CONTENTS Volume 98 Number 11 89 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 SUB EDITOR David Threasher / 020 7501 6370 SUB EDITOR Marija uric´ Speare ART DIRECTOR Dinah Lone / 020 7501 6689 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Libby McPhee THANKS TO Hannah Nepilova EDITOR IN CHIEF James Jolly
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The July 2020 issue of Gramophone is on sale from June 17; the August issue will be on sale from July 22 (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 £70. Printed in England by Walstead Roche. North American edition (ISSN 0017-310X): Gramophone, USPS 881080, is published monthly with an additional issue in October 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 WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Gramophone, WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. 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, 2020. 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. Please read our privacy policy, by visiting privacypolicy.markallengroup.com. This will explain how we process, use & safeguard your data. 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 reviewed in this issue
RECORDING OF THE MONTH Peter Quantrill is excited by the first album on The Cleveland Orchestra’s new in-house label, with superb performances under Franz WelserMöst of music from Beethoven to Varèse, all captured in glorious sound and lavishly presented
ORCHESTRAL
Thomas Adès conducts Beethoven and Barry; Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth in Ravel and Mussorgsky; Gianandrea Noseda directs the LSO in Shostakovich; two albums of Vivaldi concertos
CHAMBER
Haydn from the Leipzig String Quartet; Kapustin on saxophones; Tabea Zimmermann’s Cantilena
INSTRUMENTAL
More Bach from Benjamin Alard; Louis Lortie plays Fauré; Beethoven and Brahms from Sokolov
VOCAL
Parry and Stanford from Westminster Abbey; Tchaikovsky from the Latvian Radio Choir
OPERA
Verdi’s Otello starring Kaufmann under Pappano; Isabel Bayrakdarian explores ‘the other Cleopatra’
JAZZ & WORLD MUSIC
Reviews from our sister titles Jazzwise and Songlines
REISSUES
The recorded legacy of the Staatskapelle Berlin
BOX-SET ROUND-UP
REPLAY
Ormandy in Philadelphia; Carmen Dragon’s art
CLASSICS RECONSIDERED Mark Pullinger and Hugo Shirley compare notes on Claudio Abbado’s 1971 Il barbiere di Siviglia
BOOKS
An important Bach book; a Berlioz compendium
GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION Charlotte Gardner listens to recordings across almost a century of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
REVIEWS INDEX
FOR THE RECORD
All the latest classical music news
ORCHESTRA OF THE YEAR We reveal the 10 shortlisted ensembles who have impressed over the past year – which one will win the coveted title at this year’s Gramophone Awards? Have your say by casting your vote
REMEMBERING BARBIROLLI Andrew Farach-Colton explores the life and legacy of this charismatic conductor through 10 seminal recordings across a wide range of repertoire, made with orchestras including the Hallé and the New York Philharmonic
BAVOUZET ON BEETHOVEN With the first of his recordings planned for Beethoven year under his belt, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet talks to Michelle Assay about the composer’s contemporaries and the joys of conducting the piano concertos from the piano
MUSICIAN AND THE SCORE Peter Quantrill speaks to Canadian violinist James Ehnes about Beethoven’s Spring Sonata, which isn’t as simple as it may first appear
ICONS
Richard Fairman recalls the extraordinary vocal qualities of English tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson
CONTEMPORARY COMPOSER Richard Whitehouse appraises the German-born, British composer Alexander Goehr
WHAT NEXT?
Andrew Mellor begins with Peer Gynt and takes us on a fascinating, unexpected aural journey HIGH FIDELITY LETTERS AND OBITUARIES NEW RELEASES MY BEETHOVEN The poet Ruth Padel on why she felt compelled to celebrate Beethoven year with a collection exploring his life and works
4 GRAMOPHONE JULY 2020
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