Quarterly Critic’s Choice
The best and most interesting new releases of the previous three months are awarded a place on the Quarterly Critic’s Choice. Evaluation criteria are artistic quality, repertoire value, presentation, and sound quality. From 2014 onward, the Long Lists are stored directly with each Quarterly Critic’s Choice.
Orchestral Music & Concertos
Pärt: Credo
Arvo Pärt: La Sindone, Fratres, Da Pacem Domine, Silhouette, Credo, etc. Kalle Randalu, Estonian National Male Choir, Ellerhein Girls’ & Alumni Choir, Estonian Festival Orchestra, Paavo Järvi. Alpha Classics 1158 (Naxos)
An album celebrating Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday, reflecting the breadth of his work. The title »Credo« refers to a composition from 1968, but also to the entire oeuvre: the »I believe« is underscored by the credibility of his music – from the early avant-garde period through a phase of neoclassical experiments to all the subsequent works with which Pärt has touched a vast range of different listeners equally for half a century. The selection of works is as personal as his friendship with the Järvi family of conductors, and the recording is simply outstanding in every respect. For the jury: Michael Kube
Orchestral Music & Concertos
Martin: Concerto pour 7 instruments ...
Frank Martin: Concerto pour 7 instruments à vent, Études, Polyptyque. Bartłomiej Niziol, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, Philippe Bach. Schweizer Fonogramm SF0018 (Note 1)
Unfortunately, the music of Frank Martin (1890-1974) has been somewhat neglected in recent years. So it is all the more wonderful that this excellently-performed and -produced recording brings it back to mind. The early Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments (1949) and the late Polyptyque (1973) for violin showcase Martin’s entire range: rhythmic verve, playful virtuosity, fascinating string sound layers and refractions, and harmonies that oscillate between extended tonality and free twelve-tone technique come together to form a whole that captivates and convinces from the first bar to the last. For the jury: Michael Stegemann
Chamber Music
Echoes of Exile
Works by Béla Bartók, Paul Ben-Haim, George Enescu, Eugène Ysaÿe, Bernd Alois Zimmermann. Sueye Park. SACD, BIS Records BIS-2332 (Naxos)
With »Echoes of Exile«, violinist Sueye Park unfolds a sonic panorama of uprootedness. Between Ysaÿe’s introspective »Malinconia«, Bartók’s turbulent resistance, Ben-Haim’s Jewish melancholy and Zimmermann’s existential rift, she creates an arc of forced exile and inner flight. Park’s flawless technique, her brilliant tone and the wonderful precision of her phrasing combine to make this album a moving testimony to pain, memory and artistic integrity. For the jury: Bernhard Hartmann
Chamber Music
Beyond Horizons
Ethel Smyth, Edvard Grieg, Amanda Maier-Röntgen: Chamber Music for Violin and Piano. Liv Migdal, Mario Häring. hänssler Classic HC24015 (Profil Medien)
Two discoveries and a repertoire piece – a good mix, and even more than that: a clever combination of individual late Romantic styles beyond the mainstream and, in the best sense, a broadening of horizons. Liv Migdal and Mario Häring lend Ethel Smyth’s early violin sonata a strong sense of form and illuminate Amanda Maier’s pieces in a multifaceted and nuanced manner. All this is done at the highest level of sound quality, combined with a passion, bordering on furore, that makes you crave further discoveries for violin and piano of this quality. For the jury: Andreas Göbel
Keyboard Music
Preludes & Fugues
Dmitri Shostakovich: 24 Preludes & Fugues Op. 87. Yulianna Avdeeva. 2 CDs, Pentatone PTC 5187 480 (Naxos)
Yulianna Avdeeva’s account of Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues is impressive in its cleverly-modelled, colourful pianism. But her colours are not just guady sparkle; rather, they glow with multi-layered intensity from within. This is what gives this recording its lyricism. Her chords and melodies breathe and sing. Where unexpected harmonies and transitions lurk, the pianist approaches with caution. At the same time, she walks the tightrope between traditional form and modern means of expression. In this way, the music becomes a mirror of life: full of grief and resignation, pain and consolation, passion and defiance. For the jury: Christoph Vratz
Keyboard Music
Betsy Jolas: Organ Works
Angela Metzger, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Titus Engel. NEOS 12531 (harmonia mundi/Bertus)
This world premiere recording of organ works by the French composer, born in 1926, confronts the listener with a consistently idiosyncratic and fascinating world of lively sonority, defying all expectations. The focus is on the large-scale, experimentally-designed ’Musique d’Hiver’ for organ and orchestra. Angela Metzger also successfully communicates the other three sound studies of this recording on the respective subjects of dawn, time and space, with impressively-differentiated and subtle registrations of the organ. The album won both in the Keyboard Instruments I jury and in the Crossover Productions jury. For the jury: Yvonne Petitpierre
This album won both in the Keyboard Music II jury and in the Contemporary Classical Music jury.
