Your CLASSICAL albums of the year.

[DracoM]

'Sun Most Radiant / CCC Oxford / Darlington. Continuing their Eton Choirbook exploration. Sublime.
'Britten: 'Ceremony of Carols' [+ Kate Salomon - harp] / Holst Rig Veda / Winchester College Quiristers / Malcolm Archer.

[Nick Armstrong]

'Sun Most Radiant / CCC Oxford / Darlington. Continuing their Eton Choirbook exploration. Sublime.

Thanks Dracs, added to my Qobuz favourites and playing as I type

[pastoralguy]

Discovering Howard Shelley's strangely incomplete cycle of the Mozart piano concertos with the LMP on Chandos...

I've always rather fancied myself as a connoisseur of Mozart piano concerto performances and, imvho, these are outstanding. Iirc, didn't Shelley also record some Mozart piano concertos for the IMP label?

[Beef Oven!]

Pretty much off the top of my head, and ignoring reissues and compilations, these are my top six faves that were released and bought in 2017. Interestingly, all downloads.

A rather conservative year for me, and ever so slightly backward looking.


Bartok - String Quartets. Heath Quartet
Mahler - Symphony #3. Haitink, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
D. Matthews - Piano Trios etc. Leonore Piano Trio
John Pickard - Symphony #5 etc. BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Brabbins
P.R. Fricker - String Quartets. Villiers Quartet
Ravel - Daphne & Chloe. Les Siècles, Ensemble Aedes, François-Xavier Roth

[DublinJimbo]

In alphabetical order by composer —

Brahms: Klavierstücke op. 76, Drei Intermezzi op. 117, Sechs Klavierstücke op. 118 (Arcadi Volodos)
Brahms: String Sextets (Capuçon brothers et al)
Dohnanyi: Piano Quintet No. 2, Sextet (Ensemble Raro)
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (Minnesota Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä)
Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 (Seattle Symphony / Thomas Dausgaard)
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (Les Siècles, Ensemble Aedes / François-Xavier Roth)
Hans Rott: Symphony in E major, Suite for Orchestra (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi)
Saint-Saëns: Piano Quintet, String Quartet No. 1 (Quartetto di Cremona, Andrea Lucchesini)
Georgy Sviridov: Piano Trio, Piano Quintet (Beethoven Trio Bonn, Artur Chermonov, Vladimir Babeshko)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (MusicAeterna / Teodor Currentzis)

[vinteuil]

I've always rather fancied myself as a connoisseur of Mozart piano concerto performances and, imvho, these [Howard Shelley] are outstanding. ?

... how do they compare to Jos van Immerseel, Viviana Sofronitsky, or Arthur Schoonderwoerd?


.

[Barbirollians]

I've always rather fancied myself as a connoisseur of Mozart piano concerto performances and, imvho, these are outstanding. Iirc, didn't Shelley also record some Mozart piano concertos for the IMP label?

Yes K467 and K491 with the City of London Sinfonia . They are very good too .

Another record new to me is a Naxos issue with Jean Yves Thibaudet no less from 2011 playing Debussy's Fantaisie for piano and orchestra . This work has passed me by and I was intrigued to see Martha Argerich has programmed it for concerts later this year. a charming and surprisingly little known work . It cannot be by anyone but Debussy from the very opening bars . I am surprised it does not crop up as a partner for the Ravel Piano Concerto in G rather as the two string quartets are commonly paired . Some excellent fill ups too with outstanding accounts of the Premiere Rhapsodie and the dance Sacree et profane for harp and the saxophone rhapsody .

[Barbirollians]

... how do they compare to Jos van Immerseel, Viviana Sofronitsky, or Arthur Schoonderwoerd?


.

Vastly superior for not being played on a tinkly fortepiano