Classical Music
Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers (Cedille)
There is a wealth of diverse talent out there — all we have to do is listen
Prokofiev 6th/Miaskovsky 27th symphonies (LAWO Classics)
‘There is beauty and darkness and fear, to be sure, but I hear no agenda beyond a search for musical expression’
Resch/Beethoven: String quartets (Genuin)
The Frankfurt-based Aris Quartet play Beethoven with sweeping flair and something close to insouciance
Johanna Martzy/Michael Mann (DG Eloquence)
The fruits of Michael Mann’s musical career is neither one thing nor another; trapped between Weimar modernism and American consumerism
1942: Prokofiev – Copland – Poulenc (Delphian Records)
In the midst of war, three composers in different countries wrote sonatas which have now been collated in an album of pure escapism
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 4 and 6 (LSO Live)
Italian-born and London-bred Antonio Pappano lets the gentle rhythms of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s music say it all
Hindemith: Wind sonatas (Warner)
Paul Hindemith’s music is extremely well-made, intelligent, civilised, and moderately witty — so why has it all but vanished?
Hilary Hahn: Paris (Deutsche Grammophon)
Hahn’s finely honed skills as a violinist are seldom in demand on this one-star album
Im Abendrot (DG)
The baritone Matthias Goerne sings with a voice like brushed velvet and diction clearer than iced vodka in this five-star album
Myth of Igor, the Great Composer
Norman Lebrecht says an affair with Coco Chanel did Stravinsky’s PR, and hers, no harm at all