Several albums stood out to our reviewers this month. One of those was a beautiful recital of French orchestral songs by Sandrine Piau (pictured). Also from France, Christophe Rousset lead his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and impressive star singers in one of Lully’s famous operas, Atys. The same musicians also gave us a little-known operatic version of the Faust story by 19th century composer Louise Bertin. What would stage works be without an overture? The new ensemble, The Philharmonic Brass — expert performers from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras and others — debuts with Overture!, a richly textured program of concert and opera overtures.
Behzod Abduraimov – Shadows of My Ancestors
Piotr Anderszewski – Bartók, Janácek, Szymanowski
Andrew Armstrong – In Blue
Claudio Astronio, THERESIA – Joseph Martin Kraus: Overtures
Emmanuele Baldini, Rafael Cesario – José Antônio de Almeida Prado: Works for Violin and Cello
Martin James Bartlett – La Danse
Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas, Les Surprises – Te Deum: Charpentier, Desmarest
Tomáš Brauner, Prague Symphony Orchestra – Dvorák: Slavonic Dances
Brundibár Ensemble – Forgotten Voices Rediscovered: Henriette Bosmans, Fania Chapiro
Gregor Bühl, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz – Miklós Rózsa: Overture to a Symphony Concert; Hungarian Serenade; Tripartita
Javier Camarena, Angel Rodriguez – Sogno: Tosti Songs
Charles Castronovo, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Ivan Repusic – Puccini: I Canti – Orchestral Songs & Works
Het Collectief – Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps; Murail: Stalag VIIIa
Le Consort – Philarmonica: Purcell, Matteis, Mrs Philarmonica
Elsa Dreisig, Adèle Charvet, Stéphane Degout – Rita Strohl: Musique vocale, Vol. 1 – Une compositrice de la démesure
James Ehnes, BBC Philharmonic, Andrew Davis – Stravinsky: Violin Concerto; Scherzo à la russe; Apollon Musagète; Orchestral Suites
JoAnn Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra – Kodály: Háry János Suite; Summer Evening; Symphony in C major
Sol Gabetta, Bertrand Chamayou – Mendelssohn
Edward Gardner, London Philharmonic Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra – Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
Véronique Gens, Cyrille Dubois, Hervé Niquet – Charpentier: Médée
Angela Gheorghiu, Vincenzo Scalera – A Te, Puccini
Gustavo Gimeno, Nathalie Forget, Marc-André Hamelin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra – Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphonie
Philip Glass – Solo
Bernard Haitink, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks – Bruckner: Symphonie Nr. 7
Marc-André Hamelin – Marc-André Hamelin: Variations on a theme of Paganini; My feelings about chocolate; Suite à la ancienne; Etc.
Domingo Hindoyan, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra – Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E flat major
Ruby Hughes, Manchester Collective – End of My Days
Judith Ingolfsson, Vladimir Stoupel – Rebecca Clarke: Sonatas for Violin, Viola & Piano
Neeme Järvi, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra – Lalo: Suites and Valse de la Cigarette from Namouna; Overture to Le Roi d’Ys; Symphony in G minor
Martin Jones – Piano Music of Oscar Fernândez
Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max – Georg Philipp Telemann: A Christmas Oratorio Pasticcio
Anastasia Kobekina – Venice
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Reto Bieri, Polina Leschenko – Take 3
Adam Laloum – Schubert: Piano Sonata D. 959; Moments musicaux D.780
Igor Levit – Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte
London Oratory Schola Cantorum, Charles Cole – Sacred Treasures of Venice
LyricFest – Daron Hagen: The Art of Song
Gergely Madaras, Hungarian National Chorus, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège – César Franck: Les Béatitudes
Francesco Meli, Maria José Siri, James Conlon – Verdi: Ernani
Riccardo Minasi, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg – Strauss: Metamorphosen & Wind Sonatina No. 1
Neave Trio – A Room of Her Own
Orchestra of the Swan – Earthcycle
Phantasm – Matthew Locke: Consorts Flat and Sharp
Philharmonic Brass, Tugan Sokhiev – Overture!
Sandrine Piau, Jean-François Verdier – Reflet
Quatuor Modigliani – Grieg, Smetana
Timothy Ridout, James Baillieu, Frank Dupree – A Lionel Tertis Celebration
Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Flemish Radio Choir – Louise Bertin: Fausto
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Sibelius: Symphony No. 4; The Wood Nymph; Valse Triste
George Rowley – Gurney: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3; Piano Sonata No. 2 – II. Adagio; Five Preludes; Autumn
Ola Rudner, Tonkünstler-Orchester – Suppé: Fantasia Symphonica; Orchestral Overtures; Preludes
Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, Fifth Avenue, New York – Byrd: Sacred Works
Andreas Scholl, Czech Ensemble Baroque, Roman Válek – František Tůma
Choir of St. Luke’s, Chelsea; Grace Davidson; Jeremy Summerly – Philip W.J. Stopford: Sacred Choral Music
Talea Ensemble, Harlem Chamber Players – Julius Eastman: Femenine
Cédric Tiberghien – Variation(s) 2: Beethoven, Sweelinck, Bach, Cage, Feldman, Crumb
Jean-Luc Tingaud, Rundfunks-Sinfonieorchester Berlin – Franck: Symphony in D minor; Chausson: Symphony in B flat major
Trio Zimbalist – Piano Trios of Weinberg, Auerbach, & Dvorák
United Strings of Europe, Julian Azkoul – Through the Night
Elena Urioste, Tom Poster – Le Temps retrouvé: Fauré, Bonis, Hahn, Boulanger
Timo-Veikko Valve, Aura Go – Beethoven: Cello Sonatas; Webern: Works for Cello and Piano
Reinoud Van Mechelen, Marie Lys. Christophe Rousset – Lully: Atys
Jörg Widmann, Hagen Quartett – Mozart & Widmann: Clarinet Quintets
Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann – Neujahrskonzert 2024 [New Year’s Concert]
Michael Alexander Willens, Kölner Akademie – Mozart: Overtures
Llyr Williams – Robert Schumann: Piano Works
Frank Peter Zimmermann, Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša – Stravinsky: Violin Concerto; Bartók: Rhapsodies 1 and 2; Martinu: Suite Concertante; Méditation
