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Rachel has produced over 200 recordings: here is a selection of her favourites. -
Rachel has produced over 200 recordings: here is a selection of her favourites.
Benjamin Grosvenor: Rhapsody in Blue
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; James Judd .
Decca 478 3527DH
“One of the most dazzling records to have come my way for many years.”
- Gramophone
“…his tone and phrasing echoes of a golden age ... A champagne disc – fizz and finesse.”
- BBC Music Magazine
Stravinsky: Complete Music for Piano and Orchestra
Steven Osborne; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Ilan Volkov
Hyperion CDA67870
“Steven Osborne plays all with diamantine brilliance.”
- Sunday Times: Recording of the Year
“A superb disc ... Steven Osborne manifests both his rhythmic élan and his refined sense of tonal shading, underpinning the performances with virile energy … an outstanding album.”
- The Daily Telegraph: Classical recording of the week
“ … places huge demands on soloist, conductor and also recording engineers, all of whom sail through unscathed by the technical problems and the difficult sonorities.”
- Gramophone
Stephen Hough in Recital
Hyperion CDA67686
“Listening to this recital I felt as though I were a guest at a sumptuous banquet … vintage Hough ... a pianist at the height of his powers … a great piano recording and front runner for instrumental disc of the year.”
- Gramophone: Recording of the month
Sunday Times: Classical CD of the week
“Superbly executed and produced.”
- International Record Review
Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Chandos CHAN 10720/10798/10925
“Bavouzet’s chronological journey through the Beethoven sonatas has not been surpassed in the last 30 years. Yes, it’s that good.”
- Gramophone: Recording of the month
“Bavouzet’s performances are distinguished and virtuosic … Chandos has provided him with luscious recorded sound, which allows for plenty of air around the notes … a most desirable set overall.”
- BBC Music Magazine
Beethoven Violin Sonatas
Tasmin Little; Martin Roscoe
Chandos CHAN 10888
“Neither artist has done anything finer on disc.”
- The Sunday Times: Album of the week
“Tasmin’s set is one of the finest of recent years, and deserves the widest circulation.”
- Classic FM: Critics' choice
Handel: Alceste
Lucy Crowe; Benjamin Hulett; Andrew Foster-Williams; Early Opera Company; Christian Curnyn
Chaconne CHAN 0788
Winner: BBC Music Magazine Award
BBC Music Magazine: Opera Choice
The Sunday Times: CD of the week
Gramophone: Editor's Choice
Handel: Flavio
Tim Mead; Iestyn Davies; Rosemary Joshua; Hilary Summers; Renata Pokupić; Thomas Walker; Andrew Foster-Williams; Early Opera Company; Christian Curnyn
Chaconne CHAN 0773(2)
"… this early Handel opera allows Curnyn and his talented company to shine brilliantly: no other opera group comes close for inspiration and authenticity."
- The Independent: Album of the week
“…This new recording is exemplary, with elegant, sprightly playing, ... beautifully paced tempos, ... and golden-age singing..."
- The Telegraph
Handel: Serse
Anna Stéphany; David Daniels; Hilary Summers; Brindley Sherratt; Rosemary Joshua; Joélle Harvey; Andreas Wolf; Early Opera Company; Christian Curnyn
Chaconne CHAN 0797(3)
"... for anyone wanting to acquire this jewel among Handel’s later operas, this beautifully recorded new version is the one to go for."
- Gramophone: Opera choice
"...top of the list ... thanks to the conductor’s unerring sense of style ... as well as the exceptionally fine cast. A total success."
The Sunday Times: Album of the week
"...this new version easily outshines previous sets." *****
- The Financial Times
Monteverdi: Flaming Heart
I Fagiolini; Robert Hollingworth
Chaconne CHAN 0730
"Do not miss this wide-ranging survey on any account."
- Gramophone: Editor's Choice; Critics' Choice
"I Fagiolini’s superbly responsive singing gives this collection of some of Monteverdi’s most vividly expressive madrigals a wonderful air of emotional spontaneity."
- The Telegraph: CD of the year
"... I Fagiolini are most seductive and persuasive in Monteverdi… Frankly you won’t hear madrigals better sung."
- The Independent on Sunday
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas
Sarah Connolly; Gerald Finley; Lucy Crowe; Patricia Bardon; William Purefoy; Choir of the Enlightenment; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Elizabeth Kenny; Steven Devine
Chaconne CHAN 0757
“This is a definitive Dido and Aeneas, deserving of the highest praise.”
- Early Music Today
“From the outset, Connolly exudes imposing presence, pathos and unassailable dignity.”
- BBC Music Magazine: Choice
“Lucy Crow’s Belinda is a splendid foil for Connolly’s self-absorption, with her astute and increasingly desperate buoying up.”