Opera
Henry Purcell: Dido & Aeneas
Joyce DiDonato, Michael Spyres, Fatma Said, Beth Taylor, Hugh Cutting, Laurence Kilsby, Il pomo d’oro, Maxim Emelyanychev. Erato 5021732284884 (Warner)
There are already more than 50 complete recordings of Henry Purcell’s only surviving opera. The lament songs of the Carthaginian queen Dido (Acts I and III) have been sung individually hundreds of times; they rank among the greatest Baroque hits of all time. The variety of interpretations is correspondingly enormous, ranging from powerfully expressive vibrato to delicate soul-searching. This new recording deserves praise because it exploits all the parameters of musical theatre to the full without compromise. The conductor vividly animates the choir, ensemble and soloists. And DiDonato and Spyres are an unbeatable dream team. For the jury: Eleonore Büning
Opera
Mieczysław Weinberg: Der Idiot
Bogdan Volkov, Ausrine Stundyte, Vladislav Sulimsky and others, Herren der Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Director: Krystof Warlikowski. Blu-ray/2 DVDs, Unitel Edition 811504/811408 (Naxos)
Following on from The Passenger, Weinberg’s musical drama The Idiot now joins Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu and Zimmermann’s The Soldiers as a memorial to tragedy. For Prince Myshkin, borrowed from Dostoevsky’s novel, is an ’operatic hero’ of all-encompassing goodness, profound understanding and boundless compassion and affection. Tenor Bogdan Volkov is the charismatic central figure in this first-class Salzburg recording: as a singular moral challenge to our world of yesterday, today and, sadly, also tomorrow – amidst the tragedy of our inhumanity. For the jury: Wolf-Dieter Peter
Choral Music
A Prayer for Deliverance
Works by Gustav Holst, Herbert Howells, Joanna Marsh, Cecilia McDowall, Francis Pott, Caroline Shaw, Joel Thompson and others. Tenebrae, Nigel Short. Signum Classics SIGCD880 (Note 1)
They are named after the greatest theological darkness, yet they always bring us the brightest joy: the hand-picked singers of the London chamber choir »Tenebrae«. Their director Nigel Short loves the wide and softly resonant acoustic of cathedrals, but he hates blurring. The sound of the choir is defined down to the ninth decimal place, starting with the infinitely beautiful sopranos. The ensemble’s new CD is an intensely resonant prayer for redemption, filled with comforting formulas and masterpieces of the British choral tradition. For the jury: Wolfram Goertz
Lieder and Vocal Recital
Franz Schubert: Winterreise D 911
Johannes Martin Kränzle, Hilko Dumno. hänssler Classic HC25011 (Profil Medien)
Making a relevant contribution to the (over)abundant discography of Winterreise is no small feat. Johannes Martin Kränzle is a master of sensitive and precise word treatment, both on the opera stage and as a lieder singer. This recording demonstrates the maturity of a long engagement with Schubert’s multi-layered Winterreise in the face of life-threatening illness. It is difficult to listen to without knowing about Kränzle’s health struggles. All the more touching is the intensely subjective yet rigorously unsentimental approach that the baritone finds with his long-time piano partner Hilko Dumno. For the jury: Holger Noltze
Early Music
Johann Heinrich Rolle: Symphonies, Harpsichord Concertos
Michael Borgstede, Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens. cpo 555 634-2 (JPC)
Those accustomed to Bach and Mozart may find works in the galant style, such as those written by J. H. Rolle (1719–1785), to be almost provocatively simple in their outward appearance. However, it is easier to understand Rolle’s presence in the musical life of his time when specialists like the Cologne Academy, who have been working for years with Michael Alexander Willens to develop repertoire between the epochs of music history, finally make this style a priority. As a result you can discover music full of fragrant lightness and the finest nuances, in which tension arises precisely from the closely observed detail. For the jury: Carsten Niemann
Historical Recordings
Jascha Horenstein conducts...
