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.
NEW: Long List 2/2024, published on 5th April 2024
Orchestral Music & Concertos
Robert Schumann: Complete Symphonic Works Vol. 1
Symphony No.1 B flat major op. 38; Symphony No.2. D minor op. 120 ; Ouverture, Scherzo and Finale E major op. 58. WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger. audite 97.677 (Edel)
Orchestral Music & Concertos
Bruno Maderna: Complete Works for Orchestra Vol. 5
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1969); Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1959). Thomas Zehetmair, Markus Bellheim, Sinfonieorchester des Hessischen Rundfunks Frankfurt, Arturo Tamayo. SACD Neos 10937 (harmonia mundi)
Chamber Music
Armida Quartett – Bartók, Kurtág, Ligeti
Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 4 Sz 91. György Kurtág: String Quartet op. 1. György Ligeti: String Quartet No. 1. Armida Quartett. CAvi 8553 298 (harmonia mundi)
Keyboard Music
Ferruccio Busoni: Late Piano Music
Indianisches Tagebuch, Elegies, Klavierübung, Fantasia after J. S. Bach, Sonatinas et al. Marc-André Hamelin. 3 CD Hyperion CDA 67951/3 (Note 1)
Keyboard Music
Revived in Tango
Works by Guy Bovet, Pablo Bruno, Johann Caspar Kerll, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Nicolas de Grigny. Ines Maidre. Pro Musica PPC 9066 (Naxos)
Opera
Jean-Baptiste Lully: Phaéton
Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Ingrid Perruche, Isabelle Druet, Gaёlle Arquet, Cyril Auvity, Andrew Foster-Williams, Frédéric Caton, Benoît Arnould, Virginie Thomas, Choeur de Chambre de Namur, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset. 2 CD Aparté AP 061 (harmonia mundi)
Opera
Richard Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer / Pierre-Louis Dietsch: Le Vaisseau Fantôme
Evgeny Nikitin, Ingela Brimberg, Russell Braun, Sally Matthews, Eric Cutler, Mika Kares, Bernard Richter, Helene Schneiderman, Ugo Rabec, Eesti Filharmoonia Kamerkoor, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski. 4 CD Naïve V 5349 (Indigo)
Choral Music
Johann Sebastian Bach: Secular Cantatas Vol. 55
Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele BWV 69; Freue dich, erlöste Schar BWV 30; Gloria in excelsis deo BWV 191. Hana Blažiková, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Peter Kooij, Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki. SACD BIS 2031 (Klassik Center)
Lieder and Vocal Recital
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
& Laudate Pueri Dominum; Confitebor tibi Domine. Julia Lezhneva, Philippe Jaroussky, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis. Erato 5099 9319 14727 (Warner)
Early Music
Mille consigli
Italienische Violinsonaten des 17. Jahrhunderts von Antonio Bertali, Dario Castello, Giovanni Battista Fontana, Tarquinio Merulo, Marco Uccellini u. a. Ensemble Aurora. Glossa GCD 921208 (Note 1)
Contemporary Classical Music
Angels – Marco Blaauw
Compositions for trumpet by Richard Ayres, Marco Blaauw, Georg Friedrich Haas, Liza Lim, Martijn Padding, Jimmy Rowles, Carl Ruggles, Rebecca Saunders, Martin Smolka and Agata Zubel. With Marco Blaauw, Michiel Braam, Christine Chapman, Bruce Collings, Ralf-Werner Koop, Nathan Plante, Markus Schwind. Wergo WER 67812 (NAI)
Historical Recordings
Fritz Reiner & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Complete Recordings on RCA. 63 CDs RCA 8888 3701 982 (Sony)
Crossover Productions
Hans Hassler: Hassler
With Gebhard Ullmann, Jürgen Kupke, Beat Föllmi. Intakt Records CD 212 (harmonia mundi)
Music Film
Gozaran – Time Passing
A documentation by Frank Scheffer. With Nader Mashayekhi and the Teheran Symphony Orchestra. DVD/Blu-ray EuroArts 205 8768 (Naxos)
Music Film
Marc Sinan: Hasretim – Journey to Anatolia
With Marc Sinan, Markus Rindt, Andrea Molino, Dresdner Sinfoniker and musicians from the Turkey and from Armenia with traditional instruments. CD/DVD ECM 2330/31 (Universal)
Jazz
Early Chet
Chet Baker in Germany 1955-1959. LP Jazzhaus 101740 (Arthaus Musik)
Jazz
Irène Schweizer & Pierre Favre: Live in Zürich
Intakt CD 228 (harmonia mundi)
World Music
Jun Miyake: Lost Memory Theatre
act-1. Yellowbird yeb-7736-2 (Soulfood)
Traditional Ethnic Music
Deeyah presents Iranian Woman
Fuuse Mousiqi/Heilo HCD 7269 (Galileo)
German language Singer/Songwriters
Strom & Wasser feat. The Refugees
Freiheit ist ein Paradies. Traumton 982612 (Indigo)
Folk and Singer/Songwriters
Ciğdem Aslan: Mortissa
Asphalt Tango Records CD-ATR 4313
Pop
Janelle Monáe: The Electric Lady
Suite IV and V. CD/LP Bad Boy Entertainment 7567-86840-5 (Atlantic/Warner)
Rock
Lorde: Pure Heroine
Universal 0602537518982
Independent (until 2014)
Bill Callahan: Dream River
CD/LP Drag City DC553CD (Rough Trade)
Nu & Extreme (until 2014)
Son Lux: Lanterns
CD/LP Joyful Noise JNR126 (Cargo Records)
Blues and Blues-related
Blues Company: X-Ray-Blues
CD/LP Inakustik INAK 9124
Spoken Word
Elias Canetti: Die Blendung
Editing, direction and music: Klaus Buhlert. With Birgit Minichmayr, Samuel Finzi, Manfred Zapatka et al. 12 CD Der Hörverlag 2013, ISBN 978-3-86717-893-8 (Edel)
Recordings for Children and Youth
Tomi Ungerer, Dave Horler: Tremolo
Audio piece with music. Jochen Malmsheimer, WDR Big Band Köln. CMO Hörbuch/WDR. ISBN 978-3-939129-59-2 (Alive)