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
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9. Mahler Academy Orchestra, Philipp von Steinaecker. Alpha Classics 1057 (Naxos)
Who would have thought that a symphony by Mahler could have so many new sounds to offer? Much is owed to the choice of »original« orchestral instruments, representing conditions from circa 1910. The stringed instruments, strung with gut, sound warmer and more silky, the woodwinds far more fragile in the extreme upper and lower registers. Above all, however, all these factors join together in astonishing mixture, which, according to the orchestration, makes dissonances appear harsher or more gentle than we have come to expect. The Mahler Academy Orchestra from Bolzano, conducted by Philipp von Steinaecker, opens the doors to another world. For the jury: Michael Kube
Orchestral Music & Concertos
Sibelius/Prokofiev: Violin Concertos
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto D minor op. 47, Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto D major op. 19. Janine Jansen, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä. Decca 00028948547487 (Universal)
Janine Jansen is both technically brilliant and remarkably eloquent as a violinist, with a formidable artistic profile, characterised not least by her pursuit of the far limits of expression. In the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto, she performs at the highest level, shaping her solo passages with relentless intensity and taut control. This album reflects her unconditional creative drive, her wealth of ideas, and her nuanced range of dynamics and timbre. It has an edge-of-the-seat narrative power, making it compelling listening. In the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and its principal conductor Klaus Mäkelä, Jansen has found congenial collaborators. For the jury: Norbert Hornig
Chamber Music
Klose/Bruckner: String Quartets
Friedrich Klose: String Quartet E flat major, Anton Bruckner: String Quartet C minor, Rondo C minor, Theme and Variations E flat major. Quatuor Diotima. Pentatone PTC 5187 217 (Naxos)
Do you find Bruckner’s symphonies too loud? This CD, marking the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth, offers a scaled-down solution. The string quartet which Bruckner composed as student sounds almost like Mendelssohn. Bruckner added an alternative final movement, as if questions of form and structure had dogged him from the very beginning. Then there is his student Friedrich Klose’s homage, which until now has been completely neglected in terms of both recording and performance. The 1911 string quartet, almost 50 minutes long, is given a lyrical and flowing perfomance by the Diotima Quartet: it’s like a Bruckner symphony for the drawing-room. For the jury: Lotte Thaler
Chamber Music
Balagan
Chamber music for clarinet, violin, piano & cello by Paul Schoenfield, Claude Vivier, Béla Bartók, Ernest Bloch, Eden Ahbez, Béla Kovács. Noa Wildschut, Pablo Barragán, Frank Dupree, Anton Spronk. accentus music ACC30643 (Naxos)
This CD covers a wide range of music and includes Paul Schoenfield’s clarinet trio, a central work that is well worth discovering, and which could hardly be more thrillingly interpreted. Noa Wildschut, Pablo Barragán and Frank Dupree plumb the deepest depths with the most captivating virtuosity. The composer, who died in 2024, combines classical music, jazz and folk music to create a fascinating musical experience. Works by Bartók and Vivier, as well as – in arrangements – by Bloch, Ahbez and Kovács (with Anton Spronk, cello), complete this magnificent album. For the jury: Ludwig Hartmann
Keyboard Music
Desyatnikov: Trompe-l’œil ...
