Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Purcell: King Arthur
RecommendedAnna Dennis, Mhairi Lawson, Rowan Pierce, Carolyn Sampson (sopranos), Jeremy Budd (high tenor), James Way (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone)
Gabrieli Players, Paul McCreesh
Choruses are more vibrant, dance rhythms more percussive and solos more delicate than in any previous recording. Above all, McCreesh and his artists make us hear Purcell’s genius for word-setting…But... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2019, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Opera, February 2020, Disc of the Month
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Winner - Opera
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Recording of the Year
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Shortlisted - Opera
2 CDs
$23.00Downloads
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Offenbach Colorature
RecommendedJodie Devos (soprano)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Laurent Campellone
This is a marriage made in musical heaven with the young Dutch soprano Jodie Devos reminding us just how gifted Jacques Offenbach was as a composer…She’s a gravity-defying coloratura soprano... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, February 2019, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2019, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2019, Opera Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2019, Finalist - Recital
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Vocal
CD
$16.75Downloads
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Gounod: Faust
Recommended1859 version
Benjamin Bernheim (Faust), Véronique Gens (Marguerite), Andrew Foster-Williams (Méphistophélès), Jean-Sébastien Bou (Valentin), Juliette Mars (Siebel), Ingrid Perruche (Marthe), Anas Séguin (Wagner/Un mendiant)
Les Talens Lyriques, Flemish Radio Choir, Christophe Rousset
Tenor Benjamin Bernheim is a superb Faust, with a bright and lovely lyric voice that is also comfortable in the lower tessitura of act I. As Marguerite, soprano Véronique Gens is an ideal romantic... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2019, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Opera
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The Times Records of the Year, 2019
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Finalist - Opera
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International Opera Awards, 2020, Nominated - Complete Opera Recording
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Female Singer of the Year (Gens)
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Winner - Opera (19th-century)
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist - Opera
3 CDs + Book
$40.75Downloads
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Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust
RecommendedMichael Spyres (Faust), Joyce DiDonato (Marguerite), Nicolas Courjal (Méphistophélès), Alexandre Duhamel (Brander)
Coro Gulbenkian, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, John Nelson
Nelson has a great feel for the weird structure of the piece, with its sudden lurches of pace and location...Nelson’s pacing is uncannily ‘right’; he’s not one to force Berlioz, period-style,... — More…
Awards:
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Diapason d’Or, November 2019, Nouveauté
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Presto Recording of the Week, 22nd November 2019
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The New York Times, Recordings of the Year 2019
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Female Singer of the Year (DiDonato)
2 CDs + DVD Video
$31.50Downloads
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Weber: Der Freischütz
RecommendedLise Davidsen (Agathe), Andreas Schager (Max), Sofia Fomina (Ännchen), Alan Held (Kaspar), Markus Eiche (Ottokar), Franz-Josef Selig (Eremit)
Frankfurt Radio Symphony, MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, Marek Janowski
It is carefully done, and due attention is paid to Weber’s inventive score, but the result is frankly pedestrian…There’s good singing here, led by Lise Davidsen’s sweet-toned Agathe, who sings... — More…
Awards:
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Record Review, 26th October 2019, Disc of the Week
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Presto Editor's Choice, October 2019
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Opera
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Conductor of the Year
Downloads
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Barber: Vanessa
RecommendedEmma Bell (Vanessa), Virginie Verrez (Erika), Edgaras Montvidas (Anatol), Rosalind Plowright (The Old Baroness)
The Glyndebourne Chorus & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jakub Hrůša (conductor) & Keith Warner (director)
Veteran Rosalind Plowright, moving down from soprano to mezzo repertoire, is an effective Baroness; Edgaras Montvidas is a fine Anatol with a handsome presence, if not quite in Nicolai Gedda’s... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th June 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2019, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Video Performance
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Winner - DVD/Blu-ray
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist - Opera
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Offer,
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Violin Concerto, Photoptosis, Die Soldaten Vocal Symphony RecommendedLeila Josefowicz (violin), Anu Komsi (soprano), Jeni Packalen (soprano), Hilary Summers (contralto), Peter Tantsits (tenor), Ville Rusanen (baritone), Juha Uusitalo (bass)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
In Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto…beauty is to the fore ina performance from Lelia Josefowicz that is more elasticated and lyrical (than, say, Thomas Zehetmair) while the Finnish Radio Symphony... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Assorted Program
CD
Original price ($15.25) Reduced price $12.25Downloads
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Barber: Vanessa
RecommendedEmma Bell (Vanessa), Virginie Verrez (Erika), Edgaras Montvidas (Anatol), Rosalind Plowright (The Old Baroness)
The Glyndebourne Chorus & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jakub Hrůša (conductor) & Keith Warner (director)
Veteran Rosalind Plowright, moving down from soprano to mezzo repertoire, is an effective Baroness; Edgaras Montvidas is a fine Anatol with a handsome presence, if not quite in Nicolai Gedda’s... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th June 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2019, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Video Performance
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2020, Winner - DVD/Blu-ray
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Gramophone Awards, 2020, Finalist - Opera
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Liszt: Sardanapalo
RecommendedJoyce El-Khoury (Mirra), Airam Hernández (King), Oleksandr Pushniak (Beleso)
Weimar Staatskapelle, Kirill Karabits
The torso of Liszt’s Sardanapalo may only last around 50 minutes, but it packs in such a richness of gratification that it is hard to see where the opera would have gone from there...The music... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2019, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 8th February 2019
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Diapason d’Or, September 2019, Découverte
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Assorted Program
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2019
CD
$17.25Downloads
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If Handel’s Xerxes has a showmanship, an aesthetic swagger that Cavalli’s lacks in the lilting prettiness of his own ode to a plane tree, we see the Italian’s skill emerge elsewhere – in the... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 8th March 2019
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Gramophone Awards, 2019, Winner - Recital
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Baroque Vocal
CD
$15.25Downloads
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