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Andre Cluytens recorded Faust in 1953 and 1958; the latter in stereo. Both shared the three main principals. Cluytens keeps the score moving, although he lets the tension slip in parts of the ballet music. #cdreview
www.classicalsource.com/cd/gounod-f… English National Ballet’s latest mixed bill is a somewhat ho-hum affair, a two-hour triptych comprising an undisputed masterpiece by a master choreographer and two commissions which, to put it kindly, do nothing to advance
www.classicalsource.com/concert/rhy… The great French conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) was something of a wanderer. After starting out as a viola player, he worked with, amongst others, the Ba
www.classicalsource.com/cd/crq-706-… The third collection of English String Music from this source is as outstanding as its predecessors, albeit more distanced from the famous Sir John Barbirolli LP that inspired John Wilson to resurrect the Sinfonia of Lond
www.classicalsource.com/cd/wilson-s… Like many other modern composers Josemari Hernandez composes accessible, largely tonal, as opposed to confrontational, music.
He specialises in concept albums and here he invites the listener to go on a journey. #cdreview
www.classicalsource.com/cd/faces-pl… Almost 6,000 promenaders packed the hall for a Last Night doing two jobs at once: seeing off the 2026 season in customary style, and finding room for grief. More on that later.
bit.ly/4A2AnUq Unlike today, back in the 1960s the world was awash with great conductors. Several of whom led great orchestras, moulded in their image. Of these, none were greater than George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, which he too
www.classicalsource.com/cd/george-s… Earlier this season, John Wilson confirmed his orchestra’s special status with an extravagant realisation of Respighi’s Roman trilogy.
bit.ly/4dlkBu0 The ‘novelty’—to use Henry Wood’s historic term for unfamiliar fare—came first. The music of Louise Farrenc (née Jeanne-Louise Dumont; 1804–1875) was entirely absent from these concerts until 2024 when her Third Symphony and Overture No.
bit.ly/4xfk3gl It’s a fairly unusual concert when a major work by Beethoven is by far the less maverick and more lyrical item, yet that was the case here with the Violin Concerto given alongside Scriabin’s ‘The Di
www.classicalsource.com/prom/bbc-pr… A not-quite full house had braved unseasonable rain to hear two fiercely individualistic (and borderline unpronounceable) artists from the former Soviet bloc in masterpieces by peripatetic Russians, themse
www.classicalsource.com/prom/bbc-pr… As Bamberg Symphony Orchestra chief, Antonio Pappano’s successor at Covent Garden, and music director designate of the Czech Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša cannot have much time for guest conducting these days.
bit.ly/4xuGzCX Goethe’s Faust appealed to the 19th century psyche with its themes of the search for immortality, the nature of humankind, ageing, good, evil, love, damnation and redemption.
bit.ly/4gz3180 In the eagerly anticipated debut at the Proms by New York’s opera house ensemble the Met Orchestra – their first of two concerts – Strauss alone was on the programme, but the centrepiece was one of his tone poems, Ein Heldenleben.
bit.ly/461tGEy You might think that a virtually all-Mahler concert would demand larger-than-life orchestral forces, but the Met Orchestra, for its second concert in its debut appearances at the Proms, was somewhat slimmed down from the orgiastic forces required for Richard
bit.ly/4gMtD4r It was this performance that stood out most of all when the EIF brochure was issued last autumn.
bit.ly/4yfT6dl Before the music a quick note on the sound. As mentioned before the BBC use a lossy format that isn’t even of CD quality, let alone high-definition streami
www.classicalsource.com/prom/bbc-pr… Two classic twentieth century ballet scores bookended a new American clarinet concerto receiving its European premiere for an unconventional but attractive
www.classicalsource.com/prom/bbc-pr… “Tanglewood on Parade”, a full day and evening of music and fun, is an annual tradition at Tanglewood.
bit.ly/4hEugir 'If,' Berlioz wrote from his sick-bed in January 1867, 'if I were threatened by the destruction of my entire works save one, I should crave mercy for the Messe des morts.' Given its size and demands, performances are relatively rare hence always special.
bit.ly/4glayGl Appearing at the Proms for the first time in 25 years the Los Angeles Philharmonic brought two programmes, both ending with contemporary music, which is v
www.classicalsource.com/prom/bbc-pr… As Nigel Short explained in his short chat with Sarah Walker from the stage, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles was the first work his choir Tenebrae – now celebrating its quart
www.classicalsource.com/prom/bbc-pr… 