Leonid Desyatnikov: Trompe-l’œil, Franz Schubert: Divertissement à la Hongroise D 818, Fantasy F minor D 940. Pavel Kolesnikov, Samson Tsoy. harmonia mundi HMM 902716 (harmonia mundi/Bertus)
An unusual juxtaposition; two works by Schubert frame a contemporary work. »Trompe-l’œil«, by Leonid Desyatnikov, contains references to Schubert’s music. The two pianists reveal their many years of shared experience at every turn. From a shared breath, a cleverly-distributed sound emerges, rich in detail and nuance. The upper registers in particular take on a luminous character. However, Kolesnikov and Tsoy eschew the glare of floodlights in their playing, relying instead on more discreet, suggestive illumination. For the jury: Christoph Vratz
Keyboard Music
Bach: Trio Sonatas for Organ
Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonatas BWV 525-530. Martin Neu. audite 97.827 (Note 1)
These eighteen trio sonatas are undisputedly among the most beautiful pieces ever written for the organ; they are also among the most difficult. This album combines everything that makes Bach’s organ music a joy to hear: An organ with such vibrant colors that one can never tire of listening; warm, spacious, and tangible sound engineering that conveys these sounds; and, above all, an organist who plays these marvels with cantabile verve and relaxed precision, as if it were pure pleasure for him. For the jury: Friedrich Sprondel
Opera
Andrea Bernasconi: L’Huomo
Festa Teatrale. Philipp Mathman, Maria Ladurner, Francesca Benitez, Florian Götz, Alice Lackner, Simon Bode, Anna Herbst, Johanne Falkinger, Ensemble 1700, Dorothee Oberlinger. 3 CDs, deutsche harmonia mundi 19658892092 (Sony)
Andrea Bernasconi’s »Festa teatrale« is imbued with the spirit of an extraordinary woman, Wilhelmine of Prussia. The Bayreuth margravine wrote the template (in French!) for the libretto, composed a few numbers herself, and performed the work in 1754 during the visit of her brother Frederick II, alias Frederick the Great, to Bayreuth. An allegory of good and evil which ends with the victory of enlightenment over darkness, »L’Huomo« is also a celebration of musical Italianità, brilliantly performed by the outstanding vocal soloists and Ensemble 1700 under Dorothee Oberlinger. For the jury: Max Nyffeler
Opera
Bohuslav Martinů: The greek passion (Řecké pašije)
Gábor Bretz, Sebastian Kohlhepp, Sara Jakubiak, Charles Workman, Christina Gansch, Matteo Ivan Rašić and others, Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus, Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children’s Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Maxime Pascal, director: Simon Stone. Blu-ray/DVD, Unitel Edition 811104/811008 (Naxos)
Expulsion, flight, hardship and death, constants of human history, are interwoven by Nikos Kazantzakis and Bohuslav Martinů in their »Greek Passion«, which tells of the staging of the Biblical Passion play in a village where the arrival of refugees causes unrest. Director Simon Stone and his team make the conflict, which is as relevant today as it was then, universally visible: between long-established residents and refugees, between institutionalized and deeply empathetic Christianity. An ensemble that embraces the roles and a choir that performs with subtle distinction make both the work and this performance a haunting admonishment to the »Christian West«. For the jury: Wolf-Dieter Peter
Choral Music
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
& Charles Gounod: Messe de Clovis, Louis Aubert: O Salutaris, André Caplet: Adagio for Violin & Organ. Emöke Baráth, Philippe Estèphe, Chouchane Sironassian, Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet. Alpha Classics 1014 (Naxos)
No composer has treated the last things with more gentle calm than Gabriel Fauré. And yet few others have so thrillingly transformed pain and sorrow first into beauty and then into hope – especially in the original version of Fauré’s Requiem, without winds and violins. Hervé Niquet took this as the basis for his new production with Le Concert Spirituel, allowing the passion of the work to shine softly inward. Perfect singing, sensitively accompanied, and superbly recorded. Gounod’s Chlodwig Mass makes an agreeably exotic addition – as does Caplet’s Adagio, with its otherworldly violin solo played by the wonderful Chouchane Sironassian. For the jury: Peter Korfmacher
Lieder and Vocal Recital
Mythos
Songs by Franz Schubert & Carl Loewe. Konstantin Krimmel, Ammiel Bushakevitz. Alpha Classics 1088 (Naxos)
With his CD »Saga«, baritone Konstantin Krimmel catapulted himself into the top ranks of Lied interpreters. In »Mythos«, Krimmel shows that saga and ballad remain his domain, now refined and tonally expanded. He frees Loewe and Schubert’s songs from a tradition of misunderstanding. With pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz, he is so curious and self-assured that even standards like »Erlkönig« or »Die Uhr« sound different and surprising. Thanks to his excellent technique and sophisticated understanding of the text, Krimmel never aims for effect, but always for naturally-felt expression. For the jury: Markus Thiel
Early Music
Vivaldi ×2²
Seven double concertos. La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler. Signum Classics SIGCD908 (Note 1)
Vivaldi’s double concertos always have elements of musical competition; the enjoyment associated with this is superbly showcased in La Serenissima’s performance. The British musicians play with bite and temperament, producing a powerful, robust sound, but never overshooting the mark. They pay unfailing attention to the inner stability of the rhythm and the rhetorical imperatives of expression. The enthusiasm that visibly drives Adrian Chandler in his interpretations of Italian baroque music proves infectious once again. For the jury: Matthias Hengelbrock
Contemporary Classical Music
Milica Djordjević: Mali Svitac, ...
