Anthony Roth Costanzo / Karen Kamensek / Zachary James / Metropolitan Opera
Philip Glass: Akhnaten
Beautifully done live recording of the Metropolitan Opera's Akhnaten carries with it some of the production's sumptuousness.
Antonio Pappano / Javier Camarena / Accademia di Santa Cecilia Chorus / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Berlioz: Requiem, Grande Messe des Morts
A wonderfully operatic Berlioz Requiem, always monumental rather than bombastic.
Apollo5
Where All Roses Go
A cappella vocal quintet manages a range of moods, including broadly emotional, all within a basic British choral style.
Ashley Riches / Joseph Middleton
A Musical Zoo
A delightful recital of songs depicting animals that may be enjoyed at several levels
Binchois Consort / Andrew Kirkman
Music for the King of Scots: Inside the Pleasure Palace of James IV
A fascinating release that situates Renaissance choral music deeply in a specific time and place.
Christoph Poppen / Cologne Chamber Orchestra / WDR Rundfunkchor Köln
Mozart: Mass No. 16 'Coronation Mass'; Missa longa
The inaugural volume in a welcome new traversal of Mozart's masses features the extraordinary Missa longa, K. 265.
Collegium Vocale / Philippe Pierlot / Ricercar Consort
Bach: Soli Deo Gloria
A pairing of big, festive-yet-reflective Bach cantatas is superbly performed.
Contrapunctus / Owen Rees
The Sweetest Songs: Music from the Baldwin Partbooks, Vol. 3
Compelling performances of a rarely heard repertory, the English psalm motet of the 16th century.
Coro Sinfonico do Estado de São Paulo / Valentina Peleggi / São Paulo Choir
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Choral Transcriptions
A delightful find -- choral arrangements of famous pieces, including Bach preludes and fugues, written for school choirs.
Dawn Upshaw / So Percussion / Gilbert Kalish
Caroline Shaw: Narrow Sea
A compelling combination of folk melody and avant-garde percussion from exciting young composer Shaw.
Dunedin Consort / John Butt
Bach: Ich habe genug - Cantatas BWV 82, 32 & 106
Over and above the fine performances by the Dunedin Consort, the soloists on this Bach cantata album are unusually distinguished.
Emily D'Angelo / Jarkko Riihimäki / Freie Orchester Berlin
Enargeia
The gorgeous voice of Emily D'Angelo winds its way through these contemporary, philosophical works by women.
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Kaspars Putniņš
Alfred Schnittke: Choir Concerto; Three Sacred Hymns; Arvo Pärt: Seven Magnificat-Antiphons
The second Schnittke-Pärt album from the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir has all the virtues of the first, including gorgeous choral sounds.
Gothic Voices
Echoes of an Old Hall
An attractive survey of the Old Hall Manuscript, the most important source of late medieval and early Renaissance English polyphony.
Helsinki Chamber Choir / Nils Schweckendiek
Pärt: Passio
An expressive rather than coolly mystical performance of Pärt's minimalist masterpiece.
Jane Archibald / Leonardo Capalbo / Thomas Allen / Anne Sofie von Otter / Marin Alsop / London Symphony Orchestra
Bernstein: Candide
An operatic Candide from Bernstein specialist and admirer Alsop, leading the London Symphony.
Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate
Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate: Lowak Shoppala'
A remarkable multimedia piece depicting aspects of Chickasaw culture makes the successful transition to audio recording.
Joseph Colaneri / Orchestre de l'Opéra royal de Versailles
The Ghosts of Versailles: An opera by John Corigliano
An appropriately lush performance of Corigliano's only opera, a truly modern mashup of styles rooted in Beaumarchais, Mozart, and Rossini.
Kate Lindsey
Tiranno
Fireworks and tons of personality from mezzo-soprano Lindsey mark a superb Baroque recital.
Kent Nagano / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Messiaen: Poèmes pour mi; Chronochrome; La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ
Crackling live Messiaen performances from the conductor who arguably knows him best.
Les Arts Florissants / William Christie
N'esperez plus mes yeux: Airs sérieux et à boire, Vol. 3
More delightful material from Les Arts Florissants in the French air de cour tradition of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Lionel Meunier / Freiburger BarockConsort / Vox Luminis
Biber: Requiem
A warm, stately reading of the Biber Requiem, with works related not in place or time but in style
Lise Davidsen
Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi
A perfect snapshot of a key career juncture for soprano sensation Davidsen.
Louise Alder / Joseph Middleton
Chère Nuit: French Songs
A very intelligently programmed album of French songs strengthens the position of Alder as a rising soprano.
