CD Choice

Barry Forshaw

RACHMANINOV: SYMPHONIC DANCES, PLETNEV: RACHMANIANA, International Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev/EuroArts

Along with a very persuasive reading of Rachmaninov’s final masterpiece, the glorious Symphonic Dances, there is a particularly tempting piece on this disc for admirers of the composer in the fill up: the world premiere recording of Pletnev’s Rachmaniana: an eight-movement Suite which is essentially transcriptions of Rachmaninov in sumptuous new orchestral dress by the conductor. The piece was first performed in January 2026 in Hamburg and will be particularly attractive to those who feel they already have everything by Rachmaninov on their shelves.

RICHARD STRAUSS: INTERMEZZO, soloists, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sir Donald Runnicles/Naxos

While Strauss’s opera Intermezzo has long had its admirers, it has never acquired the popularity of the composer’s operas Der Rosenkavalier and Arabella. That being said, it’s unlikely that the piece will enjoy elsewhere as persuasive an advocacy as it receives here by the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin under the sympathetic conducting of Donald Runnicles. Of course, a piece such as this stands or falls on the contributions of its principal singers and as the avatars of Strauss himself and his wife Pauline, Philipp Jekal and the luminous Maria Bengsston could not be bettered.

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 5, Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, Sir Donald Runnicles/Reference Recordings

Still with Sir Donald Runnicles, Reference Recordings – always to be counted upon for the dynamic surround sound picture on their discs – here provide a truly authoritative reading of Mahler’s great fifth Symphony, a work that has always been fortunate on disc, and is here couched in typically impressive Reference sound.

NIELSEN: THE ULTIMATE SOLO PIANO COLLECTION, Rikke Sandberg/OUR Recordings

In the various classical lists, there has been the occasional disc of selections of Nielsen’s piano music, but that side of the composer’s talent remains relatively elusive. Not anymore: this triple album gives us the for the first time the complete solo piano works of Denmark’s national composer and, what’s more, in performances of great authority. This is music that will never be as popular as such calling card Nielsen pieces as the Fifth Symphony, but makes a solid bid for the attention of the composer’s aficionados.

COPLAND: SYMPHONY NO. 3, WALKER: SINFONIA NO. 5/London Symphony Orchestra, Antonio Pappano/LSO Live

Those lucky enough to have heard the recent performances at London’s Barbican of Copland’s Symphony No. 3 by the London Symphony Orchestra under Antonio Pappano (and I’m lucky enough to be in their number) will not be surprised to hear that this is quite one of the most powerful and dramatic performances this great piece of Americana has ever received with the final appearance of the Fanfare for the Common Man acting as the perfect final apotheosis. Walker’s Sinfonia No. 5 rounds off a very tempting program in impressive surround sound.

BARBER: VANESSA, soloists National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda/NSO

While never likely to attain the popularity of the composer’s orchestral works, Barbers neglected opera Vanessa is worthy of the occasional performance – and, certainly, it receives a solid reading here. Barber aficionados will be more than prepared to grant the piece the repeated hearings it requires to reveal its hidden appeal, but there is no denying that the composer’s Antony and Cleopatra was not his only considerable achievement in the operatic field. It’s hard to imagine a better summer performance than it is granted here.

ODD SYMPATHIES, Matthew Schellhorn piano/First Hand Records

For over two decades, Mathhew Schellhorn has championed the creativity of living composers through commissions and premières, with the aim of bringing new music to a wider audience. This album draws together a selection of eclectic and captivating piano works, united through shared interpretative concerns and deep artistic connections developed through close collaboration with composers. The programme is conceived as a coherent artistic statement rather than a survey, focusing on repertoire that resists straightforward categorisation and invites the performer to negotiate questions of clarity, responsibility, and expressive ambiguity.

