Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 3 and 4 (Hyperion)
With Australia in flames, Italian cities choked by smog and parts of Canada enjoying an unseasonal thaw, I’m listening to Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Pastoral Symphony,…
Norman Lebrecht
Norman Lebrecht
Norman Lebrecht is a prolific writer on music and cultural affairs. His blog, Slipped Disc, is one of the most popular sites for cultural news. He presents The Lebrecht Interview on BBC Radio 3 and is a contributor to several publications, including the Wall Street Journal and The Standpoint. Visit every Friday for his weekly CD review // Norman Lebrecht est un rédacteur prolifique couvrant les événements musicaux et Slipped Disc, est un des plus populaires sites de nouvelles culturelles. Il anime The Lebrecht Interview sur la BBC Radio 3 et collabore à plusieurs publications, dont The Wall Street Journal et The Standpoint. Vous pouvez lire ses critiques de disques chaque vendredi.
From this author
Shostakovich: 13th symphony ‘Babi Yar’ (CSO.Resound)
Half a century ago, in January 1970, the young Riccardo Muti gave this symphony its western Europe premiere in Rome with the RAI orchestra and…
Poulenc/Koechlin: Piano and orchestra (Odradek)
****/** No happier way to start a year than Francis Poulenc, few grimmer than Charles Koechlin. This album opens with the little-played Poulenc Sinfonietta, originally…
Shostakovich: The Bedbug (Naxos)
Whenever I hear music by the young Dmitri Shostakovich I am astonished all over again by his up-yours raw humour and ribaldry. This is a…
Beethoven: For 4-hand piano (Delphian)
I’m guessing not many readers are familiar with Beethoven’s Sonata in D, opus 6. Published in 1797, though possibly dating from the composer’s teens, it…
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Chamber works (Sony, Genuin, Naxos)
****/** The 2019 centenary of the composer’s birth has exhumed several dozen unknown works on record, enabling us to form a broader understanding of his…
When David Heard (Stone Records)
Such a relief at this time of year to receive a choral record that is not about Christmas. The Purcell Singers have selected ‘English and…
Alexander Veprik: Orchestral works (MDG)
Every composer suppressed by Stalin deserves to be remembered. Just how much musical attention they warrant is another matter. Veprik (1889-1958) was a teacher at…
Three recitals
*/**/**** Something’s gone awry with Warner’s scheduling when they issue three violin-piano recitals at the same time (except one of them’s actually on cello). Something’s…
Andreas Scholl: Twilight People (BMG Modern Recordings)
It can be good for an artist to take a break from a big label. The German counter-tenor Andreas Scholl has been recording faithfully for…