& Quicksilver, Čvor, Mit o ptici (musica viva #44). Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Duncan Ward, Peter Rundel, Johannes Kalitzke. BR-Klassik 900644 (Naxos)
For Milica Djordjević, composing is an exploration of sound. She dissects and listens to the silence; undulating developments spark large-scale outbursts. In her music, the composer achieves an incredible density of events, which the BR Symphony Orchestra brings to life in exemplary fashion in this portrait, showcasing works written between 2016 and 2023. The sound quality is simply stupendous. Two world premieres are included. In »Mit o ptici« (Bird Myth), orchestra and choir combine to form an organically-growing, jointly-breathing body of sound: a veritable audio thriller! For the jury: Marco Frei
Film Music
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus
Digital, Milan Records G0100053193277 (Sony)
What does a musical farewell sound like? Like loneliness, hope, consolation? All of these feelings can be sensed in Ryuichi Sakamoto’s last work. These universal feelings were given form by the composer/pianist and music pioneer, who was already ill, in his score for the documentary film »Opus«. Sakamoto interpreted 20 songs from his life’s work on the piano for this concert retrospective, revisiting outstanding musical ideas from films such as »Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence«, »The Last Emperor« and »The Sheltering Sky«. The intimate setting gives space to the sound. Though the farewell is final, the music remains. For the jury: Jenni Zylka
Jazz
Bernd Lhotzky: The Gallery Concerts III: Rag Bag
ACT 9993-2 (Edel)
Until now, Munich pianist Bernd Lhotzky’s brilliant pianism has mostly been rooted in stride piano. In »Rag Bag« he looks back at its forerunner, ragtime, and uses it as a launching-pad for exploration in all directions. Often its elements are only present in his music in miniscule doses, but, like salt in a soup, they lend flavour to the overall sound. In this concert, he spins the impulses emanating from rag into the present day through choro, classical modernism, Spanish tinge, blues and stride, in 13 delicate miniatures, mostly original – with playful ease and a sense of style! For the jury: Marcus A. Woelfle
Jazz
Nduduzo Makhathini: uNomkhubulwane
CD/2 LPs, Blue Note Records ST-85225 (Universal)
With his third album for Blue Note Records, South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini presents a powerful sonic manifesto. While while deeply rooted in spiritual tradition, it is also offers a visionary glimpse of the future. In the three-part suite, dedicated to the Zulu goddess of rain, nature and fertility, he evokes the power of renewal through reflection on cultural wellsprings. The trio performance with bass and drums, complemented by Makhathini’s haunting vocals, resembles a ritual and closes a circle between listening, feeling and healing. For the jury: Bert Noglik
World Music
Sages Comme des Sauvages: Maison Maquis
Digital, Capitane Records 3700398730189 (Cargo)
Ava Carrère and Ismaël Colombani are Sages Comme Des Sauvages. She comes from the world of theater and art, he from classical and experimental music. The duo lives in Brussels and sings chansons with that contain trip-wires, both tonally and in terms of content. Everyday stories meet tales of the soul and laconic reflections on life, all wrapped in charmingly brittle yet seductive melodies. Guests like electro-Raï star Sofiane Saidi and the six-part a cappella group »San Salvador« prove that the chanson has abandoned its former life in a neat terraced house and moved into a gloriously anarchic communal home. For the jury: Jodok W. Kobelt
Traditional Ethnic Music
Vigüela: We
CD/Digital, Mapamundi Música MM003 (direct distribution)
