Korngold, Dvarionas: Violin Concertos

“Gluzman produces a ravishing sound throughout the range, plays the slow movement [of the Korngold] with radiant sensitivity and lights up the finale with a series of scintillating pyrotechnical displays...if you adore, say, the Khachaturian Concerto [Dvarionas] is well worth investigating.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 *****

VIVA! Vivaldi

An object lesson in putting together a Baroque opera arias recital disc.

"Exhilarating" and "dazzling" are only two of the words critic David Vickers uses to describe this smashing release. In a brilliantly put-together programme, Simone Kermes blazes a trail through more than a dozen Vivaldi arias. There are vocal fireworks aplenty, alongside a rapt concentration in the slower pieces. Essential listening. -- Gramophone [5/2008]

Spohr: Symphonies Nos 4 & 5

'[Shelley] exhibits a keen understanding of Spohr’s music and also has the ability to effectively communicate this to his orchestra…playing is clean, clear and crisp – with tempos that allow the music to unfold comfortably. The aural perspective mimics concert hall realism, but it also allows for Spohr’s lovely wind coloration too. The result is another Hyperion release that offers us further insight into the process of Spohr’s symphonic development' --Fanfare, USA

'Shelley's triumphant achievement … Expert engineering and highly informative notes complete a handsome presentation that suggests this will be a landmark cycle in the burgeoning recorded legacy of Louis Spohr' --American Record Guide

Sibelius: Tone Poems

All the major works: Finlandia, Luonnotar, Karelia Suite, Oceanides, King Christian, The Swan of Tuonela, 4 Legends from Kalavala, Phjola's Daughter, Night Ride and Sunrise, En Saga, Spring Song, 4 excerpts from Kuolema, The Bard, Tapiola

"The recording [CD1] is absolutely stunning, rich, detailed and hugely spacious." --Classic CD

"Neeme Järvi has placed Sibelians deep in debt [...] The Bard is wonderfully inward and atmospheric in his hands [...] [Tapiola] Järvi's is a reading of thrilling instensity, excellently paced" --BBC Music Magazine

Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV988 arranged for viols

“Boothy's transcriptions are an unusual yet fascinating advocacy for a consort of viols that Bach would have considered archaic...as the spirit of the music dictates, Fretwork produces playing of astonishing imagination...With such a feast on offer, harpsichords never crossed my heretical mind.” --Gramophone Magazine, January 2012

“When [Boothby] simply transfers lines from harpsichord unaltered, it's particularly effective, clarifying the counterpoint...No one can be unaffected after experiencing these new perspectives.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ****

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante and Flute & Harp Concerto

Having released three Pergolesi albums in 2010 and a Bach set in 2011, Maestro Abbado continues his devotion to 18th-century repertoire with three albums of Mozart’s wondrous wind compositions. This second release includes the Sinfonia concertante in E flat, and the ever-popular Flute & Harp Concerto.

“Abbado's supreme affinity for Mozart ensures that these are some of the most satisfying and energising performances you will ever hear.” --BBC

Biber: Battalia · Locke: The Tempest

Having firmly established itself at the forefront of modern Vivaldi performance, Il Giardino Armonico explores two masters from the previous generation, rooted in its own cultural milieu. Biber’s Battalia has arguably become the most celebrated sui generis programmatic suite of the seventeenth century with its easy Bohemian juxtaposition of poignant airs and almost choreographic stage music. Too often we hear each implicit detail exaggerated to death; the Italians represent the dissolute revelling of the muskateers with vitality, and yet each movement is conveyed within the bounds of courtly decorum. The group’s leader, Enrico Onofri, provides a memorable and effective gimmick in the March as he walks from right to left and disappears into the distance.  
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Avison: Trio Sonatas Opus 1, Keyboard Sonatas Opus 8

“Avison's 'Six sonatas for two violins and a bass' Op. 1 are attractive Italianate 'church' sonatas… The playing is committed and, with five sonatas in the minor mode, often impassioned. The recording sound is excellent.” --BBC Music Magazine

"… Played here with relish and charm by the four members of the Avison Ensemble. It characterizes so much of what I feel about this release; essentially, that the rediscovery of this composer and his music in recent years has been long overdue.  … Ideal sound. That little set of variations at the end of Avison's Op, 8 is just the icing on the cake of a most desirable release." --International Record Review

The Film Music of Nino Rota (on Piano)

This recording of the film music of Nino Rota contains transcriptions for the piano made by the composer, as played to friends. Not only does it include the great international successes such as The Godfather, Romeo and Juliet, Otto e mezzo, Giulietta degli spiriti, The Taming of the Shrew and Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), but it also includes unpublished soundtracks, in particular those written for films mistakenly considered ‘minor’ such as Fanciulle di lusso (Luxury Girls), Fantasmi a Roma (Ghosts in Rome) and Quel bandit sono io (Her Favourite husband).

Bach Sinfonia

“Although it might seem a strange idea to make a CD of the orchestral introductions to Bach’s cantatas, there is sufficient variety of mood – from celebratory to contemplative – to make the programme work as a sequence...the where-have-I-heard-that-before element is part of the disc’s attraction, and the superb Accademia Bizantina makes the music live and breathe.” --The Telegraph, 20th October 2011 ****

“this is a wonderful recital, carefully chosen and assembled, and beautifully played...there are movements highlighting the group’s fine oboists, bassoonists, violinists, trumpeters and, slightly less impressively, horn players. Their style is brisk and energised in the faster music and deeply expressive and spacious in the slower.” --Sunday Times, 27th November 2011

Dvorák, Suk, Smetana, Eben: Czech Choral Music

The Prague Chamber Choir was founded in 1990 and has appeared throughout the world with leading orchestras, and with distinguished conductors including Zubin Mehta and Alberto Zedda. Tours have taken the choir throughout Germany, France and Italy and to Japan and Australia. It was a guest at the World Exhibition in Seville, and its concerts have been broadcast by, among others, the BBC, Bavarian Radio, ORF and RAI. The choir appears regularly at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and at Wexford.