- Gramophone: Editor's Choice
Vaughan Williams: Flos Campi; Suite for viola and small orchestra; McEwen: Viola Concerto
Lawrence Power; BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales; Martyn Brabbins
Hyperion CDA67839
"Lawrence Power is the perfect advocate for both works, with his rich, warm, sensuous tone and flamboyant virtuosity …"
- The Sunday Times: Classical CD of the week
"Lawrence Power plays with a tone as dark as a cello, and a technique as agile as a violinist's: the ideal combination … decidedly a favourite disc of 2011."
- The Observer
"… this is a 'must-have' for all lovers of Vaughan Williams and British music in general!"
- Gramophone: Critics' Choice 2011
Debussy: Jeux; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps: Bartók: Two Pictures
Transcriptions for Two Pianists
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; François-Frédéric Guy
Chandos CHAN 10863
“... the colours, dynamics and textural finesse of this performance, enhanced by superbly lifelike recording, are breathtaking.”
- Gramophone: Critics' choice
"The programme works brilliantly, allowing us to hear the music as the composers did when they worked on these masterpieces."
The Sunday Times: Album of the week
Schumann: Fantasiestücke; Kreisleriana; Brahms: Theme and Variations
Imogen Cooper
Chandos CHAN 10755
“ Throughout this superlative recital, Imogen Cooper’s artistic sensibility – highly personal, interpretatively penetrating, yet never didactic – reflects a sympathy with the music so intimate and compelling that it seems for the most part to transcend the very concept of interpretation. The sound here is positively luminous.”
- BBC Music Magazine: Instrumental choice
“This is one of the finest solo piano recordings I have heard for some time.”
International Record Review: Outstanding
Piers Lane Goes to Town
Piers Lane
Hyperion CDA67967
“This superbly recorded disc (played on a gorgeously voiced Steinway) is Lane's love letter to the piano. I wish more pianists would share their guilty pleasures like this.”
- Gramophone
“Lane in wonderful, debonair mode here, sparkling through a personal encore selection from Jamaican Rumba to a Toccata by his own father, and from Myra Hess to Dudley Moore.”
- BBC Music Magazine
A Violin for All Seasons
Vivaldi: Four Seasons; Roxanna Panufnik: Four World Seasons
Tasmin Little; BBC Symphony Orchestra
Chandos CHSA 5175
“Little simply responds to the music with an open-eyed freshness and fantasy that’s all the more remarkable when you consider how often she must have played these works. She is lively and conversational, and conveys a vivid sense of character to her colleagues. Listen to the little icicle swirls from David Wright’s harpsichord at the start of ‘Winter’ or the gutsy pizzicatos in the final hunt of ‘Autumn’. Moments such as the inner movement of ‘Winter’, where Little drapes her lustrous tone all over the melody, are a delicious bonus."
- Gramophone
Bach: St John Passion
Robert Murray; Neal Davies; Sophie Bevan; Robin Blaze; Benjamin Hulett; Andrew Ashwin; Ashley Riches; Crouch End Festival Chorus; Bach Camerata; David Temple
Chandos CHSA 5183(2)
“One will struggle to find more committed, well-balanced, agile and crisp singing than that of the Crouch End Festival Chorus ... frankly, none of the soloists could be bettered … congratulations to all concerned on producing such a buoyant, absorbing and sonically thrilling recording.”
- Gramophone
“...The Bach Camerata play with idiomatic certainty and utter conviction, the 100-plus voices of the Crouch End Festival Chorus intensely fervent, yet exquisitely nuanced. In a word: essential” *****
- classicalear.co.uk
Works for Clarinet & Orchestra: Mozart; Copland; Kats-Chernin
Michael Collins; Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Chandos CHAN 10756
“Throughout, Michael Collins is in his element, relishing every twist and turn of the music’s consistently imaginative invention ... Michael Collins is just as at home here [Copland’s Concerto] as he is in the Mozart and Kats-Chernin, directing the Swedish Chamber Orchestra with idiomatic panache.”
- Gramophone
"The Mozart is beautiful, perceptive, and breathtaking; the Copland is intimate and exuberant; and the Kats-Chernin is urgent and raucous. His expressive risk-taking is enjoyable, too, from the joyful decorations in the Mozart to the sassy pitch-bending in the Kats-Chernin. The Swedish Chamber orchestra plays with seemingly effortless aplomb and professionalism, no matter the composer or the century."
- American Record Guide
The Virtuoso Clarinet
Michael Collins; Piers Lane
Chandos CHAN 10615
"…It is difficult to imagine a finer performance than that given here … I enjoyed this disc immensely and give it my strongest recommendation."
- International Record Review: Outstanding
“Brilliant playing in every sense: the musical equivalent of a tray of bonbons crafted by Gordon Ramsay and a must for any clarinet fan.” *****
- Classic FM Magazine: Editor's Choice
The Lyrical Clarinet
Michael Collins; Michael McHale
Chandos CHAN 10637
“It’s hard to imagine this varied programme better played than it is here by Collins and Michael McHale. They’re technically impeccable and stylistically flexible, and aided by an unobtrusively excellent recording, they both produce some beautiful pianissimo playing.”