Lucile Richardot / Geoffroy Jourdain / Les Cris de Paris
Berio to Sing
Crisp recordings of Berio's folk-related material show just how pathbreaking it was.
Marc Mauillon / Angélique Mauillon / Myriam Rignol
Je m'abandonne à vous: Airs sur des poésies de la Comtesse de la Suze
Revelatory settings of 17th century poet Henriette de Coligny, Comtesse de la Suze.
Mary Bevan / Ben Johnson / Ashley Riches / Kitty Whately
The Harmonious Echo: Songs by Sir Arthur Sullivan
Highly entertaining songs by Sullivan, perfectly caught by the singers, are sure to appeal to Gilbert & Sullivan fans.
Matthias Goerne / Seong-Jin Cho
Im Abendrot: Wagner, Pfitzner, Strauss
A glorious, burnished example of the mature Goerne voice: a lieder album to treasure.
Michael Spyres
BariTenor
Spyres makes his case for the baritenor with an offering of tenor and baritone arias spanning a wide vocal range.
Michelle DeYoung / Brian Jagde / Liping Zhang / Long Yu / Shanghai Symphony Orchestra / Shenyang
Gustav Mahler, Xiaogang Ye: The Song of the Earth
A worthy "Song of the Earth" paired with a contemporary Chinese setting of the same poems in Mandarin.
Misha Kiria / Albina Shagimuratova / Mark Elder / Britten Sinfonia
Donizetti: Il Paria
Care has been taken with this revival of an unknown Donizetti opera, from just before his fame.
Música Temprana
Melancolía
Highly affecting music from late medieval Spain links the melancholy moods of unrequited love, mourning, and apocalypse.
Nathalie Stutzmann / Orfeo 55
Contralto
A virtuoso performance from soloist/conductor Stutzmann, marking her last collaboration with Orfeo 55.
PaTRAM Institute Male Choir
More Honourable Than the Cherubim
Pristine Russian sacred choral singing from the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir.
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire
Reading of Pierrot Lunaire by violinist Kopatchinskaja will be either deeply absorbing or over the top for many listeners.
Philippe Jaroussky / Thibaut Garcia
À sa guitare
A deeply eclectic and original program of songs accompanied by guitar, performed by absolute masters.
René Jacobs / Berlin RIAS Chamber Choir / Freiburger Barockorchester / Polina Pastirchak
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
An often revelatory Missa Solemnis gives a sense of Beethoven's wrestling with the text.
Renée Fleming / Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene
Fleming remains in fine form in these French and German songs about nature, with contemporary pieces addressing the titular theme.
Richard Croft / Rachelle Durkin / Dante Anzolini
Philip Glass: Satyagraha
Glass' Bhagavad Gita opera of civil disobedience holds up well in full-scale vocal treatment at the Met.
Roderick Williams / Iain Burnside
Schubert: Winterreise
A restrained and ultimately deeply reflective Winterreise, running counter to the 21st century intense, psychologically tortured readings.
Ruby Hughes / Joseph Middleton
Songs for New Life and Love: Mahler, Ives, Grime
Fine, subtle singing from soprano Hughes in a program that holds together along multiple lines.
Stanislas de Barbeyrac / Pierre Dumoussaud / Chiara Skerath
Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Unusually fine Pelléas that captures the opera's quiet, conversational quality.
Sébastien Daucé / Ensemble Correspondances
Septem Verba & Membra Jesu Nostri: Buxtehude, Schütz, Dijkman
Intimate, highly affecting German and Swedish music from Schütz and the generation after, beautifully performed.
The Crossing / Donald Nally
Gavin Bryars: A Native Hill
Virtuoso collaboration between composer Bryars and the choir The Crossing illuminates the texts of Wendell Berry.
The Crossing / Donald Nally
The Tower and the Garden
Absorbing new choral works from a small virtuoso choir on environmental and spiritual themes.
The King's Singers
Christmas Carols with The King's Singers
Varied and beautifully recorded King's Singers Christmas album makes a strong holiday choice.
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
Good Night, Beloved
Accessible favorites, pieces that might be heard on a glee club concert, beautifully executed by The Sixteen.
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
Carol of the Bells
A fresh holiday release from The Sixteen, which has done many of them before.
Trinity College Choir, Cambridge / Stephen Layton
Cecilia McDowall
Collection of works by this underexposed and unclassifiable composer marks her 70th birthday.
Will Liverman / Paul Sánchez
Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers
This revelatory collection of songs by Black composers includes unknown treasures.