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1, Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 5. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein. ica Classics ICAC5184 (Naxos)
The immense density of Jascha Horenstein’s interpretations, with their wealth of detail that is always subordinate to the whole, effortlessly stands up alongside newer recordings. The atmospheric intensity in Shostakovich’s First is impressive, as is the careful elaboration of all interpretative parameters. Horenstein met Carl Nielsen in person in 1927 while rehearsing his Fifth (which he rehearsed for Furtwängler) and awakened his lifelong commitment to the Danish composer’s symphonies. This rousing, deeply moving recording from 1971 is a benchmark. For the jury: Jürgen Schaarwächter
Film Music
Jeff Russo: Alien Earth
(Original Soundtrack) Digital, Hollywood Records (direct distribution)
An orchestra can convey everything: past and future, tradition and technology, security and danger. Jeff Russo’s wistful orchestral soundtrack to the series ’Alien: Earth’ embraces the tradition of the great Alien scores and depicts both the threat from outer space and the vulnerability and childishness of human-cybernetic hybrids. His sometimes nervous, sometimes curious string arrangements and the use of brutal alien soundscapes impressively enhance the whole. Best of all, you can listen to the murderous aliens without risking your own life. For the jury: Jenni Zylka
Music Film
Joana Mallwitz: Momentum
A film by Günter Atteln. Joana Mallwitz, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg and others. DVD, Accentus Music ACC20688 (Naxos)
Joana Mallwitz is a conductor of superlatives: opera conductor of the year, first woman in many settings, she is now resident in Berlin. Günter Atteln had a keen eye when he was able to film decisive stages of her career over many years. The result is a powerful, realistic film – between private everyday organisation, professional pressure and musical passion. Mallwitz shows her demanding, analytical, emotional and even her anxious sides. The result is an exciting and unusually candid portrait of an exceptionally talented musician on her way to the top. For the jury: Thorsten Lorenz
Jazz
Karl Ratzer Trio: Vienna Red
CD/2 LPs, IN+OUT Records IOR77160-2/-1 (Edel)
In the year of his 75th birthday, there is little to remind us that Karl Ratzer was once a renowned rock guitarist on the Viennese scene of the 1960s. Jazz has shaped his music for more than four decades. Trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker booked him as a tour companion in the 1980s – after ten years in the USA, this was something of a revelation for Karl Ratzer. From fusion jazz, he moved straight into classic trio jazz, characterised by bebop and swing. And with his slightly fragile tone, the guitarist also honours the memory of Chet Baker, who had such a formative influence on him, between charming improvisations. For the jury: Lothar Jänichen
Jazz
from Jandln to Ernst
Christian Muthspiel & Orjazztra Vienna & the voice of Ernst Jandl: from Jandln to Ernst. 2 CDs, col legno WWE 2CD 20477 (Naxos)
This recording creates a musical chamber of wonders; the voice of a dead poet speaks to the living with undiminished power. The voice belongs to Ernst Jandl, who, like few others, transformed the written word into spoken language and was its best interpreter – for example, with the NDR Big Band. Composer Muthspiel, who worked with Jandl during his lifetime, dedicates a large-scale work to him on his 100th birthday, incorporating original recordings of the eloquent poet into multifaceted arrangements performed by the first-class Orjazztra Vienna. For the jury: Bert Noglik
This album won both the Crossover Productions jury and the Jazz II jury.