- BBC Music Magazine
Bridge: Phantasy Piano Quartet; Cello Sonata; Violin Sonata; Folk Tunes for string quartet
The Nash Ensemble
Hyperion CDA68003
"Paul Watkins delivers lovely, fluent melodic lines in the Cello Sonata … the Hyperion recorded quality is a dream."
- Gramophone
"A beautifully played and thoughtfully programmed disc … includes the superb Violin Sonata of 1932, for which rival versions are still few and far between … Marianne Thorsen's interpretation with Ian Brown seems to me absolutely exemplary."
- BBC Music Magazine
Grier: Sword in the Soul
Seven short films from King's College Chapel
Philharmonia Voices; Sarah Suckling; David Goode; Aidan Oliver
Polyphonic Films
Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Volumes 1 - 6
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Chandos CHAN 10586/10668/10689/10736/10763/10942
“Unadulterated bliss.” *****
- The Sunday Times: CD of the week (Vol 1)
“… Bavouzet shines brilliantly in Haydn’s first ‘great concert sonata’, but he is just as good with the intimate moments: roll on the complete cycle.”
- The Independent: Album of the week (Vol 1)
“Clarity and control from Bavouzet… the first disc in what I hope will be a long and comprehensive series.”
- Gramophone: Editor's choice (Vol 1; Vol 6)
“A recording worth rushing to the shops for. Bavouzet plays these inventive masterpieces with real love.”
- Classic FM Magazine: Editor's choice (Vol 3)
- Gramophone: Critics' Choice (Vol 3)
Haydn: Piano Concertos
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; Manchester Camerata; Gábor Takács-Nagy
Chandos CHAN 10808
"My thought is these are historic recordings, unlikely to be made again with the musical imagination and creativity of an artist such as Bavouzet, captured in the best of modern sound - music for the ages. Bravo to all concerned!"
- American Record Guide
“… his [Bavouzet] performances reflect an acute awareness of the style, scale and expressive scope of eighteenth-century performance practice as it is understood today. The Chandos engineers have captured this compelling music-making in all its dimension and detail. Very highly recommended.”
- International Record Review
Franck; Szymanowski; Fauré
Tasmin Little; Piers Lane
Chandos CHAN 10940
“...These are wholesome, red-blooded performances, direct and deeply satisfying, with no lack of imagination ... Little’s rapport with the superb Piers Lane strikes home right from the sonata’s passionate opening ... recommended.”
- Gramophone
...Little is one of the most open-hearted players around, with a watertight virtuosity to match. These are direct and generous performances to savour.”
- The Guardian
Bach Piano Transcriptions - 10: Saint-Saëns
Nadejda Vlaeva
Hyperion CDA67873
"... a pianofest requiring sumptuous tone, concertante awareness and dazzling octaves. Vlaeva gives it the lot. This young Bulgarian pianist is new to Hyperion; her terrific CD bodes well for the future."
- BBC Music Magazine: Instrumental choice
'The Ouverture to Cantata, BWV29 is positively stunning under Vlaeva's fingers … all in all, this is a notably spontaneous-sounding recording".
- International Record Review
Bach Piano Transcriptions 8: Eugen D'Albert
Piers Lane
Hyperion CDA67709
'Masterly performances by Piers Lane ... In his ingenious hands, they become compelling piano pieces.'
- The Sunday Times
"... Lane plays them with a ravishing finesse that belies their often monumental difficulty."
- The Guardian
J S Bach: 'Goldberg' Variations
Steven Devine
Chaconne CHAN 0780
“... he [Devine] exercises restraint, but his muscular style is remarkably expressive.”
- The Independent: Album of the week
“... Devine’s harpsichord Goldbergs can stand among the best in a crowded field.”
- Gramophone
A Royal Trio: Lawrence Zazzo
La Nuova Musica
Harmonia Mundi HMU80 7590
“Zazzo’s limpid delicacy, and control of nuance within a long-spun line, is as impressive as his bravura exuberance in Ariosti’s ‘shipwreck’ aria, ‘Freme l’onda’.”
- Gramophone
“Exceptionally well-thought out … the exuberant ‘Vivi tiranno’ rounds things off in style, with Zazzo in glorious voice throughout.”
- The Guardian
The Call: More Choral Classics from St John's
Choir of St John's College, Cambridge; Andrew Nethsingha
Chandos CHAN 10872
"This is choral singing and recording on the very highest level."
- Fanfare
“The unfolding of ‘Holy is the true light’ is perhaps the most magical moment on a disc which offers, in truth, 75 minutes of utter aural sublimity."