The Ensemble Vigüela from the central Spanish region of Castilla-la-Mancha was founded after the end of the Franco regime. Vigüela is passionate about the living continuation of the traditional music repertoire from the homeland of Don Quixote: »We« is an almost hypnotic reinterpretation of rural jotas, fandangos and sones. Instruments like the rebec-like rabel and the zambomba merge here with male and female voices to create an unusually colorful sound world. This very intimate recording has a captivatingly raw intensity which brings out the musical nuances all the more finely. For the jury: Britta Sweers
German language Singer/Songwriters
Stellmäcke & Trotzband: »Trotzdem«
Secundo (direct distribution)
The album opens with a jazzy saxophone solo inviting the listener to »Come in«, followed immediately by a wonderful German-language version of »Jardin d’Hiver«, the comeback chanson of legendary singer Henri-Salvador. But Stellmäcker’s own lyrics, in which he addresses both current and timeless topics, form the center of the album. The Trotzband is occasionally allowed to turn up the guitar to rock, but then an old piano also tinkles with an ironic iterpolation of »AI Boogie« – as if »they« were not already monitoring all of us anyhow. »Trotzdem« is characterized by a congenial symbiosis of music and words. For the jury: Hans Reul
Folk and Singer/Songwriters
Damian McKee: Moyola Cottage
CD/Digital, Damian McKee Music 0754169896041 (direct distribution)
Damian McKee is the accordion player of BEOGA, whom the Wall Street Journal praised as »the most exciting traditional band to come out of Ireland this century«. He is also deeply commited to passing on traditional Irish music as an acclaimed soloist and respected teacher. »Moyola Cottage« is the first album featuring his own compositions exclusively. The melodies range from dreamlike, slow pieces to a wealth of brilliantly played reels, jigs and polkas, garnished with elements of pop production, all played with taut perfection. For the jury: Jo Meyer
Pop
Fontaines D.C.: Romance
CD/LP, XL Recordings XL1436 (Indigo)
With their new album Romance, the Irish band Fontaines D.C. covers a broad stylistic spectrum, with references ranging from 1960s beat and elements of prog and psychedelic rock to punk, new wave and Britpop. Through all the stylistic variation, their collective signature is always recognizable. The album is full of highlights and is structured by a narrative thread that is also inspired by role models from film and literature. »Romance« is true to its title, questioning the concept of romance in a nuanced manner from a contemporary perspective, while remaining extremely entertaining. For the jury: Wolf Kampmann
Rock
Johnny Blue Skies: Passage Du Desir
CD/LP, High Top Mountain 83533 (Membran)
Sturgill Simpson is a phenomenon, continuing the exceptional tradition of the Outlaws. Having shed his skin in the wake of a crisis, he returns as alter ego Johnny Blue Skies with a very personal album for which he found some of his inspiration in Paris, France, rather than in Nashville. He reveals pain, despair and regret in an unflinching yet emotional and introspective manner. His lyrics are poignant, the music full of power. With his distinctive blend of bluegrass, country, R&B and psychedelia, his 2014 album »Metamodern Sounds In Country Music« was a game-changer, and this outstanding 2024 album confirms his status as a trendsetter. For the jury: Christine Heise
Hard and Heavy
Dark Tranquillity: Endtime Signals
CD/LP, Century Media 0198028068925 (Sony)
These Swedish musicians are mentioned in the same breath as the band »In Flames«, which is better-known, and »At The Gates«, which is considered to be more cult in scene circles. In the early nineties, the triumvirate struck a daring balance between heaviness and melody, going down in metal history as the »Gothenburg School«. They have continued to develop successfully: »Dark Tranquillity«, their 13th album, offers an almost perfect blend of aggression and emotion, crowned by the singing of Mikael Stanne, at turns harsh and clear, with his philosophical lyrics about the state of our world. For the jury: Katrin Riedl