World Music
Africa Express: Presents ... Bahidorá
2 CDs/2 LPs, WorldCircuit/BMG 4099964167030 (Universal)
Eighteen years ago, Damon Albarn sparked a musical idea that has since become mainstream. Forget genre boundaries; let’s make music together! For this sixth meeting, around 50 performers and musicians from Europe, Africa and the Americas travelled to the Bahidorá nature reserve in Mexico. They rehearsed for a week, and then gave a concert, followed by two weeks dedicated to fine-tuning recordings of the repertoire. English pop meets roots music, rap meets folktronica, Latin melodies meet African rhythms. And the large musical family had a lot of fun in the process – you can hear it! For the jury: Jodok W. Kobelt
Traditional Ethnic Music
Mara Aranda: Sefarad
... en el corazón de Bulgaria. Bureo BUREO6037 (Galileo)
After the expulsion of Spanish-speaking Jews from Andalusia in 1492, numerous new musical cultures emerged from the community, extending far into the Ottoman Empire. At the heart of this musically-outstanding concept album by Valencian singer Mara Aranda is the almost-unknown sound world of Bulgarian Sephardism. With sensual interpretations of the historical song repertoire, Aranda succeeds in conveying intimate insights into the female Sephardic world. Her voice is supported by an excellent accompanying ensemble, creating a sound world that never ceases to surprise and enchant. For the jury: Britta Sweers
German language Singer/Songwriters
Manfred Maurenbrecher: Vielleicht Vielleichter
Reptiphon REP 060 (Broken Silence)
Dr Maurenbrecher is now 75 years old and. As a writer, author and presenter, he may not be famous, but he is certainly successful. First and foremost, for the past fifty years he has written songs that inspire and move – intelligent, thoughtful, committed songs, stories from life, imaginative and also whimsical, wonderfully-told at the piano. In our new age of populists, crisis and war, in which some old acquaintances are barely recognisable in their transformation, he nevertheless conveys the hope that the current horrors will pass so that life can become easier again. For the jury: Rainer Katlewski
Folk and Singer/Songwriters
Plønk: Bridge of Glass
Cetra Records CETRA010 (direct distribution)
Christian Mohr Levisen from Denmark and his German partner Björn Kaidel have focussed exclusively on playing the Waldzither – an almost-forgotten nine-stringed plucked instrument from Germany – as a duo since 2024 with »Plønk«. This album exclusively features Waldzithers, with their rich overtones and resonant sound. The notes resonate and intertwine, sparkling like warm rain and caressing the ears of listeners. How fortunate that these virtuosos are shedding new light on the Waldzither, making it accessible to modern audiences! For the jury: Jo Meyer
Pop
Big Thief: Double Infinity
CD/LP/MC, 4AD 0850 (Indigo)
Big Thief has never been busier. Percussion that stumbles over itself, ambient soundscapes so fresh and free-flowing that it’s as if the shimmering flesh of a fruit is bursting out from under the bark of what was once rustic folk rock. Shrunk to a trio after bassist Max Oleartchik left, the band recorded their sixth album with 13 musicians in a top New York studio. The title is inspired by Blaise Pascal’s concept of double infinity: man is nothing compared to infinity and everything compared to nothing. This music creates a home in between. For the jury: Fabian Peltsch
Hard and Heavy
Heaven Shall Burn: Heimat
LP/CD, Century Media 19802901682 (Sony)
Founded in 1995, the metalcore/death metal band traditionally puts its finger into social wounds. In their tenth album production, the Thuringians grapple with the controversially discussed concept of »homeland«, paying tribute to heroes from various countries – be it a Polish woman who saved Jews from the Shoah or Afghan local forces who stood up to the Taliban. The quintet defends its core values with brutal, melodic metal and, in times of hatred and war, stands up for the environment, animal rights and humanity. The reward: second place in the German album charts. For the jury: Katrin Riedl
Alternative
Pulp: More
CD/LP/MC, Rough Trade RT0541 (Indigo)
