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Volume 94 Number 1147 Editorial Phone 020 7738 5454 Fax 020 7733 2325 email gramophone@markallengroup.com Editor And Publisher Martin Cullingford DEPUTY Editor Sarah Kirkup / 020 7501 6365 reviews editor Tim Parry / 020 7501 6367 Online Content editor James McCarthy / 020 7501 6366 sub-editor David Threasher / 020 7501 6370 sub-editor Marija �uric´ Speare Art director Dinah Lone / 020 7501 6689 picture editor Sunita Sharma-Gibson / 020 7501 6369 Audio editor Andrew Everard editorial administrator Libby McPhee LIBRARIAN Richard Farr Thanks to Hannah Nepil and Charlotte Gardner Editor-in-chief James Jolly Advertis ing Phone 020 7738 5454 Fax 020 7733 2325 email gramophone.ads@markallengroup.com Commercial manager Esther Zuke / 020 7501 6368 Sales executive Simon Davies / 020 7501 6373 SubscriptionS and Back is sueS 0800 137201 (UK) +44 (0)1722 716997 (overseas) subscriptions@markallengroup.com
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The April issue of Gramophone is on sale from March 29; the May issue will be on sale from April 26 (both UK). Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing his contract. Regarding concert listings, all information is correct at the time of g oing to press. Letters to the editor requiring a personal reply should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. UK subscription rate £64. Printed in England by Southernprint. North American edition (ISSN 0017-310X): Gramophone, USPS 881080, is published monthly with an additional issue in September by MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $89. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Gramophone, Worldnet Shipping Inc. (see above). Subscription records are maintained at MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, Unit A Buildings 1-5, Dinton Business Park, Catherine Ford Road, Dinton, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 5HZ, UK. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.
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Editor’s choice
The 12 most highly recommended recordings of the month
For the record
The latest classical music news
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cording of the month 44 A deeply moving performance of Bach’s St Matt hew Passion conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and recorded live in Pisa Cathedral orchestral
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A double dose of Blunier’s Beethoven; concertos by Nilsson and Skog; British Tone Poems, Vol 1 Chamber 66 Alwyn from the Tippett Quartet; the Wanderer Trio’s Dvo∑ák; Farina from Leila Schayegh Instrumental 76 Julien Brocal plays Chopin’s Preludes; dazzling Liszt from Chiyan Wong; David Goode’s Reger vocal
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Bach Passions; Monteverdi madrigals; Sullivan songs; the Orlando Consort chart the rise of English polyphony REISUES 104 Box-sets celebrating Mstislav Rostropovich, Pierre Fournier and pianist Sviatoslav Richter OPERA 110 Francesca Caccini’s battle of two sorceresses; Mozart’s Tito; Wagner’s early Das Liebesverbot
Jazz & world music
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Expand your listening with recommendations from Gramophone’s sister titles Jazzwise and Songlines REPLAY 120 Toscanini caught live in Brahms and Beethoven, and a celebration of Australia’s star singers BOKS 122 A portrait of Mahler and Strauss, and the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics during the Third Reich gramophone Collection 128 Verdi’s dramatic Shakespearean opera Macbeth: which recordings should you own? NEW Releases 150 Reviews Index 152
oday’s Countertenors 10 Max Emanuel Cencic, Franco Fagioli and our cover artist Philippe Jaroussky on why today is a golden age for the countertenor singer
Marc-André Hamelin 16 The acclaimed pianist talks about his commitment to championing lesser-known composers, and his new disc of Medtner and Rachmaninov
Festival Guide 2017
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From remote chamber festivals to major ensembles and events, we bring you everything you need to plan your summer concert-going The Musician & The Score 64 Jonathan Plowright explores Brahms’s Four Ballades ahead of his new disc for BIS Icons 74 A celebration of Dinu Lipatti, one of the 20th century’s most gifted pianists Contemporary composers 88 One of the UK’s most important composers, George Benjamin is our focus this month musical connections 119 Two listening journeys sparked by our cover story, including countertenors through the years Classics Reconsidered 124 Brahms’s Piano Quintet with Maurizio Pollini and the Quartetto Italiano: how does it fare today? The Specialist’s Guide 126 Ten brilliant Romantic violin concertos that should be much better known than they are Performances & EventS 134 The best live music on radio and online High Fidelity 137 The latest developments in audio equipment LEtters & Obituaries 146 Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda remembered my music 154 The musical life of Rosie Millard, journalist, author and Chair of Hull UK City of Culture
4 GRAMOPHONE april 2017
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