Glyndebourne's first staging of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo

It is truly astonishing to think that this is Glyndebourne’s first Monteverdi L’Orfeo. It is not the first Monteverdi there, though: both Poppea (first seen1962), and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (1972) have previously featured.  One of the earliest operas (premiered in Mantua in 1607), and certainly

Time Entwined: London Sinfonietta at QEH

Time Entwined Birtwistle, Gerber & Mason Students from the Royal College of Music; Young Musicians from the North London Music Hub;  London Sinfonietta / Geoffrey Paterson (conductor); Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 11.5.2026 Steven Gerber Duet for Solo Clarinet Florence Anna Maunders Duet for Six Instruments (World premiere) Christian Mason

Violin

Branching out: Iris Scialom & Antonin Bonnet's "Aborescence"

Arboescence is a fine debut disc

Gudmundsen-Holmgreen String Quartets

Even in an arena of such ul-Modenist divvy as he Scandinavian and surrounding course, he music of Pelle Gudmundsen0Holmgeen sands-our and alone. In some senses h is teh Ligi of this region: after the elusively "traditional" (post-Bartók serialist) fist hee quiets (Volume 1), a focus

Telemann's Donnerode: Late Church Music

Solomon's Knot and Jonathan Sells join forces with Les Passions de l'Âme (The Passions of the Soul)) for this celebration of late Telmann sacred music, Ton Koopman waxed lyrical to me once about Telemann's Donnerode, just after he conducted a performance in the vast

Contemporary

Songs for a Mad King: Manchester Camerata investigates mental health

Maxwell Davies reminds us mental illness is real, and uncomfortable.

Baroque

Fischer: Hymns & Psalms

Living proof the byways of the Baroque are fertile indeed; and I want to hear more of Ensemble Gloriosus and Patrick Debrabandere!

Neilsen's Mother ...

Carl Nielsen's music to The Mother: A Play in a Prologue and Seven Scenes by Helge Rode was recorded in full for the first time here. Some excerpts have found their way in into record collectors' collections, perhaps, but how this went under the discographical radar for

Bach Goldberg Variations (as you've never heard them)

There are kazilliions of Goldbergs out there. Here's one with a difference: an arrangement by Tomáš Ille (born 1971) for French horn (Radek Baborák), violin (Dalibor Karvay), marimba (Andrei Pushkarev) and bass clarinet (Petr Velášek). These variations have inspired many, from Landowska on harpsichord through Hewitt on piano

Richard Strauss

Early Richard Strauss: Beecham's Macbeth (and more!)

Beecham at his finest

125 years young: the Wigmore Hall celebrates, Lise Davidsen headlines

Happy “birth”- day to Wigmore Hall (inasmuch as bricks and mortar are birthed). On the hall’s actual 125th anniversary, it was Lise Davidsen and the equally astonishing collaborative pianist James Baillieu who did the honours: Schubert provided the dots. ‘Honours’ is the operative word: after the interval (free drinks

Live Performance

A Glyndebourne triumph: Rossini's Il Turco in Italia

Any review of this Glyndebourne Turco would be incomplete without a mention of Elvis Presley and his sausage.

Wranitzky's back!

Another terrific disc in this series

The Tears and Fire of the Muses: Jordi Savall at Wigmore Hall

The Tears and Fire of the Muses, Claudio Monteverdi Revolution Hespèrion XXI; Soloists of La Capella Reial de Catalunya. Wigore Hall, 1pm, 26.05.2026 Samuel Scheidt Pavan dolorosa, SSWV 41; Courant dolorosa, SSWV 47. Monteverdi Lamento d’Arianna, SV 107. Dowland Lachrimae Antiquae (1604). Anthony Holborne The Teares of

Asmik Grigorian at Wigmore Hall

Asmik Grigorian and Lukas Geniušas at Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall’s 125th Anniversary Festival is shaping up well: in one day, the venue offered Jordi Savall at lunchtime and Asmik Grigorian in the evening, both (as far as I could see) all but sold out. Performing with regular musical

Baroque

Sonate a quattro: Ensemble Diderot

A lovely disc, its focus on the lesser-known Sonata a quattro entirely laudable.

Donizetti

Donizetti Songs #2: Nicola Alaimo joins Carlo Rizzi

Another fabulous, and fabulously useful, release in the Donizetti Song Project

Live Performance

SHEFFIELD CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2026 (II)

An absolute joy of a concert

SHEFFIELD CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2026 (I)

Feldman & Beckett: Words & Music Sheffield Chamber Music Festival, covered several times over the years by Classical Explorer, seems to exude a ferocious curiosity that spills over into the most remarkable concert programming. The afternoon of Monday, 18 May found a round table at the Showroom Cinema on Exploring

20th Century

Russian Cello Sonatas

There is a lot to be said for Hee-Young LIm and Nathalia Milstein's approach to Rachmaninov

Dvorak

Dvořák's Symphony No. 7: Gardner, Bychkov, Sawallisch (plus Schumann 2!)

There's a lot of Dvořák around in my pile of discs suddenly ...

The Goddess: Wu Yonggang's classic film, with music by Zou Yu

Following on from my report on the European premiere of Zou Ye's Symphony Kūkai the other day, this pos presents another aspect of that composer's art: film music. The Goddess (神女, Shénnǚ) is a film that premiered in Shanghai on December 7, 1934, telling the story

Hosokawa

Toshio Hosokawa: Two World Premieres on Naxos

A remarkable disc

Rautavaara

Rautavaara & Martinů Third Piano Concertos on BIS

A superb release, from every angle

Piano

Ombres et Visions: Nour Ayadi's impressive new disc

An impressive release