CONTENTS

Volume 100 Number 1222

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EDITORIAL

Phone 020 7738 5454

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Martin Cullingford

DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup

REVIEWS EDITOR Tim Parry

ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR James McCarthy

SUB˜EDITORSDavid Threasher; Marija uric´ Speare EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Hattie Butterworth;

Eleanor Burgess

EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Libby McPhee

ART DIRECTOR Dinah Lone

PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson

AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard EDITOR˜IN˜CHIEF James Jolly

WITH THANKS TO Jasmine Cullingford and

Charlotte Gardner

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EDITOR’S CHOICE

The 12 most highly recommended recordings reviewed in this issue

RECORDING OF THE MONTH



Hugo Shirley enjoys a colourful exploration

of Donizetti arias from the Mexican tenor Javier Camarena, with an interesting selection that generally avoids over-recorded favourites

FOR THE RECORD

ORCHESTRAL 

Mozart concertos from a new generation of instrumentalists; Barenboim revisits Schumann; Sir Andrew Davis conducts Stravinsky

CHAMBER

The latest news, including the BBC Phil’s new Chief Conductor and a forthcoming limited-edition box-set celebrating Abbado’s career with DG – plus, the composer Julian Anderson speaks to us about receiving the 2023 Grawemeyer Music Award, Tim Parry steps inside Wyastone Concert Hall, and James Jolly talks with the Toronto SO’s new CEO, Mark Williams, about what a modern symphony orchestra should be

Flute sonatas by CPE Bach; Fretwork play Locke; the Jubilee Quartet’s impressive Schubert

LETTERS AND OBITUARIES

INSTRUMENTAL

The true venue for Façade’s first private London performance; the many faces of Rozhdestvensky

Vicky Chow plays Glass; an imposing debut from Alim Beisembayev; Rachel Podger’s ‘Tutta sola’

RACHMANINOV AT “

VOCAL

Songs by Milton Babbitt; Blue Heron turn to Machaut; a striking album from Ruby Hughes

ONLINE CONCERTS & EVENTS 

In our first feature, Jeremy Nicholas celebrates this ‘most complete’ musician who excelled as composer, conductor and pianist, while, in our second feature, Philip Ross Bullock explores the startlingly original works that emerged from Rachmaninov’s enforced final years in exile

Andrew Mellor reports on online music-making

VOICES AND VIOLS UNITE

OPERA 

Cherubini’s Les Abencérages; Rameau’s Zoroastre

The King’s Singers and Fretwork have joined forces to celebrate 400 years since the deaths of both Byrd and Weelkes, finds Edward Breen

JAZZ & WORLD MUSIC “

Reviews from our sister titles Jazzwise and Songlines

COMPETITIONS GUIDE

REISSUES “ Gieseking on Warner and an APR supplement

Our annual guide presents the best competitions across the UK, Europe, the US and further afield

MUSICIAN AND THE SCORE

BOX-SET ROUND-UP “

Christian-Pierre La Marca conveys his passion for Haydn’s Cello Concerto No 1 to Richard Bratby

REPLAY ““

Rob Cowan on recent releases from the archives

ICONS



CLASSICS RECONSIDERED

““

Tully Potter recalls the extensive live and recorded legacy of the American baritone Robert Merrill

Two critics dissect Rachmaninov’s 1930 recording of Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’ Sonata

CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS 

BOOKS ““

Guy Rickards surveys the disarmingly broad output of British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad

Vaughan Williams and Boult; the Romantic age

HIGH FIDELITY

“

GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION ““

The latest from the world of audio equipment

Mark Pullinger delves daringly into the vast discography of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

MY MUSIC “

REVIEWS INDEX

“ Film composer Alan Silvestri on his how classical guitar paved the way for a career in composition