“This vivid act of reclamation has so much to teach, and to enjoy. It shows that Stokowski's arrangements were made not only with love but acuity; that their flair and poetry may survive beyond his own performances, given the flair and commitmen…
“Sidorova here demonstrates the remarkable potential of the accordion, not an instrument generally appreciated in classical circles...[The Bach] is fascinating, with Sidorova making the accordion sound like a miniature organ...An attractive and unus…
"Her voice had contralto inflexions, tender and deep": there we have an excellent summing-up of this voice that has been traditional for at least a century and a half. One thinks of Kathleen Ferrier in Brahms and Mahler, of Erda in .The Ri…
“Time and again you are left to admire the way he never burdens Bach's transparency and profundity with a portentous or heavy air of significance. Touchingly and admirably, he always allows Bach his own voice, his manner at once masterly and sel…
From the dramatic sweep of Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, to the majestic pomp of Walton's Crown Imperial and Sigfried Karg-Elert's Nun danket alle Gott, and the brilliant spectacle of toccatas by Théodore Dubois, …
“This is extremely intelligent, thoughtful, committed playing that displays both a grasp of recent trends in performance practice and a deep love of the music. Of all the pianists seeking to make a case for music of this vintage on the mdoern instru…
“for anyone knowing these suites well, this version will prove totally riveting - I haven't listened more intently for a long time...apart from a curiously limited dynamic range, Smith's playing is profoundly sensitive.” --BBC Music Magazine…
“Suzuki and his singers are at ease with this carefree Bach, introducing the Quodlibet with background babble, and singing with exaggerated nasal accents...[Lunn's] lyrical, sustained aria in BWV36c is glorious. Two further high points in BWV36c…
"The idea of choosing piano works for a solo recording that explores the concept of fantasy may not seem all that original. But on this fascinating album the Israeli pianist David Greilsammer explores the concept in a program of striking divers…
Alison Balsom is the world’s preeminent female classical trumpeter. She is an unique and independent artist who have broken through to the mainstream whilst retaining her integrity and core musical values. Exceptional talent, a glamorous stage prese…
Overwhelming splendour: Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most important organ composers of all time, with his Toccata & Fugue BWV 565 the best-known work ever written for 'the queen of instruments'. Bach's organ music forms the b…
“An unselfconscious frisson of symphonic timbre and period clarity really does kick these concertos off into some highly distinctive regions...But it's the direct and ringing pianism of Ramin Bahrami that defines this unusual collaboration. The …
Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki present their long-awaited second volume of secular cantatas by J.S. Bach. “brilliantly caught, from the casting of the four characters to the expectional continuo work, led by Suzuki himself. Makoto Sakurada …
Johann Sebastian Bach belonged to a dynasty of musicians. In following inevitable family tradition, he excelled his forebears and contemporaries, although he did not always receive in his own lifetime the respect he deserved. He spent his earlier ca…
Just over twenty secular cantatas by JS Bach have survived, and we know of almost thirty other cantatas that are now lost. The secular cantatas were almost all composed for some important, festive event in a family or in public, academic or politica…
"Slatkin is at his best here. He is equally interested in line and color, thereby supporting the aims of both Bach and the individual orchestrators… What really makes this recording work is the superb playing of the orchestra. They really respo…
Gramophone described her Bach album as “splendid stuff” and the pieces “showcase Balsom’s phenomenal technique and gleaming expressiveness” “…as a showcase for this young artist's mesmerising virtuosity the disc does its job admirably, and prese…
'The remarkable Tatiana Nikolayeva … uncovers Bach's revelations as if they were her own' --The Independent 'Absolutely superb. Certainly I can think of no finer recording of this endlessly fascinating masterpiece, whatever the mediu…
“this is a romantic approach, with a limpid, legato touch in many of the Inventions. There is a dynamic rise and fall which emphasises the shape of phrases, and there is a vocal clarity to the contrapuntal strands which keeps us soundly on message f…
Born in the Japanese port city of Nagasaki, in 1961, Kazuhito Yamashita is widely recognized as one of the world's most premier virtuoso guitarists. His dazzling technique and powerful expression has received accolades throughout the musical wor…