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You can search through our extensive database of thousands of releases from Orchestral and Opera to Choral, Jazz and beyond.

 

Written by the expert critics of BBC Music Magazine and with over a hundred new reviews added every month, the archive dates back to the magazine's launch in 1992 and now includes over 20,000 reviews.

NB A few points to bear in mind when searching:

 

 

When looking for symphonies, concertos, etc., the numbers must appear as follows with a space between 'No.' and the number itself:

  • Symphony No. 2
  • Sonata No. 31

 

There is no need to include capital letters or accents in your search – the database is neither case- nor accent-sensitive.

Places and Other Spaces

Composer(s):
  • McCormack & Yarde Duo
Performer: 
Andrew McCormack (pno), Jason Yarde (sax)

Too often thought of as the budget-stretching, licensing-laws-dodging poor relation of a proper band, the sax/piano duo actually has a long and distinguished history in British jazz. If I compare McCormack and Yarde to two of my favourite exponents of the form of all time, Stan Tracey and the gone-but-never-forgotten Mike Osborne, it’s to praise rather than to bury this consistently excellent pair who are surely their modern counterparts.
 

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The 11th Gate

Composer(s):
  • Dennis Rollins
Performer: 
Dennis Rollins (tb), Ross Stanley (organ), Pedro Segundo (drums)

This enjoyable album comes with some numerology about the significance of the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the century, and the belief that we are entering an era when human consciousness will experience a paradigm shift for the better. I hope for the planet’s sake that that’s true, but I’m not holding my breath. Meanwhile, Rollins’s music makes the present situation seem better.
 

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Schubert: Winterreise

Composer(s):
  • Schubert
Works: 
Winterreise
Performer: 
Florian Boesch (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano)

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MacMillan: Miserere

Composer(s):
  • Macmillan
Works: 
Miserere; The Strathclyde Motets; Tenebrae Responsories; O bone Jesu
Performer: 
Robert Farley (trumpet); The Sixteen/Harry Christophers

James MacMillan writes wonderfully for unaccompanied chorus. That’s not to say his music is always easy to sing, but even amateur choirs usually find the challenge worthwhile. One reason this disc makes such a resoundingly positive impression is that The Sixteen are thoroughly caught up in MacMillan’s writing. The multi-part O bone Jesu and the three lamenting Tenebrae pieces can be pretty demanding, especially when it comes to holding pitch, but at every stage the singers are absolutely in focus technically and emotionally.
 

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Wanderer

Composer(s):
  • Killmayer & Mahler
  • Schumann
Works: 
Songs by Schumann, Killmayer & Mahler
Performer: 
Christoph Prégardien (tenor); Ensemble Kontraste

Always hungry for a new project, Christoph Prégardien has taken inspiration from Schoenberg’s arrangement for small ensemble of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. This disc features 16 songs by Robert Schumann, also focused on the archetypal Romantic figure of the Wanderer, that are arranged by Marcus Maria Reissenberger for the excellent Ensemble Kontraste. Prégardien never allows the novelty of a new incarnation to distract him: his singing here is full of imaginative insights. 

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Wagner: Operatic Scenes and Arias

Composer(s):
  • Wagner
Works: 
Operatic Scenes and Arias
Performer: 
Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Gordon Dilworth; various orchestras

Here are the great Wagnerians of the inter-war years in solo and duet, in vividly remastered sound – sometimes mature-sounding, but full-voiced, expressive and thrilling. Michael Scott Rohan
 

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Liaisons

Composer(s):
  • Cimarosa
  • Haydn
  • Mozart & Salieri
Works: 
Arias by Cimarosa, Haydn, Mozart & Salieri
Performer: 
Chen Reiss (soprano); L’arte del mondo/Werner Ehrhardt

 

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Saariaho: D'om le Vrai Sens

Composer(s):
  • Saariaho
Works: 
Clarinet Concerto, ‘D’OM LE VRAI SENS’; Laterna Magica; Leino Songs
Performer: 
Kari Kriikku (clarinet), Anu Komsi (soprano); Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo

Performance:
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Mozart: Symphonies Nos 39 & 40

Composer(s):
  • Mozart
Works: 
Symphonies Nos 39 & 40
Performer: 
Orchestra Mozart/Claudio Abbado

Mozart’s last symphonies are so familiar that it’s all too easy for their greatness and originality to become blunted. No danger of that happening, though, in these glowing performances by Claudio Abbado and the Orchestra Mozart, in which every phrase and every bar bears his stamp, and seems imbued with a lifetime’s wisdom and affection. Symphony No. 39 is an autumnal work, saturated with the sound of clarinets – so much so that in order to throw their warmth into greater prominence Mozart, for the only time in his symphonies, omits the brighter oboes altogether.

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Bach Piano Transcriptions, Vol. 10

Composer(s):
  • Bach
  • Js
Works: 
The complete Bach transcriptions by Saint-Saëns; plus transcriptions of JS Bach’s Concertos in A minor & D minor (after Vivaldi) by Isidore Philipp
Performer: 
Nadejda Vlaeva (piano)

As soon as Nadejda Vlaeva launches into her first Saint-Saëns Bach transcription, you know you’re in for a treat. Sure enough, volume ten of Hyperion’s Bach Transcriptions series proves a parade of joys for pianophiles and Bach junkies alike. 

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