Music

Echoes of Life by Alice Sara Ott

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

The past will always echo through the years, affecting the future in ways that are surprising and often far reaching. Would Chopin have guessed that in the year 2021 we would still be playing and revelling in his music? It’s…

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The British Project by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

I always like being honest in my reviews and to be frank, this is an odd duck of a recording: the glories of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, paired with the almost unknown arrangement of…

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Baroque by Nicola Benedetti & Benedetti Baroque Orchestra

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

What is it about Baroque music that endears itself to the modern 21st-century audience? Is it the unabashed complexity or soulful slow movements? Or does the passion of the musicians themselves infuse this old art as they throw themselves, heart…

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Ravel & Saint-Saëns: Piano Trios by Sitkovetsky Trio

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Ravel was a sophisticated composer who was exacting and worked towards compositional perfection, which is beautifully evident in this Piano Trio in A minor. However, he was also described as childlike and the bubbly notes of the second movement immediately…

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One Movement Symphonies: Barber, Sibelius & Scriabin by Kansas City Symphony & Michael Stern

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

A symphony is classified by most musical dictionaries as an extended work written in the Western Art Music tradition, most often in four movements. So what happens when a composer throws out a part of that definition and instead creates…

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15 Histoires de Guitares by David Jacques

Reviewed by Phil Richards

This is the second recording by Canadian classical guitarist David Jacques to feature on these pages. The previous recording, 14 Histoires de Guitares, featured guitars and music that spanned more than three centuries. This new recording features guitars that are…

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Brahms: Piano Concertos András Schiff & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Those brawny first notes. Strings sawing, with strength and strident trills they announce Brahms’s Piano Concerto No 1. Then out of the storm emerges András Schiff at the piano – a breath of sunshine on his 1859 original Blüthner piano…

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French Works for Flute Adam Walker, Timothy Ridout & James Baillieu

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

In listening to Chandos’ latest flute offering, I was delighted by the gentleness of Adam Walker’s musical phrases. I never thought the first movement of Franck’s Violin Sonata could be so gentle, thoughtful and exactly what I needed during a…

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Road to the Sun by Jason Vieaux, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet & Pat Metheny

Reviewed by Paul Barr

Pat Metheny: Road to the Sun is new territory for jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. The winner of 20 Grammy Awards, Metheny has truly embraced a new musical horizon with this classical opus. Spread over 11 tracks, the album features two…

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Liszt: Works for Solo Piano by Benjamin Grosvenor

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor has been a regular in these pages for many years now. Electrifying the classical music community in 2011 with his first foray into Liszt’s repertoire, we now now have a satisfyingly substantial album devoted to the…

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