Club and Dance
Kampire presents: A Dancefloor in Ndola
CD/2 LPs/Digital, Strut Records STRUT273 (Indigo)
Dancing backwards into the future: DJ Kampire is part of the Nyege Nyege collective in Kampala, whose label represents the wildest sides of today’s African club music. On this compilation, however, she brings together the music she grew up with, taking a journey through East and South African genres, some with ringing, spinning guitars and some dominated by drum machines and digital synthesizers. The selection is indebted to Kampires’ own history, while at the same time spreading euphoria far beyond the dance floor in the Zambian city of Ndola for which the album is named. For the jury: Tim Caspar Boehme
Electronic and Experimental
Mary Ocher: Your Guide to Revolution
LP/Digital, Underground Institute LPUI9 (Bertus)
How, pray tell, do you go about revolution? With her album ‚Your Guide to Revolution’ and an accompanying handbook, multitalented Mary Ocher shows artists and other nonconformists how to resist consumer society. The key: self-restraint to the essentials. Musically, the work, which she mostly recorded herself with the drummers Mats Folkesson and Theo Taylor, is gratifyingly rich: a personal playlist that draws on post-punk and industrial as well as cumbia rhythms and the spiritual fusion album »The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby«. For the jury: Guido Halfmann
Blues and Blues-related
Bywater Call: Shepherd
CD/LP, Bywater Call CDBCR1 (Bear Family Records)
A band is always the sum of its parts, and yet the Canadian septet Bywater Call is defined more than anything else by the exceptional voice of Meghan Parnell: she sets the energy level, from powerful to delicate, which the instrumentalists follow, creating great energy and a distinctive southern roots rock sound. »Shepherd«, the third studio album by the Canadian group, stands out from the crowd for its excellent songwriting and a level of technical prowess that encourages jamming. When an album makes you want to see a band live, then everything went right in the studio – as with Shepherd. For the jury: Tim Schauen
R&B, Soul and Hip-Hop
Galliano: Halfway Somewhere
CD/2 LPs, Brownswood Recordings BWOOD363CD (Rough Trade)
With collages of words and music that capture the little moments of life in a constantly evolving scene, Rob Gallagher has become a unique chronicler of his time. And this probably also applies to the entire Galliano project, of which he is the face. Up-to-date messages, danceable grooves and positive energy – a good 30 years after the release of the first album, the band is once again reaching a young audience (also thanks to the revival of jazzy sounds since the early 1990s). »Circles Around The Sun« is, quite aptly, one of the highlights of the consistently very good album. For the jury: Michael Rütten
Recordings for Children and Youth
Ali Standish: Baskerville Hall
The mysterious boarding school for the particularly talented (in German language). Johann von Bülow. mp3-CD, Der Audio Verlag ISBN 978-3-7424-3264-3
American Ali Standish studied children’s literature in Cambridge, where she may have discovered her love of Arthur Conan Doyle; she has dedicated an entire series of books to him. Arthur’s extraordinary powers of observation and reaction lead him to a secret boarding school with some unusual study groups. The school teaches subjects such as anatomy and metallurgy, boxing and fortune telling. This detective story, full of fantasy, is just the right thing for bright minds. And Johann von Bülow, with his rich vocal range, succeeds in underscoring the tradition of Sherlock Holmes. For the jury: Helen Seyd