November 2011

Informed by our unrivalled panel of critics, we choose the month’s twelve must-hear recordings hoice

Recording of the Month ‘ The kernel of the unfinished Viola Concerto is its slow movement and I challenge any reader to name a version that is either more moving or more beautifully played’

FOR THE FULL REVIEW BY ROB COWAN, TURN TO PAGE 40

Hear every Gramophone Choice recording, including Recording of the Month, through the online Gramophone Player at gramophone.co.uk

‘The great cinemascopic vistas that are summoned up by those eight unison horns at the start are remarkable for their depth, breadth and thunderous immediacy…’

REVIEW ON PAGE 48

‘Hats off to the Royal Concertgebouw. This crowns what is without doubt the most impressive recorded restrospective of any orchestra ever undertaken on disc.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 54

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‘Individual character comes first. The Minuet is forcefully played. Constanze, who was having their first baby, thought some passages suggested birth pangs. But the Trio is solicitous.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 62

‘Lorraine Hunt Lieberson never recorded this in the studio. She rivals the famous recordings by Régine Crespin and Janet Baker. Her “La spectre de la rose” is mesmeric.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 74

‘Certainly not for the faint-hearted either in terms of its enormous scale or its spectrum of powerful, visionary espression. The impact is overwhelming.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 75

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‘These gemlike, at times distinctly Ravelian settings make an enchantingly varied and witty sequence… and Les espaces du sommeil is an infinitely absorbing masterwork…’

REVIEW ON PAGE 79

‘The Cardinall’s Musick prolong the opening and the effect of those bars seems to me entirely different. It’s worth buying this disc just for this object lesson in word-setting.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 81

‘There is something enchanting about this disc. The tradition has largely died out, but here a good many thoroughly appealing examples are resurrected.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 87

‘A splendid work… Terradellas has a great gift of melody. his tunes fall easily on the ear, but he is capable of real depth of expression. The performance is the thing – unmissable.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 93

DVD

‘Anja Silja delivers a performance every bit as concentrated as her Sentas, Leonores and Emilia Martys. It’s quite frightening when she rises from her death bed…’

REVIEW ON PAGE 93

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Reissue

‘Archipel’s live mono recording hails from Chicago (the CSO, naturally) with Rysanek, Resnik, Lloyd and Tozzi. This live version piles on the tension.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 100

Number of concerto recordings this issue – 15 Symphony recordings – 12 Bartók on banjo – 1

ORCHESTRAL

Bartók hat-trick from James Ehnes; Debussy from the Seoul Philharmonic on DG; coruscating Mahler from Pittsburgh

CHAMBER

Rival Mozart sets from the Emerson and the Ebène Quartets; Steve Reich’s 9/11 response; musical diplomacy from Jordi Savall

INSTRUMENTAL

Barber’s piano music explored; Cédric Pescia’s Schumann; the demonic life of Paganini documented by Nupen on DVD

VOCAL

A new Miserere from The Sixteen; The Cardinall’s Musick discover Parsons; Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sings again

OPERA

Boult’s Faustian Busoni; Anna Nicole, screen (opera) star; Verdi’s Falstaff at Glyndebourne; double dose of Vivaldi

BOOKS

Detailed study of Shostakovich’s string quartets; Gustav Mahler, an ambitious biography of questionable musical literacy

REPLAY

The Israel Philharmonic opens its vaults; more superb Heifetz; an unforgettable Má vlast is finally widely available

THE SPECIALIST’S GUIDE TO…

…rare French operas. Richard Fairman suggests the must-have library for anyone wanting to go beyond the usual suspects

THE GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION

Jeremy Nicholas searches for the finest recording of Liszt’s benchmark organ work, the Ad nos Fantasy and Fugue

GRAMOPHONE NOVEMBER 2011 5