CONTENTS Volume 101 Number 12 3 7
EDITORIAL Phone 020 7738 5454 email gramophone@markallengroup.com EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Tim Parry REVIEWS EDITOR Gavin Dixon ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR James McCarthy SUB EDITORS David Threasher; Marija uric´ Speare EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Libby McPhee EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Theo Elwell ART DIRECTOR Juliet Boucher PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard EDITOR EMERITUS James Jolly WITH THANKS TO Jasmine Cullingford
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EDITOR’S CHOICE
The 12 most highly recommended recordings reviewed in this issue
RECORDING OF THE MONTH Tim Ashley on a stunning concert account of Janácˇek’s Katya Kabanova from Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra
ORCHESTRAL
Noseda’s Beethoven symphony cycle continues; Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts Sibelius; a Saint-Saëns collection from Lang Lang
CHAMBER
Gary Hoffman in Beethoven cello sonatas; Locke consorts; Prokofiev Milestones
INSTRUMENTAL
Alon Sariel performs Bach and Ysaÿe on mandolin; Philip Glass solo; Feltsman plays Schubert
VOCAL
A Versailles opera collection; Jansons conducts Mozart’s Requiem; Gheorghiu sings Puccini
ONLINE CONCERTS & EVENTS Mark Pullinger watches online opera broadcasts
OPERA
Charpentier’s Médée; period-instrument Mascagni
JAZZ, WORLD & MUSICALS Reviews from Jazzwise, Songlines and Musicals
REISSUES
The complete EMI Classics and Finlandia recordings of conductor Paavo Berglund
BOX-SET ROUND-UP
REPLAY
Rob Cowan on recent releases from the archives
CLASSICS RECONSIDERED Richard Wigmore and Hugo Shirley reassess Brigitte Fassbaender’s 1988 Winterreise
BOOKS
Messiaen in Context; Errollyn Wallen
GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION David Gutman selects the leading accounts of Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony
REVIEWS INDEX
FOR THE RECORD
Aigul Akhmetshina signs to Decca; composer Unsuk Chin wins a major prize; a round-up of conductor moves; Trio Ernest is our One to Watch; Mathieu Herzog discusses a new release on a new label; James Jolly talks to the President of the San Francisco Conservatory
LETTERS & OBITUARIES Some thoughts on Elgar and Bruckner; obituaries of Ivan Moody and Ewa Podles´
KAUFMANN’S PARSIFAL
The celebarated tenor Jonas Kaufmann talks to Mark Pullinger about, among other things, performing Parsifal in difficult circumstances
CYRILLE DUBOIS
James Jolly meets the French tenor Cyrille Dubois to discuss Benjamin Britten and the little-known mélodies of Louis Beydts
JOANN FALLETTA
To mark her 70th birthday and 25 years in Buffalo, Peter J Rabinowitz chats with JoAnn Falletta about a lifetime of musical discoveries
MUSICIAN AND THE SCORE Beatrice Rana spent the first lockdown learning Beethoven’s Hammerklavier; she talks to Harriet Smith about the special challenges of this unique and demanding score
ICONS
Julian Lloyd Webber explores the legacy of his fellow cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who inspired many composers to write new works
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CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS Guy Rickards offers an enthusiastic guide to the varied music of the American composer Elena Ruehr, from string quartets to opera
HIGH FIDELITY
The latest from the world of audio equipment
MY MUSIC
Erica Whyman, the director of Ben and Imo, a play about Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst, on the importance of music
4 GRAMOPHONE MARCH 2024
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