Music Reviews
A grand collection of reviews. If you are a professional music reviewer and would like to contribute a review to this blog, please contact us.
One For The Piano Lover’s Collection
Available now for 25% off! If you love great piano works and superb musicianship, check out the various albums by the young Dutch pianist, Hannes Minnaar. This one, his debut album, features Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No.1, and Ravel’s Sonatine and Miroirs. You might be surprised to find these in one program, but Rachmaninoff and Ravel were very […]
Amazingly BIG sound from five people
The Pacific Quintet, players from all over the world, make a joyful noise, presenting music from their home countries of Japan, Honduras, South Korea, Germany and Ukraine/Turkey. No, it doesn’t sound like world music as much as it seems like…just music. In fact, as a salute to Leonard Bernstein the last three pieces are arrangements […]
‘Espansiva’ is Fascinating Listening
OUR Recordings specialise in Danish music and performers, usually recorded in very high-definition sound, and here we have Denmark’s greatest composer’s own arrangements of three of his works played by Danes. Those used to being able to access multiple recordings of the works might ask why he bothered; forgetting that back then it was usually […]
Telemann’s Barbaric Beauty by Holland Baroque with Milos Valent
Available now for 25% Off! If you’re not a big fan of Baroque Music, I’ve got the perfect “discovery” for you… Barbaric Beauty! At least, this is how Telemann described the pieces he wrote after discovering the music played along the Polish-Hungarian border. “If you were to write down all that was played there, after […]
One Remarkable Recital!
Two very talented musicians and five composers in one remarkable recital! Anna Fedorova, piano, and Dana Zemtsov, viola, are magical together. If you watch the video on this album’s listing you will hear them describe a kind of “deja vu” they feel whenever they are in France. These pieces by five different composers create a similar […]
The Himalaya Sessions are Transportive
These two albums belong together. They create a transportive mood and time that are truly remarkable. Open up the booklet for each to get some idea of what the poet, writer, pianist, storyteller has to say. But don’t make the mistake that you need to follow everything. Let me try to describe the experience of lining up the […]
Here, everything feels “right”
I want to thank Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic for the wonderful couple of hours I just spent listening to this Pentatone double album release featuring Dvorak’s 7th, 8th, and 9th (New World) symphonies. It’s easy to have some strong favorites in this music– Some great conductors have done them very well– Kubelik, Fischer, Colin […]
You need to hear these…
There is no better example of why we do these “discoveries” than this recording of Beethoven’s 4th and 8th Symphonies with Bernard Haitink and the London Symphony Orchestra. Recently I saw an on line review from David Hurwitz that made me want to revisit this album. I’m glad I did! I don’t care how many recordings […]
Janácek: Katya Kabanova in 3 Acts
Janáček: Káťa Kabanová, JW 1/8 (Opera in 3 Acts) Káťa Kabanová: Amanda Majeski (soprano)Boris: Simon O’Neill (tenor)Kabanicha: Katarina Dalayman (mezzo-soprano)Tichon: Andrew Staples (tenor)Kudrjáŝ: Ladislav Elgr (tenor)Varvara: Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)Dikoj: Pavlo Hunka (bass-baritone)Glasha & Feklusha: Claire Barnett-Jones (mezzo-soprano)Kuligin: Lukáš Zeman (baritone)London Symphony Orchestra & ChorusSir Simon Rattle Recorded live at the Barbican, London on 11 January […]
Simon Rattle & LSO – Britten in Three Works
Elizabeth Watts (soprano)Alice Coote (mez-soprano)Allan Clayton (tenor)Tiffin Boy’s, Children’s and Girl’s School ChorusesLondon Symphony Orchestra and ChorusSir Simon Rattle Recorded live at the Barbican Hall, London in September 2018, May 2019 and May 2021LSO0830 Performance: 5 Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, which was first performed by John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic in March 1941, […]
The Big Three
Many would say that the big three of the top English composers of the 20th Century would be the three whose music makes this album one of the hidden gems available at NativeDSD Elgar is celebrated for his Symphonies, his Cello Concerto, and (of course) The Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches. Elgar’s […]
Review of Gordon Grdina’s Jazz Bundle – Vol. 1
Save 20% on all three Gordon Grdina albums with the DSD Bundle The Art of the Oud For more than two decades, Vancouver-based guitarist and bandleader Gordon Grdina has been composing music that features the oud. The oud is a double-coursed string instrument with a bowl-shaped back that is prominent in Arabic and Persian musical […]