Not many pop stars manage to age with dignity. But Pulp is one of them – Jarvis Cocker was already singing »Help The Aged!« when he was 35. In the song »Grown Ups«, he now muses that he never wanted to grow up, but that there is probably no way around it if he wants to develop further. And Cocker’s band from Sheffield has indeed developed further, even though some of the songs on »More« were written decades ago. Cocker sings poetically about lust and loss, fulfilled and unfulfilled love, gender and society. This is not Britpop; it is timeless and contemporary – and the comeback of the year! For the jury: Juliane Streich
Club and Dance
Nick Léon: A Tropical Entropy
Digital, TraTraTrax TRALP2 (Indigo)
For a good 20 years, reggaeton and related Latin genres have been an integral part of the global dance-pop market. Nick León is known as one of the producers of superstar Rosalía, but also for DJ-friendly tracks under his own name. On his debut album, he weaves together various strands of contemporary Latino sounds into an astonishingly dark snapshot of his hometown Miami – between sweaty club atmosphere, decelerated ambient elements and pop glamour. This is electronic music with a migrant background and, at the same time, an expression of a shift in cultural hegemonies in favour of the global South. For the jury: Christian Tjaben
Electronic and Experimental
Matmos: Metallic Life Review
CD/LP, Thrill Jockey THRILL-632 (Indigo)
What sounds like a hardware store in ecstasy turns out to be an electroacoustic masterpiece: with surgical precision and anarchic wit, Matmos creates a sound universe of metal objects on Metallic Life Review. Whether rusty pipes, surgical instruments or glockenspiels – every sound becomes a building-block of musical narrative. Conceptually radical and surprisingly accessible, the Baltimore-based electronic duo proves once again that experimentation and listening pleasure are not mutually exclusive. Even cold metal can glow if you just listen closely. For the jury: Isabel Steppeler
Blues and Blues-related
D.K. Harrell: Talkin’ Heavy
CD/LP, Alligator Records AL 5027 (Bertus)
The use of initials in place of first names implies that he has big shoes to fill – young American D.K. Harrell may be following in the footsteps of blues patriarch B.B. King, but he is forging his own path. Harrell’s guitar (his 1976s Gibson ES 355) and its tone, as well as his phrasing when playing and singing, are naturally closely based on his great role model; however, Harrell’s second album, »Talkin’ Heavy«, also contains plenty of his own signature style in its twelve songs. It’s funky, breathes the soul of the 1970s, and lives the blues, both traditional and contemporary. D.K. Harrell has his own initials. For the jury: Tim Schauen
R&B, Soul and Hip-Hop
Brittany Davis, Evan Flory-Barnes, D’Vonne Lewis: Black Thunder
2 LPs, Loose Groove LGR0029 (Membran)
Piano, bass, drums and a voice that goes straight to the soul, heart and ears – »Black Thunder«, by Brittany Davis, originally planned as a loose trio improvisation over 48 hours in a studio in Seattle, developed into a magnificent soul, rhythm & blues and jazz album. A snapshot with attitude – blind Brittany Davis gave free rein to her spontaneous thoughts, singing profoundly about beauty, racism, history and the world she cannot see. Intense and gentle at the same time – rarely does this balancing act succeed so uniquely; a flowing masterpiece in its own right. For the jury: Michael Rütten
Spoken Word
Thomas Mann Box
Thomas Sarbacher, Gerd Wameling, Boris Aljinović, Peter Matić, C. Bernd Sucher, Hans Peter Hallwachs, Jennifer Sabel, Andreas Thiele. 8 mp3-CDs, Argon Edition ISBN 978-3-8398-2207-4 (Argon Verlag)
It is surprising how much new material a Thomas Mann anniversary year can bring to light, from delicate diary entries to quiet longings … but the new can also be found in the familiar. That is what this box set stands for. We were particularly taken with Thomas Sarbacher’s reading of »The Magic Mountain«, almost 40 hours of unabridged competence in tone, dynamics and endurance. Here is someone who has found his own place between Castorp and Settembrini. Also nice: the introduction, read by Hans Peter Hallwachs, the author himself, and others: »Will it never end?« We can only hope so. For the jury: Elena Witzeck