Choice

Donizetti: Signor Gaetano / Javier Camarena

“Above all, there’s simply an enormous amout to enjoy in Camarena’s singing, right from the ranz des vaches-like solo that opens the first track. But this album is so much more than a vocal showcase. Camarena, vividly abetted by Frizza, brings dramatic urgency to everything he does. All in all, this is a hugely enjoyable and unusually satisfying and engaging operatic recital....” – Gramophone Recording of the Month (Pentatone)

1CD# PTC5186886 $15.99

Vaughan Williams; Howells; Delius; Elgar: Music for Strings / John Wilson

“ A new release from John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London – a well-known ensemble in the 1950s, relaunched in 2018 by Wilson for special projects – has become a redletter day in the recording calendar. As ever, the brilliance of the playing makes this essential listening, the precision and attention to detail alive and exhilarating.” – The Guardian (Chandos)

1SACD# CHSA 5291 $21.99

Janáček – Brahms – Bartók / Patricia Kopatchinskaja; Fazil Say

“There is no piece of music — works by Tchaikovsky or Schoenberg, or an old folk tune — that the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja cannot play in a way that unwinds your expectations and forces you to hear it anew. So it is with the latest chapter in her partnership with the intrepid Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say.” – New York Times (Alpha)

1CD# ALPHA885 $18.99

African-American Voices / Kellen Gray; Royal Scottish NO

“This release gives evidence that the rediscovery of music by African Americans is spreading beyond American shores, even if the conductor here, Kellen Gray, is of southern American background. He leads the Royal Scottish National Orchestra confidently in music that was probably new to all involved, even Gray himself. It speaks well of the young conductor that he has programmed some unusual works.” – AllMusicGuide (Linn Records)

1CD# CKD699 $18.99

Mozart: La clemenza di Tito [2 CDs]

“In recent decades La clemenza di Tito has come into its own, and this 2020 recording will add to its popularity. The title role Is difficult to cast, but Nicky Spence has the range, the fluency and the technique to bring off all the vocal challenges. The recitatives in which Spence expresses his confliected position are highlights.” – BBC Music (Alpha)

2CD# ALPHA793 $27.99

Beethoven: Sonatas for Piano & Violin / Midori; Jean-Yves Thibaudet [3 CDs]

“In their new album, Midori and Jean-Yves Thibaudet have taken on a project not meant for the faint-of-heart. The release perhaps fittingly commemorates the violinist’s illustrious career to date and the 40th anniversary of her professional debut. Given their long-term friendship, Midori and Thibaudet’s artistic relationship is relatively new; the duo first collaborated in the 2018-19 season.” – The Classic Review (Warner)

3CD# MOB215360 $24.99

Poulenc: Les Animaux modèles; Sinfonietta / Bramwell Tovey

“There’s plenty of meat in Poulenc’s Sinfonietta, not least in the abundance of memorable tunes, some borrowed from one of the composer’s many abandoned string quartets. Above all, Tovey engenders a sense of energy and fun, reminding us that although the work lasts for nearly half an hour, it is well named. – BBC Music (Chandos)

1SACD# CHSA 5260 $19.99

Spohr: Complete Works for Clarinet & Orchestra [2 CDs]

“The Finnish artist Christoffer Sundqvist is one of the leading clarinetists of his generation, and we are very happy to have won him for our complete edition of Louis Spohr’s works for clarinet and orchestra. Not only the extremely brilliant and masterful four clarinet concertos can be heard, but also all the other works for clarinet and orchestra, composed at that time for the virtuoso Johann Simon Hermstedt.” – Classical Music Daily (CPO)

2CD# 555151-2 $33.99

Palumbo: Woven Lights

“With echoes seemingly coming from Alban Berg’s violin concerto, Palumbo’s own Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2015) displays bittersweet lyricism. Characterized by a dramatic language and driven by a strong and varied rhythmic impulse, the single-movement work also offers transitional moments of static beauty typical of the composer’s usual finesse in the scoring.” – Classical Music Daily (BIS)

1CD# BIS-2625 $19.99

Elgar: Viola Concerto – Block: Suite for Viola & Orchestra / Timothy Ridout; BBC SO

“The concerto is entirely convincing as a viola work, which makes its rarity in the concert hall and on disc all the more surprising – apparently this is just the third ever commercial recording. It could even be argued that the central pair of movements are more effective in the viola version than in the original....”

– The Guardian (Harmonia Mundi)

1CD# MOB946534 $19.99