Favorite Classical Vocal Albums | AllMusic 2023 in Review

Cantata Collective / Nicholas McGegan

Bach: St. John Passion

A deliberate, almost meditative Bach is amplified in impact by superb live recording.

Cappella Amsterdam / Daniel Reuss / Martin Logar

Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance

Orthodox psalm settings are spare but are still pure Schnittke.

Carolyn Sampson / Martyn Brabbins / City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / University of Birmingham Voices

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Requiem

An impressive reading of the Stanford Requiem, a work that is holding up extremely well.

Charles Castronovo / Ludovic Tézier / Gustavo Gimeno / Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg

Puccini: Messa di Gloria & Orchestral Works

Performance of Puccini's youthful mass captures its ambitious operatic quality.

Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge / Matthew Martin / In Echo

Philips & Dering: Motets

Neglected works of the English Renaissance in fine, powerful performances.

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

Vaughan Williams, Tavener, MacMillan

Conductor's swan song with this great English choir is richly resonant.

Christophe Rousset / Flemish Radio Choir [Vlaams Radiokoor] / Les Talens Lyriques

Gaspare Spontini: La Vestale

A stirring rendition of Spontini's rarely-heard opera of Roman gods and humans.

Chœur de l'Opéra Royal de Versailles / Gaétan Jarry / Orchestre de l'Opéra royal de Versailles

The Crown: Coronation Anthems

Splendidly performed coronation anthems dedicated to Charles III reveal much about the relationship between Purcell and Handel.

Claire Barnett-Jones / Lucy Crowe / Marcus Farnsworth / Iain Burnside

The Jade Mountain: Songs by Edmund Rubbra

Appealing and little-known songs that boil 20th century British tonal music down to concise statements.

Colin Currie / Colin Currie Group / Synergy Vocals

Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

An excellent performance of Reich's classic captures its chamber intricacies.

Conspirare / Miró Quartet / Craig Hella Johnson

House of Belonging

A virtuoso choir adds an intelligent repertory choice to its usual clean performances.

Cupertinos / Luís Toscano

Filipe de Magalhães: Masses Veni Domine & Vere Dominus Est

A fine entry from a group specializing in the little-known music of the Portuguese golden age.

De Profundis / Eamonn Dougan / Robert Hollingworth

Morales: Missa Desilde al Cavallero; Missa Mille Regretz; Magnificat Primi Toni

The opening volume of a survey dedicated to the Masses and Magnificats of Cristóbal de Morales.

Emmanuelle Haïm / Le Concert d'Astrée

Campra: Messe De Requiem; Mondonville: In Exitu Israël; Rameau: In Convertendo Dominus

Attractive, even joyous performances of French Baroque sacred music show the influence of Italian music as it grew.

Estelí Gomez / Cheryl Ann Fulton / iSing Silicon Valley

Love & Light

Startlingly good work from a new girls' choir with a well-integrated program.

Florian Boesch / Malcolm Martineau

Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe; Kerner Lieder

Distinctive, conversational Dichterliebe commands attention, as do the rarer Kerner Lieder.

François-Xavier Roth / Les Siècles

Maurice Ravel: L'Heure espagnole; Bolero

Period orchestral winds, brass, and percussion are displayed to maximum effect in Ravel's acid little cheating opera.

Gareth Brynmor John / Gemma Summerfield / Abi Hyde-Smith / Jocelyn Freeman

The Poet's Echo: Britten, Prokofiev, Shostakovich

A marvelous program organized around Pushkin and the resonance of his poetry in the present day.

Girton College Choir, Cambridge / Gareth Wilson

Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, Vol. 3: Missa Susanne un jour a5

Limpid music by a rarely heard late Counter-Reformation composer, beautifully performed.

Jessye Norman

The Unreleased Masters

Unreleased tracks merit reissue despite the star's reservations.

Jordi Savall / La Capella Nacional de Catalunya

Mozart: Requiem [2022 Recording]

A new version of the Requiem from these musicians adds immediacy, intensity, and speed.

Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann / Frédéric Chaslin / La Fenice Theater Orchestra

Poulenc: La Voix humaine; Fiançailles pour rire

Poulenc's late one-act phone opera seems more relevant than ever and is given a suitably stressed-out performance.

Kammerchor Stuttgart / Frieder Bernius / Hofkapelle Stuttgart

Franz Schubert: Messe As-Dur D678

Consistently gorgeous recording of Schubert's Mass in A flat major, with small but not minimal groups.

Kitty Whately / Joseph Middleton

Befreit: A Soul Surrendered

Revelatory performances by Whately and Middleton of music by forgotten women composers.

