BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - April 2024 Choices
Recording of the Month
'Recorded here in the round, with a battery of instruments enriching the vocal ensembles, the work engulfs the senses just as it must have done in Benevoli’s day in the echoing spaces of St Peter's.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Orchestral Choice
'It hardly needs saying that there is nothing banal about Bychkov’s meticulously mapped performances and that his attention to detail never stifles the music’s spontaneity...In sum, an enriching Má Vlast up there with the other indisputably great performances.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Concerto Choice
Britten: Violin Concerto & Double Concerto
Baiba Skride (violin), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop
'The subtlety of her phrasing and range of her tonal palette reveal Skride as a Romantic player of real stature, and in the Prokofiev-like scherzo she’s not afraid to dig in and make less beautiful sounds when needed.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Opera Choice
Pergolesi: La Serva Padrona and Livietta e Tracollo
Amanda Forsythe (Serpina), Christian Immler (Uberto), Carlotta Colombo (Livietta), Jesse Blumberg (Tracollo); Boston Early Music Festival, Paul O'Dette, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Mealy
'Soprano Amanda Forsythe and baritone Christian Immler make a lovely pairing...Under the joint direction of Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, these productions possess all the fizz they must have had when first performed in the 1730s.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Choral & Song Choice
Rita Strohl: Vol. 1, Musique vocale
Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Adèle Charvet (mezzo), Stéphane Degout (baritone), Olivia Darlic (narrator), Florian Caroubi, Célia Oneto Bensaid, Romain Louveau (piano)
'Justice cannot be done in a few words to the discoveries on this revelatory double album, with high production values, starry musicians, and crystal-clear sound. This is one to gift all your song-loving friends.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chamber Choice
'It is a true delight to hear this gorgeous, meditative piece of music brought to life with such care and conviction by the Talea Ensemble and Harlem Chamber Players...a heady and utterly joyful musical experience, one capable of leading the listener to thrilling new territories of thought and possibility.'
Available Format: CD
Instrumental Choice
'She’s commissioned five composers to explore it and the results prove intriguing and arresting, while Yoshida’s commitment shines in her poised, imaginative playing...This is a disc of terrific imagination and daring, and Yoshida deserves every commendation.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
World Choice
'From a cappella and delicately inflected tenor ornamentation to a hypnotic basso profundo chant; from an urgent rap about a singer’s remorse to a hopeful choral outburst: this is inspirational music, triumphant rather than beaten down and defeated.'
Available Format: CD
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
