CONTENTS
Volume 95 Number 1156 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 THANKS TO Hannah Nepil and Charlotte Gardner EDITOR-IN-CHIEF James Jolly
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GRAMOPHONE is published by MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, United Kingdom. gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@markallengroup.com or subscriptions@markallengroup.com ISSN 0017-310X.
The December issue of Gramophone is on sale from December 6; the January 2018 issue will be on sale from January 3 (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 going 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.
© MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, 2017. All rights reserved. No part of the Gramophone may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the Publishing Director. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor or Gramophone. Advertisements in the journal do not imply endorsement of the products or services advertised.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
The 12 most highly recommended recordings of the month
7
FOR THE RECORD
The latest classical music news
8
RECORDING OF THE MONTH 56 John Nelson conducts a phenomenal cast in an exhilarating live recording of Berlioz’s monumental Les Troyens
ORCHESTRAL
Mahler’s Second Symhony under Gatti; Peter Donohoe’s Shostakovich; Walton symphonies from Bournemouth
58
CHAMBER
74
A prestigious French line-up in Debussy; Mutter, Trifonov and friends in Schubert’s Trout Quintet; Handel on saxophones; a round-up of cello discs
INSTRUMENTAL
Robert Quinney’s latest Bach; Chopin albums from Nelson Goerner and Cédric Tiberghien
86
VOCAL
Brahms’s English Requiem; a Martin≤ epic; Ian Bostridge’s Schubert from Wigmore Hall
96
REISSUES
A celebration of the art of Moura Lympany
108
OPERA
110
Dvo∑ák’s Rusalka from Poland; Philip Glass’s The Trial; Purcell’s The Fairy Queen in recordings new and old; the latest instalment of Wagner’s Ring from Hong Kong
BOOKS
Chopin’s world; Mozart’s last decade
120
JAZZ & WORLD MUSIC 122 Reviews from our sister titles Jazzwise and Songlines
REPLAY
124
The Amadeus Quartet’s complete DG recorded legacy, on 70 CDs; the Pro Arte Quartet’s Haydn
GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION 130 Mark Pullinger surveys the available recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, that seasonal favourite
NEW RELEASES
REVIEWS INDEX
150
152
REFORMATION
14
Fabrice Fitch reflects on the impact that Martin Luther’s declaration 500 years ago had on music
THE KING’S SINGERS AT 50 20 Jeremy Nicholas meets the leading male vocal ensemble as they celebrate their 50th birthday
THE TROJANS
24
James Jolly travels to Paris to speak to the all-star cast of the Recording of the Month, Les Troyens
A CHRISTMAS ROUND-UP 30 Andrew Mellor listens to this year’s festive albums
CRITICS’ CHOICE
Our critics select the best recordings of 2017
34
COMPETITIONS GUIDE 44 The Gramophone guide to the most influential music competitions worldwide
THE MUSICIAN & THE SCORE 72 Michael Tilson Thomas on Schumann’s Rhenish
ICONS
Paavo Berglund’s legacy, by Andrew Mellor
84
CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS 94 The distinctive sound world of Tarik O’Regan
MUSICAL CONNECTIONS 123 Two musical journeys inspired by Martin Luther
CLASSICS RECONSIDERED 126 Kirill Kondrashin’s account of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade with the Concertgebouw Orchestra
THE SPECIALIST’S GUIDE 128 Hugo Shirley explores musical depictions of Faust
PERFORMANCES & EVENTS 136 The best live music on radio and online
HIGH FIDELITY
139
Our monthly offering of audio news and reviews
NOTES & LETTERS
MY MUSIC
The musical interests of Edmund de Waal
148
154
4 GRAMOPHONE DECEMBER 2017
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