Editor's Choice: December 2024 | The best new classical recordings
Friday, November 29, 2024
Featuring outstanding new releases from Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan, Xiayin Wang, James Ehnes, Jean-Guihen Queyras and more
In every issue of Gramophone, Editor Martin Cullingford chooses 12 albums (10 new releases, plus one video and one archive recommendation) as his Editor's Choice. Below, you will find the albums selected as Editor's Choice in the December 2024 issue, beginning with the Recording of the Month.
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Recording of the Month
Brahms Cello Sonatas
Alisa Weilerstein vc Inon Barnatan pf (Pentatone)
A wonderful set of Brahms’s cello sonatas, full of individual personality and insight, from Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan, all played and recorded beautifully.
MacDowell ‘Orchestral Works, Vol 1’
Xiayin Wang pf BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / John Wilson (Chandos)
John Wilson and pianist Xiayin Wang are the finest of advocates for this rarely heard music by the American composer Edward MacDowell.
Ehnes & Armstrong play Brahms & Schumann
James Ehnes va Andrew Armstrong pf (Onyx)
More Brahms this month, played to a similarly high standard: James Ehnes turns to the viola and once more achieves a prefect rapport with pianist Andrew Armstrong on a very stylish album.
Chausson Concert Vierne Piano Quintet
Daishin Kashimoto vn Éric Le Sage pf Schumann Quartet (Sony Classical)
Louis Vierne’s powerful, moving Piano Quintet is paired with Ernest Chausson’s late-Romantic Concert by artists who clearly adore these works’ melodies and textures.
Waley-Cohen Spell Book
Manchester Collective (NMC)
The first release devoted to the music of Freya Waley-Cohen, a name already familiar from her work with many leading artists, offers a fascinating and engaging portrait of an impressive composer.
JS Bach Solo Cello Suites
Jean-Guihen Queyras vc (Harmonia Mundi)
Jean-Guihen Queyras returns to Bach’s Cello Suites, one of the most beloved monuments of Western music, after nearly two decades, bringing to bear years of reflection and experience.
G Jackson The Christmas Story
Choirs of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas (Delphian)
Gabriel Jackson explores Christmas with his distinctive music, which seems to unite both history and modernity; Benjamin Nicholas brings it stunningly to life.
Mozart Requiem
Sols; Pygmalion / Raphaël Pichon (Harmonia Mundi)
Drama is at the heart of Pygmalion’s interpretation of Mozart’s Requiem, one honed by touring the work, while woven throughout are a host of Mozartian rarities that add fascinating context.
Stradella Un angelo del Paradiso
Silvia Frigato sop Ensemble Mare Nostrum / Andrea De Carlo (Arcana)
On this exciting album soprano Silvia Frigato celebrates music written by Alessandro Stradella for the 17th-century castrato Marc’Antonio Orrigoni.
Gluck Iphigénie en Aulide
Sols; Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin (Alpha)
‘The prime recommendation for what is arguably the most unjustly neglected opera of the 18th century,’ writes Richard Wigmore – what greater encouragement to listen is needed?
Video of the Month
Moussa. Mendelssohn. Schoenberg
Igor Levit pf Staatskapelle Berlin / Christian Thielemann (arte.tv)
From our Online Concerts and Events pages, Christian Thielemann’s opening concert as Staatsoper Berlin Generalmusikdirektor.
Reissue/Archive of the Month
Mozart. Schubert. Schumann
Hortense Monath pf Kolisch String Quartet (Biddulph)
Pioneering pianist Hortense Monath and the Kolisch String Quartet achieved something quite remarkable in this programme of Mozart, Schubert and Schumann, all excellently transferred.