- Gramophone: Editor’s choice
On Christmas Night
Choir of St John's College, Cambridge; Andrew Nethsingha
Chandos CHSA 5096
"This release stands out thanks to the commitment to quality and high artistic values shown here by St John’s College Choir and Chandos.” *****
- Classic FM Magazine: Editor’s choice
“Chandos engineering casts a luminescent glow around these excellent performances by the choir of St John’s College, Cambridge."
- BBC Music Magazine
"...the finest ’cathedral’ Christmas disc of the year."
- Gramophone
O Sacrum Convivium! French Sacred Choral Works
Choir of St John's College, Cambridge; Andrew Nethsingha
Chandos CHAN 10842
"If you buy one choral recording this year, make it this one!" *****
- Choir and Organ Magazine
“…smart, sleek Poulenc clinches the deal on what must be one of the Best Recordings of 2015. Chandos comes across with exemplary engineering and annotation."
- American Record Guide
Schumann: Piano Works
Imogen Cooper
Chandos CHAN 10874
"Every piece is a study in portraiture worthy of ETA Hoffmann."
- BBC Music Magazine: Instrumental choice
"Cooper remains one of the sovereign pianists: everything she touches exudes integrity, the highest understanding coupled with a melting beauty of sound ... demonstration-standard sound (Snape Maltings).... Stunning from all angles."
- International Piano Magazine: International Piano 'Choice'
"Every musical twist and emotional turn is negotiated with deftness and insight, and the (Snape Maltings) recording is of demonstration quality." *****
- Classical Music
Liszt & Wagner
Imogen Cooper
Chandos CHAN 10938
“...Cooper’s keyboard mastery is as searching as the music itself ... This is altogether exceptional music-making, graced for good measure with the warmly beautiful acoustic of Snape Maltings Concert Hall.”
- BBC Music Magazine: Instrumental Choice
Imogen Cooper's Chopin
Imogen Cooper
Chandos CHAN 10902
"Atmospheres are intense, intimate, turbulent and dreamlike by turns; and Cooper injects every note with strength of personality...”
- BBC Music Magazine: Instrumental choice
“... Cooper lays out her approach to the composer and the music in a revealing and insightful performer’s note. This is intelligent music-making of a high order."
- International Piano Magazine
Robert & Clara Schumann: Piano Works
Imogen Cooper
Chandos CHAN 10841
"… A rich, empathetic and beautifully calibrated recital."
- BBC Music Magazine
"… one cannot deny the understanding, individuality and poetic refinement in Cooper’s playing ... these performances, full of graceful, finely drawn and characterful playing, are much to be applauded. They are also extremely well recorded."
- International Record Review
Schumann; Grieg & Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos
Howard Shelley; Orchestra of Opera North
Chandos CHAN 10509
"I think many listeners will agree with me that this is the most finely realised and ravishingly beautiful Schumann Concerto to have come for a long time…"
- International Record Review
"The fact that Howard Shelley directs these inspirational performances from the piano is nothing short of remarkable. In his hands, sparkling virtuosity and interpretative ease combine to form a perfect musical marriage. Best of all is Saint-Saëns Concerto no 2, which receives its finest recording since Rubinstein’s classic made nearly half a century ago."
- Classic FM Magazine
Beethoven: Complete works for piano and orchestra
Howard Shelley; Tasmin Little; Tim Hugh; Chorus & Orchestra of Opera North
Chandos CHAN 10695(4)
"... one of the most stylish pianists around ... his crisp elegance is a constant joy ... A special set of performances – for a lifetime’s enjoyment." *****
- Time Out
“Howard Shelley is both soloist and conductor in this sensational new recording of Beethoven’s complete piano concertos.” *****
- Classic FM Magazine: Disc of the month
Handel: Duets
Rosemary Joshua; Sarah Connolly
Chaconne CHAN 0767
"I haven’t enjoyed a Handel vocal recital as much as this in a long time … no Handelian will want to be without this disc. If you haven’t yet succumbed to the Handel bug, prepare to be seduced."
- International Record Review: IRR Outstanding
“Admired individually as expert Handelian singers, together they are perfectly attuned to each other’s (and Handel’s) musical gestures ... Harry Bicket and the English Concert provide neat and lightly peppy playing. I suspect this will become a classic Handel recording.”
- Opera
My True Love Hath My Heart: English Songs
Sarah Connolly; Malcolm Martineau
Chandos CHAN 10691
"Connolly and her supersensitive accompanist, Malcolm Martineau, ideally recorded, are throughout simply ideal in this treasurable repertoire."
- International Record Review
“Sarah Connolly, with her clear, fresh mezzo, here tackles a delightful, wide-ranging sequence of English songs. In all these Sarah Connolly sings immaculately, with impeccably sensitive accompaniment from Malcolm Martineau, in sound both clear and perfectly balanced.”
