Reviews by Andrew McGregor 
-
Symphony No. 15 (conductor: Bernard Haitink; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) Dmitri Shostakovich
The focus is on its genuinely symphonic breadth, the deep shadows and pregnant pauses. -
Les nuits d'été / Harold en Italie (viola: Antoine Tamestit; mezzo-soprano: Anne Sofie von Otter; Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble; Marc Minkowski) Hector Berlioz
An account of Berlioz’s Harold in Italy that’s sure to exceed expectations. -
Harmonies du Soir (feat. Piano: Nelson Freire) Franz Liszt
A Liszt recital that will linger in the memory long after the last notes. -
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartets Op.18/3, Op.18/5 & Op.135 Artemis Quartet
Delivered with apparently effortless grace and effervescent athleticism. -
Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (feat. violin: Isabelle Faust) Johann Sebastian Bach
The recording is a peach, perfectly framing Faust’s superb musicianship. -
Various Artists Works for Cello by Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and Britten
You’ll almost believe you’d bought a ticket, so brilliant is this live recording. -
String Quartets 2 and 3 / Three Divertimenti (Elias String Quartet) Benjamin Britten
The Elias Quartet catches Britten’s powerful emotional undercurrents superbly. -
Il Nerone, Ossia L’Incoronazione di Poppea (La Venexiana, Claudio Cavina) Monteverdi
A beautifully focused recording, regardless of who actually wrote it. -
Ein Heldenleben & Der Rosenkavalier Suite (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, feat. conductor Andris Nelsons) Richard Strauss
Young Latvian Nelsons conducts as though he believes in every bar. -
Complete Music for Violin & Piano (feat violin: Anthony Marwood, piano: Thomas Adès) Igor Stravinsky
Two CDs for the price of one: an excellent souvenir of a canny composer. -
Mahler - Lieder (baritone: Christian Gerhaher, piano: Gerold Huber) Gustav Mahler
This could be the finest Mahler you’ll hear all year. Absolutely essential. -
Jesu, meine Freude (Sette Voci, direction: Peter Kooij) Johann Sebastian Bach
A disc of serious beauty from Peter Kooij’s ensemble Sette Voci. -
Italian Cantatas Volume 6 - Olinto pastore (feat. cond. Fabio Bonizzoni, orch. La Risonanza) Georg Friedrich Händel
Utterly charming, transcending the obvious limitations of the text. -
Violin Concerto (feat. violin Nikolaj Znaider, cond. Sir Colin Davis, orch. Staatskapelle Dresden) Sir Edward Elgar
What we hear is Znaider’s own heartfelt response to the Elgar. -
Songs By Schubert, Wolf, Fauré and Ravel Simon Keenlyside & Malcolm Martineau
A successful document of the occasion. -
Gurrelieder (Philharmonia Orchestra, feat: cond. Esa-Pekka Salonen) Arnold Schönberg
An exhilarating journey, from illicit love to redemption with plenty of colour and range. -
Complete Works for Violin & Orchestra (feat: violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja) Ludwig van Beethoven
Kopatchinskaja has something genuinely individual to say about this masterpiece. -
Unknown Britten (feat: sop. Sandrine Piau, Northern Sinfonia, cond. Thomas Zehetmair) Benjamin Britten
Buy this for Les Illuminations, but savour it for so many new discoveries. -
Elgar & Schnittke Viola Concertos David Aaron Carpenter
Prepare to be disarmed by a remarkable debut. -
Szymanowski: Violin Concertos 1 & 2; Britten: Violin Concerto Frank Peter Zimmermann
His sweetness of tone and intense, unselfish musicality pay dividends. -
Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No.1 & Etudes-Tableaux Op.39 Yuri Paterson-Olenich
There’s something inescapably Russian about how Paterson-Olenich plays. -
The Creation Haydn
...the recording captures the whole spectacle with apparent ease... -
Symphony No. 1 and Overtures Robert Schumann
It's as refreshing and stimulating as that icy plunge after a sauna -
An Alpine Symphony/Four Last Songs Richard Strauss
...one of the finest Strauss recordings I've heard in ages. -
The Excursions Of Mr Broucek Leos Janácek
This may not be the last recorded word on Broucek, but right now it sounds like a... -
Landschaft mit entfernten Verwandten Heiner Goebbels
A seductive, sometimes shocking and viscerally exciting musical experience. -
Symphony No. 6 Valentin Vasil'yevich Silvestrov
It feels simple, yet it obviously isn’t; it’s profoundly beautiful, timeless, and... -
Volume 1 Wolfgang Rihm
Volume one of this major post-war German composer's works given an emotional performance. -
Amor Sacro Antonio Vivaldi
Buy it, and give the Four Seasons a break… -
La Mer, Preludes Claude Debussy
Let’s hope it won’t be long before we can hear the second half of the series. -
British Horn Concertos David Pyatt
The recording is Lyrita at its best... -
Cantatas, Volume 22: Eisenach Johann Sebastian Bach
...an unusual feeling of absorption, devotion and dedication... -
Sonata No.2 Frédéric Chopin
Sheer delight from end to end. -
The Makropulos Case Leoš Janáček
It’s the only opera I know starring a diva who’s over 300 years old, and still... -
Concerti Grossi Op. 3 / Sonata a 5 Georg Friedrich Händel
I can’t think of anything that would improve this package... -
Concertos and Romance Janine Jansen
...managed to make me listen to these concertos with something approaching fresh ears... -
40 Voices Huelgas Ensemble & Paul Van Nevel
...You’d have to have a cold heart not to be caught up in the performances. -
Intimate Letters Pavel Haas Quartet
This couldn’t be better. -
The Complete Preludes Debussy
Strongly, indeed, urgently recommended -
Death and the Maiden Schubert
It’s the first recording the Takacs has made for its new label Hyperion, and they... -
Symphony no. 9 (Choral) Beethoven
...truly celebratory... -
Petite Messe Solenelle Rossini
Rossini's solemn mass, written towards the end of his life, is performed here in its... -
Dynamic Triptych John Foulds
Warner Classics' second disc of music by the undeservingly neglected British... -
Bluebeard's Castle Béla Bartók
A superb English-language version of Bartók's brooding gothic opera, with fine... -
Lyrische Symphony op 18 Zemlinsky
An impressive recording of Zemlinsky's romantic masterpiece, based on a text by... -
Piano Concerto no. 1 Brahms
Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic are fabulously responsive partners to... -
The King Goes Forth to France Sallinen
Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen calls this work 'a fairy tale for grown-ups' - it... -
Violin Concertos 1 & 2 Shostakovich
Daniel Hope performs Shostakovich's two violin concertos with integrity and... -
Requiem Berlioz
An impressive SACD of a live performance... -
String Quartets Mozart
Mozart's 'Dissonance' Quartet, so-called because of its harmonically-ambiguous slow...
