Lebrecht’s Album of the Week
Joyce DiDonato: Eden (Erato); Asmik Grigorian: Rachmaninov (Alpha)
This is singing as mildly polemical conversation, from her to us
Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano works (Ondine)
One would never imagine Stalinist oppression was raging all around her
Alexander Scriabin: Mazurkas (Hyperion)
Rediscovering the patriarch of Russian piano composition
Hans Werner Henze: Night pieces and arias (Naxos)
Why are so many in the dark about Germany’s leading musical light?
Nastasia Khrushcheva: Normal Music (Melodiya)
In troubled times for Russia, this album hints at the future of the country’s music
Brahms: Clarinet sonatas (BIS), French clarinet music (Delphian)
Three sonatas by Brahms? The clarinet adaptation, to no surprise, doesn’t work
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Chamber symphonies 2&4
Weinberg is an absolute master of intimated emotion
Pohadka (Chandos)
The Czechs always have talent to spare on the bench
Malcolm Arnold: A centenary celebration (Somm)
Orchestras should be ashamed of their aversion to the composer
Album of the Year: 2021
2021 has yielded more memorable albums than you can count on the fingers of two hands