- Gramophone
Schumann: Songs of Love & Loss
Sarah Connolly; Eugene Asti
Chandos CHAN 10492
"Connolly, in sumptuous voice, brings these songs and the two great cycles vividly to life."
- The Sunday Times
"Deeply felt, meltingly phrased and probingly thoughtful accounts of some of the greatest songs ever written."
- Classic FM Magazine
Bizet: The Pearl Fishers (Highlights)
Rebecca Evans; Simon Keenlyside; Barry Banks; Alastair Miles; Geoffrey Mitchell Choir; London Philharmonic Orchestra; Brad Cohen
Chandos CHAN 3156
"It was Rebecca Evans’s Gretel, who took the honours. Spinning out radiant lines of delicious purity, she made it hard to see how the role could be sung better."
- The Times
"... this deserves to fly off the shelves."
- The Sunday Times
Britten: The Beggar's Opera
Susan Bickley; Jeremy White; Leah-Marian Jones; Thomas Randle; Robert Anthony Gardiner; Donald Maxwell; Sarah Fox; Frances McCafferty; City of London Sinfonia; Christian Curnyn
Chandos CHAN 10548
"...this is the current set of choice."
- Opera Magazine
“the score is fierily conducted by Christian Curnyn. Tom Randle plays Macheath so seductively that we understand exactly why Sarah Fox’s Lucy and Leah-Marian Jones’s Polly are continuously fighting over him. Listen out, also, for Frances McCafferty’s glorious Mrs Trapes and Donald Maxwell’s superlative Lockitt."
- The Guardian
Petrassi: Magnificat; Salmo IX
Sabina Cvilak; Orchestra & Coro Teatro Regio Torino; Gianandrea Noseda
Chandos CHAN 10750
“..Petrassi shows exhilarating mastery in handling large forces. She [Sabina Cvilak] sounds sweet, warm, and electrifying when required, and Noseda directs his Turin forces with authority and understanding of these powerful works."
- BBC Music Magazine: Choral & Song Choice
"The performances by the forces of Teatro Regio, Turin, are committed and persuasive. Excellent sound makes this a thoroughly recommendable release."
- Gramophone
Verdi: Four Sacred Pieces
Barbara Frittoli; Francesco Meli; Orchestra & Coro Teatro Regio, Torino; Giandrea Noseda
Chandos CHAN 10659
"The Turin forces, especially the chorus, perform these Four Sacred Pieces with utter conviction ... juicy, full-bodied singing ... the Italianate fervor and overall involvement are attention-grabbing."
- American Record Guide
"The Turin chorus gives an idiomatic and highly satisfying performance of the taxing Four Sacred Pieces. Their orchestral colleagues provide opulent and exhilarating support throughout this varied and well-balanced programme.”
- Gramophone
Mahler: Symphony No 2
Regula Mühlemann; Anna Maria Chiuri; Orchestra & Coro Teatro Regio Torino; Giandrea Noseda
Foné SACD157
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade
Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino; Giandrea Noseda
Foné 074
Schubert: Mass in E flat minor
Susan Gritton; Pamela Helen Stephen; Mark Padmore; James Gilchrist; Matthew Rose; Collegium Musicum 90; Richard Hickox
Chaconne CHAN 0750
"The powerful new Hickox recording of this late Schubert masterpiece, clean as a whistle, superbly recorded, and with an excellent note by the scholar Brian Newbould, is now the one to have."
- International Record Review
"Period-instrument colour, warm-toned choral singing and Hickox’s imaginative, heartfelt vision help define this performance of Schubert’s late masterpiece as a benchmark recording."
- Classic FM Magazine
Maestro Corelli's Violins
Collegium Musicum 90; Simon Standage
Chaconne CHAN 0818
“... ensemble-playing to relish: crisp, lucid textures, a feeling of absolute togetherness of thought and action, and a lovely combination of excitement and respect for the music. Simon Standage himself is equally on form, bringing a wonderfully clean, wiry sweetness to the solo violin lines.”
- Gramophone
18th-century Portuguese Love Songs
L'Avventura London
Hyperion CDA67904
"Fully at ease with the music's poetry, Portuguese sopranos Sandra Medeiros and Joana Seara flit easily from playful coquettes to tragic lovers, while a small but colourful instrumental ensemble offers discrete accompaniments … charming accounts."
- BBC Music Magazine
"A revelation…ravishing"
- Early Music Today
French Violin Sonatas
Tasmin Little; Martin Roscoe
Chandos CHAN 10812
"...Tasmin Little and Martin Roscoe give a passionate, full-blooded performance of the Lekeu Sonata, taking on board the 22-year-old composer’s lofty tone and high ambitions. Their approach is aided by a fine, generous recording ..."
