New Classical Reviews, February 2018

Choral and keyboard music seemed to dominate the choices our reviewers give you this past month. Among the choral options are albums of new music by baritone Roderick Williams and by Norwegian Kim André Arnesen; well-loved English anthems; and mystical works by Schnittke and Pärt. The keyboard music ranges from Christophe Rousset performing Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier on harpsichord, to Alexander Melnikov using four different historic instruments for four pillars of the piano repertory, to music for left-hand alone played by Nicholas McCarthy, who was born without a right hand.






Blair Sanderson
Mark Applebaum - Mark Applebaum: Speed Dating
Teodor Currentzis, MusicAeterna - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 Pathétique
I Fiori Musicali - François Couperin: Les Concerts Royaux
Gawain Glenton, In Echo - Music in a Cold Climate: Sounds of Hansa Europe
Peter Gulke, Brandenburger Symphoniker - Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in C major (The Great)
Daniel Harding, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra - Gustav Mahler: Symphonie Nr. 9
Mariss Jansons - Mariss Jansons: Portrait
Alexander Melnikov - Four Pieces, Four Pianos
Kent Nagano, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra - Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Tod und Verklärung
Christophe Rousset - Bach: Le Clavier Bien Tempéré, Livres I & II
Ralph van Raat - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring arr. for solo piano by Vladimir Leyetchkiss

James Manheim
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Secular Cantatas, Vol. 9
Sarah Cahill - Eighty Trips Around the Sun: Music by and for Terry Riley
The Girls and Men of Canterbury Cathedral Choir, David Newsholme - Great Cathedral Anthems
Lucy Crowe, Malcolm Martineau - Debussy: Songs, Vol. 4
Delray String Quartet - Richard Danielpour: String Quartets Nos. 5-7
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Kaspars Putniņš - Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance; Pärt: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis
JoAnn Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra - Kodály: Concerto for Orchestra
Isabelle Faust, Kristian Bezuidenhout - J.S. Bach: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord
Hannah Francis, James Gaddarn, Philip Langridge - Elizabeth Maconchy: Héloïse & Abelard
Michi Gaigg, L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra - Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: String Symphonies Vol. 2
David Greilsammer, Yaron Herman, Geneva Camerata - Sounds of Transformation
Lusine Grigoryan - Komitas: Seven Songs
Jerusalem Quartet, Veronika Hagen, Gary Hoffman - Antonín Dvorák: String Quintet Op. 97; String Sextet Op. 48
Kantorei, Joel Rinsema - Kim André Arnesen: Infinity - Choral Works
Kirill Karabits, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - Karayev: Orchestral Works
Tasmin Little, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner - Szymanowski, Karlowicz: Violin Concertos
Nicholas McCarthy - Echoes: Bach, Rachmaninoff
Joseph Nolan - Midnight at St. Etienne du Mont
Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir - Roderick Williams: Sacred Choral Works
Mark Padmore, Kristian Bezuidenhout - Schubert: Winterreise
Jean-Claude Picard, Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Ned Bigham: Staffa
Menahem Pressler, Magdeburgische Philharmonie, Kimbo Ishii- Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 27
James Rhodes - Fire on All Sides
Royal Norwegian Navy Band, Bjarte Engeset - Percy Grainger: Complete Music for Wind Band, Vol. 1
Jordi Savall, Hesperion XXI - Venezia Millenaria 700-1797
Howard Shelley - The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 74: Sterndale Bennett
Yuuko Shiokawa, András Schiff - Bach, Busoni, Beethoven
Stefan Temmingh, Capricornus Consort Basel - Vivaldi
Alan Tongue, Joyful Company of Singers, Britten Sinfonia - Ralph Vaughan Williams: Beyond My Dreams
Trinity College Choir, Cambridge, Stephen Layton - Bach: Mass in B minor
Truro Cathedral Choir, BBC National Orchestra Wales, Christopher Gray - In My Father's House: Choral Music by Philip Stopford
Irmina Trynkos, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy - Nimrod Borenstein: Violin Concerto, etc.
Voce, Suzi DIgby - 99 Words