October reviews
We rate and review the very best new releases of CDs, DVDs and books so you know exactly what’s hot and what’s not...
In this month’s magazine:
Disc of the Month
Beethoven: Piano Concertos
Paul Lewis (piano), BBC Symphonic Orchestra/Jiri Belohlávek
Harmonia Mundi 902053.55
‘So much light and shade, so much care and finesse, so much implication and suggestion’
Opera and Vocal Editor’s Choice
Bach: Folk songs
Sinikka Langeland (singer), Lars Anders Tomter (viola), Kåre Nordstoga (organ)
ECM 2127 271 7097
‘It takes true courage for serious musicians to blur distinctions between genres’
Orchestral Editor’s Choice
Mahler: Symphony No.4
Christiane Oelze (soprano), Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/Markus Stenz
OEHMS Classics OC 649
‘The vividness of the detail in the weird, not-quite-Scherzo second movement mesmerises the ear’
Instrumental and Chamber Editor’s Choice
Dvorak: String Quartets Nos. 10, 11, 13, 14; String Quartet in E flat ‘American’, et al.
Emerson String Quartet, Paul Neubauer (viola)
DG 477 8765
‘It’s music that makes you feel glad to be alive and it’s hard to imagine it better played’
DVD Editor’s Choice
Brahms: Violin Sonatas
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Lambert Orkis (piano)
DG 073 4617
‘The filming translates the cosy, almost salon recital atmosphere, to the extent that you feel more like a concert goer than a DVD watcher’
Book Editor’s Choice
Living Opera
Joshua Jampol
ISBN 978 0 19538 138 2
Oxford University Press
‘Both a page-turner and a serious insight into what it’s like to work in opera’
Reissues
Simon Rattle (conductor)
EMI Classics 9677112
EMI Classics 2344302
EMI Classics 967 1362
EMI Classics 217 6302
EMI Classics 228 5292
Medici Arts 2057754
ISBN 978 0 5712 144 6
‘Rattle’s embrace of bedrock classics has been unwavering’