- Gramophone
"…this version by Tasmin Little and Martin Roscoe must surely be counted among the finest... The emotion of the work is evident from the first phrase, beautifully poised between expansiveness and forward motion as played by Little. It is captured in gloriously full sound."
- International Record Review
British Violin Sonatas, Volume 1
Tasmin Little; Piers Lane
Chandos CHAN 10812
"... nothing stands in the way of her forthright and superb communication skills ... Little’s playing has ceaseless and strong support from Lane’s accompaniments; the recorded sound, in Suffolk's Potton Hall, finds a lovely balance between state-of-the-art detail and warm resonance."
- BBC Music Magazine
- Fanfare
British Violin Sonatas, Volume 2
Tasmin Little; Piers Lane
Chandos CHAN 10899
"... These are splendid, sensitive, insightful interpretations by two great advocates of British music. I hope Vol. 3 is forthcoming!"
- Gramophone
"Throughout, Tasmin Little and Piers Lane are on top form proving themselves once again excellent advocates of this wonderful music."
- Music Web International
Joseph Marx: Orchestral Songs
Christine Brewer; BBC Symphony Chorus; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Jiří Bělohlávek
Chandos CHAN 10505
"Chandos’s sound is at its customary high level; even in a heavily scored work like the Autumn Chorus to Pan, vocal and orchestral balances remain natural. In sum, an aural feast."
- American Record Guide
“This luxuriantly recorded Chandos disc is particularly welcome … Performed here with considerable emotional conviction by Jiří Bělohlávek and the massed forces of Trinity Boys Choir and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and chorus."
- BBC Music Magazine
Shostakovich: Theatre Music
Rustem Hayroudinoff
Chandos CHAN 9907
"If this disc is anything to go by, he’s a pianist out of the ordinary: he plays every note as if he simply loves it."
- BBC Music Magazine
"Rustem Hayroudinoff's fresh, intelligent and tremendously witty playing makes this a CD I'd give anyone for Christmas… a breath of fresh air."
- BBC Music Magazine: Best of 2001
Jongen & Lazzari: the Romantic Violin Concerto Volume 18
Philippe Graffin; Royal Flemish Philharmonic; Martyn Brabbins
Hyperion CDA68005
"Graffin’s tonal transparency, ear-ringing intonation and phrasal intuitiveness … are a constant source of pleasure, captured in alluringly tangible sound."
- The Strad
"Graffin is, as usual, superb in every respect … with a luscious tone, expansive and nuanced phrasing, and sensitivity and passion to burn. He is given terrific support by Brabbins and the orchestra."
- The Whole Note, Canada
Bartók: Chamber Works for Violin
James Ehnes; Michael Collins; Amy Schwartz Moretti; Andrew Armstrong
Chandos 10820
"...James Ehnes continues to dazzle in his Bartók series… The recorded sound is full, with excellent balance."
- The Strad
"… Ehnes and Moretti possess precisely the degree of finesse required to bring both piquancy and a sense of stylish panache to the music here ... the dazzling “Contrasts” ... pungently played by Ehnes, Michael Collins and Andrew Armstrong."
- The Telegraph
Bartók: Works for Violin & Piano, Volume 1
James Ehnes; Andrew Armstrong
Chandos 10705
"... This beautifully recorded disc provides us with all the mature works for Bartók composed for violin and piano. They are performances of outstanding musical insight and technical brilliance."
- BBC Music Magazine
"...Thrilling Bartók from a player who triumphed in the composer’s concertos ... James Ehnes weaves Bartók’s extended lines like spells."
- The Strad
Bartók: Works for Violin & Piano, Volume 2
James Ehnes; Andrew Armstrong
Chandos 10752
"James Ehnes delivers a magisterial performance."
- BBC Music Magazine: Chamber choice
"... Big toned yet poetic. Ehnes is a persuasive interpreter."
- The Observer
Hummel: Potpourri; Adagio & Rondo alla Polacca; Variations, Op 115; Violin Concerto
James Ehnes; London Mozart Players; Howard Shelley
Chandos CHAN 10255
"Ehnes relishes his every moment, supported to the hilt by Shelley and the London Mozart Players on top form ... first-rate sound from Rachel Smith and Ralph Couzens round out another excellent release in Shelley's ongoing Hummel series."
- International Record Review
"A warm welcome for this latest disc of concertante works by Hummel, superbly played and recorded."
- Fanfare
Hummel: Piano Concerto in C major; Rondo Brillants, Op 56 & 98
Howard Shelley; London Mozart Players
Chandos CHAN 10216
"this one is every bit as fine as its predecessors, with full, open, well-balanced sound and sparkling performances … These are rarities well worth sampling, unlikely to be performed or recorded better."
- Gramophone
"Shelley's playing throughout is dazzling, clean and precise in all the cascades of virtuoso fingerwork, and with beautifully inflected decorative lines in the slower music ..."
