Remembering Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Friday, September 23, 2022

Anna Barry, who produced the baritone's 11 recital albums for Philips, recalls a great artist

This autumn marks five year since the death of the baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, aged just 55. To mark this sad anniversary Decca Eloquence has gathered together the 11 recital programmes he recorded for Philips following his sensational triumph at the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World competition, one that launched his live and recorded career. Anna Barry was the producer of all of Hvorostovsky’s recordings for Philips, and for this week's edition of the Gramophone Podcast she joined Editor Martin Cullingford to look back at a glorious voice and a fine artist.

Gramophone Podcasts are presented in association with Wigmore Hall. To see details of concerts for the week starting September 17, please scroll down.

You can listen to the Podcast above. To hear other Gramophone podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'Gramophone' in your Podcast App of choice, or visit Gramophone's page on Apple Music podcasts.

Upcoming concerts at Wigmore Hall, September 24-30

Saturday, September 24 - 7.30pm

Violinist Tai Murray, viola-player Amihai Grosz, cellist Shéku Kanneh-Mason and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason give a concert to raise funds for Parkinson’s UK, a charity close to all their hearts. The programme contains duos by Mozart and Beethoven, alongside piano quartets by Schumann and Brahms, his Third.

Sunday, September 25 - 11.30am

The Zemlinsky Quartet plays Mozart’s Dissonance and Dvorák’s E flat Quartet.

Sunday, September 25 - 7.30pm

Igor Levit returns to Wigmore Hall for six Bach chorales arranged by Busoni, Fred Hersch’s Variations on a Folk Song, Wagner’s Tristan prelude arranged by Zoltán Kocsis and Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor.

Monday, September 26 - 1pm

Cellist Laura van der Heiden and pianist Tom Poster play sonatas by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and George Walker, with miniatures by Errolyn Walken and Rachmaninov.

Monday, September 26 – 7.30pm (preceded by an introduction at 6pm)

The Mozartists and Ian Page at Wigmore Hall joined by the soprano Chiara Skerath. Bookended by symphonies by Vanhal and Kozeluch, the programme features arias by Gluck, Mozart, Myslivecek and Benda.

Tuesday, September 27 - 7.30pm

The English Concert and Harry Bickett give a programme of Purcell and Blow culminating in Purcell’s Ode for Queen Mary’s Birthday, ‘Now Does the Glorious Day Appear’. Soloists include the countertenors Iestyn Davies and Hugh Cutting.

Wednesday, September 28 - 1pm

In anticipation of Wigmore Hall’s 2022/23 Britten Plus Series, the viola-player, composer, editor and Royal College of Music professor Simon Rowland-Jones delves into the inner workings of Britten’s string quartets. His talk will feature live extracts performed by the young Medea Quartet, formed of recent and current RCM students.

Wednesday, September 28 – 7.30pm

Mezzo Dame Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton performing songs by Berg, Barber, Chausson, Turnage, Schoenberg, Berg and Kurt Weill.

Thursday, September 29 - 7.30pm

Portuguese pianist Maria João Pies plays Schubert’s sonatas in A, D664 and B flat, D960, with Debussy’s two Arabesques and Suite bergamasque in between.

Friday, September 30 – 1pm

The return of the Wigmore Hall French Song Exchange – devised by Dame Felicity Lott and François le Roux at John Gilhooly’s invitation – with a Wigmore Hall recital, offering gifted singers the chance to explore the genre through coaching and direction from their mentors, culminating in these performances. Sopranos Caroline Taylor and Kirsty McLean and tenor Laurence Kilsby are joined by pianist Sebastian Wybrew.

Friday, September 30 – 7.30pm

The Schumann Quartet play quartets by Schumann, his Op 41 No 3 and Brahms, his Op 52 No 2, alongside the world premiere of Stefan Heucke’s 'Frei aber einsam' – a Fantasy on Love Songs by Clara and Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, Op. 119 and Brahms’s Ophelia-Lieder arranged for mezzo and string quartet by Aribert Reimann.

To watch any of the streamed concerts visit wigmore-hall.org.uk. Tickets for September to December concerts are on sale now. 

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