Rachmaninov & Liadov: Symphony No. 2 · The Enchanted Lake

“I'm not sure when I last enjoyed a reading of the Rachmaninov Second Symphony so much...they play here as if possessed; the brass are on especially magnificent form...by heaven, Antonio Pappano invests the piece with a passionate sense of belief...Principal clarinetist Alessandro Carbonare is exemplary on the long and haunting solo in the slow movement.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 ****

Gramophone Magazine
Editor's Choice - May 2011

“Pappano is revelatory. It is rare indeed to hear the Second Symphony executed with such clarity and with such a faithful, balanced spectrum of instrumental colour but the performance goes much further than that. Pappano has passion, too, and he knows when to unleash it and when to keep it quietly in reserve.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2011

“Pappano and his Rome-based orchestra cultivate a feeling of deliberate understatement throughout this live performance which gives Rachmaninov's Second Symphony a light, almost ethereal feeling...Although lacking in full-on power, this performance is no less intense with elegant, sophisticated playing from the orchestra, and there's still plenty of drama when required.” --Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 ****

“Pappano has a wonderfully acute ear for orchestral detail. He draws playing of remarkable alertness, polish and warmth from his Italian orchestra...when I say that his new recording is very nearly a match for Previn's classic account, I can pay it no higher compliment. Pappano is also a little more rhythmically sharp...The Enchanted Lake, played with great detail, drawing out all the delicate colours of [the] exquisitely orchestrated miniature tone-poem.” --International Record Review, April 2011

Frank Martin: Cello Works

“Poltéra delivers an utterly compelling and committed performance, and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen provides both sensitive and dynamic support. Stott… gets a welcome opportunity to demonstrate her own credentials as a soloist, providing an outstanding performance of the Eight Preludes, Martin's most substantial work for piano. All in all, a wonderful disc.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2008 *****

Penguin Guide
Rosette Winner

“Frank Martin's Cello Concerto, so eloquently and sensitively played here, is a real discovery. It is no exaggeration to state that this rapt performance presents this noble concerto with an inspirational intensity to compare with the celebrated Du Pré/Barbirolli recording of the Elgar Concerto.

The works share a similar deep, poignant, meditative feeling, although Martin's concerto also has a distinct valedictory character, expressive melancholy which suggests personal loss.
The soloist opens with a gloriously lyrical theme which is to dominate the movement (commentators have likened it to Vaughan Williams).

A skittish development is in tarantella rhythm with bolder clashes of angry dissonance but at the close comes the balm of the return of the ravishing opening material. Unexpectedly, the touching central Adagietto is in the form of a passacaglia. This sadness is all but dispelled in the brilliantly rhythmic finale, yet the lyricism creeps back and even the tarantella returns briefly before the close.

The (much earlier) Ballade is a free fantasialike dialogue between cello and piano, Kathryn Stott and Christian Poltéra enjoying a perfect partnership. Martin dallied with Schoenberg's 12-note system and he uses it in the Eight Preludes.

But he had no intention of giving up tonality, and the result is a stunning set of great variety and resource, thrillingly played by Stott.

This disc, given state-of-the-art recording makes an ideal introduction to Martin's music.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Leopold Mozart: Symphonies

Leopold Mozart’s reputation has suffered more than that of most of his professional contemporaries, due in no small measure to the fame of his peerless son and to much spiteful and ill-informed criticism over the past 200 years.

Yet he was an acute and sardonic observer of men and morals, a superlative critic and teacher and, as this recording shows, a fine composer whose works circulated well beyond the confines of Salzburg and made the name Mozart famous before it became immortal. This disc includes the perennially popular ‘Toy Symphony’.

Respectable symphonies from music’s most famous father

Works like the Musical Sleighride, the Peasant Wedding and the Toy Symphony have given Mozart père something of a reputation for musical frivolity, in sharp contrast to the stem, judgemental figure that emerges from his letters to his son. But he turned out a series of perfectly respectable symphonies that speak the Italianate lingua franca of the mid-18th century with fluency and skill, if no real individuality.

Cliff Eisen, who is editing Leopold’s symphonies for publication and writes the scholarly notes for both these discs, makes a strong case for the so-called New Lambach, long misattributed to Wolfgang. It’s certainly the most substantial and “up-to-date” work on offer here, with lively, well developed outer movements and a pleasantly melodious Andante. The other symphonies on the Naxos disc are much slighter. Slow movements have a certains sober charm, though Allegros tend to bustle and quiver to no great purpose, with a constricted harmonic range, minimal melodic interest and predictable repetition of phrases. The same strictures apply to the selection on the Chandos disc, though two of the C major symphonies here (C1 and D1) are enlivened by flamboyant horn parts. The other C major Symphony, C4, with its drone effects and “primitive” dialogues between violins and double basses, has a mildly rustic flavor…If Mallon and his Toronto band, caught in clearer sound, sometimes sound a tad decorous, rhythms and phrasing are always alert, while ratchet, snare drum, bird whistle and other assorted interlopers patently enjoy themselves in the Toy Symphony. --Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

Mendelssohn: The Piano Concertos & Rondo Brilliant

“The outer movements of the concertos fizz and sparkle as they should yet Helmchen finds time to sculpt phrase-endings without any loss of momentum, heightening the drama in the process. The piano is centre stage in the sound picture - and how Helmchen can make it sing!...his burnished, singing tone bring[s] an unusual depth to this life-enhancing music.” --Gramophone Magazine, January 2011

“the Rondo brillant was never meant to be anything more than what it says...and Martin Helmchen has just the youthful energy and dazzling technique to make the most of it. Everything is kept light and good-humoured, and this is really also the right manner for the concertos” --International Record Review, December 2010

Fantasies for Bassoon

“Geoghegan is probably the best advocate the instrument could have: even though parts of the 'Arpeggione' Sonata (usually heard on cello or viola) don't quite work on the bassoon, as the ear adjusts her exemplary musicianship comes through and triumphs...There's a wonderfully natural quality to Geoghegan's phrasing and expression - especially in the Schumann - and she is partnered adeptly at all times by Philip Edward Fisher.” --Classic FM Magazine, December 2011 ****

“the most substantial music comes in the transcription of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata...It would be foolish to expect the bassoon to offer the emotional depth and richness of tone that can be accommodated on a string instrument, but Karen Geoghegan certainly convinces with the melancholic hue of the first movement.” --BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 ****

“There is no clowning here. If anything, the bassoon lends a pleasant dolefulness to the music played on this CD...Even the cello...is not as consistently mellow as a bassoon, when it is played by a musician on Geoghegan's level.” --International Record Review, January 2012

Chopin: The Piano Concertos

A long-awaited recording: Lang Lang performs Chopin’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, two of the most beloved pieces in the repertoire. Lang Lang has performed these concertos for many years with many different orchestras before deciding to bring his interpretations into the recording studio. Here he is partnered by the supreme musicianship of the Wiener Philharmoniker and Zubin Mehta, who ensure that the orchestral part is far more than mere accompaniment. 

Both concertos were recorded in the world-renown acoustic conditions of the Vienna Musikverein’s Golden Hall, concerto No. 1 in a live-performance and concerto No. 2 in studio conditions.

Lang Lang has frequently received highest praise for his readings of Chopin’s Piano Concertos; their mixture of virtuosic expressiveness and lyrical tone bringing forth some of his most acclaimed performances.

Villa-Lobos: Music for Flute

'A disc of pure delight from beginning to end. Another example of why Hyperion gets my vote as the most innovative record label. Full marks!' --Which CD

'A disc of outstanding artistry' --The Good CD Guide

'[A] box-full of ingenious vitality' --BBC Music Magazine