- BBC Music Magazine
Hummel: Piano Concertos in F major & A major; Theme and Variations in F major, Op 97
Howard Shelley; London Mozart Players
Chandos CHAN 9886
"As ever, Howard Shelley proves a supremely eloquent advocate of the composer, with his refined, shapely phrasing, crystalline textures…Excellent sound. An all-round delight."
- BBC Music Magazine
"Shelley's performances combine spirit and finesse…"
- Classic FM Magazine: Record of the month
Hummel: Mandolin Concerto; Trumpet Concerto; Freudenfest Overture
Alison Stephens; Urban Agnas; London Mozart Players; Howard Shelley
Chandos CHAN 9925
"Stylish, characterful performances from soloists and orchestra alike." Performance ***** Sound *****
- BBC Music Magazine
"… all credit to Chandos for continuing to show Hummel the respect he deserves …"
- Gramophone: Critics' choice
British Clarinet Sonatas, Volume 1
Michael Collins; Michael McHale
Chandos CHAN 10704
"Collin’s clarinet-playing mesmerises the ear: the closing phrase ... shows what a player in this league can convey in just two quiet notes. Without snatching the limelight, Michael McHale’s accompanying finds a range of keyboard colours in, above all, the works by Ireland and Howells, making their individual sound-worlds seem unexpectedly subtle and rich."
- BBC Music Magazine
"The performances are superbly committed and insightful, and beautifully recorded."
- Time out
British Clarinet Sonatas, Volume 2
Michael Collins; Michael McHale
Chandos CHAN 10758
"Collins’s lustrous expertise is fully evidence, as is Michael McHale’s top-flight accompanying."
- BBC Music Magazine
"Michael Collins is on superb musical and technical form for Chandos’s second volume of British Clarinet Sonatas ... These matchless performances, with Michael McHale every bit Michael Collin’s equal, are beautifully recorded and presented. Enjoy!”
- International Record Review
Jennifer Pike plays Franck, Debussy & Ravel
Jennifer Pike; Martin Roscoe
Chandos CHAN 10667
“Jennifer Pike, in equal partnership with Martin Roscoe, gives thoroughly idiomatic, glistening performances of three core French violin sonatas. This is playing that brims with character…”
- The Telegraph
“Pike finds much to relish ... not only in her beautiful singing tone, but also in moments of hushed mystery, all captured in an admirably clear recording…”
- BBC Music Magazine
Jennifer Pike plays Dvořák, Janáček & Suk
Jennifer Pike; Tom Poster
Chandos CHAN 10827
“… I found myself more and more enchanted by Pike’s sound ... Poster’s musicianship and ability to gauge precisely what is needed, not just in the spellbinding Janácek items but elsewhere too, renders this a most attractive partnership."
- International Record Review
Irish Piano Concertos
Michael McHale; RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; Courtney Lewis
RTÉ Lyric fm
"...scintillating … fascinating from start to stop."
- The Irish Piano
"an interpretation that is as assured as it is distinctive."
- Journal of Music
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 13 & 17
Idil Biret; London Mozart Players; Patrick Gallois
Idil Biret Archive IBA056
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 4
Fang Yuan; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Marek Šedivý
Sony Classical 88875113722
Cramer: Concertos for Piano & Orchestra
London Mozart Players; Howard Shelley
Chandos CHAN 10005
"… it would be hard to imagine a more colourful, sympathetic advocate than Howard Shelley. He despatches Cramer's keyboard pyrotechnics with an ideal blend of elegance and devil-may-care brilliance… " Performance ***** Sound *****
- BBC Music Magazine
"Howard Shelley plays with dazzling brilliance throughout.''
- The Guardian
Contemporaries of Mozart Series - Cannabich: Symphonies
London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert
Chandos CHAN 10379
"Matthias Bamert directs shapely and balanced performances which possess an appealing palette of colours, a sense of rhetorical clarity and plenty of spontaneous charm."
- Gramophone
"… polished and stylish performances … Chandos’ recording is exemplary."
- BBC Music Magazine
Contemporaries of Mozart Series - Richter: Symphonies
London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert
Chandos CHAN 10386
"The London Mozart Players are a crack ensemble who readily follow Bamert’s outstanding leadership. The Chandos sound is among the best, and the notes are superb."
- American Record Guide
Kreisler: Violin Music
Jack Liebeck; Katya Apekisheva
Hyperion CDA68040
"Quite superb accounts of the Recitative and Scherzo, and Kreisler’s arrangement of Tartini’s ‘Devil’s Trill’ Sonata … the engineers provide an ideal balance and pleasing sound to complete an outstanding release."
- The Strad
"... but perhaps the most impressive performance in the entire collection is the conquering of Kreisler's adaptation of Tartini's 'Devil's Trill' sonata, which surrenders completely to Liebeck and Katya Apekisheva's formidable technique."
