Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Symphony No. 6 in A minor (1903–04) stands as a tragic case in point. Outwardly the most ‘Classical’ work in the cycle, with its four movements and a repeated exposition in the first, it is also an act of disavowal – if not of complete destruction. A nefarious spirit runs through the militaristic first movement and Scherzo, while the Finale’s hammer blows drive the point ...
Composer: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E Minor
Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov present Symphony No. 9 in D minor (1909), a work that stands as one of Mahler’s most profound and searching final statements. Cast in the same key as his First Symphony, it suggests a return to origins, yet the music moves inexorably forward, shaped by a heightened sense of finality and reflection. ...
Composer: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A Minor "Tragic"
Czech Philharmonic & Semyon Bychkov present Symphony No. 7 in E minor (1904–05), a work of striking contrasts and dissonances. Eerie nocturnes, a central dance on the edge of madness, and an Orphean descent into the most extreme sonorities create a journey of compelling intensity. The Finale, in C major, appears to strive for simplicity, with echoes of Wagner’s Meistersinger ...
Composer: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre:
Sean Shibe’s fifth PENTATONE album, Vesper, presents a striking collection of contemporary guitar works by the late Harrison Birtwistle, James Dillon, and Thomas Adès, all composed by musicians who do not play the instrument themselves. Recorded here for the first time, these recent miniatures explore the guitar’s ...
Composer: Thomas Adès (1971), Harrison Birtwistle (1934–2022), James Dillon (1950)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Schubert’s Octet in F Major, D 803 stands as one of the crowning achievements of chamber music – an expansive, symphonic vision distilled into eight voices. For the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, this masterpiece lies at the very heart of their artistic identity. Founded in 1983 by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the ensemble takes its name from Hans ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
J.S. Bach: Lutheran Masses BWV 233-236
The Kölner Akademie, under the artistic direction of Michael Alexander Willens, presents J.S. Bach: Lutheran Masses BWV 233-236, a monumental exploration of the composer’s four Kyrie–Gloria Masses. Written in the 1730s, during a period of profound artistic consolidation, these works reveal Bach at his most resourceful. Drawn largely from his finest cantata ...
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Sondra Radvanovsky, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Enrique Mazzola present Puccini: Heroines, a live recording of an all-Puccini program performed in February 2025. Radvanovsky’s extraordinary voice brings vivid individuality to each heroine, from the tender lyricism of Anna and Mimì to the dramatic intensity of Tosca and Turandot, including roles not ...
Composer: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Organist Lukas Hasler presents Gold, a radiant debut album featuring his own transcriptions and arrangements for organ. What began five years ago with a fascination for Mozart’s G Major Sonata in Edvard Grieg’s two-piano version grew into an artistic journey into the transformative world of transcription. Hasler discovered in the organ an instrument capable not only of recreating orchestral ...
Composer: Louis Lefebure-Wely (1817-1870), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Sergej Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Johann Strauss II (1825-1899), Marc-Andre Hamelin (1961)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Illia Ovcharenko, together with the MDR-Sinfonieorchester under the baton of Oksana Lyniv, presents Manu Sinistra, an album devoted to concertos for the left hand by Bortkiewicz, Prokofiev, and Ravel. These works were written for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I and responded to personal tragedy by commissioning new music. ...
Composer: Serge Bortkiewicz (1877-1952), Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), Serge Prokofieff (1891-1953)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
In Dialogos, Holland Baroque and Constantinople embark on a musical journey inspired by one of history’s most remarkable encounters: the meeting between Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade in 1219. Eight centuries later, their gesture of openness and mutual respect becomes the creative spark for this collaboration ...
Composer: Didem Bașar (1974), Tineke Steenbrink (1977), Judith Steenbrink (1977), Dimitrius Cantemir (1673-1723), Ali Ufki (1610-1675), Kiya Tabassian (1976)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Classical Crossover
Schumann: Violin Concerto & Works for Violin and Piano by Clara and Robert Schumann
Violinist Midori, Festival Strings Lucerne under the direction of Daniel Dodds, and pianist Özgür Aydin present an album of Schumann: Violin Concerto & Works for Violin and Piano by Clara and Robert Schumann, highlighting two deeply connected artistic voices. At the centre is Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D Minor, composed in 1853 but withheld from ...
Composer: Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
Invitation: Mozart, Mendelssohn & Schumann
Irish Chamber Orchestra and Jörg Widmann present the album Invitation, featuring masterworks by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. This album celebrates a remarkable ten-year creative partnership between the ICO and Jörg Widmann, who, while now pursuing new projects, remains closely connected with the ensemble. Marking the ICO’s first recording ...
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Pianist Christian Blackshaw presents A Moment in Time, an intimate exploration of Franz Schubert’s late masterworks. The album features the Four Impromptus, D. 899, written in 1827, in which Schubert transforms the simple Impromptu into “a harmonically connected cycle of unparalleled beauty.” From the From the dramatic intensity of the first to the serene beauty ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
The Bamberger Symphoniker and Riccardo Frizza chart the revival of Italian instrumental music, from Martucci’s Brahmsian yet impassioned Symphony No. 1 to Respighi’s vividly colored orchestral works that animate Renaissance art and transform Rachmaninoff’s Études-Tableaux into richly narrative soundscapes. ...
Composer: Sergej Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Cellist Matt Haimovitz on five-string cello piccolo and Christopher O’Riley on clavichord explore Bach’s Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Cembalo (BWV 1027– 1029) and Trio Sonata No. 5 (BWV 529) in The Bach Dialogues, a digital-only album. The clavichord and cello piccolo, two of Bach’s favorite ...
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
James McVinnie brings Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Clavier-Übung III to life in a recording that captures both its technical brilliance and profound spiritual depth. Bach’s 1739 collection, his first published volume of organ music, is a masterful synthesis of compositional technique, theological ...
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and its chief conductor Justin Doyle present Handel’s Messiah, together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and an all-British quartet of outstanding soloists, consisting of Julia Doyle (soprano), Tim Mead (countertenor), Thomas Hobbs (tenor) and Roderick Williams (bass). Messiah (1742) is not only Handel’s most famous work, but equally one of the cornerstones of British ...
Composer: George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Cappella Amsterdam, its celebrated chief conductor Daniel Reuss, and the Noord Nederlands Orkest present a recording of Igor Stravinsky’s late works, showcasing the composer’s remarkable transformation. Embracing the twelve-tone technique in his later years, Stravinsky reshaped his contrapuntal voice and ...
Composer: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Symbiosis · Tribute to Bill Evans
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Clausen Trio, and Jean Thorel present Symbiosis – Tribute to Bill Evans, a remarkable album celebrating the enduring legacy of one of jazz’s greatest pianists. Featuring three extraordinary works, the album opens with Palle Mikkelborg’s Bill Evans Suite (1969), reimagining ...
Composer: Palle Mikkelborg (1941), Thomas Clausen (1949), Claus Ogerman (1930-2016)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Nadia Boulanger: La ville morte
A coproduction of Catapult Opera and the Greek National Opera, La ville morte (The Dead City) held its world premiere in Athens, Greece, for a five-performance run in January 2024 and next will come to the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts for its American premiere with three performances in April 2024. ...
Composer: Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), Raoul Pugno (1852-1914)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Opera
