Favorite Classical Vocal Albums | AllMusic 2022 in Review

Allan Clayton / Carolyn Sampson / Joseph Middleton

Hugo Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch

A lively, vivid Italienisches Liederbuch from singers one wouldn't necessarily associate with Hugo Wolf.

American Contemporary Music Ensemble / Theatre of Voices / Paul Hillier / Jóhann Jóhannsson

Jóhann Jóhannsson: Drone Mass

New development in holy minimalism relies on effects arising from interactions of electronics, a string quartet, and a vocal group.

Anna Harvey / Mark Austin

Songs by Warlock and Howe

Attractive Warlock recital uses contemporary folk song settings to set off his distinctive style.

Anna Prohaska / Isabelle Faust

György Kurtág: Kafka-Fragmente

Superbly etched readings by Prohashka and Faust of Kurtág's miniature Kafka texts.

Asmik Grigorian / Lukas Geniušas

Rachmaninov: Dissonance

A Sterling debut album by an operatic singer who wisely chooses the operatic songs of Rachmaninov for her program.

Barbara Hannigan / Ludwig Orchestra

Dance With Me

Instrumental and vocal renditions of classic pop dance tunes are unusually convincing and idiomatic.

Brabant Ensemble / Stephen Rice

Mouton: Missa Faulte d'argent & Motets

Impressive works from a neglected Flemish composer by a strong specialist group.

Briana Hunter / Kenneth Kellogg / Roderick Cox / Washington National Opera Orchestra

Jeanine Tesori, Tazewell Thompson: Blue

A superb new opera about police violence and its effects finds a powerful musical language.

Cappella Romana / John Michael Boyer

Heaven and Earth

Beautifully sung Orthodox choral music explores the nature of John Tavener's influence.

Carolyn Sampson / Clare College Choir, Cambridge / Dmitri Ensemble / Graham Ross

Ice Land: The Eternal Music – Sævarsson, Leifs, Thorvaldsdóttir

Beautifully sung Icelandic pieces trace connections among contemporary music, earlier repertory, and rock avant-garde.

Celine Byrne / Merunas Vitulskis / Sergio Alapont / Irish National Opera Chorus / Irish National Opera Orchestra

Puccini: La Bohème

Concert production of La bohème captures the headlong action despite pandemic-era restrictions.

Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea / Rowan Williams / William Vann / Joshua Ryan

Vaughan Williams: Earth's Wide Bounds

Vaughan Williams rarities and more, performed with crack authenticity by an underrated choir.

Choir of Westminster Abbey / James O'Donnell / Peter Holder

Dove, Weir, Martin

A strong sampling of works by three contemporary choral composers, within the same stylistic universe, but quite individual.

Dylan Perez

Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs

An immensely useful collection of Barber's complete songs compiled by pianist Perez.

Ensemble Correspondances / Sébastien Daucé

Michel-Richard de Lalande: Grand Motets - Dies Irae, Miserere, Veni Creator

Splendid performances of underexposed music from the court of the Sun King.

Girton College Choir, Cambridge / Gareth Wilson / Historic Brass of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama / Jeremy West

Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, Vol. 2: Missa Voce Mea A5

The Choir of Girton College returns with more fascinating and neglected music by Ingegneri.

Gloriae Dei Cantores / Richard K. Pugsley

To Speak to Our Time: Choral Works by Samuel Adler

Ecumenical and eclectic choral music by Samuel Adler features a work written for the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Ian Bostridge

Tormento d'Amore

Tenor Bostridge scores with a selection of gorgeous and little-known Neapolitan Baroque arias.

Iestyn Davies / Jonathan Cohen / Arcangelo

Bach: Gott soll allein mein Herze haben; Geist und Seele wird verwirret; Buxtehude: Klag-Lied

Everything clicks in this Bach release from countertenor Davies, from the program to the orchestral accompaniment to the organ.

Jakub Józef Orliński / Michał Biel

Farewells

Gorgeous art song repertory from Poland, largely unknown outside that country, receives a fresh look from countertenor Orliński.

John Eliot Gardiner / Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists

Bach: St. John Passion [2021 Recording] [CD & Blu-Ray Audio]

Highly dramatic St. John Passion draws energy from its live, socially distanced performance in a theatrical setting.

Jonas Kaufmann / Ludovic Tézier / Antonio Pappano

Insieme: Opera Duets

Satisfying album of tenor-baritone duets harks back to an earlier era of opera stardom.

Joyce DiDonato / Maxim Emelyanychev / Il Pomo d'Oro

EDEN

A conceptually vague but musically startling program helps DiDonato score anew.

Julie Roset / Leonardo García Alarcón / The Millenium Orchestra / Millenium Orchestra

Handel: Salve Regina

This recording of early Latin sacred music by Handel features a major new talent.

Julien Behr / Vannina Santoni / François-Xavier Roth / Les Siècles

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

Historically oriented performance of Pelléas et Mélisande impresses with vivid instrumental shadings.

Kaspars Putniņš / Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Rachmaninov: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

A lovely, ethereal recording of the lesser-known of Rachmaninov's two large pieces of sacred chamber music.

King's College Choir of Cambridge / Daniel Hyde

Now the Green Blade Riseth: Choral Music for Easter

Program from King's College traces the events of Easter week in fine performances of well-chosen material.

Les Cris de Paris / Geoffroy Jourdain

Schütz: David & Salomon; Psalmi; Canticum Canticorum

A magnificent Schütz recording captures not only the sumptuous style but the expressiveness the composer learned from two Italian trips.

Les Épopées / Stéphane Fuget

Monteverdi: Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria

Working from the premise that the heart of Monteverdi lies in recitatives, the ensemble Les Épopées delivers a remarkable performance.

Lise Davidsen / Leif Ove Andsnes

Edvard Grieg

Soprano Davidsen confirms her status as a major star in this recital of Grieg songs familiar and rarer.

Lorelei Ensemble / Beth Willer

James Kallembach: Antigone

A gripping cantata retelling and juxtaposing the stories of Sophocles' Antigone and anti-Nazi martyr Sophie Scholl.

Martin Achrainer / Maki Namekawa

Philip Glass: Songs

Glass vocal works, originally for other media, work great as art songs in fine performances by Achrainer and Namekawa.

Masaaki Suzuki / Yale Institute of Sacred Music

Nicolaus Bruhns: Cantatas and Organ Works, Vol. 1

Bach-meister Suzuki turns to one of Bach's little-known predecessors in excellent performances.

Matthias Goerne / Daniil Trifonov

Lieder: Berg, Schumann, Wolf, Shostakovich, Brahms

Ambitious "metaphysical" song selections feature a lively dialogue between baritone Goerne and new accompanist Daniil Trifonov.

Michael Alexander Willens / Kölner Akademie

Johann David Heinichen: Two Passion Oratorios

Obscure but attractive oratorios -- cantatas, really -- show Heinichen's wholesale transfer of the Italian Baroque style to Germany.

ORA Singers / Suzi Digby

Stella: Renaissance Gems and their Reflections

A strong entry in ORA's Renaissance Gems and Their Reflections series focuses on Victoria.

Pembroke College Girls' Choir / Anna Lapwood / Joseph Beadle / Owen Saldanha

Celestial Dawn

A splendid sophomore release by this new girls' choir, fitting an admirable variety of material into the English choral tradition.

The AllMusic 2022

Year In Review

Honoring the best classical vocal and opera albums of the year from soloists such as soprano Julie Roset and tenor Ian Bostridge to large ensembles like The Sixteen (pictured) and The King's College Choir of Cambridge.

Favorite Classical Vocal Albums ↓