- The Observer
Comédie et Tragédie, Volume 1
Tempesta di Mare Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra
Chaconne CHAN 0805
“…The group seem genuinely at home in the 18th century music. The tempos are well chosen – dignified in the overtures and marches, lilting and swaggering in the airs and dances – and command of dynamics and ornamentation are superb throughout.”
- Gramophone
Comédie et Tragédie, Volume 2
Tempesta di Mare Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra
Chaconne CHAN 0810
“Delightful music, delightfully played.”
- Gramophone
"...The playing of Tempesta di Mare is once again exemplary as are the recorded sound and booklet notes. With performances like these and the previous disc let us hope that this is a long-lived series from Chandos."
- Music Web International
Flaming Rose
Julianne Baird; Tempesta di Mare Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra
Chaconne CHAN 0743
"Baird sings with a more delicate timbre… the singing is exquisitely stylish, as is the playing of Tempesta di Mare, who shine in the F major and B minor trio sonatas."
- The Sunday Times: Classical CD of the week
"Handelians will want to hear this Handel specialist in repertoire that suits her vocally to perfection ... Her instrumental backing, the Tempesta di Mare Chamber players … are accompanists of the highest order... one of the most individual Handel discs for many a month ... heartily recommended."
- International Record Review
Monteverdi: Sweet Torment
I Fagiolini; Barokksolistene; Robert Hollingworth
Chandos CHAN 0760
"... this new release from I Fagiolini is highly desirable and reinforces what an exciting project their Monteverdi series has been so far.”
- Musical Criticism
"... a gratifying and dramatic sequence. Love spurned, love lost, love sought – these are the themes of a programme performed by these gifted musicians with their customary flair and sensibility."
- The Telegraph
Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas
Emma Kirkby; Suzie LeBlanc; Peter Harvey; The Purcell Quartet
Chaconne CHAN 0691
"A sound choice of beautiful voices and elegant playing marks a distinguished issue."
- Gramophone
''I can think of no performance that has served them more affectionately and with such sensibility to Buxtehude's warmly communicative harmonies."
- BBC Music Magazine
Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas, Volume 2
Emma Kirkby; Michael Chance; Charles Daniels; Peter Harvey; The Purcell Quartet
Chaconne CHAN 0723
"Charles Daniels enters into the exultant spirit of ‘Lobe den Herrn’, especially its exuberant final alleluia, and the three male voices bring an almost Italianate sweetness to ‘Jesu dulcis memoria’, one of several fine examples of Buxtehude’s fascination with the chaconne, as well as conveying all the darkness and pain of the richly-scored Passiontide meditation ‘An filius non est Dei."
- The Telegraph
Buxtehude: VII Suonata, Op 1
The Purcell Quartet
Chaconne CHAN 0766
"... these sonatas are inventive and full of life, and the later ones seem to get steadily more attractive. They are played by the Purcell group with pleasing vitality and freshness, and the Chandos recording is natural and warmly flattering."
- The Penguin Guide: 1000 Greatest Classical Recordings, 2011-12
“…this is (as one would expect) playing of the highest order ... I look forward very much to their take on the composer’s Op 2."
- Early Music Review
Schubert: Sonatas, Volume VI
Paul Berkowitz
Meridian CDE 84265
The Sunday Times: Record of the Year
Chamber Vespers: Miniature Masterpieces of the Italian Baroque
The Gonzaga Band
Chaconne CHAN 0782
"... dazzling cornetto playing from Jamie Savan and Gawain Glenton."
- Early Music Today
"The execution is excellent."
- Classic FM Magazine
J S Bach: 'Italian' Concerto; 'French' Overture
Steven Devine
Chaconne CHAN 0802
- Fanfare
"Devine’s masterly legato fingering brings uncommon linear clarity and transparency to the Sarabande, and the Echo movement’s pronounced dynamic contrasts sound positively modern in their impact, helped by Chandos’s warm and detailed sound.”
- Gramophone
Leighton: Piano Works
Margaret Fingerhut
Chandos CHAN 10601
“Margaret Fingerhut’s strong and immaculate performances recall Leighton’s own powerful style as a pianist almost exactly, and the recordings reveal his fine ear for keyboard resonance.”
- BBC Music Magazine
“…Fingerhut plays with consummate skill and thrilling conviction, and once again the engineering is out of the top drawer…”
- Gramophone
Franz Liszt: New Discoveries, Volume 3
Leslie Howard
Hyperion CDA67810
"As ever, he beautifully allows the composer's spontaneous, improvisatory streak to speak as naturally as it likes, and needs to … memo to fellow-Lisztians: don't hesitate."
- BBC Music Magazine
"An extraordinary tour de force of pianism, musical detective work and scholarship, well recorded and impeccably annotated as always. It honours Liszt's memory in the best possible way by illustrating his many-faceted genius."
- Classic FM Magazine