ditor’s hoice James Inverne’s pick of this month’s outstanding new discs – hear excerpts on our CD and online

TRACKS 1 8 THIS MONTH’S SPECIAL CD FEATURE ABBADO AND FRIENDS Classic collaborations, featuring Maurizio Pollini, José Van Dam, Thomas Quastho f, Simon Keenlyside, Barbara Bonney and Gil Shaham

Listening Room You can also hear excerpts from this month’s Editor’s Choice recordings at our music club. Visit www.gramophone.co.uk

TRACK 9 ELGAR Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 Philharmonia Orchestra / Sir Andrew Davis Signum As coincidence would have it, these unearthed 2007 live Elgar performances are issued at the same time as another Elgar First, from the previous decade under that other great English Elgarian, Vernon Handley. Both are marvellous but I have always found, as does our reviewer, Davis live to ind an extra depth in Elgar. Here his intensity is gripping, even frightening. Great performances and a real sense of occasion.

REVIEW ON PAGE 54

TRACK 10 BEETHOVEN Violin Sonatas, Vol 1 Alina Ibragimova vn Cédric Tiberghien pf Wigmore Hall Live Some people tend to be wary of hype, suspicious of the latest brilliant new star trumpeted to the skies by the publicity machines. But it occurs to me that, in the “core” classical world, there aren’t many cases these days where it’s all smoke and no ire. Certainly Alina Ibragimova is fast justifying the hyperbole, as evidenced here with profoundly expressive yet thoughtful playing.

REVIEW ON PAGE 67

TRACK 11 RACHMANINOV Symphony No 2 London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev LSO Live Part of Gergiev’s fame rests on the fact that he is a great conductor of the non-Russian repertoire. But here comes a disc that reminds us just how persuasive he can be on home turf. This Rachmaninov inds the London Symphony Orchestra (in the sort of form that reminds one of the Proko iev recordings that endeared Gergiev to the players’ hearts) warm and irresistibly propulsive.

REVIEW ON PAGE 61

TRACK 12 DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto. Legends Richard Tognetti vn Nordic Chamber Orchestra / Christian Lindberg BIS Richard Tognetti is a big star in his native Australia, less so perhaps elsewhere. But what’s so fascinating about this disc is that he never plays like a virtuoso, in the sense of lashy lourishes and attentiongrabbing vibrato. Instead, this is very much a chamber view of the Concerto, with the violin irst among equals. Which makes for a transparent, inely textured performance.

REVIEW ON PAGE 57

Also on the CD

Peter Dickinson surveys recordings of Copland’s Third Symphony

COLLECTION PAGE 44

PLUS Enter our competition. Name the works, their conductors and the odd one out.

Archive issue of the month

Still seen as something of a younger cousin to the elite European orchestras, this box-set is a welcome reminder of the already rich history of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Currently enjoying a peak under

Mariss Jansons (here with various Richard Strauss entries), there are also contributions from Lorin Maazel (Stravinsky), Colin Davis (Elgar, Vaughan Williams), Kyrill Kondrashin (Rimsky-Korsakov, Franck), Rafael Kubelík (Bruckner) and Eugen Jochum (intriguingly, here with Furtwängler’s Second Symphony). I realise I’ve just listed the contents but it’s quite an experience to live the orchestra’s story through these six discs.

REVIEW ON PAGE 92

DVD & Blu-ray of the month

Who can ever really know the super-maestro that is Valery Gergiev? Famously, he rarely stops moving, which makes it di fcult, one should imagine, for anyone to get a handle on what really makes him tick, what drives his art.

This ilm accompanies him on his travels which, given that he wields major artistic in luence in Russia, the US and the UK (and the rest) makes for an exhilarating journey. If the key to Gergiev’s inspiration remains elusive, he is a ine enough communicator about music (both in speech and on the podium) that plenty of enlightenment is to be had.

REVIEW ON PAGE 89

12 GRAMOPHONE AUGUST 2010

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