Classical Highlights for February 2025


A number of latest releases that we discovered to be very satisfying cowl music from the Baroque, particularly for church use. Amongst these have been a solo vocal debut album, Seelentrost, by Isabel Schicktanz, that includes music from the time of Heinrich Schütz. Contemporaneous with which might be Bach’s Leipziger Choräle, which Masaaki Suzuki (pictured) begins on as a part of his cycle overlaying Bach’s organ music. Rounding out the notable sacred music releases are Palestrina by the Choir of Clare Faculty, Cambridge, and Vivaldi by the Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri. For string quartet fanatics, two releases stood out: Beethoven’s early quartets by the Calidore Quartet, and the entire quartets of John Zorn by the JACK Quartet.

February Classical Reviews
February Classical Opinions

Łukasz Borowicz, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln – Grazyna Bacewicz: Full Symphonic Works, Vol. 3

Boston Early Music Competition Chamber Ensemble- Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: La serva padrona; Livietta e Tracollo

Michel Bouvard, François Espinasse- Nicolas de Grigny: Messe & Hymnes

Calidore String Quartet- Beethoven: The Early Quartets

David Castro-Balbi, Teo Gheorghiu, Howard Griffiths- Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 KV 219; Piano Concertos Nos. 3 KV 40 & 14 KV 449

Gloria Cheng- Root Progressions

Seong-Jin Cho- Ravel: The Full Solo Piano Works

Clare Faculty Choir, Cambridge; Graham Ross- Palestrina Revealed

The Counterpoints – Italophilia: Discovering the Italian Type in Handel’s London

Attilio Cremonesi, Händel-Festspielorchester Halle- Handel: Lotario

Peter Donohoe- Busoni: Fantasia contrappuntistica; Chopin Variations; Sonatina prima; Sonatina seconda

Ensemble Hesperi – A Present in your Backyard: Telemann, Handel, Graun, Oswald

Gaechinger Cantorey, Hans-Christoph Rademann – Imaginative and prescient Bach: The First Cantata Yr, Vol. 6

Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Amanda Majeski, Gyula Orendt – Weinberg: The Passenger

Howard Griffiths, BBC Nationwide Orchestra of Wales- Cipriani Potter: Full Symphonies Vol. 2

Emanuel Gruber, Arnon Erez- Brahms: Cello Sonatas

Christopher Guild – Ronald Stevenson: Piano Music, Vol. 7 – Folksong with Grainger

Bernard Haitink, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks- Schostakowitsch: Symponie Nr. 15

Raaf Hekkema – Karg-Elert

Jean-François Heisser, Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine- Ravel l’Alchimiste

Alina Ibragimova, Cédric Tiberghien – Schumann: Violin Sonatas

Eliahu Inbal, Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR- Robert Schumann: Sinfonie Nr. 4 d-Moll; Jean Sibleius: Sinfonie Nr. 1 e-Moll

JACK Quartet – John Zorn: Full String Quartets

Paavo Järvi, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen – Haydn: London Symphonies Nos. 94 & 99, 95 & 98

Sebastian Knauer, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, David Newman – Hollywood

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Thomas Kaufmann, Camerata Bern- Exile

Olivier Latry – Bach to Notre-Dame

Shannon Lee, Arseniy Gusev – Witraz

Sabine Liebner- John Cage: Winter Music

Jaakko Luoma, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Janne Nisonen- Bassoon Concertos: Crusell, Du Puy, Berwald, Brendler

Marian Consort – Una poesia muta: Artwork in early Cinquecento Venice

Marmen Quartet- Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2; Bartók: String Quartet No. 4

Maxwell Quartet- Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 77 & Folks Music from Scotland

James McVinnie- Dreamcatcher

Christopher Monks, Armonico Consort- Francesco Scarlatti: Daniele

Nash Ensemble- Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune; Sonatas; String Quartet

Stefania Neonato, Christine Busch – Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonaten für Klavier und Violine op. 12 Nr. 3, Op 30 Nr. 3, Op. 96

Enrico Onofri, Isabelle Faust, Münchener Kammerorchester – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Serenata

Gerhard Oppitz- Robert Schumann: Piano Works, Vol. 2

Orlando Consort – Machaut: A Lover’s Dying

Ari Pelto, Opera Colorado- Gerald Cohen/Deborah Brevoort: Steal a Pencil for Me

Members of the Piatti Quartet, Simon Callaghan, Ashok Klouda- The Chamber Music of William Busch

David Ponsford, David Hill- Bach-Centricity: Concertos, Trios & Sonatas

Petr Popelka, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra – Má Vlast: Bedrich Smetana Symphonic Works

Giulio Prandi, Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri- Vivaldi: Musica sacra per coro e orchestra, Vol. 1

Roberto Prosseda, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nir Kabaretti – Battle, Silence: Uncommon Italian Piano Concertos

Simon Rattle, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks – Mahler: Symphonie Nr. 7

Simon Rattle, Magdalena Kožená, Andrew Staples, London Symphony Orchestra – Weill: The Seven Lethal Sins

Isabel Schicketanz – Seelentrost

Charlotte Spruit, Sergio Bucheli, Jonathan Manson – Le Mercure Galant

Stenhammar Quartet- Kalevi Aho: String Quartets 1 – 3

Stile Antico- The Golden Renaissance: Palestrina

Marek Stilec, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice – Wranitzky: Orchestral Works, Vol. 8

Masaaki Suzuki- Masaaki Suzuki performs Bach Organ Works, Vol. 6 … leipziger choräle (I) …

Third Coast Percussion- Glass: Aguas da Amazonia

Varied Artists- Robert Simpson: Chamber Music, Vol. 1

Klaus Florian Vogt, Ensemble Acht – Franz Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (arr. Andreas N. Tarkmann)

Muen Vanessa Wei- Jean Louis Nicodé: Piano Music, Vol. 1

William Wei, Evan Wong – Shiuan Chang: Earthing

Hellen Weiß, Paul Rivinius- Ernst von Dohnányi: Violin Sonata, Op. 21; Serenade, Op. 10; Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata, Op. 18

Haewon Yang- Haewon Yang performs the Piano Works of Harry Bulow

Sophie Yates- Harpsichord Music from the Reign of Louis XIV

Adriana Zabala, Jesse Blumberg, Martin Katz, J.J. Penna- A Few Phrases about Chekhov: Songs and Cycles of Dominick Argento

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