Leo Jemison / Rachel Ramond / William Christie / Les Arts Florissants

Handel: L'Allegro il Penseroso ed il moderato

Crisp, exciting Handel, in a brilliant and underrated work.

Magdalena Kožená / Simon Rattle / Czech Philharmonic

Folk Songs

Folk song collection that avoids the performer's nationality, instead exploring the meanings of vernacular music in the 20th century.

Max Emanuel Cencic / Franco Fagioli / George Petrou

N.A. Porpora: Carlo il Calvo

Top-notch singing in a seriously virtuosic opera seria by Haydn's teacher.

Nathaniel Hackmann / Sierra Boggess / John Wilson / Sinfonia of London

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! [Chandos]

A hand-picked orchestra and ensemble deliver a rousing success in this complete score recording premiere.

Norwegian Soloists Choir / Grete Pedersen / Ensemble Allegria

Bent Sørensen: St. Matthew Passion

A fascinating rendering of the St. Matthew Passion, with texts by various poets interleaved with biblical words.

ORA Singers / Suzi Digby

Sanctissima

Music for a liturgical service for the Feast of the Assumption, incorporating chant, Renaissance pieces, and modern works.

Paul Agnew / Les Arts Florissants

Gesualdo: Tenebrae Responsoria, Feria Quinta

Madrigalistic readings of Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories have a haunting quality.

Piotr Beczała / Helmut Deutsch

Romances: Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky

Superb performances of Russian songs by a pair of performers who are exquisitely sensitive to each other.

Rachel Willis-Sørensen

Strauss: Four Last Songs

Impressive sophomore release triumphs as it steps into a crowded Strauss marketplace.

Raphaël Pichon / Perrine Devillers / Pygmalion / Céline Scheen

Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine

A glorious recording of the Vespers, bringing to life all the strands Monteverdi wove together in this masterpiece.

Reginald Mobley / Baptiste Trotignon

Because

The novelty of countertenor renditions of spirituals is matched and thus muted a bit by the other novelties here, and it all coheres.

Rinaldo Alessandrini / Concerto Italiano

Monteverdi: Concerto; Settimo Libro de' Madrigali

Superb, deeply text-interpretive readings of late Monteverdi madrigals by Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano.

Simon Callow / Michael Waldron / London Choral Sinfonia

Sword in the Soul

An unusual Passion setting, with pieces of various textual sources interspersed with direct modern narration by Rowan Williams.

St. John's College Choir, Cambridge / Andrew Nethsingha / George Herbert

New Millennium

A fine, possibly valedictory release from the longtime Cambridge conductor.

State Choir Latvija / Māris Sirmais

Credo

Gorgeous, rich settings of texts about divine and secular love.

Swedish Radio Choir / Kaspars Putniņš

Schumann: Missa Sacra

Exceptional performances of little-known choral works by Robert Schumann.

The Crossing / Donald Nally

Carols after a Plague

An entirely original program from The Crossing offers newly commissioned COVID-related works, holiday themes, and more.

The Gesualdo Six / Owain Park

Byrd: Mass for Five Voices

Absorbing readings of Byrd motets interspersed among the movements of the Mass for Five Voices.

The King's Singers

Wonderland

Not really a children's album, although a clever young person might well enjoy it.

Thomas Gropper / Arcis-Vocalisten München / L'Arpa Festante

Carl Loewe: Jan Hus Oratorium, Op. 82

An unknown and dramatically effective oratorio on the life of religious reformer Jan Hus.

Thomas Hampson / Martin Haselböck / Stephanie Houtzeel / Sunhae Im / Tomasz Konieczny / Orchester Wiener Akademie

Liszt: Orchestral Songs

A superb group of Liszt orchestral songs includes world premieres.

Thomas Oliemans / Malcolm Martineau

Brahms Songbook, Vol. 1: Romanzen aus Magelone, Regenlie-Zyklus

Sharply characterized songs mark this performance of Brahms' not-a-song-cycle.

Trinity College Choir, Cambridge / Stephen Layton

Anthems: Elgar, Wesley, Howells, Spicer, Gowers, MacMillan, Bednall, Pott

A rich selection of Anglican anthems in a traditional vein, with fine, radiant performances.

Voces8 / Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre: Home

A partnership brings a major new work on a somber subject.

Vox Clamantis / Jaan-Eik Tulve

Graduel d'Aliénor de Bretagne

Distinctive features in the music and in the performance set this chant recording apart from the common run.

Wolfgang Sawallisch / Bavarian State Orchestra

Mendelssohn: Elias

A noble, rich Elias (or "Elijah") performed live in German.

The AllMusic 2023

YearInReview

Favorite Classical Vocal Albums ↓