On Masterworks, the astonishingly virtuosic acoustic powerhouse outfit California Guitar Trio—comprising master steel-string fingerstylists Bert Lams, Hideyo Moriya, and Paul Richards—converges to deliver a breathtakingly precise, highly complex, and masterfully symphonic studio document. Released in 2012 by the specialized progressive imprint Inner Knot, this brilliant interpretive milestone finds the trio applying their legendary King Crimson-hated, Robert Fripp-schooled Crafty Guitar skills to the canon of European classical music. Spanning nearly 55 minutes of immaculate high-fidelity spatial design, the 11-track landscape operates with an electric, lightning-fast, and deeply disciplined kinetic energy. The trio navigates dense orchestral notation and shifting dynamics with telepathic precision, firing off stunning, jaw-dropping arrangements like Bach's sprawling Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Beethoven's blistering Presto Agitato from the Moonlight Sonata, and a hauntingly stark, beautifully layered adaptation of Arvo Pärt's modern masterpiece Fratres. Driven by their interlocked multi-directional picking lines and unparalleled dynamic control, this pristine archive remains an indispensable masterclass for serious progressive rock purists, acoustic guitar enthusiasts, and classical crossover collectors worldwide.

Born in 2000, Swedish violinist Johan Dalene is already making an impact on the international scene. His refreshingly honest musicality, combined with an ability to engage with musicians and audiences alike, has won him many admirers. Johan began playing the violin at the age of four and made his professional concerto debut three years later. A student at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, he has also worked closely with mentors including Janine Jansen, Leif Ove Andsnes and Gidon Kremer. Johan has been a prize winner at a number of competitions, most recently the prestigious Carl Nielsen Competition at which he won First Prize.

The SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart is one of the few choirs enjoying an international reputation. Their latest recording has “America” as its subject - and presents a tremendously wide range of forms and expressions, from music written under the influence of European masters to works that boldly explore experiments in aesthetic reorientation. The big names of the U.S. composers are of course represented, including Leonard Bernstein with his single a cappella work, the “Missa Brevis”, Steve Reich with his minimalist “Proverb” and John Cage with some of his late “Number Pieces”. Everything is presented at the highest artistic level, with ravishing sonics that cannot be beat.

After a number of appearances in Alpha productions (notably as a sublime Alcina in the DVD conducted by Christophe Rousset and staged by Pierre Audi at La Monnaie), Sandrine Piau now joins the label for several recordings. With Chimère, she invites us on a voyage into the intimate and infinite territory of dreams. ‘Chimera: an illusory, unsatisfied quest, the graveyard of our illusions…’

For all the agony as to the status of classical music in the modern musical landscape, the three 20th century string quartets on this fine French release can be said to have entered the repertory, with a reach that extends far beyond the U.S. They go quite well together, which is the first point in favor of France's Quatuor Diotima here; both Steve Reich's Different Trains, for string quartet and tape, and George Crumb's Black Angels for electric quartet feature an artificially enhanced string quartet, and even Samuel Barber elected to "enhance" his String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11, by orchestrating its central movement and making it into the famous Adagio for strings. Highly recommended.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is world-famous as the composer of the musicals Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, but his Requiem has also achieved international acclaim. Winner of a Grammy Award, this grand-sounding masterpiece of contemporary classical music, written in 1985, is dedicated to the memory of Webber's late father. The recording of a concert by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester on June 15, 2023, a tribute to the British composer who celebrated his 75th birthday in March 2023, is now presented on CD by BR-KLASSIK. This live recording from the Herz-Jesu Church in Munich features the Bavarian Radio Chorus accompanied by a select ensemble of soloists, under the baton of principal guest conductor Patrick Hahn.

This sparkling suite for violin and piano came into being when the composer had to adapt his incidental score for a production of Shakespeare's play to the impending absence of the chamber orchestral. The result is a brilliant piece for violin and piano, which the composer quickly released in a four-movement version. There are other recordings of the chamber orchestra suite in five-movements that duplicate only three of the movements of this version. Violinist Gil Shaham and pianist André Previn are ideal partners in this brilliant performance. The four movements allow Shaham to show four sides of his violinist's personality: He skips and plays in carefree fashion in the opening movement, indulges in the grotesquery and parody of the second, gets to play the romantic in the garden scene of the third movement, and dazzles with virtuosity in the final hornpipe. Previn's part is more than mere accompaniment; the piano often has a large part of the mood of the music and his contribution is, to use a word already employed here, ideal.

Box set containing sonatas performed by the pianist Vladimir Horowitz. As well as the tracks listed it also includes 'Sonata in B Minor' by Franz Liszt, 'Concerto Without Orchestra' by Robert Schumann, 'Andante Moderato' from 'Sonata in F minor, K466' by Domenico Scarlatti, 'Sonata in E-Flat Major for Piano, Hob.XVI:49' by Joseph Haydn, 'Sonata Quasi Concerto, Op. 33, No. 3 in C Major' by Muzio Clementi and 'Sonata No. 21 in C Major for Piano, Op. 53, 'Waldstein'' by Ludwig van Beethoven, amongst others.

Older Ives enthusiasts may recall the First Piano Sonata in performances by William Masselos who played the work for the first time in 1954, the year the composer died. Odd, but familiar in Ives, for such a masterpiece to have to wait 45 years to be heard! Masselos made two recordings (nla) which established the character of this richly inventive work. The one by Noel Lee (on a Nonesuch LP—only available in the USA) made in the late 1960s is almost as impressive. Joanna MacGregor's recording is now a landmark since there is effectively no competition in the British catalogue: DJF found little to recommend in John Jensen's performance on Music and Arts (9/90) so it is best to compare MacGregor, who is certainly busy in the recording studios these days, with these earlier Americans.

This beautifully conceived program brings together the complete works for piano duet by three major American composers: Edward MacDowell (1860-1908), Amy Beach (1867-1944) and Samuel Barber (1910-1981).

Classical singer Julia Bullock makes her solo recording debut, Walking in the Dark, December 9, 2022 on Nonesuch Records. Bullock is joined on the album by London’s Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Christian Reif for Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and an aria from John Adams’s El Niño. With Reif on piano she also performs a traditional spiritual and songs by Oscar Brown, Jr.; Billy Taylor; and Sandy Denny. The first track released is an interpretation of the Connie Converse song “One by One,” whose lyrics are featured in the album title.

Roberta Alexander’s outstanding CD of vocal music by Samuel Barber demonstrates the soprano’s understanding of the composer’s musical language and emotional content … The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic plays very well under the tasteful leadership of Edo de Waart.