Category: Classical
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Clare Teal: Twelve O’Clock Tales
There’s not much to say about this: Clare Teal, one of Britain’s best loved jazz singers, and also a broadcaster, is famous not only for her voice but for signing the biggest recording contract by a British jazz singer. She specialises in singing standards and for this new CD is joined by The Hallé Orchestra,…
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Sigvards Klava: Arvo Pärt, Da Pacem Domine
To call this CD awe-inspiring is like saying the Grand Canyon is big or Formula One noisy. Just as the Grand Canyon is so big it’s hard to take in the first time you see it, this is so awe-inspiring that it knocks the senses a little at the first play through. We visited Auschwitz…
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Gerald Finzi: A Finzi Anthology
We’ve been playing this collection of the work of Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) a fair amount, as it is enjoyable and relatively undemanding. Finzi was one of the most characteristically “English” composers of his generation and while he did write some Christian texts, being an agnostic of Jewish descent he tends not to be overtly religious.…
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Philip Henderson: From The Old World To The New World
You could almost class this is a pop album — there’s an osmotic connection between ambient pop and classical music and this excellent CD is most definitely the pop side in places. Henderson wrote the music for shows such as The Far Pavilions and this awareness of what the masses wants infuses this easy-on-the-ear classical…
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Yevgeny Sudbin: Scarlatti: 18 Sonatas
Ignorance is bliss in this case. We thought this CD of piano renditions of Scarlatti sonatas beautiful, but read a number of reviews that said purists might want to hear the works played on a harpsichord. Obviously, by the same token they should embrace all elements of life in the late c17th: bubonic plague, slavery,…
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Masaaki Suzuki: Stravinsky, Pulcinella Suite / Apollon Musagète / Concerto for Strings
Rather like the other classical CDs this week, we suspect that because we like this, purists may well have something to harp on about. Suzuki is an expert on Bach — he is recording the complete choral works of Bach, as well as Bach’s concertos, orchestral suites, and solo works for harpsichord and organ —…
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Peter Sheppard Skærved: The Great Violins, Vol2: Niccolò Amati
Peter Sheppard Skærved is a classical version of Top Gear, except rather than jumping in a dream supercar for a jaunt across Europe, he jaunts the world finding and then playing superviolins. Like Top Gear, however, his presentation is populist, with readable sleeve notes and accessible music. The music itself is jaunty, in fact. This…
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Diana Boyle: Mozart Sonatas
This came out in May and it’s been played a lot — it’s very relaxing on Press day as deadlines loom — and we assumed we’d given it a glowing review. Oops, sadly not. It’s a lovely CD. Boyle makes the music sound fresh yet soothing. As with much gentle solo piano music of a…
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