Music Reviews: Classical

Take a deep dive into what it takes to achieve superb piano sound on record, from the way an instrument is voiced to how it is recorded.  The great Italian virtuoso Maurizio Pollini set down this iconic set of Chopin’s Polonaises in 1976, and with this stellar reissue Emil Berliner Studios have once more set the bar at its highest level for bringing lifelike sound into your listening room.

This is no ordinary record.  The Quartet for the End of Time is unlike anything else out there, in any genre, given a compelling performance by an ensemble led by one of the giants of classical music, Daniel Barenboim.  In its Original Source reissue, this becomes not only a riveting, and very moving, musical experience, but a sonic roller coaster that will reveal every virtue and flaw of your sound system.  It may not be an orchestral blockbuster, but this is the record to take to hi-fi shows and see whether what they’re selling cuts the mustard.  I also explain why this might be the record for those of you who are more reticent about exploring classical music.

Deutsche Grammophon mines its archives for an extraordinary sequence of live performances from 1965 by one of its most revered artists, carefully restored and beautifully packaged.  This is Beethoven for the Ages…

Honestly at this point with the Ward/Johnson team writing for Tracking Angle, I often feel inadequate writing about classical music but I'll do my best. The Spanish concert pianist Alicia De Larrocha (1923-2009) gained fame in America touring in 1954 with The Los Angeles Philharmonic. She left an extensive discography that included many sonically outstanding recordings for Decca/London, highlighting Spanish composers including Granados, Rodrigo, Falla, Albéniz... Read More

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of France’s most distinctive artistic voices: Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). When one thinks of French painting, they think of Claude Monet. When one thinks of French sculptor’s, they’ll likely conjure to mind Auguste Rodin; and when one thinks of French music, the melodies that enter their head are likely to sound a lot like those of either Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel. Both composers contributed greatly to... Read More

It was just a few short weeks ago that our own Mark Ward reviewed the upcoming DG Original Source reissue of Karl Bohm’s 1971 outing of W.A. Mozart’s Requiem. If you would like a primer on the work, and also on separating your understanding of Mozart from the entertaining, but fictionalized tale presented in the film Amadeus, I would highly recommend reading Mark’s article here.The core repertoire of the classical cannon is rich with different recordings and... Read More

Batch #7 of the Original Source Series of AAA vinyl reissues concludes with one of the gems of the 70s DG catalogue in a stunning sonic refresh, courtesy of Emil Berliner Studios, mastered and cut directly from multiple 8-track master tapes.  Don’t miss this one - even if you do not normally buy classical.

Batch #7 of DG’s Original Source vinyl reissues, mastered and cut directly from 4-track master tapes at Emil Berliner Studios, gets up close and personal in Scriabin’s masterpiece of sensual overload, and Tchaikovsky’s evergreen ode to forbidden love.

These two new works, "Fillmore Street" and "Little Wordstar", scored for jazz orchestra and studio orchestra respectively, recall people places of personal significance to the composer and reference ecological themes of climate change, global warming, and endangered species.

Batch #7 of the Original Source Series from Deutsche Grammophon turns to a long established classic of the DG catalogue. Karl Böhm was the great Mozartian of his age, and his many recordings of the composer's orchestral, choral and operatic music have been mainstays for decades. Remastered and recut directly from the 4-track master tapes, this handsome reissue casts Böhm's account in a new sonic light.

Batch #7 of the Original Source deluxe vinyl reissue series from Deutsche Grammophon (all mastered and cut DIRECTLY from 4 and 8-track master tapes by Emil Berliner Studios) kicks off with an established catalogue classic. The young firebrand conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, protégé of Leonard Bernstein, made his mark early with a series of acclaimed recordings for DG in the 1970s, and this Tchaikovsky 1st - at the time a work that was rarely recorded - may be the most celebrated of them all.

Repertoire both familiar and welcomingly unfamiliar is put through its paces by this nascent collaboration between one of the world’s top orchestras with its dynamic new Chief Conductor.  This gorgeously appointed set is not only a compelling snapshot of a new musical era at the Philharmonie, it’s also a great way for classical novices to introduce themselves to an eclectic range of music in first-rate performances. 

This beautifully designed and annotated set appeals to seasoned classical collectors and newbies alike with its gripping performances of three of the master symphonist’s most compelling works in outstanding sound and video.  Amidst all the tinsel and seasonal levity, give this set serious consideration.

When it comes to classical music, brass instruments have experienced, or, to put it more precisely, endured, a long march towards respectability over the past half century or so. Brass instruments played an increasingly prominent role in orchestral works by Bruckner or Mahler, but they really were not vouchsafed much solo literature until the latter half of the twentieth century. It was the French virtuoso Maurice Andre who first wielded his piccolo trumpet during the... Read More

There’s a certain romance about audio and vinyl from Japan. For equipment there is a well-deserved reverence for the build quality and commitment to excellence from the engineers, and for vinyl records we’ve long been fascinated by boutique audiophile pressings from the island nation, particularly I’ve long held a steadfast love for King Records’ “Super Analogue Series” of Decca classical reissues.Classical vinyl reissues from Japan have unfortunately dried up over... Read More

Ryuichi Sakamoto once again sits down at a Yamaha piano in NHK’s Tokyo studio. Microphones and cameras are set up as normal, just like the other times he’s played here. He performs 20 compositions, alone as usual by now. The result, Opus, was at least the third time this decade that he filmed (and saved) a solo piano performance.Yet these sessions in late 2022 were the composer’s final performances of the repertoire that over nearly five decades built, cemented, and... Read More