TIPPETT: PIANO CONCERTO, BRITTEN: DIVERSIONS, WALTON: SINFONIA CONCERTANTE

Clare Hammond, BBC Symphony Orchestra, George Vass/BIS

Few would argue with the fact that one of the most ambitious recording programmes of any CD company is that of the ever-enterprising BIS label, and this new issue is a very welcome reminder of the company’s reach. In the expert hands of pianist Clare Hammond, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor George Vass, we are given an all-British programme which – while essentially sharing the same musical language – nevertheless demonstrates the considerable range of music from the British Isles. The Britten and Walton pieces are dispatched with both musicality and verve, and something of a rescue job is performed on Tippett’s Piano Concerto which has been somewhat neglected in recent years. Hammond and Vass demonstrate that it is absolutely in the exalted company of the other pieces here, and, of course, the usual impeccable BIS sound does full justice to all the music.

HOMELAND: GRIEG: PIANO CONCERTO, FALLA: NIGHTS IN THE GARDENS OF SPAIN

Judith Jauregui, Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla Y Leon, Kaspar Zehnder/Eudora

Given that the corpus of orchestral work by Falla is relatively small, it is hardly surprising that his handful of masterpieces in the idiom have been recorded many times over the years. This SACD from Eudora, a label committed to recording in sumptuous surround sound, is a particularly enjoyable entry. And the disc also boasts a cherishable coupling, a strong performance of the Grieg piano concerto by Judith Jaureghui and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla Y Leon under Kaspar Zehnder. Those new to the Eudora label might wish to sample two other highly attractive discs, both distinguished by an effortless musicality: SANTIAGO DE MASARNAU PIANO WORKS by Claudia Dafne Sevilla & Josep Colon and CASTRATO ARIAS by Lucia Caihuela & La Madrilena under Jose Antonio Montano.

HOLST: THE PLANETS, BAX:TINTAGEL

London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Antonio Pappano/LSO Live

There are those who have argued that a moratorium should be placed on certain over-recorded pieces of music, but it’s an argument that is contradicted by issues such as this, a truly dynamic and nuanced reading of Holst’s masterpiece. And anyone doubting that assertion should sample just a few bars of the opening movement, Mars, which is among the most dramatic takes on the piece that it has ever received. And if that were not enough, there is as a bonus a truly impressive reading of Bax’s signature tone poem, Tintagel, with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Antonio Pappano teasing out every delicious aspect of this calling card piece.

STEVE REICH: SEXTET/DOUBLE SEXTET/SIX MARIMBAS/DANCE PATTERNS

Colin Currie Group

This is an ambitious recording project setting down all of Steve Reich’s pieces in this format, delivered with maximum conviction and – perhaps counterintuitively – a large degree of affection.

Barry Forshaw

How many of the aficionados of the rich and characterful music of Janáček were introduced to the composer by a single work? The glorious Sinfonietta, composed in 1927, belongs to the composer’s final period, and for quite some time, the piece – full of impact as it is  – was seldom performed. This was principally due to the prodigious number of wind instruments that the score required. In fact, the outer movements’ supplementary chorus of trumpets (along with the five specified for all the sections) further added to the expense of performance. The identity of the piece is quite unlike that of any other music, even that of Janáček, with undercurrents of a threnody set against its pulse-raising fortissimos. From the Boydell Press, we now have a fascinating study of the piece described as a ‘musical biography’ of the Sinfonietta, analysing its sources, its critical reception and various iterations on disc. And in a move as canny as one might expect from this enterprising publisher, Britain’s leading authority on Janáček, the much-esteemed musicologist Nigel Simeone, is responsible for this scholarly but utterly readable volume, in the company of Jiří Zahrádka, director of the Janáček Archive in Brno, who was responsible for critical editions of many of the composer’s works – including the equally arresting Tara Bulba. It goes without saying that this is a volume which should be on the shelves of anyone with the slightest interest in the composer, the music examined at granular level. But bursting off the pages is an enthusiasm for this matchless music that will send listeners afresh to the score, either on disc or (if they are lucky enough) in a concert performance.

JANÁČEK’S SINFONIETTA by Nigel Simeone and Jiří Zahrádka
Boydell Press