review


Byrd Songs of Sundrie Natures

Byrd 1589 – Songs of Sundrie Natures 

Alamire; Fretwork / David Skinner 

Inventa 

Byrd’s complete Songs of Sundrie Natures of 1589 in hugely impressive performances by Alamire and David Skinner, joined by Fretwork – a superb Byrd anniversary release.

Read the Gramophone review


Obrecht Missa Maria zart

Obrecht Missa Maria zart 

Cappella Pratensis / Stratton Bull 

Challenge Classics 

We delved into the story behind this recording – and indeed the work itself, a Renaissance masterpiece of remarkable length – last month; the result is just as wonderful as we hoped. 

Read the Gramophone review


Schubert ‘Elysium’

Schubert ‘Elysium’ 

Carolyn Sampson sop Joseph Middleton pf

BIS 

Soprano Carolyn Sampson, pianist Joseph Middleton, Schubert songs: this album may be self-recommending on those facts alone, and to hear it is indeed to experience exquisite music-making. 

Read the Gramophone review


Stanford Requiem

Stanford Requiem 

Sols; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Martyn Brabbins

Hyperion 

In this outstanding performance of a rarely heard choral work by Stanford, Martyn Brabbins guides the musicians with sensitivity and affection in a beautifully judged account. 

Read the Gramophone review


DVD/blu-ray

Cavalieri Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo

Cavalieri Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo 

Sols; Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini 

Naxos 

Director Robert Carsen brings Cavalieri’s work to life; conductor Giovanni Antonini draws out the score’s texture and colours.  

Read the Gramophone review


Reissue/archive

Victor Schiøler ‘The Great Danish Pianist, Vol 6’

Victor Schiøler ‘The Great Danish Pianist, Vol 6’ 

Danacord 

Danish pianist Victor Schiøler’s performance of Brahms’s B flat major Concerto is a highlight here: ‘a massive performance, wild, reckless but also considered where needs be’, writes an impressed Rob Cowan. 

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