Nov. 18, 2011
Each fall, AllMusic's intrepid editors and writers present their picks for the best classical albums, out of the hundreds of CDs they've reviewed over the year, and their lists are as varied as their opinions. For 2011, the choices range from the Baroque sacred music of Jan Dismas Zelenka to Michael Gordon's newly premiered percussion work, Timber, so diversity still reigns supreme in the classical department. But 2011 was also the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt's birth, so his music was strongly represented in AllMusic's coverage. Click the links below to read the reviews.
Patsy Morita
Jerome Lowenthal, piano - Liszt: Années de pèlerinage; Christmas Tree Suite, Books 2 & 3
Kirill Gerstein, piano - Kirill Gerstein Plays Liszt, Schumann & Knussen
Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer, clarinet - Brahms, Rheinberger: Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano
Juana Zayas, piano - Soirée Italienne
Julius Drake, piano - Songs Without Words
Sigurd Slåttebrekk, piano - Chasing the Butterfly
Jin Ju, piano - Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 1; Fantasia
Léon Berben, harpsichord - W.F. Bach: Claviermusik, Vol. 1
Christoph Deluze, piano - Kabalevsky: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-3
Ashley Wass, piano; Tippett Quartet - Bax, Bridge: Piano Quintets
Jim Manheim
Joanna MacGregor, piano - Live in Buenos Aires
Icicle Creek Piano Trio - Haydn, Shostakovich, Turina
Frieder Bernius, conductor - Jan Dismas Zelenka: Missa votiva ZWV 18
Xiayin Wang, piano - Piano Music of Earl Wild
Vienna Piano Trio - Vienna Piano Trio Live!
Sharon Kam, clarinet - Mozart: Clarinet Concerto; Clarinet Quintet
Yevgeny Sudbin, piano - Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano - Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
Trio Wanderer - Smetana: Piano Trio; Liszt: Elegies
Matthias Kirschnereit, piano; Szymanowski Quartet - Shostakovich, Weinberg: Piano Quintets
Stephen Eddins
Christina Pluhar, conductor - Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine
Christophe Rousset, conductor - Jean-Baptiste Lully: Bellérophon
Leonardo García Alarcón, conductor - Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Antonio Pappano, conductor - Rossini: William Tell
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano - Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été; Handel: Arias
Jeannette Sorrell, conductor - Come to the River: An Early American Gathering
Mark Elder, conductor - Colin Matthews: The Debussy Preludes
NOW Ensemble - Awake
Crash Ensemble - Donnacha Dennehy: Grá agus Bás
Slagwerk Den Haag - Michael Gordon: Timber
V. Vasan
Various Artists - Liszt: Wild and Crazy
Ursula Oppens, piano - Winging It: Piano Music of John Corigliano
Rachel Barton Pine, violin - Capricho Latino
Havana String Quartet - Leo Brouwer: The String Quartets; String Trio
Tami Lee Hughes, violin - Legacy: Violin Music of African-American Composers
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin - Rihm: Lichtes Spiel; Currier: Time Machines
Kirill Karabits, conductor - Khatchaturian: Spartacus; Gayaneh Highlights
Richard Rosenberg, conductor -- Jazz Nocturne: American Concertos of the Jazz Age
Thomas Hampson, baritone - Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo-soprano - Wolf, Strauss: Lieder
Blair Sanderson
Paul Dombrecht, conductor - J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suites
Peter Takacs, piano - Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas
Marek Janowski, conductor - Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Edward Higginbottom, conductor - Haydn: The Creation
Nelson Freire, piano - Liszt: Harmonies du Soir
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano - The Liszt Project
David Zinman, conductor - Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1-10
Heinz Holliger, conductor - Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 3 "The Scottish" & 4 "The Italian"
Carlo Ponti, conductor - Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Capriccio espagnol; Neapolitan Song
Philippe Herreweghe, conductor. - Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, "The Great"
Andrew Litton, conductor - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring; Petrushka (1911)
Maria Lettberg, piano - Scriabin: The Solo Piano Works
Mike Brownell
Julian Steckel, cello - Korngold, Goldschmidt, Bloch: Cello Concertos
Eiichi Chijiiwa, violin - Solo Migration
Quatuor Modigliani - Mendelssohn: String Quartets Nos. 2 & 6
Renaud Capuçon, violin - Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Violin & Piano
Jamie Walton, cello - Chopin: Cello Sonata; Introduction & Polonaise; Saint-Saëns: Cello Sonata No. 2
New Orford String Quartet - Schubert: Quartet in G major, D. 887; Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 135
Jamie Walton, cello - Walton, Shostakovich: Cello Concertos
Tabea Zimmermann, viola - Brahms, Clarke, Vieuxtemps: Sonatas for Viola & Piano
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello - Cello Populus
Boris Andrianov, cello - Alone