AllMusic 2015 Year in Review
Favorite Classical Vocal Albums
Broaden your horizons with our editors' list of their favorite classical albums of the year featuring vocals, including work from centuries past as well as modern pieces.
This is a St. Matthew Passion that will bring new perspectives on the work, both in the musical material and in the overall interpretation.
Amanda Forsythe / Apollo's Fire
The Power of Love: Arias from Handel Operas
Amanda Forsythe sings virtuoso arias from Handel's operas, backed by Jeannette Sorrell and the brilliant period instruments ensemble Apollo's Fire.
Bocelli returns to the studio with Cinema, an album of movie songs, featuring duets with Ariana Grande, Nicole Scherzinger, and Veronica Berti.
Anja Harteros / Jonas Kaufmann / Antonio Pappano
This is state-of-the-art Verdi, and for a lot of listeners, the new Aïda they've been waiting for.
Anna Netrebko / Emmanuel Villaume / Vitalij Kowaljow / Alexey Markov / Sergei Skorokhodov / Slovenia Philharmonic Orchestra
Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta receives a passionate performance from Anna Netrebko, who sings the lead role in this live recording.
Ariel Abramovich / Anna Maria Friman / Jacob Heringman / John Potter
This seems a strange concept, but it works very well for several reasons, including the singing of Potter and Friman, who strike just the right note.
Bernard Haitink / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Haitink leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a stirring performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.
Bryan Hymel / Emmanuel Villaume
Bryan Hymel sings a selection of heroic arias from French operas by Rossini, Berlioz, Massenet, Gounod, Meyerbeer, and others.
Carolyn Sampson / Joseph Middleton
Here the music is affecting, the singer confident, the accompanist sensitive, and the engineering superb. A highly recommended recital.
Charles Bruffy / Kansas City Chorale / Phoenix Chorale
Charles Bruffy unites the Phoenix Chorale and the Kansas City Chorale in a moving performance of Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil.
Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge / Geoffrey Webber
Romaria: Choral Music from Brazil
This program is absorbing from beginning to end as it is done here. Brilliantly diverse, gutsy, and very strongly recommended.
Clare College Choir, Cambridge / Graham Ross / Dmitri Ensemble
This grows into double choir material in the middle and then contracts back. In general, a state-of-the-art seasonal sacred recording, beautifully engineered.
In the Midst of Life: Music from the Baldwin Partbooks, Vol. 1
All together, this is a superior release that gets to the heart of a repertory that often gives listeners problems.
Elizabeth Watts / Christian Baldini / Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Mozart: Opera Arias & Overtures
Soprano Elizabeth Watts, conductor Christian Baldini, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra present celebrated overtures and arias from Mozart's operas.
Alessandro Scarlatti: Con eco d'Amore
There are many junctures at which this recording of Scarlatti arias is positively haunting.
Elora Festival Singers / Noel Edison
Poulenc: Mass in G major; Sept Chansons; Motets
The performances by the Elora Festival Choir here are especially attractive and the sound is clear and entirely appropriate. A superior Poulenc release.
Ensemble LPR / Mohammed Fairouz / Kate Lindsey / Paul Muldoon / Evan Rogister
This entire project comes together quite powerfully and will give rise to many reflections on the role of art in the current violent world.
Ex Cathedra / Jeffrey Skidmore
The whole, rendered in festive, clear tones by Skidmore and Ex Cathedra, makes an immensely satisfying impression.
Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart / Hans-Christoph Rademann
Using a new edition of Bach's B minor Mass, this is a historically informed performance that reflects the best German traditions.
Gabriel Fauré: Songs for Bass Voice and Piano
Jared Schwartz and Roy Howat present mélodies by Gabriel Fauré, as taken from the corrected Edition Peters collection.
Placing Bach's compositions within the context for which they were written yields a performance that is original in concept and satisfying in details.
Laurence Equilbey / Accentus / Orchestre de Chambre de Paris
Accentus makes a strong case for the revival of Félicien David's Le Désert, an "ode-symphonie," once championed by Berlioz.
Marion Cotillard / Marc Soustrot / Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra / Xavier Gallais
Arthur Honegger: Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher
Cotillard's beautifully oracular statements put across the uncanny sense of how Joan lives entirely in her own world. A fine, fresh version of a 20th-century classic.
Mariss Jansons / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Mariss Jansons' 2012 recording of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem is a tribute to Kurt Sanderling, who died the previous year.
Markus Stenz / Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne / Barbara Haveman / Brandon Jovanovich
Markus Stenz and the Gurzenich-Orchester Köln have recorded the most Mahlerian work Arnold Schoenberg ever composed, the massive Gurrelieder.
Matthew Owens / Wells Cathedral Choir
Bob Chilcott: St. John Passion
This St. John Passion by Chilcott is well thought out and original. Very strongly recommended.
Nicholas Phan / Michael Leopold / Ann Marie Morgan
This is a major step in the interpretation of early English song, beautifully recorded by Avie at Skywalker Studios in California.
Pablo Heras-Casado / Balthasar-Neumann-Chor / Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble
Heras-Casado gets a precise, lively sound from the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor und Ensemble of Freiburg and is backed by excellent studio sound from Archiv.
![Tutto Buffo [Japan]](https://rovimusic.rovicorp.com/image.jpg?c=0x2qkM4BoEwRXxlH-2YvmFWnbEN5fCjifro6xhIBuB4=&f=4)
Paolo Bordogna / Francesco Lanzillotta / Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
Tutto Buffo is Paolo Bordogna's debut solo collection of comic bass-baritone arias from operas by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and others.
Paul Hillier Conducts Arvo Pärt: Choral & Instrumental Music
Three albums of Arvo Pärt's choral music have been reissued in this slip-covered set by Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices.
Tenor Breslik's reading of Schubert's song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, where he has no shortage of competition, can only make his reputation grow.
Philippe Jaroussky / Il Pomo d'Oro / Riccardo Minasi
Handel's comic opera Partenope receives a fine performance in this recording by Riccardo Minasi and his period ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro.
Beczala is both dramatically and vocally convincing, getting exciting support from the Orchestre de L'Opéra National de Lyon under Altinoglu.
Serge Kakudji / Fabrizio Cassol / Rodriguez Vangama
What makes this all so extraordinary is that there is absolutely nothing of pat pastiche about it, or even of experiment. A real triumph.
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Vol. 6
This is a good place to start with the Sixteen's series, but also a Palestrina recording that's going to be heard for a very long time.
The Tallis Scholars / Peter Phillips
For those who like Pärt's abstract, holy minimalist style, try out this alternative interpretation. This is fascinating and often enough thrilling.
The Tallis Scholars / Peter Phillips
John Taverner: Missa Corona Spinea
The overall picture of Taverner that emerges from this is that of a composer fascinated by sound itself.
Trevor Pinnock / Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble
Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (arr. Schoenberg)
Trevor Pinnock and the Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble play chamber versions of works by Mahler, Busoni, Zemlinsky, and Wagner.
Vincent Dumestre / Le Poème Harmonique
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater; Marian Music from Naples
This is a unique perspective on one of the most famous Baroque works.
Wim Becu / Oltremontano / Psallentes
Coronation Music for Charles II
The music and sounds of the coronation of Charles II are brilliantly re-created by Wim Becu and the period instrumental consort Oltremontano.